white collar girl

nothing new or notable here, just a quick outfit post (a more substantial, VIDEO-INCLUDED, post to come this afternoon) - i ordered this cute little pearl collar off etsy only to realize, once it arrived in my hot little hands, that it was about big enough to around my bicep and not much else. no matter! i cut it carefully in half, stitched the ends to secure the pearls, and sewed two ribbons, about 5 inches long, between the two halves. voila! a pearl collar.

top: j crew
shorts: asos
shoes: rachel comey (similar here)
collar: vintage, etsy


more soon!

xo audrey

old favorites

my awful neighbors decided to have a party last night (yes, MONDAY night,) and i realized early on there was no chance of going to sleep at a reasonable hour what with the drum circle accompanied by whoops and cackles; so i made the best of it and finally got around to posting a bunch of stuff on etsy i've been meaning to shed for awhile.



including these three, all favorites in their time. le sigh. sometimes i regret having photographic evidence that i used to be much skinnier. stupid birthdays. and cake.

anyway! these three, and many more, are all for sale on my shop. let me know if anything strikes your fancy and i'll hold it for you.

xo audrey

jewelry boxer

good afternoon! a bit late on the posting today - my office is doing a shoot that involves me (being the only girl) twirling around in a long, flowy black dress. black being the one color that is almost entirely un-represented in my wardrobe, me and a coworker went shopping for chiffon for hours, trying to find the right thing (as it turns out, april is not the month to find long black dresses) and i am now sitting in a god-awful junior high prom dress with rhinestone beading on the shoulders, waiting for my turn in front of the camera.

in real life, though, i'm wearing this. my co-worker said i look like a jewelry box today, which i take to mean jewel tones + rhinestones? i've chosen to take it as a compliment.





shirt: thrifted
shorts: j crew outlet
tights: street vendor
necklace: etsy'd and repaired by me
shoes: etsy

i love these shoes so, but every time i wear them i tell myself it'll be the last time - they are about a half size too big and the slingbacks are a bit stretched out with age, so they flap every time i take a step, and after a while my feet really start to kill. the walk home should be fun. oh wait, no, the opposite of that.

tonight i'm having girls' night with a friend of mine; i think we'll see a movie, drink bellinis and give each other manicures. it should be lovely.

as far as wedding stuff is concerned - i think i've decided that, for budgetary reasons, it makes the most sense to combine the placecards and favors into one item. as such, the choices have been narrowed to either bottles of infused oil, small jars of curd or jam, or a plant of some sort; i suppose the supplies i'm able to find on my internet search and sam's vote will be the tie breaker. i'm a bit heartbroken to not use some of the other ideas, though, so i think i've figured out a way - i can get custom made horse ribbons to say whatever i want, so i think i'll have some ordered with descriptions of the appetizers; i'll embroider a hoop with the kind of wedding cake we're serving; paint little animals black and write the types of macarons on them, and so on. i think it'll be a fun way to get to use all these ideas i can't quite let go of.

i've been trying to be organized in keeping track of everything i need to buy, find, decide upon - which has basically amounted to me keeping a variety of lists in different places and then losing them and starting over. i mentioned this problem to a friend of mine today and he recommended i check out backpackit - you can sign up for a free account with that link - and it is a MIRACLE. if anyone out there is planning a wedding or another big event, or just has a lot of things to keep track of, i HIGHLY recommend it. it's super intuitive to use, and it's allowing me to link up my lists with all the pages i've been bookmarking - in short, it's a life saver. i am in no way affiliated with these guys nor do they even know i'm giving them this endorsement - it's just that awesome.

the week is officially closer to over than not! i hope you're all enjoying yours.

xo audrey

teal & lace

i was going to stretch for a play on chantilly lace there - shan-teal y lace? - but i'll stop short.

i've been planning today's outfit since about this time last week (sad, but true) when i got an invite to a kate spade and adeline adeline event to take place right after work today. events aren't always my cup of tea - if i don't know someone there, i get kind of nervous and shy - but for kate spade i will suck up my awkward, throw on my best duds and even wear some makeup.






dress: vintage, funkyfondledandfresh's etsy
tights: welovecolors
slip: thrifted
bloomers: american apparel
shoes: pour la victoire
necklaces: ebay, gifted


last night was a perfect, quiet one; i came home, took a nice long bath, made some mushroom & goat cheese pasta for dinner, watched an episode of the wire, and sam made us the most perfect garlic butter popcorn. unfortunately we watched & ate in bed, thus leaving ourselves to sleep in salt and popcorn bits. oh well. we're deep sleepers.

i've got my camera ready for tonight so i promise to take lots of pictures and give a full report tomorrow.




