Desk Styling




Is it a vanity table? Is it a desk? No, a vanity table. Maybe a desk? This is the decision I have been back and forth with for years since receiving this table as a Christmas gift a while back.
Over the years, it has served as both. When John and I moved into our new apartment, I knew it was time to make a decision once and for all so the true beauty of this table can shine. It couldn't reach it's full potential until I made it a true home. Desk wins!

I love makeup! I adore it! I stock pile it! But.....I don't wear it so often. Most days I go fresh faced unless I'm meeting with my friends or going out with my husband. My day to day life (thank goodness because ain't nobody got time fo' that!) doesn't require much makeup so the need for my computer and blogging (*wink*) trumps the vanity. Not to be outdone, my makeup will soon have a home of it's own. But that's another blog in itself!

Once that decision was made, I went on a Pinning fit! I found lots of gorgeous images of things that inspired me. I did some internet digging for cute lil' things, pretty things, functional things, and this is the end result.























Now, I'm no professional. I'm just a chick who styled my desk. I'd like to share some tips to help you style your desk if you so desired. As always, take what you think works for you and leave the rest. It's ok. I won't be offended. =)


1. Pick a theme or a color scheme.
This room that my desk sits in, is not an office, it's more like my walk in closet with a desk? 
I'm still working on the room as a whole but the theme is fashion and the color is pink.
Big shocker, I know. Since this is technically my closet, I wanted to stick to fashion. I framed my bridal shower invitation (I had two different invitations because I couldn't decide which I liked more but I digress.) which had a dress form on it and was beautifully designed. While I love blush and gray as a color combo, I never get to express my love for gold which I think also works well with many colors so I opted for shiny gold on the desk. Once you have a general idea of what you're working with, then fun part begins: SHOPPING!

2. Functional and Fabulous!
I'm gonna do some back talk here so stick with me. Don't buy or pile on things you think you need because it's what traditionally goes on a desk. If it doesn't suit your needs or the type of work you'll be doing, don't buy it. Case in point? I have no stapler on my desk. I don't staple anything at home. I do lots of stapling at work, but at home, there's no need. I was feeling the pressure to buy a stapler to go with my accessories and I thought...no. I don't need it. I refuse to waste the money because society says I need a stapler! You're not the boss of me!
Also, it's easy to get caught up in buying pretty items that look good but have no use. Here's where my hypocrisy comes into play. Half of me says don't waste your money if it doesn't serve a purpose and the other half of me says why does it have to have a purpose? If it's pretty and makes you happy when you look at it, isn't that good enough? Do what you will people. I support both causes. Be functional and be fabulous!

3. Only Important people have desks?
Excuse my French..... that's bullshit! You might be saying to yourself....this is so pretty, but I don't do work at home. I don't run a company. I am not Donald Trump. 
To which I say.....Do you surf the internet? Would you like to keep all of your pens in one place? Do you often jot notes to yourself? Do you blog? Do you pay your bills online? Do you need a neat place to write your grocery lists? If you wanted to have a desk, why shouldn't you? You don't have to be the CEO of huge company to deserve a nice little nook to do whatever it is that you do.

4. There are no rules to desk styling (or anything for that matter!)
I could sit here and yammer on about what to do and what not to do.
Who wants to get drowned out by all these words?! The bottom line? 
Neat. Pretty.Functional. Fabulous. Personal to you.
I'll post a bunch of pics below and if you are inspired by something, you'll pick up on it
and do it your way. If you're not, you wont. And that's ok!
If I forgot to post where I got something, just ask and I'll get right back to you.

Enjoy!



















































































































































































































The Goods

Parsons Table By West Elm

Chair by West Elm (discontinued)
I think next week I'm going to add one of those cute shag throws to the chair!

Hustlin' Mouse Pad  By Mulberry Press
(She makes great stuff - def check out her entire line.)
Disclaimer: You don't have to be hustlin' cocaine in the streets a la Rick Ross (one of my favs!) to understand the art of the hustle! If you are working your way towards a specific goal or simply surviving everyday life, you are hustlin', my friend!

