Love this: Stately Sandwiches

I came across this project a few weeks ago on a blog (eep! I don't remember which one!) and LOVE IT! A sandwich for each of the 50 states!

Basically the girl behind it, Kelly Pratt, loves to eat sandwiches and decided to make a sandwich to honor each state to, as she puts it on her website, "work on my photography and design skills." Creative, if you ask me!

As you can see, her images are great. Along with each one she includes a little bit of background on how she came up with the specific sandwich for each state and then there are snapshots of the preparation and she and her friends enjoying the food. It's interesting to read about some of the other sandwiches that I have never even heard of (um, hello, fluffernutter - which even has a song?!).

My initial thought for Louisiana was "po'boy!," but I think she made a wiser decision with the muffaletta. And of course for Texas, barbecue.

Pratt has not yet conquered Arkansas, what do you think?  Any Arkansas-ians want to chime in with an idea for a state sandwich?

(The California looks yummy to me, although I never knew such a sandwich to have that name...)

One store

I have Pinterest to thank for this week's inexpensive online shopping find - She Inside. I can't speak on the quality yet, I've only just ordered this dress from there, but with these prices I'm not expecting it to last a lifetime. Each of these picks costs less than $37. The necklace is $14!

Left to right, top to bottom:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 

(See past online shopping recommendations here.)

Shop it: Vertigo

Another day, another Shreveport shopping trip . No big deal (yawwwwwn).  

Not really, but I was in the Port not long ago and did get a little extra time to pop into the store Vertigo with a friend. I was pleasantly surprised at how cute it was! (I dunno why, but the store name conjured images of clothing that I will leave undescribed for propriety.)

Pricing was similar to it's neighboring store in the Shoppes at Bellmead, Altar'D State, maybe like $28+ for shirts and $40+ for dresses. Ish. Lots of cute tops, shorts, dresses and they have shoes and accessories.

They even had the BC sandals I had on my summer wishlist, fate!

Where: Vertigo, The Shoppes at Bellmead on Youree, Shreveport
What: Women's clothes, shoes, accessories

stately gifts: littles edition

Some sweet gifts for your favorite Arklatex baby...

AR:  Of course there's more to Arkansas than just Razorbacks football, but that doesn't make this hat any less cute

LA:  This shop has so much cute Louisiana stuff, it was hard to pick one item to feature. But I really like this shirt, which they offer in baby and kids' sizes

TX:  I fell in love with the products of Little Sapling Toys when we bought their personalized rattle for our baby's first Christmas. We recently bought the Texas teether for a new little family member and it is just as sweet. (Next I want some of their wooden blocks!)

nails nails nails

If you told me five years ago that I would be into nail art I would have laughed in your face and said, "Taaaa-ckyy."  But here I am. Totally into it when executed correctly and worn with the right look.  Here's a little peek at one of my latest attempts at fun/ky nails:

Inspired by these nails I saw on Pinterest, I decided to try my own take on them.You can see what polishes I used and basically how I did it in the pictures above.

result:  meh, i didn't love them

I think they would have been better with glitter on top, like the inspiration nails had, but I have an aversion to glitter because it's so freakin hard to remove! 

What do you think? Do you use glitter polish, and if so what is the secret to getting it off?

Are you an Ark-La-Tex-ian that likes to DIY? Send pictures of your project along with a brief explanation or link to your blog to arklatexfashion(at)gmail(dot)com, and you could be featured here!

Eat it: Ganache cupcakes

Have you gotten on the cupcake craze bandwagon? I've been a lover of cupcakes for a while, I was the go-to cupcake bringer for work potlucks years ago. So now that cupcakes have hit the mainstream, I'm basically a professional cupcake taster.

Last week my husband picked up four different flavors for us to sample from Ganache in Tyler. We had never been there before, but their website says that in addition to cupcakes they do cake pops, cookies, pastries, breads and even dog treats(!). They also have gluten free offerings, if that's your thing, and possibly the greatest thing a bakery could offer... happy hour! Wish we lived in Tyler so I could pop by...

 

















 


I really thought the german chocolate would be my favorite, that's what I was most excited to try, but surprisingly it was the vanilla. The cake was really dense and had a little bit of an almost saltiness to it that was really good.

