Guest Post: Dissecting Stars Style- Elle Fanning

Hello there! I am SUPER exciting about this post today. I did a "Dissecting Stars Style" a little bit ago with Taylor Swift and you guys really took a liking to it; and I am SO glad, it was one of my favorite posts I have done. ANYWAYS, today is another "Dissecting Stars Style" but I'm not doing it. My friend Andy, who I have known since High School, has written this lovely post. His taste in fashion is impeccable, I mean for real, and he is always on top of who is best dressed in Hollywood. He is an incredibly talented guy and has an awesome tumblr! I hope you all enjoy what he has to say about the fabulous Elle Fanning.

Meet Elle Fanning. She's not just "Aurora" from Maleficent. She's not just the younger sister of Dakota Fanning. She's ELLE FANNING. This 16-year-old Southern belle from Georgia has been in the acting business since 2001. Young as she is, Elle is, without question, a force to be reckoned with - in acting, yes, but especially for her impeccable taste in fashion.

I've been watching Elle since she played Alice in Super 8, and this girl knows how to dress. Style blogs of all kinds are well-aware, and you should be, too. One look at her red carpet looks is enough to cement her as a fashion icon, even this early on. For goodness' sake, she's wearing Rodarte! What teenager has the sense to wear and pull off Rodarte?

Even in a simple red Marc by Marc Jacobs ensemble, she's breathtaking.

And my favorite.... This white Louis Vuitton dress. Bliss. Pure bliss.

It's not just the red carpet! On the streets, she's serving flawless-taste realness. 

At this point, I can sense you're already off to google "Elle Fanning Fashion Goddess", so I won't keep you much longer. Go in confidence, and prepare for a tidal wave of style inspiration! Elle is on the scene. She is slaying and she is staying.

Blog News

Hey there guys! Sorry I have been MIA, whenever I go out of town it takes me awhile to get back into the swing of things. Anyway, I have some news for you today. If you have read the "about" you'll know that I was a Morning/Lifestyle show host and that's what I patterned this blog after. In the Lifestyle show world they have people called "contributors" who are experts in their field and come on the show regularly. Sooo I decided to do the same thing with my blog. I have three awesome girlies who you're going to see on the blog repeatedly. Let me introduce them to ya!

Fitness Contributor: Mal Allred

I have known Mal forever, we danced together in High School and I just adore her. She was a professional NBA Dancer for years and has taught dance/fitness forever. I forced her to be my personal trainer when I came back from England a couple of years ago and gained loads of weight (darn those scones and European chocolate). Plus, she is real. She eats healthy but she adores her cheat days too. Her workouts and tips are going to be things you can actually do! Yeah, you're gonna lover her.


Fashion/Beauty Contributor: Whitney Fredette

Yeah, you guys knew this one was coming. Whitney did two guest posts for me and you guys LOVED them. I mean, of course ya did, this girl always looks good and has the cutest style. You can see her other posts here and here. She'll be posting about once a month. Yay!

Food Contributor: My mom

Haha, this one makes me laugh- but it's happening. I have noticed that you readers eat up (haha that play on words is great) food posts. Cooking isn't my strong suit but it is my moms. My Grandma was a caterer and a fantastic cook and my mom learned from that. She is the best baker EVER and makes meals that are so delicious you'll want everyone to try them.

So those are my blogs contributors! I'll be the main writer but I figured it would be fun to have others come in. Keep reading!

Guest Post: Date Night Hair

So earlier this week I had the lovely Whitney Fredette do a post on make-up... you all loved it so much (I knew you would, she is awesome) she is back for another post! Yay! Claps for Whitney! This time she is doing a post on how she gets her hair so fabulous! Take it away Whit!

Let me start by saying my hair is impossible.  I have such a hard time styling it because it doesn’t hold curl, it has ZERO volume, and it is super slippery.  I have never colored or highlighted my hair- it is 100% natural, so I think that is why my hair lacks texture!  I have always loved my hair though, its probably my favorite feature about myself, but some days I just want to chop it all off…. lets be honest though, that will never happen. 

My go to look almost every time I decide to do my hair, are beachy waves, because those kinds of waves seem to stay, and when they fall out… it’s as if it was on purpose. 

I don’t use any product in my hair other than hairspray- they just make my hair greasy and even more slippery.

I start with my hair dry, and my hair dries very straight, so I don’t do anything but blow dry and brush it out.

For the beachy waves I use a 1-inch iron.  I use random size pieces of hair, but nothing bigger than 2 inches thick. 

I start in the middle of the piece of hair, clamp, and roll up- slowly pulling the iron out and getting more hair into the iron.  I stop about 2-3 inches from the end, and let that hair stick out.

