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Autumn Style: How to Mix Patterns

October 23, 2014 Filed Under: style

I’m really excited about this post for a few reasons.

1) I love Autumn. Who doesn’t love Autumn? 2) Mixing patterns is lots of fun. (My favorite pairing is leopard with stripes!) 3) Most importantly.. I love Christina!! One of my best friends, she is going to be the star of the show today. Her Autumn look is so cute but also her smile is infectious. We had so much fun shooting for this because we just kept laughing :)

How cute is she?!

My top tips for mixing patterns and styling them for Autumn:
-Transition your summer pieces, like a floral statement scarf, into Autumn by pairing it with a classic pattern such as stripes. In this look, Christina paired a staple Fall item that everyone should own: a lightweight striped sweater with her scarf. When one of the patterns is random (such as floral), you can pair it with a piece that has a structured pattern like checks or stripes. If you’re feeling brave, go for something like polka dots and floral!
-If you’re afraid that the two will clash too much, look at the two together before putting it on to see how you can tone down the mismatch. Bring in some sort of uniformity like wearing a similar toned color whether it’s your shoes or your bag. Christina wore a pair of burgundy cords (that I love!!) that match the scarf’s flowers.
-Keep the rest of the outfit minimal. Let the patterns be your statement and ditch the heavy jewelry, wear neutral colored shoes, and keep the makeup light.

I hope this brings you some Autumn style inspiration and that my tips were helpful! Look out for my next style post where I’ll be sharing one of my personal go to outfits for Autumn featuring a fun little DIY!

Quick Greek Yogurt Mac & Cheese Recipe! (Under 30 min)

October 16, 2014 Filed Under: life

If you love cheesy dishes and don’t have a lot of time to cook dinner, this is a great dinner to whip up in under 30 minutes with not a lot of ingredients!

Untitled

This will make about four servings (fewer if you like hearty portions, I guess).

Ingredients:
-2 cups elbow macaroni
-2 cups shredded cheese (I used about a cup of sharp cheddar and some swiss, mostly because I forgot to stock up on more cheddar!)
-1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used one regular container of Chobani)
-Handfuls of fresh spinach (The recipe I based this off says 2 cups but I say more!! Spinach shrinks!)
-Salt
-Pepper
-Onion Powder
-Garlic Powder

To make:
Cook the elbow macaroni for about 8-10 minutes, until al dente. Place the fresh spinach in a strainer and pour the pasta water over it (wilting the spinach) and draining your pasta. Leave a bit of pasta water in the pot because you want some starchy water in the pot to help thicken the sauce. Return pasta and spinach to the pot and burner (now turned to a low heat setting.) Add all of the cheese and stir briskly so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. Add the Greek yogurt, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and continue to stir until smooth and creamy. Serve!

Just a note, I would recommend adding a little less than 1/2 a cup of yogurt if you don’t like the sour taste of Greek yogurt. I found it a bit sour to my liking but it was the perfect creaminess. In case you think it’s too sour after adding all the yogurt, I would recommend adding peppers or sausage to help balance out the flavor. I’m cooking for one and on a busy schedule so I need something that will last in the fridge for a few nights and this dish managed to hold up well! It’s obviously not as creamy after being reheated but you can add more yogurt if you’d like, but I might try cream cheese next time. Not the healthiest but it’ll help reduce any sour flavor and will be extra savory!

This recipe is seriously easy and very fast to make and something you hardly need a recipe for. You can switch up the ingredients easily based on your preferences or what’s in your fridge. Let me know if you try it out!

Canada Trip Day 2: Old Montreal, Quebec

October 9, 2014 Filed Under: travel

As promised in my first post of this trip series here, I’m going to share some of the beautiful architecture that Old Montreal has to offer. The historic district is filled with cobblestone streets, unique buildings, and a European air. For those of you that don’t know, French is the official language here however the city is very much bilingual. Those in the tourism business will gladly help you out in English and you can barely detect a French accent – I was very impressed by this!

We didn’t venture into Chinatown but from the looks of it, it is worth passing. We parked in a lot right outside of Chinatown because it was in a really convenient location and the flat rate was a much better deal than anything you can find right in the heart of the district.

Montreal Chinatown Montreal Architecture

One of my favorite destinations of this whole trip was the Notre-Dame Basilica. It is absolutely stunning and worth the few dollars for admission. When the doors open, you will find lines so long they wind around the building however it moves quickly.

Notre Dame Basilica Montreal Notre Dame Basilica Montreal Basilica 1
Montreal Basilica 3
Montreal Basilica 4
Canadian Money
Montreal Basilica 5
Notre Dame Basilica Ceiling
Notre Dame Basilica Seating Area
Notre Dame Basilica Interior
Notre Dame Basilica Staircase
Check out the massive organ in the back:

Notre Dame Basilica Organ
The rest of this day we meandered through the old town, ate, and soaked in the sights. Of course, we had to get some poutine as well.

Old Quebec City columns
Wedding car

Cobblestone Street

Poutine
Lastly here is a shot of me in front of one of my favorite streets that I saw during the trip. It was very hot and fairly humid during most of the trip so I stayed in shorts 90% of the time. This sheer top from Delia’s is one of my favorites because of the laser cut detail and it was the perfect lightweight top with a pop of color.

Looking back at these pictures makes me miss exploring such unfamiliar territory but most of all – I just miss the end of summer and how much free time I had for a total of three weeks. No work, no school, just play. Now that I’m back on a busy schedule I have found it difficult to keep up blogging but soon (I hope) there will be more frequent posts from me! I frequently share photos on Instagram, which is basically my photo blog, so follow along there if you’re interested. You can click to the right of this post to see my account. @tinycupofcake

Thanks so much for reading, friends! Despite a lackluster few weeks (months?) of blogging, you guys have been consistently checking back and we are inching closer and closer to 10k hits. It’s not about the numbers and it never should be, but a newbie to the blogosphere like myself has to use numbers as encouragement sometimes of course. :)

Much love –