Yesterday, I decided it was time to try a new coffee shop in KC. After a little help from my internet search I decided to try Second Best Coffee in Waldo. I was so glad I did. Not only did I try a new coffee shop I also tried a new coffee. They call it the Zip Zap — Nitro with Milk & Cinnamon. It was rich and creamy with just a hint of cinnamon.

If you love coffee, supporting local businesses and trying new things you should definitely give this place a try.

Cheers,

Anne

http://www.secondbestcoffee.com

 

 

Just like Tieks I have been thinking about joining Rocksbox for about a year now. What a genius idea – for $21/ month you receive 3 pieces of high quality jewelry from some of the best jewelry designers. You try them for a month and then you can send them all back to get 3 more or you can decide to keep one or all of them. The $21 monthly fee (Rocksbox calls it a shine credit is applied to your purchase. If you keep all 3, they give you an additional $10 discount). In addition, you receive member pricing on all pieces you decide to purchase.

After signing up you browse all of the jewelry on their website and then add them to your wish list. You can then sort your wish list in the order of how much you like each piece or just leave it up to your stylist to pick your first 3 pieces. They recommend that you add 30 pieces to your wish list. I did not rank my pieces, I just let my stylist pick.

I was so excited when the little package arrived in my mailbox. How adorable is this packaging?!?! Every piece comes in it’s own protective soft bag and all pieces are inside of a box.

For my first shipment I received the Gorjana Mika Lariat in Rose Gold, the Kendra Scott Candice Cuff in Gold and Silver and the Perry street Faye Statement Necklace. I have to say when I unwrapped them all I loved all 3 pieces. Once I tried to pair them with outfits my opinion changed a bit.

When I first opened everything up I thought the  Gorjana Mika Lariat in Rose Gold would be my favorite. I tend to like more delicate, less flashy jewelry and this fit both. After trying to pair it with outfits though I realized it was too delicate, it just seemed to get lost in the shirt. And for the price it just didn’t make sense for me to keep it.

Next up was the Kendra Scott Candice Cuff in Gold and Silver. When I opened this up I thought it was going to be way too bulky for my small wrists and I didn’t think I would get much use out of it. Boy was I wrong! This turned out to be my absolute favorite piece and goes so well with almost anything. It’s great to dress up a simple t-shirt or wear to work with a blazer. Also, I love that it is Gold and Silver. It’s hard to see in the picture, but the silver has almost a matte finish to it. Did I say how much I love this bracelet??? I couldn’t resist, I had to purchase it!

Last, but not least is the Perry street Faye Statement Necklace. This necklace was gorgeous! I had really been wanting a statement necklace to pull any outfit together. This one went well with many of blouses in my wardrobe. My issue with it was the large stones were dark blue and most of my tops are navy or black. I was really looking for something with more of a pop of color. I decided to send this one back, so I can try one of the other statement necklaces I have on my wish list.

 

If you are interested in trying Rocksbox for yourself, the first five people who sign up can use this code ANNEPBFF7. (Full disclosure: If you use this code you get a free month and I receive a $25 credit to my account.)

Cheers,

Anne

We went to Napa & Sonoma on our honeymoon and fell in love with one of the wineries in Sonoma. We joined their wine club on the spot and have been receiving shipments ever since. There has never been one of the wines that we haven’t liked. In fact, one of their red blends is one of our favorite wines.

They have 4 wine club shipments per year and 1 optional shipment in April, which of course we get! One of the things we love is they notify you of the upcoming shipment and their recommendation of 3 bottles of all red wines or a mixture of 3 bottles of red/ white wines. You can choose either of the 3 preset options or any 3 you want at a nice member discount. We typically choose the 3 reds and on occasion will get the mix of 3 red & white.

April is when they ship their optional shipment, which has 4 wines in it. We went ahead and added 2 bottles of our favorite red blend, The Sheriff. When you have to pay for shipping it just makes sense to throw in a couple of extra bottles!

Love how they package each shipment. Each bottle is nestled in it’s own, protective section of the box and includes a nice letter from the Proprietor, Jean-Charles Boisset.

Each time we unbox one of our shipments it’s like Christmas! There are some we have tried before, but are a different year, so who knows how they will taste. Then, there are some that we haven’t had before. This shipment included a Tempranillo, which I love, and we haven’t received from Buena Vista before. Can’t wait to try it!!

Each shipment also includes tasting notes. As I said in a previous post I just know if I like the wine, I definitely cannot provide my own tasting notes. Glad they send them with each shipment! An added bonus is if you reorder the bottles within their set amount of time you receive an additional discount.

If you are considering joining a wine club, you should definitely look at Buena Vista.

Cheers,

Anne

My husband and I have extremely busy schedules. We love cooking though. Okay, let’s be honest, my husband loves cooking and I love eating. Ha! Which means most of the time I end up “supervising”.

With our busy schedules it’s tough to plan meals, go to the store and cook the meals. We had also fallen into a rut with making the same easy recipes during the week. I had been hearing more and more about meal delivery services and thought why not give them a try?

