What I'm Wearing Wednesday

{Animal print top from Nordstrom, black pants from Lerner, Coach shoes, earrings gifted, Fossil watch}

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous for early evening walks, so recently my BFF and I took advantage and spent some time down by the water as the sun was setting. I have always been a fan of animal prints and this silky top from Nordstrom is simply perfect for the summer season!

Red, White and WOO HOO!

The Fourth of July — friends, fireworks and crazy delicious all-American backyard barbecue. What could be better? Looking fabulous, that’s what – in an Independence Day appropriate ensemble that a) won’t  have you melting in the crazy summer heat and b) doesn’t make you look like you ARE the Fourth of July parade on two legs.

The truth is, it’s totally fine and expected that you’ll sport the old red, white and blue, but there are ways to display your patriotic flair while still looking cute and current. Of course, what you wear depends in part on just exactly where and how you’ll be celebrating said holiday, so I’ve created some pieces for some likely settings in which you might find yourself scarfing celebrating the freedom of the good ol' USA.

Stained Glass Jello

Are you still looking for that perfect something to bring to the 4th of July cookout on Wednesday? Well, look no further. This Jello is fun, festive, easy to transport and eat, a sure-fire kid pleaser and will make the adults nostalgic about the good ol’ days of Jello Jigglers (Remember those?). This impressive-looking Jello dessert couldn’t be easier to make and is a simple variation of the classic “rainbow Jello” layered dessert. You know, the one with all the colors of the rainbow with layers of white in between?

I was so intrigued when I first saw the picture of stained glass Jello on The Food Librarian. She had done hers up in purple and yellow to cheer on the Lakers, and it looked amazing. Of course the Pittsburgh Steelers were still battling for the Superbowl at the time so my first instinct was to make this and do it Steelers-style. The only problem, naturally, is that Pittsburgh's colors are black and gold. I’ve never seen black Jello, have you? I thought perhaps they would sell blackberry, but I couldn’t find any.


I had an “aha” moment and realized that with strawberry and berry blue flavors I could make a red, white & blue dessert for the 4th of July. And to be even more festive, I used a cookie cutter to cut the Jello into the shape of stars. This was fun to make and I think it’s a great presentation for a holiday picnic. While not in the upper echelon of gourmet desserts, I think this is a great one to keep in your back pocket. You could switch up colors to reflect school graduation, various sports teams, company logos – anything at all! And if you have some fun cookie cutters in your stash, the possibilities are truly endless.

So how do you make this festive treat?

Yield: One 9×13-inch pan

4 boxes (3-ounces each) Jello (or store brand gelatin dessert) in different colors

14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (Knox)

Water

1. For each flavor, dissolve one box of Jello in 1 cup of boiling water. Pour into a square container that is about 6 to 8″ square and chill at least 3 hours, or overnight. (Try to use the same size for all four so that the blocks will come out the same. In this case the smaller the better – I used 8″ pans and felt my “blocks” were a little too flat.)

2. After chilling the flavors, cut them into small blocks.

3. Carefully mix the blocks in a 9×13-inch pan.

4. In a separate bowl, sprinkle 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin into ½ cup cold water. After the gelatin blooms, add 1½ cups boiling water and dissolve. Add the can of condensed milk. Stir and let cool. Pour cooled milk mixture over Jello blocks in 9×13 pan. Skim off any small bubbles that are created when you pour the condensed milk on the Jello pieces. Chill overnight or at least 3 hours until firm.

5. Cut into blocks or shapes and serve.

(Recipe adapted from The Food Librarian)

Friday Flashback

{An amazing dinner at the Columbia restaurant in Ybor City.}

Good Morning Lovebugs! Happy Friday! This week has been quite the interesting one. It started out kinda rocky. Tropical storm Debby hit Florida over the past weekend and stuck with us into the beginning of the week. I actually ended up getting a three day weekend out of it (I felt like I was back in school getting a day off for the weather.). After Mother Nature calmed down the rest of the week didn't. There was much to get done and with a shortened work week (although welcomed time off) everything seemed rushed. One of the best highlights was enjoying a lovely dinner at the Columbia Restaurant, Florida's oldest restaurant opening in 1905, and the largest Spanish restaurant in the world! You can read more about it here. Hope You had a great week. Enjoy your weekend!!!



