treats, tresses, and trashy tv!

This past Sunday I had a few friends over to my house for a fun little fall "hairspiration" get together!  I partnered with

Vidal Sassoon Pro Series

and Target to try out some fun hair products, while enjoying a bunch of tasty fall inspired treats, wine, and some silly fall television.  It was a perfect opportunity to bring back one of my favorite dessert recipes from last year,

pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting

!  This time I made them in a mini cupcake version, much more bite-size friendly.  I also wanted to make a new treat, and since I've been having a good run of macarons, I made some

french

macarons

filled with

pumpkin ganache

!  It was my first time making ganache and it was SO delicious.  Wine was also an obvious requirement.  I was thinking of making some hot buttered rum, but then I realized I only had 151, which seemed a bit intense for a mellow drink like hot buttered rum.  Still, hot buttered rum is the perfect fall party libation, so I might have to have a hot buttered rum party just as an excuse to make a big batch.

We ended up watching America's Next Top model for some fun trashy TV.  I haven't watched ANTM in years, and it was an interesting change to see the guys vs. girls version, though ANTM has certainly passed it's glory days.  Sorry, Tyra.  Still it was a great show to watch while playing a fall trend bingo game.  Models be trendy.  Or at least, fashion shoots are.  I had some cute prizes for the bingo winner and runner up, so the trashy TV was worth it.  After the show we got our fancy hairs on, and we were going to head out for a girls night on the town, since we were lookin' fancy, but opted for finishing off the wine at the house instead.  

Moorea gave me a super fancy 5-way heidi braids, which was really fun.  I'm rather bad at doing french braids, so it's always great when someone else does it for me.  I'm getting better at french braiding but it's still not that great looking.  Since I can't really do that hairstyle on myself, I decided to make a little tutorial for a hairstyle for which I've been getting some requests!  My hair is finally long enough to throw into a messy bun and I've been wearing it up a lot more these past couple months.

photos of me by

moorea

// IG photos via

moorea

If you guys want a chance to win a $1000 Target gift card, you can enter their pin it to win it sweepstakes 

here

!  Two runners up also get $500 gift cards.

*

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of

Clever Girls Collective

and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own. This post is in partnership with

Vidal Sassoon Pro Series

and Target. Salon Genius, Affordable for all.  

Thanks for supporting those companies which help keep Delightfully Tacky alive and kicking!

textures of fall

I'm pretty excited that fall leaves have been showing up lately.  Dan and I really wanted to plant a couple trees in our front yard so we'd have our very own fall trees, but it wasn't in the cards this year.  Hopefully next year we'll get some trees in the ground so our fall yard will be pretty and colorful.  Of course, that means more chores: raking leaves.  Still, I think the fall colors are worth it and I find raking to be somewhat cathartic.
For me fall is all about plaid, flannel, and wool.  Coziness: activate!  When I saw these boots with the wool fabric, I was immediately sold.  Most of my boots have started the slow process of falling apart, so I'm glad to have a new pair.  Walking around rainy Tacoma with boots that are falling apart means wet feet.  Not my favorite.  I might try to take a couple of them to get them repaired, but some are just going to have to be retired eventually.  Or only worn on dry days.  

 

coat (similar)/lulu e. bebe :: top/ courtesy of free people :: jeans/courtesy of modcloth boots/vogue footwear
Life has been a little bit crazy the past week.  Our sewer line broke, or rather disintegrated, so we've been dealing with that on top of a bunch of other "grown up" things.  I feel like life should be lived backwards so you can appreciate the carefree lifestyle of childhood.  When you're a kid you just don't realize how awesome you've got it.  No rent, no bills, no taxes, just people making you food and letting you play all the time and you get to go to school and hang out with friends... the grass is always greener I suppose.  Still, even though adulthood comes with an obnoxious amount of responsibilities, going back to being a kid would probably get old after having tasted the freedom of adulthood.  Also, I'd rather not revisit high school and hormones and that nonsense.  Sorry, John Mellencamp, but I'd rather not hold on to 16 as long as I can. 
This morning Dan and I went out for a coffee and bagels with cream cheese date for breakfast and sat outside with the crisp fall air.  It's that time when it's crisp outside, but not too frigid to be outdoors.  A steamy cup of coffee also helps.  Simple little dates like coffee and bagels are wonderful.  Some times I like getting fancy, but I'd rather spend a few dollars here and there on little dates rather than go out for an expensive fancy date.  And, really, I think I'd much rather stay in and drink fancy wine and cook steak than go out and pay quadruple the amount for the same meal.  Cooking in the kitchen together is one of our favorite things to do.  Dan's been getting quite good at cooking these days, which makes it even more enjoyable!

