I was at DSW this weekend with my friend Mikaela and a pair of boots caught my eye that looked very familiar. I very quickly realized that it was a dead ringer for the Stuart Weitzman 50-50 boot. A.K.A., one of the shoes on my my ultimate wardrobe wishlist. And at $655, the original boots are going to be staying on my wishlist for awhile (sigh). However, if you want to get the look and spend a fraction of the cost, DSW has an option for you! These babies are only about $50, and look exactly like their designer counterpart. The 50-50 boot is a great over-the-knee boot that's half suede, half micro-stretch fabric, which make for a classic boot with a little twist. Stuart Weitzman offers the look in a variety of colors, but my favorite is the half navy, half black boot (so that you can wear the boot with both navy and black ensembles, score!). 

Do you own any black and blue suede boots? What are your thoughts on the save versus splurge pair here?

P.S. DSW also had a dead ringer for the Stuart Weitzman Lowland Over the Knee Boot

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The Easiest (Two Ingredient) Pumpkin Cupcakes

Today I am sharing a SUPER easy recipe that my roommate in college shared with me. It was easy  and cheap enough that us college kids could make it in our off-campus apartment with limited grocery budgets. It's literally two ingredients and so so delicious. When I was at home this past weekend I whipped up a batch for my parents and topped it with a super easy cream cheese frosting. 

Easy Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 box of white cake mix

1 8 oz. can of pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients thoroughly. Place mixture into a cupcake pan. Bake for about 14-16 minutes, until a fork comes out clean. Allow to cool. Frost with cream cheese frosting. Enjoy!

Recipe for frosting I used can be found here. This recipe was also super easy and yummy. I used 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese and it tasted great. The frosting probably took a total of 10 minutes to whip up. If you don't feel like making your own frosting, the grocery store usually has pre-made cream cheese frosting available (I won't tell). 

Let me know if you try it what you think!

But First...Coffee

Top Row (L-R): Pour over Coffee Maker / Khols Sweatshirt

Second Row (L-R): IDFWU Mug / Swoozies To-Go Thermos / Coffee Scented Soap

Third Row (L-R): Frank Body Scrub / 'I Woke Up Like This' Mug

Bottom Row: But First Coffee Print / Cafe du Monde Chicory Coffee

In case you didn't know, today is 'National Coffee Day'! Yes, that is a thing. Many places are offering free coffee! Excellent news for us caffeine addicts. Check out this article to see where you can score a free cup in your area. I'll be at Wawa (shoutout to my PA and NJ peeps) getting mine tomorrow morning (hot, cream, no sugar).

I rounded up some of my favorite coffee themed products in honor of the day. I think I need that IDFWU mug. But don't tell Alex, I'm a big of a coffee mug hoarder and he already thinks I have too many. Those Starbucks 'You Are Here'  mugs get me every time...Also this Harry Potter 'Mischief Managed' coffee mug is a definite need.

If you want some more ideas on how to celebrate the day here are some great coffee themed articles I found around the internet! Enjoy!

1. How to make DIY sharpie mugs
2. A history of coffee
3. How to make iced coffee popsicles 
4. DIY Coffee Scrub or try the Frank Body Scrub above, I love it and it works so well!
5. 22 Ways all Coffee Lovers are basically Lorelei Gilmore - I love me some Gilmore Girls!
6. Beauty Hacks using Coffee Grounds
7. A Look at how Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks have evolved their brands differently
8. 2 Minute Coffee Cake...in a coffee mug recipe

Do you like coffee? How do you plan on celebrating National Coffee Day?


P.S. Check out my Philadelphia Guide if you're local to see my favorite coffee shops in the city!

Flannel on the Farm

What a weekend. Like I said in my Friday post, this weekend we went to stay ay my parents house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania while the Pope was in Philly and our neighborhood was a madhouse. On Saturday Alex and I headed to a local farm which has a big fall activities expo each fall. It was about 66 degrees (FINALLY) so I threw on an easy flannel button down and boyfriend jeans for the occasion. The look was comfortable, yet still "in" with the times. Unfortunately I forgot to pack all of my favorite fall shoes for this activity, so I was stuck in my calf-hair leopard slip-ons (major fail). We got a couple of pumpkins for our deck, took a hayride, and explored the corn maze. It was a great afternoon and such a nice escape for us city folk. And now I'm in full fall mode and I don't hate it. 

