Chill Frozen Yogurt

This new Frozen Yogurt store opened not too long ago on Wydown Boulevard in St. Louis, possibly within walking distance of my dorm, but that theory has yet to be tested. In my (and everyone else's) opinion, Chill is way better than FroYo Frozen Yogurt on the Delmar Loop. Their non-dairy flavor is the best I've ever had - blood orange!

Vera Bradley Winter 2010 Patterns!

Just a short post (I know it's been forever, but what can I say? I'm a college student!) today about the new Vera Bradley Winter 2010 Patterns. I am beyond excited and everyone I see throughout the day knows it. These patterns aren't even released until September 23rd, and I'm already super excited about them! There will probably be a better post after I see them in person.

The new catalog is online as of today, I suggest you go and take a look at it.

Dancing Flower

My mom sent me a package, and I finally remembered to go to the campus post office today and pick it up. When I opened it I was very excited because it turned out to be another dancing flower. This is a plastic flower whose dancing is powered by solar energy, as you can tell by the mini solar panel on the front of the base. It is made by Flip Flap, but the only places to buy these flowers in the United States are on websites like ebay and Amazon, or perhaps random little stores around the country.

I love these flowers because I have a complete lack of skills for gardening. In case you don't believe me, last year I killed my bamboo. When I finally threw it out it was crispy. I didn't forget to water it, I think I actually over-watered it. I've heard you're only supposed to water them once a month, but my flower pot wasn't clear, so I couldn't see when it ran out of water, so I had to make a few educated guesses. In any case, it's very dead now. So that's why I love this little guy. I can't kill it! Also I think it looks exactly like the marigolds in the fabulously addicting computer game, Plants vs. Zombies.

Organization

I love the Container Store. I love being organized and having a place where everything belongs. It's only when stuff doesn't have a place that my room gets messy. This goes hand-in-hand with my Container Store love, because they have containers to hold EVERYTHING! Seriously, anything you can think of that you want to store, and the Container Store will have a way to store it.

My favorite recent purchase from the Container Store is called a Jewelry Spinner. They come in both necklace and bracelet sizes, but as I wear far more necklaces than bracelets, I opted for the necklace one.

It looks super cute on my desk with all my other containers, and it makes everything really easy to find when I need it :].

Fitz's

If anyone from the St. Louis area hasn't heard of or been to Fitz's, you really need to leave your house more than once a year. This restaurant/bottler is located on the Delmar Loop, which is conveniently located right near Washington University in St. Louis (me!). The coolest part about Fitz's is that they make their own sodas, which during the day are bottled right on the other side of a big glass wall that makes up one side of the lower dining area.

Fitz's food is pretty typical American food, but surprisingly almost everything is high-quality and delicious. My favorite thing to order is the fish & chips - substitute sweet potato fries - as I love both fish and chips and sweet potato fries. Theirs are the waffle kind, and I think they're pretty delicious.

The best part about Fitz's is their rootbeer floats. They have some fun ones like rootbeer and chocolate ice cream and rootbeer and coffee ice cream. One free float if you have a bear discounts card :].

Back to School Again

Well it's been a long time since I've posted on my blog. I've been busy moving in to my dorm, unpacking stuff, and being a counselor for the Hatchet Yearbook Pre-Orientation Program.

My room looks pretty good, I may post photos later on, and for now it's decently clean.

I just have one recent purchase of note, and that is a copy of Glee: The Beginning, which is a book telling the back story of the characters in Glee, and what happened before the television show. I haven't started reading it yet, but I'm pretty excited.

A Day Eating in the St. Louis Area

* Steak and Shake

* Our Home Café

* Tropical Sno

* The Fountain on Locust

Leaving Home

I haven't posted in forever! I'm so sorry dear blog, I'm breaking my promise. I have been trying to not skip more than one day ever and here I've gone and skipped three whole days! I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but three days could easily lead to three weeks and then never writing again! And that can not happen. Not yet at least. I have promised a lot of people that I will actually keep up with this blog.

So here I am today. I haven't really got a lot to write about. I've been really busy hanging out with friends, going swimming, and mentally steeling myself to pack and say good bye to everyone before I have to leave tomorrow to go back to school in St. Louis. I am not excited. Summer has finally kicked into high gear here (over 70 degrees five days and counting!) and I don't want to leave. Seattle is way to beautiful and St. Louis just really is not. There is no arguing this point. I love St. Louis, but it is not beautiful.

