chicken vegetable soup (aka: clean out the fridge soup)

My family loves soup.  In addition to our "What's new Wednesday" - the day we try out a brand new recipe, "Fish Taco Friday" - the day we have fish tacos (recipe here!), we also have "Soup Saturday".

Yeah we really like alliterations.  And food.

If you haven't figure it out yet, "Soup Saturday" is the day we have soup. It is also bun day, (hmmm do we need an alliteration for that? Wheat Weekend?)  so we often have soup to complement my mother's delicious home made buns.  

We made this recipe when my parents were vacationing in Arizona (with our Grandparents, no fair!), so we didn't have any fresh homemade buns to enjoy.  So, on her way home from work, Kelsey stopped by a local farmer's market and picked up a fresh baked baguette!  It was delicious, and we even added some cheese and broiled it to make some cheesy bread.  It was the best.

outfit post: spring florals

Spring is officially hereee!

Too bad I live in Edmonton and on official first day of spring, March 20, I woke up to a buttload of snow in my yard, flurries, aaand -10 degrees... Yep. Welcome to the Canadian spring! Well, Alberta's spring anyways. I miss BC.

Thankfully just a couple days before "spring," I went out for a little photosession with my husband to enjoy some sun and warmth! 

floral kimono: forever xxi  /  jeans: ae  /  boots: rocket dog  /  jewelry: rings & tings

Happy Spring everyone! Hope it's warmer where you are :)

p.s. ♥ clara

a review of rings & tings...

So a little while ago, the ladies of ps.heart received an email from Rings & Tings asking us whether or not we would be interested in receiving some free jewelry in return for a review on our blog. 

Naturally, we were excited.

Of course we said yes. 

We may or may not have had a fit of giddy, excited laughter over Skype.
(...you'll never know and we'll never confirm.)

So without further ado, I present to you our first product review of...

Kelsey and I both received several pieces of jewelry, but I'm going to focus on my two favourite pieces: an anchor bracelet and a braided infinity ring. I was pleased to note that after the Creative & Marketing Director of Rings & Tings contacted us that I received my jewelry promptly in a week.

The great thing about Rings & Tings is the price of their jewelry. It's extremely reasonable. 

That being said, you get what you pay for. Don't expect high quality, durable, and long lasting jewelry. This company offers you cheap, trendy, cute jewelry that'll last you a season. And for the most part, I'm totally okay with that. It can be a real treat to indulge in a variety of cheap, cute jewelry to spice up your collection!

That being said, I absolutely adore the anchor bracelet that I received. It's a simple wire bracelet that's painted gold and for under $5 Canadian, you really can't go wrong with this trendy piece!

Similarly, I really love the simplicity of my braided infinity ring and that I can put it on for any outfit.

Tip Time!  Now, I can already tell that these gold and silver plated pieces are the type that will fade and tarnish easily, so a simple trick of coating them with a layer of clear nail polish varnish makes cheap jewelry like this last so much longer. 

All things considered, I would recommend that if you're looking for some cheap, trendy jewelry,

Rings & Tings is the way to go for online shopping.

Their shipping, customer service, and selection are excellent.

If you're looking for quality, long-lasting jewelry though, you'll want to look elsewhere.

What you pay for is what you're getting at Rings & Tings.

Cheers!

p.s. ♥ clara

holga // 1

I purchased a Holga camera a couple of years ago after falling in love with the uniqueness of lomography.  Imperfect photos and light leaks stole my heart, and I knew that I wanted to try my hand at creating film images of my own.  

Now it took me forever and a day to actually fill up two rolls of film and have them developed....as in, it took me a good year and a half.  Yikes.  One of the biggest things that kept me from taking my Holga along with me on more adventures is that I was terrified the shutter being released inside my bag, and ruining potential photos!  So I tried taking it with me when I knew there would be an opportunity to be carrying it in my hands for most of the day.

*And because I'm a noob and was in a rush to load my colour film into my Holga, the frames didn't line up...therefore resulting in some strange double and triple exposures!

hair tutorial: double braided half updo

Now I've been asked by several people to start doing hair tutorials here on the old blog, so I thought I'd finally give it a shot!  Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing, and it turns out that taking photos as you do your hair (as well as thinking about how you're going to explain what you're doing) is actually quite difficult.  Kudos goes to Jordyn for being my human tripod!

So, here's my first hair tutorial, and hopefully not my last.  If I'm feeling extremely brave in the next few weeks I might even try filming a proper video for a more difficult hairstyle.  We'll see!

Anyway.....this is a super simple and feminine hairstyle that I love dressing up or down.  I wore this hairstyle in this outfit post, with my hair straight (and one of the braids falling out. ha!).

