The Sarcastic Blonde

fashion, Lifestyle

wishlist wednesday

December 17, 2014

lusts for the week :: holiday + new years party edition

whether its a holiday party or a dress for new years eve,

this is the time of year for a little something extra, and a touch of sparkle and feathers are totally allowed.

{colorblock sleeve dress}

{open back dress}

{pencil dress with collar} under $100 !!!

{red dress}

{sequin skirt dress} under $100 and gorgeous !

{black sleeve dress} under $100 !!

{sequin tank dress}

{feather trim dress}

for a more casual affair,

throw this adorable metallic cardigan on over jeans and a cute top

{metallic open front cardigan}

splurge-worthy lust picks

{haute hippie} take me to vegas in this stat!

{lace crop dress}

Lifestyle, recipe

holiday baking :: spritz cookies

December 16, 2014

I’m sure that we made lots of holiday treats growing up for Christmas,

but the only cookies I ever remember making were Spritz cookies.

I loved making them with the little hand press and decorating them with all different kinds of sprinkles.

and of course the fact that they are bite size so you can just pop a ton of them are just an added bonus 🙂

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Spritz Butter Cookies

recipe via Martha Stewart

:: Ingredients ::

3 cups flour, spooned and leveled

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

1/2 teaspoon of salt

4 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

optional :: egg wash (1 white with 2 teaspoons water) and sprinkles

:: Directions ::

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Place flour, sugar, butter, and salt into a food processor. Process until the texture is that of a coarse meal.

2. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks and vanilla. With motor running, add to the food processor. Process just until dough forms.

3. Fill cookie press and form cookies on baking sheet according to instructions (one click and press!)

4. If decorating with sprinkles, brush with egg wash and add sprinkles before baking.

5. Bake until edges are firm (10 to 15 minutes) not until the edges are brown. Cool on tray for 1 to 2 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

wait for it…… wait for it…… my food photography.

you’ll find that you’ve eaten twenty without even realizing it.

these little buttery christmas treats have that effect.

after we ate our fair share of each batch,

(you know, maybe the tree tastes different than the candy cane….. and the wreath??)

I then promptly packaged them up for my husband to take to work. stat.

what are your christmas baking traditions from growing up?!

home, Lifestyle

home updates + holiday decorating

December 15, 2014

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hope you all had a great weekend!

I had a pretty perfect one: relaxing with just enough activity.

I had a christmas party with my girlfriends, a gorgeous and so special baby shower, and a christmas date night with my husband. Sunday consisted of wrapping gifts, watching more christmas movies (The Holiday this weekend!), and baking cookies.

oh, and friday was national ugly christmas sweater day and they had us dress for the occasion at work so I whipped out this pretty little gem.

hawt.

here are a few snapshots, and a look at the piece we found to use as a makeshift pantry.

we found these mercury glass trees at marshals and they are just perfect. they match our vases from pottery barn with a mercury glass base and some candles we have throughout the living room.

at $10 each, they were a steal. I didn’t know where to put them yet so here they awkwardly are with our Nest thing that I mess up on a daily basis when trying to change the temperature.

the same place where we found our sideboard, Nadeau, is where we found my other favorite piece.

our kitchen has pretty great cabinet space, but there is no designated pantry and therefor no easy, useful space to put all of our food.

when we came across this piece I knew it would work perfectly.

I love the open space in the middle to decorate for the holidays or to have as a makeshift bar set up for other times of the year.

I’d ultimately like to change the knobs out but haven’t found anything just yet.

there were two poinsettias,

but it took me no time to kill the other one. shocker.

vase from pottery barn

crate and barrel hurricanes, pottery barn frosted pinecones

I kinda want to change out the hurricanes to this cute set up instead

fireplace garland from HomeGoods, a Christmas dream-land with a parking lot that is holiday hell and I’m lucky we made it out alive.

prepping for some holiday cookies

trying to finish up some christmas cards, and since I still haven’t bought any twinkle lights for my vase I just put a ton of regular lights in it. not quite the same effect, but what the hell.

my husband thinks it’s hideous.

