FBFF: Summer Recipe!

This week's Fashion Beauty Friend Friday prompt is to share the recipe to my favorite seasonal dish! I originally found it in Food & Wine magazine, but tweaked it a bit to make it exactly to my liking. ;) I must admit, I don't cook often, and this recipe is hardly "cooking," but it is quite easy, incredibly delicious, and one of my absolute favorites!

{Source: Food & Wine}

Avocado Crab Salad

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound lump crabmeat, picked over
1 1/2 avocados, diced ( 1/2 inch)
1/3 cup minced red onion
Tortilla chips, for serving

1. In a small bowl, combine the lime juice with the olive oil, vegetable oil, honey and garlic. Season the dressing with salt and pepper.
2. In another small bowl, toss the crab with 3 tablespoons of the dressing and season with salt and pepper. 

3. In a medium bowl, gently toss the avocado with the red onion and 2 tablespoons of the dressing; season with salt and pepper.
4. Toss the avocado and crab together, place either in small bowls for individual servings, or in a large bowl as a "dip."

5. Serve with tortilla chips & enjoy!

FBFF - On time!

Lookie here, kids! (You know, I may need a cute nickname for my readers. Bekah calls her readers "chickens." What do you think about that, my little baby dinos?) I'm finally doing a Modly Chic Fashion Beauty Friend Friday post on time, thanks to blogger scheduling! This week's theme? Hair!

1. How often do you get your hair cut?

I try to get my hair cut every 6-8 weeks. For awhile, I was going way too long without cuts, which resulted in way too many inches getting cut off due to split ends!

2. Do you go to the same stylist each time, try someone new, go to the cheap hair cutting chains or live it up in a salon?

I've been going to my awesome stylist Jessica for almost 7 years now! I first saw her the day before my high school senior portraits, with over-bleached, over-straightened, over-processed hair that was ready to break off at the root! Jessica has nursed my hair back to life; it is now healthy and I have finally learned how to manage it! She always gives me a great cut or color, no matter what! To top it off, she's pretty radical, too.

3. Do you color your hair? How often? What’s your natural color?

 A woman never tells! Good thing I have no regard for social decency. I do (very obviously, I think haha) color my hair. I used to color it very regularly, every 6-8 weeks. Then I started in on this "ombre" look, a la Rachel Bilson and Drew Barrymore. I'm becoming a bit uneasy about as it gets to looking much darker. I was born with black hair (weird, I know!), but it quickly changed to blonde, and it has a dark blonde/light brown as I got older. I think I'm a blonde girl at heart, and I may need to lighten up again soon!





4. The one thing you always do to keep your hair looking great is:
CONDITION CONDITION CONDITION!

5. What hair trend do you love and wish you could rock?
The Michelle Williams short 'do! I've also recently been super into Ginnifer Goodwin's short locks, too. (Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to give it a try!)

FBFF

One day I will remember to post my Fashion Beauty Friend Friday questions within a Friday outfit post...

1. What magazines do you subscribe to?
I am a (fashion) magazine fanatic! I subscribe to Lucky, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Nylon, Vogue, People Style Watch, and InStyle... I also subscribe to Oprah magazine, which has some fashion tidbits in it as well.

{Image Source: Best Girls Fashion Blog}

2. Do you watch any fashion TV shows?
I love "What Not To Wear!" I'm obsessed with Stacy & Clinton! I also like "How Do I Look?" with Jeannie Mai. It's also fun every once in awhile to watch "Fashion Police" with Joan Rivers. "Project Runway" is the best of the best - I've been watching it since the first season and I still love it! I've given "The Fashion Show" and "Launch My Line" chances as well, but I'm not crazy about them yet. I recently started watching "All On The Line" with Joe Zee on Sundance and I love it!

{Image Source: Positively Celebrity}

3. Beyond blogs, what websites do you frequent for fashion inspiration?
I used to go to Celebrity Style Guide on a daily basis, but I visit it more infrequently these days. Truth be told, I get much more inspiration from bloggers these days!

