Randi with an i

Casual Friday in black and denim

March 6, 2015 Randi14 comments

Casual Friday is and always will be my favorite, and it’s a great chance to wear two of my favorite things: black and denim.

Although let’s be real, near the end of winter, casual Friday is also celebrated on Wednesday and Thursday as well. Sometimes Monday. And Tuesday.

I try not to get too casual since I like to leave the stained sweatpants chic to the sports reporters, but at this time of year, I find myself passing on tights, sweaters, pencil skirts and actual effort for lazy layering and black. So much black. And easy shirts like denim.

Black on black is kind of like my one last hooh-rah to winter, you know? Soon it’ll be replaced with cheerful combinations of navy and white.

I found this look on Instagram (Brenna is one of my favorites) and knew I could recreate it with everything I already had in my wardrobe!

Love when that happens, amiright?

Weekly Sundown Rundown

March 1, 2015 Randi11 comments

Weekly news and feature roundup time!

–

Fellow bloggers, Corals + Cognacs posted this guide to blogging smarter. I love the tips about keeping stock images on hand. I do this for work and it helps so much, so I really need to bring this concept into my blog life as well.

Leonard Nimoy, known as Star Trek’s Spock, has died.

If you haven’t heard about the dress you’re living in a cave. My roommate and I turned it into a drinking game.

Thought Catalog posted a piece about things that strong women do differently. These serve as good reminders. Always treat yourself as an investment, go for it and never, ever put your life on hold to be somebody’s idea of who you should be. Be yourself.

New Carly Rae Jepsen! I haven’t listened yet because my parents’ Internet is slower than a turtle swimming through molasses, but I can’t wait to check it out once I make my way to an acceptable bandwidth.

Kanye apologized to Beck after that incident at the Grammys.

New Galaxy S6 design has been released if you’re into that type of thing. I personally just bought a new iPhone so I’ll pass.

–

My week? I…

Watched the Oscars with Elise and complained about how totally unfunny NPH was. (Seriously, was anybody else disappointed? He wasn’t bad, just not awesome.)
Filed my taxes! And here I thought I was going to put that off for another month.
Grabbed the last copy of Birdman to rent from Family Video and watched it with Elise.
Got a long awaited and much needed haircut.
Headed downstate to visit my parents: I baked with my mom, helped my dad with a project, read a book and took care of some technical crap.
Made delicious Nutella bread. Recipe coming soon!
Made chocolate coconut mug brownies. I have a serious sweet tooth going on as of late.
Recycled half a year’s worth of wine bottles. (The B in Apt. B stands for Barefoot.)
Went to the Bird and turned the dress into a drinking game with Elise.
Worked a 40-hour week at the paper as always.

You can keep up with this stuff as it happens if you follow me on Instagram.

Short of work this week, I don’t really have too much planned. I will probably forget to change my clocks for Daylight Savings and then struggle for three days. I can almost guarantee that.

What’s on your agenda this week? Let me know in the comments!

Water Works Salon haircut results

February 28, 2015 Randi11 comments

Nothing too spectacular to update on here, but I did promise to eventually post a photo of my much needed annual haircut.

#TheDress drinking game

February 27, 2015 Randi20 comments

It’s blue and black.

And unless you live under a rock, you know what I’m referring to.

#TheDress.

It popped up in my Facebook feed last night: an ordinary white and gold (and somewhat ugly) dress. The caption read “Seriously guys! This is white and gold! How can you see it differently?” I agreed. It was white and gold. I googled “white and gold dress” and it seemed that most of the rest of the Internet agreed with me. There were a few protesters, but I chalked that up to Internet trolls.

I got home from work, and asked my roommate. “It’s white and gold,” she agreed. I scrolled through tweets hashtagged #TheDress, and saw a photo of a blue and black dress in flames. Ah, I thought. Clearly the white and gold opinion wins.

Then, something strange happened.

All of the dresses on my Twitter feed became blue and black.

I asked Elise again, “is this white and gold, or blue and black?”

“White and gold,” she insisted.

My brain stopped working. I poured a glass of wine. And then, the greatest idea ever was born.

#TheDress drinking game.

Chocolate coconut mug brownie

February 25, 2015 Randi11 comments

It’s nearing the end of February and even though I have a ton of Netflix left on my list, I’m slowly running out of Netflix accompanying snacks.

Because I love my snacks.

Snacks.

So last night, while Elise and I were having our twice-a-week debate… (Should we order Insomnia? Do we really want to spend the $6 to have it delivered? No… Yes? Insomnia.)

