White Vegetable Chipotle Enchiladas

If you're a fan of Pinterest, you've almost certainly come across this recipe for white chicken enchiladas.  I kept coming across it and had plans to make a vegetarian version of it.  Now that 1L is over, I wanted to finally cook something for the boy.  When he requested enchiladas, I knew exactly what I wanted to make.

Sorry for the blurry photos...it was tasty, if not beautiful!

I halved the original recipe (the boy has a big appetite, but not that big) and made a few small changes.  

Ingredients:

5 small tortillas 

1 red bell pepper

1 large zucchini 

1 large yellow/summer squash

1 cup mexican blend cheese

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1 cup vegetable broth 

1/2 cup sour cream

1 can chipotle peppers

Olive oil

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Chop veggies into small, bite sized pieces.  Sauté in a small amount of olive oil until they wilt just a bit. Remove from heat and add half the cheese into the pan.  Stir things around until everything is mixed a bit.  It's totally OK if your cheese is melty.  

3.  Roll vegetable and cheese mixture into the tortillas and place in a baking dish.  (I used a glass Pyrex, which worked really well).

4.  Grab a small saucepan and melt butter.  Stir in flour and cook for one minute.  Add vegetable broth and whisk together.  Heat over medium heat until the mixture thickens and bubbles.  Remove from heat and stir in sour cream, whisking to keep the sour cream from curdling.  

5.  Take a few spoonfuls of the sauce from the chipotle peppers and stir that into the mixture as well.  You can chop up some of the peppers for extra heat, or just use the sauce.  Pour mixture over the enchiladas.

6.  Top with remaining cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes!

Target Shopping

As much as I love to buy and look at fancy/expensive clothing and accessories, I love a good bargain as much as the next girl.  And when it comes to certain items, I just can't bring myself to spend serious cash. For me, casual summer dresses are one of those things.  Styles change quickly and I like my casual summer clothes to be low-maintenence, so I just don't like to spend a lot on stuff like that.

Enter my recent Target purchases:

The dress on the left is so cute on...the pattern is a little funky, to be sure...but it's super flattering.  I like that it's a bit longer, too...I don't feel like my butt is hanging out.  I wore it to a dinner at a professor's house with Frye harness boots and a cardigan.  

The dress on the right...I liked to much that I went back and got it in another color (purple).  Super easy to wear...I've been pairing it with Jack Rogers sandals and a chambray button up.   

Ok, so technically not dresses, but still good summer pieces.  The sweatshirt on the left is great to bring on a chilly evening.  The sweaters on the right are basic cocoon sweaters...very lightweight and perfect for summer.  

I love this!  It's basically a chambray dress with light dots throughout.  The quality is fantastic...the close up shot shows the beautiful scalloped detailing at the bodice.  

Have you done any good Target shopping lately?  

xoxoKate

Barrister's Ball 2012

Ok, so this post is definitely late...Barrister's Ball was close to a month ago...but I had so much fun and want to share it with you all anyway!

For those who don't know, BB is an event that most law schools put on in the spring...basically like a prom.  Everyone gets dressed up...it's fun to see your classmates in black tie, particularly when you're used to seeing people in sweats and jeans (particularly as the semester wears on).

We started out by heading to The Hamilton for drinks.  The place was HUGE...truly, I've never been in a restaurant or bar that was so big. And they have an enormous menu...seriously, they serve such a random mix of things (sushi, steak, charcuterie, pasta, comfort food).  

My wonderful date (well, bf) got me some ridiculous, fancy gin mixed-drink.  Nothing makes you feel classier than drinking a $15 drink in a darkly lit bar while dressed in black tie.  

We headed over to the hotel, which was beautiful.  You can't see it in this photo, but there was a little indoor pond under where we were sitting, with a piano on a little island in the middle.  Pretty cool!

I realize that I've already posted this photo, but I like it so much imma post it again.  The dress I ended up wearing (read: not the one I bought for the event) was the Lilly Pulitzer Crystal.  I loved it!  It was such a fun dress to wear (even considering that my breath was constricted because it was so tight!).  I got a ton of compliments on it and I appreciated that it was a bit different from what other girls were wearing.  It seems like sleek, jewel-toned, one-shoulder dresses are popular right now, so I felt like I was going against the grain a bit.  

I wore it with a black Rebecca Minkoff bag and nude pumps (plus, a black hair tie around my wrist, apparently...).  

It was such a fun time...I'm already looking forward to next year's!

Have you been to any fun formal events recently?  What did you wear?

xoxoKate    

Lucky Lucky

Recent purchases from Lucky...

