Spring Shoe Shopping Fun {Spring 2013}

I love shoes. I think I get it from my grandmother, who was always put together. Wearing a cute pair of flats or new heels gives me a little confidence boost to get through the day. I like the idea that even if you gain or lose a little weight, your shoes (and your handbags) will still be there for you. I do not, however, have the budget to spend a lot on shoes these days. As much as I'd love to own a pair of Louboutins, I tend to buy inexpensive, trendy footwear pieces these days. I look cute for a season or two, get a bunch of compliments on my footwear, and then I can donate them (or discard if they are too roughed up). I thought it would be fun to share some pics of affordable shoes I spotted online this week. A virtual shoe shopping trip!

source

Confession. I do shop at Payless. No, not the best quality...but if you're looking for adorable shoes at rock bottom prices, this is your spot. I get more compliments on footwear from Payless than I do on the pricier pieces I've found in department and shoe stores!

Love these yellow khorus sandals:

These colorful pumps could go cartoonish quickly, but with the right outfit, they could work:

These wedges caught my eye...I don't normally do orange, but I like these:

How precious are these bow flats?

A nice, "plain" black flip flop with a little bit of shine to it. 

Let's head to Target, shall we?

I think these ballet flats are fun (on clearance too):

Ya gotta love an espadrille!

Believe it or not, these metallic cap toe flats are from Wal-Mart!

 As are these precious flower strap thong sandals:

I spotted these beaded sandals from Jessica Simpson on DSW's site. $50 is a bit more than what I'd spend on sandals these days, but I love me some sparkly stuff.

I also love these Steve Madden Pumps, even if they're $80. 

I could do this all day, people! I think I am attracted to "showy" shoes and accessories because they can quickly dress up a plain outfit and you can mix and match with them. 

Have you been shoe shopping lately? What's your favorite style for Spring?

Don't forget to bring your party hats tomorrow. Bring your best post of the week...the weekly link party is scheduled to go live at 8 am (ET). Home Decor, Crafts, DIY, Recipes, Tips and Tricks, Party Ideas, Organizing...it's all welcome. I can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve. Features will be up on Saturday and Sunday, so link up early!

Here's the code for the button in case you'd prefer to use that instead of a text link back:

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If you enjoyed this post or found it helpful, I hope you'll click your "Pin It" button to add this post to Pinterest, or a +1 for Google+. And I always appreciate kind comments!

Printable Kids' Chore and Responsibility Charts

I have a couple of cute homey projects I'm working on, but the dreary weather in Virginia has made photographing anything difficult. And, quite frankly, my house isn't "photo ready" this week. There are areas in our downstairs that look like the Toys 'R Us stock truck backed up and unloaded on the floors. Which leads me to today's post, Printable Chore and Responsibility Charts for Kids.

One of the things I'm committed to on this blog is to share openly when I can. I've been frustrated with my kiddos lately. The girls are five and seven, and I know I can do a better job of requiring them to contribute more to the upkeep of "their" areas, namely the play area and their shared room. And a lot of that boils down to me teaching them...and following through with my expectations. 

I'm tired of waiting until I step on a Barbie shoe or American Girl plastic cupcake in the dark and flip out because I have to walk through "trails" of toys littering the floor in their room. I've come up with some awesome creative storage options for their room (here, here, and here), but they tend to let the room revert to chaos before I go nuts and yell about the mess. And (honesty here) I usually end up just cleaning it up myself because it's just easier and faster and I have a Type A OCD Girl who lives deep in the recesses of my brain and she occasionally takes over and wants things to be "just so."

This isn't beneficial to anyone. It doesn't help me. I get cranky and spend time on their stuff when I should be folding laundry or getting dinner ready. It doesn't help them. They don't learn to take responsibility for their own belongings and they live in a rat's nest until I have a freak-out-attack and clean it all up. Not cool.

So, long story short, I rounded up some Printable Chore Charts to share here today. There are tons of cute options out there, but I definitely wanted something easy to put together, and Printables are about as easy as you can get!

