NomNom: Chocolate Covered Pretzels

February is finally here and before we know it, that lovey dovey holiday called Valentines day will be around the corner. Whether you have a significant other or not, it's a day to appreciate the loves in your life and make them feel extra special. Making something for that special someone doesn't have to involved numerous ingredients (unless that's what you wanna do) but can be broken down to being simple, cute, and still be tasty, which is where these chocolate covered pretzels come in.

I've always loved chocolate covered pretzels because of the sweet and salty component it has but it can be overpriced at the grocery store for what you're actually getting. Why spend money on that (save it for nail polish!) when you can make these yourself? I'm almost embarrassed to call this a recipe because it's just so easy. There are only 3 ingredients involved. Just three. If you're really lazy you can just use chocolate (which would make it 2!!) and opt out of the sprinkles, but, hey this is for valentines day so we have to step up our game a little.

I used Lindt's chocolate but you can use any white chocolate.

Make sure you tap of any excess chocolate...otherwise you will have a gooey, chocolatey mess..hmmmm...

Photos courtesy of Sung Shin

Now I know Valentines Day isn't for another week and a half but I figure it doesn't hurt to start thinking about what you wanna do. I have another super easy recipe fitting for Valentines day (heart shaped and all) I'll bake and post for next week but in the meantime, I tested this on the boy and he really enjoyed it so this was a win for me!

Package them individually in a cellophane bag and give it your honey, friends, parents, or whoever else you wanna impress. Just don't tell them how easy it was;) Have a great weekend.

Recipe

Bag of pretzels (I used rods but feel free to use regular shaped pretzels)

White chocolate

Sprinkles

Wax paper

Procedure

1. Microwave your chocolate in 30 second increments then stir. They won't melt entirely so put them back in the microwave for another 30 seconds.

2. Dip your pretzel in the bowl and using a spoon cover the area of the pretzel you want. Gently tap or hold it an angle so excess chocolate drips off.

3. Sprinkle the chocolate area of the pretzel while it' still wet over a plate, so you don't get sprinkles all over your work area.

4. Gently sit them on wax paper and let them rest so the chocolate hardens. You can put them in the refrigerator to speed up the hardening process or if you're in a rush.

Casual Layers

Photos courtesy of Sung Shin

Sweater-Banana Republic
Chambray shirt-Old Navy
Jeans-Gap
Vest-North Face
Shoes-Pour La Victoire
Necklace, ring-David Yurman

Happy February! For some reason I feel like this winter season is flying by or maybe I feel like that because the past couple of months have been incredibly busy for me. No complaints here though, because I am counting down the days until spring=)

During the winter, I love wearing layers underneath sweaters for the extra warmth for those blistery, cold days. Layers gives you the ability to work with different colors, patterns, or textures to add a little flavor to that sweater, shirt, or whatever else you are working with. I usually wear a button down shirt underneath a v-neck so the collar of my button down will show, but I decided to add a button down under a cowlneck sweater. The collar doesn't show on these type of sweaters but the shirt peeks through other ways (the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt) so it gives an unintentional but really intentional look;). I added a vest as another layer of warmth because I wanted the sleeves to show and wearing a coat would cover that up. 

Do you have any fun ways to add layers to your outfit?

Weekend Snapshots

This weekend I...

1. Stopped by Ikea to stock up on some of their Tindra candles which not only smell divine, but are so cheap. Each candle is $1.99 people! Get on it. I also bought several picture frames because I want to (finally) print pictures of my favorite places I've traveled to around the world and have a wall at my place dedicated just for that.

2. Experimented with some Valentine's day baking. I love chocolate covered pretzels because it has both the sweet and salty component to it. I also decided to add Valentines Days colored sprinkles to give it a nice finishing holiday touch. This was easy, tasty, and cute--what's not to love? Will post recipe later this week

3. The boy cooked dinner for me. He made a delicious dinner of a Chinese noodle dish that consisted of bok choy, pork and mushrooms, along with egg drop soup. Unfortunately in the process he ended up cutting himself pretty badly but that's a whole another post in itself. Sigh.

4. Squeezed in some "me" time which consisted of catching up with my favorite magazines and drinking chocolate wine. Taylor Swift makes me want to buy a big, floppy hat and trim my bangs. Note to self: I'm not Taylor Swift.

5. Bought more Essie nail polish. Hehehehe. They have a line called "Essie Luxe Effects" which consists of glittery polish and well ya know me...I can't resist sparkle. The colors I purchased are "a cut above" and "set in stones."