{My meal - ropa vieja . . .DELICIOUS!!!}

{We sat in the Café dining room, the original 60-seat café that opened as the Columbia Restaurant in 1905. Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio frequented the Columbia in the early 1950’s. . .and sat in this room - if these walls could talk!}



{I've seen the movie Clue countless times and during my day spent at home due to the weather I added one more viewing. I cannot help but break out into uncontrollable laughter when Madeline Kahn, who played Mrs. White, rants about hating the maid SO MUCH that it felt like flames on the side of her face and that is why she killed her.}



Somebody to Love

Good Morning Gorgeous. I hope you have been well. I'm sorry for my absence. My computer decided to die on me last week and as such, I have not been able to spend much time here at I Look Good Today. But not to worry, my technological troubles have been resolved and I'm back :)

So now that we have that covered. . .let's get to the important stuff!

How often have you heard someone say, "I just want someone to love?" or "Why can't I find anybody who wants to be with me?"

From when we are very young we are all on that eternal quest to find love. To have that someone special in our lives that makes us feel appreciated, respected, safe, admired . . . that their world simply isn't the same without us.
I’ve seen it with friends and coworkers too – always bouncing from one relationship to the next with little time between to enjoy being single. No time to just be “you” rather than “the two of you”.

It’s like there’s something uncomfortable about being single for some people, as if being outside a relationship leaves them out in the cold, not knowing what to do. It is like there’s a fear that if they leave themselves in singledom they won’t find anyone else who’ll accept them, or that now that they are single they find who they are to be unacceptable.

When single, these people lose confidence in their ability to be themselves; they don’t trust that they can lead their life by themselves. If you’re one of these people, please listen to me. . .YOU ARE AMAZING ALL BY YOURSELF!!!

Now I can hear you over there. . .what does she know, she's married and has been with someone for 11 years! Who is she to tell me it is OK to be single?

Ok, I get ya! HOWEVER, the majority of my life I was the single girl. All my friends had one boyfriend after another in high school and college. Was I envious at times. Of course. Everyone I think deep down wants someone to love.

I had boyfriends, but they were few and far between and honestly I was fine with that.

The trick here is that I was (am) happy with who I am. I'm happy with being me. I'm happy in my world. Now that isn't to say that sharing my life and being with someone wouldn't bring me even greater happiness, however I realized, even at a young age, that my happiness and self worth should not ever depend on someone else.

The trick is to find a solid sense of who you are and what you’re about. A sense that no matter what happens – relationship or no relationship – you’ll be just fine. The trick is to want to be in a relationship because of everything it brings to the table and everything it allows you to be and do, not because you need to be in a relationship.

This means being brutally honest about what fears you have about being single, and finding a way to be okay with that fear. Entering into a relationship because you’re scared of what might happen if you don’t sounds pretty silly, doesn’t it? Entering into a relationship because you know how much you want to be in it strikes me as the most wonderful thing possible.

So my challenge to you friends, whether you are in a relationship or not, is this - be happy with YOU. Find those qualities in YOUR life that make you sparkle. Our life is too short to not be happy with WHO WE ARE!

Purple Passion

I don't know about you, but I have always loved the color purple. It truly is my favorite color.

Do you wear purple eye shadow or eyeliner? I'm loving this look for summer!

Isn't the way the purple shimmer catches the light just under her eyes so gorgeous!

Makes me think I should start being more adventurous with my summer day looks. If you're feeling the same way and now are basically dying to copy this look, here are some shimmery purple eyeshadows you can consider playing around with.



{L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow in Endless - $7.92}



{Nars Duo Eyeshadow in Jolie Poupee - $34}

 


{Urban Decay mini stardust and eyeshadow - $15}

 

What's your favorite shadow color to wear on a summer day?

Being There

This week I’ve been thinking about the important things in life. A lot of these things have combined in my world recently in thought-provoking ways, and from it all, I’ve seen the importance of just being there for people.

My entire life I have seemed to be the person that friends, family and even complete strangers open up to for guidance and support.

Whether it’s taking the time to really listen, answering a chat or email, a quick phone call or sending a thoughtful text, you can be there for someone and truly make a difference in their day; possibly even giving them the strength to get through their ordeal. So often people will not ask for help, they might even "shut down" and become distant, but that doesn't mean you stop being there for them.

I have always been the type of person that tends to deal with my issues (Thankfully there aren't many) on my own. I have the uncanny ability to put on a happy face and simply work things. However, there are times when even I need to turn to someone for a sympathetic ear.

I keep thinking back to a recent conversation with my BFF. I was thanking him for ALWAYS being there for me no matter what. I started thinking about those that are not as fortunate as I am to have people in their lives that they can really turn to to vent, cry, laugh and everything in between with.

Do you realize how much a smile, a kind word, a few moments of acknowledgement can mean to a person?

George Eliot once said, “What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?” How often do you thank those people who are there for you, and how often do you step out of your world to be there for someone else?