{Feature} Beauty in Destruction...

Sometimes the most unexpected backdrops turn out to be the best, as was the case with this construction site that my friend Jerry coaxed me onto. Despite the nagging feeling that I was doing something wrong the entire time (B&E, anyone?), it was actually one of the funnest shoots I've ever done — Rain, lightning, jagged edges and all. xx

Dress- Forever 21 (old; last seen here) | necklace- gifted | sandals- Target | ring- Saint Laurent  
Photos by Jerry Aulenbach

{Halloween} An Enchanted Walk...

Because you never know what might be lurking in the woods... Happy Halloween from Kastles and Adventures in Fashion! xx

Sunday Sunday

My husband and I take our weekends very seriously. Seriously in that we don't get to see each other as much during the week as we used to so we savor our time together on the weekends and I look forward to the weekend more than when I was at an office job and I just wanted the weekend to come so I didn't have to be at the office.  Now that I work from home and work basically every hour that I'm not asleep my work life has just simply become "life" but I'm enjoying every moment of it.  I've never imagined that I could do this (be a small business owner/jewelry designer) but here I am doing it and really truly appreciating this time in my life.

Our Sundays are usually busy doing typical errands but to spend time doing even these mundane things with my husband is something that I look forward to.  I recently took my camera along for a typical Sunday for us and thought I'd share!

We either go out for a full on brunch or just a coffee and pastry so this day we decided it would be Coffee and Pastry day so went over to Grand Central Bakery.  Hubs got the seasonal danish (that you saw here when we got it last time) and I went with a cinnamon bun this time.  (That's my DIY glitter clutch in the corner.)

Next stop was Trader Joe's.  Only the best grocery store EVAR.  Seriously, why is this place so fun to go to?  My favorite section, of course is the wine section.  I always buy wine for the week and usually try to pick out something new and different but stock up on our favorites too.

We are totally the people that go to multiple grocery stores because I'm sort of picky about produce and although I adore Trader Joe's, I'm not as big of a fan of their produce.  Which brings us to Metropolitan Market which has the best produce section.  When I walk in there, I'm enticed to buy carrots and celery just because they make it look so pretty.  Don't know how they do it but they make their produce displays so nice that you want to buy everything, but not just looks, their produce really is the best in terms of freshness and taste.

Their flower section is always beautiful too.  I love perusing their flowers and deciding which ones to bring home for the week.

Gourmet raspberry marshmallows!  Um, yeah, that's why I must stay away from their bakery/sweets section because it's filled with delightful things like this that cost an arm and a leg but so hard for me to resist.

And just some of the produce I brought home.  I couldn't resist the beautiful meyer lemons and made lemon bars from them.  Sidenote: the best recipe is from the The Grand Central Baking Book(yup the same place where we started the day from!) and these Sumo oranges where I haven't seen anywhere else, were the sweetest most delicious oranges I've ever had.  We went back the next weekend to stock up on some more!

So there you go, a very boring Sunday but still fun to me :)  What are your Sunday's like?  Do you do all your errands like I do or do you just veg on the couch?  I do have to say though that our Sunday's are very dependent on the weather, if it's gross and rainy, the couch is the best place to be!

Style-ish Seattle Eats: Citizen

First, a very fun event that I'd like to invite you guys too!  You know how much I love Madewell and when they asked me to host a shopping party with them, I was thrilled! I would love to meet my local readers so I hope you can make it!  We are going to have some yummy refreshments and I'll even be styling some Madewell outfits with our yet to be released t+j Designs spring collection!  And I'm super excited because they are offering a special discount just for that night.  I'll definitely be shopping too! :)

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I think at least a few times a month I get emails from readers who are coming to Seattle for recommendations on where to eat.  You'd think I'd have put together a post by now for my favorite places but I haven't.  Seattle has so many good restaurants so depending on when someone asks, I always end up recommending different restaurants!  BTW, I love that I get so many requests, it's so great to have people come visit this city that I love so much!

