January Gems

Here are some things making my cloudy, cold January a little brighter!

Coconut La Croix

I've always been one of La Croix's biggest fans:  delicious sparkling water with no calories, no sugar, and no sodium.  It's magic.  I love all of their flavors, but they just came out with coconut, and it's to die for!  It is soooo good.  If you have it with a salad lunch, it feels decidedly tropical. Like a mid-day pina colada.

Illy Capsule Espresso Machine

This lovely gem was my Christmas gift to Brent.  If you are a coffee lover, you will LOVE this!  We went to a hotel in Miami where they had one of these in every hotel room.  I immediately looked up how much they were.  Usually espresso machines are easily $400 or more.  Not this one... waaaaay less, and it comes with coffee capsule delivery!  You don't have to do all the levers and steam and jazz like they do at Starbucks.  It's a capsule system.  So when you want an espresso, you simply put in an espresso capsule and press a button.  It's magical.  Sometimes we have coffee dates in the middle of the afternoon because, why not?

Homesick Texan Blog

I just recently discovered this blog.......oh my goodness.  It's a lady who grew up in Texas, then moved to New York City and missed "Texan" food so much, she couldn't stand it.  Her whole blog is how she makes Texas favorites for her NYC friends - everything from BBQ to chicken fried steak to TEX MEX!!  She has recipes for fajitas, queso, puffy tacos, I mean everything.  This could be dangerous.

Brights!

Apparently brights are full force in style right now.  I love it!  I've seen such great color combos on Pinterest.  I'm really loving yellow with gray, hot pink belts, colorful jewelery, and bright denim.  I really want some teal skinny jeans as shown above. 

Target "Lugg" Boots

Yes, Target has a line of boots called "Lugg".  I laughed out loud in the shoe aisle.  Then I bought two pairs.  Black and tan.  Let's see........$150 for the "real deal", or $25 for just as cute and just as warm and looks exactly the same?  The choice is yours... You know what I picked.  Nice work, Target.

Tazo Tea

A friend gave us a Starbucks gift set around Christmas, and it had some Tazo tea bags in it.  I used to be a big tea person, but I haven't been on a tea kick in a while.  I am loving Tazo "zen" and "calm", and I have at least one cup a day.  I read that drinking a cup of green tea increases your metabolism by 12%!  Hey, it can't hurt.

Watermark Church: The Journey

I don't live in Dallas, but if I did, I'd go to Watermark Church.  I like to visit when I'm home, and I love the online Bible study they are doing this year - reading through the New Testament in 2012.  Each morning, a new devotional gets emailed to you so you can read and follow along no matter where you are.  You can join the journey with me if you want!  Click here to check it out.

Kenra Volume Spray

I got this tip from another blog - Amber Massey's blog here.  She was extolling the virtues of this spray and we all know that my hair could use some volume.  I picked up some at Ulta and WOW!  Love it!

Nine West Yellow "Cyndi" Flats

Speaking of brights, I'm relatively sure that I need these Nine West flats ASAP.  They also come in adorable bright orange and teal.  I want to wear these with a navy skirt I got at Banana Republic on clearance for $15 and a coral cardigan from Target.

Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst

I just started this book yesterday, and I love it.  It's not about so much about dieting but about finding peace and satisfaction with your body and learning to crave God instead of other things.  It's about changing the dialogue in your mind and replacing it with scripture to battle cravings for things other than God.  I'm doing an online Bible study about this book through Proverbs 31 ministries, and it's free! You can check it out here if you're so inclined.

What's brightening up your winter?