Easy Margherita Pizza + Yogurt Dessert

I have a confession to make: I'm addicted to California Pizza Kitchen frozen margherita pizzas.  Like, I can eat the whole thing myself.  And I do.  But with my mission to eat healthier, I've put a stop to that pizza binge.  I knew I'd have California Pizza withdrawals, so I racked my brain for a tasty alternative.  What is a margherita pizza, anyway?  It's basically dough and mozzarella and tomato and basil. 

*Winner* | Win $50 To Get Organized | Apartment Guide's Lost & Found: Do You Know Where Your Things Are?

Source: The Container Store

And the winner is... 

Ellen B.

(Congrats, Ellen! I'll be in touch with info about your prize!)

**This giveaway is now closed.**

Sunday Evening: Tea, Candlelight, Birdsong | This Is Lovely, No. 1

This is a lovely little series I'm starting. It's for whenever I feel like sharing something
that's just lovely. The simple pleasures in my life, like this Sunday evening in particular. 

On a Mission to Healthier Eating

So I'm on a personal mission to be more active and eat more healthy foods.  I've been working on the active part by hitting the gym more and doing smaller workouts in my apartment on the days I can't make it to the gym.  Now it's time to revolutionize my diet.  With a hectic schedule it's all too easy to dine out or mindlessly hit up the vending machine at work for Gardetto's.  In trying to get into a good habit of eating better, I thought of all the good-for-me foods that I do like and stocked up on them.  My schedule doesn't allow for three big meals a day---and honestly, that's never been my style.  My preferred eating style is snacking throughout the entire day.  So I'm turning things around and making healthier choices from here on out.  (I'll keep you updated on my progress and trials!)  So let's get on with my new snacks...

DIY Multi-Tasking Desktop Organizer | Lost & Found: Do You Know Where Your Things Are?

Do-it-yourself multi-tasking desktop organizer.  Now that's a mouthful.  As part of my partnership with Apartment Guide for the Lost & Found: Do You Know Where Your Things Are? Blogger Program, I was assigned a mission to create a rental-friendly organization project.  I got to thinking about what organization challenges I faced myself.  Much of it came down to paper: magazines, documents, homework, cards, craft scraps, etc.  Paper piles up on the desk and other surfaces.  So I wanted a way---well, a pretty way---to organize it.  

Suzy's Decadent Little Studio

Who says small spaces can't be luxurious and decadent?  This entry from Small Cool 2012 is bursting at the seams with opulent hues, rich textures, and lots of curiosities.  It's Suzy's teeny-tiny 200-square-foot, 7-foot-ceiling Brooklyn apartment.  And I think it's absolutely gorgeous.  First of all, that huge chest of drawers is amazing!  I love massive pieces of furniture in small spaces.  The daybed is also fantastic.  The array of pillows, the fuchsia rug, the pretty glass bottles.  I love what she's done with the place.

Attic Bedroom Inspiration

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Hey lovelies!  I'm blogging today with exciting news.  As I believe I've mentioned before, my lease in my current apartment will be up this summer.  I've been searching high and low in this expensive college town for a studio within my budget.  Unfortunately, everything I found was either outrageously expensive or in the ghetto.  Haha.  But, I did find my next apartment!  It's not a studio...

Make It Work: 9 Ways to Style a Chrome Shelving Unit

Shelley sent me this email,

"Hi Jessica, I am absolutely crazy over your blog... you are so inspirational! I have a shelf dilemma I need help with! I have a a metal shelving unit that looks a little bit like this (photo above), but taller: I am moving into a new apartment with some of my girlfriends and we are all tight on cash, so we want to use what we already have! My only problem is that this shelving unit is just so... industrial! I have more of a cozy, traditional style and looooooove color! I just don't know how to make this unit more homey and cute! Thanks from a fan!"

Funny you should mention that shelving unit, Shelley!  I actually used to have the same one.  It's a shiny chrome shelf from Target that is as easy to assemble as it is easy on the budget.  Too bad it's just not so easy on the eyes!

Sorority by the Sea | Reader Request

I love a challenge.  Even more, I love helping you lovely readers get inspired to make your dorms and apartments as lovely as possible.  So when I got this email, it totally made my morning:

Hi Jessica,

I love your blog and design style so much! I was hoping you could help my sorority sisters and I out with some decorating advice. For our bedroom, we've agreed on a nautical theme with navy blue, white, and yellow. I was wondering if you had any ideas that could make the space comfortable and stylish?

Thanks,

Caitlin

Organized Desktops Roundup

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Industrial file bins organize papers.  Mismatched cups keep pencils and paintbrushes at bay.

April Indulgences

Just a short post today since I have lots to do with a special do-it-yourself project and Girl Next Dorm Magazine. :)  So I'm rounding up my normal monthly list of favorites.  This month, it's all about indulging a little here and there.

