Zac Posen @ Target

I love Target's designer collections. It's such a great idea - take fabulous designers and have them make more affordable versions of their beautiful clothes for the rest of us normal folks. The first couple of designer collections didn't really live up to the hype, but they've been getting better and better (have you seen the Liberty of London collection - adorable). I myself have yet to actually purchase anything from a designer collection @ Target, but Zac Posen may change that. You can check out the whole preview on Fashionista, but I definitely have my eye on the following 3 pieces:

Gown in safety pin print - $69.99

Brocade Tie Dress in Floral Print - $74.99

Shop Tape dress in Blue - $69.99

There isn't anything in the collection I don't like, actually. The gold bathing suit may also make it's way to my drawer. The collection arrives at Target tomorrow, April 25. I'm not a line waiter, though, so I'll wait until the initial rush passes before checking it out myself.

As a side note - what the heck is up with the whole heels with socks look? I'm not a fan.

Nordstrom Cupcakes

Spotted at the Nordstrom coffee bar in the Westfield Topanga:

I look kinda cute with glasses

Snapped this photo of myself modeling some glasses while waiting for some friends at Forever 21 (or XXII Forever or whatever the heck they're calling that store now).

Scott would love for me to wear glasses but I've been blessed with good vision thus far in life and I refuse to wear non-prescription lenses. One day, Scott, one day.

Shower!

On Saturday I attended my first ever bridal shower - my own! I had a fantastic time and it was so great to see most of the ladies in my life all in one place. The shower was held at Tiramisu in Sherman Oaks and the food was delicious!

Sandy, Anne, Me, Mom, Francie

Lindsay, Sam, Me, Carolynn, Swati (thanks again to my Bay Area girls for making the trek to LA!)

Elyse, Dad, Me, Mom

All the Bagley women while we are still Bagleys

Trying desperately not to break any ribbon (check out that hilarious gift bag behind me - courtesy of Super Sam)

Doing my best Vanna

Georgia, Scott, Me

Many thanks to my beautiful shower organizers Francie, Anne, Sandy, Pam, and Elyse - I am beyond grateful to have had such a beautiful event arranged just for me! And of course thanks to everyone for attending and for getting us all sorts of fantabulous gifts - including many cupcake related items, of course :).

Speaking of cupcakes, there were of course cupcakes present at the shower - 6 different flavors from Famous Cupcakes. I picked a strawberry one of course - it was delish:

(An uncharacteristically good picture for my Nexus One)

P.S. How cute is my dress?

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Yesterday was Andrew's birthday. Last year he was a big fan of my lemon cupcakes with raspberry frosting so I decided to make them for him again.

How cute are those cupcake liners? Thanks to Sam, who got them for me from the one and only Surfas :).

Thanks to T4B for allowing me to mess up their kitchen in the name of cupcake deliciousness. And boy were they delicious. Raspberry buttercream might be the perfect frosting - bold statement, I know. I also added a drop of lemon curd on top of the batter before putting the cupcakes in the oven, which didn't quite work as they didn't sink, but it had a nice side effect of a crispy sugary top to the cupcakes.

How to eat a cupcake

According to Buzz Feed, this is how you're supposed to eat a cupcake:

Looks a little messy. I think I'll stick with my way - eat the top with the frosting first and then, maybe, eat the bottom. It's really all about the frosting anyway.

Hi, I'm Jess, and I'm a t-shirt-aholic

Another awesome t-shirt from the folks at Threadless. This one had me giggling for a few solid minutes. It's called "The King."

It's too bad (or maybe it's a good thing) I already have a shirt in this color or else I might have had to break my no new t-shirt policy for this one.

Lemon Cake and Strawberry Ice Cream

This Saturday Scott and I had some friends over for dinner. On the menu: Pioneer Woman's Meatballs (you should make these ASAP), roasted carrots, spinach salad, and cheddar/chive mashed potatoes (totally winged this one and they came out pretty tasty).

I have a bunch of lemons in the house so I decided to make a lemon cake for dessert. I went with this recipe for Lemon Frosted Lemon Cake.

The recipe actually called for a springform pan which I own, but honestly couldn't tell you the last time I used it. Hooray for getting use out of items hiding in the back of my cupboard!

Here it is fully frosted. Amazing how just a cup of powdered sugar and 2 tbsp lemon juice combine to create that glaze.

