autumn whispers

Yesterday the air was chilled to a mere sixty seven. The blue sky was crisp and vivid. And the sun cast a trace of golden light through my window and onto my wooden floors.

Even though the trees still hold their lush, green leaves, the breeze whispered otherwise. It spoke of apple orchards, and chunky-knit sweaters. Of pumpkin pie, and halloween. Colorful leaf piles, and hay rides. The breeze, that felt so cool on my warm, tender skin, murmured moments of autumn into my ear.

The thought of a new season excites me. So much it will bring. It's september. Summer is already sneaking out the back door. Out of mind for the next nine months.

via

Tomorrow I enter a new way of life - one with over sized sweatshirts and mounds of homework. School will start and my days will be filled with learning. This is it. The last shebang. I had a wonderful summer, and I hope you did too.

ta ta for now,
charming elephant

for love of sleepovers

What's in a sleepover that is so thrilling to teenage females? Is it the awkward loveliness of posing for the camera? Is it the assumed permission to pig out on brownies? Is it the late night conversations? Or is it simply the amount of laughter shared together? Whatever it may be, I have to admit, it's one of the best parts of being a girl.

I spent the afternoon yesterday with my dear friend Erin. I hadn't seen her in months and we had so much to catch up on. So we sprawled out on my bed, and talked. About clothes, instagram, blogs, life. And every-so-often she'd slip in an 'I love your room!'. Before we knew it, an hour had passed by and we were running out of things to say.

Erin was anxious to test out my camera and some of my clothes - in other words, she was ready for a photo shoot. The sun was still high in the sky, a few clouds here and there. My favorite time of day. We ran around the yard, posing in front of anything and everything, feeling awkward all the same. And after a few hundred shots, our stomachs were growling in unison.

After a few slices of ordered pizza (I know, how very original), we tore open the brownie-mix box, whisked the ingredients, and threw the pan in the oven. When the agonizing, 30 minute wait was over, we pulled them out to find chocolaty perfection (never mind the crisp edges, which made them easy to eat like watermelon). Saving a few bites for later, Erin and I decided it was time to do our nails.

Now, let me warn you of something - if you ever decide to paint your nails on the screen porch at dusk, your decision may result in exploding nail-art pens, squinting to see if you are even painting the right nail, and missing your nail altogether. This may or may not be related to the conditions.

left: erin's hand (orange with gold sparkles) right: my hand (pink with gold sparkles)

The entire day there had been rumors of evening thunderstorms. Well, more like late night thunderstorms. And Erin and I were both looking forward to watching our movie with sounds of rain and thunder in the background. But how dissapointing mother nature can be - we recieve a full 30 seconds of rain and one, pathetic thunder. How dissapointing indeed. However, even though our ohsoanticipated thurnderstorm didn't arrive, the rest of our evening wasn't as dissapointing. We spent the rest of the night crafting snacks and climbing in bed to watch 'I Am Number Four' on Erin's portable DVD player.

And we didn't fall asleep until 1 in the morning.

What's your favorite part of a sleepover?

p.s. remember I am leaving on Wednesday, when I have my first guest post schedualled. (Sadly, I only have 2 guests posting for me, but I hope you will be kind to them!)

a collaboration of fashion, food, and words

lace and denim

One thing I love about doing the laundry is that I can steal anyone's clothes - and, until I actually wear it, no one ever notices. Now, truth be told, I stole that shirt - from my mom. I stole it, I paired it with some denim shorts and forest-green, gold-studded flats, and I wore it proudly all around the house. 

shirt: mom's // shorts: forever21 // shoes: thrifted //
necklace: forever21 // earrings: anthropologie

Then, later, when we took a short trip over to Anthropologie, I literally ran into a worker, and after saying her apologies, I was delighted to hear her say how cute I looked. That's really something coming from someone who's covered head to toe in Anthropologie merchandise. 

strawberry-rhubarb crumble
I made an absolutely, scrumpdiddlyumpscious treat the other day. It's called strawberry-rhubarb crumble. And I got this wonderful recipe from this amazing lady whose photos never cease to make my mouth water every time I see them. So, do you want to know how to make 'em? (Oh, and for your information, the recipe calls for oatmeal, but somehow I skipped over it, realizing it was still on the table when I had just slipped the dish into the over. So, don't do the same, please.) :)

1. Gather flour, brown sugar, room temp butter, and salt and combine dry ingredients. Then add butter until substance is crumbly.