Mythbuster: Every Expedit is the Same | 20 Different Ways to Style Those Cubes

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Ikea's Expedit shelving unit---and its similar cousins.  Is there truly a more magnificent piece of furniture?  I've come to the conclusion (as many of you should) that a cubicle-style shelving unit such as the expedit is a completely necessary piece for any dorm or apartment.  Somewhere, sometime I heard someone say (or maybe I read it...) that expedit all looks the same.  Well, I beg to differ.  Here are 20 examples of different ways to style your expedit.  Starting with above: the bibliophile's dream bookcase.

DIY Quickie: Chevron Chalkboard

It was a dark and stormy night...

Julie's Lovely Robin's Egg Blue Studio in D.C.

I found another teeny-tiny space in this year's Apartment Therapy Small Cool Contest.  It's an itsy-bitsy 500-square-foot studio belonging to Julie in Washington, D.C. As many efficiency dwellers do, Julie faced the challenge of deciding whether she wanted her space to function mainly as a bedroom or living room.

Tonight: ABC's Titanic

Ok, ok.  I'm jumping aboard (haha, get it?) the rekindled Titanic craze.  But not for seeing Kate and Leo in 3D, lassies.  I've got something else to be giddy about.  Picture this:  Downton Abbey + Titanic.

Are Photos of Your Messy Apartment Worth $3000? ForRent.com Thinks So!

Confession time.  Sometimes my room gets a little messy.  Ok, well... if we're telling the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth, my room is in a state of creative chaos 90% of the time.

Pure Home: It All Starts with Color

I love interactive interior design sites.  Quizzes that pinpoint style, tools that help pick out colors, galleries that suggest furniture... I just can't resist.  So naturally, when I heard about the new website Pure Home... I just had to give it a try.  Pure Home guides users through the decorating process by starting at square one: color.  Now that's a philosophy I can get on board with. 

The Carrie Diaries

Have you heard of the CW's upcoming series The Carrie Diaries?  The tv series is a prequel to Sex & the City, centering on a young Carrie Bradshaw's senior year of high school.  AnnaSophia Robb has been cast as the young Carrie and I think she looks stunning in this photo.  The outfit! The hair! The heels!  Sooo very Carrie.  This fabulous photo caught my eye and I just had to share.  (Thanks Belle on the Boulevard!)

DIY Quickie: Fabric Covered Sketchbook in College & Cook Magazine

I love myself a good diy project.  Given unlimited funds and free time, I'd be crafting up a storm 24/7.  But that isn't so.  So to indulge in my inner do-it-herselfer, sometimes I just have to whip up a diy quickie.  Spray paint is my favorite instant gratification (craftification?).  But occasionally I run out of things to spray paint.  So the nifty little project I contributed to the new Spring issue of College & Cook Magazine is a perfect stand-in for spray painting binges. 

JoAnn's Truly Happy Home | My Fave Apartment Therapy Small Cool Entry (So Far!)

I pretty much live for Apartment Therapy's annual Small Cool Contest, presented by Apartment Guide.  I love the coziness of a tiny living space as much as I enjoy the challenge.  I just can't get enough of peeking into other people's little living quarters.  (Whoa... that makes me sound like a creeping window peeper, but I promise I'm not!)  I just like to see how creative renters are with their itty-bitty domiciles.  And this one had me at, "Hello."  Or at least at first sight of that gray sofa. I also love how she pulled the sofa away from the wall and placed a white table behind it.  It's chic---and it's a smart small space solution.

This is Chicagoan JoAnn's entry in the Small Cool 2012 Contest.  Her 400-square-foot nest falls into the Teeny-Tiny category---my fave!  (Getting up into the palatial "little" and "small" categories is just too easy.  I like the challenge of the tightest spaces.)  Aren't those yellow curtains so very cheerful?  Especially when paired with the pale blue of the Eames rocker and cute lamp.  It's a no-fail sunny color combination. 

Oh, it's too much!  The jealousy!  I wish I could have a wallpapered wall in my place.  I love the gray Moorish-style trellis pattern.  The bookshelf is great, too.

 

You usually don't catch me swooning over kitchens.  I'm too much of a bedroom/office/living room kidna girl.  But this kitchen stole my heart with its ivory and orange chevron rug!  And all the little details make it even better---the lovely blue hello sign on the tile, the small vase of pretty pink flowers, the shiny metal toaster, the heart-shaped wood cutting board, the simple glass soap dispenser, the retro towels.  So. Much. Cool.

And then we come to the bedroom.  Let's start at the top and work our way down.  The ceiling is painted light blue, which is simply heavenly.  A wall shelf replaces a headboard, working as storage as well as a ledge for pictures and accessories.  A floating book shelf keeps pageturners close at hand for light night reading sessions.  The bed is all dressed up in mostly white, with punches of cherry red.  I'm swooning over the flowy white bedskirt.  And then at the very bottom, a very plush white rug warms up the hardwood floors.

