Category Archives: Fashion
Ear to Ear
Happy Friday, folks! You know it’s going to be a great one when you wake up with a huge, ear-to-ear smile for no reason whatsoever.
Okay, maybe a few tiny reasons:
OPI’s Rally Pretty Pink is the most perfect copper-rose glitter I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’m mesmerized by the glitter.
I whipped up the first smoothie in a bowl of March {and quite possible all of 2012 – it feels like it’s been forever since I had one of these!}
Just a simple banana + vanilla yogurt + cocoa powder + almond milk combo, topped with the most amazing cherry vanilla granola. So refreshing!
I finally have time this weekend to dive into a novel:
I was assigned to read House of Mirth in college, but you know the deal. Skim/sparksnotes/pass the test/forget it existed. The bits I did remember reading were fantastic, though, and it should be a great one to crack back open.
I’ve got fresh flowers perking up my living room, which in result means I have a clean living room. Is it just me, or does anyone else feel more compelled to keep their places clean when they have fresh flowers out on display?
Have a great Friday guys!
What’s one thing that’s making you smile today?
Roadrunner Legs
If 11 mile per hour sprints don’t qualify as insanity, I don’t know what does.
After last night’s easy mile warm-up, I jazzed up my treadmill time by cranking the speed as high as I could handle. Nearly doubling my normal pace made for quite the interesting set of sprints. as I peeked in the mirror to check my form, I giggled at my Roadrunner legs.
And then I fell off the treadmill.
Kidding (sort of)…although I did pop a squat at the foot of the treadmill for a few minutes to catch my breath!
With the office holiday party coming up tonight, I tried to plan a balanced but not super-stuffing breakfast to kick off the day. A smoothie always fits the satiety bill (as long as there are extra add-ins like cereal and nuts).
Double the peanut butter, double the fun – there was a scoop of Skippy Natural in the smoothie itself, plus a heaping handful of peanut butter puffins on top.
I’ve got a couple snacks to keep me from mindlessly munching throughout the day or getting so hungry I tear through the dinner buffet:
And since my hands are all up in your face right now, can we all just spend a few seconds hypnotized by the bling?
OPI Spark de Triomph, for anyone needing a last-minute holiday manicure. Warning: may induce ADD in anyone mildly distracted by glitter.
What was I talking about again?…
Have your ever timed your absolute fastest pace on a treadmill or Garmin?
Mermaid Hair
Any doubts I had in the back of my mind about last week’s long run being a fluke flew right out of my head at the gym this evening.
With this week’s long run scheduled for tonight, I set out at my conservative pace (12 minute mile, for when I’m anticipating a distance run, as opposed to a 10 minute mile as my race pace).
Four and a half miles in, I was feeling great, so I opted to make this week’s run another distance challenge, increasing last week’s mileage by 20 percent. I know the 10 percent rule dictates that I should have maxed out this week at 5.5 miles, but I know better than to force myself to quit when I want to keep going. I usually have the exact opposite problem, so I was pumped to find myself with extra energy and extra motivation to hit six miles!
Any refuel ideas? Oatmeal sounds amazing, but I already whipped up a peanut butter-banana-chocolate oat bowl for breakfast.
It was super fluffy and voluminous!
The deep red color of the goji berries I tossed on top inspired me to mix a little color into today’s outfit. Since I work in a casual office, it’s so easy to default to skinny jeans with a J.Crew t-shirt, but today I wanted something a little more fun!
Top: L.A. Made; Skirt: Theory; Wedges: J.Crew; Super dodgy face thanks to a coworker opening the bathroom door while I have a camera in my hand.
Today is a day of unrivaled effort, clearly, since my hair was also done, in a style that one of my former coworkers dubbed “mermaid curls.” Pre-blonde era, I could have seen it working as an Ariel hair-do!
Time to get some food into my belly. Hungry or not, I need a glycogen boost!
Question of the evening:
Any challenging workouts planned for this week?
Lebanese Lunch Break
Looks like we survived another day!
Between writing assignments, some of my coworkers and I slipped out for lunch at Café Annie, a Lebanese restaurant in Orlando’s business district. I’ve ordered takeout from Annie’s several different times, but this was the first time I ate in!
The black bean soup that I ordered was spot-on, but I felt like the café salad was definitely overpriced for literally five pieces of Iceberg lettuce, a cucumber sliver and two tomato slices. C’mon guys, you can do better than that!
At least I had great company – it was an awesome bonding moment with my team!
As we were leaving, I overheard the owner reaming out his busboy. I’m not talking about constructive criticism here – I mean a harsh, name-calling, belittling diatribe. What made it worse is that the two times I’ve previously visited, I’ve also heard him speak just as demeaningly to his other employees, and my coworkers have passed on their own horror stories about his temper. Not cool at all! I know not everyone is always sunshine and giggles, but his demeanor was so off-putting that I don’t feel good about bringing him my business.
