Camping & Coffee

Saturday night, I was convinced by the boyfriend to go camping out in Western Mass. Note- I have never been camping. Nor have I ever really wanted to, but I figured this would be a good experience for me. After a Target trip for a tent and two sleeping bags, we were all set. Or so we thought. Apparently, $20 tents aren’t that great in the rain. And really, who would have thought we needed a flashlight. Downpours all night led to a very soggy morning.  I woke up with bags under my eyes, hair out to Nebraska, and in desperate need of a massage. Would I do it again? Sure.. but with a clear sky, and an egg crate to lie on. Plus, s’mores around a campfire make it all worth it. Mmmm, s’mores.

What really made my morning all better, was coffee from an amazing little place- Shelburne Falls Coffee Roasters. Nestled between the Berkshires and the Deerfield River, this coffee shop is a slice of heaven in the middle of nowhere. They had four- four!- types of iced coffee. I got myself a half Columbian, half coconut iced coffee. AMAZING! Throughout the years, I have become a full-fledged coffee snob, and this was brewed perfectly. Strong and delicious. A small back room held barrels of coffee beans, for self-serve bean purchases. I ended up grabbing a tin of the Toasted Coconut Cream, which was inscribed with the saying”This Coffee Invariably Instills Optimism.” Love this place. If I ever have my own little cafe one day (slight dream of mine), it will definitely have inspirations from Shelburne Falls Coffee Roasters.

Overall, it was a great weekend. New experiences with some great people. Next weekend, however, I’ll be back to lazily lying on the beach- where I belong.

True Blood DVD-athon

I recently purchased True Blood Season One from Amazon, and am about to watch it for the first time. I don’t get HBO, and have heard nothing but great things about this series, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Summer TV is so awful (ahem, I’m a Celebrity..), so hopefully this will keep me entertained for a bit. Too bad the bf will not have anything to do with it, because apparently he doesn’t like the whole ‘vampire’ thing. I never should have dragged him to Twilight.. what a very, very bad idea that was.

I was/am a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so I’m thinking I’ll enjoy this (even if I have to watch it solo). No more horrible summer cable tv for me. Books and DVD’s are the way to go!

Update: Watched the first two episodes and so far, so good. Except for one thing- the intro! It’s SO creepy. I have trouble watching it. But other then that, I like!

I did it! Skinny jeans! But I am NOT a hipster.

A high-stress shopping day as J Brand was on sale on both RueLaLa and Gilt. I ended up choosing the more wallet-friendly price, which happened to be RueLaLa (should ‘wallet-friendly’ and ‘RueLaLa’ even be in the same sentence together? Probably not). Behold:

Not bad, right?

I was all happy about my purchase, until I read this article on Boston.com. Does skinny jean = hipster? I wasn’t planning on wearing them with combat boots or converse sneakers. No one would mistake me for a hipster, right? Flats and cute boots only! Maybe sandals here and there. And wait, I have a bicycle! Oh god, no.

I think the fact that I’m wearing a madras headband from J.Crew right now should help me out. Hm, yes.. I think I’m safe from that stereotype. Very, very safe.

If you want to be a shopaholic like me (and really, who doesn’t), leave a comment and I can send you invites to RueLaLa and Gilt. It’ll be the worst decision of your life. :-p And on that note, I am officially cutting myself off from online shopping. At least for a little while. I swear!

BOGO Iced Coffee!

For all you iced coffee/ iced tea lovers out there, check out this coupon from Peet’s Coffee & Tea. While I’m not a huge Peets fan, I can appreciate a free iced coffee, especially since it’s my beverage of choice on sunny summer days. Enjoy!

Skinny Jean Love

For years, I have been anti-skinny jeans. I thought they looked awkward and uncomfortable. But the trend stuck, and with it, my hatred for them dimmed. While I still can’t seem to rock the skinny jeans/heels look, I love pairing them with boots and flats. I now own one pair, and am coveting new skinnies for the fall. After some shopping research, I think I’m going to go with these: J Brand Pencil Leg Jeans. I actually tried them on in-store today, and was shocked at how comfy they are! Like leggings, but in jean form. And with the pencil leg, I don’t feel like they are super-skin tight, yet they are still perfect for tucking into boots. As my luck would have it, Gilt is having a sale on J Brand on Thursday, July 16th! Happy shopping!