Love the pretty chevron:

Source: ourcrazybusybunch.com via Amanda on Pinterest

A weekly version:

Source: leahremilletblog.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Chores, rewards, reading, etc:

Source: kidpointz.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I like the idea of laminating and reusing the same one:

Source: amyjdelightful.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

How to Make a Cafe Mocha at Home {Drink Recipe}

Two years ago, I shared a post on how to make the perfect cafe mocha. It's one of my older posts that gets Pinned quite a bit, but Starbucks sadly quit selling their mocha mix. I wanted to do an update today! I was a little sad cranky devastated there for awhile, until I decided to come up with my own mocha mix recipe. I played around with staple pantry ingredients, and was pleased to come up with a Cafe Mocha Recipe that you can make on your own at home...without purchasing pricey store mixes or syrups!

I'll be reusing some of the photos from the old recipe post because the steps haven't really changed...just the ingredients for the mocha part. As I said before, even if you're not a caffeine fan, it's cool to be able to mix up fun and fancy espresso drinks for guests. And places like Wal-Mart and Target sell very inexpensive espresso makers...you can easily make up for the expense by making your drinks at home versus spending money at the coffee shop three times a week!

Ingredients for your Cafe Mocha:

-1 Tablespoon Hershey's Naturally Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (on every baking aisle)

-1 Tablespoon Sugar

-Dash of salt

-Espresso Roast (Regular or Decaf) **This is NOT the same as regular coffee! You really do need espresso to make a real cafe mocha/espresso drink!**

- 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of Milk (skim, 2%, or whole-- it's your call)

- 1 Tablespoon Flavored Syrup (optional)

Recipe Instructions:

1. Combine the cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in your mug and add 2 Tablespoons of hot water. Stir until dissolved...it makes a syrup. Set mug aside.
*
This is not the same as pouring Hershey's chocolate syrup in with your coffee. This recipe is really more of what you'd order at a coffee shop.

2. Measure out your espresso roast. For one serving, I usually fill it to the 2 or 4 line...sometimes less if I want to water down my caffeine intake if I don't have the decaf roast on hand.

3. When your espresso is finished brewing according to the machine instructions, you can pour about half of it into your mug and stir really well. If you don't want to steam your milk, you can add the milk at this point and just microwave to the temperature you want it to be (I've had to do this since my steam application broke).

4. For a small to medium size mug, you'll want to measure out about 1/2 cup of milk. I do 3/4 cup for really big mugs. You can use a measuring cup to froth your milk like I am here, or a frothing mug. I picked a frothing mug up from IKEA for about $6. I prefer skim milk, but I've been using whole milk because that's what my kids drink. Almond milk and soy milk are also delicious alternatives!

5. Place the cup of milk under the frothing tip, making sure it doesn't touch the bottom of your cup. Slowly turn the steam application on and watch your milk steam!

6. Add your milk and then the rest of the espresso to the mug and stir well. You can also add in a Tablespoon of flavored syrup for an extra punch of flavor. Torani's peppermint or sugar-free raspberry are my faves.

7. Top the whole thing off with some whipped cream and Hershey's chocolate syrup. Caramel can be fun too. It makes such a pretty drink!

If you're a coffee shop addict, you really can save a lot of money by making your own espresso drinks at home! I'm so glad I remembered to post this update--no more buying mixes from the coffee shop. You can make your own mocha mix with pantry staples!

I play around with the amount of sugar I add in mine (usually a bit less than what the recipe calls for). It's fun to create custom drinks at play dates and get-togethers. I've loaded up all my coffee stuff and played barrista at brunches before...it adds a nice touch to a Book Club or Movie Night In.

What's your favorite coffee or espresso beverage?

If you enjoyed this post or found it helpful, I hope you'll click your "Pin It" button to add this post to Pinterest, or a +1 for Google+. And I always appreciate kind comments!

