time out: older women with crazy accessories

{advanced style: age and beauty on nowness.com}

Me in 50 years? I think so.

Check out more older lady street style at Advanced Style.

Peace, Love and Neon,

Marisa

blog appreciation: the coveteur

Recently launched, The Coveteur (who last week renamed itself from The Coveted, after a legal battle with The-Coveted.com over the name) peeks inside the homes of fashion's greatest influencers, allowing us to see what exactly is inside these people's closets and get the stories behind some of their most beloved possessions. To my utter delight, three of the first fashionistas to offer up their spaces are Mary Kate Steinmiller, Joanna Hillman (now at Harper's Bazaar), and Jane Keltner de Valle--all editors at Teen Vogue during my internship there and with some of my favorite personal style.

It was tough choosing the photos to include in this post, so you'll just have to check it out for yourself to see the rest!

{mary kate}

{joanna}

{jane}

I just don't think you can top these shots. You just can't!

Peace, Love and Neon,

Marisa

blog appreciation: smitten kitchen

To follow up with yesterday's late night post, here's a bit about my current obsession with cooking blog success story, Smitten Kitchen. The obsession began last month on the day I happened to commence a week long fruit-and-veggie-only detox. Food (and the lack of it) must have really been on my mind as I decided to venture over to smittenkitchen.com and discover what all the fuss is about. By the next day, I had gone back 75 pages, and by Thursday, I had skimmed every entry and made a mental note of at least 10 recipes I wanted to try. Self-inflicted torture at a time when I couldn't eat a stitch of Deb's culinary suggestions? Yea, I must be sick. But as soon as the detox was over, I marched happily to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for two SK recipes: shakshuka and potato and artichoke tortilla. Guess I had eggs on my mind!

Shakshuka is an Israeli dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. This recipe was so delectable that Alex and I finished the entire batch in one sitting-- and I believe I ate the leftover sauce out of the pan with my finger.

A few nights later, my friend Eliza joined me for the tortilla, a Spanish take on the omelette and traditionally served in slices as a tapa. Savory, delicious, and another egg-tastic success!

This week, back from freezing Europe and back to equally freezing Boston, all I wanted was some warm, winter fare to heat up my chilly bones. In addition to throwing together a batch of mushroom barley soup for myself and Alex (who's been sick with a cold all week), I returned to Smitten Kitchen for a couple hot, stewy recipes: three-bean chili and mushroom bourguignon.

I changed the recipe up a bit by adding cinnamon. The recipe already calls for cocoa powder, and my favorite chili has always been one that contains the two sweet flavors. So easy to make, warm and satisfying in your belly and SO FREAKING YUM.

{All photos from Smitten Kitchen}

I have a confession: I cheated on my Kosher-style eating ways when I was in Paris and tried the boeuf bourguignon at Le Coupe Chou (no words.). But back to reality means back to avoiding the meat and dairy combo and SK's mushroom bourguignon is the perfect vegetarian substitute, as the recipe traditionally calls for butter. Two and a half hours of cooking, allowing the stew to reduce, and anxiously awaiting our supper, Alex and I drooled as the fumes of mushrooms and wine filled our apartment. And two and a half hours was definitely worth the wait.

So all around, Smitten Kitchen has made our apartment a happy one: happy bellies, a happy roommate (she's lucking out having me cook for her all the time now!) and a happy me. The kitchen is one of my happy places and I'll make it a point to hang out in there more often.

Peace, Love and Neon,
Marisa

blog appreciation: cupcakes and cashmere

I often find myself one step behind the rest of the crowd when it comes to news, trends and other timely things--thus blogs are no exception. I spent a good portion of yesterday going through Cupcakes and Cashmere's archive, catching up on what I'd missed the last three years of Emily Schuman's booming career. (Kinda like how I only last month finally checked out Smitten Kitchen and consequently scanned through every page on until I reached the first post from June 2006.)

Thank you to C&C for providing me with this week's inspiration and a good kick in the pants to get my own blog into shape. (Really, what have I been doing all semester?? I did just return from a quick Tgiving trip to Prague and Paris to visit a certain special man friend--so there's that, but still not a valid excuse.) This girl has an awesome classic style, posts recipes with gorgeous food photography, and lets us in on her clever home decorating projects. She basically just does fun stuff all day and blogs about it: trips to flea markets and food truck festivals, baking cookies and pies, playing dress up for makeshift photo shoots. Now that's my kind of woman!

Here are some particularly inspiring photos from the blog:

{love the color of this mirror}

{rack of her current closets favorites, set up in her office as inspiration}

{another clever/cute way to hang and display jewelry}

{lemon ricotta pancakes nom nom nom}

{gorgeous anthropologie bowls}

{the girl knows what's up}

Peace, Love and Neon,
Marisa

blog appreciation: the man repeller

Last week while browsing my usual blogs, I noticed that Le Fashion posted her latest blog obsession. Little did I know that it would become mine as well. Enter: The Man Repeller, a blog that makes me laugh almost as hard as that of Tory Hoen.

She writes about fashion from the perspective that women not only dress for other women, but that they go as far as to ward off the opposite sex (and sex in general) with their bold sartorial choices. SO. RIGHT.

My high school boyfriend used to cringe at the site of this black and white hounds-tooth cap that I wore all the time. Hey, I thought it was damnnn cute!

{i think he was just cringing at the sight of my awkwardness and bracefaceness}

The Man Repeller, better known as Leandra Medine, posted an entry last week that solidified my fandom forever, entitled: This Fall, Fashion Channels Yeshiva School Girls. TOUCHÉ MS. MEDINE, you are right again!

{picture from mr. newton via the man repeller}

Even funnier than relating to the verity of the post..

True or false: I keep a inspiration folder on my desktop of Orthodox Jew appropriate looks, i.e. long skirts, long sleeves and high necks. Dries does an especially good job at this. So does MK. Just sayin.

Guess I blew my cover -- ha!

Anyway, Leandra, you're one funny ninja biotch. Keep makin' me laugh girrrfriend.


Peace, Love and Neon,
Marisa