Welcome To The Jungle, Baby!

Oct 23, 2012 By LindsayCK in Trends 2 Comments Tags: Animal Jewelry, Asos, Bauble Bar, Jungle Inspired Jewelry, Mango, Pendant Necklace, Piperlime, Send the Trend, Stella and Dot, Top Shop

When I was younger my Grandma Maxine used to wear these big pieces of funky jewelry, oftentimes with thick golds and metals in the shape of animals. They were always bejeweled and I always thought they were weird. Oh, Grandma, if you can hear me in heaven, “You were right and I was wrong, and yes, you really were a trendsetter.”

So in honor of Grandma Maxine and her incredible sense of style, I present to you one of Fall 2012′s biggest trends: jungle-inspired jewelry.

1. Ram Head Studs, $12.00, Top Shop

2. Kalahari Bracelet, $79.00, Stella and Dot

3. Elephant Pendant (Comes with Chain), $24,99, Mango

4. Lions Head Pendant Necklace, $26.39, Asos

5. Tiger Cuff, $58.00, Bauble Bar

6. Elephant Earrings, $28.00, Piperlime

7. Cougar Brooch, $27.02, Send the Trend

By Blogsdna

2 Comments

Kim
Oct 23, 2012 @ 07:57

I bought a bejeweled elephant pendant that looks almost exactly like #3 for $2.95 at Forever 21 and I get compliments every time I wear it! LOVE this trend.

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Ayelet Heckathorn
Oct 23, 2012 @ 12:57

I love these!!! I was always obsessed with my grandmother’s animal jewelry and I still love this trend.

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24 Weeks – 6 Months Pregnant Today!

Time flies when you’re making a baby!

Somehow in the blink of an eye, we went from talking about having a baby to being six months pregnant. Unreal. It’s amazing to think that in just 16 short weeks we will be welcoming the little Bean into our world.

Hair: Thank you to Natalie Cooper at Mercer Street Salon; Jacket: $74.99 at Bloomingdales; Dress: $29.99, Liz Lange Maternity for Target; Sandals: $74.99, Crown Vintage at DSW; Purse: $15.00, Angel Couture; Bangels: $15.00 from Liv Boutique and $40.00 Kate Spade at Nordstrom.
Giving Back to Boston

As much as our country often feels divided, during weeks like these where we have experienced horror beyond understanding, we have an innate way of coming together and allowing our differences to subside. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that the images from Boston have haunted me, especially the photos of wounded children. It’s heartbreaking to think of these little angels in so much pain.

One proud Bostonian is doing something to even temporarily bring some happiness to those suffering. James Bishai (you may remember him from a giveaway) of Watchout! Designs donated 200 of his watches to Boston Children’s Hospital patients. James said, “I decided to donate to the Children’s Hospital in light of the recent events, and if I can provide a smile to someone’s face in need; even by looking at the bright colors of a watch, I am happy to do so.”

For James, this was a small act, but for those kids and their families, this is much more. This is a stranger trying to relieve their pain, a person they’ll never meet trying to bring joy to what has otherwise been a week filled with terror. James did what was in power to make the lives of others better. Thank you, James for your generosity. ”Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.”

If you live in the Boston area, James will be hosting a trunk show on June 25th at the Middlesex Lounge from 5:00-8:30. And even if you don’t live in Boston, but you want to show your support for that city, you can purchase on of James’ Boston t-shirts.
Salted Caramel and Chocolate-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Almost every day, my husband asks me to make him some type of baked good. Almost every day he doesn’t get said baked good. You can call me an awful wife, but I am looking out for both of our waistlines and general health, because I know what happens whenever I bake. Very quickly the one brownie we were planning to share turns into us sneaking into the kitchen and taking little bites out of the pan and usually within 48 hours the treat that was supposed to last a week has found a new home in our stomachs.

I do love baking (like, LOVE baking), so for special occasions or when we have to bring something for a dinner party, I let him request whatever he wants. Thursday was his birthday and after a weekend with the boys, he declared yesterday, “I want salted caramel chocolate chip cookies.” “Hmm,” I thought. I looked in my cookbooks, no dice. I tried looking online for a good recipe, but every one I found just looked “eh.” After my search didn’t bear fruit, I decided to give it the old college try and just make a recipe up. I chose to stuff the cookies rather than top them with more chocolate and salted caramel because I didn’t want the caramel to just get absorbed by the cookie dough or run all over the top of the cookie. Luckily they turned out pretty good (if I do say so myself!) and hubs got his sweet fix for at least a few days. I’m sure by Wednesday the cookies will be gone and we’ll be back to our game of cat and mouse.

