One to Nothin'

Cocktail of the Week

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Last week my good friend Becca launched a series around these parts showcasing a creative and sexy (always sexy) new cocktail each week. Last week it was the “Siren’s Call” and today she’s back with a delicious bourbon cocktail called “Yakkity-Yak (Don’t Talk Back),” but I’ll let her tell you about it.

Ah, bourbon.

Welcome back to Bex’s Weekly Creative Cocktail! This week I bring you my “Yakkity-Yak (Don’t Talk Back)” cocktail. Inspired by the many whiskey lovers I have out there ranting with sophistication about their lives.

So for the fans of strong and bold flavored whiskey drinks that make you feel important—here you go. When after you take a sip, you give that satisfying sigh and dive right into, “You know sometimes…” I’m sure some tall tales will start with this one, and some unexpected confessions after the second.

Recipe:

  • 2 oz Bourbon
  • 1 oz Benedictine  
  • ½ oz Canton
  • 2 dashes Angostura

*Stir with cubed ice and strain into a rocks glass with fresh large ice cube. Finish with orange zest and garnish with orange peel.

If you want to toss me a challenge or a fun idea, follow me on Instagram (@bexaintwang) and post your thoughts! Also, check out my website (bwyant.com) for more thrilling things I do with my free time.

Photo and recipe by Becca Wyant.

What I Wore Bloopers II

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There was a time when I used to post photos of my outfits every Wednesday, or every third Wednesday at the very least. That hasn’t happened in quite some time, but I just realized it’s been a hot minute since I last showed you my selfie sesh outtakes. December of 2013 was the last time in fact–you can see those here. Now let’s see the monstrosities I’ve accrued in the last 20ish months.

 I call this pose, “stares longing into split ends.”

 A furrowed brow is sexy and dramatic. Or so I thought.

 This is my Queen Bey impression. Bow down, bitches.

 Such a sad librarian.

More drama. Or do I smell those skunks that used to frolic around my old apartment at all hours of the day?

 This is what I look like when I’m ’bout to throw some ‘bows.

 Hunchbackin’ it with a sausage dog butt hole. Classic.

And finally, I whip my hair back and forth.

How often do you take terrible photos of yourself?

Linking up here.

BottleRock Napa Valley

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You know that giddy feeling you get on a Friday morning when you take the day off work and it’s still early and you’re okay with waking up to shower because you’re about to go to a music festival all weekend? I’m having the opposite of that.

Post-music-festival-depression is a thing, and I’m suffering from it. And I’m not okay with showering. That’s why now, after working out for an hour three hours ago, I’m lying in my bed in a once-soaked-now-dried sports bra and shorts with the elastic falling apart because I bought them when I was 14. My ear drums are disturbingly still. My pores are sufficient clogged with sunscreen. My back in sweating from the third-degree-sun-burn I got on day one. My boot blisters are rubbing against the sheets. I didn’t drink any wine today and I accidentally flashed and mooned my neighbors earlier when I forgot my blinds were open. That last one may not be related to my diagnosis, but probably. Withdrawals can lead to unexpected nudity, right?

I spent the weekend in Napa watching some cool bands play some cool songs at Bottlerock. Friday we saw: Zella Day, Courtney Barnett, Cage the Elephant, Foster the People and Imagine Dragons. Saturday we saw: The Brothers Comatose, Portugal. The Man, Capital Cities, Young The Giant, The Avett Brothers and Robert Plant. Sunday we saw: Echosmith, American Authors, Trampled by Turtles, Awolnation and No Doubt. My favorites, pictured above, were Awolnation, No Doubt, Cage the Elephant and Trampled by Turtles. But in all honesty, Gwen Stefani might be overtaking Shakira for the place of my number one girl crush. MAYBE. She was incredible and this song makes me cry. And on that note, I’m going to go cry into my beagle until I’m in front of a stage again.

Kidding. I’m grateful. Who’s coming with me next year?

Siren’s Call Cocktail

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Happy Friday, friends! As a present for making it all the way to the end of this week, I’m introducing a new series featuring my insanely talented photographer/mixologist of a friend, Becca. She started posting beautiful photos of her cocktails to social media (and has admittedly over served them to me a time or two–delicious), so I asked if she would contribute her talents so that you, lovely One to Nothin’ readers, could get drunk the classy way too. Check out her latest creation, the Siren’s Call.
For all the mermaids at-heart out there—being all sexy but dangerous—this one is for you. Welcome to Bex’s Weekly Creative Cocktail with my latest, “Siren’s Call.” A light, but luring, rum based cocktail that draws you in but then pulls you deep under.