I love the cutoff shorts from Lucky.  I have a biggish butt and thicker legs (haha...this makes me sound so chunky, but proportionally speaking, I carry weight over my butt/hips), so I don't like super tight or short cutoffs.  These have a bit more relaxed fit and are a hair longer than most other shorts.  They have a bit more coverage without feeling like they're mom shorts.  

Like I said before, I have a bigger butt, so I've been pretty wary of the colored jeans trend.  After trying these on, I decided to give it a go.  The leg is slim without being super skinny which helps in terms of making the leg look longer.  I also appreciated that they weren't $200 like a lot of colored denim.

xoxoKate

J.Crew Shopping

Dolores Dress in Paisley

I LOVE THIS DRESS.  I ended up wearing it to a rehearsal dinner a few weeks back.  The fit is spot-on and I love the blue/green print that's still super girly.  

Cafe Capri (Black)

These are definitely going to be a summer work staple for me.  I love how a pair or cropped black pants looks with an oxford and pumps.  I think it strikes a great balance between professional and stylish.  Plus...they're comfy and make my legs not look like stubs, which is nice.  

xoxoKate

In which I apologize for being a bad blogger...

So...school and exams basically took over my life for the past three weeks and I've completely neglected blogging.  But now that I'm done (I'm a 2L...THAT'S SO WEIRD), I'm back to blogging!

To catch up on my life over the past month...

A trip to Barrister's Ball (Lilly dress, obviously)...

...At a pretty downtown hotel.  

Plus four (!) law school finals.

Obviously a post-exam party was necessary...

...complete with cute shoes...

...and a sweet rooftop deck with views of the Washington Monument.

So...it's been a busy couple weeks.  But I think I've fully recovered from both 1L year and the post-finals partying.  It's good to be back!

xoxoKate

Essie: Play Date

I've been wearing this color on my toes for the past week or so.  I actually picked it up at Walgreens (I'm obsessed with Walgreens and the one near my apartment is truly heaven), but apparently it's sold out/there's a wait list for it a lot of places?

It's such a great spring purple.  I'd describe it as a very bright lilac.  LOVE LOVE LOVE.  

xoxoKate

Wedding Wear

Tomorrow afternoon I'm headed to the wedding of a dear family friend.  The ceremony is in a Catholic church less than a mile from my parents' house, and the reception is at a nearby hotel.  Here's what I'll be wearing...

Cognac peep-toe mary jane pumps (MaxStudio), grey cardigan (Zara), coral dress that apparently needs to be ironed really badly (Trina Turk).  

I'm going to have to dash out of the reception and head home so I can get ready for Barrister's Ball tomorrow night.  It's going to be a busy day...

Who's doing something fun this weekend?

xoxoKate

Weekend Update

(Yes, I completely stole that photo off the Cafe Deluxe website)

I met up with my parents on Friday night for dinner.  Shrimp fajitas + a couple glasses of sangria = a good time.  Finishing it off with a Georgetown Cupcake was a deliciously good decision.  I wanted to try one of the April flavors, so I went with Boston Cream.  So good - it was a lot like a Boston cream doughnut.   

Saturday night was date night with the boy in Bethesda.  We ended up at Cafe Deluxe and then went and saw The Hunger Games.  I hadn't read the book and I wasn't really expecting much from the movie, but it was pretty entertaining.  I'm thinking the series would be a good beach read once I'm done reading casebooks for the semester.  

Sunday was Easter dinner at home with the family.  (Seriously, I swear my life involves more than just eating!).  

Hopping on the Bandwagon: Jack Rogers

Every summer I'm always on the prowl for cute summer sandals and every summer I seem to struggle with finding something I really like.  I like things that are cute and feminine without being super girly.  Plus, I want something that actually looks cute on my foot!

Pretty much every preppy blogger on the planet has an arsenal of Jack Rogers sandals.  While I definitely consider my style to have a lot of preppy influences, I'm also not a super prepster, either (I love my leather jackets and Frye boots too much), which is why I never really got on the Jack Rogers wagon.

That is, until recently.  I ended up trying on a pair on a whim and I was shocked at how cute they are on.  They're definitely a preppy staple, but worn with a pair of cuffed skinny jeans or a sundress and denim jacket, they're something that totally fits into my wardrobe.