remixology // no. 3

It's been a while, but I'm back with another Remixology challenge!  This time I'm creating six outfits from six pieces. Since we're currently ensconced in fall, as evidenced by the leaves in these photos, this remixology is more autumnal than the last couple.  For this challenge I partnered with Mata Traders who sent over two of their new dresses for me to style up!  If you're not familiar with Mata Traders, they're a great company that sells fair trade clothing and their mission is to work with organizations that empower, employ, and educate women.  Pretty awesome!  Plus they have some very cute clothes, which is an added bonus.
The two pieces from Mata Traders are the Young Love Dress and the Moonrise Dress.
The four pieces from my closet are the zig zag cardigan, the lace top, the leather skirt, and the green cardigan.
I accessorized with a noonday collection necklace, dark green scarf, black tights, a thin white belt, a moorea seal necklace, light green scarf, b&w scarf, and white beanie.  For shoes,  I wore black studded moccasins, black booties, and knee high brown boots.

Jewel tones are usually a pretty common trend during the fall, so this dress is a perfect autumn piece.  I styled it three different ways for this challenge.  The first time I styled it with a bold cardigan and a bright infusion of color.  Definitely a more intense styling.  The second time I styled it in a more subdued way by pairing it with a lace top and simple, graphic necklace.  

This blue dress I styled two different ways, both times with cardigans but two variations.  The first look is more slouchy and casual, but with a fun, eclectic necklace for a bit of fanciness.  The second time I went for a more prim styling by buttoning up a cardigan and belting it, then adding a graphic scarf for a bold pop.  The saturated colors are definitely pretty bold and eclectic, but it's still a prim look.



For my last two looks I styled a vintage leather skirt.  The top outfit is the third styling of the Mata Traders purple dress, this time worn as a top with the skirt layered on top.  The outfit was initially a bit plain so I layered a huge scarf on top to give it some texture and color variation.  The second look styled the lace top with the leather skirt for a less bold look with basically just white and tan.  Taking style cues from Dusty's coloration, I suppose!  These last two looks are definitely the most bohemian of the six, which makes them my favorite!

Q + A // styling a lace top

Perhaps it is untimely to do a post about styling lace on the cusp of fall and winter, but looking back through my archives I've probably worn my lace tops just about as much in the colder months as I have in the summer.  The few lace tops I have in my closer are some of my favorite items to remix.  Lace can tend to either veer into matronly territory, or be a little risqué and see-through, but I've also found it to be easy to layer in funky, eclectic, and cute ways!

While it might be a bit too revealing for some, I actually rather like styling my lace tops with only a bra underneath.  The two looks below both are styled with just a bra underneath, no cami, but I didn't feel self conscious or scandalous in either outfit.  If you want to get the same look, without baring the skin, you could always wear a nude cami underneath to mimic the look.  I really love this look on hot summer days because it's so breezy and light.

One of my favorite ways to wear lace tops is by layering them over a dress.  This can easily change up the look of a dress and is a great way to give some of your old dresses a new look.  By layering a top over a dress, you're essentially wearing the dress as a skirt, but with a lace top you still get the peek of the dress underneath through the lace pattern.  This is also a great way to start layering if you want to style lace in the winter.  Start by layering a lace top over a dress, then you can add a scarf, a cardigan, tights, etc.  You can also keep layering in the summer by doing this. 

You can also layer a bit by tucking the lace top into a belt at your waist.  This gives the waist a bit more definition than just wearing the top sans belt.  I also find that I really like wearing lace tops with a long necklace or a scarf.  



