What I Wore Wednesday: Halloween Edition!

Note: This post is a part of The Pleated Poppy's What I Wore Wednesday link party. If you're visiting from The Pleated Poppy, I'm so glad to have you here!

It's Halloween! We celebrated big in our house this year. My mister went as Walter White from Breaking Bad, complete with the shaved head, goatee, and Heisenberg hat! He's a dead ringer for this look (although a bit younger):


The exact replica hat can be found at Target, if you're heading to a party this weekend and want to pull off this look. To round out his costume, we "cooked" some "product" last night for him to hand out to friends and coworkers. The recipe can be found at SugarHero, and this is what we wound up with:


We erred a little green after two drops of the standard blue food colouring you can find in the grocery store, but it was close enough! For this batch, we omitted flavouring as we thought that it was fine on its own.

I didn't join the Breaking Bad theme, and instead went as Where's Waldo's girlfriend, Wenda:


I already had the shirt and denim pencil skirt (Old Navy). The tights and cane were snagged at Party City. 


As a personal touch, I wore my traveling charm bracelet. It records everywhere I've been recently, and I figured it was an appropriate accent for this costume!


Last but not least, the iconic Waldo hat. I knit the hat myself the only way a DIYer can -- at the very last second, finishing the pom-pom before walking out the door to work this morning. For the knitters in the room, the quick instructions are below:

Super Simple Knit Beanie

US 8 circular needle
Red Heart Super Saver yarn in red and white

Cast on 80 stitches in red and join to knit in the round, placing a stitch marker at the start of the round. K2P2 rib with red yarn for about an inch and a half (for me, this was 8 rounds). Switch to white yarn and knit rounds until the hat is approximately 5 inches tall (including the red section; this was about 20 rounds in white).

Begin decreases as follows at the start of the next round:
K8, k2tog, repeat to end of round
Knit next round
K7, k2tog, repeat to end of round
Knit next round
K6, k2tog, repeat to end of round
Knit next round
Continue decreases, reducing the number of knits each round (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) before k2tog. Always knit one "clean" round between decrease rounds.

Finally, k2tog for one complete round, then knit one complete round. There should be 8 stitches remaining on your needle. Cut the tail and thread it through all of the stitches, pulling tightly to cinch the top of the hat shut. Thread your tails into the inside of the hat, cut a red pom-pom to thread onto the top, and voila -- you're done!

What I Wore Wednesday: Riding Boots!

Note: This post is a part of The Pleated Poppy's What I Wore Wednesday link party. If you're visiting from The Pleated Poppy, I'm so glad to have you here!

I have to confess: I didn't actually wear this today. In fact, I'm wearing the exact same outfit I wore for my first WIWW! Oops... guess I do need to work on my variety a bit.


I wore the outfit pictured above on Friday, when the temperatures dipped back down again. It was a great excuse to break out my new riding boots! They're the Unisa Tiffany Riding Boot in Cognac. I wore them with my gray leggings, a new denim skirt that I picked up on clearance at Old Navy, and a basic off-white sweater.


These photos are terrible. I apologize. There's no good lighting anywhere in our house, apparently... I'll have to work on that!

Dog Biscuits

I posted a few days ago about the puppy we were fostering. Last weekend we signed our paperwork, and now he's officially ours!

The woman who ran the rescue had fostered this puppy before he came to live with us, and she gave us a very valuable tip; he's very food motivated! Training is a breeze as long as we give him little snack rewards. I bought a couple of store brand treats early on, but I wasn't impressed with the ingredients or the price.


Since I'm a DIYer, I've been testing out homemade dog biscuit recipes. The first recipe wasn't so great, but I wasn't going to give up. This morning I made a batch of these peanut butter biscuits from Dog Treat Kitchen and even though I think they're a little bland, I know what's in them and I can make up a new batch for cheap whenever we run low. Most importantly, Parker loves them! Success!

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits
Modified from Dog Treat Kitchen

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
3 rounded tbsp peanut butter
1/2 cup hot water

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients well in a large bowl. Roll out 1/4" thick on a counter top and cut to size. I used a small glass for some, marking a cross hatch pattern with the tines of a fork. For training bites I cut the dough into small rectangles with a knife.

Arrange on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 40 minutes; pull from the oven and cool before storing. Biscuits last one week at room temperature or up to three weeks in the refrigerator.

What I Wore Wednesday: Maroon Leggings

Note: This post is a part of The Pleated Poppy's What I Wore Wednesday link party. If you're visiting from The Pleated Poppy, I'm so glad to have you here!

Here's my entry for today's WIWW! It was a bit warmer today, so I got to wear one of my favourite LBD's. Yes, I have more than one -- they're so versatile! Here's how I wore it today:


The maroon leggings are brand new, found at Forever 21 for $5.80. I was desperate to pick up a few new pairs before winter struck, and I'm so glad I found these. The only trouble is that I find mine are a bit baggy at the ankles, but that will be easily solved once it gets colder by tucking the leggings into tall boots.


The dress and scarf are old standbys -- I think the scarf is from the Converse for Target line some years ago, and the dress is from the GAP.

As a bonus, I wanted to throw in a picture of what I wore Saturday. I didn't have to go to work, so here's what I look like when I "dress down":


Not so different, I guess! And how great are those little zebra flats? They were a Christmas gift a long time ago from my sister -- she picked them up from Aldo.

What I Wore Wednesday: Red Dress

Note: This post is a part of The Pleated Poppy's What I Wore Wednesday link party. If you're visiting from The Pleated Poppy, I'm so glad to have you here!

Fall has definitely arrived full-force here in Tennessee! The mornings are fre-ee-ezing cold but the afternoons are gorgeous, and that means that getting dressed for the day involves lots and lots of layers.


Here's what I wore to welcome Fall. This red jersey dress is an old standby of mine. I bought it years ago at an Old Navy outlet store. It has a cute square neckline, high waist and elbow length sleeves. Over it is my new denim jacket (from Forever 21) that I know is going to be a staple this season. Finished off with black leggings (again, a workplace requirement) and tall black suede boots.


You can't see it in the picture, but I also wore this red glass bead bracelet. It's nothing much, but it adds a little something once my jacket comes off at work!

Little Visitor

If you've been wondering where I've been for a week, I'll let you in on a little secret...


My Mister and I are fostering a puppy! This is the little guy, all 5 lbs of him. He's our guest until this Saturday, when we get to decide if we're ready to keep him forever.


I have a sneaking suspicion he'll be staying. ;)