We haven't used our ice cream maker in awhile so we decided to bust out some home made ice cream as well. For some reason I seem to have a large amount of frozen fruit so Scott decided to make strawberry ice cream. He dug a bit for a recipe that didn't involve eggs.

Here is the final product.

And the very proud ice cream maker.

And the final product, ready to be devoured.

I have to say, they both turned out pretty well. Citrus flavors are always a winner and the strawberry ice cream was a perfect compliment to the tart cake. I still have lemons so I foresee another lemon related baked good in my near future.

(in other news - I think I'm giving up on my phone being an appropriate substitute for a point and shoot camera)

Things that shouldn't exist: Cupcake Handiwipes

Although I love cupcakes, I prefer for my hands to smell clean, not like cupcakes.

These come from Fred Flare, and they also sell ice cream smelling ones as well. Fred Flare has a whole bunch of other cute cupcake items, though.

Fun Finds from Target: Heart Mirror

I heart Target. But really, who doesn't? I recently spotted this fun heart mirror on Target.com.


It's a bit on the pricey side at $89.99, especially for Target, but it is fun to look at, no?

Made of Awesome: This Paint Color

I will have a room painted in this color one day.

From Apartment Therapy.

Things that shouldn't exist: Escalator Out of Order Signs

“An escalator can never break: it can only become stairs. You should never see an Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order sign, just Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.”

When I was in Austin for SXSW one of the escalators in the convention center wasn't running and someone actually stuck a post-it note on it that said "escalator temporarily stairs." Damn my dead camera or else you know I would have totally gotten a photo!

Live Long and Prosper

Remember this? I bought one to give away during a campus event. Naturally I had to pose with it.

Made of Awesome: Travel Posters from The Heads of State

I love these posters from The Heads of State.

Only $30 and there's a few other city options as well.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Cupboard Project continues. Last night I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies based onthis recipe.

Because the recipe only called for one cup of pumpkin and a whole can holds 15 oz I decided to double it. You know how you're not supposed to mess with proportions when baking because it's an exact science? Yeah, I totally laughed in the face of that rule last night. I didn't set out to, but I made a few strategic errors that could have been disastrous.

1. 15 oz is not = to 2 cups. So I was using slightly less pumpkin than I should have. I figured there would likely be no harm here - pumpkin is mostly providing flavor.
2. I accidentally quadrupled the salt instead of doubling it. This could have been very bad.
3. Because I suck at life and failed to read ahead in the recipe, I didn't see that it needed milk. All I had on hand was buttermilk. Gave it a shot.
4. Totally didn't dissolve the soda in the milk. Just decided to mix extra well.

Somehow, magically, the cookies turned out DELICIOUS. They are very soft, slightly pumpkin-y (due to the slightly less than full amount of requested pumpkin), and completely addicting.

I still have 3 cans of pumpkin + a can of Libby's so I see a lot of off season pumpkin products in my future. Scott loves pumpkin though, so he's pleased as punch with this development.

(also - T4B may want to take note that Andrew was sent home last night with a box of these)

I love bridges

And the Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge in Boston is no exception.


I think bridges might be my favorite man made structures to look at/photograph.

Julie & Julia

Last week Scott and I watched Julie and Julia. I absolutely loved it.

Meryl Streep and Amy Adams were both great. And damn if it didn't make me hungry! I've come to 3 conclusions from this movie:

1. While I did like the structure of this movie, and I like Julie Powell's story (regardless of your feelings for her as a writer or a cook or whatever, what she did is truly pretty fantastic), I wish it didn't take a book based on a blog about cooking Julia Child's recipes to get a movie about Julia Child. The woman had an incredibly fascinating life - why can't she have her own movie?
   
2. I need to make Boeuf Bourguignon. In fact as soon as I get my brand new casserole, it is the first thing I plan to make with it.
3. I need to own Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Thus it is now on the registry (woohoo - looks like someone bought it! Boeuf Bourguignon here we come...).
   

Things that shouldn't exist: EZ Cracker

I saw an infomercial for this gadget recently and I just don't get it. Do we really need a gadget that does this? The infomercial makes it look like it's nearly impossible not to get egg shell in your food. If you can't properly crack an egg 9 times out of 10, maybe you should stop baking.

I do have to admit, though, that the egg separator attachment does look kind of awesome. Separating eggs is a pain in the ass. However, I don't think I'll be buying a special gadget, and a rather large one at that, just for this purpose.

