So, I was feeling pretty good about myself the day these photos were taken.  Yup, totally rocking my American Flag shorts, my newly-ombre-ed hair, and my perennial favorite cool-girl Rebecca Minkoff bag.  But, see, here’s the thing.  Even when I’m looking pretty cool, even on my best, coolest day… I am still a huge dork. 

Evidence of this:

About three hours after these photos were taken (and a couple of drinks in), I decided that it was my job to convince all our new Houston friends that Battlestar Galactica is the best show ever (it is) and that they all needed to watch it (they do) and that we were all going to have a huge trip to Galacticon in 2013 (Yes, that’s a thing, I found it on the internet!). 

Chad is pretty sure we will no longer have friends in Houston if I can’t learn to reign in my nerd filter.  So, yeah.  No matter how cool I look, still me.  I guess there’s something comforting in that, no?

Topshop tank and shorts, gifted Rebecca Minkoff MAB bag, gifted Nine West heels, Harwin Street jewelry (Houston’s version of Chinatown), Chanel sunglasses.

Hope everyone had an amazing Memorial Day weekend!  Things have been so crazy, I really needed three days just to catch up on everything!  I spent a full day baking and can’t wait to show you guys all the amazing recipes I whipped up, and then spent a full day working on the sequel to Moving Neutral, which is coming along really well!  I can’t wait to show you guys what happens to Blake and Casey next. 

One of the highlights of my day of baking was definitely this lemon cake, which seems difficult but really only takes a few minutes of prep and basically uses ingredients you probably already have in your pantry!  Eggs, flour, sugar, olive oil, lemon juice, powdered sugar, salt, and that’s it! 

Easy to whip up on a random weekend morning, and totally delicious!

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

INGREDIENTS
For the cake:
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 large eggs
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla abstract
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp skim milk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a stand mixer, mix together the eggs and sugar, and then add the milk, vanilla, olive oil, salt and lemon juice.  Mix until combined, and then add 1 cup of flour, the baking powder and baking soda (sprinkle them lightly across the mixture) and the additional 1/2 cup flour.  Mix together until smooth, and pour into a pre-greased pan (approximately 8″x4″). 

Bake the cake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool.

For the glaze, mix together the powdered sugar with 1 1/2 tbsp of milk, and add additional milk if the glaze isn’t runny enough to pour.  When it is, pour the glaze over the loaf, cut into slices, and serve.

When we were thinking about where to move, one of the things that was crucial to me was that we pick someplace warmer than New York!  Even though I grew up on the East Coast, I’m such a summer girl at heart — I had to slog through the winters just to get to summer, and finally get to enjoy being outside again!  So it’s a huge relief to live somewhere that’s warm about 10 months of the year (and insanely hot 2 months of the year, but who’s counting)?

So I’m particularly happy that GoGo squeeZ is encouraging everyone to get outside and play this summer!  Their “Pass the Play” campaign encourages everyone across the country to get outside, have fun, and then “pass the play” on to someone else who needs some fun in their life!  So I’m passing it on to you guys!

Here’s what you can do to get involved!

• Email community@gogosqueez.com to request a “Pass the Play” ball and play the largest game of catch.  10,000 kick balls are being distributed nationwide, so people can enjoy the simple goodness of play and then pass that play to someone they know that needs some play in their life.  Everyone will be entered to win fun prizes by tracking the kick balls at www.PassthePlay.com.
• Tweet #passtheplay to @GoGosqueeZ and $1 will be donated to @FreshAirFund with the goal of raising $25,000, which will allow more inner-city boys and girls to participate in programs that can change the course of a child’s life.
• Visit GoGo squeeZ at the “Pass the Play” mobile playground, which is visiting 10 cities across the country. Locations are available at PassthePlay.com and on GoGo’s Facebook page!

I hope you guys all join in!  I got my kickball today, and can’t wait to break it out in our new backyard!

And now I have something for you guys — the chance to try some yummy GoGo squeeZ products for yourself! 

