| Pretty Little Things: September 2012

9.28.2012

Purple Flowers and Mustard Yellow

As I've mentioned before, my workplace is pretty conservatively dressed, so I've been afraid to stray from the blacks, neutrals and classic pieces just because I don't want to stick out too much, and want to make sure I am being viewed as being appropriate and professional. So with that being said, I've been slowly playing with colors and incorporating it more into my outfits. Here is what I wore yesterday -- I paired one of my favorite purple floral blouses with a mustard yellow cardigan and my new denim pencil skirt.

Outfit Details

Mustard Cardigan: Target -- Blouse: LOFT -- Denim Pencil Skirt: LOFT

Love Necklace: Tiffany & Co -- Gold Watch: Fossil -- Wedge Heels: Tory Burch

TGIF everyone!

Happy Friday and I hope everyone has a great weekend : )

-Pretty Little Things

9.27.2012

Fall Bucket List #25: make cozy fall comfort foods - Healthy Black Bean Chili

Lately I've been trying to stick to my healthy eating lifestyle (let's not call it a diet) and trying to incorporate more "real" foods in my diet as well as the right foods I need to slim down, feel more energetic, and overall just more healthy. Plus with the weather getting cooler - nothing is more comforting than hearty comfort foods.

What resulted was healthy black bean chili over brown rice. Topped with diced avocado.

Last night I cooked up this black bean chili (black beans are so good for you!) over a bed of brown rice (also excellent and full of vitamins in comparison to its white rice counterpart) and topped it with some diced avocado (which is seriously a superfood and full of all the good fats!) It was really delicious and I felt like I was sticking to my "healthy eats" so I wanted to share it with all of you. You can also opt to make it with turkey (which would make this recipe even leaner) but I used ground beef which I already had in the fridge.

Healthy Black Bean Chili

(recipe from finecooking.com and can be found here.)

3 15-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 14-1/2-oz. can diced tomatoes

1 medium chipotle plus 2 Tbs. adobo sauce (from a can of chipotles in adobo sauce)

2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb. 85% lean ground beef

Kosher salt

1 large red onion, finely diced

1-1/2 Tbs. chili powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 lime, juiced

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Freshly ground black pepper

1 ripe avocado, cut in a medium dice

Put one-third of the beans into the bowl of a food processor, along with the tomatoes and their juices, chipotle, and adobo sauce. Process until smooth and set aside.

Heat the oil in a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven or similar heavy-duty pot over medium-high heat until it’s shimmering hot, about 2 min. Add the beef, season with 1/2 tsp. salt, and cook, using a wooden spoon to break up the meat, until it loses its raw color, about 3 minutes. Transfer the beef to a large plate using a slotted spoon. Add half of the onion and 1/4 tsp. salt, and cook, stirring, until it begins to brown and soften, about 3 min. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the chili powder and cumin and cook for 20 seconds. Add the remaining black beans, the puréed bean mixture, and the beef to the pot and simmer for 10 min., stirring frequently. Add half of the lime juice, half of the cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste. If the chili is thicker than you like, it may be thinned with water.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the remaining lime juice and onion with the avocado. Season generously with salt and pepper.

**The original recipe says you can top it with sour cream, but I opted for the avocado which is cool and creamy like the sour cream but much healthier -- and of course some fresh cilantro -- LOVE**

Enjoy : )

-Pretty Little Things

9.26.2012

Fall Bucket List

It's no secret that this is my favorite time of year, and that fall is my absolute favorite. Between the changing of the leaves, the crisp cool air, the first time you slip on a cozy sweater and boots, football sundays and pumpkin flavored anything -- I couldn't wait to put together my fall bucket list!

Pretty Little Thing's Fall Bucket List

1. pumpkin picking

2. apple picking

3. go to a Giants game

4. carve/decorate pumpkins for Halloween

5. make a gingerbread haunted house

6. do a corn maze

7. visit a haunted house

8. go on a hayride

9. creative Halloween costumes

10. watch scary movies all day

11. try cooking a new recipe every week

12. play in the leaves

13. work on my photography

14. go hiking

15. attend college homecoming

16. decorate apartment with fall/halloween decor

17. go on a weekend roadtrip

18. make homemade hard cider

19. have a pumpkin carving party

20. throw a Halloween party

21. do more projects from pinterest (less pinning more doing)

22. work on my scrapbook

23. spend Thanksgiving with family and friends

24. go shopping on black Friday

25. make cozy fall comfort foods like soup and chili

26. attempt to start my Christmas shopping early

27. watch the new season of American Horror Story

28. go to a murder mystery dinner

29. go wine tasting at a winery

30. watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"

31. Hoboken Music and Arts Festival

32. try pumpkin flavored anything

33. eat apple cider donuts

34. visit the Salem Witch Museum in MA

35. host a day after Thanksgiving cocktail party with friends

36. have more creative (and surprise) date nights

37. get into college football with D

38. watch Paranormal Activity 4.

omg I'm scared already!!

39. enjoy the fall foliage

40. try to leave work at work, and live in the moment : )

I sure have a lot of my list, but I'm excited to try to achieve them all!

Hope you all read along to keep up with my autumn adventures...

Cheers to cooler weather -- and happy fall everyone! : )

-Pretty Little Things

9.25.2012

what's inspiring me lately...

I haven't done one of these posts in a while, but thought I'd share some things that are currently inspiring me...all images can be found on my pinterest page.

My dreams of one day having a lake house. This is my heaven : )

The coziness of this outfit.

Yup, this is me. More on this in tomorrow's post...

The simplicity of this dish - pasta tossed with garlic, olive oil and red pepper flakes. YUM!

Fall sangria with farm fresh apples.

all the new fall nails colors in rich, creamy dark shades -- love!

Yes, she did.

What's inspiring you lately?

Hope you all have a lovely day! : )

-Pretty Little Things

9.24.2012

Navy and Lace

One of my dear friends from college married this weekend, so I wanted to share some pics of what I wore, and some snapshots from the night. Enjoy : )

Outfit Details

Lace dress: Express -- Clutch: Tory Burch -- Heels: Cole Haan

Watch: Michale Kors -- Love Necklace: Tiffany and Co. -- Bracelet: Swarovski

My mom wasn't the greatest taking pics on the iphone -- but this one actually turned out pretty funny so I decided to share it!!

Me and the girls.

The beautiful bride -- double fisting her drinks of course ; )

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday! : )

-Pretty Little Things

9.21.2012

Pink Hearts and Charcoal

I'm seriously loving the trend of heart sweaters seen at J.Crew and Old Navy. Since J.Crew can sometimes be out of my budget -- I loved how ON created the piece for such an affordable price. In fact, so affordable I got another one in a different color -- and can't wait to show that off soon ; )

Outfit Details

Heart Sweater: Old Navy -- Black Pencil Pants: Madewell -- Leopard Flats: Payless

Love Necklace: Tiffany & Co -- Gold Watch: Fossil

And I know to most, this photo looks like a really crappy manicure -- but in fact, this is my self-manicure that I was actually really proud of in the fact that it didn't look like a four year old painted it. I've been trying to save money lately and doing my own nails (those manis/pedis can get so expensive) and this is what I ended up with. This color is the Nicki Minaj Collection for OPI -- Pink Friday.