How about a picture of the view from my front deck? Just to prove that the sunlight actually does reach Washington sometimes. Well ok I took it from my living room window. Big deal.

I have to try and continue packing now. So sad. See you tomorrow bright and early at the airport!

Love,

Andrea

P.S. I have no idea how this turned into a letter to my blog. Just go with it.

Why Oh Why Did I Get on the Vera Train So Late?

Seriously, can anyone answer this for me? I know that my beloved Bellevue Square Signature Store has been around for at least a couple of years, so why did it take me this long to fall in love with Vera Bradley? And how in the world did it hit me so hard?

I'm not going to share my Vera spreadsheet here (yes I have a spreadsheet for keeping track of all of my purchases), because that would be a little embarrassing (only because I've spent so much money in so little time) , but let me tell you - it is impressive!

The reason I'm lamenting my late-blooming Vera love is because my favorite pattern of all time (Peacock) retired a long time ago. Boo. But at least it is fairly attainable on the internet (ebay, Facebook, Amazon, and occasionally vb.com). The other reason this really sucks is because almost all of my favorite bags are retired. This includes the large tic tac tote (in Peacock) that I ordered (and blogged about) a few days ago.

And now my new favorite bag of all time (in Peacock) is the Lindsay. And it's retired too! It's like a mini messenger bag (which I also blogged about), but small enough to be used as a purse. I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for one that I can afford. Maybe someday I'll get to go to a Vera Bradley outlet store! That would be a dream come true. But for now, I'll continue to peruse Verabradley.com and add to my ever-growing wish list. And my Christmas list. And maybe even my birthday list (for June 2011 :]).

Real Chinese Food from Real Chinese People :]

Today I went to my friend Courtney's house for dinner. As you might have been able to tell from the title, she's Chinese. This is therefore authentic Chinese food :]. Doesn't it look delicious?

Bamboo Garden

This is my favorite Chinese restaurant ever. It's also quite possibly some of the cheapest Chinese food I've ever had. The fact that it's simultaneously the cheapest and the best seems to me a good reason for this to be my favorite restaurant. Let's face it - how often with Chinese food can you have quality, tasty food for a decent or even bargain price? Not very often.

I always order their lunch special. It ranges from $4.99 to $6.99 and includes a bowl of soup (hot and sour or egg flower), some of their house salad, rice (fried or steamed), and a large helping of the entrée of your choice (hence the price differences).

Here's the soup.

Here's the rest. I got Kung Pao Tofu - my favorite! $4.99 :].

Red Lobster

I went to my first Red Lobster today! It was definitely an experience worth repeating, even if I did have to go all the way to Federal Way to eat there. It's really wasn't out of the way though because I was in Puyallup this morning for my drive test (which I passed - yay!), and on the way back we drove through Federal Way and went to Red Lobster!

I got their delicious crab cakes, and I was favorably impressed with their bread basket. It didn't have any real bread in it - just light and fluffy cheesy biscuits that somehow already had garlic butter inside them! I immediately fell in love. I suggest you give them a try.

Ordered Another Vera Bag!

I just placed an order for a slightly used Vera Bradley Large Tic Tac Tote in Peacock, which is my favorite pattern! I ordered it from a lady on the Vera Bradley Sales Board on Facebook, and hopefully it should be here soon. This is a picture from Amazon, but I will take another photo when it arrives! I'm so excited! I even got it for a good deal - $35 which includes shipping!

You know how you can really tell I'm excited? Look how many exclamation points I just used. Lol. :]

Trip to the Sanrio Store

This is Chococat. Chococat is a licensed character of the Sanrio company, which means that he is friends with Hello Kitty. And if your next question is who is Hello Kitty, then you should probably stop reading now. I suggest some Google therapy.

Anyways, lately I've been reading this blog, called Bentobloggy. It was the featured blog on my dashboard a few days ago, and I've fallen in love with it. It's written by a mom who blogs about the bento-style lunches she packs for her 4-year-old daughter every day. The pictures are adorable! She uses a lot of Hello Kitty lunch boxes, and I've been inspired to get one for myself.

