labor days

ne of the downsides of being self employed is that you don't really have vacation days.  Well, unless you force yourself to not do anything one day, which is easier said than done.  Scrolling through my Facebook feed yesterday I saw tons of people enjoying family barbecues, relaxing beach activities, and backyard hangouts.  It can be easy to never "leave" work, when work is just a laptop-open away, and even if the laptop is closed, shutting down work-mode-brain can be nearly impossible.  But lately I've felt like a break is needed, and seeing everybody enjoying quality time with friends and family on Labor day intensified that feeling.  Luckily I'll be going to a family friend's wedding this weekend and so I might leave the computer at home, buy a book I've been wanting to read, and just unplug for some quality time with loved ones.  Technically I will be working (I'm shooting the wedding), but the couple days before the wedding it'll be nice to just melt back into the warmth of spending time with loved ones, sans technology.
How do you self-employed ladies balance work and home/not-work life?  Any sneaky tricks I'm missing (or is it just work to the point of near burnout, then crash for a few days, drink some wine, binge on Netflix and then get back to work)?

 
top + blazer/courtesy of modcloth :: skirt(similar)/thrifted purse(similar)/courtesy of fossil :: necklace(similar)/gift :: glasses/courtesy of bonlook shoes(similar)/courtesy of bc footwear:: photos by Dan

cheesecake with huckleberry sauce

rowing up, I wasn't a cheesecake fan.  It might have had something to do with not liking cheese, especially melted cheese, and the idea of a cheese-cake just sounded gross to me.  My brother loved cheesecake, but I would have nothing to do with it.  In the past couple years I've come to like cheesecake, but I'd never made one before and had only really ever had store bought cheesecakes or cheesecake served as dessert at restaurants.  After picking a huge container of huckleberries, I decided that huckleberry cheesecake sounded pretty delicious and figured that it was as good a time as any to try my hand at baking a cheesecake!  I was a little nervous, as I'd heard cheesecake could be difficult, but it turned out so perfectly.  I wish I'd taken a photo of the top before I slathered it with cream topping, it was so smooth and gorgeous!  Maybe it was beginner's luck, but I'll take it.  I'm excited to have cheesecake in my (relatively limited) baking repertoire now!  
Perfect Cheesecake
(recipe via simplyrecipes)

Crust
2 cups Graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp sugar
Pinch salt
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Filling
2 lbs (4- 8oz packages) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1.  The first step is to prepare your springform pan so that no water leaks into it while cooking. Take a large 18 by 18-inch piece of aluminum foil (don't try to get away with the smaller width of foil, it won't be big enough to go high enough on the sides of the springform pan and you'll end up with soggy crust), place the springform pan in the middle of the foil and fold up the sides of the foil around the pan making sure that you don't create any holes in the foil (again, water=soggy, ruined crust).  Press the foil around the edges of the pan and repeat with a second 18x18 inch square of foil. Press the top of the foil sheets around the top edge of the pan to secure.

If you want to easily remove the cheesecake from the bottom of the springform pan, before you put the foil on the sides, cut a slice of parchment paper a little larger than the size of the bottom of the pan.  With the sides off, place the parchment paper over the bottom of the pan and then secure the sides of the pan, so that the paper sticks out the bottom a bit.

2. Preheat oven to 350°F, with rack in lower third of oven.   To make the crust, pulse the graham crackers in a food processor or blender until finely ground. Put in a large bowl, and stir in the sugar and salt, then stir in the melted butter.

3. Pour the graham cracker crumb mixture in the bottom of the springform pan.  Using your hands, press down on the crumbs to form a nice even layer at the bottom of the pan (but be careful not to make any holes in the aluminum foil wrap).  Place in the oven for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

4.  Cut the cream cheese into chunks and place in the bowl of an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment (or grab a spoon and give your arm muscles a go). Mix on medium speed for 4 minutes until smooth, soft and creamy. Add the sugar, beat for 4 minutes more. Add the salt and vanilla, beating after each addition. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Add the sour cream, beat until incorporated. Add the heavy cream, beat until incorporated. Remember to scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl, and scrape up any thicker bits of cream cheese that have stuck to the bottom that the mixer has failed to incorporate.
 

