Muscle Beach

Happy July! Summer is here and life could not be better. Sunshine, dresses, and…. Annette Funicello.

Love summer!

Last week I hosted a vintage summer party for my beautiful friends and it was inspired by all things summer. To prepare for the party I researched mid-century foods and recipes. Jell-o became a central part of the party as it is a necessity for any vintage party.  The dishes were fun to make and I loved putting together the playlist.

Some of the tunes came from Beach Party. This album is the perfect

 Menu:

Food:

Cherry Coke Jell-o
Groovy Jell- Salad
Pigs in a Blanket (vegetarian)
Green Olives (a must for any mid-century shin dig)
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Smores Bars
Fruit Salad
Cheese Plate (Swiss, Cheddar, Pepperjack)
Finger Foods: Cashews, Chips, Chocolate Covered Raisins

Drinks:

Gin & Tonics
Summer Sangria

Recipes:

Lime Jell-O blended with cream cheese and walnuts. Served wit cool whip, cantaloupe, and watermelon.

how very American… cheese!

Wrap veggie hot dogs in crescent rolls and bake for 10 minutes

Summer is the best for fruit!

Gluten free and delicious! Due to time constraints I used the Duncan Hines gluten free yellow cake mix, it was great!

Cherry Coke Jell-O
This was a party favorite! Combine cherry jell-o, coke zero, and cherry pie filling!

Smore’s Bars (another favorite). These no bake treats are great.

Summer sangria! White wine base.

This was Stephen’s area 🙂

Happy Summer!

*If you want any of the recipes message me and I would be happy to pass them along. Most I just found on google searches.

That’s Life

Chicago is in this weird in between phase with seasons. There are moments when I can feel summer: the smells, the glow about people, the dewiness in the air, the warmth, frozen yogurt, dog walks… the list goes on. Although today was 54 (get it together Chicago), it is almost summer in my heart and that’s what matters.

The tress are perfectly green and have beautiful blooms.

Yesterday I hit the mother load with mail and received both Yoga Journal and Vegetarian Times (thank you mother in law for the rad gifts!). This month the times is featuring detox and gluten free recipes, heaven. In the issue they recommend a 3 day cleanse that is pretty to implement and filled with delicious recipes. They list the 7 best detox foods and some favorites were included: blueberries, brocolli, and beets to name a few.

One of the best things about summer.

The recommended breakfast for the cleanse is a beet smoothie. If you like beets I recommend, if you don’t like beets.. beware!

Detox Beet & Blueberry Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 c blueberries
• 1 c vanilla almond milk (unsweetened)
• 2 beets (boiled)
• 1 slice of ripe avacado
• 3 ice cubes
• 1/4 c of cold water

Directions:

1. Place ingredients in blender and hit liquify, serve immediately

When school is over I am going to do the full 3 days and post the recipes. I think a cleanse/detox will be the perfect way to kick off a healthy, productive, and fun summer! Until then I am going to do my sort of cleanse that involved frozen yogurt from time to time 🙂

Each morning I start with a smoothie and then eat a kale salad, cucumber and side of fruit throughout the day. I have consistently been drinking the detox water I posted about weeks ago. Since I have started my water I have lost about 7 pounds.

Where in the world…

Things are good, really good. A response to this greatness is my inability to keep up with posts. Between work, Smarty Pants Yoga, and being sick, I haven’t cooked anything new (I have been eating the recent posts on rotate) nor have I been able to practice yoga (it is killing me but beautiful husband says I must rest… dang).

Even though I have been sick I have used the forced time at home to finalize some of our spaces. We still have a ways to go but this past weekend I made some major progress! The Uptown neighborhood hosts an amazing Vintage Garage Sale every few weeks and I hit the jackpot this past Sunday!

I have realized that a clean space is a critical piece to my happiness. I endure chaos on a daily basis between work, multitasking, and 150 individualized emotional messes. Coming home to a space that lacks chaos let’s me take a deep breath and relax, even if just for a minute.

Here are some shots of our new finds!

Bedroom:

Side table! Brown and gold antique

The cats love our new space

Living Room:

Vintage bar cart!

Mid Century magazine rack

New vases and center napkin.

The Shirley

I have ALWAYS loved interior design. For a hot minute before college I seriously considered going to school for interior design. I did not follow that path, however, I still enjoy design.

I ADORE our new apartment. Its in the heart of Andersonville and has a lot of vintage quirk and charm. We have windows (oh how I love sunlight), a fire place, and beautiful vintage built ins. I  am smitten by  our new home because its our first apartment as a married partnership.

Our apartment is turning out lovely and I am so excited to see our vision come to fruition.

My first priority was our kitchen. I needed some semblance of normalcy and unpacked it immediately. Stephen is a rad dude and was totally cool with a retro pink wall and installed beautiful shelves for me. Cooking in a clean and cute kitchen changes the experience for me, I am so excited for our new home!

Throughout this moving process I have really tried to practice a yoga mindset and be mindful of non-hoarding and contentment. I often lack patience and struggle with not having things done (i.e. completely unpacked in one day) immediately. However I continually reminded myself to live in the moment and tackle what I could. This was a tremendous help in keeping me sane.

Transitions

Stephen and I signed a lease to a new apartment and I couldn’t be more excited. Slowly but surely we are buying pieces that are quality and we will have for a long period of time. The transition between college life and adult life has been slow in the furniture department due to funds. After this place we will finally have a new bedroom set, rounding out the new house. So freaking excited.

As I craft and set up the new place I will update the ol’ blog. Until then I will refer to my prior decorating greatness in a guest blog post I wrote for A Breakfast Serial.  The theme this week is “Home”. Here ya go: Lightening Bolts.