Lifestyle – YOUNG lifesty-EL

Houndstooth; The Timeless Wardrobe Staple

February 1, 2022by younglifestyelLeave a Comment

Why You Need it in Your Closet

As a designer I believe that fabric and textiles are arguably one of the biggest muses to fashion and product design as a whole. There is just something about the mood and feeling that fabric can invoke that inspires a designer to create wearable art. Some textile prints are considered timeless and will always be a staple in design; Houndstooth is certainly one of those fabrics. Now I could be bias because it is one of my favorite diagonal weave textiles but its hard to argue its timelessness.

With origins dating somewhere between 360 AD and 100 AC in low land Scotland; houndstooth was usually made out of wool (although nowadays the print can be seen on almost any type of fabric) and worn as outer wear for shepherds. The name “Houndstooth” was essentially coined because of the prints resemblance to the shape of a dogs tooth.

Houndstooth became more popular in fashion and mainstream apparel sometime in the 1930s and it’s still finding its place on Runways and on store racks today.

This two-toned textile ; also known as “Shepherds Check”, made one of it’s first appearances on the high fashion scene in Christian Diors 1948 Haute Couture S/S collection. Although originally seen in black and white; houndstooth can now be seen in different color and scale variations throughout fashion.

Houndstooths emergence on the fashion scene all those years ago was as a symbol of wealth and class and it still exudes such elegance and sophistication today.

One The Runway This Year

Coach showed this timeless print in their S/S 22 Collection in a beautiful blue and off white tone.

Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com; Kelly Donoghue (left), Emma Peet (RIght)

Looks from Coach SS 22 Runway

How I Houndstooth (My Recreate)

I myself have started adding this classic print to my wardrobe with a recreate of a houndstooth suit by Wolk Morais that Viola Davis wore on the cover of InStyle in 2020.

Photo Credit: Nakia Young-EL, Nakia Young-EL

Shop Houndstooth Looks

You can find Houndstooth looks to add to your wardrobe by doing a simple Google search. The options are endless and their are a million different ways this fabric has been used to create pieces that will speak to your personal style and wardrobe. Check out a couple options below:

https://www.macys.com/shop/product/the-nw-houndstooth-print-crisscross-dress?ID=13189792&pla_country=US&CAGPSPN=pla

https://us.shein.com/Houndstooth-Cardigan-With-Knit-Pencil-Skirt-p-6124502-cat-2220.html?scici=Search~~EditSearch~~1~~houndstooth~~~~0

Stay tuned for more Fashion News, Wardrobe & Styling Tips, Sewing DIYs and all things fashion by subscribing to our blog and following me @nakiayoungel on IG and Facebook.

Lifestyle

Happy HallowDRINK

October 31, 2021October 31, 2021by younglifestyelLeave a Comment

Hey my lovelies! Its that spooky time of year again! My husband and I had absolutely no plans for Halloween this year outside of watching scary movies with drinks!

We’ve actually been watching scary movies all throughout October gearing up to Halloween day which was very fun and entertaining. We watched everything from the original Candy Man movies to Nightmare of Elm Street and even an old old film called “The Blob”. Aside from just being able spend some quality time together it was very nostalgic to watch films from the 80s and early 90s.

But I digress, this post isn’t about all the classic horror films we’ve watched this month; its about drinks! I wanted to start trying some holiday themed cocktails and decided that Halloween would be a great place to start.

Here are two delicious Halloween themed cocktails I made for our Halloween night in.

Candy Corn Martini

Ingredients:

1.5 ounce of Whipped Vodka

3/4 ounce of Grenadine

1 ounce of Pineapple Juice

2 ounces of Sparking peach juice (I used the ‘Sparkling Ice” peach flavor but you can also use peach flavor Izze)

Whipped cream (garnish)

Candy Corn (garnish)

This Martini is super easy to make. You begin by adding the Vodka and Pineapple juice to a beverage shaker. Add Ice and Mix. Strain/Pour into your Martini glass. Next you will add the Sparkling Peach Juice. Add the grenadine ( it will sink to the bottom of the glass). Then top off the Martini with some whipped cream and candy corn to garnish.

Its as simple as that. When I tell you that this drink was so delicious I am not kidding. Although it does not actually taste like candy corn; it taste like a creamsicle to me, it certainly looks the part.

The next drink I sort of improvised and it actually turned out pretty good. Originally I wanted to do a Black Martini (owwww spooky); however, I couldn’t find a few of the ingredients that I needed so I just created something entirely different. I named this drink “Vampires’ Kiss Martini).

Vampires’ Kiss

Ingredients:

2 ounces of Vodka (I used Pineapple Ciroc)

1/2 ounce of Black Raspberry liqueur

3/4 ounce of Grenadine

This Martini is even easier and quicker to make than the Candy Corn Martini.

Mix the vodka and black raspberry liqueur in a beverage shaker. Add ice and Shake. Strain/Pour into Martini glass and then add Grenadine. Voila! You have yourself a “Vampires’Kiss Martini”. Although I thought this drink turned out well I still haven’t perfected it yet. So give it a try and tell me what you think in the comments. All of my professional and home mixologist, if you think of a way to make this drink even better drop a comment too.

Lifestyle

Our DIY Kitchen Revamp

October 6, 2021by younglifestyel1 Comment

I have been focusing heavily lately on making the best of what I have and creating the life I that want with what I currently have instead of constantly thinking about the things that I don’t have. Don’t get me wrong, I still aspire to have the things I’ve always dreamt of having but I’m also being more intentional about appreciating the now.