These services give you the recipes and the exact amount of each ingredient you need to make the recipe in your home kitchen.  You just need the basics in your kitchen — typically salt, pepper, olive oil, pots, pans, etc.

We tried some other meal delivery services before I started this blog and I will blog about them later.

In this post I want to talk about the most recent delivery we tried, Green Chef. What makes them different from the others we tried is all of the ingredients are organic. When ordering the meals from their website you can pick a 2-Person plan or family plan. From there you pick the type of meals — Carnivore, Omnivore, Gluten Free, Vegan, Paleo or Vegetarian. I picked the 2-Person Carnivore Plan, which includes meat and seafood. Each plan includes 3 meals (for 2) for the week. You can then choose which day you would like your meals delivered on. In our area the first day is Wednesday and that is the day that works best for our schedules

Another thing that makes them stand out is they put all of the ingredients in the box with color coded labels. The others we have tried put everything (except the meat/ fish) into one bag. Green Chef provides you with a simple, easy to follow, color recipe with pictures in each box they ship.

Here is a picture of what our first box looked like when I opened it up along with the recipe cards.

The first week we received Herb-Garlic Steak, Cajun Mac ‘N’ Cheese, and Tarragon-Roasted Chicken. (On a side note, I forgot we were headed out of town, so we gave the Tarragon- Roasted Chicken to my parents. They said it was delicious.)

The first night we made Cajun Mac ‘N’ Cheese. Both my husband and I couldn’t stop eating it. I will say initially it was a little bland, so my husband did add some additional seasoning. I paired it with my favorite everyday drinking wine, Sauvignon Blanc from Black Box.

A couple of days later we made the Herb-Garlic Steak. This one was good, but not nearly as good as the Cajun Mac ‘N’ Cheese. The steak was tough (due to the cut of meat) and the potatoes weren’t as crispy as I hoped they would be.

We liked the two meals enough to order for a second week. Here’s what the second week’s unboxing looked like.  This weeks meals included Cumin-Coriander Steak, Southwestern Sole and Vietnamese Chicken Bowl.

Here is a picture of what the color coded ingredients and recipes look like.

The first night we made Southwestern Sole. This is something we definitely wouldn’t have picked on our own. It was very tasty and easy to whip up!

By our second meal I had come down with a cold, so hubby cooked everything on his own and did a fantastic job (of course). At first I thought the cold salad with the warm noodles and warm chicken was an odd combo. Boy was I surprised after my first bite. It was the perfect balance of warm and cold and the flavors were amazing. (Sorry for the pic, the bowls were a little small for the amount of food this meal served.)

The last meal we (again hubby) made was the Cumin-Coriander Steak. He did an amazing job cooking the steak. The farro with veggies on the side were also delicious.

Final Verdict – We are going to continue to order Green Chef except on Game Night. (More on that in another post).

This is one of my of my new favorite reds and in our area it’s under $10. For about a year now I have been enjoying Tempranillo’s and this one is amazing (especially because it’s inexpensive). Tonight we paired it with one of our Green Chef recipes that had a Moroccan flair. It was perfect together! If you are looking for some wine tasting notes, I can’t help you. I just know what wines I like…I can’t describe what they taste like. According to the label it’s a “luscious and bright, spice-accented red”.  If you like an easy to drink red this is the one for you. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Anne

This is my first post about Stitch Fix since I just started this blog, but is definitely not my first Fix from Stitch Fix. To start the blog I went back into my email archives to see how long I have been subscribed to Stitch Fix and was shocked to find out it’s been almost 2 years! My first shipment was in June of 2015 and was based on a recommendation I saw on Facebook.

How does Stitch Fix work? (In case you don’t want to read this whole post — my conclusion is you should definitely try Stitch Fix!) During the signup process for Stitch Fix you create your own style profile by answering questions about the clothes you do and don’t like and filling in all of your sizes. You also have the option to link your Stitch Fix account to your Pinterest. Initially I did not do this, big mistake. I would definitely recommend you connect to your Pinterest account, create a board and post clothes that you like. I sent all of the items from my first Fix back. Once I linked my accounts I’ve received so many items I love.

There is a $20 styling fee for each Fix. If you send all of the items back you do have to pay the $20 fee. On the other hand, if you keep anything the $20 will be credited to the item(s) you keep. In each box you will receive 5 items. Each box contains a mixture of items based on what you have asked for including pants, jeans, tops, sweaters, scarfs, necklaces, bracelets, handbags, shoes, etc. You can decide which of these items you don’t want to receive. In my style profile I have asked for clothes only (no accessories or shoes). Simply because I really don’t need accessories or shoes. In addition, if you keep all 5 items, you receive a 25% discount off the total.

As far as cost, this is something you also set in your style profile. I try to keep the cost down, and typically spend about $200 for each box when I keep everything. I also like that you can set how often you receive your Fix. I initially was receiving them monthly, but have now gone to every other month.