We got these on the day before the 4th, so that's what's up with the festive decoration. My husband's favorite was the german chocolate, ha, so it must be yummy. Next time we will have to try the salted caramel.  Or snickerdoodle... or lava...

We definitely enjoyed the experience and their packaging worked great for traveling with cupcakes, but I have to say our favorite cupcakes are still from Buttercups in Shreveport. They are sooooooo goooood.

Do you have a favorite cupcake place we need to try?  What flavors do you like best?  Would love to hear...

Friday favorites

A few things that struck my fancy this week/today...

When I was pregnant my husband and I went out for cheeseburgers every Friday night, so  this burger art roundup has a special place in my heart today. (The one made of fibers - knitted? crocheted? I dunno - is the funniest!)

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Really like the cozy living room of this family featured in WNC Magazine which I came across on Darling Dexter, who photographed the home. I think I spy an Ikea couch. And I definitely found the mix of art, photos, and small plates on the wall Pin-worthy!

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If my budget were endless I would be wearing this native birds dress from Anthro. You know, just around this weekend :)

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 I really love the mix of antique-y items in this woodland-themed baby girl's room, so sweet! One of my friends is pregnant right now and I'm secretly hoping it's a girl. 

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This is my jam of the week. Love. Discovered through my little brother.



...and hear brother's favorite which is equally fantastic here. 

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And finally, this is random, but do you read Nat the Fat Rat?  If not, you should.

7 things: sticky notes

(or maybe it's 6 things.. watch your mouth!)

I reallllllly love office supplies. Like, for real. I aleady own way too many notepads and sticky pads, but here are a few that I still have on my list.

1.  Funny notes from an Etsy shop that has many more funny selections
2. Pie charts for the inner geek
3. The cutest sunshower stickies you'll ever see
4. Freudian slips
5. Blast from the past floppy disk stickies (I always wondered why they were called floppy disks even though they are rigid. Remember the bigger ones that were floppy?)
6. I'm soooo tempted to order this variety book, reminds me of washi tape!

see also: the 7th triangle stickies I somehow left out that make this 7 things, and 10 post-it note works of art.

3 shops

Today still feels like Monday to me. If you're feeling the same you might do what I do when I feel blah... shop online!

Here are 3 online stores you may not know about that you should probably add to your browsing rotation.

Ruche - shop it here
Romper that isn't booty shorts on bottom!
Blue summer tank that would look cute with jeans or shorts
A green dress that did not look neon on their site or when I was messing with it earlier... hmmm...

Spotted Moth - shop it here
Bright blossom blouse (say that three times fast)
This triangle scarf is cute & all their accessories are reasonably priced
Really loving the color of this royal blue blouse right now

Dorothy Perkins - shop it here
Blue trousers - there's that color again
If you know me then you know that I collect horsey clothes, this carousel horse blouse sure would be a nice addition
Remember when I mentioned I was looking for a midi skirt? This one is perfect!

stately gifts

For the Arkansas lover: I heart AR cropped tee from Shop ELL.  (Also has tanks and map tees!)

For the Louisianan: state shaped cutting board from AHeirloom for serving cheese with wine or a charcuterie plate... or just using as a cutting board if that's how you get down.

For the Texas enthusiast: a framed Texas cross-stitch from Bombastitch, out of Austin, to display on the wall.

the color run

How fun does this 5k that's traveling the country, the Color Run look?

Runners start off in white shirts...

And get covered in colored powder along the way...

 

So at the end you are a sweaty but colorful mess! 

Fun! It's like a badge of honor for having completed the race, to have all the colors on you. Reminds me of the Festival of Colors celebrated in India.

Registration is sold out in New Orleans for this year and the race has already been through Texas, but will be back in Dallas in February of 2013. Sure would be fun to take a road trip and do it with some friends...

(all images from The Color Run site. spotted on Ampersand Design Studio blog.) 

holiday humpday

Thought we would commemorate the holiday with this patriotic infographic, designed by my friend Traci Pitman.

Traci is a graphic designer (that IS available for hire, folks) here in Texarkana.

You can check out some more of Traci's for-fun designs here and her professional work here.

Have a safe & happy Fourth of July week!

Monday inspiration

It's kind of a dreary day out there, don't let it get you down!

Source: foxontherun.tumblr.com via Dani on Pinterest