5.  Place the foil-wrapped springform pan in a large, high-sided roasting pan.  I didn't have one so I just went to Safeway and grabbed one of those big, aluminum turkey pans in the baking aisle and it worked great and was cheap. Boil 2 quarts of water. Pour the cream cheese filling into the springform pan, over the graham cracker bottom layer and smooth the top with a spatula. Place the roasting pan with the springform pan in it, in the oven, on the lower rack, then carefully pour the hot water into the roasting pan, to create a water bath for the cheesecake, pouring until the water reaches halfway up the side of the springform pan.  Cook at 325°F for 1 1/2 hours.

6. Turn off the heat of the oven. Crack open the oven door 1-inch, and let the cake cool in the oven, as the oven cools, for another hour. This slow cooling will help prevent the cheesecake surface from cracking.

7.  Remove the cheesecake from the oven and water bath and tent the top of the cheesecake with foil, making sure it doesn't touch the top of the cheesecake. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Before serving, prepare the toppings for the cheesecake!  The options are kind of endless, but since I have tons of huckleberries in my fridge right now, a huckleberry cheesecake sounded perfect.

Cream Topping
2 cups sour cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place sour cream in a medium sized bowl, stir in the powdered sugar and vanilla, until smooth. Chill until you are ready to serve the cake.

Huckleberry Sauce
recipe via foodnetwork
2 cups huckleberries
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons water

In a saucepan over medium heat, add huckleberries, granulated sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 8 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and water. Slowly stir into the huckleberry sauce and heat until thoroughly combined and thickened.

To Serve:
Remove the cake from the refrigerator and remove the foil from the sides of the pan.  If you put parchment paper over the bottom of the pan, you should be able to easily slide the cake off the pan's bottom and onto whatever serving plate you'd like. Run a butter knife between the edge of the cake and the pan. Open the springform latch and slowly open the pan and remove the sides. Spread the top with the cream topping and drizzle with Huckleberry sauce.  You should have enough Cream and Huckleberry topping to add to slices, too, for extra decadence!

If you don't finish the whole cake, it freezes well so you can save it for later.  Or eat it for breakfast all week... I definitely didn't do that at all.  Nope.

diy gold glitter glasses

ometimes you find a pair of old glasses you never wear and decide they'd be way cooler as gold glitter glasses.  And you happen to have gold glitter, gold glitter paint, and gold marker.  A few hours later... voila!  I mean, come on.  What could be more fun than glitter glasses?  Well, besides pairing glitter glasses and a super colorful 

wig

, that is.  Sure they might not be practical for daily wear, but who cares?  A pink and purple wig isn't totally practical for daily wear either, but it's hella fun.  That's right, I just brought back "hella."  Deal with it.

Sure, you might not "need" a pair of glitter glasses, but it's a pretty quick and easy DIY that you can do in an afternoon and they'd be really fun for a photo shoot or photo booth.  If you don't have some spare glasses already, you can find some non-prescription glasses at Target, and thrift stores usually have quite an assortment of glasses as well.  This would also be an awesome DIY for a pair of sunglasses!

Materials:

Glasses

Gold marker

or nail polish

Glitter Paint

Glitter

Nailpolish Top Coat

1. Paint a base of gold, either with a gold nail polish or gold marker (or whatever color you want the base to be, depending on the color of glitter you're using).  Allow the base coat to dry completely, at least 30 minutes.  I only did the front portion of the glasses, not the sides, but if you want to do the whole glasses, go for it.  I'd recommend not doing the inside, though, since you won't see that when you're wearing it and it'd probably be scratchy.

