Well Then Why Don't You Marry It?

Top: Forever 21
Skirt: Printemps
Shoes: Target
Purse: Hand-me-down
Earrings: Forever 21

I eyed this skirt for almost my entre semester in France, never actually thinking I would own it. Thanks to the three beautiful and generous friends of mine, I can now call this skirt mine.

Every time I would go grocery shopping last semester with these girls, we would walk through a department store called Printemps. And every time I would stop and admire this skirt. (I kind of have a thing for tulle. Particularly pale pink tulle. One of those “well, why don’t you marry it?” type of things.) The only problem with this skirt is it was way out of my price range. Really, being that I was a poor unemployed foreign exchange student, everything was out of my price range. But you can make an argument for buying food you don’t have any money for whereas the most marvelous skirt in the world it a different story (although, I’d say not that different).

Needless to say, you can imagine my reaction when I opened a birthday package from my three friends and found this skirt inside. One of them wrote in her note to me that she thought I might “crie de joie.” I did in fact crie de joie, which freaked out my sister who was sitting in the room right next to me. But, c’mon, just look at the gorgeousness that is this skirt. Can you really blame me?

(Fine. You know what maybe I would marry it if I could. So there. Now stop judging me.)

Vegan Mozzarella

I did it! I finally made vegan cheese. Meltable, delicious vegan cheese. The very cheese I’ve had all the ingredients for since the beginning of the semester but never got around to making. All I have to say right now is I’m so happy of myself! If you believe in yourself (and read the following post), you can learn how to make vegan cheese! And thumbs up for rock and roll!


I adapted my recipe from a recipe I found here.


Ingredients
1 package Extra Soft Silken Tofu
1 cup Vegan Heavy Cream
1/2 Tbspr Salt
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Rice Vinegar
6 tsp Agar Flakes
1/2 cup water

Blend until smooth the tofu, heavy cream, salt, garlic power, and vinegar (I used a magic bullet for this--it blends it a very creamy consistency). Transfer to a small sauce pan and stir in the agar flakes and water. Bring to a boil on medium, stirring frequently. Boil until the agar flakes are almost completely dissolved (about 20 minutes), adding water if necessary doesn't boil down too much. 

Pour into a large loaf pan and place in fridge until completely cooled.

There you have it. It does taste slightly tofu-y, but not over-poweringly so. It’s good vegan equivalent to mozzarella. It slices/shreds really well and melts pretty well too. When it’s melted it doesn’t have that stringiness that real cheese has, but it still taste delicious.

I ended up using my cheese on a pizza with sauteed onions, mushrooms, and spinach. I definitely recommend you do the same.

Graduation Sombrero

Last Saturday was my graduation from the University of Florida (can i get a "huzzah!" and "go Gators!"?). I just so happened to be graduating on Cinco de Mayo. I feel this was very appropriate, since Cinco de Mayo marks Mexico's victory over The French and graduating marks my victory over my French degree. Since these two dates alligned so perfectly, I decided to turn my graduation cap into a graduation sombrero. Viva Mexico y viva graduacion!

The Ingredients
32 mini pompoms in the color of your choice (I used my school colors--Go Gata!)
1 child's size sombrero
Yarn
Large needle
Small needle & thread
Scissors
Hot glue
Optional: black sharpie for a very necessary finger moustache


Oh yeah, and your graduation cap. Duh.


The Steps

Thread your yarn through a large needle. To facilitate this process, I taped the end of my yarn so it wouldn't fray as I was threading it (well, my mother did. I never would have thought to do that on my own and would have therefore never finished my hat out of frustration and defeat).

Thread your yarn through your pom-poms.

As you thread them, push them together along the yarn.

Once you have all your poms poms on the yarn, move thneedle and make a knot and the end. Push one pompom along the string until it reaches the knot. Then make another knot about 3-4 inches away from that one and repeat the process.

As you go along, cut the yarn at the base of the pompom, right below the knot, creating the creppy tadpole like things pictured above.

Now, knot the yarn you've attached your pompoms to onto another long strand of yarn.

Because you are no good at sewing and have two hours until you need to be at you graduation, have your mother sew the Strand of pom-poms onto your hat. Space them put so there is 8 on each side.

Next, cut off the brim of your sombrero and hot glue it to your cap. Make sure you only hot glue the back so that you can move your tassle from right to left.

Ay chico! That's it. All you need is a Mexican finger moustache, and you're all set.

The Borrower

Shirt: BCBG

Skirt: Forever 21

Shoes: Target

Belt: Cotton On

Earrings: Forever 21

Ring: Etsy

I only purchased two of the items I am wearing in this picture: my France ring and my belt (which, in all fairness, I wear more than any other of the items in this post).

The earrings were borrowed from Cassie; the dress (used as a shirt) is from Kaitlin (Huzzah for her letting me borrowing while she's in NZ for the year!); the skirt is a hand-me-down from my oldest sister; the shoes are a hand-me-down from a lady I used to babysit for; 
and I borrowed the wing-back chair from the dumpster outside Cassie's apartment (classy, I know).


I missed my calling in life and was supposed to be a borrower. Hey, I'm ginger-haired, short, and clearly gifted at amassing and using items that are not mine. Maybe you should go ahead and just call me Arrietty.