Siren’s Call

Recipe:
2oz Cachaça (or a light rum)
1oz Girolamo Luxardo
½ oz Lime
¼ oz Agave
1oz Coconut Water
¼ Crème de Violette
*Shake with ice all ingredients except Crème de Violette, and strain into a coupe or martini glass. Pour Crème de Violette in center. Garnish with twisted lime peel with the razzle-dazzle of your liking.
If you want to toss me a challenge or a fun idea, follow me on Instagram (@bexaintwang) and post your thoughts! Also, check out my website (bwyant.com) for more thrilling things I do with my free time. 

Photo and recipe by Becca Wyant

Weekend Things

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Wednesday is as good a day as any to recap my long weekend, right? Right. Saturday was the highlight, hands down. We found a last-minute group to venture up to Alamere Falls where we found a rope swing, stripped down to our skivvies and plunged into the frigid water. We came out shivering and struggled to get our clothes back on before climbing, sliding, falling our way into giant waterfalls. Sunday was spent by a pool eating tacos and drinking tequila. Monday was spent recovering and hating tequila, and now it’s just a matter of days until I’m spending the weekend in Napa for Bottlerock. Now let’s get this real life stuff out of the way!

5 Places to Shop for Cute + Affordable Workout Gear

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…because we can’t all afford lululemon.
I recently joined Classpass, which if available in your city I would highly recommend. I’ve tried five or six different exercise classes so far just on my street–the ones I’ve looked at longingly for the past nine months and #firstworldproblems’d at myself for wishing I could afford them. I definitely plan on talking more about Classpass at a later date, but the thing about suddenly having access to expensive, bourgeois pilates/barre/bootcamp classes is I feel like the 8-year-old running shorts and holey-sorority-t-shirts are not going to cut it.

It’s not just that I am surrounded by ladies wearing head-to-toe lululemon (although that is a little intimidating), it’s also that I don’t want to feel constricted by my clothing. I sweat it out on runs in goofy Weird Al concert t-shirts all the time and with the limited range of motion that running requires, it works out just fine, but when it comes to stretching my legs out and up on a bar and pulsing in a squat for 15 minutes, I would like to not be showing my crotch off to the world. But even more than being comfortable in class, I want to not spending $80 on a tank top, so I’ve been scouting out affordable athletic wear.

I got you, ladies. Here are some of the workout wear collections I’ve tried or are on sale or are just really cute but don’t cost more than the gym itself.

1. Old Navy: In the words of my roommate, “I haven’t shopped there since I was 8.” Maybe you’re in the same boat, but that’s where the above outfit (minus bra and shoes) is from. I’m a sucker for sales and the workout collection here is adorable. There are compression capris with built-in key pockets and a million cute patterns, fun graphic tanks, go dry ruched tanks (shown above and great for hiding all the sweat) and tons of cute sweatshirt options. I’m also obsessed with their track pants. I can’t vouch for the sports bra selection since I haven’t tried it, but if your girls are lower maintenance than mine, you can’t beat a $7 sports bra! Right now it’s 25% off your online order (no code needed), 20% off clearance with ‘JACKPOT’ and 50% off all in-store purchases.

2. Target: If you’re reading this blog, chances are (unless you’re one of my exes creepin’) you already know and love Target (#basic). I have a few Champion sweatshirts (seen here) and I wear them any time I go hiking or walking anywhere in the Bay Area–it’s bound to get cold as soon as the sun goes down. I think I need this one in every color. More cute capri leggings in all kind of patterns and colors, and I even own a few of their sports bras as well. How cute are these tank tops?! I have to say, the running shorts I’ve bought here in the past were not my favorite, but I’d be willing to give this pair a try with its compression under-business. I’m not aware of any great sales going on, but you can always get 5% off all purchases with the Target Red Card.

3. Sears: It used to be strictly for washing machines and high-tech blenders, but Sears has done a lot of rebranding in the past few years which means lots and lots of lady clothing love and on the cheap. I didn’t even know push up sports bras existed, but this one is $10 and has a lacy back so I kind of want to get in on that. Just $17 for these cute capris and $10 for these running shorts. I could go for about 15 different colors of this sweatshirt too.