So today I made the infrequent trek upstairs in my local mall to the Sanrio store. Now the Sanrio store is a bit of mystery to me. It's been in our mall for at least 10 years, right next to the oft-visited Claire's store of around the same age, but when I was younger, the Sanrio store had a reputation for always being completely empty anytime anyone walked by. So of course I never went in it much because what 10-year-old wants to be the only person in a store? Then I would have had to talk to the salesperson! Anyway when I went into the store today, it was completely packed. I was astounded. I've always wondered how this store even managed to stay open for so many years when it appeared to have no customers. Turnover at our mall is ridiculously high. I guess all the invisible customers spent a lot over the years.

Today I bought two items at the Sanrio store - both Chococat. I got a lunch/sandwich box type thing with utensils stored in the lid, and a little compact mirror shaped like Chococat's face. They're both adorable!

So I Bought Some More Vera Bradley Today....

Well that's not exactly true. I exchanged the new Slate Blooms Zip ID Case I bought on Wednesday for this beautiful Lemon Parfait Zip ID Case. The reason I did that is that this color, Lemon Parfait, is a Spring 2011 Preview item. As in, this is a Spring 2011 pattern that won't officially be released in stores until some time in January.

How did I get one already? All Vera Bradley patterns are tested in stores months before they are actually released in order for the company to get an idea of purchase patterns. The Winter 2010 patterns were tested this past May, and the Spring 2010 patterns are in a few select signature stores now - but they're only at my store for two weeks! Today was the first day they were out, and I pounced immediately. I'm just so glad that I hadn't used my other Zip ID Case yet and was able to exchange it.

Sea Fair!

Or an excess of free stuff fair. Whichever works, depending on your interests. Here are some lovely photos. Not entirely sure that this was really worth getting up at 8 am for, but that's what happens when you live with a father who likes to leave home at the crack of dawn. That's all I'll say about it. Except that I'll be watching the races tomorrow on television!

Prime viewing seats, these are :]. These people were sitting in this metal folding couch type thing, and according to my dad, they were sitting in the exact same spot and on the exact same contraption last year. But I have to hand it to them, it looks pretty comfortable.

They flew in front of us and right over our heads! We had some fantastic views of the Blue Angels while sitting right along the shore.

More Custard...Mmmmm!

So we went back to Peak's Frozen Custard in Seattle. This photo shows the three different sizes offered in the shop - mini, regular, and large. The ones in the middle and on the left are chocolate ripple salt caramel! Just thought a quick food-related update would suffice for today :]. Enjoy the summer's best treats!

Just What Every College Girl Needs!

Can you guess what it is? I bet you can't! Or I bet that if you can, you can't come up with the particularly necessary item that I'm about to blog about! Actually you probably just cheated and looked at the photo for today's blog post.

ANYWAY: Today I ordered an orange mini fridge for my dorm! Yes, that's right - it's ORANGE!!! For those of you that know me, you know that I absolutely love the color orange. I don't wear orange clothes all the time, because that isn't particularly fashionable or flattering, but a lot of my day-to-day essentials are orange. For example:

* Both of my Nalgene water bottles ( 14 and 32 oz.)
* My headphones
* My bath towels
* My comforter
* My soon-to-be-ordered Brita water pitcher
* My new mini fridge!!!!!

Last semester I didn't buy my own mini fridge. Partially this was because I didn't think I needed one, and it was partially because my suitemate Jessie had a medium/large mini fridge that she allowed my other suitemates and me to share. But because it's so hot in St. Louis, and because I have a lot of dietary restrictions, I decided it would be a good idea to buy my own mini fridge if I could find one for a decent price. And so my Mom found this orange one at Walmart! I just had to get it. Imagine my orange Nalgene water bottles and my orange Brita pitcher sitting inside this fridge :]. What a happy, orange thought.

Vera Bradley Sale!

Yes it's true! Vera Bradley is having yet another clearance sale to get rid of their old patterns. This sale goes for three days and ends Wednesday, August 4th. The deals this time are $35 small duffels, $45 large duffels (which I have and love!), and $55 garment bags. The sale is only on the older patterns, but in my opinion those are some of the best ones - especially because they are a lot rarer and more difficult to obtain.

Anyone even remotely interested in any of these items should head over to Vera Bradley now and have a look at the very least. Too bad they aren't offering free shipping on orders above a certain amount! Although maybe it's a good thing because it kept up from buying any more bags!

In other news the season finale of the Bachelorette is about to start in t-7 minutes! I hope everyone is watching!!!!!