You can also tuck lace tops into high waisted skirts for a more tailored styling than the more bohemian look of having it layered over a dress.  Of course, if you want to go for a more undone look, you can always tuck just the front and then layer necklaces or a scarf over top, or even throw on a cute cardigan to make it more fall friendly.   Lace is one of those fabrics that can function in a ton of ways.  It can be sexy, or bohemian, or grandma, or eclectic.  It can act as a neutral or a print.  I tend to style my white lace tops on top of lighter colors, so it functions more as a neutral than a print, but I also mix prints like it's nobody's business, so perhaps I just am not aware of how I'm actually print mixing.  Layering a lace top over darker colors does make the lace pattern pop more, though, so be aware that your lace will function more as a print when you pair it with a darker base layer.  When it's worn on top of a lighter color, the lace pattern is much more subtle, which makes it easier to wear with other prints.  
If you're looking for a lace top similar to the ones I've styled in this post, I got them a couple years ago so I'm pretty sure they're not in stock anymore but you can find some similar ones here:
Oasap // Yes Style // Alice & Olivia

OUR HOME // bathroom before + after

I'm pretty excited to share this with you guys because it's taken about ten months to finish this room, and the only reason it took that long was my crazy paint undertaking.  If I'd gone at it in one go, it probably would've only taken a week, but I started it right before my family got here to re-side the exterior.  Once we started that giant project the herringbone paint job was put on the backburner and I didn't return to it for months.  It was half done for most of this year.  I can't tell you how good it felt to put that last line up.

This before picture is a shot from the listing before we bought it.  The sad, lonely toilet plant was not my doing. I hated the blinds, mostly because they're impractical.  I never want them closed because the bathroom is so tiny that I need as much natural light as possible coming in.  But obviously I want them closed while showering so no peeping toms get a show.  I solved that problem by taking the blinds down and putting up an etched glass contact-paper-esque window covering that made it so I could have all the natural light and none of the peeping toms.

We didn't really have a place to hang towels, and there was an awkward tiny wall behind the door next to the shower which was begging for some hooks to be installed.  I didn't want to just throw up some boring old hooks so I covered the wall with reclaimed wood from pallets and then put up some natural wood hooks from Ikea.

Also from Ikea is the little cart next to our toilet and sink.  The bathroom is rather tiny and it's the only one in the house so we really needed more storage for our daily items than the little medicine cabinet behind the mirror.  It fits

perfectly

between the toilet and wall and it holds everything from hair products, to spare toilet paper, to our toothbrushes, q-tips, and cotton balls.

The little vessels on top the toilet are from

Moorea Seal

!  When did her product shoot at my home back in July, my wish list grew exponentially.  I basically coveted every little thing she brought to the house to shoot.  Of course, I'd go broke if I'd

actually

bought everything.  I settled for just a few items and this gold and black vase and feather vessel were two of the pieces I picked out.  

The photo on wood was a Christmas present from my little brother the year Dan & I got married.  He made it himself after googling tutorials and a ton of trial and error.  It's definitely one of my most treasured items.  The photos next to the window are photos I took at my grandparents' house in Juneau many years ago on my mom's old Olympus OM-1.  They've always been some of my favorite photographs, so I'm glad I finally got to display them!

I know that you guys probably don't have any desire to spend hours and hours with a tiny paintbrush replicating my herringbone wall, and the good news is... you don't have to!  I partnered with WallsNeedLove.com to create a

vinyl removable wallpaper version

based on my hand painted design!

Sweet, right?  All of the herringbone, none of the cramped hand and hours crammed against the wall meticulously painting hundreds of tiny lines!  Although if you're looking for a way to watch all of the seasons of Grey's Anatomy, I highly suggest going the painting route.  Because it took

multiple

seasons of Grey's to finish that project.  So, it's your choice.  Binging on Grey's and cramped, painty hands or ... binging on Grey's while... drinking wine or something.

mini feather vessel

/

moorea seal

::

black + gold vessel

/

moorea seal

::

turquoise cart

/

ikea

towel hooks / ikea :: wall design / handpainted (but buy the wallpaper version

here

!)

turquoise

+ polka dot towels /

target

::

gold towels

/

anthropologie