A good brunch in Seattle is not hard to find, we have so amazing places but if you want a place that is not super crowded on the weekends and mainly filled with locals, Citizen is our place to go. It's tiny, the service is iffy, parking is a biatch around that area, but the coffee, the food and the relaxed, chill atmosphere is why we love it.

They have delicious crepes and I'm always torn to get either a crepe or this delightful breakfast sandwich and almost always, this sandwich wins.  It's AMAZING.  The homemade flaky savory biscuit, the perfectly cooked egg, the crispy bacon, spinach, creme fraiche....  oooh I'm hungry just thinking about it.  And those side potatoes are so delightfully tasty that even though the sandwich makes you SO full, you can't help but eat up the potatoes too.

I don't do a lot of restaurant posts because the last thing that I want to do is to carry my very large and heavy camera to my relaxing brunch but I just had to share Citizen with you all.  To be honest, it was nice capturing pictures of a place that we love to go to.  Who knows, maybe my camera will start to come to more places with me! :)

January iPhone photos

I love iPhone photo recaps but I can't seem to keep up with my weekly recaps so thought I'd do one for all the photos I took in January.  If you're on my facebook you might have already seen some of these so apologies for the repeats!

Just a few indulgences...

• Starting off the new year with Top Pot doughnuts - this time it was cinammon sugar blueberry
• a latte and doughnut at my all time favorite Espresso Vivace (okay I'm cheating this was the day after Christmas, hence the Christmas sprinkles) :)
• We've frequented the Skillet Food Truck and it is SO good, so when they opened up a restaurant - Skillet Diner - we had to try it out.  I had the Fried Chicken Sammy - fennel seed crust, pickled and charred jalapeño aioli, kale, potato bread.  It was amazing.  Definitely will be back.
• Marination Station is also a restaurant of a food truck - Marination Mobile - and I tried a Kalbi taco and a spicy pork slider.  Both YUMMY and cheap.  Double thumbs up, especially for having Hawaiian Sun drinks!
• Hubs' beer and my wine served in Mason Jars at Skillet Diner.  The next week I went out and bought those same mason jars and now drink my wine out of them at home.  HAHA! But seriously, I've shattered so many wine glasses, this is a fabulous alternative.  Thanks for the idea Skillet!

OMG snowpocalypse!  It wasn't too bad this year... although lots and lots of people lost power for many days :(  I feel for you guys if you went through that!  We were able to stay warm and still go out most of the days. 

• My husband and me on our way to lunch with my brother and his girlfriend.  It was my brother's birthday and we were supposed to go home and see my parents that day but didn't end up making it because of the snow so we took my brother out to a birthday lunch instead. (see below)
• Savvy in her snow jacket.  It's Juicy Couture and from a few years ago. 
• Snow outfit - lots of layers.  Also, this is what I do when husband shops at Niketown.  I take photos of my outfit.  LOL

• We went to Brave Horse Tavern, one of Tom Douglas' new restaurants.  I've been there several times and everything has been good, however quite expensive and kind of not really worth it?  I think I prefer Palace Kitchen for the same prices.  Like those Chicken Nuggets were good (not amazing but good) and they were $9 for 6 nuggets.  The sweet potato fries were awesome though but I love sweet potato fries.

I just posted a ton of food pictures but I really am eating healthy most days and back to working out 4-5 times a week.  I am still using the Nike Training Club app and still loving it.  Also taking a few circuit training classes at the gym.  I've lost all my "holiday weight" and then some.  Although I will say that working out does not contribute so much to my weight loss as does my diet.  They say losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise (or something like that) which is very much the case for me.  I work out to feel good, healthy and strong.  It's amazing the difference of your overall mood and how you feel when you work out a few times a week.  That feeling alone is what motivates me to go to the gym.  Well, that and it's a great stress reliever for me.