I’ve got a barbeque to go to tonight, so it’s time to slip out of the work wear and into something I can play volleyball in!
Dress, Susana Monaco. Belt, Vintage. Shoes, Manolo Blahnik
I think the game should take care of my 30 minutes of exercise for the day! Should be a blast – I haven’t played volleyball since trying out for the team my senior year of high school (I didn’t make it!)
Have you ever been so offended by the attitudes of a clerk, salesperson, waiter, etc that you have been completely turned off to the establishment? What would make you bring your business elsewhere?
Planning Around It
Good morning! Happy Friday to you!
You ready for a little bit of fashion action this morning?
I’m not here to talk about learning to accept your chubby, wrinkly toes (feet are always funky-looking in one way or another – I’ll live with the sausage toes!)
I’m here to talk about the beauty of an icon.
The teeniest, tiniest detail on a shoe that can make any woman salivate: the little red sole.
I scored my first pair of Louboutins the other day (far far FAR from retail price!) and have been dying to wear them. I’m not the kind of person to hide away something “nice” for a “special moment” – if I pay good money for them, the hell if I’m going to tuck them in my closet where they gather dust!
That’s why, for this regular, ordinary Friday, I broke them out and built my entire outfit around them:
Tank: Rebecca Beeson; Skirt: Anthropologie (Maeve); Shoes: Christian Louboutin.
Shall way say that today will not be a day that I walk to work?
Since I had almost half a container of blackberries in my fridge, teetering on the verge of being lost to the too-old-to-eat-fruit monster, I planned my entire breakfast around them.
- Whole Foods 365 Organic Honey Crunch cereal
- Blackberries
- Strawberries
- Almond slivers
- Chia seeds
- Almond Milk
I have a feeling the rest of my day will be planned around coffee runs and mini meetings. Good stuff!
See ya when it’s the weekend!
Do you prefer to save your “nicer” things for fancy occasions, or are you a wear-whenever kind of person? And do you ever plan an entire outfit around a single piece?
Hey Look, There’s a Hole in my Body
In contrast to Fridays, Thursdays are so boring.
Fridays bring the promise of an entire weekend of shenanigans. Fridays are bright and fun and a little bit crazy. Thursdays, on the other hand, are quite tame. You’re so close to the weekend – but not close enough to celebrate. Your brain is entirely over your week’s to-do list, but you still have to power through eight more hours on the clock before unwinding.
Unless, of course, your Thursday evening is spent at a tattoo parlor…
Oh hey, there’s a rhinestone in my navel. How did that happen?
I suppose the spontaneity began earlier on in the day, when I decided on a whim to swing by Cafe Annie’s for a mid-work snack (and leftovers to pack for lunch tomorrow!)
As much as I love Cafe Annie’s authentic Mediterranean food, their pita bread is always underwhelming. Too much density, not enough puffiness!
That didn’t stop me from eating several slices though, along with the miniature salad doused in tzaziki!
After work, I stopped at the Bloodmobile to do the blood donation thang:
Apparently, having a needle in my arm for 10 minutes triggered the desire to have a needle in my navel for 10 seconds.
I can’t stop looking at the sparkliness! Top that, Friday!
Do you have any tattoos or piercings? Have any of them been a spontaneous idea, or were they all thought out and planned? Would you ever consider another? I love how tattoos look on other people, but I’m too big of a wuss to get one myself. With three ear piercings and the new belly ring, I’ve run out of things I’m willing to pierce!
These Pumps Weren’t Made for Walking
But that’s just what I did…
It’s been so overcast here in Orlando today that I had to infuse a little color into my life with my new fuschia Tracy Reese pumps! It’s not my fault that I was so excited about dinner that I forgot to switch into flats before walking home!
I rocked out even more color with a huge Mexican-inspired salad. This beast included romaine, roma tomatoes, fresh avocado, 365 chili lime refried beans and Daiya cheddar!
My sweet tooth promptly kicked in and I snagged a trio of fresh summer berries for dessert:
Off to rest my feet! See you tomorrow!
All in Favor Say “Aye”
All in favor of an indulgent Friday breakfast, say Aye!
I woke up dying for chocolate chip pancakes, but I also wanted something on the savory side of the spectrum as well.
I whipped up two buttermilk pancakes from an Arrowhead Mills mix, added a few tablespoons of chocolate chips, and topped them with a swipe of Earth Balance.
A serving of egg beaters + half a slice of muenster cheese addressed the savory craving!
All in favor of following the Casey Anthony case, say Aye!
Not only is it absolutely fascinating, but the Casey Anthony trial is actually being held in my town’s courthouse! Better yet is the fact that I pass by every day on my way to work.
