diy: studded ballet slippers

 

the boyf went to a baseball game the other night which means it's girls night in at hq.  voss came over for some champagne and boxed mac and cheese and we started watching revenge.  it has bambi from secret diary of a call girl so we were already sold.  let me tell you, this show is bananas.  we got through the first 3 episode and there is more drama than the first season of gossip girl.  

voss brought over her studding gear or as she likes to call it "punk rock knitting kit" and she let me toughen up my ballet slippers.  needless to say i got flack from my ballet teacher last night.  but i think she secretly likes them.

you could do this to any pair of flats really or if you want some fancy slipper for around the house you could do it to a pair of real ballet slipper like i did.  if you do go this route, they only  have a bit of suede on the bottom so don't wear them out of the house.

item you'll need:

ballet slippers or flats

studs

leather/fabric punch

prong press

*you can get a studding starter kit here from studs & spikes.

directions:

arrange the studs in the order you want them and press them in to make indents with the prongs, you'll have to repeat this step for each stud.  punch a hole through the fabric with the hole puncher then pop in the stud.  flip shoe over to bend in the prongs.  make sure you bend them in deep so they won't scratch the tops of your feet.

or if you're too lazy you could always buy a pair from bonadrag. :)

xo alicia

recipe: homemade bibicaffe

one of my favorite summer time drinks is iced coffee. and the creme de la creme of iced coffee is bibicaffe. it's a delightful sweetened carbonated espresso drink imported from italy. heck even in the dead of winter i'd drink one they're so good. sadly the a couple of years ago the only distributed lost the rights to import it. tragic yes, but being a good hoarder i stashed a 40 oz size bottle for a rainy day. lately there have been some copy cats popping up at the specialty grocery store in my hood but none compare to the original. i had some soda water that was going to waste so i decide to start getting crafty. this is where my years of being a barista come into play.

i used:
6 oz iced coffee concentrate {this one from the ny times is my fav}
4 oz soda water
honey syrup {its the lazy person's simple syrup}
half & half
lots of ice

directions:
here's where it gets real complicated.  fill your glass with ice, if you planned ahead you should fill your ice cube tray with leftover coffee to make coffee ice cubes, pour in coffee concentrate then soda water.  if i'm making regular iced coffee i usually do equal parts coffee and water but for some reason wit the soda water i feel like you need a bit more.  top with honey syrup and half & half.  pull out your favorite book or turn on your favorite program and you're good to go.

hope you're hooked, i know i am!

xo alicia

outfits: breaking the mold

i feel like every few years my tastes in fashion want to do a 180.  i'm currently at that crossroads.  its not that i want to dress super trendy, thats not the type of gal i am.  i like to stick to my tomboyish roots.  heck i preferred nina turtles to barbie any day.  and if i did play barbie's it was usually to dress ken in drag.  i wonder what a psychologist would have to say about that.  anyway barbie has nothing to do with my current conundrum.  if i were rich i'd just hop a plane to new york and have a ball.  but since i live in a place called reality, i've been purging some oldies at buffalo and slowly trying to get some new pieces in rotation.  lately this lady in particular and all of these ladies have been my inspiration.  another obstacle has been shopping local.  i love to support my local businesses, but besides totokaelo, the pnw doesn't have much to offer me.  

boohoo, poor me, right?  anyway.  i'm finally off my vacation comedown and getting back into my daily routine.  boy did i miss ballet!  it makes monday almost the best day of the week, ALMOST.  i wish it was more often than that.

outfit 1:

sweater ~ club monaco {old}

skirt ~ hinge via nordstrom

booties ~ target

outfit 2:

dress ~ marc by marc jacobs

flats ~ h&m {recent}

outfit 3:

tee ~ nordstrom

jeans ~ joes jeans

belt ~ gap

brogues ~ halogen via nordstrom

hope you have a lovely weekend ahead of you.  i'm bummed i'll be missing grimes and neko case at the capitol hill block party but with rain in the forecast, hiking in eastern washington sounds like a much better. time. 

xo alicia

this or that: cutout trim dress

OR....

If the interweb were my closet this Opening Ceremony cutout trim dress {$360} would be in heavy rotation.  But in reality I'd happily settle for this one from Thrifted & Modern {$62}.  Booby winks and all.  I literally just stumbled upon this shop.   How did I know know about before?!  So many new cute affordable clothes and some real vintage gems.  

Happy Friday!!

xo Alicia

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Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans out there!!!

xo Alicia

outfits: stand up comedy

I've packed away my suitcase and put my jet setting days behind me, at least for the time being.  I'm happy to be home with the boyf and Georgie but I sure do miss the heat.  Oh and there's that thing called work I had to go back to. 

With my whirlwind trips, I kept forgetting I had bought tickets to see Aziz Ansari.  This was my first time seeing stand up and boy Aziz did not disappoint.  Whenever the boyf and I go on road trips we listen to Aziz's first stand up so it was exciting to hear some new material.  If you thought his R. Kelly impression was good wait til you hear his Seal impression.  He also touched on the topics of being the cutest brown baby alive and his views on marriage.  I won't even try to repeat any of his jokes because i know I'll fail miserably.  

Afterwards we hit up Le Pichet for some late night eats.  Which was pretty much amazing.  I don't think I could ever tire of eating french food, although my waistline would.  I don't know how the French eat all that bread and stay so thin.  Must be all the wine and cigarettes.  

I picked up these shiny pants from Topshop while I was in Vegas n sale for $50!  I'd say that was a steal.  I'm not one to usually by multiples of an item but these came in high waisted shorts too and I couldn't say no.  I made friends with the girl at Barney's but other than that I got mostly odd looks while I was wandering through downtown.

wearing:

sweater ~ Zara

tank ~ Madewell

blazer ~ Marc by Marc Jacobs

pants ~ Topshop

slippers ~ Sam Edelman

bag ~ See by Chloe

I'm definitely going to make them into a more casual look real soon.  That camo jacket is ace. <3

I'll try to get some travel diary posts up of my trips over the next couple of weeks.

xoxo

Alicia