Chasing Cozy

by Leslie Claire

Archives for March 2019

WHAT I ALWAYS HAVE IN MY BAG

what's in my bag, scrunchie lipgloss hairbrush travel essentials

I always love seeing the contents of peoples’ bags and what they can’t live without. I think it tells a lot about the person! As an INFJ personality type, I love this.

Here are a few of the essentials I like to have with me when I leave the house. This obviously changes depending on the weather and whether or not I’m bringing Archie with me. I’ll post about my doggie necessities for travel in another post. That’s a whole different type of beast.

 

 

what's in my bag outfit with kimono and woven round basket bag

1. Ginger gum- SAVES my stomach if it’s ever upset
2. My planner- I need to be able to write down ideas right when I have them
3. UV blocking gloves- keep your skin safe while driving!
4. If I have a bigger bag, Archie’s portable water bottle
5. Snacks (usually dates or a clementine)
6. My favorite dried tea- for when I just don’t want water
7. Lip gloss- Buxom makes some of my favorite shades
8. Scrunchies and hair ties- long hair problems
9. Facial mist- gotta keep that skin glowing

Share some of your must haves in the comments!

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FIVE FACTS ABOUT ME

Hi everyone! Thank you for stopping by my blog to read. I’ve recently had a few new folks around here, so I thought I’d share a little more about myself.

Here are five facts about me:

1. I swam competitively for eight years. The smell of chlorine brings back so many fun memories with friends. Swimming is what made me a hard worker when I was younger. Without swimming, I would have never met James, but that’s a story for another post.

2. My favorite food of all time is medjool dates. I LOVE food in general but these take the cake. My mom introduced me to them and I think that’s why they have always held a special place with me. If you haven’t tried a date with a little cream cheese and a pecan, you’re missing out. The grocery store that most consistently has good quality dates at a reasonable price is Trader Joes.

3. James and I adopted Archie, our Italian greyhound x chihuahua mix in 2017 when we were in Oklahoma. This breed is lovingly referred to as a “greyhuahua” by fanatics (like me). I texted James a picture of Archie from an adoption event when he was gone on a work trip and told him I just NEEDED this little dog. The next day I went to the Humane Society to visit with him one more time. We had a dog when James got home (sorry not sorry).

4. Some places I currently want to travel to are Croatia, Greece, Iceland and Italy.

5. I love the smell of books. I spent hours and hours in the library with my grandma as a child. It was one of my favorite places. I wanted to learn to read so badly when I was younger, but I don’t read as much anymore. When I do sit down with a good book I can disappear into it for hours. Non-fiction and biographies are my favorites. (Add that to the list of things that perpetuate my “Granny L” nickname)

If you’ve made it this far through the list, stop by my lasted Instagram post and let me know a fact about yourself!

HOW TO AVOID HAIR BREAKAGE WITH CLEAR ELASTICS AND THE TRICK TO REMOVING THEM

 
Braid with hair velvet hair scarf

Boho messy braids are trending right now and they are by far mt favorite way to wear my hair. You can find my Pinterest board with tons of gorgeous inspo here. They can spice up the plainest outfits. The common tool with all of those braids- clear hair elastics. Those little suckers are all over my bathroom. They spread like glitter.
In this post I’m going to share a few tips that I’ve put together from my experience with these tricky elastics.

Beachy waves with barette trend, long blonde hair

1. Find a no-snag brand. This tip is self explanatory. Less breakage= happier hair.

2. If you aren’t sure which size to use, go with the bigger size and just wrap it around the hair one extra time. This will prevent them from breaking mid-way through you Saturday at the farmer’s market when you’re half way through drinking your overpriced latte
 
long blonde hair crown braid

3. Give the band a little stretch before you use it. I find that this makes the bands less likely to snap when securing your hair.

long blonde hair with boho braid and celestial hair barettes

4. Removing these bad boys can be tricky when they are buried in your hairdo that went from perfectly messy braid to rat’s nest during brunch with the girls. This happened to me at my wedding and it took a good 30 minutes to remove the pins and elastics. MY ULTIMATE TRICK to removing clear hair elastics is to plug your curling iron in and just touch the elastics with it. They snap right off. Easy, done and done. For me, this prevents so much breakage and frizz in my hair.

long blonde hair with braid and hair glitter

I’ve added some of my favorite elastics and hair products below for the perfect boho braid. These are affiliate links.

pearl hair barettes

MARY BERRY’S LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE- MINI BUNDTS

Mary Berry lemon drizzle mini bundt cakes

Every friend I talk to is obsessed with the Great British Baking show. I am too. If there is a GBBS detox program, I need it but I don’t want it. My obsession with the show is real, but my love with dear Mary Berry is even greater. I could talk about her for way too long.

Naturally, I have a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to Mary Berry’s recipes. There’s just something about their simplicity and the fact that it’s all just really good food, nothing too pretentious.

Mary Berry lemon drizzle mini bundt cakes

As we talked about before, I don’t even qualify as a home baker, I’m way worse than that. It takes our kitchen a good two full days to recover after one of my “baking projects.” It’s not great.

BUT, that should speak to how simple this recipe actually is. I consulted with two different recipes. This one, provided through BBC for Mary Berry’s Lemon Drizzle Traybake, and this one from the Salted Mint blog on how to turn that recipe into mini bundt cakes. If you want this recipe, please check our Deborah’s blog. She has totally created a simple way to make this tiny treat.

Mary Berry lemon drizzle mini bundt cakes

SO, the whole reason I’m posting about this is because I was able to successfully execute these cute little cakes, minus overfilling half of the bundt pan compartments. But hey, I still count this as a win. They were soft, fluffy and in my opinion, tasted even better the next day.

Mary Berry lemon drizzle mini bundt cakes

I will 100% be making more of these to bring to the lake this summer. To me, nothing says summer more than a citrusy treat or a cold glass of rose. Plus, this was an excuse to style with these fun little flowers from my local market before they wilted.

If you try this recipe, please share with me and go follow the Salted Mint blog and Instagram.