I am holding each piece in the iron for about 20 seconds.  Once I’m finished it looks something like this:

I run my fingers through it and break it all up to make it look like this:

I finish it off with my favorite hairspray in all of the land!  Its called Covert Control, and I swear by this spray. 

Like I said, this is my go to look, it is simple and fairly effortless! 

Guest Post: Date Night Makeup

Oh my lands you guys. I am so STOKED for this guest post today. The cutest girl in the world agreed to do it for me! Miss. Whitney Fredette is the sweetest thing and looks perfect on all occasions. I have noticed on her instagram and twitter that people are constantly asking her makeup, hair and fashion advice. So I asked her to do a couple of guest posts for me. Here is one on date night makeup!

I have always loved make up!  While I don’t have any professional experience in it, I love to try new looks, new lipsticks, and change up my make up routine often so I can find what I think looks best on me.  I LOVE reading other make up blogs, two of my favorites are Kissable Complexions and Maskcara.  They have such great tips and they are always using the newest, best make up.  While I like to find my own routine that works for my skin, I also like to see what other women say works for them, so I can try it out for myself.  This look below is a typical day or night look, that I wore on a date with my husband just this weekend!

First I want to talk about the base.  I recently discovered this face cream called Phytomer.  It is seriously THE BEST.  It truly moisturizes my skin, and leaves it so dewy and soft. 

I have never been the type of girl who loves covering up all of her skin.  I hate the look of “caked” on make up, so I looked and looked for a good foundation that wouldn’t do that, but would still give me enough coverage to even out my skin.  I use Bobbi Brown tinted moisturizer balm with SPF.  When I put that on top of my lotion my skin feels AH-mazing! (I apply with my fingers)  Not to mention is adds to that dewy look, and HUGE plus, it has SPF.

I didn’t even know highlight and contour existed until about a year ago… am I the only one?  Maybe I was late to get on the train but it is worth it to start highlighting and contouring if you aren’t already! My favorite products for this are two that I really just stumbled across and absolutely love.  For my contour I use Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate.  For the highlight I use Senna cosmetics face sculpting kit. For my blush I used Bobbi Brown cream blush in “Fresh Melon”, one of my absolute favorites- it can be worn everyday.  Then you blend, blend, blend, and I love the beauty blender sponge!

After I finish my highlight on contour I move onto my eyes.  I use Urban Decay Primer potion, the “eden” tube.  This primer is bomb!  Next, I used MAC “naked lunch” and “Brun” as my shadow.  I used “brun” in the crease and along my lash line on both the top and bottom.  I LOVE false lashes.  I think they make anyone’s face just that much more dramatic.  The false lashes I used were House of Lashes “Temptress”.  I finished off my bottom liner with Bobbi Brown gel liner in “Forest shimmering ink”, just lightly right along the lash line.  I put a little mascara on my bottom lashes.

I filled in my brows with the “ash blonde” brow wiz by Anastasia.

For my Lips I used MAC “Syrup”.  It is a really pretty soft pink.  I love my nude lips, but I always find that a little color makes my lips look fuller, and my teeth look whiter… so YES PLEASE.

I finished of the look with a Shiseido loose powder, and Urban Decay make up setting spray.  I would highly recommend this setting spray, I have definitely noticed my makeup lasting way longer when I use it!

Makeup is different for everyone; so my best advice is to find what you love, and use make up to enhance your natural beauty, not cover you up or completely transform your look!

Guest Post: A Southern Birthday Party

I don't know why but I am just in awe of the South. Its charm, character, fashion, fried food and accents! Plus the hanging moss and the friendliness of the people... anyway I just find it charming. There is a blogger I follow who is a real life Georgia Peach, her name is Rachel and writes Feel Good Time. She is an artist and a fantastic party thrower! ANYWAY,  I asked her to do a post on how to host good ole' southern party! I hope you love it as much as I do! Have a good weekend and thanks Miss. Rachel!

Growing up and being raised in the south has planted some very strong southern roots and it boils deep in my veins. I find myself homesick quite often as my whole entire family is home in the south and so when my birthday rolls around I tend to miss them and some of our southern traditions as well as the May thunderstorms that roll in through the night.

With that said, last year for my birthday in May I wanted to bring home to where I was currently living which was in Utah, as I was still in school. I decided to do what we southerners love best - to host. And that I did. I hosted my own southern birthday dinner with some dear friends and I treated them to some of my favorite southern fixins such as jalapeno cheese grits, fried cajun pickles with remoulade sauce and my families favorite - Minnie's Chocolate Pie.

It was more work than I imagined, to say the least and I had many more items on my menu I wanted to whip up but time got the best of me.