4. Advertisements play a huge role in forming public opinion about a product or brand… what ads do you like and why?
I have to be honest, I don't often take major notice of product advertisements. I respond much more to catalog and editorial spreads.

5. Do you own any fashion books?
I own about 100 fashion books! Who What Wear, Lucky/Elle/Harper's Bazaar, Nina Garcia, Rachel Zoe, Sex & The City, Christian Siriano, Mary-Kate & Ashley Influence, and many many more just skim the surface of my fashion book collection!

{Image source: Jet Set Socialite}

FBFF... /FBFS

As a brand-new participant in FBFF, I kind of forgot to post my Qs yesterday. Fashion Beauty Friend Saturday it is. Check out more answers over at Modly Chic!

1.What is your go-to pair of shoes?
Since I work at a preschool, I tend to go with flats and sandals! I find myself wearing my Steve Madden silver sandals all the time, as well as my brown Minnetonka moccasins. In the winter, I'm always in a pair of black or brown Steve Madden flat boots!

{Image source: Foot Notes}

2. What goes into your shoe buying decisions?
While I'd like to say I rely on rationality and choose shoes that work well in my wardrobe and for the occasions in my life, that would probably be a lie. I basically just love any shoe that catches my eye, and I have a hard time saying no most of the time!

3. The majority of the shoes in your closet are what color?
Rainbowlicious! While I do have many neutrals (black, brown, and silver - yes, I called silver a netural), I also have pinks, greens, oranges, and reds... Ecclectic? Or crazy? You decide!

{Image source: high.heels.com}

4. When it comes to design shoes what are your favorite brands and why?
I love Steve Madden! I especially love Steve Madden boots. I'm also a sucker for anything Minnetonka, and I have tons of Uggs (though I haven't been wearing them much this year!). If all were right in the world and I could spend more money on my shoes, I'd have tons of Jeffrey Campbells and Sam Edelmans, too! (Don't even get me started with the thought of Louboutins and Manolos!)

5. If price wasn’t an issue, you’d own which shoe?
Oh, see question #4! Carrie Bradshaw's something blue wedding Manolos - hand 'em over!

{Image source: Jones For Fashion}

Fashion Beauty Friend Friday!

In honor of their one-year anniversary, I am finally going to participate in my first Modly Chic Fashion Beauty Friend Friday!

Inspiration - To further mark one year of FBFF we are going to answer the same set of questions asked this time last year as I think they are still pertinent today and usually ever changing.

1. Which celebrity (celebrities) do you look to for fashion inspiration?
Lauren Conrad, Mary-Kate & Ashley Olsen, Rachel Bilson, and Sarah Jessica Parker are my own tried & true fashion icons!

2. When it comes to your own personal style, what inspires you?
Bloggers! Ever since I got into the blogosphere, checking out the awesome style of my favorite bloggers all across the country (check out my blogroll to the right to see my faves!) have completely inspired me. I also subscribe to an endless amount of fashion magazines, and I love cutting them up and posting them up on my inspiration board! I love movies set in different eras - Across The Universe, Taking Woodstock, Almost Famous... or movies with great costume design - Sex & The City, Clueless... I'm also a huge fan of Native American influence - feathers, beading, dreamcatchers, headdresses... And hippie style: Flower headresses, maxi skirts, free-flow, peace signs...

3. How do you hope to inspire your readers?
I think that by posting outfits that I love, and feel comfortable in, I want my readers to know that what makes great style is being yourself!

4. Outside the realm of fashion who/what inspires you?
My mom and grandma absolutely inspire me - they both have their own unique and amazing styles, whether they know it or not. ;) My late aunt was also an icon to me in classic style.

5. And since Idol is ending… Which songs inspire you?
If you couldn't tell from my lengthy Coachella reports, I have a major music obsession! I could list hundreds of artists and tracks to you, but I'll just stick with my top 5:
1. Walking In Memphis - Lonestar
2. Rich Girl - Hall & Oates
3. Brandy - Looking Glass
4. Gypsy - Fleetwood Mac
5. Man In The Mirror - MJ