Recipe:
- 1 5.5 ounce bag of caramels (I bought the generic version from Walgreen’s)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt plus more for sprinkling atop cookies
- 1 semi sweet chocolate bar
- 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed tight
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 12 ounce package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
First preheat the oven to 375. Then start cutting the caramels into small pieces, putting them in a bowl, and tossing the cut-up caramel with sea salt. Once the salt is distributed evenly, put the bowl in the freezer. The reason I did this was to keep the caramel from sticking together and to make it easier to use. If you can find baking caramel, you can probably skip this step because you buy it in a much firmer state. The caramel I bought was very soft.

Next break the chocolate bar into small chunks. You can use a mallet, but be careful not to let pieces fly. I tried using one and a piece almost landed in my trusty sidekick’s mouth.

Once the chunks are done, put them aside and somewhere far from the oven. I don’t know about you, but in my little city kitchen, heat gets trapped pretty easily. If the chocolate is close to any heat source, it can start to melt.

After that, mix the flour, salt, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, mix the two types of sugars (and seriously, pack the you know what out of that brown sugar….ain’t no one EVER complain of too much of the brown stuff), butter, and vanilla. Add the eggs slowly and keep the mixer on level one.

Next start adding in the flour mixture to the wet mixture, but seriously, don’t put too much dry mix in at once. Why, you ask? Because it’s harder to distribute the dry ingredients evenly if they all go in at once, which will make your dough weird…and who likes weird cookies?

Once you’ve got the dry into the wet, pour in the chocolate chips and mix, mix, mix!

Now here comes the fun part! Using an ice cream scooper, take a hunk of dough and put it on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Take the rounded edge of the scooper and make a little divot in the dough and place a few pieces of the chocolate on top, then cover the chocolate with a few pieces of the caramel. Next take a smaller amount of cookie dough and flatten it in the palm of your hand. Take the flattened dough and cover the chocolate and caramel, making sure that they are completely surrounded by cookie dough.

If the dough has gotten warm and becomes a little soft and hard to mold, cover the formed cookies with the ice cream scooper and push as if you were releasing ice cream. They will be perfectly round on the top. Once the cookies are in the shape you want them, lightly sprinkle them with sea salt and put them in the oven on a middle rack for 11 minutes.

Leave a LOT of space in between cookies, because these things come out massive. I put one next to my phone below for scale.

Let the cookies cool completely before you dig in. They will come out soft and a because they are big, they can break easily. The caramel will have melted, but will stay in the center of the cookie and be an extra “kapow!” when bit into. Enjoy!
My Favorite and My Not-So Favorite San Francisco Foot Massage

My feet hurt…a lot. I wear uncomfortable shoes, exercise often, and I’m pregnant. Pretty much a recipe for achy, sore feet. I would love to have daily foot rubs, but unfortunately my better half wants nothing to do with my feet. I don’t really blame him; I’ve seen my toes. The only real option I have, other than to suck it up, is to enlist the help of a paid professional. But lord knows, I can’t make it to a spa on the regular, so I’ve been frequenting the small foot massage spots around the city. Here are my two most memorable foot massage experiences.

Utoepia

Utoepia is located on Divisadero between Bush and Sutter, across the street from UCSF Medical Center. From the outside it doesn’t look like much. I’ve probably passed it a million times and never thought twice to stop in. Well, stop in.

A few friends and I had a Girls Day to celebrate a graduation from grad school. The day started with brunch at the Presidio Social Club and continued at Utoepia. When we walked in I was surprised at how nicely it was decorated as I knew this was going to be a $35 massage. As you can see from the picture the furniture is lush and extremely comfortable. The hardwood floors really give a touch of class.

Because we were a party of three we got the private room in the back which was dimly lit and blocked most of the noise from the rest of the spa. For the first 10 minutes we soaked our feet and then they got down to business. We each opted to do part foot, part full-body. My masseuse pressed with the most perfect amount of pressure. She had strong hands which rubbed the achy-ness out of my tender feet. Because I can’t lie on my back, I laid on my side for the full-body portion and she was very sensitive to the fact that I needed a gentler massage. I never, ever, EVER fall asleep during massages, but I kept having to shake myself a little to keep from nodding off. When the glorious 75 minutes were up, they gave us water and these delicious little cookies. Luckily we didn’t have to immediately leave heaven, because we then continued our day by getting bomb-ass mani-pedis! Seriously, they were bomb!