Like JoAnn's "Truly Happy Home"?  Head over to the Apartment Therapy Small Cool Contest presented by Apartment Guide and cast your vote for her now!  (Or find another lovely space that catches your eye and vote for it!) 

30 Simple Ways to Feel Lovely

A lovely reader recently tweeted at LU, asking that I write a piece about confidence and those "ugly" days that can make a girl feel so lost.  I love being given inspiration that knocks the writer's (or blogger's) block right outta my system.

We all have those days, don't we?  Perhaps it starts off when your hair just won't cooperate or it seems like you have nothing to wear.  You feel like sliding into your sweatpants, jumping back into bed, and pulling the covers over your head---hoping to not see the light of day for just 24 hours.  Often, it comes down to something more than a bad hair day and outward appearance.  Usually, it's emotion at the core.  Sometimes you just don't feel lovely.  Sometimes you feel a little lost.  Well, consider this your special pep talk from Lovely Undergrad.  I've rounded up my favorite ways to turn that frown upside down, to turn that slouch into a strut, and to turn a lost day of feeling "ugly" into a rescued day of happiness and confidence.

1. Coffee.  Studies show (forgive me, I misplaced the source---but I've read this all over lately in several magazines) that women who drink three cups of coffee daily are less prone to feelings of depression.  So roll outta bed, put on the coffee pot, and get some java pumping through your veins.

2. Eat breakfast.  Whip yourself up something special.  Or make your regular feel special.  Make a delicious omelet or French toast.  Or eat your cereal out of a pretty porcelain bowl with the fanciest spoon from your drawer.  Make the ordinary feel a little extraordinary.

Lauren's Happily Inspired 500 Sq. Foot Studio

Lauren's tiny studio apartment is exactly the kind of studio that makes me want one of my own.  I love her choice of colors (the orange, the green, the pops of red!) and her mixing of vintage (chair) with antique (trunk) with contemporary (sofa). 

Kimberly Lewis' Organized, Eclectic Alcove

 

Wallpaper designer Kimberly Lewis inhabits this lovely little alcove studio in Brooklyn, NY.  Her space is loaded with ideas for furniture layout, storage solutions, and pretty decor.  I love the photo above because it shows three major sections of the room.  The closest (from which the perspective is shot) is the dining area.  It merges into the living room.  And then beyond the black modular bookcase is a small bedroom nook.

Bird's Eye View Decor

 Anyone else spot these spreads in the March 2012 Anthropologie catalog? 

Apply for Girl Next Dorm!

Wanna write, design, photograph, social network, or just get involved with Lovely Undergrad's new online magazine Girl Next Dorm?  We're still taking applications!  Seize this chance to be part of the loveliest new online magazine on the block.   (above image via: here.)

Apply now!

DIY Magazine File Makeover

As I've confessed before, I'm a magazine hoarder collector.  So it's not a surprise that my room is overflowing with magazines.  I literally have some bags and boxes of magazines stored away and just keep my favorite ones out within reach.  At One Man's Junk, one of my favorite little shops to pick up vintage goodies, I spotted a metal vertical paper sorter.  Unfortunately, I'm really bad at taking before photos.  (I get so excited that I just start painting!)  But it looked something like this (at right.)  That grayish beigey color.  Quite boring.  But oh-so-functional.  I gave it couple coats of my favorite bright red Rustoleum spray paint.  Then, when I was trying to figure out where to put it in my room... I placed it on its side while gathering up some magazines.  Turns out, I loved the way it looked turned on its side and placed on my window sill behind my chair.  So now it houses my favorite issues of HGTV magazine, Cottage Style, Do It Yourself, and (of course!) Domino. 

$1 DIY Chair Mini-Makeover | Before + After

As I mentioned in my room tour, my space is a perpetual work in progress.  I always have a diy project up my sleeve and a list of changes to make.  One of those things I've been itching to cross off of my to-do list?  A bedroom chair.  I've been longing for a sweet little vintage chair for a certain corner of my bedroom (between my nightstand and closet).  So I've been searching high and low.  Seriously.  This girl has been on a mission to thrift.  

Friday morning, I hit up One Man's Junk, my favorite vintage/antique store in town.  And I spotted this little charmer in the back room.  He's so handsome.  Big enough to be comfy, small enough to not take up valuable floor space.  Lightweight.  Retro.  The green color of the upholstery is a match made in heaven with the green in my bed quilt.  And I'm a sucker for caning.  

I gave this $20 baby a mini-makeover for just $1. That one little dollar purchased a bottle of Americana acrylic paint in "True Red."  With a foam brush, I applied three coats of the red paint... letting it dry between layers.  Here's the chair after its mini-makeover:

 I think the chair makes a great improvement to that corner of my room, which once looked like this:

Kinda disorganized.  The bucket of shoes sitting on top of two storage ottomans.  Just all thrown together.

Now, it's a perfect spot to sit down with a magazine.  And the bucket tucks nicely underneath.  Big improvement.  :)