Just leave a comment below, and five random winners will receive a four-pack of GoGo squeeZ!  I can’t wait for you all to try it!

One of the things that majorly bums me out about leaving New York is that occasionally, there will be something so cool and fun happening… that I just can’t travel back for.  I knew that was something I’d have to deal with when we moved, but it doesn’t make it any easier!

Last week, Simple Skincare had an amazing event in New York with Hope Solo, goalkeeper of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team!  Hope is absolutely gorgeous, amazingly talented, and a great role model.  It’s great to see someone with such an intense lifestyle talking candidly about sensitive skin.

Hope is a huge proponent of looking good and feeling good, and, of course, of products like Simple Skincare that are made without dyes, artificial perfumes or harsh irritants.  I think it’s so, so cool that Simple Skincare chose to team up with a female athlete, to remind us all that beauty and strength are something we should all aspire to!

Check out Hope’s skincare routine and tips on staying fit, and enter to win a trip to L.A. to meet her on escapewithhope.com!  You can win a 4-day, 3-night all-inclusive trip for two to Los Angeles to meet Hope, including one-on-one time to discuss her skincare secrets, a pro-athlete-level workout, and dinner at one of Hope’s favorite restaurants!  (Can I be your plus-one?!)

One of the pieces I was most excited about when I first started browsing the amazing Mark. website was this gorgeous bag designed by Rebecca Minkoff — for $60!  Borderline unbelievable, particularly given my absolute LOVE of all things Rebecca Minkoff.  I love that this bag has her downtown sensibility with an amazingly affordable price point!  I’m also wearing a ton of Mark. jewelry in this post — click below for the links!

I’m also so excited to show you guys — I went ombre with my hair this weekend!  I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and I finally decided to go for it!  I just love how it turned out.  It’s really subtle, but so pretty if you know to look for it — just like everything beauty-wise, that’s the best way!

Gifted Mark. Rebecca Minkoff bag, gifted Haute Hippie sequined skirt and tank (similar here), Theyskens Theory wedges, Kenneth Jay Lane earrings, gifted Mark. necklace and ring. 

Oh my gosh, this has been such a crazy weekend!  Between fun social stuff, furniture hunting, and trying to make progress on some writing projects, things have just been totally crazy!  I’m trying to put our house-decorating into fast-forward so we can be up and running as soon as possible.  I’ll be so excited in two weeks when we actually have the keys!

So this is a short post — about all I’ll say is that these hot pink jeans are basically the most amazing things that I own — although with a long, hot Texas summer ahead of me, this may be the last time I get to wear them!  (On the other hand: shorts in December!) So I’m taking every opportunity I can for now!

Rag and Bone jeans, Gucci tank, BCBG clutch (in the gift bag from this event!), Jimmy Choo heels, Chanel sunglasses, Kate Spade necklace (via TJ Maxx); Harwin Street bracelets.

Remember last week, when I told you that my recipe for roasted asparagus was actually the first half of an even better recipe?  Well, it was.  Despite my extreme love of gelato and animal crackers for breakfast (sometimes the first thing you grab is actually… totally unhealthy on purpose), I like to throw in something healthy every now and then!

I’ve posted a few recipes for mini frittatas on Sugarlaws, and one of the great things about them is that they’re an easy weekend recipe that’ll stay delicious in your fridge for several days — so if you want to make these on Sunday, your batch will last to mid-week!  Way more delicious than boring old toast, and way healthier than ice cream, for a quick and easy breakfast. 

Mini Asparagus Frittatas

INGREDIENTS
4 whole eggs
2 egg whites
1 batch Roasted Asparagus
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1/2 tsp fleur de sel

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut the roasted asparagus into 1 inch sections.  Fill about 1/3 of each muffin tin with asparagus, reserving some of the tips.  Ten add the gruyere cheese. 