So pretty much what I’m saying is that if you can’t figure out what to buy that someone special, get them an afternoon at Utoepia. Just make sure you book ahead, because this place was hoppin’!

Delightful Food Massage

Oh, Delightful Foot Massage. I would prefer it if they called you “Meh Foot Massage.”

This past weekend I was getting over a stomach bug and my body just hurt. Delightful Foot Massage opened a new location around the corner from my house, so I thought this would be a perfect way to help relieve some tension. They were able to seat me right away without an appointment and I opted for the 60-minute feet only massage for $29.99. I stepped past the beaded curtain into the room pictured above. No frills, but very clean. The chair was comfortable and my masseur was very friendly and sweet. I put my sore stems into the water bucket and he proceeded to scratch the living daylights out of my head. Hard. I actually wondered at one point if I was going to end up with dreadlocks, which would have been fine circa 1999, but not circa now. He then tried to start massaging my shoulders, and I was worried that he thought I was doing full-body, which would have jumped the price to $60.00. Since I wasn’t ready to spend that much, I stopped him immediately.

He then proceeded to do a somewhat lackluster job of rubbing my toes and pressing hard into my calves. I told him once that it was too hard and he let up a little bit. By this point the room was full of patrons and I didn’t want to be that one annoying person that can’t shut up. I tried to just relax into it until the man on the bed next to me starts snoring in a way that I could only describe as something from Wiley Coyote. The inhale snore sounded like sawing logs and the exhale was literally a whistle. Like “hey girl, hey!” kind of whistle. All other guests were asleep, so it was just me and masseurs laughing at Wiley. My guy kept smiling at me as he caused me pain, and I truly believe he thought he was doing a great job, so I didn’t want to complain. Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age.

I walked out of DFM with matted hair like I’d just spent the night with Jagger and not nearly as relaxed as I wanted to be, but at least it was a respite from thinking about my messed up stomach.

Moral of the story is this: if you find somewhere amazing and it happens to be a hop, skip, and a jump away, just hop, skip, and jump. Convenience isn’t always worth it.
20 Weeks Done and 20ish To Go!

20 weeks done, 20 weeks (or in my opinion, 18 or 19 weeks) until we meet our little man. Except, I have a feeling that this somersaulting, soccer kicking baby is not going to be so little. I think he’s gonna be a big, big boy! At our 18 week appointment Bean was weighing in at a half a pound, which is about an ounce and a half bigger than he should be. Ruh roh! Although the boychick is a little large and in charge, I’m pretty pysched that I’m actually showing and not getting those awkward “Is that girl pregnant or did she just eat a salty lunch?” looks.

Maternity clothes, for the most part, are pretty terrible, but luckily I’ve been finding some cute things here and there and am able to wear some non-maternity items like this jacket. Let’s hope that lasts! More than anything else, I just want to maintain my sense of style throughout this pregnancy and beyond.

On a separate note, thank you to those that responded to my last post about just fashion vs. fashion, beauty, and lifestyle posts. It seems like you want to see more than just fashion from OHOB, so ask and you shall receive! Look for my foray into other things style coming soon!

Jacket: $14.99, Ann Taylor from Gabriel Brothers; Pants: $59.99, Pea in the Pod; Top: $35.00, Pink Blush Maternity on Zulily; Shoes: $99.99, Sperry’s at Nordstrom; Sunglasses: Can’t remember, but I think they were around $15.00; Purse: hand me down; Scarf: Gift bought from World Market.
Direction, Direction

Now that I feel like a real human and am halfway done with this pregnancy, I want to get back to this blog. I’ve been thinking a lot about the direction I want to go in and what the future holds for One Hundred or Bust. And, well, a lot depends on you!

What do you want? Should OHOB include home furnishings, makeup, and lifestyle? Should OHOB be more than just fashion? Of course, any featured items will be less than $100. Duh. So tell me whatcha want, y’all!
Oh boy…a big announcement!

Well, hello my lovely One Hundred or Busters! It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other and it’s time you knew why!

Thank you to all of our friends and family for being so loving and supporting us on this adventure. We are completely over the moon and can’t wait to meet the little guy! And get ready for more One Hundred or Bust!

Blazer: Gibson, $49.99, Marshalls; Dress: $12.99, H & M; Belt: $14.99, Target; Sunglasses: $7.99, Zara.