PS: I'm rooting for Chris!

New Earrings

These earrings were a thank-you gift from my fabulous honorary Aunt Mary. Aren't they beautiful? Just thought I'd say thank you and show them off :]. Thanks again Aunt Mary!

Vovito Caffe and Gelato

Today was the opening day of the new Vovito Caffe and Gelato at the Bravern in downtown Bellevue. I read about it in this article in the Bellevue Reporter and decided to go and check it out.

Now I know that this is at least 50% a cafe and not mostly a gelato shop, but in my personal opinion the value lies in the gelato. They have 26 different flavors that they make fresh every day, with a large selection of both fruit and dairy flavors. The whole place feels very authentic which, according to the article, was the goal of the owners.

I tried both the tiramisu and coffee flavors, and they were both fantastic. The smallest size, piccolo, at $3.50, is a bit on the expensive side, but it's definitely worth it for this gelato - which is of the best quality. The piccolo size was definitely plenty as well because the gelato is very rich, in a good way of course :].

Fish and Chips!

Fish and Chips are my favorite food ever. EVER. And I truly mean that. Whenever I travel somewhere and they fail to provide me with some decent fish and chips I am immensely disappointed. For my mom's birthday the other day on July 25th, my family all went to Spud Fish and Chips over in Juanita, and it was absolutely delicious. We all ordered the same thing - fried Cod and fries. And they had the BEST tartar sauce!

Speaking of tartar sauce, it's probably the real reason I love fish and chips so much. A truly amazing tartar sauce can really make a meal, and mediocre tartar sauce can ruin one, so whenever somewhere has fantastic tartar sauce, I get really excited and automatically like their food. Ivar's tartar sauce is just as good, but some of the best tartar sauce I've ever had is the spicy Cajun tartar sauce that they serve at the fish stand at the St. Louis Zoo! The only downside to this tartar sauce and the delicious fish and chips (here actual potato chips, not fries - how strange!) is that the stand is only open during the spring and summer! This particular food stand at the zoo is in conjunction with the Sting Ray travelling exhibit, which is only open during the spring and summer because during the fall and winter the sting rays travel to Arizona. Getting some of these delicious fish and chips and the perfect tartar sauce is definitely at the top of my list of things to do when I get back to St. Louis! Also as a St. Louis Zoo employee (I work at the Build a Bear in the zoo), I get to pet the sting rays for free!!

Peak's Frozen Custard

Today I had the pleasure of going to Peak's Frozen Custard for the first time, and let me tell you, this stuff is SO MUCH BETTER than any other frozen custard I've ever had. It blows St. Louis local favorite Ted Drewes Frozen Custard out of the water. They always have chocoalte and vanilla, they have a flavor of the week, and they have a flavor of the day. The flavor of the week today was Chocolate Chocolate Chip, and the flavor of the day was Chocolate Raspberry Delight, which was chocolate custard with fresh raspberries and swirls of marshmallow mixed in. It was one of the best things I've had in a long time. I actually ordered their lunch special, which is custard, a drink, and an entree of choice, for a decently low price.

In fact, I was so impressed by the quality and deliciousness of their custard that I may go back tomorrow for their daily special of Latte Chocolate Swirl. When we mentioned this flavor the cashier working there got this dreamy expression on his face and told us "that one is GOOOOD". So hopefully I get to go back tomorrow. Here's a link to their flavors calendar.

Oh and their goal is to be entirely environmentally sustainable!

Top Pot Doughnuts

Mmmmm maple bars. What a fabulously healthy breakfast :]. I can't help but love a good doughnut, even if they are miserably lacking in nutrition. We just picked up a six-pack of maple bars at the groccery store and mine is already in my stomach.

My favorite doughnut place though is called Top Pot Doughnuts, and it's local to the Seattle-area, although there is one on the Eastside in Bellevue by Panera Bread Co. Doughnuts here are a little on the pricey side, but every so often I pop in to get one because they are definitely worth the extra dollar. My favorite are the crullers, and I adore anything they make with raspberry or maple icing! Here's a list of their doughnuts, click on each for the flavors they come in.

