st pats

happy st patrick's day, everyone! green has gone from a color that dominated my wardrobe to one that i find difficult to wear. what color shoes does a person wear with green? add brown and (especially with my features) you look elfin, another color is too much, black just seems off. this is actually a dress that i'd intended to include in my virtual frock-swap, should that ever happen, but now that i've maybe figured out how to wear it, i might just keep it.

another frustrating day of class yesterday. i was exhausted, and ended the night by having my arm slammed into a just-out-of-the-oven pan by my clueless chef (who didn't even notice, much less apologize, as i raced to rinse my scorching arm under cold water,) thus the giant bandage on my left arm. my appendages are pretty banged up overall, mostly from cooking, but also from having to wash dishes and my hands constantly - tiny cuts all over my fingers, cracked cuticles, burns here and there. at the end of this all, though, i'll have some truly tough mitts, which might be handy.



dress: anthropologie
necklace: bought off a lady selling her clothes on the street at midnight
tights: who cares
shoes: irregular choice
belt: forever 21

tonight, lots to do and little motivation. i don't really plan on celebrating st pat's day - last night i feel asleep with my hand around a glass of red wine, and i should probably just lay off for a little while. um, that sounds a lot worse than it is. my plans are basically to study for a test tomorrow, do a bit of sewing, and possibly meet up with a couple of friends for a nightcap. hope everyone has a fun holiday, and manages to brush all the green off their tongue by tomorrow. . .

xo audrey

supper!

good morning! i hope everyone had a lovely weekend. saturday i met up with an old friend from college and pretty much drank all day long, which is not something i do often and not something i recommend. i have a baseball sized bruise on my left knee and i cringe to remember how i inflicted it upon myself. it was a lot of fun, though, and i met up with a couple of friends that night at this private speakeasy in the lower east side, which was incredibly cool and a nice way to wrap up the night.

yesterday i went over to chris and john's place to work out the final details of next weekend's supper.



if you'd like to attend, you can purchase tickets at www.audreycards.com.

today. . .



new skirt, j crew - i love the bow but i think i need to make the whole thing a bit smaller, take it in a tad on the sides and maybe shorten it by a couple of inches
blouse/dress: anthropologie
tights: anthropologie
shoes: thrifted from etsy

not feeling very chatty, but perhaps i'll be back on later.

happy monday!

xo audrey

thinking spring

despite the fact that it was 24 degrees outside when i left my apartment this morning and my legs goosebumped all the way to the L. tonight in class we're making ciabatta, sweet potato brioche, irish soda bread and english muffins.

i got a $85 gift certificate from bloomingdales in the mail a couple of weeks ago and was filled with joy. then i visited the bloomingdales website and realized that bloomingdales dollars equal approximately equal 4 standard us dollars. translation, i couldn't afford shit. except! this cute silk dress, which i was juuuust barely affordable with my bloomie bucks.



dress: by aqua, from bloomingdales
belt: salvation army
cardigan: akira chicago
tights: anthropologie
shoes: forever 21
necklace: gift from ray ray

tonight? after class? there will be dancing.

happy friday! the weekend holds in store for me

brunch with an old college buddy
fancy times at milk and honey
hanging with my homeboys chris and john

i hope yours is fun-filled as well.

xo audrey

laundry day

good morning! thursdays are generally good days for me. i catch up on lost, get the night off of school, and bask in the knowledge that tomorrow is friday. today i have a pretty full list at work, too, so the day should go quickly.

class has gotten a bit harder. not technically speaking so much as we switched chefs, and the new one is. . . challenging. it's difficult because i loved the chef we had in level one, and this one just seems kind of bipolar; kind of spacey and meandering and then all of a sudden all barking and army general-esque. i really like the unit we're on, though; last night i brought home one of those giant bed bath and beyond bags LOADED with food: 3 different kinds of croissants (ham and cheese, plain, and chocolate,) a malty oat bread, 4 different kinds of danish (cheese, apricot with almond cream, pastry cream, cream cheese and blueberry,) and a cheese tart with onions and and bacon that's gonna serve as my dinner tonight.