…I remembered a little trick I used to practice in my old apartment that I hadn’t taken advantage of in a while.

Mug brownies!

Haircut inspo

February 24, 2015 Randi28 comments

Something has been very out of control lately and for once it is not my coffee addiction or Gossip Girl bingeing.

It’s my hair. And I think it is very much time for a long-awaited haircut.

For the record, I am good at a lot of things. I’m good at writing, picking out designer clothing I cannot afford, making a hella good vanilla soy latte and delicately informing my parents that once again I need financial assistance when it comes to my medical bills.

But there are many, many things I am not good at. I am terrible at car maintenance, cooking meat, saying goodbye to puppies and doing pushups.

I am also very, very terrible when it comes to hair.

Growing up, my mother was a factory worker. I’m actually very, very proud of her and very grateful (more than she will ever realize) for the life that her hard work and dedication gave me. She sacrificed many things so my siblings and I could have great lives. She is the best mother anybody could ever ask for and I am very blessed that she raised me.

But, because of her job, she never needed to apply makeup, or wear cocktail dresses, or maneuver updos. And therefore, I never learned much about all of those feminine things that young girls learn from their mothers, like the ins and outs of hair, makeup and styling. My mom followed a simple philosophy when it came to hair: long in the winter to keep your neck warm and short in the summer to keep you cool.

And as a result, I’ve never bothered to do much with my hair. I was actually pretty stoked when the whole being a scene kid thing was cool in high school, because it meant I could abuse the hell out of my locks with my Wet2Straight. That was simple enough that even I could do it.

Blow outs? Chignons? Hahaha, you’re funny!

And now here I am. I come to you, wise Internet, asking for help.

What the heck should I get done with my hair when I finally make a long awaited visit to the salon for my annual haircut?

Weekly Sundown Rundown

February 22, 2015 Randi24 comments

Weekly recap time!

–

Academy Awards starting soon.

A Michigan woman was selected as a finalist for a one-way trip to colonize Mars. I personally think the most interesting part of this is that, while the finalist does not have children, she has a husband, who is 100 percent supportive of her ambitions and dreams. Relationship gold standard in my opinion. A+++ for both of them.

Emma Watson is not dating Prince Harry.

Everyone in the world got engaged last weekend and now you’re a bridesmaid. Or something. Levo League has a piece on how to be a good bridesmaid despite being broke.

Refinery29 published an interesting piece profiling several women who had the same problem: Their husbands treated their careers like hobbies. Many of them ended up getting a divorce. Interesting perspective, especially for me, because whomever I end up marrying (should I ever marry) will have to understand he takes a back seat to my career and professional development.

OATMEAL NUTELLA MUG CAKE Thanks The Kitchn.

I’ve been trying to figure out forever what shape my face is, mainly so I know whether I can pull off a pair of Karen Walker Super Dupers. This Lifehacker guide should help.

Cosmo posted a survey on workplace sexual harassment. I worked as a waitress in a bar for years, so I’ve had my fair share of sexual harassment by customers and knew how prevalent it was, but I was astonished at the results regardless.

Dove and Twitter are partnering for #speakbeautiful. It’s so easy to troll online due to anonymity, so I love positive campaigns like these. One of my good friends is a teacher and goes by the “three positives to counteract a negative” rule an insists her students follow it. I think it works well outside the classroom too.

–

Anddd me this week? Unfortunately it was like NEGATIVE EIGHTEEN outside this week before we even added in the windchill, so I wasn’t super productive. I…

Participated in a glamour photoshoot with Daighna Photography.
Got a visit from my favorite pug in the world, Chewbacca.
Made this cute Press for Champagne craft.
Got my new 50mm lens!
Enjoyed some lemon Paczki with Elise for Fat Tuesday. (Is this really just a huge Michigan thing? I’m slowly starting to find out that not everyone shares my love for Paczki across the country.)
Received some pretty treats from Le Bon Macaron from Seth as a belated Valentine’s Day gift.
Did some more painting of old furniture (I promise I’ll share some updates on this stuff soon).
Made some toasted coconut Trader Joe’s pancakes. Delicious, by the way.
Was treated to two wonderful lunch dates by Seth – one at Panda Express and one at Killer Hibachi.
Ventured outside my really warm and cozy apartment for once in order to go to my favorite downtown bar, The Bird.

You can keep up with this stuff as it happens if you follow me on Instagram.

I don’t really have too many plans this coming week aside from work, errands and tax filing. Really though, I’ll probably put the tax filing off for another week or three.