My very favorite thing about Top Pot Doughnuts? They occasionally sell them at all the local Starbucks'! But only the local ones. I recommend the apple fritter. :]

New Crayola Vans

I have weird-shaped feet. Very few shoes actually fit me, and so I usually find a brand of shoes that are comfortable for me and buy as many pairs as possible. As a result I am now the proud owner of 10 pairs of Converse and 6 pairs of Vans. I also get email updates from Vans, and just now as I was checking my email I opened an email advertising the new crayola-inspired line of Vans. They look kind of like a composition notebook, with the marbled colors, and I think they're fairly gorgeous. Have a look for yourself. This is my favorite pair, although these are a close second. Unfortunately, it's nigh on impossible to justify buying myself another pair :].

Victoria's Secret Clothing

Yes we all know of Victoria's Secret as a lingerie retailer. And by now most of us have probably realized that they also sell lotions and perfumes, but I've always thought their clothing line was a bit questionable. Mostly I refused to acknowledge that they sold any clothing besides sweats, pajamas, and work out gear. Until yesterday.

I had been collecting various coupons and dollars off savings cards for VS over the last few weeks, and I decided when I got off work yesterday to make a trip up to the VS store to use them all before they expired. It was there that I discovered an absolutely adorable skirt made by Victoria's Secret PINK. Thanks to my various coupons, I ended up buying the skirt and it is now my favorite thing ever. The fabric is cotton but looks like pink with black lace over the top. It's possibly one of the comfiest things I've owned in a very long time. I'll have to keep my eye on the VS clothing line in the future.

Just a few months ago I discovered that the VS swimsuit line is downright reasonable as far as pricing goes, and can even be considered a very good deal if one also has a coupon. I bought this one, which features a bandeau top and an adjustable string bottom, in tropical blue and it's absolutely adorable. I'll never see VS as just an underwear store again.

Back-to-School Wishlist

1.) Brita Water Pitcher, I really love the 80 oz. one in orange that they sell at Target, but I think the smaller 40 oz. ones sold at Bed, Bath, and Beyond are really more practical.

2.) Animal Stepstool from the Container Store, although I'll probably be getting this more practical one from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, as I'm not entirely sure that the animal ones are meant to hold an adult's weight, and it'd be nice to have one that folds up for easy storage.

3.) Vera Bradley Imperial Toile Messenger, which I ordered from a lady a few days ago and arrived in the mail today! I love it, pictures later.

4.) Clear Insulated Tumbler from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I really love this line of glasses and tumblers that have a layer of air between the inner and outer layers for better insulation. It's slightly too much for me that they come monogrammed, but I'll probably just use it as an excuse to decorate it with sharpies :].

5.) A copy of Eat, Pray, Love for me to read throughout the semester. I don't have that much free time for reading, but I do love reading and prefer to have at least one good book around at all times for me to read whenever I get the time.

6.) A Bear Discounts Card for discounts on a lot of the stores, restaurants, and services around WashU. The discount for the on-campus Subway is that I get a free cookie with every sandwich - and boy do I love their cookies!

New McCafé Smoothies

There are advertisements for these things everywhere! I've been watching a lot of Lost on Hulu.com (a LOT), and the commercials always repeat, and one of them is for these new McCafé smoothies. And as I work at Build-A-Bear, which is very conveniently located just across the hall from McDonald's, I've been very tempted to try on of these new smoothies. The come in Strawberry Banana and Wildberry. Well today I had a coupon for a free 12 oz. one of them, and so I tried the Strawberry Banana and my mom tried the Wildberry.

Let me tell you, McDonald's has actually managed to make something taste good and be remotely healthy. The 12 oz. versions of these smoothies (size small), are only 210 calories, the 16 oz. mediums are 260 calories (fewer than almost every Jamba Juice smoothie, except for some of the dairy-free all-fruit flavors), and the 22 oz. larges are 330 calories. That's not bad at all! So I say if you haven't tried one of these yet, you definitely should - just try to avoid the fries while you're in there!

Mugglenet.com

I love Harry Potter. I mean it. I REALLY love Harry Potter. I'm definitely one of those people. And for the rest of those people, I highly recommend visiting mugglenet.com. It's an absolutely fabulous compendium of all things Harry Potter, and it's chock-full of those people.

My two favorite parts of this website are the list of mistakes found in the Harry Potter books (I think it's fun to read and look for mistakes on my own and see how many of the recorded ones I found), as well as a short list of recipes for Harry Potter foods. My favorite recipe is for butterbeer, and I've made it a few times already. The only downside to the butterbeer is that it's probably about 500 calories per 8 oz. That's because the only three ingredients are butter, butterscotch syrup, and cream soda.