As for the decor, I was planning on having the party dine outside in our backyard but lucky for me a thunderstorm rolled in, just as if I were home and I was just as pleased to move the party inside. I hung bistro lights above the dining room table and bought cheap table cover, plates & utensils from a party store (zurchers) and to make the utensils a little more interesting, I spray painted the bottom half gold. The center piece of the table was filled with San Pellegrino bottles filled with flowers. I wanted my guests to know what they would be eating that night so I simply wrote up a menu on the computer and printed it out placing it on each plate. My favorite detail to the party was the "Gone With the Wind" table place cards showing a southern silhouette. To set the southern mood with the perfect thunderstorm, I lit candlesticks and filled the background noise with music I grew up listening too, Georgias finest, Ray Charles & Otis Redding along with a selection of Blue Grass music.

It was the perfect night spending my birthday and filling a little bit closer to home surrounded by close friends whom I consider family. It's not too hard to throw a dinner party with a smaller budget- truthfully the jackpot is found in the party stores. You can make something cheap seem very nice looking. (Read below the pics for recipes.)

Recipes:
Fried Cajun Pickles
(Normally you use a deep fryer, which is what I used but I understand that not everyone has one, so this recipe is for the oven on the broil setting.)

Ingredients:
1 (24 ounce) jar pickles, slices
2 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs

DIRECTIONS:
1. Turn oven broiler on high.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and flour.
3. Add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder, Cajun seasoning, and pepper. Mix well.
4. Place panko bread crumbs in a shallow dish.
5.Dunk each pickle slice into the egg mixture, than dredge it in the panko bread crumbs.
6. Place coated pickles on a rack set above a baking sheet and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
7.Place pan in the middle rack of the oven. Broil for about 3 minutes on each side.

JALAPENO CHEESE GRITS with BBQ CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS:
The Chicken:
Boneless Chicken Breasts, 1.5 to 2 pounds
Bacon, 6 to 8  strips
Thyme Sprigs, 3 or 4 (or a teaspoon or two of dried thyme)
Bay Leaves, 2
Chicken  Bouillon or Stock, 1 1/2 cups
Worcestershire Sauce, 1/4 cup or so
BBQ Sauce, 1/2 cup or more
The Grits:

Stone Ground Grits (no instant allowed!), 1 1/2 cups
Chicken Bouillon or Stock, 7 cups
Jalapeno Peppers, 2 or 3
Cheddar Cheese, 1  1/2 cups, grated
Butter, 2 tablespoons
Half and Half, 1/3 cup or so
Rinse and halve the peppers and put them on a baking sheet, cut side down.  I left a few seeds but it’s your call.  Put them under the broiler for just a few minutes, until the skin starts to blacken.  Take them out and let them sit until they’re cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile, cut the chicken into chunks.

Scissors, an easy way to dice bacon.

In a large skillet, cook  up the bacon over medium heat to medium-high heat, until it starts to get nice and brown.  Ignore that stray piece of chicken that fell into the pan.

Add the chicken to the pan. The bacon grease will provide  just enough fat for browning.  Add the bay leaves and thyme.  Cook, stirring every now and then, until the chicken is browned. This is also a good time to get the stock started for the grits.

Add the bouillon and let it come to a nice, low simmer.  Cook, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 to 20 minutes.

While the chicken is doing it’s own thing, it’s time to cook the grits. Once the stock is boiling, slowly whisk in the grits. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to whisk  until it’s lump-free.   Reduce the heat even more and let them cook for another ten minutes or so, stirring occasionally.  Remove the charred skin from the roasted peppers and mince them.

By the time the chicken is done, the broth will be reduced quite a bit. Remove the spent thyme and bay leaves then stir in the Worcestershire sauce.

Add your favorite BBQ sauce, enough to lightly coat the chicken.  Stir it all together and cook for just another minute or two.

Remove from heat, dump it all into a serving dish and set it aside for now as we finish up the grits.

Remove the grits from the heat and stir in the cheese, butter and peppers.

Add a little milk or half and half and stir it all together until it’s smooth.

Pile the chicken onto a big mound of grits and enjoy!

MINNIE'S CHOCOLATE PIE: 
INGREDIENTS
1 packaged pie dough crust (or you can make your own)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
whipped cream, for serving

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Ease the pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate and crimp the edges decoratively. Prick the crust lightly with a fork. Line the crust with foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes or until set. Remove the foil and weights and bake for about 5 minutes longer, just until the crust is dry but not browned.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk the sugar with the cocoa powder, butter, eggs, evaporated milk, vanilla and salt until smooth.

Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake for about 45 minutes, until the filling is set around the edges but a little jiggly in the center. Cover the crust with strips of foil halfway though the baking {to prevent the crust brown browning too much}. Transfer the pie to a rack and let cool completely before cutting into wedges. Serve with whipped cream

The chocolate pie can be refrigerated over night.