What do you like to wear on Thanksgiving?

Does anyone else plan their Thanksgiving outfit with, er, expandability in the equation?  What's your preferred Thanksgiving go-to outfit?  Borderline pajama pants would be a great choice :)

Happy Thanksgiving!  Safest travels :) 

My favorite fall salad

My favorite fall salad comes from childhood.  Most salads were tolerated at best, but there was this one salad my mother made that always made me excited to eat my veggies.  While I don't need the extra encouragement anymore, this still remains a favorite. 

Lauren's Favorite Fall Salad

• Mixed baby greens 
• Bosc pears
• Coarsely chopped walnuts
• Red onion
• Feta (or bleu cheese, or something else stronger) 
• Dried cranberries
• Champagne vinaigrette: Champagne vinegar, olive oil, a hint of dijon, honey, salt, pepper

Work Outfit Inspiration

All Images: Nordstrom

So... workwear.  The pencil skirt-and-cardigan combo is such a go-to of mine, and it can easily become a creativity-free rut.  These looks from Nordstrom really inspire me to play with the basic outfit outline, mixing in geometric patterns and interesting color schemes (hello, berry and turquoise!).  Also, how fabulous are those glasses?

Plum Clafoutis

This is a gem of a weeknight dessert recipe.  We have Julia Child to thank for this classic French dish.  Her recipe was initially made with cherries (and I must revisit it in the summer, because cherries would be amazing).  But I had two ripe plums calling out my name, so in they were substituted.  If you bake, you probably already have the ingredients on hand. 

Mixing is a cinch in a blender.  At first I was skeptical, but I'm digging the ease and new take on a "one bowl"recipe.

Julia Child's Clafoutis

adapted from the original cherry version

1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
2 plums, pitted and sliced (or cherries!) 

1/3 cup sugar
powdered sugar

In a blender, blend the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour. Pour a 1/4 inch layer of the batter in a buttered 7 or 8 cup lightly buttered fireproof baking dish (I used a basic round cake pan). Place in the oven until a film of batter sets in the pan. Remove from the heat and spread the cherries over the batter. Sprinkle on the 1/3 cup of sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for about for about 45 minutes to an hour. The clafouti is done when puffed and brown and and a knife plunged in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with powdered sugar to finish. 

Free Yoga

We are all pretty familiar with how great yoga can be.  But it can get very expensive very fast; not the best fitness outlet for girls on a budget.  Solution?  Yoga at home!  Try these SLR tried-and-approved sources for free yoga podcasts.  

Yoga to the People

Dave Farmar (on iTunes!)

Tweed

Blouse: Jcrew  Necklace: Forever 21  Skirt: Self made

I made this skirt over the weekend.  It's a black and white tweed, which goes with everything.  New skirts make new weeks a little brighter.

Have a happy Monday! 

Anti-Shampoo

I don't shampoo my hair.  Some people call it the "no-poo" method.  I haven't used shampoo since June - and I have no plans to turn back!

I had a friend in college who raved about her experience going shampoo-free for a while.  I try to live a natural lifestyle, and I'm bit by bit decreasing my use of chemicals and scary ingredients in my daily life.  But when I heard about using baking soda on your scalp to wash your hair, I was intrigued for hair health reasons in addition to the artificial chemical-free approach.  Baking soda doesn't strip your hair of all its natural oils like shampoo does, leaving your scalp more naturally balanced.  I've found that my hair is softer, easier to style, has more body, and can last longer between washes.  Not to mention that it's cheaper! 

All you do is saturate baking soda in water in a bottle (appx 1 tablespoon per cup is a good place to start, but there is no science here.  I find that the more baking soda I put in the "cleaner" my hair feels).  Apply the solution directly to your scalp and work it in with your fingertips.  Then rinse as usual.  I follow up with a natural unscented conditioner on only my ends, but if you're interested in going all out, squirt apple cider vinegar as you would conditioner.  

Would you try it?

What was your college major?

The Times posted last Friday an interesting article about the changing face of college majors.  With college tuition higher than ever and employment post-college increasingly dim, are college students under more pressure to choose the "right" major?

While there's a lot of talk about the highest-paying majors and the ones most likely to land students a job right out of school, there's no magic formula - I was a women's studies major who ended up with a corporate office job right out of school, and my closest friends ranged from environmental studies to business.

What was (/is) your college major?  Would you recommend it to current college students?