How was your week? Any plans this coming week? Let me know in the comments!

Press for champagne

February 20, 2015 Randi34 comments

Wouldn’t it be lovely if you could just push a button for instant bubbly?

I’d been seeing the Press for Champagne pieces making their rounds on Pinterest and thought they were absolutely lovely, and wanted one for the bar in my apartment. But at $92 a pop, my post-grad budget reeeeally couldn’t afford one, no matter how adorable they were.

And for $92 a piece, that button better dang well produce champagne when pressed.

So, when I saw Ashley over at History in High Heels post a DIY version, I was over the moon. Ashley’s version was just as cute, and only cost a few dollars!

Sneak peek: Daighna Photography shoot

February 17, 2015 Randi31 comments

My friend Daighna is, hands down, one of the most talented editorial photographers I know.

(Hey, Vogue, are you listening? Hire her.)

She runs her own photo business, Daighna Photography, and in addition to weddings and senior portraits (you should book her btw), she’s very talented at putting together fashion magazine-esque photoshoots that channel all of her creative energy.

Her ideas always come completely out of left field, seem completely random and always just completely work. I stopped questioning her crazy visions years ago because whatever she puts together to shoot always just ends up looking straight up amazing.

Want proof? Here’s a shoot I helped her with two years ago.

So, when Daighna asked me a few weeks ago if I’d like to help her with another editorial photoshoot, I jumped at the opportunity.

Weekly Sundown Rundown

February 15, 2015 Randi37 comments

Lucky me, I have tomorrow off work, but I did work this past weekend and a lot of breaking news happened, so my work schedule is 50 shades of messed up right now. Regardless, it’s the end of the weekend for everyone else, soooo… weekly recap time!

–

Link roundup:

This woman donated her kidney to a stranger and now they’re together and expecting a child. I bawl.

Iago (The bird from Lion King) read snippets of 50 Shades of Grey. My abs still hurt from laughing.

President Obama and Buzzfeed collaborated on a two-minute video and it’s adorable. Regardless of your political views, I think everyone can agree that Obama is definitely down-to-earth people person with a great sense of humor.

Some huge Harry Potter fan compiled every Severus Snape scene into chronological order and I bawled.

Kathryn posted this recipe for vegan lemon mint tarts on her blog, Through the Thicket, and I think I’m going to have to try them.

We’re in the middle of #NYFW and no worries, Vogue has got you completely covered.

Cindy Crawford posted un-retouched lingerie photos, which is lovely because she’s still absolutely gorgeous.

Apartment Therapy has a post about modernizing antique furniture which is good, because I’m kind of on a furniture rehab spree lately.

–

And me this week? I had one of the most productive weeks ever. I mentioned working this past weekend, and when my company schedules me for four hours on Saturday and the four hours on Sunday, I get a weekday off. Also, working a split weekend shift forces me to stay in town and #GSD. So, this week, I…

Attempted to eat a massive ice cream brownie sundae at Pizza House and failed. Miserably. Even with Seth’s help.
Had a dinner date at Killer Hibachi with my friend Tasha.
Went to Target to get a pillow and ended up with like, $70 worth of home decor including this candle (in pink peony, peach prosecco and lemon trifle) and this gold serving tray.
Went on a gold spray painting spree. Stay tuned for results.
FINALLY painted my desk and dresser. I’d had my desk primed for six months but never got around to actually painting it until now. (Stay tuned for results on this project as well.)
Made this delicious Valentine’s Day popcorn and then mailed it to Seth.
Celebrated the actual Valentine’s Day by making raspberry lemonade red wine slushies and then going to see Fifty Shades of Grey with Elise.
Had a lunch date at Max and Emily’s (the best sandwich shop ~~in mid-Michigan~~ anywhere) with my friend Erin.
Ordered a new camera lens after I accidentally broke mine on assignment for work.
Devoured more newsroom cupcakes. (You guys seemed to love those last time)
Spent Friday in a flower shop learning about floral arrangements.
Bought myself roses because why the hell not.
Made my favorite root veggie and lentil stew.
Still managed to put in a full work week + overtime at the paper.

You can see this stuff as it happens if you follow me on Instagram.

I have no idea how the heck I accomplished all of that (maybe it’s because I averaged five hours of sleep a night?) but hooray for productive weeks! Hopefully this week will be just as productive. I have a few fun things planned that I already can’t wait to share! What do you have planned for this coming week? Let me know in the comments!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please read my disclosure policy.