Kundalini Yoga?

I’m very much a yoga newbie. I take a few classes here and there, but they are mostly beginners-level type stuff. I decided to try Kundalini Yoga, thinking it’d be a more intensive class. I really need to do my research beforehand; it wasn’t what I was expecting at all. Lots of waving my hands in the air, chanting ‘hamhamhamham’ (that’s what it sounded like to me, anyways). At one point, we were puffing out our cheeks and moving our eyes left to right. WTF? Where was downward facing dog? Child’s pose? Moon? At the end of the class, everyone sang a song. I was bewildered.

I won’t be Kundalini-ing again anytime soon. What I should have taken, was ‘Slow-Flow Yoga’, which was going on right next door. I had no idea there were so many different types of yoga. On the plus side, I think my arms got a good toning with all that waving.

Namaste.

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike

It’s not easy living in Boston. Cost of living is sky-high, and it’s tough to budget life’s little luxuries completely out (ahem, shopping/coffee problem.) I live about a mile away from my work. A subway pass each way is $1.70, which doesn’t sound too bad, but it adds up, and is even supposed to increase by 20% very soon. So for the first two months, I would walk to work, only taking the T on rainy days. As I walked, people on bicycles would be flying by me. I thought, ‘Hmm.. I could ride a bike! I could be one of them!’

I whined about it to my mom, who happened to have a spare bike in the basement. One trip home and an awkward bike rack on my car later, I am now a bicyclist! Well, sort of. I’m still getting the hang of it. I tend to wobble around a bit, and I’m pretty sure I look ridiculous, but for the most part, I am zooming along to work!

See that crooked basket? Put that on all by myself. Pretty sure it’s 2 bumps away from flying off.

I’m saving $59 a month, the cost of a monthly T pass, on this bad boy. Think of all the things that can buy! A few months worth and I could buy these Frye boots for the fall. Or even a splurge purchase on RueLaLa? Oh the possibilities.

Rainy-day Boots

I went to work this morning in flip flops, thinking ‘Nahhh it won’t rain today! It was sunny all weekend! La, La, La’.  A few hours later, dark clouds turned into thunderstorms and torrential rain. I had already tried several times to maneuver around puddles in sandals, it just wasn’t working for me anymore.

Solution? New rain boots! I already have a pair, but they are super tall and heavy, and for some reason I thought a blue/green plaid would work for me. It didn’t, and they are now banished to the back of the closet. These new ones are small (hitting mid-calf), black/olive in color (so they go with everything), and have a soft lining making them very comfy. Plus, they were fairly inexpensive. I got them at City Sports and used my old student ID to get an extra 10% off. Yay for still looking like a college student.

Behold, new rain boots! Tretorn ‘Skerry’ Boots

I’m in shoe-love. Bring on the rain!

Anna Sui ‘Gossip Girl’ for Target Collection

One of the best shows out there right now, fashion-wise, is Gossip Girl. So I was pretty excited to learn that Anna Sui is coming out with a Gossip Girl fashion line at Target. Cute clothes at cheap prices? Can’t get any better then that. While some of it is questionable, there are a few looks that I will definitely be shopping around for. Here are a few of my favorites:

The first one is from the ‘Jenny’ collection. While she isn’t the greatest character (Blair is by far the best), I love the comfy look of the dress, with the tights and boots. Perfect for the fall, and versatile- works in the office, out to dinner, or a day of strolling around the city.

The second is part of the ‘Vanessa’ collection. The boots, again, definitely make the outfit, but I’m loving the brown tights and skirt, too. The blouse is alright, although maybe not so much of that orange would be better. I wonder if they’ll be selling the shoes at Target, too? Hope so!

On the left, from the ‘Blair’ collection. What’s better then a flowy shirt-dress, and flats? Another versatile outfit perfect for fall.

The right is the ‘Serena’ look. I see this one as more of a winter outfit, getting all dressed up for a holiday party.

Hmm, it almost gets me excited for fall shopping! The collection comes out in September.

Ha, Ha.. very funny Boston.com

Anyone care to join me?