I can't wait to try the official version of butterbeer, presumably made with a different recipe than the one on Mugglenet, at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando Studios! Going there is my new life goal. It is the true Mecca for Harry Potter fans, especially those of us who are PPD, and I think I'll faint in ecstasy the second I set foot through the gates. I've been reading tons of reviews and watched opening day videos and it seems like the most wonderful thing ever! Someday (hopefully soon) I will get to go the Harry Potter World, and I promise I'll write a hell of a blog entry about it afterwards.

An Excess of Handbags

I recently took a survey to possibly participate in a consumer survey conducted on behalf of Vera Bradley. There was a question on the survey that asked how often I purchase a new bag. The options were once a year, twice a year, three times a year, or four times or more a year. My question is, why in the world is the most frequent category only four times a year? Is that a lot? I for one don't think so. Since I've been home for the summer, I've already acquired seven new bags, and though most of them were extremely cheap or free or handmade, the survey question didn't distinguish between expensive and inexpensive bags.

I definitely have a favorite style of bag. Four of the bags I've gotten since I got home are all cross-body hipsters of around the same size. One of them is from Target, one of them I got with a Vera Bradley coupon, one of them my Mom sewed and I made an beaded heart appliqué to decorate it, and the last one I bought this morning for $6 at a thrift store, 15 hours after I saw it in the new window display last night (photo: VB, thrift store, Target, hand-made). I just couldn't let this one get away. It's completely covered in beads and sequins with a long gold chain as a strap. Tomorrow I will take pictures of at least these four bags.

Meze and Spice Route

Well I haven't been quite this full in a number of months. Today for lunch I went to an Indian restaurant called Spice Route, where there have a lunch buffet for $9.95 during the week from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm. I basically ate my weight in butter chicken and paneer tikka masala, and it was easily some of the best Indian food I have ever had in my life. My only caution is that it's nearly impossible not to overeat, and I almost always skip a few meals after eating here.

As far as favorite restaurants go, I also really love Meze's restaurant in Kirkland, which serves delicious Mediterranean food both as a sit-down restaurant and a deli take-out counter. I love their hummus and shepherd's salad, but the real reason I love to go there is for their zucchini pancakes - or Mucver - which are really light and fluffy and taste much more like vegetables than starchy carbs. At $2 each for a pancake 1.5x the size of my hand, the food is a little expensive but well worth it due to the fresh ingredients and homemade dishes.

It's High Time for a Tea Post

If there's one thing that I absolutely love, it's going to a tea shop and having high tea with my mom. We search for places that serve a traditional high tea with tea, scones, tea sandwiches, and desserts. So far we've been to quite a few places, but we are always looking for me. My absolute favorite place to go as far as food quality is concerned is called Remedy Teas, and it's actually a tea shop (similar to a coffee shop) that also serves high tea. They serve it anytime (which is a fabulous luxury as far as high tea is concerned), and they don't take reservations so everything is for walk-ins. They have 150 flavors of tea that are all named and numbered to be kept track of easily, and they can all be served hot or iced. The only downside to Remedy Teas is that they are a medium sized shop that seems to be quite popular among locals, and because they don't take reservations it would be difficult to bring more than five or six people and do high tea. I would recommend a group of four people as the ideal high tea group here.

The high tea menu at Remedy Teas is a little interesting because in addition to picking your tea, you also get to pick which sandwiches, which truffle, and which dessert you want. My favorite sandwich by far is something called the Apple Pie, which is apple butter and cheddar cheese grilled on date walnut bread. It's so delicious that my mom and I made our own version of it at home, only we added apple slices, which I think are a very nice touch. My favorite flavor of tea there so far is something called #49 Silk and Citrus. It has a creamy taste that is due to vanilla (although the tea doesn't taste like vanilla), which complements the citrus flavor beautifully. Even if you don't like vanilla, this tea will probably still appeal to you, so I suggest you hold off judgement until you try it. I prefer it hot - it isn't quite as delicious iced.