until then,

xo audrey`

magic bus

saturday evening, after rousing late in the morning, ordering some mexican brunch to be delivered, eating in bed, and falling back asleep for a couple of hours, i got spruced up and headed into manhattan to celebrate a friend's birthday in true style: on a limo bus. it equipped with multi-colored strobe lights, a karaoke machine, and a stripper pole; one of the instructions we were given was not to hang from the bars near the ceiling whilst dancing. so, imagine that, absolutely packed with drinking 20-somethings, shimmying to lady gaga, and you probably get a vague picture of the night; it was an absolute blast. we stopped at a bluegrass bar and an old haunt of mine in williamsburg before i had to call it a night (and while sam and i were still undefeated foosball champs.)



dress: etsy
tights: DKNY
shoes: devotte
necklace: from my ma

it was a perfect night to get dressed up, since we got dropped off and picked up from each location as we went through the night, and i didn't have to worry too much about staying warm.

aaah, it is 1 am. i'd best be getting to sleep!

xo audrey

it's the holiday season

that andy williams christmas song, a favorite of sam's, has been stuck in my head for about a week and a half now and is driving me absolutely insane.

i wanted to be festive for the holidays, so i pulled out this vintage silk blouse that has been in my mending pile for weeks and finally sewed on the couple of buttons it was missing and paired it with this j crew skirt that's another favorite. these tights happened to be in my stocking (stockings in my stocking!) and matched the outfit perfectly, so i added them, plus some beads i thrifted on christmas eve, and voila! christmas outfit 2010.



blouse: vintage, etsy
skirt: j crew
tights: HUE - gift from sam's mom
booties: madewell
beads: thrifted

now to figure out my new year's outfit. i have a dress i was planning on wearing, but i think it's going to be reasonably warm in tennessee and i have been looking for an excuse to pull out the lorick tutu i bought awhile ago. . . i think some dress-up is in order.

stay warm!

xo audrey

shop update

hallo! just wanted to let you all know that i have, at last, added some items to my etsy shop; doing a bit of closet-cleaning, and getting rid of some much-adored items that either don't fit or don't fit in anymore, including this amazing skirt, this beautiful lace top, and a few more. much, much more to come.

hope you all had a lovely holiday! i'm snowed in to my apartment right now (and have my fingers crossed for another snow day tomorrow so i have time for a proper post.)

xo audrey

what i wore [a frighteningly honest before and after.]

hello! happy wednesday! i've decided that blogging is much like talking to my mom on the phone. (which i just did! hi mom!) as my days pass (and as the world turns) i think of all these things i want to talk about and then by the time i have a chance to call (or write) i've forgotten most of them or i'm so overwhelmed by trying to catch up that i put it off some more. no more! this week is so full of goodness that i'll have tons to say, and i'd better get right down to it.

okay, first, an outfit post. it's been quite awhile. i've been wanting to do this for awhile but usually sam is here to distract me when i get home; today is my early day, so i was home early, sweaty and tired, and decided to do a before and after. because the truth is, the left side is what i'm wearing most of the time; i have to have my hair pulled back, comfortable, closed-toed shoes on, and some throw-away shirt and top so it can be covered in chocolate and cake batter. so truly, this is what i wore:



left:

shirt: uo
pants: gap
shoes: toms
bandana: thrift shop

and on the right - tonight is the beginning of a week's worth of good times. i'm meeting a friend to hit the town for a bit before going to a book party for ps i made this.

onesie: anthropologie, swapped with my friend linsey a summer ago
bowtie: shoe clip from my mom
shoes: vintage, etsy'd
bag: birthday gift many years ago


next time on homerunballerina: pavement! the beach! belle and sebastian! macarons! stay tuned!

xo audrey

NSFS

that's NOT SAFE FOR SAM. i've made sam promise not to glance at the blog until i've posted enough to get this one past the first page, so sam, my dear, i love you dearly, but if you've made it this far, STOP. i'm about to post something you don't get to see for another 11 months or so.

okay.

promise?

so. . . i found the dress!! i'd been looking and looking and then i realized that there really isn't any way to pick a dress until you've decided what kind of wedding you're going to have. how fancy do i want this affair? inside, outside? what food? i didn't want to buy an expensive, floor-sweeping, long-trained masterpiece if i was going to be eating barbecue outside, barefoot. so after making some key decisions: the wedding will be outside, it will be kept pretty small and intimate, with local, seasonal, family-style food to be served on picnic tables, and sam and i are going to do everything we can ourselves. so i decided a short dress made the most sense. and that i wanted to spend as little as possible on the dress, because really, the food is what matters most to me. well, the hunk standing across the aisle is what matters most. but the food is important too. so i was absolutely delighted when i stumbled upon this on hihlo studio's etsy:




it came in the mail a couple days ago, and it fits like it was sewn for me. i am beyond thrilled. and how much did this beauty set me back? $62, including shipping.