4. Kohl’s: I’m a big Kohl’s fan. It might be because everything seems like it’s on sale all the time or the fact that every time I go I leave with a billion dollars in Kohl’s cash, but there’s a whole section dedicated to workout gear under $10. Get your Nike on here (I NEED THESE), adidas here and you yogis can find your GAIAM gear here (love this!). You can buy online and pick up in store, or get free shipping with $75 purchase. Also, if you’re int he store and sign up for the Kohl’s charge card you’ll tons of extra discounts (and 20% on that day’s purchase, if I remember correctly).

5. T.J. Maxx: We all know T.J. Maxx has great deals on designer brands, so why not get your brand name workout gear for cheap? This Reebok tank is $12.99 and you can count me in for tie dye always. Is anyone else lusting over the peek-a-boo details on yoga pants lately? And can I get a YAS for more cool layering tanks? Spend $75 online (skip the scavenger hunt that is trying to make your way through TJ) and get free shipping with the “ship75” code.

Moral of the story: you can find fully functional and cute workout gear without going into mad debt. I’ve heard of lots of people getting their lulu fixes via eBay! Whatever tickles your fancy.
Where do you guys get your cute athletic wear? Any great ones I missed? Let me know!

Bay to Breakers Round III

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I had a colorful weekend.

Friday night I went to go see “Pitch Perfect 2” because duh, but Saturday we celebrated my friend Michelle’s birthday, so naturally an elaborate yet poorly planned cake was in order. I baked layer upon layer so that Emma and I could stick Jell-O formed around a Target gift card and tiny plastic minion in the middle of the cake. Then we decorated the outside of it to look like a minion and just look at that creative Jell-O mold rig up there. Not to mention after meticulously decorating the minion, I shoved it inside a cake box three sizes too small so it was immediately a globby mess instead of a “Despicable Me” character. I’m a genius, ask anybody. Then look at how beautiful that Jell-O looked once Michelle got done raking through it to find her goodies. Who doesn’t want minion vomit on their birthday?

Then Sunday was the annual shit show Bay to Breakers race. This was my third one (!!!) and you can check out last year and the year before when I actually made a costume instead of pretending like I ran it while sipping champagne out of a Nalgene bottle and drinking rose out of my Wine2Go. Oh, and occasionally stealing the boy’s rainbow afro for weird fashion shows on rooftops. What is life? Seriously though, can you believe some 25 year olds have babies? LOL! And on that note, I’m out.

2 years in California

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April 19 marked two years since I arrived in California for the first time. You can read all about my road trip with my sister here and here. You can also read about the excitement building up to the big move, the adventures and despair of job and apartment hunting and maybe you even noticed periods where I wrote more somber, lonely, fed up, on-the-brink-of-giving-up posts. Maybe you’ve stuck with me ever since my Florida days and already know all about it (if so, know I’m so grateful to have you here even if you’ve never commented). This one’s more for those who don’t already know.

It hasn’t always been exciting, friend-filled weekends traipsing about wine country and hiking giant mountains. When I first got here, I had exactly two friends and both of them lived in San Francisco. I often refer to that city as my home, but actually it isn’t and it never has been. When my sister and I finally reached our destination, it was Pleasanton, CA, which is exactly what it sounds like: the suburbs, and it’s about an hour (on a good, traffic-free day) from the City. My distant cousin, Paul (who I’d only met once), was nice enough to let me stay with him while I tried to figure my shit out. Ziggy and I lived with him and his raucous bulldog for three months while I babysat and miraculously landed a copywriting job through this random Care.com gig. I was beside myself with excitement.
I immediately signed a lease in Livermore (even farther from the City) with an awesome, motivated and driven roommate, but she was gone 88% of the time. I spent about seven months writing about beauty and coming home to Ziggy alone every night. I learned about fluffy brushes and the millions of ways to draw in your eyebrows. I tested countless skincare products (and broke out constantly as a result). I learned a lot about makeup, beauty bloggers, photography and photo editing, but I only made one friend at work and I never felt at ease there. Nothing I did seemed to amount to anything. I liked creating content (obvs), but I didn’t know how to make people read or care. It never felt like a happy place. If I’m being honest, it felt like a middle school cafeteria full of manipulation, Mean Girl tactics and zero happiness for others’ accomplishments.
Plenty of people hate their jobs, so I pushed the feelings down (except when I cried to my mom on the phone every other day… thanks for listening, mom), but it took a toll and eventually I was laid off anyway since the site wasn’t making money. I panicked, but I was also relieved. I was offered a strictly-regurgitating-news-articles-type position instead, but I GTFO instead of accepting a title change (side note: there were plenty of incredible people at this company, including my actual boss, but I didn’t work with any of them directly).
At this point I was completely losing my shit. I had over $1,000 a month in rent to pay, a sausage dog depending on me for food, about seven more months of a lease to ride out, no job and I sat listening to the hold music for hours while trying to get a through to the unemployment offices. Okay, first I got hammered at 3 in the afternoon with a boy from out of town, then began the constant cover letters and calls to the unemployment offices. I had already booked a flight home since it was Christmas time (Merry Christmas, to me) but my parents were sweet to pay the flight date switch fee and I spent 12 days with my family trying to figure out wtf just happened. Right before I left, my roommate at the time told me her friend posted about her friend that needed a nanny, so I called her.
I interviewed a couple days after I got back on new year’s day after spending an all-too-fitting 2014-eve on the couch watching Grown Ups 2 and eating froyo with Ziggy. Ah, life. So even though I had never changed a diaper in my life, this amazing couple gave me a chance and trusted me with their tiny little 5-month-old son. Thus began the adventures with Dude Baby. Even though spending eight hours a day with the absolute cutest little blondie brought me joy and I learned so much about child development and my ability to care for another human, I was still alone a lot.
I grew into an entirely different person that first year. I went from being surrounded by family constantly with instant access to all my childhood friends to going on hikes, breakfast dates and movies by myself. It definitely wasn’t all bad. I was proud of myself. I went through the damn carwash and I finally got that curtain rod up. I found a job, an apartment, a roommate, I got laid off, found another job and I changed a whole lot of poopy diapers. I tested myself in a lot of ways. I ran (and fell) a lot. I blogged daily, finding comfort in your comments, but when I did cry on the shower floor, I did it hard.