I ended up getting two pairs.  The all brown pair on the right, and the classic black pair on the left.  I actually wore the black pair walking to my job interview (I put on pumps before I went in), so I think they might be lucky.  They've taken a bit of breaking in, but they're pretty comfortable now.  Definitely the sandals I'm going to be wearing the heck out of all summer.  I'm actually planning on getting a platinum pair to wear for slightly dressier stuff (maybe to wear when I change out of my crazy 5" prom shoes?)

Do you wear Jack Rogers?  What color do you have?

xoxoKate

"Prom" Dress

Like a lot of law schools, my school holds an event called "Barrister's Ball" in the Spring.  It's better known around campus as Law School Prom.  People get all dressed up and head to a hotel downtown.  Tickets are pretty expensive and it's open bar, so it's a big deal.

Even though we call it "prom," most people stick to fancy cocktail attire.  Boys wear suits (not tuxedos), and most girls wear short dresses, not traditional poofy prom dresses.  I actually wore a DVF minidress to  my prom (in 2007...I feel old), but I sort of regret not doing the long dress thing.  

I'm planning on wearing this navy one-shoulder Shoshanna dress.  With these shoes.  The jury is still out on a bag.  I'm thinking about a dove grey Rebecca Minkoff mini MAC, but I'm not totally sold on that idea yet.  

Any bag suggestions for me?

xoxoKate

Weekend

This is a pretty good representation of my weekend.  

Friday morning I did my first round of the 1L moot court competition.  (Basically you're doing an oral argument as though you're representing a client/the government on appeal in a criminal case).  You didn't find out if you made the cut until Saturday night and if you did, you had to go again on Sunday.  I ended up making the cut (woot!), so I competed again on Sunday afternoon.  Obviously I had to take an outfit photo and make a strange/hilarious face. 

I also got lunch with my mom on Saturday at Clyde's in Friendship Heights.  I feel like such a hipster taking photos of my crabcake sandwich.  And I got in one last Irish Cream Georgetown Cupcake before they moved on to a different flavor in April.  

It was great, but hardly a relaxing weekend...

Recent Purchase: French Connection Striped Dress

A long-time family friend is getting married next month.  I, of course, instantly found a dress (more on that in another post, but at any given time, I have 20 fancy dresses bookmarked online with nowhere to wear them to, so I was good to go), but my mom worked much more slowly.  While waiting for her to finish trying on one of a million things, I ended up grabbing this French Connection dress...

It does look a little like I'm a referee/in jail, but it's very cute on.  The sleeves have a slight puff at the cuff, so the shape is still very feminine even against the stripes.  I wore it to a friend's birthday last weekend with tights and boots, but I think it will still work in the spring and summer with bare legs and sandals.  

(I know Claire is going to give me a hard time about this one because I own a million striped, long sleeve mini dresses.  Whatever...it's my thing).

xoxoKate

Working Girl

I've mentioned it before, but the months of January and February were basically consumed with me applying for summer jobs.  It's a super stressful process, especially if you want to work for a judge (I do).  Judges rarely post that they're looking for summer clerks, so you have to just send unsolicited copies of your resume/cover letter/transcript to every judge that you could conceivably think of considering working for, hoping that one or two calls you in for an interview.  I sent out around 200 resumes and ended up with 5-ish interviews.

I interviewed with a trial judge in Maryland (Trial judges are ones who well, hear trials.  As opposed to an appellate judge who hears appeals) and I was super excited when he offered me the job on the spot!  His docket is pretty cool...it's mostly civil cases (big tort stuff, wrongful termination), but he's also hearing a murder trial over the summer.

Obviously I had to take a pre-interview shot of my outfit in the courthouse bathroom...

My apologies for the grimace.  

xoxoKate

My First Georgetown Cupcake

As a current resident of D.C. and a lifelong resident of Bethesda, Maryland (the home of the second Georgetown Cupcake location), I'm ashamed to admit that until last weekend, I'd never had a Georgetown cupcake.  Even worse, I always sort of scoffed at the idea of a bakery that only sold cupcakes...to me it seemed to be a gimmick that put trend above substance.  So when I finally gave in to temptation and decided to head down to the Bethesda location, I was floored.  The cupcakes were heaven in a paper wrapper.  (As a sidenote, I didn't eat these all myself.  My wonderful bf helped me out (although he refused to let me take a photo of him stuffing a cupcake in his face...).  All in the interests of good journalistic reporting, of course.)

Clockwise from top: Lava Fudge, Vanilla & Chocolate, Irish Cream, Chocolate & Vanilla

Chocolate & Vanilla.  This is a chocolate cupcake with a cream cheese frosting.  I'm not normally a huge fan of cream cheese frosting, but this was very good.  This is one of their "everyday" flavors.  Definitely tasty, but if you're going to go out of your way to have a fancy cupcake, I'd go for something a bit more creative.  