• Got some new shoes and workout clothes, because hey a girl likes to look good even while sweating it out!  Wearing Nike LunarGlides , Lululemon Racerback Top, Nike running capris and Lululemon headband.  (ha! I'm very partial to these two brands)
• I usually do not take pictures of myself while working out but I really loved my new shoes that my husband bought for me so wanted to take a picture to show him.  His work schedule is crazy these days so he and I don't get to go to the gym together as often as we did before.

My husband caught a really bad cold so I had to do a drugstore run to get him cough medicine and stuff.  But of course, I can never go to the drugstore without looking at the cosmetic section and picked up some stuff that was on sale.

• I hadn't seen any reviews of the Maybelline Illegal Length Mascara but was intrigued by the display.  I tried it when I got home and OMG this fiber mascara really works!  Look how much longer it made my eyelashes!  This was after 2 coats of mascara.  It looks like I'm wearing false lashes right?  I can't stop raving about this mascara, I love it!
• I've been using the Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadow as a shadow base and it works great.  Makes your eyeshadow last all day.  I already have two Revlon Lip Butters that I've been using like crazy so also picked up "Berry Smoothie" and "Peach Sorbet".  I'm wearing the Berry Smoothie in the photo above. 

I'm constantly taking photos of my jewelry line to make sure that it's wearable and looks nice on so I have a ton of photos of our jewelry on my phone.  Oh and we are extending our free shipping promo until Feb 7th so if you want to send a hint to your significant other, they can get it on time for Valentine's Day and get free shipping!

• The Modern Three Stone Statement Ring matched my silvery nails
• Our Love and Heart Rose Gold Necklace goes really well with the Trio Bangle
• A stack of our Gold Double Braided Cuff, Hammered Bangles (now comes in a set of 2!) and Glam bracelet (sold out)

• One of our newest designs, the Gold Luxe Link Necklace with my J Crew top.
• Wearing another t+j Designs headband (you can see another one in this lookbook) and the Mother of Pearl Rose Gold Necklace that you can win in our giveaway, just head on over to our facebook for the details!
• I attached a hair bow to our Gold Hammered Link Long Necklace and loved that it gave it an entirely different look!  It went from being just an accessory to being the thing that everyone noticed!

And a few purchases that I made...

• I got my husband's birthday gift at Mr. Porter and it came beautifully packaged, just like Net-a-Porter (their women's site) orders.  They even personalized it with a handwritten note with his name on it!
• The Foley and Corinna Disco City bag that you saw in this lookbook.  It's sooo cute and I love that it's pink suede.  Something I would never get in a bigger bag but totally works in this size.
• New Miu Miu pumps that were an ebay score!  I'm not very good with ebay, I watch auctions but then never remember to bid on them or if I bid on them, I never watch it closely enough to win them.  BUT I scored these on an amazing "buy it now" price so was super excited as I lusted after these when they came out a few seasons ago and thought that I'd never be able to get them.  They have stitching on the platform as well as on the back on the heel.  Will have better pics soon!
• The purple Prada booties that I mentioned in Monday's post that I somehow scored on sale at Nordstrom this year even though I got my black ones last year.  I swear they just had this one pair sitting in the back and someone found it and put it on the sale rack for me to find!

My parent's also work with my sister and I on t+j Designs (it's a family business, even my brother and my husband help out) and we had a couple of meetings to go to so my dad picked me up in the morning and we ended up spending the day doing fun stuff like sitting at Starbucks with our iPads and discussing our future business plans and then stopping in Chinatown for delicious Taiwanese food and of course, working.  But when you work for yourself and especially on a business that you love, it doesn't feel like working at all.  It really does just seem like fun!  

 

Well, there was my January!  I can't believe we are already one month into 2012!

*all photos taken on my iPhone 4.  Some were edited with Cross Process (the ones with the frames around it) and the others I edited in Photoshop.

February Calendar and iPhone Wallpaper

Thanks so much for the great feedback and support about continuing my free calendar downloads and for everyone that has tweeted or emailed me their iPhone screensaver.  I love it!  It makes me so happy to see you guys using it!

