Fashion Friday: Kira's Spring Wishlist

Spring Wishllist by akablog 

Spring is here!  Let there be shorts and dresses! This Spring I'm ready to be all about simplicity, light layers, and being comfy but put together! I'm on the look out for a great striped shirt dress and easy comfy pieces that are as effortless as the Spring breeze. I'm very excited to do some Spring cleaning especially of my closet and to make room for new pieces. Wednesday we did a great Interweb Goodies on Spring cleaning that has got me super motivated. I have also been doing well selling my unwanted items on Poshmark! AKA I'm making room in your closet and making money! What could be better? 

Happy Spring!

-K

Spring Cleaning Update

I have been wanting to clean up and organize my house. Long story short, I have been working slowly but surly. I have a few updates and some fabulous tips on how to do some organizing around your own house.

The first thing that I realized, that with a million other things going on, it is hard to dedicate a whole weekend or even a night to cleaning up a whole room. My first little tip is to divide and concur. For instance, I have been wanting to better organize my hall closet. This closet holds everything from holiday decorations, craft supplies, and linens. Instead of saying "I need to get this all done in one day" I instead say "I'm going to work on one shelf a day". It makes it seem a lot less daunting.

 Hall closet before (I can't even.. just no)

 

Hall closet after!! Nicely organized! 

Additionally, I have been making a huge point to get rid of things that I know I am not going to use anytime soon. I don't need 500 markers that are getting dry = not useful. Ridding myself of items, clothes, and clutter makes organizing so much easier.

Reuse items! I have been going through closets, cabinets, boxes and realizing how much room I can save simply by using some of the larger items to house the smaller ones. It makes it more neat and accessible. For instance in my hall closet I used my favorite red and blue buckets (that I got for $1 at Target!!) that I use for entertaining to hold some of my craft items!

Love these buckets!

One of the biggest things that you should do every 4-6 months is CLEAN out your beauty drawers/closets. Trust me it will change your life. It will make getting ready in the morning so much easier - and realistically do you need 4 tubes of mascara? Nope, I didn't think so. I organized my beauty drawer that holds all of my makeup as well as my shelves that hold everything else. I started by grouping things together and creating an 'Extreme Coupon' type stock pile. Am I the only one that gets lotion from some relative/friend/co-worker every birthday and Christmas? I made an executive decision that I am not buying any more lotion until I use what I already have. By cleaning everything out you can realize what you already have and it can be a great money saver!

What are some of your current organizing tips??

-A

Easy Panzanella Salad

Spring time makes me crave fresh flavorful ingredients. Recently I wanted to make a quick and simple flavorful dinner. I complied what ingredients I had and decided that a panzanella salad would be the way to go. A panzanella salad uses thick pieces of bread that has been quickly soaked in different liquids such as juice from a tomato, olive oil, or balsamic vinegar. For my salad I soaked it in tomato juice, which brought out the flavor of the meal.

I saw the image above on myrecepies.com and it inspired the dish below! 

Easy Panzanella Salad 

Serves 1 

2 thick slices of bread (ideally stale or day old bread) cut or ripped into bite sized pieces 

10 cherry tomatoes

4 basil leaves cut up

1/4 cup of thinly sliced red onion 

1/4 cup of garbanzo beans 

1/3 cup of cucumber sliced

Salt and Pepper to taste 

1 tablespoon of olive oil + 2 tablespoons 

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar 

Start by preheating the over to 425 degrees. Place the bread in a bowl. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and squeeze the juice into the bread with the bowl. Mix, cover, and let sit for about 10 minutes. After it has soaked, place the bread on a backing sheet and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and bake in oven for about 10 minutes. The bread should come out crispy and golden brown.  While the bread is in the oven, cut up the basil, red onion, and cucumber and place in a medium sized bowl along with the garbanzo beans. When the bread is done mix with the other ingredients and drizzle on the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. 

Have fun with the ingredients! There are tons of different ways to enjoy panzanella salad!

Follow along on Twitter and Insta here! 

-A

Spring into Spring

It’s Spring! Time for flowers, bright colors, lots of birthdays, and hopefully some more California rain. I’m truly thrilled to bring the essence of Spring into my wardrobe and adventures. Here is my little top 10 list for Spring: 

1. Start working on my vegetable garden so I can enjoy fresh veggies all summer
2. Take many hikes with friends while there is truly perfect weather
3. Celebrate St. Patty's Day surrounded by family and friends... and Irish Coffees 
4. Buy a pair of floral printed pants 
5. Three of my best friends have birthdays in Spring, so I want to have fun celebrating
6. Have Easter brunch with my family 
7. Clean up my backyard so it's ready for summer BBQ's! 
8. Lots of pastel and bright nails
9. Purchase a great pair of high-tops to wear all season long 
10. Spring Cleaning!!! 

-A