Personal Blog
Look 1:
Women’s Paisley Print A-Line Pleated Skirt- A New Day in Black size XL
Look 2:
Women’s Pleated Skirt- A New Day in Green XL
Look 3:
Women’s Tie Waist Paperbag Pants- A New Day in Black size 18
Look 4:
Women’s High-Rise Tie Waist Straight Pants- A New Day in Rust size 18
Shoes:
Women’s Gemma Snake Print Pointed Toe Block Heeled Pumps- A New Day in Gray size 11 Currently Unavailable
The top in all: Women’s Short Sleeve T-Shirt- A New Day in Black size XL
It is almost New Year’s Eve!! Like many, I am looking forward to 2021 and what it may bring (and more importantly, the end of 2020). One Greek tradition on New Year’s Day is a Vasilopita.
Vasilopita is associated with the legend of Saint Basil and the Vasilopita is a New Year’s Day bread or cake where a coin is hidden inside. It is believed that whoever receives the piece with the coin inside will be blessed with good fortune for that year. Considering how 2020 has went, I am sure we are all hoping to receive the piece with that coin.
I have seen a few takes on the traditional Vasilopita and was inspired by 54thirty’s recent Instagram post where they made Vasilopita cookies. Here is my modern take on the traditional recipe.
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
4 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking soda
powdered sugar (to sprinkle on top after cooking)
almonds (optional)
Other:
coin & aluminum foil
mini-cupcake liners & cupcake tray
Instructions:
Wash and dry your coin and cover in a small piece of aluminum foil. You will need this to add into one of the mini-cupcakes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place cupcake liners in your tray to prepare.
In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy smooth consistency.
Add the vanilla extract, orange juice and orange zest. Beat all together until smooth.
In a separate bowl, beat your eggs and then add them into the large bowl of wet mixture/batter. Beat until smooth.
In a separate bowl, add your flour and baking powder together. Slowly add this into the wet mixture/batter. You will only want to beat until it is mixed together.
Pour your batter into the mini-cupcake liners. You will only fill them about 1/2 to 3/4 full. This is when you will add the coin to one of the cupcakes. Optional: If you would like, top each cupcake with an almond.
Bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until you can poke them with a toothpick and it comes out clean.
Allow them to cool and then sprinkle them with powdered sugar.
As September is coming to a close, I want to share the top items that I have absolutely been loving!!
Yoga Wheel
Since I fell last Thanksgiving, I have noticed a lot of overall stiffness. This yoga wheel has been amazing! It can be used so many different ways, and since I starting using it, I noticed more flexibility and less pain. You can order the same on using the Amazon link below!
Bralettes
I spent 6 months of quarantine being home (and braless). Now that I am back at work, I am all about comfort and bralettes. I picked this up at Target and ordered in XL. It fit loosely but is super comfortable. I am definitely planning on ordering additional colors.
Tik Tok Profiles
Stasia_Eleni: She makes Greek videos that are on-point, so funny and totally relatable.
MattLovesHair: He has such a great personality that makes you smile and gives amazing hair tips.
Hair Products
I am LOVING Drybar’s The Double Shot Blow-Dryer. It is a rounded brush and blow dryer all in one! It is like a fresh from the salon blow out every time! I pair this with Drybar’s “yellow” Southern line of products for amazing volume. You can find it in-store at Ulta, on Drybar’s website, and Amazon.
Lunchtime Salads
Because of Covid-19 safety issues, all the teachers at my building were directed to remove all personal refrigerators and microwaves from our classrooms. Typically, I would bring in leftovers from the night before and reheat them for lunch. Since this is not an option, my go-to lunches are salads. I have become obsessed with shredded carrots to top the salads off and switch up my dressings for a little diversity. Besides plain oil and vinegar, I also use Panera Bread’s Balsamic, Wishbones Red Wine Vinaigrette, and the salad dressing from Jordan’s Restaurant in Norwalk (you can buy it bottled). I am loving these twist top containers from Target. I purchased the Twist and Store Containers in large for the salad and pop the dressing into the small 4 ounce ones.
Apple Candles
Fall is officially here! Bring on all the apple scents! All September I have been using this Appleberry scented candle from Red Leaf Home. You can find them at TJ Maxx, Homegoods and Michaels.
Hulu Binge
This month a few of my weekends consisted of me working on lesson plans and binging Hulu. Last year I started watching Good Trouble on Freeform (don’t judge), and since there aren’t any new episodes yet, I began binging the show it was based off- The Fosters.
What have you been obsessed with this past month? I would love to hear!
I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to come up with a plan to reorganize certain parts of my apartment. I have been living there for a few years and kinda dropped the ball on some projects that I didn’t finish when I first moved in. I started off with my art room/office.
I tackled the closet first to see what art supplies I had, and organized everything by adding in a metal shelf. I also spray painted everything gold to match the decor with the rest of the house.
When cleaning, I realized that I had QUITE the extensive collection of small acrylic paints from over the years. When it came to my acrylic paint collection, I needed to come up with a solution to find colors quickly. I ordered these plastic baskets from Amazon and spray painted them gold. I used Rustoleum’s Metallic Gold which I ordered from Target.
While the baskets were drying, I lined the inside of the closet doors with <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://<!– wp:paragraph –> <p>While the baskets were drying, I lined the inside of the closet doors with marble Con-Tact paper<a href="https://www.target.com/p/con-tact-18–34–x-20–39–creative-covering-multipurpose-marble-shelf-liner-white/-/A-54345585" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.target.com/p/con-tact-18–34–x-20–39–creative-covering-multipurpose-marble-shelf-liner-white/-/A-54345585</a></p> marble Con-Tact paper and marked off every 6 inches to hang the baskets so that the paints were able to fit comfortably.
Once the baskets were ready to hang, I used regular screws (keeping in mind their length so that they did not poke through the door) on either side of basket where their first hole was. I used a level to make sure each basket was hung straight.
Once the first basket was hung, it was easier to match up the sides and screws. Once they were all up I was ready to start adding my paints!
I can’t wait to finish the rest of the office! Check my instagram this week for pics of the results!