February's calendar is ready and I decided instead of making you guys go to a different blog post each month (and in case you missed it, having to search for it) that I would just create a page where you could find the download links and wallpaper images all in one place!  So click on over here to get the February calendar!  Enjoy!

Want to know my favorite dry shampoos?  Check out this post for my faves!

Lemon Blueberry Muffin Tops

The best part of the muffin IS the top.  Am I right?  So I HAD to share this recipe with you guys, especially because I found it on accident.  You see, I was in the mood for scones and you know me, I love the combo of Lemon and Blueberry together so I went looking for a scone recipe.  I found this one over at allrecipes.com and I liked the looks of it as it was a bit different than most scone recipes as there was no need to use a pastry cutter (hurts my arms), no heavy cream (didn't have it), not a lot of butter and used yogurt (you know I like using yogurt better than butter).  Oh and you don't need to roll it out as they are called "drop scones" which is just that, you drop the dough onto the baking sheet instead of rolling it out and cutting the shape of the scone.  I mean, I love scones but sometimes they can take a bit to make and these just sounded so much easier so I had to try it out. 

 

Turns out, they are nothing like a scone but they are YUMMY in their own right!  They are light and fluffy with bursts of blueberry and lemon flavor.  I was also generous with the lemon glaze as it kind of needed it (they are not that sweet on their own).  After my first bite, I thought, "This is just like a muffin!" which I then saved it into my Springpad* as Lemon Blueberry Muffin Tops!

Go here for the recipe and a few changes that I made were I added lemon juice and used plain yogurt since I didn't have lemon yogurt.  And before baking I brushed them with egg wash to get the brown color on the tops.

*I use Springpad to keep all my online recipes as it saves them and organizes them very nicely and also has an iPad/iPhone app which is awesome because I use my iPad as my cookbook in the kitchen and iPhone as a grocery list so I can always reference the recipe when I'm out grocery shopping.

I am Style-ish Calendar is back!

I did a calendar last year on a whim, kind of just to make one for myself and then decided to share it on my blog and ended up (much to my surprise) getting a great response to it.  I was so happy to receive such nice comments and emails throughout the year from you guys letting me know that you were enjoying it.  I got a ton of requests to do a new one but... I don't have time to do a full calendar right now so instead of making you guys wait (since it takes awhile for me to pull all my pictures together, edit them, photoshop them into the calendar format, etc...)  I thought I'd do it a bit different this year and just offer it a month at a time so you'll have to come back each month to get the next month (but I hope you're reading my blog weekly anyway.  hint hint, wink wink!) :)

And this year, I have also created an iPhone wallpaper!  The easiest way (for me at least) to save on your iPhone is to look at this post on your iPhone and hold down on the image below and "save image" will pop up and save to your Camera Roll.  From there you can select to make it your wallpaper.  I don't know if this size will work on other phones but you are welcome to try!

Here's what it will look like:

For the print version, it's the same as last year, this size will fit into an empty CD case.  You'll notice it's not in the same format as last year but you can print on an 8.5x11 (or similar for those of you not in the US) and cut on the corner lines that I have marked. 

Click to download and print!

** Just a few notes concerning the free download and iPhone wallpaper: This download is for personal use only and can not be sold or reproduced in any way.  If you'd like to mention this on your blog/website, I would LOVE if you passed it along but please link to my blog and/or this blog post and not directly to the download link.  As with any of the images on my blog, please be respectful if you use the image in any way on your site and to link/credit me. **

(this image has my iamstyle-ish tag on it but the printable version does not)

An easy way to share it without worry about crediting/linking is to pin it :)
Pin It
 
And one last thing, the winner of the t+j Designs necklace and bracelet is Mayumi and the winner of the Stila Palette and Paula Dorf Lipgloss set is Carol L.!!  Congrats ladies!  I have sent both of you emails so check your inbox!  Thanks to everyone who entered my holiday giveaway!

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