Etsy Mania

Who doesn't love Etsy? Seriously, for those of you who have yet to join the Etsy bandwagon, get a move on! You are seriously missing out on some really awesome stuff! So the basic concept of Etsy is that artists or small stores create an account and sell their hand-crafted wares online. They sell all sorts of random things, but my favorite by far is the jewelry! Big surprise as I wear a moderate to large amount of jewelry every day. I'm always searching for more, and I'm a really big fan of good, cheap finds. My favorite places to look are flea markets, because at almost every decent flea market there are always a few stands that sell ziploc bags full of old jewelry for bulk prices. My very, very favorite place to go is a stand at the Fremont Sunday Market, where they always have a bin of dollar jewelry. I've gotten some of my very favorite pieces there.

But back to Etsy. Lately I've been eying their nature-inspired jewelry, and especially the pieces concerning roses. I absolutely adore the silver orchid earrings pictured above. Here are some of my other favorites:

Pearl Rosebud Earrings

Bird and Leaf Necklace

Orchid Necklace

Rose Lariat Necklace

Summer Boot Sales

Well today was the kick-off of the Nordstrom Anniversary sale, and let me tell you the mall was pretty busy, with a steady stream of people coming and going through the Nordstrom doors. To me, the best part of these summer sales (Macy's is having one too), is the fact that there are lots of fabulous leather boots on sale. In fact, my second and favorite pair of leather boots were purchased at Nordstrom's Anniversary sale last year.

Right now I'm really craving a pair of high-heeled lace-up boots in a nice dark chocolate brown or black (no gray please). I'll even settle for flat heeled lace-up boots - I just really like the way the super tall knee-high lace-up boots look. It's a shame they're so expensive. I tried on a pair of knee-high boots earlier today at Macy's, but they didn't fit at all and they were pretty low quality - too bad because they were actually a reasonable price, I'm sure that's why.

I also really like Doc Marten's (while we're on the subject of expensive beautiful shoes), and they come in some beautiful rocker floral patterns. These are some of my favorite boots: a flat pair, and a high-heeled pair. These are some of my favorite Doc Marten's: this white pair, this floral pair, and this roses pair.

Sewing Lessons

This summer I decided I needed a project, and since I despise paying lots of money for clothing, I have decided to try and learn how to sew. As a result I am signed up for weekly sewing lessons. They aren't overly-structured, and each student brings in their own projects to work on, and the instructor, Mrs. Barbara Mar, helps everyone along. So far I have shortened an old Prom dress and made a large lined tote bag - complete with pockets! My next project is a tunic that I am making from a Butterick pattern. I'm making it out of this gorgeous dark aqua fabric and I hope it really turns out well. I will post a picture when I am finished, which I definitely could not do without the help of my mother! That's because I'm doing this project at home, and am working on a dress at my next sewing class.

I'm not yet a very skilled sewer, but I love to browse patterns on the internet. The best brands to look through are Butterick, McCall's, and Simplicity patterns. Eventually I hope that I can make something like this, as I think that it's absolutely adorable - I do love coats and outerwear!

I might have a slight addiction...

...to Vera Bradley. I don't understand it at all, because just a few years ago I really extremely disliked the entire concept of quilted handbags and Vera Bradley in particular because I thought it was so 'old lady-ish'. And just this morning I ordered four items from their website. I ordered a pair of pajama pants in Peacock, the old messenger bag in Pirouette, and the new student agenda and card holder in Barcelona. In short I am completely and utterly addicted. It doesn't make any sense, but I shop their website quite often and am pleased with their products overall. Some of the patterns are just not my style, but a lot of them are, and I love that their products are high-quality without being too over-priced. Once sale prices come into play, most things are downright affordable.

My favorite purchase so far has been something called a "Rosie Posie Hipster" in "Make Me Blush". I may post a photo later. The one other thing that I'm dying to get is called the "Petal Wallet" in "Slate Blooms". Both of these two things are part of what VB calls their 'Frill' collection, which features products made of a more patent-y type material instead of their traditional quilt. I like them because they are modern and they are very easy to clean. My favorite color of all time is called "Peacock", and is pictured above.

In other news, today I signed up for a consumer survey that will pay me $40 to taste test two types of tortilla chips and fill out four short online surveys. I am absolutely thrilled. Especially because both of the tortilla chips are brand that I am already familiar with: Mission and Tostitos. Can anyone guess where that $40 might end up?

My sleep schedule is a disaster. Every night I go to sleep at 2 am or later, only to wake up around Noon when the day is practically over. There isn't even anyone awake to talk to this late. I need to fix this. Bonne Nuit!