Acrylic Desk AccessoriesYou can grab lucite or acrylic accessories everywhere these days. I got mine from the container store. My god, I live and die for that place. Acrylic is my middle name! 
A few more great options: 
Amazon
Russell and Hazel
See Jane Work


Pink and Gold Pencils


(The little white tray and lip glosses are old. But if you are interested in the colors, comment and I shall answer!)
Gold Paper Clips & Binder Clips
Also, Staples has a nice selection of colored little accessories.

Gold Scissors

Black and white striped mug from Crate & Barrel (3 years old)
Although, this mug seems to be all the rage on the net. A very pretty option if you would like something black and white or with a nice initial on it. 

Gold and white Cabana Striped Notebook by B is for Bonnie Designs
Also a fabulous company with great little girly trinkets and prints.
Other fun notebooks:
Kate Spade Paper
Sugar Paper


Pretty Desk Top Wallpapers


I'm sure many of these items will be interchangeable for me as I am a restless person
and have an affinity for variety. In the summer you can add fresh flowers (or simply a flower),
you can get more creative with holiday items when the seasons change.
Add pictures of your family, friends or pets, you can add an inspiration board or a desk calendar, etc. The possibilities are all endless and truly up to you.

For a ridiculous amount of pretty, check out my Chic Office Pinterest Board.

Thanks for checking out my desk....if you style your desk or work space, 
I would LOVE to see it and I'll feature you on the blog.
Email me! blushandgrayblog@gmail.com 

I mean, if we have to work, shouldn't do we it fabulously?? :)










Currently Crushing




Favorite Blog
Crystalin Marie
I love her outfits, I love her pictures, her styling, etc. I have so many blogs I visit daily but I've been checking this one incessantly so I'd say she's my fav right now. Check her out!



Favorite Quote
When I read this one, it hit home right away. I don't know what's gotten me into more trouble in my life; my heart, or my tongue after I've felt "under attack". I think I just put my foot in my mouth again about a half hour ago. If only the tongue and the heart could magically get on the same team. Or at least kick the other one under the table when they're about to do/say something stupid!

Favorite Bird
I've always liked flamingos but lately, they are front and center! Flamingos on the brain, flamingos everywhere! They are so pretty. Reminds me of warm weather and tropical lusciousness! And ummmm....they're pink!

Favorite Album
Sara Bareilles "The Blessed Unrest"
I can't tell you the last time I purchased an entire album on itunes. I'm a $1.29  per song kinda gal. And it's not even about the money. I'l spend anything on music I love. I just haven't found an album that deserved to be downloaded in full in quite some time. This is that album. She's amazing and she's one of my favorite voices. Download it. You'll thank me.

Favorite TV Show
Pretty Little Liars.
This is a show I've been meaning to get into since it first came out but I never really got around to watching it because my TV list was full and I had to let something go. So I had some time on my hands this weekend and decided to finally check it out on Netflix.....
OB.SESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went through season 1 in two days! I am on a PLL binge like no one's business. I am surprised I made it to work today.


Favorite Nail Polish
Essie's "Romper Room"
The perfect pastel-y, milky, creamy pink. C'moooooooon Spring!


Favorite Fashion Obsession
Skinny cargo pants. Just scored some and I can't wait to style them up!




Favorite Food
Ice cream! I gave up Ice Cream for Lent and I am dying for some! Phish Food Fro Yo is my fav!
Guess I won't be indulging until Easter. -___-



Just some of my current crushes....what are you crushing on??

Spring Thing





I can smell the warm weather upon us. SO excited to "dress" again. 
How's about a little weekend inspiration....... I'm tots making this happen!



Spring Thing


What's For Dinner?




Isn't that always the question? What's for dinner? If I had a dime for every time I asked, and in turn was asked that question, I'd be able to pay my Visa credit card off.  =)
Well I'll tell ya what's for dinner tonight...... TACOS!
Oh, but no, no, no, my friend.....you must forget what you think you know about  the unsatisfactory and fattening tacos of yesteryear.  I'm gonna take that traditional boring taco and "Zhoosh" it up a little bit.

