miami night 1

We just got to Miami and it is so beautiful here! We are staying at the Mandarin Oriental in Brickell Key, a private little island. The hotel is so gorgeous and reminds me so much of the Mandarin in DC, where my cousin got married and where we recently had my mom's birthday party! http://www.mandarinoriental.com/miami/

Last night we went to Villa Azur, my favorite restaurant in Miami. http://villaazurmiami.com/

My husband and I were in Miami on our honeymoon and dined at Villa Azur and it was my favorite place we went to! 

Unfortunately, we didn't get a lot of pictures of the restaurant but we did capture our fabulous outfits! I wore my red peplum Asos dress and Sonia wore the Free People Reflected Moonlight dress found here. Of course, the dresses were topped off with Christian Louboutin patent leather pumps.

makeup look of the night

view from our balcony

what's in my bag?

MIAMI PACKING LIST

Here's what's in my bag for my upcoming trip to Miami!

Asos red peplum dress found here

Alice + Olivia Kimmi beaded dress - I wore this to my bridal shower!

Rebecca Taylor eyelash bustier dress - I wore this on my honeymoon!

Topshop Sequin Peplum Dress in Oxblood found here

Topshop gold power stud dress found here

Tobi dress found here

recipe of the day

KALE CHIPS

So I know I just posted pictures of extremely unhealthy, yummy goodness from Christmas, but I actually do try to eat pretty healthy (i.e., fresh fruits, veggies, protein, grains, and no added oils). I will be posting recipes of things that I make. Last night, I made red quinoa, baked tofu, kale chips, and mushrooms and it turned out great! 

 
So today I am going to post the kale chips recipe. It's a great snack, side dish, and extremely healthy. 

Ingredients:
fresh kale - washed and cut with stems removed
pam spray
salt substitute
garlic pepper

The kale I use comes in a bag like this: 

 I love it because it comes pre-cut and all you have to do is remove the stems after washing thoroughly. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking pan with aluminum foil.

Next, dry the kale in a salad spinner or with paper towels. It must be dry otherwise it will come out soggy.

Spray the kale with Pam spray and sprinkle in the salt and garlic pepper. 

Using your fingers, mix all of the ingredients together to make sure all of the kale is coated with the spices.


Put in the oven for 20 minutes or until crispy. Enjoy!

my husband loved it!

 

debut

Hello everyone! I am officially starting my new blog. I want it to be mostly about fashion, beauty, home decor, vacations, and healthy recipes and living and pretty much whatever comes to mind. I have been so inspired by other fashion/lifestyle blogs lately so I thought I would give it a try! A little bit about me first - I am 26, recently married, and I am a doctoral student in clinical psychology and I absolutely love it! I am married to my best friend, Ben, but my REAL best friend is my twin sister Sonia. Yes, that's right, I have a twin! It's amazing being a twin, and Sonia, my mom, and I are all so close, so I'm sure you will be reading about them in my future blogs! I also love my new sisters-in-law (Suzi + Janessa) and my first blog post will be about my recent trip to Maine where I visited Ben's family for Christmas. We also had Christmas dinner at my mom's house and my mom and sister made AMAZING Sirracha chicken, broccoli and cauliflower casserole, chicken noodle soup, and mashed potatoes--YUM!

Suzi, Janessa, and I slaved away in the kitchen making sugar cookies and icing from scratch!

me + Janessa

We also made homemade sushi!

red velvet cheesecake swirl brownies = AMAZING

Janessa made the BEST eggplant parmesean

my cute husband Ben and I on our first Christmas as a married couple!

hard at work on those sugar cookies!

us three sisters - minus my twinnie!

Suzi and I making sugar cookies

Janessa, Suzi, and Ben are adorable siblings!