blood orange rosemary gin cocktail

his is a somewhat tortuous post, since I'm currently still on Whole30 and not drinking any alcohol (or consuming sugar either).  Looking at these photos I remember just how delicious this drink was!  I'd never really had blood oranges, outside of those blood orange san pellegrino drinks (okay, those don't count).  I've seen plenty in photos and thought they were stunning fruit, the depth of the red is just so incredible!  And when you juice them, that red is maintained, such a rich color!  I think this drink would be a perfect cocktail for a Valentine's date or party, it's the perfect color and it's seriously so delectable.  One of my favorite little simple cocktails a few years ago was an Orange Blossom, with gin and fresh squeezed orange juice.  The rosemary and blood orange in this cocktail just take that to the next level.   I'll definitely be posting a follow up to my Whole30 experience once I'm done.  I've got about a week left of the 30 days and then after that is a week or two of reintroducing foods and seeing how my body reacts.  At this point I'm kind of tired of it, and not feeling any different or better, which makes it harder to press on and finish, but I will.  I suppose at this point I'm more interested in the reintroduction to see how those foods affect me than in the 30 itself.  One bummer: I'm not done with the 30 until after the Superbowl, boo!  If ever there was a time to enjoy a beer, that's it, especially with the Seahawks playing!  Enough Whole30 pity party though, are any of you doing it?  If so, how far into are you and how are you feeling?



Rosemary + Honey Simple Syrup:
1 cup water
5-6 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
First make the honey-rosemary simple syrup.  In a medium pot, and add fresh rosemary, water, sugar, and honey and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, remove from heat and let it steep for 6 hours. After the syrup is done steeping, remove the rosemary and store the syrup in the refrigerator.

Cocktail:
1/2 c fresh squeezed blood orange juice
1/2 c rosemary honey simple syrup
2+ oz gin (add more, for more gin taste and more kick!)
1 rosemary sprig + blood orange slice, for garnish
Add orange juice, simple syrup, and gin to a cocktail shaker filled halfway with ice.  Shake until the shaker is frosty and cold.  Pour into a glass and add ice, garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary and/or a slice of blood orange.  Yield: Two cocktails

cosmic love

t's still so weird to me that it's January and there's no snow.  Not to mention, we've been having record high temps over here in the PNW and the east coast is getting slammed with snow!  I've barely had to wear a coat the past week.  I was a little worried it'd be too cold to wear this sheer top, but it's actually perfect right now!  I'm not getting too optimistic about spring though, it is only January after all.  The northwest is infamous for giving us a week or two of warm weather as false hope and then plunging us all back into soggy grey-ness until May or June.  You can't fool me, PNW, I'm keen to your tricks.

This necklace was an impulse buy.  Truthfully, I'd like 5 more similar necklaces!  I went through (and am still going through, I suppose) a layered, long pendant necklace phase, but I really love these big, statement pieces! So much texture and pattern.  Free People has quite a few more like this and I kind of want all of them.
 
dress + top/courtesy of modcloth :: boots/courtesy of cat footwear hat(similar)/thrifted :: necklace/free people :: tights/the stylish fox

go live!

his past week I got to spend two days helping some amazing, creative ladies put on an incredible workshop up in Seattle!  Promise Tangeman and her team of awesome designers, Liz, Meg, Brooke, and Ash, asked if I'd be willing to help out with the GoLive workshop and I leapt at the opportunity to hang out with such inspiring women.  And as a bonus, since it was up in Seattle and I did not feel like fighting rush hour traffic from Tacoma, I stayed at Moorea Seal's house and got to catch up with yet another favorite, creative gal!  I brought Dusty with me and Moorea, her boyfriend Max, and her sister Alexandra all got to play with little Dust for a couple days!  While I was out at the GoLive workshop, Dusty got all popular on Reddit without me!

The workshop was at Makers in Seattle, which was such a cool space.  It's a co-working office where you can buy a membership, sort of like a gym, and have access to a desk, conference rooms, meeting spaces, and you get to be around other badass creative entrepreneurs in addition to being in a space that is just gorgeous and inspirational.  I know that Tacoma has a co-working space, but it's nowhere near as beautiful a space, more like a typical cubicle type office.  