more wedding stuff to follow (although i will certainly be doing more recipe posts soon, it's been too long!)

xo audrey

blouse

okay, i posted this blouse. it is just a tad too small for me and it's too beautiful to sit in my closet.

financial fatigue

i saw a story recently on the colbert report (if i remember right) that said that americans are experiencing "financial fatigue." they stated that we are so exhausted from scrimping and saving during the recession that we are starting to break down and buy nice things for ourselves. why not buy yourself some beautiful vintage? i am listing some things in my shop today that i LOVE.

everything is super bright and colorful for spring and colorblock is really in (apparently. i just started subscribing to refinery 29's email list and i am getting quite the education from it.)

sister dresses:


pink [UPDATE: SOLD] and orange

skirts:


red and pink

confession: i had originally planned on listing the silk top in the bottom two photos, as well, but i couldn't bear to part with it.


let me know if you're interested in anything, i am happy to hold!

xo audrey

sparrow

hello everyone! it's my weekend woooo! this month i'm working at 5 am both wednesday and thursday, so by thursday afternoon i am SO ready for a couple of days off. i'm kicking this one off right with some ramen and a homebrew. yes, when i have no one to cook for, ramen is my not-so-secret indulgence. sometimes when i'm feeling really nutty i fry an egg on top. yum.

so THS is actually the DIY i was talking about. i've had this bird necklace for ages but it was always a kind of awkward length, and then it broke, but i could never bring myself to throw it away ("i could never bring myself to throw it away" will probably be the subtitle of my biography someday.) i'd kind of half-destroyed it, thinking i might incorporate it into one of those fabulous cluttered collars marni showed on last year's runways, but never wore it or really thought about it again. until now. no necklace seemed quite right with this top, so i just sewed this one right onto it.



top: anthropologie
shorts: mary meyer
tights: cynthia rowley (via gilt)
shoes: vintage, etsy'd

these tights have these amazing freckled black studs in the back of them - you can kind of see them on my right leg a bit here. they remind me a lot of some of the detailing of bebaroque tights that i love oh so much but can't really afford - but i had a gilt credit so these puppies were free!

a word about vintage shoes. i have NEVER bought a pair of vintage shoes, from anyone, anywhere, that didn't fall apart in one way or another in very short order. whether it's a strap breaking, the heel falling apart, or the sole wearing through in a matter of days, this is such a source of frustration for me. these ones i've sewn up by hand time and again and they continue to sprout new holes. does anyone have a reliable place to buy vintage shoes? or is this just how it goes? i do walk alot, and it makes sense that something that gets so much wear and tear would fall apart a lot faster than, say, a dress; but damn, i've pretty much given up on secondhand shoes. it doesn't seem worth it to get them all re-heeled a week after i bought them in the first place.

tonight i'm heading out with christine from my style pill for a bit of a girl's night - there will be wine, sushi, and dancing involved, and, of course, as much dressing up as i can manage in this sub-par weather.

ive had a couple of questions about macarons - i have been trying out a few recipes to find the best one, so i'll report back this weekend. i just got a new scale so i can more accurately test things, and i have been VERY impatiently waiting for this to arrive:



but it seems to be on backorder. cross your fingers for me. i didn't go to culinary school for nothing, though, so i certainly have some tips to share and will do so when i post the recipe for the next batch.

have a wonderful weekend, everyone! until next time -

xo audrey

one mo' fo' the sto'

hiyo! just a quick, single-item etsy update for the moment; hopefully a full post later tonight.


perhaps the most amazing sweater of all time.


xo audrey

dress daydreaming

i'm having some trouble deciding what sort of dress i want for my wedding. i'm 99% set on vintage, but it's so hard to find one that i love that's also the right size. i also can't decide between long and short. i guess deciding on what i want the wedding to be like would go a long way to helping me decide on a dress style, but even that's tough - do i want something more traditional, or just something fun, something that feels like me and sam? there's definitely a part of me that wants to wear a short, fun, vintage dress, maybe not even a white one, and walk down the aisle to a kinks song or something. but i don't know. there is a little, girly part of me that just wants a nice long dress that makes me feel beautiful, and a veil over my face, and a string quartet. anyway, here are some that have caught my eye.






all above are from all over etsy; i've lost track.


this one from sarah seven. she has such beautiful dresses, but i think most of them are too short for my family. . .


this one from posh girl vintage (obviously.)