I’ve been sucked in by the media circus!
All in favor of simple, high-protein snacks, say Aye!
All in favor of repeating your dinner for lunch, say aye!
Some meals, such as vegan taco salad, are just worth having twice in less than 24 hours!
Thursday’s dinner (and Friday’s lunch) was a perfect pile of romaine, TJ’s ranch salsa, vegan sloppy joe crumbles and a dash of melted mozzarella Daiya.
Fantastic World Foods makes some of my favorite boxed mixes for speed and convenience. Their vegetarian sloppy joe mix was no exception!
All in favor of pointy toed shoes, say aye! (And if they’re completely dreadful, tell my outdated azz nay!)
I usually go for rounded pumps (when I’m not rocking a sandal or flip-flop), but I couldn’t resist the super sale on these leather Charles David pumps. I figure they’re classic enough to work, but I always feel odd with pointed shoes. Thoughts?
All in favor of getting to work on time…say…“Faith, get the heck off your blog!”
See ya when it’s officially the weekend!
Pointy-toed shoes: yay or nay? Are you following the Casey Anthony case? And lastly, what’s your biggest foodie “yay” lately?
Incoherence
My brain. is. fried.
Days of writing about the legal process for wrongful death and injury cases will make your mind mushier than a month-old banana. The fact that I’m due to begin the process all over again in just a few hours makes me wonder how I’ll pull it off.
Since my job security is directly tied to my ability to write quality work, I plan on saving the few functional brain cells rattling around in this head of mine for the workday ahead and breezing through the bloggable bits in the following display of rambling incoherence. Think you can keep up?
I woke up Wednesday morning as a blonde with a fashion sense:
Tank: J.Crew, Skirt: J.Crew, Shoes: IXOS
Contrarily, I woke up on Thursday morning as a ginger whose primary fashion concern was “not pajamas.”
Poor, poor abused hair. Perhaps the years of dying it each time I get bored are finally catching up with me.
Different ‘do, same old fallback breakfast:
Plain, fat-free Chobani, organic walnuts, flax seed, strawberry preserves and organic almonds.
Craptastic lighting courtesy of craptastic weather:
Weather like this instills a universal desire for comfort food. Mine came in the form of the most INCREDIBLE lentil dish I’ve ever made.
If I told you it was on the sweeter side, would you be able to guess the secret ingredient?
Moments before crashing for the night, I treated myself to a wonderful serving of Diana’s Not So Sweet Brownie Bake.
When it comes to brownies, “bake” seems like such a technicality…five minutes in the oven is more than sufficient before loading it up and packing it in 
And with that, folks, I think you made it through my rapid-fire rundown. Off to produce more content for our legal section…as long my brain holds up!
New Staples
Holla if you’re happy that it’s Friday!!!
To fuel up for the long day ahead, I made a super simple Egg Beaters + Feta + Mushroom omlette and wrapped it up between two low carb, high fiber whole wheat wraps from La Tortilla Factory.
One of my pet peeves with Publix is the lack of all-natural tortillas or wraps. The Publix in Lakeland offered no natural tortillas, and the Publix near my apartment in Orlando only had one natural option. I bit the pulled, plopped down my $4, and hoped for the best!
At 50 calories, 2 grams of fat, 5 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber each, the wraps were certainly a sensible choice, and while they were a bit denser than most other tortillas, the chewy factor was far more acceptable to me than a mile-long list of chemical additives. Looks like there’s a new staple in the Lovely as Charged kitchen!
Speaking of staples, I feel like last night’s dinner will be in semi-frequent rotation for quite some time as well!
I ended up mixing red quinoa, mushrooms and red pepper with a tablespoon of cream cheese, a tablespoon of spicy brown mustard and a liberal dash of sea salt. One part zesty, one part creamy…hit the spot 100 percent!
A zucchini lightly sautéed in olive oil rounded out the meal!
Some other LaC staples as of late:
Berry milkshakes for dessert (2 scoops Publix Brand All-Natural Vanilla Ice Cream, 1/2 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup frozen blackberries, 1/2 cup fresh strawberries (I suppose frozen would work just as well, but it’s strawberry season here in Florida and almost every store is selling locally grown strawberries for no more than $1.50/box!)
Fruitabu Fruit Flats – I found this on clearance at a health food store (Who could pass up a half serving of fruit for 15 cents?)
This is what happens when you cross Fruit Rollups with fruit leather, then give it an organic spin. Good stuff!
OPI Redipus Oedipus nail polish – Not only does the witty literary reference earn a bazillion brownie points, but the metallic red is super fun.
Boo to chubby fingers, nail-biting habits and hangnails.
Time to put those weird-ass lookin’ hands to work! Catch ya when it’s the weekend!
What have some of your staples been lately?