I think it’s free so he should be real proud of me.

I mean they are totally as pretty as these. Identical.

fashion, Lifestyle

wish list wednesday

December 10, 2014

lusts for the week…..

the cold weather has me in a “throw on jeans with a cute top” mood.

one // two // three

four // five // six

seven // eight // nine

loving scalloped details on shoes

// scallop leopard flats //

// scallop heels //

other scallop lusts :: scallop hem shorts // scallop bikini // much more affordable scallop bikini //

// scallop blazer // scallop dress // adorable under $80 scallop open back dress //

Lifestyle

dancing in your undies.

December 9, 2014

if y’all want to know what I would look like strutting my stuff and dancing in my undies,

turn your televisions to CBS tonight for the victoria’s secret fashion show.

they’re all basically my twins.

oh, I jest.

I’m a little less Victoria’s Secret and a little more Jess from New Girl.

I just love the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show so much.

I don’t know why, but I do.

via

So set your DVR’s ~~and prepare to feel horrible about yourself.~~

Thankfully its not on until 9 PM so I’ll have already grubbed and won’t have to pull a Biggest Loser (well… I guess this would be the opposite of eating while watching The Biggest Loser, but you get the point.)

we established last week that some teen sensations are highlighting the show.

and this picture from girlwithnojob’s instagram just takes the cake for best photo of the night.

speaking of Ariana Grande, I must admit that these Disney stars really know how to hook you and hook you good.

I am in love with Nick Jonas new song. I guess not that new anymore but still.

if the video doesn’t show up click here

ugh. I can’t believe I just said nick jonas and love in the same sentence. so embarrassing.

but legit. I do. and ariana traps me every time with love me harder.

Lifestyle, weekend recap

things.

December 8, 2014

via

~~happy monday~~ ugh. the weekend’s over.

I stayed in Saturday because I have been so tired lately I can’t stand it. I had a lovely night alone with my ~~one true love~~ lovah, Netflix.
after my lame but amazing night as a 97 year old, I awoke ready to deck the halls.
we seem to have finally retired our faux target tree after many, many years together.
I still want to put it up downstairs in the basement living room though?!
can’t say I’m too sad about it. I feel like such a sadie sadie married lady having a REAL tree! we went to the little pop-up christmas tree lot a few blocks from our place and picked from the few smaller trees they had available while I eyed all the gorgeous, expensive, huge trees.

we watched Home Alone and Love Actually on sunday while we decorated.

and then we capped the weekend off with SNL Christmas Special.

I laughed my ass off at skits I’ve seen a thousand times,

whilst my husband said for the thousandth time “what is this? how have you seen this?”.

in 16 days we will be heading to the cayman islands for our family christmas.

we’ve done this every year for about 8 years, except last year we took a year off since my sister was expecting (Kip and I used the opportunity to take our much delayed first vacay alone together. seriously.) I can’t wait to be back it’s my favorite place ever.

I can’t wait to see my little stingrays 🙂

because a bikini is in my future in 2 short weeks,

I’ve been trying to get back on the gym wagon.

this “carpet” yoga mat is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

// yoga mat //

but its just my family, and Kip already put a ring on it,

sooooo whatever bring on the carbs.

I found the cutest gift for under $10 this weekend

beer goggles! ha! get it!? beer goggles! like… ok you get it……

// gamago beer goggles //

aren’t they so cute!!??
and seemingly so practical, but then everyone forgets what color they had or leaves it on their first beer and doesn’t move it to their second, ~~or third, or fourth….~~

me. always :: whose drink is this? is this mine?

I know from experience with wine charms, numbered glasses, and a million other things, that at least with my friends we still end up with a million half drank glasses and no one knowing which drink is theirs.

:: weekend wears ::

it was a vest weekend up in here. the herringbone vest I loved for so long and don’t know why I waited so long to order it. I’ve worn it every week since it arrived. for a friends party I finally pulled out some fur (my husband thinks the fur is just so ugly and gross so I only pull it out when I will be surrounded by lots of females to assure me it’s cute)