Mega Bloks Barbie Play Date {and Girls' Toy Review}

I recently had the chance to host a fun girlie play date in my home for my five year old and some of her little friends. The folks at Mega Bloks asked if Michaela Byrd would like to try out their new Mega Bloks® Barbie® Build ‘n Style line, and we readily agreed. I wanted to share some pics from the play date and a quick review of the toy line today. Here's an inside look at our Mega Bloks® Barbie® Play Date:

Mega Bloks sent a great assortment of goodies our way, including the Mega Bloks® Barbie® Build ‘n Style Luxury Mansion and the Mega Bloks® Barbie® Build ‘n Style Pool Party. They also sent a "goody bag" for each girl to take home with them: the Mega Bloks® Barbie® Build ‘n Style Fashion Stand or the Mega Bloks® Barbie® Ice Cream Cart.

It was like Christmas in February!

T and I took a look at the boxes the night before the big play date and we decided that it might be a good idea to save the girls some time and put together the larger toys (the mansion and the pool) before the party.

I am so glad we did! The bags of pieces took some time to organize, although the directions were fairly easy to follow. Unless your five year old is a very experienced builder, I recommend having an adult on hand for the building process (with the larger sets). I think the choice to "pre-build" saved a lot of frustration with the moms and guests on the morning of the play date.

As you can see, I had a hard time keeping Michaela Byrd out of the dining room before her friends arrived. Luckily, Natalie was at school, so I didn't have to keep two of them out!

I don't normally decorate for play dates, but this was a special occasion, so we used some of the supplies left over from Michaela Byrd's Barbie Birthday Party last month. Our Valentine decorations also went perfectly with the color scheme! And, of course, the toys are their own "decoration." The guests spotted them the second they walked in the door. Snacks included donut holes, goldfish crackers, juiceboxes, and homemade coffee cake and coffee for the moms.

As our guests arrived, they each chose a small Mega Bloks toy to open and assemble with the moms' help. Then it was a Barbie free-for-all in my dining room!

The smaller sets took almost no time to put together, and the older girls were able to assemble them with little to no help at all. The moms all exclaimed over how cute the "dolls" and accessories are. I had some extra activities planned, but the girls were having so much fun with the toys that I hated to tear them away...always a sign of a good play date!

I think the play date was a huge success. The girls were introduced to a super-fun new set of toys and got to take home a fun new treat, and the moms had a chance to chat for a bit. Win-win!

My girls have enjoyed playing with their Mega Bloks® Barbie® Build ‘n Style Luxury Mansion and Mega Bloks® Barbie® Build ‘n Style Pool Party over the past few weeks. Natalie has lots of pieces that go to another building set brand, so it's been cool for Michaela Byrd to have her own now. There are so many cute little accessories and details!

I appreciate the fact that Mega Bloks has really made these pieces affordable. I've seen the sets at both Wal-Mart and Target, and I love that they sell small "doll separates" for less than $10. The Barbie usually comes with a spare outfit and/or hair, accessories, and an "extra" like a dog and dog house, travel agent center, birthday party set., etc. My only complaint would be that the wings of the mansion can be hard to snap (and stay) together, but they do better on a very flat surface like our table.

Thanks to Mega Bloks for a wonderful event for my five year old and her friends!

What are your kids into lately?

If you enjoyed this post or found it helpful, I'd love for you to click your "Pin it" button to add this post to Pinterest, or a +1 for Google+. And I always appreciate kind comments!


Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Mega Bloks and MomSelect. I received free product in exchange for this post, but I was not compensated financially.

More Highlighted Links--Share Your Best Post!

Hello, hello! If you're here to link up to Weekend Bloggy Reading, it's open for new links until 10 pm (ET) tonight. Please share your best post of the week with us...crafts, recipes, home decor, book reviews--all kinds of posts are welcome.

On Saturdays and Sundays, I like to share fabulous projects from the link party with my readers. I add many of these Features to my Pinterest page as well as Facebook, so be sure to link back in your post!

Here are a few links from Weekend Bloggy Reading that caught my eye:

~How to Hem (No Sew) Curtains and Add Painted Stripes via SAS Interiors

~Blueberry Coffee Cake via Redfly Creations

~Eclectic Braided Necklace via The Scrap Shoppe