Parisian Chic

      Happy Monday! I've recently been obsessing over everything related to Paris. I don't know why, but I want to go there, eat their food, wear their clothes, and be just as stylish as the famous Parisian women.

from adiaryoflovely.blogspot.com

      I just searched "Parisian outfit" on Google, and this lovely little ensemble popped up! I love the chambray and the skirt, very Parisian chic. Oh, how I'd love to stroll down the Champs Ellyses while eating a croissant and wearing this. A girl can dream!

Keep it classy,
Brooke

Lilly Pulitzer Agenda!

      Happy Sunday! My new Lilly planner recently arrived, and I LOVE IT. SO MUCH. It's just so pretty! I do wish the planners were 12 months instead of 18 because I didn't get to use all of my last one, so it kind of felt like a waste of money to get a new one, but I just wanted it so badly! Plus, my old one was kind of falling apart from getting beaten up in the black hole that is my backpack.

I can't wait for school to start so I can use it!

       Isn't it so pretty?! I got the large agenda in "Let's Cha Cha" and I'm obsessed. It has a handy strap to keep it closed, a pocket to keep notes in, the most precious stickers you've ever seen, a list of holidays, a section for notes, and the prettiest pages for each month. I absolutely love it!

Keep it classy,
Brooke

Color Run Fun

      Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! On Saturday morning I woke up at 6 (yikes!) to participate with a friend in the Color Run! For those of you who don't know, the Color Run is a 5k non-competitive race that supports children's hospitals. Oh yeah, and you get covered in colored powder from head to toe!

Before...

And after!

The Color Storm!

Up close -- my arms looked ridiculous!

      After the run my friend and our parents and I ate breakfast then went to the city market where we got peaches, okra, and tomatoes!

Keep it classy,
Brooke

Book Club: The Language of Flowers

      Happy Monday! So I just recently finished an amazing book called The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (this is her first novel). It's about an 18-year-old girl named Victoria who grew up in the foster care system, and she temporarily lived happily with a woman named Elizabeth. But before Elizabeth could adopt Victoria, Victoria did something to mess it up, but the reader doesn't discover what her mistake was until the last quarter of the book.

      The book shifts with each chapter from 10-year-old to 18-year-old Victoria. The grown-up Victoria struggles with finding a job in a flower shop, a love interest who is connected to Elizabeth, and having enough food to eat, all while devoting every second of free time to her beloved flowers. This book has thrilling plot twists and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Keep it classy,
Brooke

Learning Italian

      Happy Sunday! Recently, I've been trying to learn Italian and it's so much fun! I got this CD set from the library and it comes with a booklet for each of the three levels so you can follow along while listening, which really helps for me since I'm a visual learner. I copied the College Prepster (my favorite blog) at the beginning of the year and made a goal for each month of the year, and I made my goal for July to improve my skills (in general). So I decided that learning a new language would be a great way to do it.
      I highly recommend that you hit up your local library to see if there are any language-learning programs, because it's free (Rosetta Stone is hundreds of dollars!!), educational, and fun! I've also been reading and writing more, I'm doing the Color Run on Saturday, doing more crafts, and I'm even considering a fitness class! July has been pretty great so far; I hope it continues on this path!

What are you up to this month?

Keep it classy,
Brooke

Recipe of the Month: Southern Peach Cobbler

      Happy Saturday! I hope y'all had a great week and Fourth of July! Yesterday at work (I'm a camp assistant at my school's summer program) the kids had peaches in their sack lunches, and since there were extra lunches that no one ate and they would have been thrown away, I took all of the peaches home to make some peach cobbler!
      This was the second time that I made this recipe, and it was so delicious I just had to share it with you! It's just on allrecipes.com, but here it is:

Southern Peach Cobbler

8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted, and sliced into thin wedges

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

2 tsp cornstarch

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

6 T unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1/4 cup boiling water

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mix Together:

3 T white sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine peaches, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.
4. Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Sprinkle entire cobbler with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes.

I added some vanilla ice cream, and voila! It was perfect.

Keep it classy,
Brooke
 

4th of July Haul!

      Happy Fourth, everyone! Today the J. Crew Factory store was having a 50% off everything sale, so obviously I had to go! J. Crew is my favorite store, but since it's so ridiculously expensive, I can usually only buy stuff during the sales. Even when everything's half off it's still pretty far out of my price range, so I save most of my money particularly for these sales at this amazing store.

Seersucker Blazer: J. Crew Factory, White Shorts: Gap

 

 I had planned on purchasing white shorts from J. Crew, but when I tried them on they were completely see-through! I was wearing white underwear and you could see them perfectly. Luckily these shorts from the Gap were on sale for $9.99 and you can't see my underwear!

Chambray Perfect Shirt and Toothpick skinny jeans from J. Crew Factory

Seersucker Pencil Skirt and Polka-Dotted Sleeveless Top from J. Crew Factory, Rugby Shirt from Polo Ralph Lauren Factory

We've just eaten supper and now we're about to go see some fireworks! I hope everyone had a safe and fun Fourth of July!

Keep it classy,
Brooke