My dream home is a Farm House style home. I just love the décor, the layout and the entire feel of these style homes. Unfortunately, right now my husband are not looking to buy a new home until we figure out what we are going to do with the house that we currently own. We have been going back and forth about whether we will continue to rent it out our ultimately sell it so until we figure our next steps we will stay in the 4 bedroom house we’re renting. Now its no mystery that this home is NOT my dream house but I recently decided that that doesn’t mean we can’t make it into a space we love in the meantime.

I’m determined to go room by room and redecorate this space into something that truly feels like us. I’m starting to spend more and more time in the kitchen so the first room to get the Young LifestyEL revamp was…you guessed it… our kitchen!

I wanted to give the kitchen a little “facelift” but since we are renting I couldn’t make any permanent or major changes. I also wanted to give it Farm House feel without breaking the bank.

Take a look and see what the hubby and I were able to do without spending a ton of money.

This is the before video of the kitchen

Check out the counter covering we used here and the backsplash we used here

Check out the glass jars I got from Amazon here

We got these three Faux house plants from Target for like $3 each and that add the perfect touch of greenery. We also used some LED lights that we already had that we purchased from Amazon here

If you know me you know I LOVE my coffee

Our backsplash is completely removable as well as the peel and stick counter covering that we used. We wanted to make sure that any changes that we did make could easily be removed when we leave so that the kitchen can return to its original look. We purchased the removable backsplash from Amazon (Tic Tac Tiles), the Peel and Stick counter covering from Target (Con-Tact Creative Covering). I also purchased the glass jars I used for our pasta, coffee, flour and sugar from Amazon (Glass Jars). Click on any of the hyperlinks of these products to check them out.

This little kitchen revamp cost us less that $100.

I still want to get a few things to organized our little pantry area and will share once that part of the kitchen has been finished.

But I’ll be honest I’m a little obsessed with how the kitchen looks and feels now. How do you think we did?

Lifestyle

On Wednesdays We Bake

October 5, 2021by younglifestyel2 Comments

Recently my husband and I decided to create a homeschool environment for our toddler. Noble is only 2.5 years old but we wanted to start introducing a little routine and an educational atmosphere for him. I decided that we would do a half-day pre-school schedule from around 9AM to 12PM Monday through Friday.

Now, I’m no trained educator so of course I had to do my research on various lesson plans, activities and pre-school appropriate curriculums and although we are only in our second week things have been going well.

One of the hands-on activities that I chose to incorporate into our weekly schedule is Baking. I love to bake but haven’t really been able to do it as much as I would like to. So now, on Wednesdays we bake.

A little while ago I purchased this great dessert recipe book (Delish Insane Sweets by JoAnna Saltz & The Editors of Delish) from Target and I’m determined to try every recipe in the book. This past week Noble and I baked Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies and they were so delicious and easily one of my new favorite Fall treats.

If you are a beginner baker this recipe is pretty easy and quick to make. The recipe calls for the following ingredients:

2 1/4 cup of All Purpose Flour

1 Tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/2 Tsp of Kosher Salt

1 Tsp baking soda

3/4 Cup of Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup of Granulated Sugar

2 Sticks of Butter

3/4 Cup of Pumpkin Puree

2 Cups of Semisweet Chocolate Chips

2 Tsp of Pure Vanilla Extract

1 Large Egg

Noble enjoying playing in all the ingredients. He also threw Flour at me which you can see the evidence of in my hair.

Before you get started mixing all of your ingredients you will want to preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and line your baking sheets.

The first ingredients you will need to mix together are the baking soda, flour, salt and pumpkin pie spice.

Next you will want to mix together the butter (softened) and the sugars together. Be sure to mix these together in a separate bowl from the flour mixture. Although you can use a hand whisk for this step its probably a lot easier if you use a hand mixer.

Once you have the butter and sugar mixed until its nice and fluffy you can add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin puree. Once these ingredients are mixed well you can add the flour, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice mixture to it.

The last thing you will mix is are the Chocolate chips (yum). You will want to make sure to fold the chocolate chips into the mixture (do not use hand mixer or whisk for this step),

Once all the ingredients have been mixed together place the mixture in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes take the cookie dough mixture out and scoop out small balls of dough to place on your baking sheets (size of cookie dough balls will depend on how big you want the cookies). Also make sure to spread the cookies apart by about 2 inches or so.

Lastly, you will bake each batch for about 12 minutes.

When I tell you that these cookies are so soft and so tasty I am not kidding.

They are definitely a great option for any Fall festivities and gatherings or if you simply just love all things Pumpkin flavored and sweet.

Happy Fall & Happy Baking!

Lifestyle

TGIF…Wine Anyone???

September 24, 2021September 24, 2021by younglifestyelLeave a Comment

Is it just me or have the weeks been flying by in September? Maybe it’s because this month has been super busy but I feel like one minute its Monday and then I blink and its Friday already.

I don’t know what it is but I do know one thing ; Thank God it’s Friday!!! One way I love to unwind after a long week is to pour a glass of wine and find something good to watch on TV.

My choice for tonight is a wine from the McBride Sisters. I purchased a bottle of their Riesling and their Red Blend from Target recently. I have been wanting to try this brand ever since I learned that it was black owned. And let me tell you it does not disappoint. Now I’m no Wine Connoisseur but I know a good glass of wine when I have one and these wines were pretty good.

I usually tend to go with a red wine if we’re eating a red meat for dinner (or if its just been a Reaaaallly long week). If we’re having chicken or a white sauce pasta dish I tend to go with a nice white wine.

The McBride Riesling has just the right amount of sweetness (but not too sweet) and has such a nice crisp refreshing taste especially when served chilled. Their Red Blend has a nice body, a little tart with just a a tinge of sweetness.

Whether you are a Red or White wine lover, I definitely recommend trying this Brand and when you do let me know what your thoughts are!

Oh and for all my other wine lovers, drop some wine recommendations for me because I’m ALWAYS ready to try a new wine!