Caffeine wean...

As much as I love coffee, I've been requested by the hubs to decrease my caffeine intake!  **Gulp!**  From his Google research, he found out that a Venti Starbucks Bold Coffee has ~ 500 mg caffeine.  The normal recommended maximum amount of caffeine intake is 300 mg.  I was drinking 2 maybe 3 Venti cups in a day!  Initially, hubs was trying to get me to cap at 200 mg, but a tall Starbucks coffee has ~285 mg, so obviously that was out of the question.  So 300 mg cap it is.  The first time I tried to wean a little while back, it was a disaster!  I cut back too much too quickly and had to go back to full caffeination.

Over the past 2 weeks, I've been drinking a Grande (16 oz) Starbucks coffee in a Venti cup (I needed to trick my mind).  So far, it's been going really well, I think one (hmm, maybe few)  more week of the grande and maybe I can even cut down to a tall coffee.  Every now and then I crave my afternoon coffee and post-dinner coffee, but I'm staying strong and will have a small decaf coffee if I really crave one. 

Hopefully, I'll be able to meet my goal max caffeine intake.  Will update with status reports here and there!

Mama got some new shoes!

I wasn't really having a good week, so what better way is there to cheer oneself up than retail therapy?  I bought 3 pairs of shoes in 2 days!  I'm glad I did because I discovered two brands that I've never worn before that I'm currently loving, Vince Camuto and Kensie Girl.

Here are the kiddies together!  From left to right are, Kensie Girl's Selina, Vince Camuto's Saran, and Vince Camuto's Sades.

Here are some closer looks.  First up, Kensie Girl's Selina in Berry:

 

I don't own anything in purple and it seems it's a color I've been seeing a lot of lately, in shoes and handbags, especially a grape-y purple like the Selinas.  These shoes looked really fun and cute, especially that bow in the middle!  After trying them on in the store, I was surprised how comfortable they felt and not tight at all around the toe box.  The Selina's would look great with jeans or pencil skirt for fall.  I can't wait to wear them out!

Next up, Vince Camuto's Saran in patent leather black. I could always use a pair of black heels for work and these certainly fit the bill.

Again, comfort was the selling point for me.  I've always seen Vince Camuto shoes and never thought to ever try them on.  I'm so glad I did.

 Last, but not least, is another beautiful pair by Vince Camuto, Sades in Ash Suede.  The color is a very light gray and the suede is so soft.

When I stepped into these shoes, I knew I had to get them (hmm I seem to say that for all the shoes I buy), but really really had to get them.  The fit was absolutely perfect!

I've been noticing conical heels lately from all brands.  Strangely, they initially remind me of the peg legs the old sea captains from long long ago!

Arrrrrr matey!

Both the Vince Camutos have the conical heel and I love them!  They provide more stability than a stiletto heel does, yet doesn't look too chunky/clunky. 

Now I have to find some space for the new kiddies!  I may have to swap out some shoes from my new shoe cabinet!

Project Shoe Cabinet COMPLETE!!

After much procrastination, the hubby and I finally finished putting together my shoe cabinet!  Following in the footsteps of one of favorite bloggers, Princess Poochie of Shoe Daydreams, I purchased an Ikea Bergsbo Glass Door Cabinet to house most of my shoes.  She used 2 cabinets, but I decided that I only really had space for one cabinet since the other half of the room would be a family room.

The hubs and I were so careful with putting together the cabinet until one crucial misstep...we put the back piece on BACKWARDS!  Since the back piece had to be nailed in and involved 50 nails, it wasn't worth it to pry it apart, flip it, and re-nail it the right way.  This delayed the completion of the project until I could figure out how to cover up the ugly brown backing that was now showing through the front of the cabinet.  One day I had to purchase some wedding cards from Hallmark and found some pretty turquoise blue and white gift wrap and had an idea.  I could use the gift wrap to cover up the back!!  Two rolls of wrapping paper did the trick along with my tape runner.

After that was done, I put the pegs and shelves in, then screwed in the hinges and added on the doors.  The doors was the most awful step of the whole process, it was heavy and not cooperating.  After much swearing and sweating, my cabinet was finally complete and ready to be filled with shoes!  I was able to cram in 84 pairs of shoes and am happy with the end result.  Now I have to figure out what to do with my remaining shoes!

Adding to my growing shoe want list

I got an email today from Lori's Shoes and in the email were a pic of these gorgeous boots:

Sam Edelman Pierce

These over-the-knee boots are by Sam Edelman in Whiskey.  They come in black also, but I think I'm partial to the whiskey brown.  I'll add them to my mental shoe want list for now, but I have a feeling in a few days, I may just have to get them!

Fall's around the corner...

As much as I hate the days getting shorter and shorter, I am looking forward to cooler weather and of course, shopping for new fall shoes and clothes!  I walked into the Shops at Liberty Place yesterday and noticed a new shoe store where Nine West used to be, now called ShoeWoo.  The store now is very bright, fun and girlie compared to when Nine West was there.  They sell certain brands: Nine West, Bandolino, Enzo Angiolini, Anne Klein, Circa Joan & David, Rachel Roy, and Boutique 9.  They also have their own website, www.shoewoo.com and offer free shipping over $50!


A few pairs I've been eye-ing up are:

Nine West Evenly

Nine West Evenly, shown in suede here, but also in black leather and black suede for $89.  I tried these on in the store and they fit true to size and seemed very sturdy. 

Nine West Maria

Next up, is Nine West's Maria suede sandals.  Can you tell I'm into suede lately?   They also come in dark blue and black suede.  ShoeWoo has a 20% off sale on this pair currently off of $89, which makes the final price $71.20.






