October has come and gone..

Beer choices for the month. I love the fall seasonal beers. So. Good.

So, I had a craving for some pumpkin cheesecake and ended up making it with this recipe at my friend's house--SQUARE CHEESECAKE! I only had my camera phone to use to take these pics (sorry for the blurriness), but as you can see we didn't have a circular spring-form pan on hand so we ended up using a square pan that had a bottom you could push up. It was a bit more difficult to use, but I think it came out pretty well considering our last minute preparations and the fact that it was the first time either of us have made a cheesecake from scratch. I did leave the egg yolk out and eyeballed the spices (I love nutmeg so I probably put a little more of that in there than the recipe called for). I think the gingersnap crust really made this cheesecake wonderful and it wasn't too heavy like most cheesecakes are. It was kind of more like a mousse texture; we did eat it about an hour after letting it cool so I'm wondering how it would be if it had been refrigerated overnight. Oh! we also served this with some freshly whipped cream that had vanilla extract in it and we sweetened it with maple syrup instead of sugar. We are definitely considering making this again for Thanksgiving. It was truly a very simple recipe, especially with the aid of a food processor to make the crust and a stand mixer to mix the other ingredients together.

And then.. there are some things I have been loving this month -- recently acquired things.

New Shoes! Got these from Nordstrom Rack. I thought they were so cute -- I have been wanting some nude-colored shoes for a while now. I love the thick chunky heel on these.

Got another candle from Bath & Body Works..
this has such a refreshing smell  -- definitely brightens any day, being stuck indoors recently because of never-ending rain!

Coach Poppy Flower perfume. Being someone who never wears perfume, this one really caught my attention. I smelled it one day and for the rest of the week, I couldn't stop thinking about it so I had to go back an buy it. It is a definitely very light girly scent, a great combination of floral & fruity. It makes me feel very happy wearing it.

This Madison wristlet is so nice to have on hand. I love the bold red color and the soft material it is made of.  It is the perfect size to use as a clutch on a night out. It has a lot of pockets inside with compartments to put your ID/credit cards so there is no need to use a wallet in there. I've also been able to fit a small point-and-shoot camera, cell phone & car keys in here with no problem.

Fun & easy nail design I wore to a masquerade ball.
Zoya Helen is the nude color and OPI You Make Me Vroom is the red.

Masquerade! BOO!
I love Halloween particularly because you get to dress up. so much fun.

!HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hope you all had a great Halloween despite the crazy weather Mother Nature has given us this weekend all over the country.

Halloween nails inspired by this.
The orange underneath the design is Hi Def from Sephora by OPI, and I used the Kiss Nail Art Paint polishes with the long skinny brushes to make the plaid design.

And I didn't forget my toes! Hehe if only my toenails were larger I could do more with them.

-J

This is what procrastination looks like

Got a mani/pedi with a friend on a rainy day, this was Essie's  Bangle Jangle from their winter 2011 collection

on my toes I picked Essie' Luxedo, which is actually from the winter 2010 collection

 Haha, just kidding. I've been sick and then had a round of testing at school, so I haven't been able to do much of anything else. Yet I have still found time to change up my nail colors (of course!).

French tip with the Art deco skinny brushes -- very easy to use!

Fishnet Stockings (Essie)

Jules (Zoya)

I purchased a new moisturizer; it was a bit of a splurge being $30 but doesn't everything listed on that bottle sound like it would be amazing? I've been using it for a little more than a week now and it is really not as mattifying as I had hoped it would be. Maybe I am putting too much on, or maybe because I am using it under my tinted moisturizer. It has made my skin feel softer than it did before. I guess I just need to be careful not to use a whole pump because that is way too much product for my face!

This is not really that exciting but one of my friends has never had a peanut butter-banana-and-honey sandwich before! I pretty much lived on this and butternut squash soup during the time when I was sick. It really did hit the spot and was filling enough to get me through the day.

Yes, I got my hands on something from the Missoni collection at Target. These are the ballerina flats from the little Girl's collection -- size 3! Sometimes it pays to have small feet :)

And finally, since fall doesn't really exist in south FL I got this "Leaves" candle from Bath & Body Works and now my room smells so autumnal! I LOVE IT. 

-J