I didn’t talk much about the loneliness here. I wanted to make you laugh, show you my crafts and cooking creations. I wanted gifs and funny hangover posts, but sometimes they’d come through—the long introspective walks, the essays, the heartbreak posts I wrote and rewrote and never posted. I mentioned moving away in passing, but never let on just how close I was to packing it all up, running to my mom and letting California be that crazy thing I did that one year.

I was so close, you guys. My lease ended, the guy I was dating moved across the country, I was turned down from two awesome job interviews, I randomly drove to Portland and then bam, my roommates and apartment fell into place. All of a sudden I had friends. People to eat Thai food on the floor and watch stupid tv with. People to go out and meet more friends with. Then a new job with supportive coworkers, more friends and a paycheck that didn’t make me terrified to check my bank account on first of every month. Things started happening and I was suddenly so grateful I didn’t drive across the country again.

It was harder than I could have imagined. Every step forward was met with epic falls backward. I suffered major sinus headaches on a regular basis from crying into my pillow. I went to events to put myself out there and would leave, mentally beating myself for not saying a word to anyone. I would take the train for hours a day just to spend the day in SF with familiar faces and go all the way back to my apartment to let Ziggy out and do it all over again.

I don’t have everything figured out now and plenty of people have had it worse than I have, but I’ve learned more about myself in the past two years than I ever thought possible. I’m excited about my relationships, my career, my hobbies and my home in Oakland now. I still cry into my pillow sometimes and it’s still ridiculously hard only seeing my family a few times a year, but even if I uproot everything again 6 months from now, I’ll be eternally grateful that I spent at least two years in this place.

If you find yourself in a new, scary place and things keep falling apart, just know that sometimes it takes a while. Sometimes you have to go to the movies by yourself and sometimes you go to events and everyone ignores you. Sometimes you don’t make any new friends and you long for home, familiar faces and family. It hurts and it’s hard, but it’ll be worth it. When you’re sitting on the shower floor sobbing and you think you can’t take it anymore, stick it out a little bit longer. You never know when a recruiter might contact you, or you might meet a cute boy at a bar, or your random roommates might turn into your best friends. Just don’t give it all up too quickly.

It took me two years.

Update

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I’ll be honest with you guys: I’ve been struggling when it comes to this space lately. I should have direction and purpose, an editorial calendar, a schedule, a reason but I don’t. Sometimes that feels okay, lately it doesn’t. I know my posts are all over the place. Sometimes I’m at peace with One to Nothin’ being a documentation of my life, adventures, iPhone photos and ramblings, and other times I feel like I should be growing, making, doing better. There are so many steps I want to take, skills I want to learn and ways I want to improve. But being in a box holds me back. This used to be where my words would flow freely and lately it doesn’t feel that way. Maybe I’m just in a creative rut and I need to power through. I want you all to know that I’ve been starting, stopping, brainstorming and starting again on posts that keep getting saved for later. I’ll figure out the right words and hit ‘publish’ eventually..

