Monday, March 26, 2012

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

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

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


Monday, March 19, 2012

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

Friday, March 16, 2012

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

Thursday, March 15, 2012

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

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

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

Monday, March 12, 2012

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


Sunday, March 11, 2012

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


Friday, March 9, 2012

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



Monday, March 5, 2012

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.