Ok so I have to go off on a tangent about this flannel top for a minute. If you don't know me or can't tell already, I'm just shy of 6' tall. So finding button-down shirts with long enough arms is a serious issue. Lands End makes the comfiest flannel shirts, and they come in tall sizes *insert praise end emoji*! They do run large so I'd suggest sizing down (I'm wearing a tall medium in these pictures, but I like my clothes loose). Also, if you're a tall girl and looking for a pair of boyfriend jeans, try Gap. Most boyfriend jeans have shorter inseams as their meant to be worn cuffed. Although for those of us who a 29" inseam is already ankle length, the 26-28" inseams on most boyfriend jeans are just not going to cut it. Gap luckily makes some boyfriend style denim with longer inseams, so we can still wear the look cuffed, but its not halfway up our calves. 

Also, the lip gloss I'm wearing is a very new favorite. It's a Dior Fluid Stick in #449 Ciel Rose (translates to "Pink Sky" from French) - which is exactly what the color looks like. It's a beautiful "your-lip-color-but-better" pink with a little translucent shine. And it's not sticky! Major win in my book. 

Did you do anything fun this weekend? I'm thinking about researching a local apple orchard to go apple picking and really get my fall on, any local suggestions? Happy Monday!

Outfit Details:

Flannel Top: Lands End (this color is old, but I just ordered the 'Bright Cherry Plaid' & it's 30% off!)

Boyfriend Jeans: Gap (old) Similar

Necklace: Stella and Dot (mine is engraved with '504' - the New Orleans area code!)

Sneakers: Sam Edleman (on sale!)

Lipgloss: Dior Fluid Stick color is 449 "Ciel Rose"

P.S. the wristband is from the farm, and I am not good enough at photoshop to edit it out...c'est la vie.

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Trend Roundup: Flare Jeans

Top Row: Frame Denim/Treasure and Bond/7 for All Mankind

Bottom Row: American Eagle/ASOS/Citizens of Humanity

Alright so its pretty apparent that the 70's are totally having a moment this fall. I remember the last time this happened was when I was in middle school and I distinctly remember going to Khol's to buy Mudd brand flare jeans which I paired with a LimitedToo (#RIP) peasant top, suede clogs, and a Claire's purse. So fashionable. So 7th grade. 

Anyways, the trend is back this fall and as much as I resisted some of my favorite fashion bloggers totally won me over with their takes on the trend (RE: Caitlin's look and Amy's post). I'm thinking I might have to get a pair. I rounded up six of my favorite styles I found online in all different washes. I'm thinking as flare jeans are a trendy piece I'll probably opt for a less expensive pair so I won't feel bad when they're back out of style inevitably. Maybe that American Eagle pair (in X-Long).

Do you like the flare jeans trend? Any favorite styles you own or are lusting after? Do share! 

Laptop Shopping

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Until a few weeks ago I was using the same computer that I received as a graduation present from high school. Which was in 2008. Needless to say, I was due for an upgrade. I decided to get a MacBook Pro with Retina Display in the 13" size. So far I'm loving it! I use PCs at work, so it's fun to use the Mac operating system at home. Now that I have the machine, it's time to shop for some fun accessories! On my old laptop I ended up covering the back with stickers I received at events. While the computer was certainly personalized, it was also fairly messy looking. Etsy has so much fun vinyl decals (Disney, Monograms, you name it!) which you can order for your laptop, like that Lion King decal I have in the collage. I think I just might have to order one!

Also, I included the Microsoft collapsible mouse up there. I do not personally own that mouse, but one of my friends does and it is AMAZING. If I had a PC I would definitely be buying it. For now, luckily my old apple mouse from 2008 is still working!

Any other suggestions for fun laptop accessories? I'm especially in need of a cute sleeve, currently I keep putting my laptop back in the box after using it to avoid it getting scratched up...

TGIF + Friday Links

image via Pinterest

What a week. It's been pretty busy around here with the Pope arriving in Philly tomorrow. I live about two blocks from the Ben Franklin Parkway, which is essentially ground zero for the Pope weekend. On Monday I had to run down to the Philadelphia Parking Authority (about 1.5 miles from my office) at lunch to get a special resident permit to allow me to park on my street until Thursday night. Last night after dinner I headed up to my parents house to escape the craziness of center city this weekend. I am enjoying getting to work from home (aka mom and dad's home) today and then spend time with my high school friends and parents the rest of the weekend. Also, my mom is going to help me out with a couple of recipe posts so get excited for those coming up next week. 

Here are a couple of things that caught my eye this week:

1//  A professor from Notre Dame made a "pump up" playlist on Spotify to get Americans ready for the Pope Francis' first visit to the U.S. 

2// In honor of the first day of Fall being this week, a little article about Starbuck's business decision to remove caramel color from the drink

3// Speaking of the PSL, Starbucks unveiled a new fall drink this Wednesday, the TGL (toasted graham latte)...I guess I'm going to have to try it so I can see which fall beverage reigns superior 

4// I'm loving the fall styles this season! I want this Banana Republic skirt, this plaid wool Old Navy cape, and these Old Navy culottes (only $17!) which I saw on Jess' blog this week. 

5// I haven't shared with you all my love of Drake (and more recently found love of Future), but Drake and Future released a mixtape together this week, "What a Time to be Alive" ... I bought it #duh and have been mixing it in with my Spotify rotation

6// I want to thank anyone who has stopped by this blog this week! I have been wanting to start this for awhile (I've been reading blogs for about 6 years) but I haven't built up the courage to hit 'publish' until now. I hope it only continues to grow and improve from here! Be sure to follow along for the ride! (If you didn't read this week, I wrote a couple articles: A fall outfit, Easy Beef Soup, Red White & Blue for Fall, My Favorite Candles, Blue Apron First Impressions, Wardrobe Wishlist so feel free to check them out.

 P.S. This article by Julia of Lemon Stripes gives great blog photography tips for anyone interested!

P.P.S. Check out my Philly restaurant guide to see my favorite places to eat in the city!

Have an amazing weekend!

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Wardrobe Wishlist

Image via Pinterest

One blogger I've been following for awhile is Franish. She's a medical student that runs a fun fashion focused lifestyle blog. One of her posts highlights the "holes" in her closet. I think identifying your wardrobe's missing pieces is a good way to keep your shopping focused. Taking Fran's lead I decided to narrow down what's missing from my wardrobe. I will also be tracking my monthly spending on clothes and updating this post quarterly with any holes that I've filled. If you know of a great buy for something on my list, please let me know!

Pants:

- Grey work pants
- Dark wash boyfriend jeans
- White jeans (I have a pair of destroyed white, I want a crisp white jean)

Coats:

- New red peacoat
- A long parka for walking downtown in the winter
- Barbour waxed Beadnell
- Black leather coat

Tops:

- White oxford
- Blue and white striped oxford
- Gray cashmere sweater
- Tan sweater
- striped turtleneck
- Patagonia fleece

Dresses:

- Gray suiting dress
- White eyelet dress
- Black cocktail dress

Shoes:

- Brown/tan booties
- Red pumps
- Plain black pumps
- Black over-the-knee boots
- Black flats
- Navy pumps
- Tan flats
- Pale pink flats
- White pumps
- Neon running shoes
- Sperry boat shoes
- Leopard flats
- Red Orsay flats
- Nude low-heel pumps

Bags:

- Brown/Tan leather work tote
- Red crossbody bag
- Gray leather everyday bag
- Bucket tote
- Large black leather work tote
- New Longchamp 'Le Pilage' tote in Eggplant

Do you have any wardrobe "holes"?

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Blue Apron: Review and First Impressions

This summer I was doing a lot of traveling for work and really started to miss having home cooked meals for dinner. However, in the past, I have tended to fall into cooking "ruts" where I just make the same couple recipes over and over again. Mostly because I'm pretty tired after work and I don't feel like coming up with a new, creative recipe every night. So, it's either cook what I know or order takeout. 

Enter, Blue Apron grocery delivery service. I had heard about both Plated and Blue Apron and read reviews on both, so I decided it would be a fun service to try when I was back home. I really liked the idea of all of the necessary ingredients for easy, but delicious, recipes being delivered right to our door. The Blue Apron website also allows you to skip or pause your deliveries at any time and select from six different recipes available for each week, which I found a really fun feature. I also found their website very easy to navigate which is a definite plus. For this week we selected the following three recipes: 

1) Cumin-Sichuan Beef & Noodles

2) Southern-Style Chicken Cacciatore 

3) Sautéed Shrimp Sandwiches

We received the first shipment of Blue Apron yesterday, the food arrived in a large box and was packaged with recyclable materials, including ice packs to keep the food fresh until it was able to be unpacked into the refrigerator. One of my biggest fears when signing up for the service was whether or not the ingredients would actually be fresh. Well, if you decide to get Blue Apron for yourself do not worry about this. All the produce was perfect, no bruises, no spots, and was very fresh. 

When I got home from work I decided to make the Sautéed Shrimp Sandwiches as my first recipe of the week. I love a good seafood roll (especially lobster rolls from Luke's Lobster on 17th in Center City) so I was excited to create my own. Here is the recipe in case you'd like to try whipping up the sandwiches for yourself.

Blue Apron's pre-portioned ingredients made the prep so easy, and I only ended up using a knife, cutting board, a couple of bowls, two spoons, and a frying pan to create the dish (which made clean-up a breeze). The entire recipe took me about 30 minutes start to finish to prepare and when I was done, the end result did not disappoint! I actually really enjoyed the side salad, which was actually more work to prepare than the shrimp rolls (it involved chopping up all the ingredients which was the most time consuming part of the recipe). The salad was dressed with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a little olive oil. So easy right? However, I probably would never of thought of it. I'm definitely going to be dressing more of my salads with that combination. 

So overall first impression? Really enjoying the service so far and excited to expand my culinary knowledge by trying three new recipes every week. The only negative I can think of so far is there are only six recipes to choose from each week, and sometimes if you choose certain recipes you can't combine your choice with some of the other choices (for example sometimes if you choose two of the meat dishes you have to get the third meat dish and none of the vegetarian dishes will be available to you). This doesn't really bother me as I'm not a picky eater in the slightest, but people with pickier palettes might have a more difficult time. 

Last added bonus: I am pretty excited to not have to wait in long lines at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's and lug my groceries back home each weekend. 

Have you tried a grocery delivery service? What did you think? Any favorite Blue Apron recipes?

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My Favorite Candles

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My apartment is fairly small (#centercityproblems) so I love that when I light a quality candle the entire place fills with the scent. On the flip side, get a candle with a smell I don't love, I'm stuck smelling it for hours. I wanted to share a couple of my favorite candles that I have discovered through trial and error. My favorite clean scent is the Aveda Shampure candle, it smells just like the shampoo line! I also included a pumpkin spice candle, which is my favorite scent in the fall (#basic) however come December I will replace it with a holiday scent like pine tree (especially since the apartment is way too small for a real Christmas tree). 

Do you have any great candles you recommend? I'd love to hear!

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Red White and Blue for Fall

Ask any of my close friends and they will tell you how much I love a good red, white, and blue outfit. Unfortunately the color scheme lends itself a little better to summer style rather than fall looks. However, I'm not going to let that stop me.

I just ordered this J. Crew skirt in navy and I cannot wait for it to arrive. I decided to build a little outfit around the skirt and create a red, white, and blue look that is seasonally appropriate. By using leather for the skirt material and pairing it with a chunky fisherman sweater, the fabrics in the outfit make the look more suited for the cooling temperature. You could also throw on a pair of black tights and swap out the sweater for a draped blouse to create a more night appropriate look.

J Crew Skirt/Kate Spade Crossbody/Burberry Lipstick in "Nude Beige No. 1" 

L.L. Bean Fisherman Sweater/Sam Edelman Heels

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Pink Midi-Skirt

I bought this skirt on a whim this past winter. It turns out its the perfect length for work, however it can easily been worn for a night out as well. For work I'll pair it with a button down and simple flats. However, I wanted to make a completely different date night look to wear after hours. I paired my favorite orsay heels with a white crop top, and viola! Date night look.

Skirt: Express Pink Midi Skirt

Crop Top: Groceries Scoop Neck - old (similar)

Heels: Steven by Steve Madden Orsay Heel

Earrings: Forever 21 Tassel Earrings

Bracelet: Baublebar - old (Similar)

Beef Vegetable Soup

One of my favorite things to eat when the weather gets cooler is a good bowl of soup. When I was living at home with my parents my mom used to cook us my grandmother's beef soup on Sundays. It takes awhile to cook, so by the time it was ready the whole house was filled with the delicious scent of a home-cooked meal. Just smelling the soup brings me back to those crisp fall days at home.

Transitioning to Fall

Hey there! Welcome to my blog! Before I kick things off with my first post, I just want to thank you for coming by and checking out my site! I plan on using this space to share my personal style and other lifestyle tips. I started Laura Aime Vous as a creative outlet to play with in my free time. I have been reading Fashion and Lifestyle blogs for about six years, and I have always wanted to try my hand at penning my own. Well, I finally bit the bullet and here we are. Enjoy!

So, for my first post I wanted to share an outfit I would wear out with friends or to run errands. Summer is lingering on here in Philly, so I haven't pulled out my fall clothing yet. This outfit manages to be cool enough in the 75 degree temps, however the jeans and sneakers begin the transition to cooler temps.