 

top + skirt/courtesy of modcloth :: necklace/francesca's collection shoes/courtesy of blowfish shoes :: photos by Tonie Christine Photography
With the GoLive workshop, attendees build and launch their websites in two days!  Included in the Workshop are new head shots by a professional photographer, and they offered me some as well!  I always enjoy not having to take my own photos, it's refreshing to not have to worry about being the photographer sometimes!
Since the workshop is about graphic design and such, I felt like wearing a bit more of a graphic outfit.  I got this polka dot pencil skirt at the beginning of the month and it goes perfectly with this striped crop top!  I bought this necklace quite a while ago, and I just put it on recently and noticed that it matches my hair almost exactly!  I get a lot of people asking if teal or green is my favorite color, since I dyed my hair green, but it really isn't.  I like it, sure, but it's not my favorite.  I think it's funny that people think that a color has to be your absolute favorite in order to dye your hair that color.  I just thought it'd be fun and it'll probably change again in the next couple months, but for now my wacky neighbor believes that I'm giving the Seahawks some good luck, so it'll be green till at least Sunday!

favorite blog posts of 2014

ow crazy is it that we're already nearing the end of January 2015 already?  Before all the hubbub of the new year is over I wanted to share a few of my favorite posts from last year.  I slowed down the blogging pace in 2014 and I think I'll continue that slower pace as we start into 2015.  I'm not the same blogger I was back in the you days of Delightfully Tacky, but I still love this place and sharing outfits, recipes, home decor and whatever else strikes my fancy.  To be honest, I've thought quite a few times in the last year about calling it quits on the whole blogging thing.  Finding where blogging fits in my life nowadays, and in this new shifting blogosphere, has been a bit of a struggle and I know I've lost quite a few readers in the meantime.  If you're still around, thanks for hanging out with (digital) me!  I know it can be weird to see a blogger you love shift focus, or change in ways that aren't totally your jam, it's happened to me as a blog reader, too.   Heck, as a blog reader my preferences have changed, even when a blog has stayed the same, and found myself disinterested or pulled in other directions.  So if you're still around, sweet.  If you're new, hello!  If you're "meh" or over it, feel free to hop along to other blogs that might interest you more!  I'm truly not sure exactly what 2015 will hold for this here space on the web.  What I do know is that I'd like to focus more on my passions, like photography.  I still like doing outfit posts, but don't feel as gung ho about them as I used to a couple years ago.  Also, especially this time of year, the lack of daylight hours paired with the deluge of constant rain really makes outfit photos super unappealing.

So we'll see where 2015 takes Delightfully Tacky.  Maybe it won't even be called Delightfully Tacky this time next year, wouldn't that be weird?  For now, here's a look back at my favorite posts from 2014...

Putting the Pill To Bed


Our Bedroom Tour


Your Femininity is Not Defined by Body Hair


DIY Rolling Island


Fancy Savory Popcorn: Three Ways


My Favorite Lip Colors



Our Living Room


DIY Hexagon Painted Wall


5 Ways to Style a Headband


DIY Globe Hanging Lamp


Back in El Paso


DIY Gold Glitter Glasses

TxSC CAMP: you should probably go

f you've been around the blog for very long, you know that my favorite blogging event is Texas Style Council's annual conference.  I've gone to quite a few blogging conferences over the year, and while I loved them initially, after a few years the keeping up with the joneses, rat race, popularity contest aspect of it all started to wear on me.  I wanted something more meaningful and authentic, something more focused on relationships and community, which is what brought me to blogging in the first place.  Texas Style Council's conferences were so much different that the other blogging events I'd attended.  So much more low key, less focused on high fashion (which was never my thing anyway), and a lot more about making connections with other bloggers while still offering classes and workshops to help learn things you might want to know.

The last few TxSC events have been more of your standard conference style, but this year Indiana, TxSC's founder, wanted to pare it down even more to get back to the basics of blogging and really focus more on the relationships that blogging can create and sustain.  This year's theme is CAMP: Create A Meaningful Presence, and it's held at a girl scout camp outside of Austin, where everyone will be staying in cabins, eating together in the mess hall, and doing fun camp-like events, in addition to having a keynote speaker and a select few workshops and presentations.  I love learning, but honestly, I'm much more excited about the relationship building and so thankful that Indiana recognizes the importance of that aspect of blogging.  I love TxSC because it always gives me a chance to meet up with old blogging buddies, but also meet new ones.  In a conference setting it can be hard to go up to new people and meet them/start a conversation.  As an introvert it's definitely not my first nature and takes a lot of getting out of my comfort zone.  In a camp setting, I think that will be much easier and better facilitated by the fact that we're all staying in the same place, eating at the same spot, and while I love getting fancied up for fun events, it'll be nice that we're all casual and comfy, which I think is less intimidating.