But in the meantime, here are some things I have been working on:

Freelance for Brit + Co:

Weird and awesome plants you need in your life.

All-natural beauty products you can easily DIY.

Floral nail art you might want to give a try if you have lots of extra time on your hands.

Quick and easy braids for you ladies (or gents?) who don’t have that extra time.

Crazy colorful eyeliner inspo.

Keep up with all my B+C posts here, and if you’re interested in reading other articles I’ve written, check out this super secret hidden track page here.

Fitness:

Sunday: 9-mile beach walk
Monday: HIITy Bitty Bikini
Wednesday: Coconut Core & Booty
Thursday: Bikini Arms, Cocktail Dress Arms
Friday: HIITy Bitty Bikini

Monday: 4.7 mile run, Bikini Booty
Wednesday: 3-mile run, Bikini Yoga
Thursday: Ultimate Booty Call HIIT
Friday: 50-minute spin class

Monday: Kettlebell Toning
Tuesday: The Dailey Method Barre Class

I got a free trial of ClassPass and so far I’ve tried barre and cycling. I’ve got 10 days–whether I can convince myself to hit cancel after that is TBD. (If I’m anything like Jessi, that’s a big old no.) And if you’re interested in sweaty selfies and vegan pizza binging confessions, follow my fitness Instagram account here (but no judging!).

Tone it Up Nutrition:

The Bikini Series is still going strong. I’ve been going on epic grocery shopping trips and food prep mad dashes about every other week instead of weekly, so my diet has been anything but perfect (especially since I forget the meaning of nutrition when presented with weekends, brunch and bottomless mimosas), but I do feel better. Four weeks in and I can see changes in my muscles and attitude; there’s not much of a difference weight wise, but I feel leaner, more energetic and fitter, which is always the goal for me. Healthy and strong regardless of numbers.

Music:

If you don’t already follow me on Spotify, get your shit together. Kidding, but let’s be friends before the music industry realizes how detrimental-to-them-and-wonderful-for-us this thing is. My most recent playlist can be found here, but my sunniest playlist can be found here.

Relationships:

My relationships are a priority for me. I’m not the best at keeping in touch with far away friends and this makes me queasy when I lie in bed at night. I want to improve on that, and I want to nurture the ones I have access to. I often skip extra time in front of the computer for extra cuddling, chatting or cocktail hour-ing. I’ve been known to drop everything for a last-minute concert and sometimes the thought of spending another second inside makes me shut off the computer and take Ziggy for a run. Maybe this makes me a bad blogger or maybe this will mean I’m destined for career mediocrity, but in the end the people (and puppies) who are always there for me are the ones I want to focus on and return the favor to. I think it’s more of an adjustment period for me. It’s difficult to pick back up on a posting schedule you adopted when you spent 99% of your days interacting with an infant and a sausage dog, but I want to. And I will.

More love in the form of rambling blog posts to come!

xoxo

Rainbow Layer Cake

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This was almost my biggest cake fail to date, you guys. I was watching the layers slide off of each other in slow motion at 12:30am with a 7am wake up call for hiking. I had used almost all of the icing and I was about to shrug off my 5-pack-of-tiny-cake-pans impulse buy when a certain dude came into the kitchen and carefully scraped the icing off each layer while I shaved each one flat with a serrated knife. I was still skeptical and Safeway had just closed so more icing wasn’t an option, but we did it anyway and eventually the layers stopped sliding. The icing is still, clearly, sparse but I figured the sprinkles and colorful inside might detract from the pathetic icing job. I think this is a metaphor, but I could be wrong.

To recreate this bad boy, find yourself 5 mini cake pans (so as to only use one boxed cake mix), red, blue and yellow gel food coloring, colorful sprinkles and a package of vanilla icing–or to be safe, grab two. Split the batter evenly amongst the pans and dye each one a color of the rainbow. Clearly, indigo and violet didn’t get any love in this rainbow, but if you can find seven pans that’s even better.
Let all the mini cakes cool completely. I’m not so good with the patience, so this is hard for me but just do it. Once they are cooled, carefully shave the domes off the tops of each layer with a serrated knife and start icing. Stack them together, add more icing if you’re not a dummy like me, and add sprinkles to the top. 

Then you’ve got yourself an inconspicuous-from-the-outside rainbow cake! Enjoy!

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