This weekend I might have overindulged on my diet a bit. Ok, I did overindulge. 
Today we're getting back to business. Here is my rendition of healthy (buy yummy -I promise)  taco night. Featuring my rainbow taco bar. By the way, I mentioned at work today, I was making a taco bar and they said ..."Vanessa. You do realize there is only two of you at home, right??" And again I say.....no need to be unfabulous about it.
Gosh, why must they always be the pin to my balloon?! -___- 


The Breakdown 
Let's start with the meat. You can do ground turkey, ground beef or ground chicken. Usually, whatever is on sale works just fine! I went with lean ground beef. Depends on how healthy you wish to eat. A drop of olive oil in the pan to help it brown. Sprinkle with a little Adobo, onion powder and garlic powder. I do away with that packet of taco seasoning - it's nothing but garbage. I used to do half a packet, but now I just do away with it altogether. Whether you're eating healthy or not, it's just orange, salty grossness and it's a watered down way to "season" your taco meat. In addition to those dry spices, I added a healthy squirt of ketchup, a few dashes of A1 Steak Sauce and some dashes of hot sauce - holy flavor! So good! I would have thrown in some worcesteshire sauce if I had some, but if you do, by all means amp up that flavor.
I wish I could give you an exact recipe with perfect measurements for everything, but we do "sprinkles" and "dashes" and a lot of eyeballing around here! I am no chef by any stretch of the word- I just make stuff I enjoy and I share what I think other people might enjoy as well. 



You know how I know this recipe is good? My husband - "Mr. Steak & Potatoes..... and Pizza" is a very tough sell on new foods or foods in general. We sat down tonight to eat and a few bites in he says..."What did you do to the meat? DAMN! This is good!"......BAZINGA!


Taste The Rainbow
Soggy lettuce? boooooo! Garden tomatoes? Eh. We can do better.

- I started with my purple cabbage slaw - the one I made two weeks ago. Seen here.

- Plum tomatoes. I feel they are firmer, crunchier and tend to hold up better. No sog.
I like their bright red color also. Garden tomatoes tend to look like a washed out orange?
If you want me to stay on this diet, I'm gonna need a little more enthusiasm, Mr. Tomato. 

 - Avocado. I know, not your typical taco condiment (unless you're going with guacamole).
I want no bells, no whistles. Straight up, cut avocado. No salt, no lemon, nothing added.

 - 2% reduced fat shredded cheese. You can't tell the difference between this and full fat shredded cheese. I guarantee it.

- Reduced fat sour cream. You can go fat free if you'd like. To me, the full fat is too thick and rich and the fat free is too watery. Reduced fat is juuuuust right. Like Goldilocks and her porridge.

- Regular bottled taco sauce.

Now obviously, you can omit any ingredients you don't like as well as add in anything you do like. The rainbow taco bar is endless. You can do black olives, cucumbers, sprouts, radish, shredded carrot, etc. Do what works for you. 




 Check that bad boy out. Who wouldn't want to eat that?! 
I ditched the fried taco shells and bought whole wheat tortilla skins. Set the oven at 350, warmed them up for about 5-7 minutes to make them toasty but still pliable.

The sweet tang of the slaw,  the crunch of the tomatoes, the cool creamy guacamole, the cheese and then the zip of the flavored meat - ugh this taco was everything to me tonight. I had two. And that  is totally ok because I loaded up on my rainbow of veggies and had a small serving of the lean beef. The textures are there, the flavors are there and the shitty tacos with all of that salt, fake flavor and fat is not!

Another tip I learned when watching your weight is to build the taco in reverse. Most of the time people pile on the meat and then their veggies and toppings. To control myself, I load up the taco with my "rainbow" and then sprinkle the meat on top and do a lil' dollop of sour cream.

This was so good, look what's for lunch tomorrow.....


Taco salad! I did incorporate salad greens this time since I am nixing the tortilla skins. 
Gonna need a bit more of a base. I piled on my cole slaw, plum tomatoes, avocado, shredded cheese, ground beef,  splash of taco sauce and my reduced fat sour cream.
Leftover healthy food at dinner always helps me stay on track the next day.
I actually get full and there's no guilt.