 2. Gather rhubarb and strawberries, sugar, and flour.

 3.  Peel off the outer skin of the rhubarb and cut off the ends. Cut the stalks into one-inch pieces, or enough to make 3 cupfuls. Hull the berries, and cut in half. Then toss the fruit together with the sugar and flour until evenly coated.

 4. Place the fruit in a 9x9" baking dish. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit until evenly coated. Bake for 1 hour, or until bubbly, brown and crisp.

 (The crumble looked so yummy that I forgot to take a picture of it on a plate - until after it was long gone.) :)

Crisp Topping
1 cup toasted slivered almonds (optional)
1 cup flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
Pinch of salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup oatmeal

Fruit Filling
6 stalks rhubarb
1 1/2 pints of strawberries
6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, brown sugar, salt, oatmeal, and almonds. Mix the softened, room temperature butter into the flour mixture with a fork or with your fingers until crumbly.

Peel off outer skin of rhubarb and cut off the ends. Cut stalks in one-inch pieces, enough to make three cupfuls. Hull the berries, cut in half. Toss fruit together with the sugar and flour until evenly coated. Place the fruit in a 9×9″ baking dish. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit. Bake for 1 hour, or until bubbly, brown and crisp.

etsy
You may or may not have known that I started an etsy a few months ago, but I did. If you didn't know about it, well you have good reason, because it contained but one item and I did nothing whatsoever to advertise it. Until now. Yesterday I added 10 new items that I hope you will like. Head on over and let me know what you think! (I have a showcase on the side if you didn't already notice it.)

That's all for now, friends!
Charming Elephant

Hey, Soul Sister

So yesterday some friends came over, and I had the pleasure of listening to them perform their cover of 'Hey, Soul Sister' (which they will again be performing Friday for a choral, in-class, talent show - good luck ladies!). And after that, we got some ideas, which led to two and half fun-filled hours of - well, you'll see --

Oh, and before hand, I made brownie cupcakes, but I'm ashamed to say that I threw away the box with the instructions... *shame on me* 

hope you have a wonderful week!

Charming Elephant

The Annual Christmas Party

Every year, two of my best friends, Erin and Sonia, come over and enjoy a few presents, treats, and laughs with me. We call this our Christmas party.

I set up my mini Christmas tree and neatly piled the gifts underneath--still leaving space for the others yet to come.

This year, to start off the party, we did something a little different from last time--crafts. You see, my mom has lots of cute, little trinkets that are perfect for making necklaces, and bracelets, and magnets. How could we resist from the little scrabble letters that would look so cute as magnets in our rooms? :)

Photo via Mom

After about half-an-hour of intense crafting, we decided to start our favorite sugar-snack--puppy chow, the 'peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar'-y treat. 

It was good. :)

We did lots of other fun-filled activities too, but I was only able to catch a good chunk of the party through the lens. We played outside in the knee-high piles of snow, talked for long periods of time, and wrote a few short stories.

But the best part, by far, was when the clock struck five, because that was, really, when the party started. We prepared a wonderful dinner, which consisted of rotisserie chicken, green beans, and pickle wraps--most of which was homemade, except, of course, the chicken. After dinner, we started the peanut butter blossom cookies.

Our favorite part of making these each year is listening to the crunch sound they make when you push the kisses into the cookie.

With our tummies full of chicken and beans, we ran to my room for the presents--the moment we had all been waiting for. (I would have taken pictures of the actual moment, but my room is so pink and orange, that there is a weird glow at night that makes the pictures all weird.) Want to see what I got? :D

Next we prepared my room for the final few hours of our night with sleeping bags and blankets galore. Then we ran back to the kitchen a whipped up a platter full of popcorn, puppy chow, peanut butter blossoms, fruit, pomegranate Izze drinks, and a few other cookies from around the house. Once we were settled in to our little 'den', we plugged in the DVD player and turned on 'Flipped'--the world's cutest movie ever.

We were supposed to watch 'Elf' afterwards, but we didn't. Instead, we watched 'Flipped', again.

Yeah, we're just that obsessed. :D

Overall, we had a really. good. time. I enjoyed hanging out with such great friends and sharing such great laughs.

Have you had any parties lately?

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One more thing.

Check out the awesome chain reaction my brother came up with using a few hot-wheels tracks and dominos!