shirt: vintage ck pajamas
shorts: handmade mary meyer
tights: two pairs, one anthro, one urban outfitters
belt: anthropologie
shoes: DSW

i have noticed a pattern in the shape of shoes i'm pining after lately. i ordered some pumps online a few days ago, but i haven't gotten a confirmation yet, so if for any reason that doesn't work out, i'm going to have to get one of these pairs instead:



left and right via 80spurple.com; center shoes via buydefinition


tonight: more sewing. eating cheese tarts. probably drinking wine. trying to fall asleep before 2 am. and much, much more.

xo audrey

anthropologie roundup

also, real quick, i dashed into anthropologie after work yesterday (bought the belt i am wearing today, on sale for $9!) and took a look around to see that there is a lot of stuff i really like in there right now. and, maybe it's a conscious decision because of the economy, but i feel like the stuff i liked was less expensive than usual. generally when i am wandering around anthropologie and i see a dress i like and fumble for the tag, the sticker shock is great enough for me to quickly stuff the tag back in place and make a beeline for the sale section. but these are 3 dresses that i saw last night and loved, and was surprised that they weren't more expensive than they are.




underwood shirtdress, $168; carillo shift, $128; orava shift, $138.

now i just have to decide which one to splurge on when i get paid friday.

tuesday evening DIY

good morning! i took a quiet night to myself last night and did a little bit of sewing. i'm actually really bummed because i had wanted to post a DIY - i had the idea to make skirts from a couple of sack dresses i never wear, and i made them and they turned out pretty well (i'm wearing one today,) but i realized once i got home that i had left my camera at work. so, no how-to today, but i'll try to do another this weekend and post that.

planning a trip to portland in a month! i haven't ever been and am soo excited to get out of new york city for a few days. if anyone has any suggestions as to anywhere i should go or anything to do, i'd love to hear it. (amy, don't worry, we'll talk.)

class tonight and then coming home and maybe doing a little more sewing. once i have a couple of successful projects it's all i want to do.



details:

homemade skirt


vintage silk blouse


blouse: thrifted on etsy
skirt: made from an old sack dress i bought in dublin a couple years ago. DIY to come!
belt: anthropologie
tights: anthropologie
shoes: payless.

until we meet again. . .

xo audrey

baguettes

i woke up this morning at 8:55 am. i'm supposed to be at work at 9. so this morning is pretty lacking in imagination.

last night was my first day of pastry II. this means a new chef, a new kitchen, a new way of doing things. i can see that it is going to take some getting used to. last night our chef forgot about my bread and it burned to a crisp in the oven. it's really not a huge deal (well, sort of,) it isn't like i've never had a baguette before, it's just that i hadn't ever made baguettes before and so i wanted to be able to bring them home. and the chef's attitude about it was the most frustrating part; it's her job to make sure that everything is baked properly, or to at least assign someone else to do so, and the fact that she just kind of shrugged it off was pretty irritating. anyway. i hope i learn a lot and i'm sure i'll settle in to it soon, but i am very grateful to have a night off tonight.



sweater: anthopologie, ebayed
dress: american apparel
tights: american apparel
shoes: pour la victoire
new purse!! a better view this time

and now. . . the great experiment.



i loved these shoes. clearly, a little too long and a little too hard. they are hand-painted leather shoes that sam brought me from italy, and today i am going to put my cobbler to the test and see what can be done with them. the other shoe is even worse; it has a huge hole in the toe, and the leather is filthy. i'll take after pictures and see what happens.

**update: dropped the shoes at the cobbler this afternoon. there was much head-shaking and turning over of the shoes, but he assured me they could fix them: "this is what we do," he said. a final run-down of the repairs needed:

replace both soles
replace both heels
new leather on the inside
full cleaning
repair two holes on the left shoe

the total cost was $65 (!! but the shoes are handmade and were expensive, and a gift, so i'm okay with it, as long as they fix them. . .) and will be ready a week from tomorrow. we shall see.

got a little online-shopping happy yesterday so i have a couple of things coming my way this week that i am very excited about. hope everyone enjoys their tuesday. . .

xo audrey