Hey.....it might even allow for a 3:00pm chocolate chip cookie!

Happy eating y'all! Hope you zhoosh up your taco night too!

xo
V.V.!






Happy Birthday V.V.!




I am now 34. Yeah....let's let that sink in for a minute. Whatev. -___-
The fact is, we're all going to continue to get birthdays and get older and there's no stopping it. 
I could mope and be depressed or I could celebrate it anyway because it's happening and it's coming whether I like it or not. I choose to celebrate. I will always choose to celebrate-  for that is just who I am! Here's how it went down this year....

I wanted a quiet birthday because I am just coming off of an epic year with my wedding and moving and all of the accompanying celebrations in association with that. I just wanted to chill out, have a good meal and enjoy myself. Especially since there was a blizzard on it's way.
Next year for  35, I'll get "tunrt up" as the kids say.

I took the day off from work - it's a sin to work on your birthday. It's in the bible. No kidding.
I'm pretty sure it's the parting of the Red Sea, thou shall not kill, Noah's Arc, don't work on your birthday. Not in that order though, but it's in there. Because I have such gall, I took the next day off also. Because I didn't want to be plagued all day with "It's my birthday! Yay! I have to go to work tomorrow Boo!." Nope.  I took two days. My boss wanted to literally wring my neck. Hey! That's what vacation days are for, sir.
Thank you kindly.

On the last Friday of every month my Long Island girls (I call them that because a. I am the only girl from Queens and B. my friends are divided among two groups - the Long Island girls and the Brooklyn girls) get together at someone's house to catch up and do girl's night. Since my birthday was on the horizon and our hang out was scheduled for Friday, the 28th, we went to dinner to have a mini celebration and back to Corinne's house for our usual pow wow.
Thank you ladies for taking me out - I had a lovely time. Thank you Clascy for strongly suggesting I change my mind and step out to have some fun. I did in fact have fun! Sometimes the best birthdays are the ones not planned and on a small scale.



March 4th, 2014!



I decided to make my own cake this year. Just kinda wanted everything low key. Didn't feel like getting the typical bakery cake, didn't feel like searching for this complicated recipe to make a cake from scratch......I went to the supermarket and picked up a box cake and frosting in a jar!
Yeah, that's right. I said it. Box cake bitches! 
34, I'm not about impressing anyone but myself. I am going to choose to do what I want, not what looks good to someone else. I'm sick of the pressure to overdo things and make everything perfect, to outdo someone or something, to constantly upgrade, to be better than anyone else and feel like I have to keep up with people or what my peers are doing with their lives, and the pressure I put on myself to always outdo myself isn't ok either. I just simply want to be. Whatever makes me happy, I'm about it and what makes me unhappy, I'm not about it anymore.  It's that simple. What it looks like to anyone else or what they feel about it, is no longer my concern. Look at that, 34 and I'm already getting wiser! Box cake made me happy this year. Strawberry Duncan Hines and chocolate fudge icing. Boom.
Let me tell ya, that was a good cake! I look for the cakes that require oil in the batter, makes it so moist and soft. The worst thing on earth is dry cake. Ack!


Next up, lunch with my husband at The Cheesecake Factory! I haven't been there in a long time and I didn't want to go to some fancy restaurant and possibly not enjoy my food - I didn't feel like traveling to the city and making a big deal about it all. I was hungry, I love TCF, done.
I ordered a Peach Bellini Cooler which was basically a bellini on steroids - frothy and cold and sweet and delicious! Happy Birthday to me! :)


Next up? a little mall shopping. Shopping is my favorite pastime so it only made sense.
I fell in love with these Tom Fords. I made John snap a pic of me so I remember what they look like. I didn't buy them but they are now on my radar. For anyone that might want to know, my lipstick in this picture is Mac's "Snapdragon". Sold out online - try in store.

I was disappointed in the mall overall. I feel like since I've become one with the internet, there's nothing in stores for me anymore. All of my shopping is done online unless its a cosmetic or perfume I see in person. The variety just isn't there. Anyone else feel like that???

That night when I got home, I did my birthday shopping online. Got some goodies.
I'll post that this week maybe.