In a large bowl, beat eggs with salt and pepper until foamy and approximately doubled in size.  Fill the muffin cups to about 3/4 full with the egg mixture, and then top with the reserved asparagus tips. 

Bake for 25 minutes, or until eggs are set and slightly browned on the tops.

Makes six mini frittatas.

Growing up in Connecticut, I was always *very* familiar withe Lilly Pulitzer — let’s face it, I have a dozen of her dresses hanging in my closet right now!  But as my personal style has moved slightly away from the typical Connecticut-preppy (or, frankly, Texas-preppy) style, I might have actually been surprised if you’d have told my that a Lilly Pulitzer item would be one of my favorite pieces in my closet!

But how could you resist this romper?  It could go everywhere from a country club dinner to a New York city brunch, to a Texas day of doing just about anything.  I’ve basically been wearing it nonstop — it’s the perfect combination of cool-preppy with casual style!

Gifted Lilly Pulitzer Coleen romper and Ashley Wedges, Miu Miu bag, Forever 21 and Ben Amun bracelet, Kate Spade necklace.

It’s funny how when you’re so used to sharing what’s going on in your life over the internet, it can feel really strange when you have to hold something back.  For the last few weeks, there’s been something I haven’t been able to tell you — being painfully superstitious, I didn’t want to say anything until we were certain. 

But… we bought a house!

One of the reasons that Chad and I moved to Houston was the amazingly beautiful houses that you can buy for the same price here as, oh, say, a junior one bedroom in the far reaches of Brooklyn.  After the bar exam, we pretty much devoted every weekend to stopping by open houses, scouring real estate websites and eventually… found our dream house!

Now, keep your fingers crossed for us, because although most of the big steps are past us, we don’t have the keys just yet.  But I’m so excited to show it to you guys as soon as we’re settled in!  (I’m going to have my own separate shoe closet, if you can believe it!)

For now, though, I’m focusing on decorating.  Like many couples, Chad’s and my furniture is sort of a mish-mash of things I bought, things he bought, things my parents bought us, and a lot of it is old enough that my taste has changed pretty substantially since we picked it out.  (You can see some of it on Glitter Guide’s feature on our NY apartment a few months ago!)

But now that we’re increasing our living space by a lot, I figure it’s the right time to settle on a design style.  My gut is leaning toward contemporary, but I’m a sucker for odd and eclectic pieces — I want everything to feel like it makes sense together, but not get too bogged down in a single theme or style.  So in that vein, I’ve been picking up some pieces I love over the last few weeks, and wanted to share them with you guys! 

Wish us luck — I am so excited!!!

Clockwise, from top left: (1) Bookshelf, $111 from Target, for our front entryway; (2) Paper Mache Rhino head, $68 from Anthropologie, for our family room; (3) Runner (Rug), $99 from Gilt Home, for our front hallway; (4) Union Jack Barstools, $148 for both from Overstock.com, for our bar area; (5) Ceramic Elephant, $99 from Z Gallerie, for our living room; (6) Space Chair, $790 from Modani, for our living room or bedroom; (7) Vase, $69 from Gilt Home, for our front hallway.

I sort of lost track of the seasons this year, so it was funny to see that spring vegetables like asparagus and rhubarb (soon!) were suddenly available in our grocery store, when I’ve been feeling like it’s been summer for about the past 11 months.  But that little reminder that the rest of the world is just starting spring made me focus on some yummy seasonal recipes!

This is actually part 1 — after eating about half the asparagus in this batch, I took the rest and transformed it into an equally delicious recipe that I’ll share with you guys next week.  Healthy and perfect for springtime!

Simple Roasted Asparagus

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound of asparagus, ends trimmed
3 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt
Ground pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Toss asparagus with olive oil, sea salt, garlic powder and freshly ground pepper, and place it in a roasting pan.  Roast the asparagus for 15-20 minutes, turning the asparagus once, until the asparagus is cooked through and crispy on the edges.  Remove the asparagus, set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Serve with roasted aioli or just plain!