2. Squirt out a glob of the glitter paint and shake some loose glitter into the glob and mix with a paintbrush.  Paint the glitter on as thick as you'd like.  I tried to cover the gold base as much as possible without it looking super globby.  Again, allow to dry completely.  I'd give it at least an hour.  Don't paint the glitter on the inside of the nose rest as it'd be super scratchy and uncomfortable to wear.  I just left that part with the gold base coat, sans glitter.

3. To really seal everything, paint a layer of nail polish clear coat over the whole glitter and gold layer. This will keep the glitter from flaking off and keep the gold base coat from rubbing off onto your skin.  Make sure it's completely dry before wearing!  I let mine sit overnight to make sure they were ready to wear.

coffee honey sugar scrub

e're coffee drinkers in my house, which means we end up with a lot of used coffee grounds.  I've been using a lavender coconut sugar scrub lately, but it's running low, so I thought I'd make one up using my excess coffee grounds!  A lot of people claim that coffee scrubs will reduce or eliminate cellulite, but I'm inclined to call bullshit on that.  Maybe, just

maybe

, it

slightly

reduces the appearance of cellulite, but I have no reason to believe that it does.  Also, for my thoughts on people who think we all need to remove every dimple of cellulite from it's existence on our bodies, just read

this

, because Amy pretty much summed it up.  But I digress.  I like coffee.  I like the smell of coffee.  Hence, I thought a coffee scrub sounded like a lovely and invigorating addition to my showers.

Even if coffee won't magically banish your dimply (glorious) thighs, it is awesome in other ways!  

 Coffee (obviously) contains caffeine which has anti-inflammatory properties that can help to heal skin and is also has lots of powerful antioxidants.  The abrasive texture of the coffee grounds and sugar sloughs off dead skin cells and gives your skin a fresh, radiant glow.  The coconut oil in this recipe is all kinds of awesome.  It has anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-septic qualities, and can also soothe skin irritations and aid the healing process.  Adding essential oils is optional, but I wanted to throw some Tea Tree oil in mine because tea tree oil is pretty crazy awesome.  It's known for its antiseptic, anti-fungal, and infection-reducing benefits, has antibiotic properties

and

can help aid against ailments such as skin infections, rashes, burns, dandruff, the list goes on.  Seemed like an obvious choice to put in a skin scrub.  Lavender is also a great essential oil to use on the skin, but I was skeptical of how lavender and coffee would smell together.  But, hey!  I didn't try so maybe they'd be great!

Ingredients:

1 c coffee grounds

1 c sugar (for a more coarse scrub, use raw sugar)

1/2 c coconut oil

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp raw honey

10-15 drops essential oil (optional, I used

Tea Tree Oil

)

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Scrub on to the skin in the shower and then rinse  If you're worried about your shower drain clogging, cover it with a coffee filter to catch the grounds.  Store in an airtight container, like a mason jar, and keep in a cool, dry place.  Makes about 16oz of scrub.

spectacle to behold

his outfit it a bit of a throwback.  Two or three years ago I was in the throes of my femme-twee phase, with lots of cute collars and vintage silhouettes.  It was my way of trying to find my personal style, reacting to the decade of jeans and t-shirts prior.  While I've settled back into a style I feel is a bit more casual than those twee-phase days, I still enjoy pulling out a little bit of twee now and again.  Even though I'm denying the fact that summer is waning, I'm already thinking about outfits making the transition to fall and how things can be layered and worn in cooler temps.  I think this dress will do nicely with a cardigan, belted, maybe a scarf, and tights.
Dan and I have been watching Arrow and when he saw me in this outfit he thought that I was channeling Felicity.  I wasn't consciously, but she is probably my favorite character on the show.  I think it might be the combo of the bun, lipstick, and glasses, now I just need a desk full of computers hacking into various government databases to complete the look.

 

dress/courtesy of modcloth :: shoes/courtesy of seychelles :: bag/courtesy of fossil lady tie/courtesy of flapper girl :: glasses/courtesy of bonlook