Couldn't leave the mall without a birthday treat - love me some macarons!
$5 for two cookies......smh....that's why they're a treat!
John was like......$5?!? For what?! I put one in his mouth and then he said 
"Ohhhhhh damn these are so good!" - Now he knows why. 
And there you have another macaron fan.




My family was coming over for cake on the evening of my birthday so I did what I do best - decorate and make everything super bougie!
I said I was staying home and having a quiet birthday - I never said it would be unfabulous! 
I am still me, after all. 
I was feeling the black and white and gold theme.
I shopped for some things online and some things I already had.

Black and Pink sequin tablecloths  - borrowed from my job. 
Shout out to Prestige Caterers - they put the "bread" and the cloths on my table! <3
(I can't say I bring home the bacon because we're kosher! ;) )




Black cloth dinner napkins  by Bed Bath & Beyond 



This must have been the "Am I really 34 years old!??! It's not fair!!!" face. Sheer disbelief.
My cake looks good, no? I thought it was cute. I made a nice little design with 
my cake icing spatula. 



I hope it comes true xoxoxoxoxo



Enough with the sentimental - lets get on with the gifts!
My family gave me cash which is always appreciated because I have a wish list a mile long and I like making a dent in it every once in a while.
Funny story about this watch. I have been eyeing the Burberry watches for a while. I haven't spent good money on a watch since the Michele watch I bought myself when I was 25 years old. Since then I bought some MK watches, a few misc cute watches but nothing significant and I felt it was time to buy another "nice" watch. I kept coming back to the Burberry watches and I settled on this one. It's classic, pretty and it's got that chunky look I like.
I was at Macy's Christmas shopping one evening and I took a walk over to the watches to browse again. The woman at the counter told me they were having their friends and family sale in two weeks and everything was 25% off. Well that was all I needed to hear. I knew that was my birthday gift. Now to convince my husband of the same thing.....
 I don't know how I did it and I honestly don't know how he agreed to it so easily but I SOMEHOW convinced John that we should buy this watch now for the F&F sale and make it my birthday gift. He said ok.....I still don't know how I got him to do it (maybe he agreed so easily because the Playstation 4 was coming out around the same time and he had ideas of his own! Actually, now that I think about it, HE bamboozled ME! Well it worked because we both got what we wanted lol) but we bought it and put it away and it hasn't seen the light of day until now. I promised myself I wouldn't wear it until my birthday.
Also, I think it's cute that my husband and I now have his and hers Burberry watches.
I bought him one for his birthday a few years ago and he still wears it because it's a well made, handsome watch and won't go out of style. I already have my eyes on another one.
I have a materialistic addiction. Can't help it!


This is celebration part two. On Thursdays, my Brooklyn girls all get together to watch our TV shows and hang out. We usually order in, sometimes there's a bottle of wine and we all dress comfy and gab all night. Since my birthday was Tuesday, I volunteered "Thursday" to be held at my house. I asked the girls to come in their pajamas so we can have a 
"Pajama Jammy Jam-Birthday Edition" Thursday.
Thanks to Michelle and Jessica who came two weeks ago and graced me with this bottle of wine I held for a special occasion!
We usually watch Vampire Diaries and Reign but we just kinda hung out this week.

Thank you Felicia for my beautiful flowers and my gift and thanks to Diana, Danielle M and Danielle T for their gifts. Thanks for letting me host "Thursday" on the other side of town.
Much appreciated! xo


Some of my fab things. I WOULD post a pic of us drinking wine and eating our dinner but I think they would kill me! So I will just post this:

Thanks everyone for another great birthday. I know some of my friends wanted to help me celebrate (I did not forget you Scott ,Suzy & Michelle) and I love them for that.
I promise next year for 35 I'll actually leave my house and we'll do it big!

So this was 34......let's hope this year is good to me as all of the 30's have been.
Got some gray hair and some small lines by my mouth *eye roll* but like my brother 
Jason always says...."I'm too blessed to be stressed". 
Thank you god for another healthy & happy year.

Thirty Fo' and I'm back for mo'!!!