If this sounds like a gadget you want taking up drawer space in your kitchen, The EZ Cracker can be bought here.

Sweet Cupcakes - Cambridge, MA

Naturally while in Boston I had to try a new cupcake place. On my first night in town I hit up Sweet Cupcakes in Harvard Square. I rolled in pretty close to closing time so the pickins were a bit slim (just means they are popular!) so I chose a flourless chocolate cupcake and a jelly donut cupcake plus a vanilla frosting shot (since neither of my cupcake choices had frosting).


I never would have picked a jelly donut cupcake otherwise and boy am I glad I did. It was really good. The flourless chocolate cupcake was also delicious - it was a nice dark chocolate flavor and really moist, especially for being flourless.

The buttercream frosting shot was a great consistency but something was slightly off about it - maybe less butter than I like and heavier on the sugar? I couldn't pinpoint it but it was pretty good. I've just gotten quite picky. Amy Sedaris is my base point.

All in all I really liked Sweet Cupcakes and recommend them to Boston/Cambridge travellers/dwellers.

The Cupboard Project

Scott and I are on a mission to consume as much of our dried, canned, and frozen food as possible before stocking up on new food. It's a good money saving plan + it's freeing up some much needed room in our cupboard and freezer. For example, last night we had "Almost Thanksgiving" with chicken, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. I also decided last night to work through some of my baking products, starting with a box of lemon cake mix and can of strawberry icing that have been camped out in our cupboard for a bit.


I of course altered the cake mix, as I usually do, especially since I actually had buttermilk on hand. I meant to add some lemon curd but I forgot. Sprinkles are also something I need to work on using up so I added some simple white ones to the pink frosting. I think they turned out pretty cute. No promises on flavor - if they suck, I'm blaming Betty (as in Crocker).

Next up - pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I have kind of an obscene amount of pumpkin I need to start working through.

Made of Awesome: This Kitchen Backsplash

Drool.

Via Apartment Therapy

The Cupcake Bar

Cupcake # 2 in Austin, TX was from The Cupcake Bar. The Cupcake Bar is not a store front bakery, they basically cater a cupcake bar (think sundae bar) at parties and events. It's a fantastic idea and I'm totally jealous I didn't think of it myself!

Here you can see the bar set up at the Blogger/Reader party at SXSW:


You pick your flavor cupcake and your flavor icing, they ice your cupcake and then there are a variety of toppings to choose from. I picked chocolate on chocolate with rainbow sprinkles. I'm a simple girl and I'm pretty picky when it comes to dessert toppings. Not every thing is meant to be a cupcake or ice cream topping, in my not so humble opinion. But that's just me. If you want gummy bears or pop rocks on your cupcake - by all means, have fun!


The cupcake was really good, especially for a mini, which I usually find to be dry. These were spot on and the buttercream again, was perfection. Just a perfect little taste and not overwhelming at all. If you're in Austin and hosting a party, I recommend having The Cupcake Bar at your event!

Room with a view

I'm staying at the Doubletree Guest Suites while in Boston. I've discovered being an Hilton Honors member provides some nice perks. Like nice rooms with great views.

Day

Night

Also they gave me a warm cookie when I checked in (baked goods are really the way to my heart) and I get free coffee in the lobby in the morning. I don't know why I didn't jump on the hotel points bandwagon earlier!

Peep Dioramas

So apparently The Washington Post held a contest for people to make dioramas out of peeps.

1. Why didn't I know about this? Thank you, urlesque.com for bringing this to my attention.
   
2. Um, hi, this is amazing.
   

The winner this year is what caught my eye:

Eep!

That would be Carl's house from Up. With balloons made from Peeps. There's even a Peep Carl in the window and a Peep Russell on the porch.

Another one of my favorites (based on one of my all time favorite childrens' books!):

Goodnight Peep

You can see the full photo gallery of some of the better contenders here. Scott might want to check out #21.

Of all the Peeps stories I've been reading this week, this is definitely my favorite. Definitely better than Peepza.


Ew squared.

HAPPY EASTER!!

Today I was here

Thank goodness I remembered my camera for this trip.


Please forgive the washed out sky. I had left the camera on night time ISO settings. One day I may learn to actually use my camera properly. In the mean time, Cambridge is beautiful.

I really wish...

...that overalls weren't attempting a come back.

J. Crew Gallery Overalls (coming in at a ridiculous $168)