Also, my hair is naturally curly, very fine, and on the thinner side.  So, future tutorials may work a bit better for girls with that hair type, but I'll try and be inclusive!  Hopefully Clara and I will get our act together next time we see each other, and get some tutorials going for you lucky thick haired girls out there.

For this tutorial I curled my hair beforehand, and I also used a small section of clip-in extensions to help give me a bit more thickness.  I love the look of a thick braid, although small braids can be nice and delicate as well.

skinny fettuccine alfredo

Not all food is photogenic.  That is the lesson of this week. Ha.

#foodphotographerproblems.

Did I just hashtag in a blog post?  Yep.  I do what I want.
Honestly, I'm quite enjoying this new venture into photographing actual meals instead of just sweets, and I can't believe it's taken me so long to get around to it.  Although I must say that this dish was an interesting challenge since I had no idea how to make a pile of noodles look mouthwatering.
Cupcakes or ice cream?  The camera loves them.  Pasta?  Yikes.

Now, Jordyn is the master chef (yet again), and this recipe is her baby.  Our family loves pasta, but we also love trying to make things a bit healthier.  This "skinny" version of uses greek yogurt in place of butter and cream, and it's oh so creamy and delicious!  And it's packed full of protein, so you can easily leave out the chicken if you wish.

Skinny Chicken Alfredo

serves: ~4

recipe by: jordyn

Ingredients:

2 cups broccoli

4 large carrots

1 cup brussel sprouts, halved

assorted spices (salt/seasoning salt, pepper, garlic powder)

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces and sauteed

8 ounces fettuccine

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced 

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup chicken broth

1/3 cup plain greek yogurt

black pepper to taste

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (freshly grated is the best, but whatever you have works!)

outfit post: peach and lace

Oh Winter, when will you end?

Again, these snowy photos are from a snowfall a couple months ago, and I thought I should get around to sharing them before it's officially Spring!

This dress is truly more of a Spring/Summer outfit, but I sometimes a girl just can't help herself.  I paired it with a pair of thick, wintery snowflake tights, and boots to help make it look a little more Winter appropriate, and added a chambray shirt for a bit of warmth!

Also, I have a new job that has me working in a 25 degree Celsius work environment most days, which hasn't helped my low tolerance of the cold!  (I'll be sharing more about my new job soon!)

dress: forever21 // tights: gift from my momma // boots: aldo 

lipstick: lasting finish matte by kate: 110

p.s. ♥ kelsey

happy pancake day!

Mardi Gras.  (Fat Tuesday).  Shrove Tuesday.  Pancake Day.

I don't care what you call it.....I'll take any excuse to eat pancakes.

I hope you were able to enjoy some pancakes, or at least something fatty. Ha!  Calories don't count on Fat Tuesday, right?  Riggghhht?!

These pancakes are actually gluten-free, and were surprisingly fluffy and amazing. You can find the recipe here, at Mountain Mama Cooks!  Delish.  And oh so good for having in my back pocket when I have any of my gluten-free friends over for breakfast!

Anyway, Happy Tuesday friends.  Hope all of your weeks are going well....and if not, then you deserve to treat yourself to some pancakes!

p.s. ♥ kelsey

the beginning of my home adventures...

So you may or may not have noticed that Kelsey has been an absolute sweetheart by covering for me on ps.heart since we purchased our first home. She's been such a dear to me as all my free time recently has been put towards our new home :) That being said, I'm finally going to give you glimpse of what I've been working on for the past month as it's finally starting to come together!

It has been a total adventure and learning process as Caleb and I started home shopping and then became first-time home owners. Right from the get-go, we knew we wanted an older home, one that was unique, since both of us don't really like the cookie-cutter homes of today, and then we stumbled on our home. It was the third house we saw and we just knew that we wouldn't be happy with anything else. From the 70s with glorious carpet, Star Trek era speakers in every room, hanging gold lamps, and even fake green marble countertops... it was our dream come true! (It does get better, I promise).
We fell in love hard and fast with its floor to ceiling brick fireplace, the sunroom (with a hot tub!), and its beautiful backyard that backs into one of Edmonton's ravines :)
Like I said, it's our dream home and we couldn't be happier.

So here it is... some befores and afters (slash, in-betweens, since we are far far away from being anywhere near finished...). And there's much more to come with more detailed DIY's and explanations, but for now.... Welcome to part one of my home adventures.

The kitchen was my first project to tackle and although it's not quite finished yet, I have finished painting the cabinets a crisp white, the insides a beautiful teal (Martha Stewart's Lagoon) and also lined the cupboard doors with beadboard wallpaper! I think they look darling and I can't wait to show you the finished product once our floors are finished!