Irish Cream.  This is a seasonal flavor for the month of March.  Oh my goodness this was so incredibly delicious.  It's the regular chocolate cupcake with an Irish cream infused buttercream.  So so so good.  Obviously I went back two days later and got two more of these.  I'm going to have to go back before the end of the month and get another.  I'm making myself hungry typing this.  

Lava Fudge.  This is a daily special they have every Friday and Sunday.  It's a chocolate cupcake with a liquid fudge core and a vanilla buttercream on top.  A very close second to the Irish Cream.  Sooooo good.  

Vanilla & Chocolate.  This is a vanilla cupcake with a chocolate frosting.  Like the Chocolate & Vanilla, it was definitely good, but if I'm going to spend the calories and make a special trip to Georgetown Cupcake, I'll probably choose something a little fancier.  This would be a good choice for someone who is especially picky or not a huge fan of fancier stuff.  

In short, I'd say my trip was a success.  I'll be back soon.

Have you been to either of the Georgetown Cupcake locations or watched the show on TLC?  

xoxoKate

OPI for Sephora: I'm Wired

It would seem like Spring is finally here.  I'm not sure why I said "finally"...winter barely showed up at all.  I don't think D.C. got more than six inches of snow the entire season.  A bit disappointing, but after narrowly surviving three Boston winters, I'm not going to complain too loudly.  Since I like to keep my polish in step with the season, I'm currently rocking an old favorite...Sephora's "I'm Wired."  I don't even think they sell this in stores anymore, but I have an old bottle of it and was feeling too lazy to get a pedicure.

The pile of books on my desk might be reminding me that it's still March, but mentally, I'm on a beach somewhere tropical...

xoxoKate

Recent Purchase: Tory Burch Miller

I've wanted these for-everrrrr.  I admired them for a while, but last season's version of these just looked a little weird on my foot.  I had trouble choosing between the black/gold and the black patent, but I opted for these.  I have patent Tory Burch flats and patent seems less summery to me.  I haven't gotten much of a chance to wear them yet, but they're pretty comfy.  Definitely something I'll get serious use out of.

My attempt at an artsy shot.  Don't judge too harshly.

xoxoKate

Quick and Healthy Meals: Salmon and Asparagus

If you're busy with school, it's super easy to fall into the habit of eating lots of frozen foods and takeout.  While I do like to cook, it can be tough to find the time to make things that are healthy and deal with the cleanup (I'm a messy cook) on a nightly basis.  Anything that's quick and healthy is a winner in my book.  One of my favorite go-to meals is salmon and veggies.  Fish is a tad more expensive than other things, but I can find a pretty large piece of salmon at my grocery store for under $5.

To make the salmon, I salt and pepper it lightly and squeeze half a lemon over it.  Sometimes I like to chop up a few mushrooms (I LOVE mushrooms) and throw those on the baking sheet with it (I use a small glass Pyrex brownie pan).  Then I bake it in the oven at 350 degrees.  The time varies based on how large of a piece of fish you use, so I generally just keep an eye on it, but it's usually about 20 minutes or so.  

I'm a big asparagus fan and I've been making an effort to eat more vegetables.  You start by cutting off the tough ends of asparagus.  If you put a little water (about half an inch) in a sauté pan and place the asparagus in with the lid on, they steam very quickly.  Again, I usually just eyeball how done the asparagus is.  Some people like it more crunchy, others more soft, so it's just a matter of personal preference.  

I usually make a lemon/butter/garlic/wine sauce.  I don't even follow a recipe, I just add a little white wine to a saucepan, add lemon juice and let it reduce before adding in a bit of garlic and butter.  Mine was a bit too watery here (I was ravenous and couldn't wait for my sauce to cook down), but it was still tasty.  

All this sounds like a lot more trouble than it really was.  I spent less than a half hour in the kitchen and I ended up with something that was both easy and relatively healthy.  

What are your go-to quick and healthy meals?  I'd love suggestions!

xoxoKate

Beauty Buys

I love a good trip to Sephora, especially when it evolves from a quick trip to pick up some necessities to a full on splurge (is it even possible to leave that store without some sort of impulse buy?).

I've talked about how much I love that Fresh Sugar lip treatment before...I use that stuff a couple of times a day.  I'm also a huge fan of the Clarisonic, so I stocked up on fresh brushes.  I have the worst scaly skin on my legs, so I'm trying the body brush to see if I can get my legs looking better before Spring. 