Since ShoeWoo has a sale section, of course I had to check it out and found these 2 pairs:

Bandolino Gramercy

These cute fabric mini wedge peep toes are Bandolino's Gramercy in yellow.  Other colors are black, pink, and brown.  On sale for $29.99.  I've been trying to find a pair of shoes that I could wear with my JCrew navy blue cropped pants and I think these fit the bill!

New Balance for Nine West Softmoon

Next up are these cute athletic flats by New Balance for Nine West on sale for $29.99.  I think these shoes would be perfect for running errands in and the perfect shoes to change into for the commute to and from work.  There are many different colors, but only the gray/pink, orange/gray, and they gray/green are on sale. 





Hopefully, later this week, my shoe cabinet will be finished for the final reveal.  I can't wait!

Busy busy busy

I've been on a mini blog hiatus since I've been so busy lately!  Hopefully I'll be able to write some more posts!  So stay tuned!!

Coffee/Shoe of the Day for 6/17/10

Coffee of the Day: La Colombe Corsica from the coffeemaker (my hubby made me my coffee today, he makes the best cups of coffee!)

Shoe of the Day: KangaROOS Caily Too in Black/Icing.  I've had a few pairs of KangaRoos shoes and they've all been fairly comfortable.  I was looking for shoes that I could easily slip on and an in between flip flops and sneakers.  I call these my sneakerettes.  I got these from Amazon.com for under $20 on sale and am happy with my purchase!  They didn't give me any blisters, my feet felt very comfortable in them and my toes had plenty of room, no cramped space.  They're very light and has a cushioned insole.  I was afraid that the mid-strap would be too tight, but it wasn't.  They come in a wide variety of colors, so I may have to go back for more before they get sold out! 

The perfect cup of coffee

You ever watch Saturday Night Live when Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri had the one cheerleading skit, The Spartans?  They would always end with "The Perfect Cheer!".  Everytime I have a wonderful cup of coffee, in my head I hear, "The Perfect Cup!".  Okay, most of that is probably my pre-coffee delirum in the morning when I'm half awake.

To me, the first sip is the best part of a cup of coffee.  There's nothing more satisfying to my morning to that nice fuzzy feeling I get after that first sip.  I can usually predict how my day will go based on my first cup of coffee.  For example, if I spill/splash my coffee before I take that first most important sip, I know I'm going to have a bad day.  If the first sip to my coffee is cold (I usually only drink hot coffee, even in hot, humid weather), I'm obviously going to have a busy day.  There are a lot of factors that may play into that perfect cup of coffee.  You don't want to take your first sip only to say "Yuck!  That coffee is gross!"

To make your own perfect cup of coffee, these are some methods that I love:
1. The good old coffeemaker.  My current favorite coffeemaker is one I received as a wedding gift off my registry from Amazon!  It's by Zojirushi (the rice cooker company) and it makes 10 cups of coffee.  It has a handy auto function where you can program what time you want your coffee to be brewed.   Instead of using paper coffee filters, I bought a permanent gold filter and it works perfectly.
I use La Colombe's Corsica beans for drip coffee, it's my favorite brand of coffee.




2. The French Press.  Another of my favorite methods is by using a french press.  It's usually a little more time consuming, but completely worth it.  It's perfect for those rainy weekend days when you want to curl in a chair and read a book and sip coffee or for a breakfast in bed for 2. Again, I use La Colombe's Corsica beans, but the grind has to be coarse for the French Press otherwise you're going to have a lot of coffee grinds in your end product.




3. The stovetop espresso maker.  Want to drink espresso or make your own latte at home?  This stovetop espresso maker by Bialetti is the perfect way to do just that.  Fill the bottom chamber with water and add fine coffee to the filter.  Within minutes, through a pressurizing process, the espresso moves up into the upper chamber and voila!  You now have espresso!  To make your own latte, heat up some milk and add your espresso in a mug and enjoy!  You can use any fine grind coffee, but I love using Illy Caffe's Dark Roast Fine Grind Beans.

What are your suggestions?  Are there coffee brands you swear by or a favorite method of brewing that perfect cup?

Wedding Shoe(s)

As promised, I am sharing my wedding pics of my dress and shoes.  My hubby and I had a small wedding ceremony in May 2009 with the intention of having a vow renewal ceremony/reception a year later.  So for out first ceremony, I was on the hunt for a dress and shoes without breaking my budget considering we needed to start saving ASAP!  My dress was JCrew's Sophia gown in ivory and the shoes were JCrew's Fleur in marigold.

The dress was so comfortable and luckily the only alteration I needed was the hem. I wanted a color pop so i decided to go for the marigold-y yellow shoes with a matching bouquet. The shoes were very cute, but not as comfortable as I had hoped, they were slightly off  in fit where my arch of my foot was, but something that could have been rectified with some inserts.  I found the dress on Ebay and the shoes I scored from one of the weekly exchanges over at JCrew Aficionada's blog with a total cost of both under $100!
Fast forward eleven months (I really wanted to have the reception in May 2010, but wedding prices start to skyrocket at this point, so we opted for April instead).

I purchased this beautiful wedding gown from a wedding boutique that only sells sample dresses.  It's by Alfred Sung and the color was an ivory with a champagne undertone with a subtle floral print all over the dress.  Finding the perfect shoes were not easy! 

At first, I bought Me Too's Jeanette in Champagne on sale at Nordstrom's. Unfortunately, the champagne was a bit too dark for my dress and clashed slightly.  Then, by accident, I found THE shoes.  Christian Louboutin's Mauresmo in ivory chiffon and light champagne.

Normally, I'm used to wearing higher heeled shoes.  These shoes were maybe between 2.75 - 3 inches high.  However, they were really really comfortable!  I wore and danced in these all night!  These were my first pair of Louboutins and I am a fan!

What shoes did you wear on your wedding day?  Did you match your dress or did you wear colorful shoes?