I know there are tons of blogging conferences and events these days, but I truly believe that TxSC puts on the best.  It might not draw the biggest names, or teach classes on becoming a million dollar blogger, but let's be honest, not all of us are in it to make a million dollars.  Not all of us want to be famous, or get on Oprah, or have a decorating show on TLC.  I mean, those things would be cool, but I'd rather go to an event where I feel like we're all friends, and you can talk to people about #bloggerproblems and they actually understand what you're talking about, like really understand.  And you can share your goals to be on Oprah, or your goals to write a book, or your goals to just blog consistently, or your goals to do something other than blog, and everyone is supportive and excited.  And you don't have to wear designer frocks and talk about runway shows or magazine features.

 
 
I love Indiana's drive to create a conference that is truly valuable to the attendees.  After TxSC 2013 she writes,

"At the conclusion of TxSC 2013, there was this moment where I was thumbing through the program, marveling at all the people who had come. We had nearly 400 attendees, an amazing set of speakers, three very full days of programming, and incredibly supportive and well received sponsors. My staff was so hard working and so well balanced. We had found our stride. Despite the hard work and how personally I take every bit of criticism, I wanted to do TxSC14 for sure. 

But as the year came along, I couldn't find an answer to my annual questions. "How can we do it better and differently than what we just did? How can TxSC be different from what's already being done?". I had already scrapped the panel format. I had already provided smaller workshops. 

The landscape of blogging has changed a lot since 2010. The amount of resources out there for bloggers is astronomical. Aside from the networking part of the event, I couldn't figure out how TxSC14 could be something that added anything new to the conversation or provided anything of value to the attendees. There were other conferences out there doing what we did, but on a professional level."

As a gal who loves camping, I have to say I'm stoked out of my mind for the retreat.  With plenty of time for hanging out by the campfire with s'mores, as well as inspirational speakers like Jenny Lawson of The Bloggess, Erin Loechner of Design for Mankind, and Sophia Rossi of HelloGiggles, I know it's going to be a refreshing and invigorating weekend.  Yours truly is also leading a workshop type thing!




Since this year TxSC will be at a camp, the registration cost includes lodging and food, which is super nice especially because it's during SXSW, which makes it nearly impossible to get a hotel or cab in Austin.  Registration is a bit more spendy than in years past for this reason, but I think it's way more affordable than airfare plus hotel plus food plus taxis.
Registration includes:

♥ Shared, assigned lodging, based on registration type
♥ Five meals (Friday's dinner, Saturday's breakfast, lunch, and dinner, & Sunday's brunch)
♥ Four keynote sessions
♥ Your choice of Saturday workshops (choose three of nine)
♥ Access to blog mentors
♥ Friday night's Create + Connect mixer
♥ Saturday's Khaki Cool Jamboree (party!)
♥ Sunday's Badge Ceremony
♥ Digital headshot c/o Awake Photography
♥ Shuttle service to and from the Austin airport [arrives and departs around 3:00pm on Friday and     Sunday]*
♥ More camp swag than you can shake a walking stick at
♥ ... and a few surprises!

TxSC is coming up, this March 20-22, so if you haven't registered yet, do it!  Last year's TxSC sold out at it's 400 ticket max, and this year it's going to be smaller, with only 275 tickets available, so sign up while you can!

Indiana herself says that this isn't going to be a typical "blogging" conference.  "If you want to know how different the 2015 installment of Texas Style Council will be, I just asked a possible keynote if she could speak on the topic of "Blog Success is Mainly Luck and Selling Your Soul to Advertisers but is Mainly Just Luck So if You Ask Me How You Can Get More Blog Traffic, I Will Stab You." She hasn't responded, yet, but I'm hopeful someone can lead that talk...

Point blank: if you want to attend TxSC to learn how to be a "successful blogger" and to get more money and more followers, this is not the camp for you. But if you want to make connections with creative women who are all about building each other up, TxSC is the place for you. Plus... s'mores."

To that, I say: