I don't plan on starting a food blog

"Love Pearls" by Helge Kirchberger

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you may have caught some references to my culinary adventures as of late. I'm currently teaching myself how to cook, and am finding I absolutely love cooking and baking. However, there is definitely a reason I am a fashion blogger and not a food blogger. Tonight's cooking fun is a good example of why.

Having planned my meal ahead of time, asparagus-stuffed chicken, I took my chicken breast out of the freezer last night so that when I got home to make dinner tonight, it would be thawed. Turns out it wasn't fully thawed, so after cutting it halfway through the middle, I put it back in a little baggie and put it in warmish water to thaw it the rest of the way while I prepped the vegetables.

After the chicken was thawed, I finished putting together the chicken dish, filling the centre with shredded parmesan cheese and asparagus, and then tossed it in the oven while I boiled the sweet potato. (A typical multitasker, I was also toasting some oats for my breakfast tomorrow, and since I was just winging it, I burnt the first batch. Ooops!)

The final, and primary reason why I should not be a food blogger? My food photography skills SUCK. My finished meal photo, below, makes it look like I had a mountain of mashed sweet potatoes, when really the portion was much more reasonable. 

All of that said, it turned out wonderfully, and was a fantastic meal! The recipe I used as a guideline is here. 

...And if you would like to look at a cooking blog that provides both excellent recipes, fabulous anecdotes and beautiful pictures, I recommend checking out Smitten Kitchen!

Moving Week!

Image via Fashion Gone Rogue

The last few months have been a period of transition for me, living semi-independantly, gaining more focus in school and my career goals, and nurturing my inner domestic diva. Currently I am in the process of developing a cohesive online presence, eliminating my secondary twitter account, ensuring nothing is amiss on my Facebook, and building a LinkedIn profile, in preparation for my search for the elusive dream job. I'm really excited for all of this, it's been a lot of fun, and personally very rewarding.
With all of these changes you can find me:

- Tweeting at @ellie_sara
- Pinning on Pinterest
- Emailing at dsfuechtmann@gmail.com

Skinny Bashing.

This morning, a few of my friends posted a link on Facebook to the article "The Problem With Skinny Bashing" from GirlieGirl Army. Intrigued, I read the article, and I fully agree with its message.

I think that it's become a huge problem that while much of society champions the cause of the plus-size/curvy woman and their beauty, many people are now turning to make mean remarks about girls who are slim. Personally, I have been in many situations when people start talking to me, and begin to "skinny-bash," and seem to think it is a positive and humorous thing. I find it especially disappointing when it comes from members of the plus-size community, who have likely endured similarly hurtful comments about their own weight.

What do you think? Do you think that this is becoming an issue? Do you think that healthy, slim girls are being unfairly targeted because they happen to have the body society has deemed "ideal"? What do you think about comments about diet and eating disorders, do you think that accusing slim girls of having eating disorders takes away some of the gravity of real eating disorders? How do you think skinny bashing reflects on society's growing acceptance of the plus-size/curvy body, is it hypocritical?

I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this! Personally I think that it's important to be accepting of women (and men!) of all shapes and sizes.

Excitement! Excitement!

Happy January! I hope everyone had an wonderful holiday season!

In the last little while, I have savoured a couple weeks of low commitment scheduling, it was nice to take a break and read some trashy novels, and hang out with my family. That said, I'm actually ridiculously excited about this semester at school! I am taking a bunch of fantastic English courses, and a course on apparel design and construction fundamentals. (And a course about the geology of the solar system, but that's definitely NOT exciting.)

Lately I've been cooking for myself, and in one instance, for a birthday dinner party. I am really loving cooking, and I enjoy the process of meal planning. The bonus is that it's led me to eat much healthier! Yay! I've also been learning how to use the wonderful sewing machine my parents gave me for Christmas, and I love that little baby! So far I've only made a couple of infinity scarves (one for myself, and one for a friend who was coveting mine) but I can't wait to graduate to more complex projects. Here's the link to the DIY I used for the scarf, Brittany uses old flannel pj pants, I just used flannel fabric I found at the store. The next things I have planned are a nicer cover for my machine, and a funky apron for baking and cooking.

Gettin' crafty! 

I'm not really a huge fan of New Year's resolutions, because I think if it's something important, you shouldn't need to wait for a special date to start. However, lately I've been making an effort to be more organized and keep my house cleaner. (OH! and I finally got a new dishwasher. I can't wait to use it for the first time tonight! The one we've had up until this point is about 16-17 years old, and doesn't wash very well.) 

Lastly, some of you may remember a reference I made a LONG time ago about a princess dress I never took off when I was a little girl. Last night, while organizing some boxes, I found a picture of me wearing that dress on Halloween. I think I'm about 4-5 in this picture.

PS. I went and looked at the post that I first mentioned this dress in, and it was my first ever post! Which was on Dec. 22/11. Oops, I guess I missed the one year anniversary of my blog.