Each box is a complete surprise when you open it up. I love this, because my stylist will pick some pieces I would have never have picked on my own. They send you tracking info when your Fix ships and I receive within a a couple of days of the email.

Here are the items from the fix I received over the weekend. In the note I received from my stylist, Ciara, she recommended what I pair together. With the note from your stylist you  also receive picture suggestions of how to style each item. I didn’t necessarily love some of my stylists suggestions and did a little of my own styling.

• Top Row, Left: Pixley Martina Slub Knit Open Cardigan in Blue $38
• Top Row, Middle: 41 Hawthorne Ivy Split Neck Print Blouse in Navy $58
• Top Row, Right: Papermoon Lyllian Shoulder Detail Blouse in Navy $38
• Bottom Row, Left: Market & Spruce Maeby Knit Dress in Fuchsia $58
• Bottom Row, Right: Liverpool Reagan Skinny Pant in Dark Grey $88

My Stitch Fix Stylist suggested I pair the Papermoon Blouse, the Liverpool skinnies and bold cardigan together. I of course had to pair the outfit with my new Tieks. Not sure I loved the look of all of the pieces together. What do you think?

Here’s the floral blouse and the gray skinnies together. These gray skinnies are probably the most comfy pants I’ve ever put on. They pull on, are stretchy and are almost like wearing a pair of workout pants, but are perfect to wear to work!

Then my favorite, the shift dress, also paired with my new Tieks. It’s almost as if the stylist knew which color Tieks I purchased, as the dress matches perfectly!

Now, for how I paired the blue cardigan with a pair of boyfriend jeans and white eyelet blouse I received in previous fixes. Plus my favorite comfy shoes for travel from Sofft (Somers in Snare Gray).

In case you are curious, I kept all of the items I received in this Fix! To try Stitch Fix go to stitchfix.com and fill out your style profile.

I have been eyeing Tieks for over a year now. Everywhere I went online there were Tieks calling my name, so I finally decided it was time to order a pair. I spent WAY too much time reading reviews and looking at pictures. When it comes to shoes I usually pick practical colors that will go with everything…brown, black, or boring. I really wanted the Rose Gold Glam, but just couldn’t pay $235 for my first pair. I decided picking a color from the “classics” was the way to go. Now to decide which color? I took an inventory of my current ballet flats and decided to throw caution to the wind. It’s (almost) spring, so I decided to order a fun, bright color that would go with most of the items in my closet. After looking at every picture on the Tieks website more times than I want to admit I settled on Cobalt Blue.

I ordered them on a Sunday and could not wait for them to come. I kept checking the tracking info and in what seemed like forever, which was only 3 days, they arrived! The packaging was gorgeous. The beautiful Tiek Blue box with a pretty flower on top included the flats as well as a small bag to carry them in and a larger bag to put your heels in. I tried them on and expected to be wowed.

I normally wear a size 6.5 and I wavered back and forth on which size to order. I know their website says to order down, instead I ordered up, as that’s typically what I do with other shoes. I was a little disappointed when I put them on my feet. Not only was I not wowed, I wasn’t sure if they fit and I didn’t love the color as much as I thought I would. I read many reviews about the amazing customer service and the ease of exchanging for another size as long as you didn’t wear the Tieks outside. I went online and within a couple of clicks on their website they confirmed a size 6 would be sent out. In 3 days they were in my mailbox. When I first tried them on I felt they fit okay. I wore them around the house for an hour or so and thought my feet were going to fall off.

I was so disappointed I really thought these were going to be the perfect ballet flats. It seemed the 6 was too small and the 7 was too big. In addition, the color just wasn’t what I hoped for and there was a slight color variation between the two sizes.

I wasn’t sure what to do next. I went back on the Tieks website and picked out a new color. I really wanted something fun for spring/ summer that would go great with jeans, white pants or black pants. All of the reviews said the patent took longer to break in. However, I decided I liked the Tiek Blue Patent and knew it would go great with many of the items in my closet. I decided the 6 was definitely too small, so I ordered a size 7. In just 3 more days the new Tieks were in my mailbox. As soon as I put them on I knew they were the right size and the perfect color! I wore them around the house and decided I would venture outside the next day.

The next day I wore them for about 6 hours out and about and I will say I agree with the other reviews the patent take time to break in. They aren’t as soft around your toes as the classic leather. After a few hours just below my big toe and below my pinkie toe were a little red and irritated. I think that will go away after a few more wears. They do not dig into my heels, like every other ballet flat I’ve ever owned has done, and the bottom has great cushion compared to the other ballet flats I own. For comparison I own a pair of Coach ballet flats, as well as a pair of Michael Kors & Cole Haan. I just don’t feel like they give me much support or cushion.

The final verdict is not in, as I have only worn them once, but am already looking forward to ordering another pair in the fall. Now to decide which color…

If you are interested in purchasing your own pair you can only order them online at tieks.com. Which color will you choose?

Cheers,

Anne