I've mentioned before how I'm a big fan of Clinique's black honey "almost lipstick."  A lot of early-20's girls I know want a little more color and oomph than a gloss gives, without the potentially overbearing and stuffy look of lipstick.  Up until recently, Clinique only made "Almost Lipstick" in black honey.  I was super excited to see they were offering it in a bunch of new colors.  This is "shy honey," which is really perfect for everyday on my fair skin.  It definitely gives a pretty pop of color that's still appropriate for class. 

(without flash)

(with flash)

I'm super duper late on the Naked palette trend.  I've read tons of blog posts raving about it so I was really excited to see it in stock.  I'm just generally a sucker for eyeshadow palettes in general, but I was really excited to see one that was mostly earth tones.  As a super fair girl with freckles, I just don't have the complexion to pull off black/very dark shadow.  These shadows give me the ability to do pretty and smoky eye makeup without looking like I got socked in the face.  Plus, the lighter colors are subtle enough for everyday/school events. The only big drawback with this product is the cost...I think it was around $50, which is pretty steep.  

Have you tried the Naked palette or the new Clinique lipsticks?  What were your thoughts?

xoxoKate

Fraîche Cupcakes

Sometimes the only way to make it through an exhausting journal competition is with a mouth full of cupcakes.  My mom got me two tasty cupcakes from Fraiche Cupcakery in Bethesda.  I think she felt bad for me because I was a total hermit during the competition.  The whole thing lasted from Thursday afternoon until Monday night...I left my house exactly four times (once to go to class, once to get dinner with my parents, once to go to the grocery store, and once to drop my wonderfully cute boy back at his apartment after he decided to pay me a pity visit).

Peanut Butter and Jelly.  I'm not a huge fan of jelly, so I wasn't blown away by the jelly filling of this one, but the peanut butter frosting was sooooo good.

Hot Chocolate.  The idea of a hot chocolate cupcake seemed kind of weird to me (isn't hot chocolate just cocoa and sugar in milk?  Like...the same ingredients that go into most chocolate baked goods?), but it really did taste like hot chocolate.  It had a slightly malty flavor which really made it taste like something other than a regular chocolate cupcake.  Very tasty.  

I'm super duper late getting on the cupcake trend, but I have to say I enjoyed it.  I think the sugar rush helped me with my writing (how's that for spin?).  

xoxoKate

Recent Purchases: J. Crew, Longchamp

Shopping for work clothes makes me feel so grown-up.  The other 99.9% of the time I feel like an overgrown college student with an incredibly messy apartment.  

J. Crew perfect oxford shirts (these fit so well) - they're not nearly as wrinkled looking in real life.

No. 2 Pencil Skirts - these are ridiculously flattering and will definitely be my go-to for my summer job.  Plus, my booty somehow miraculously fit into the size 2, which was a real ego-booster!

I've wanted a denim jacket for forever.  They always look so cute on other people, but I think I was scared off by this really thick denim jacket I had as a kid.  It was so stiff that I couldn't move my arms.  This one is wonderfully soft and just a smidge stretchy.  

I've been dying for one of these short-handled longchamp bags for a couple of years.  I think they look so cute with summer dresses.  So glad I finally picked one up.

xoxoKate

I used to be cool...

This was my weekend.  In theory, I'm currently on spring break.  For 1Ls at my law school, the first four days of spring break are devoted to the journal competition.  If you want to be on a journal (like Law Review), you have to participate in the competition.  We are given 394 pages of various materials (cases, studies, law review articles, statutes) and we have to come up with a case note.  There are also a bunch of crazy rules (we have to use some obscure font and very exact margins).  A big part of our score is the citations, so things as silly as the italicization of a period matter.  

I'm realllllllyyyy looking forward to turning this in tonight at 8pm.  

Bailey 44 Dress

I'm normally a good student - I really am.  I try to focus in class and keep my g-chatting to a minimum.  (The guy I sit next to in Property spends the entire class staring at his computer screen playing something that looks vaguely like Farmville, not taking notes.  If the professor calls on him, he often has a good answer.  I don't get it.)  The big exception to this is during my Legal Research and Writing Class.  It begins at 8:30 on Tuesday mornings and runs for almost an hour and a half, so I'm just always out of it and really dazed during class.  To make it a short story...I do a lot of online browsing in that class...

Or occasionally, online buying.

I bought this sweet Bailey 44 dress from Revolve.  It was on sale...it was a dreary January day and I was dreaming of warmer weather.  It couldn't be avoided.

xoxoKate