6. Received an email from Refinery 29's DC editor asking if she could use this outfit I posted about a week ago to feature in her article, "The Perfect Outfit," and well, I obviously said yes and thank you! Check it out: http://www.refinery29.com/the-perfect-outfit-mixing-colors-and-prints

How was your weekend?

DIY: How to Make Paper Stars

Several weeks ago I tweeted a picture of these paper stars when I was mindlessly making them one day and I received several requests from readers if I could do a tutorial on how to make these stars. I've never done a DIY post so I apologize beforehand if the directions are hard to follow....

I was taught how to make these paper stars when I was in high school (which was ions ago) and was told that young Asian girls would make these paper stars and gather them into cute jars to either bring luck or to give to their boyfriend. This was one of their ways to signify how much the girl would like the boy because of the time spent to make all the stars. I also remember being told that the stars could also represent how much time had passed in the relationship so if a relationship made it to the 1 year mark, she would make 365 stars. I must confess, I made stars for my crush whenI learned how to make these HA! Oh the things we do for love...

Aaaaaanyway, these stars don't necessarily have to be limited towards a significant other--friends or family members will most definitely appreciate the time and effort spent on making these. When I visited my relatives, who live in Korea about 8 years ago, my aunt hosted a huge party to celebrate her grand opening of her own medical practice. I made several hundred of these stars for her and gave them to her in a cute jar as a present to bring her luck to her new practice and she loved it so much that she displayed it in her office as a way to remember me. She and her family recently visited me a couple of month ago and she confessed she still has that jar=)

Another option you can use with these stars is that they can act as "fillers" when wrapping presents. Instead of using tissue paper you can cover your present (ideally a small present unless you don't mind making loads of these) with the paper stars and place it in gift bags in substitute of tissue paper. Trust me, it'll look cute.

Let's begin. Hold the paper with both hands and turn it around to the side you don't want showing as the star part. Hold the paper about 2 inches from the bottom with one hand and fold as if you're making a knot over your thumb with the opposite hand.

With that opposite hand, tuck the small end through the hole.

Gently pull the small end through the hole.

Once you pull the small end through, flatten the knot and you will see a pentagon shape forming.

Follow the color of the paper and either fold it over or tuck it in to the slit. I like to tuck it in because then I won't have any weird end pieces hanging and it just looks neater.

Now this the easiest part. You should only have a long end remaining and with that long end, you're just gonna keep on folding it over the pentagon shape.

Continue folding along the pentagon shape...

Keep folding until you have a short end piece remaining (which should look like the picture on the left) and fold until you meet a slit. Tuck that small end into the slit to hide the end piece.

If you still have a tiny end piece left over after tucking it into the slit, just fold it over.

This is the fun part! You're going to pinch each corner with your thumb and pointer finger to "puff" the star out and you will begin to see a star forming...

....and there you have it, a paper star!

Once you practice making a couple of these paper stars, you're gonna think this is the easiest thing ever. It took me awhile to fill up that glass jar pictured but it's one of those things where you can quickly make little by little or make whenever you're bored.

Let me know if you have any questions and I hoped you enjoyed my first DIY. Have a great weekend and as always, thanks for reading=)

Materials Needed 
1. Pre-cut origami paper (You can buy these pre cut origami papers at an Asian stationery or grocery store. If you're having trouble finding them, you could also cut the ends of a 8x11 printer paper since it's about the same length)

2. Cute glass jar.

Classic Tweed

Photos courtesy of Sung Shin

Blouse-H&M

Jacket-Tory Burch

Jeans-Gap

Shoes-Pour La Victoire

Ring-David Yurman

Watch-Burberry

In my opinion, the tweed jacket is the epitome of classic elegance. When I think of tweed, the first thoughts that comes to mind are "lady like" and "Chanel." It is said that the iconic Chanel tweed jacket was designed to give the wearer a freedom of movement and to feel like a comfortable cardigan rather than a structured jacket. I would love to own a timeless piece such as a Chanel tweed jacket some day, but for now I am happily content with this Tory Burch one I purchased a month ago=) I was immediately drawn to this jacket because of the gorgeous deep brown color, the simplicity of the cut, and the lovely velvet linings, because to me, it's all about the details.

Tweed jackets can be a bit tricky because it can have the tendency for one to appear older, so for today's outfit I paired mine with skinny jeans to balance the outfit towards a youthful look. The tweed jacket is such a classic item to have in your closet because it's another one of those pieces that will never go out of style and can be recycled to be worn again in several different ways.

Do you have any classic pieces you love?