New Shoes!

Well I had a crappy morning.  I was rear-ended this morning and it was a hit & run.  Thank goodness there wasn't any damage to my car other than scuffed paint.  Mostly, it was irritating and pissed me off.  Since my day kind of sucked, I went to Off Broadway Shoes after work (and the insurance adjuster).  I fell in love with glittery peep-toes and pumps at Kate Spade a few weeks ago that I couldn't afford, so I went in looking for something similar.  I got SO lucky!  I found a pair of pewter glitter covered pumps in my size that are comfortable which is insanely lucky in a size 5!!

And a theme song for this post:

Dynamic Zigs

Last month, I used my birthday discount at Anthropologie to buy the Dynamic Zigs dress.  I have worn it a few times since I bought it, and I took photos of it twice.  I haven't changed up how I've styled it, but I thought I'd share my two takes on it with you.  The length feels a bit long for me, but since midi-length is in style right now, I've left it as is.

Shoes: Clarks

Belt: Forever 21

Sweater: Banana Republic

The second set of photos were from my birthday.  I wore my birthday candle necklace that I received last year from Anthropologie with my discount coupon.  I went to dinner and martinis with friends at a local thai restaurant.  It was a ton of fun!

Chocolate Chipotle Chili

(Image from myrecipes.com. No picture of my actual dinner tonight because I ate it before I thought about taking a photo.)

I made chili based on a Cooking Light recipe.  I think it's a good start to creating my own championship chili.  I love it!  It smells like chocolate and chipotle.  It's spicy, but not too spicy.  It's super colorful too!

Ingredients
1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
Cooking spray
1 large sweet potato, peeled & diced
1 3/4 cups chopped onion
3 cups chopped red, green & yellow bell peppers
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 links fresh spicy pork sausage, out of the casing (about 8 ounces)
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 (15-ounce) cans black beans, drained & rinsed
3 (14-ounce) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (11-ounce) can no-salt-added whole-kernel corn, drained
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Juice of 1 lime
Salt & black pepper to taste
3/4 cup fat-free plain greek yogurt (optional)
Frito chips (optional)

Preparation
Remove 2 chiles from can; finely chop, reserving remaining chiles and sauce for another use.
Heat a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Break up and brown sausage. Add chiles, onion, bell peppers, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add chili powder and next 7 ingredients (chili powder through corn), stirring to combine. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, covered, 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sweet potatoes are soft. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate, lime juice, salt, and black pepper.
Serving size is 1 cup, top with 1 tablespoon greek yogurt and serve with Fritos if desired.

Fashion's Night Out - Charlotte

I wasn't able to go downtown for the big event in Charlotte, so I went to the mall.  Neiman Marcus had a fabulous event with a fashion show, drinks, and food.  I mostly attended for the people watching.  It was my first taste of Charlotte's fashion scene.  The theme was neutrals, strappy heels, and perfect hair and make-up.  In LA, the trend was to look fantastic without looking like you tried too hard.  In Charlotte, it's apparently appropriate to look like you put a lot of work on your appearance.  There was even big hair, but not on everyone, thank goodness!  I've browsed a few websites to try to find looks that fit what I saw last night.  In addition to these, there were skinny jeans with heels and nice tops, and imagine these outfits with perfectly applied lipstick and not a single hair out of place!

  

 

 

Images from Forever 21, Banana Republic and Piperlime