**edit: and then part of me REALLY wants to say f it and do something like this:



hey, it's something blue, right?

to answer a couple questions i neglected in the last post: hi lizzie! i haven't chopped the dress apart yet - the only alteration so far has been to remove the ribbon thingie from the front. i honestly don't know what i'm doing with that dress. i hate how it looks on me but i so love how it looks on a hanger. still puzzling over that one.

robin: i used this baguette recipe. if you're going to use it for sandwiches, like i did, i'd spray it with water lightly rather than paint it on - mine was delicious but a bit too crusty for a banh mi. this is a handy recipe, though, because most baguettes take at least 24 hours to make, and these ones were ready within an afternoon.


more soon-

xo audrey

ma[ca]rooned

hello everyone! hope you're enjoying your weekend. i've spent my day sequestered inside my warm apartment, sorting through clothes and whipping up eats when i get hungry. i think i've gotten something like 30 hours of sleep since thursday; the early mornings at work don't seem to be getting easier, and i make up for all my lost sleep on thursday and friday nights. today i rolled out of bed at about noon and, upon surveying the refrigerator, decided to make crepes to use up some fruit i had rapidly ripening in there. i think i ate about 5 of them.






vanilla bean crepes:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 T sugar
1/2 t vanilla bean paste (or 1/2 t vanilla extract, or 1/2 vanilla bean)
1 t melted butter
~1 cup milk (i used 2, but any will work)

combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together, then make a little well in the center of the bowl. add the vanilla, melted butter, and milk to the well and then whisk very close to the middle of the bowl, mixing only the wet ingredients together at first; the dry ingredients should start to come into the mixture as you mix. slowly expand the radius of your whisk until you've thoroughly incorporated the dry ingredients to the wet. check the batter; you don't want it to be gloopy like pancake batter, but pretty runny so that it will create a thin crepe. add a bit more milk at a time if needed. put it in the refrigerator and let chill for about a half hour.

in the meantime, melt some butter. it helps if it's clarified butter, which you can make ahead of time by melting a pot of butter and skimming all the fat off the top until you have a clear, yellow liquid; but just plain butter is fine too. take a paper towel and roll a corner to make a little paintbrush of sorts. use this to put butter on the pan, so you don't get too much at a time and can spread it over the entire pan.

you cut up fruit or get your nutella or whatever you want to put inside ready to go, then heat up a small-ish non-stick pan on medium high heat. get the batter out of the fridge. i use a small ladle to spoon out a bit of batter onto the prepped pan, then quickly swirl it around to cover the entire pan. once the edges start to turn brown, use a small offset spatula to flip it. cook for a few more seconds, then flip off onto a plate. voila! really quite easy and very light and delicious.

also wrapped up those macarons i mentioned last time. i stuck them in the freezer to let them soften a bit; a full report when they are ready, but until then:







they are filled with a vanilla-honey buttercream. yum.

anyway! i do have a few things to add to my etsy shop this week; i'll post the first 3 tomorrow, but here's a preview for you guys. if you are interested in anything, or curious about the price, post a comment or drop me an email; i'm happy to reserve anything for anyone before it gets posted on etsy.


vintage embroidered mexican top (SOLD); vintage polka dot blouse; vintage jersey striped dress.

have a lovely sunday! i hope you all get to have a delicious brunch tomorrow morning. it's one thing i miss most now that i have to work early on sundays.

xo audrey

oh when the saints

okay, i'm not a big saints fan, but as a (very passive and ill-informed) bears fan, i am definitely in full support of watching the colts lose. so, today's outfit is in honor of the saints; here's to your on-side kick, to your interception, to your family-man quarterback and his adorable baby. cheers.


top: stevej & yonip, somewhat modified
skirt: american apparel
tights: bebaroque
shoes: thrifted, j crew

i can't believe i haven't worn these tights yet this winter. i think i forgot i have them. they are embroidered with rope and absolutely gorgeous.

let's see. food update. friday night we had some friends over for tacos; i'd intended to fry up some red snapper to make 'em proper, but i sliced my finger way open in the process, so we had to improvise. made some red cabbage slaw, mexican corn, and cut up all the veggies i had in the fridge, and i don't think the fish was missed.





saturday morning i woke up at a semi-reasonable hour and made almond french toast with blueberry maple syrup and vanilla creme anglaise.


eating so much that's so bad for you so early in the morning really does not inspire on to get on with your day, so i decided to just keep baking and made a baguette so we could have some fresh banh mi sandwiches for dinner. much lighter and absolutely delicious.





tonight i'm working on some honey-vanilla bean french macarons. photos tomorrow, pending them turning out properly.

oh! and a couple of new things on etsy. hopefully i'll have more this weekend.



cropped rhinestone jacket



pink bow sweater

so much to post, but i'll save some for soon.

xo audrey