How Was Your Day

As I was standing in the local patisserie, trying desperately to make a decision, I realized that I should add caramel treats to my list of Fab Five topics.

I adore the sweet-savory flavors combined. Salted caramel does this so well. Photo of my local patisserie’s case.

Spiced apple cider with a heavy dose of caramel? Oh, yes please!! The secret to this winter beverage? A great apple cider. Photo via

I make a big pan of this and have it for dessert. Or breakfast. Whatever. Stay tuned for a recipe for not only great bread pudding but also a fantastic caramel sauce.

Such a great wardrobe basic. Invest in a good coat and it will last nearly a lifetime. The one pictured is a baby coat(!) from Zara.

Ooh la la! That’s about all I can say. Besides WANT! that is.  This particular bag is Marc Jacobs, but it’s a pretty traditional style. 

Have you heard about StyleFind? StyleFind is a great site that allows you to find great items from all over the web.

Is there a new trend that you’ve seen and love? Take, for example, Navajo. The editors of StyleFind have put together a collection of great items. Want to explore Navajo more? Just do a search!

Or maybe you need some help determining your best jeans for the fall. StyleFind’s editors have put together collections based on body type to help you find the jeans you’ll want to live in. Not quite sure what your body type is? There’s a handy-dandy quiz for that!

StyleFind isn’t just fashion though! Oh no. They also have beauty and accessories! Items are broken down into just about any category you want and the search engine is crazy powerful! This is a search I did for mineral:

It got cut off, but there’s 106 pages of mineral makeup and related items. 106 pages!!

One complaint that I do have about StyleFind is that they seem to only pull their items from the big sites (Anthropologie, Zappos, Piperlime, Ulta, etc.) While there are sites & brands I wasn’t familiar with, I was hoping to find a lot more of the indie lines and sites that could really use a boost by being included in a site like this.

I participated in this campaign as part of the BzzAgent campaign.

Welcome to the Alexa Stop Hop and Drop blog hop. The rules are really simple.

1. Download the Alexa toolbar. This is very important. You can download it here.
2. Add your site to the linky.
3. Visit people and make new friends. It’s best if you go a couple pages deep. Click on some other posts. And if it’s a blog that interests you, why not give them a GFC follow or like them on Facebook?
4. Leave a comment! That way, they’ll know you were there.
5. Watch your ranking drop.

If you’d like to spread the word, share the button above! The more, the merrier and the better for your ranking.  I’ll also choose one participating blog to be the guest host for next week. 

I’m a fair-haired, fair-skinned kinda gal.  Bugs – they like me.  No, scratch that, they LOOOOVVVE me.  I spend my time either indoors or being eaten alive. That’s part of the reason I was so glad to find Greenbug!

Greenbug is an all-natural pest control spray for people.  It’s cedar based and pesticide free.  You can use Greenbug anywhere except on plants and around birds. 

Greenbug repels ants, mosquitos, ticks, biting flies, chiggers, and no-see-ums.  It also claims to work on bedbugs and head lice.  I’ve been using it on my daily walks and haven’t had an issue with bugs being attracted to me.  They also have a formulation for pets. 

Since it’s cedar-based, I think that it would work well to protect your wool garments from moths.  

Greenbug has kindly offered to give one lucky reader a 2 oz personal sized bottle of their all-natural pest spray.

Enter after the jump

RafflecopterSettings = { raffleID: ‘YjBkZjcyYTkwZTAxNGJjODAwNmQ4OTE0NjgyNzczOjE4′};

You need javascript enabled to see this giveaway.

I received no compensation for this post.  I did receive a 2 oz bottle of Greenbug for review purposes.

Dracula in Love is Karen Essex’s retold tale of the true relationship between The Count Dracula and Mina, his schoolteacher lover/soulmate.

Mina is haunted her entire life by a mystery man/protector who keeps watch over her until her wedding.  At that point, they become re-acquainted.  The mystery man sabotages her impending marriage.  He whisks her away to safety and their doomed future.  Although he’s waited several lifetimes for their relationship, he’ll have to wait another.

This book had a really slow start as Essex felt it necessary to introduce so many characters from the original Dracula, by Bram Stoker.  Once she got down to the relationship between Mina and the Count, it was a good read, and moved swiftly.  Unfortunately, it took 200 pages to get there.  Her version of their relationship was interesting and believeable; I would have like to read more about them.  The supporting characters were uninteresting and without depth, for the most part.

Personally, I felt that Essex was angling for a movie deal with all the various unimportant characters and details.

I’d rate this 2/5

I’m a bit of an office supply addict. It’s all my mother’s fault, I suppose. She is a pen snob, and introduced me to the finer points of nice stationery at a very early age.

I really prefer going to the independently owned stationery stores, but as we don’t have a good one here, I end up going to Staples. One great thing about Staples is that when they clearance items, they mark them down substantially!  I found the above treasures on my last visit.

4 – hardbacked spiral bound notebooks.  I bought one of each color.  There’s also a black one that’s not shown, because I couldn’t find it when picture time came.  I have a feeling a certain someone nabbed it for work. 

1 – leather covered 6×9 journal.  It had lined paper and a ribbon bookmark, too.  It makes me feel all grown-up.  I’m not sure why, but it does! 

1 – refill for the journal.  

All for just under $13.  I was there for boring stuff like tape and a ream of paper.  When all was said and done, my total was $24.92.  I’m always sure to scour the back aisles thoroughly!

This is something I noticed when I was working on stuff last night.  I guess I like red.  

Autumn is my favorite season – by far!  This is just a few of the reasons why. 

YES! It was last weekend that I saw it was available again. That is always one of my key indicators that fall is coming.

I’ve always loved seeing the leaves change colors.  Weather.com has a great Fall Foliage Map that helps you find where trees are changing in your area.