Loyalty Programs - Which Are Worth It?

This is kind of a random post since I haven't blogged in forever, but it's almost a new year - so why wait a couple more days to start working on my resolutions?
Anyway, as I was holiday shopping it got me thinking about all these apps, rewards, and loyalty programs. So I'll tell you what I'm a fan (and not a fan) of, and please let me know what I should sign up for in the comments! After all, it's time to spend our Christmas money: )

Love it!

Banana Republic Visa
I was actually pretty upset when I received my Banana card, first assuming that it was an in-store card and not a regular Visa that I could use anywhere. Then they began sending me so many offers! In the last couple months alone, I've earned about $70 in rewards that can be used at BR, Gap, Old Navy, Athleta, or Piperlime. Then I normally save my rewards for a trip to the Banana Republic Factory Outlet store and use my extra AAA 10% off for amazing deals. It's been so worth it - with no other credit card can you rack up that many rewards - that I know of. I will say I get way too many emails from Banana though.

Starbucks
I was super mad when Starbucks 'revamped' their program a while back, taking away the free soy milk and syrups. I'm still bummed about that, but I've noticed a whole lot more offers lately - it seems like once or twice a week I'll get an email for 50% off a drink or bogo food. If I can't have my soy milk for free, they made up for it with lots of deals!

MyPoints
Yes, the site is slightly iffy, but I have had so much success with MyPoints! If you shop online a lot (who doesn't?), you can earn points from most retailers just by getting to their website via MyPoints. Although not all retailers participate (most purchases from Amazon don't count), I'm always surprised how many do - Threadless was my biggest surprise this year. Anyway, the points add up and then you spend them on gift cards. It's definitely been worth it for me!

Meijer - mPerks
I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan where there's basically a Meijer on every corner. Since I shop there anyway, I'm so happy they have mPerks. When gas shot up, they were there with a 20 cent mPerks discount. They also often have a deal on avocados, and lots of times they will do 5% off your entire grocery purchase or $5 off $50 or more. What more can I ask for?

Leave it!

Panera Bread
I used to love Panera because I only got to go to one when I took a shopping trip out of town. Now that I have them at my convenience, I'm often disappointed with my order when I go to one, and definitely disappointed in their rewards program. You sign up and they say you will randomly get rewards, like a surprise. I got quite a few right away, and then it totally dropped off. I'd rather know I'm working towards something, I guess! Sorry Panera, you're not worth the slot in my wallet. Do any of you disagree?

Not sure of these!

What do you think? I just signed up for Ulta, so I don't know what to expect, I just know they have good coupons. Sephora's doesn't really seem worth it to me - but maybe I just don't shop there enough. I do love my little birthday surprise every year though! Walgreens is a place I'm trying to shop at a little more, but it seems to be taking forever to reach my first $5 reward. And I don't think Anthropologie signed me up right, I never get their emails and my card wasn't connected to my email. Hmm.

I don't want this post to be too long, so I'll follow up with another one soon - I have way more cards than I realized!!

Helping Kitties through TNR

I've made a few furry friends lately that have caused me to feel so many different feelings. The six little guys below are living around my house, so being the cat lover that I am, obviously I had to help. I can't find anyone to adopt, all the no-kill shelters are full, and I refuse to take them somewhere that will euthanize them. I decided instead to go the TNR route through a local organization called Carol's Ferals, who's aim is to end feline over-population. TNR = trap neuter return, so that means getting these babies fixed and then setting them free again. 

So to make a long story short, I've taken in two so far to be fixed - the white mama, and one of the black and white ones that we named Bran. I just picked them up tonight, and Bran seemed just fine but Mama had some scratches under her eyes and her face was puffy. I also agreed to have their ears 'tipped' - the top tip of their left ear is clipped off to show that they've been fixed. This stuff isn't easy! I also felt guilty that she was away from the rest of her babies for a couple of days. Everyone is reunited tonight, though, and I'm going to try and get the other four in before we leave for our Turkey and Greece vacation. 

Have you ever done anything like this? I hope the kitties know that I'm just trying to help! Anyway, if you want to help out, I set up a fundraiser here. Even a dollar helps, friends!

Beautiful mama!

Brave, Bran, Pipsqueakers, Moomoo, and Grey

Bran, Brave, and Mama

Brave:3

Unconventional Workouts

Anyone else out there hate working out? I like exercise, and I know it's good for me, but the concept of paying money and taking two hours of my day preparing, going to, and cleaning up after the gym has never appealed to this girl. I also don't have enough self-motivation at home to workout, I hate to run, and I really don't think yoga is for me, so what to do?
I find unconventional means. I primarily play Just Dance 4 or Dance Dance Revolution. I know it's a little silly, but I love to dance and I'm sweating just as much as I would be at any gym. Any of you go this route? What could be better than learning some sweet dance moves and getting fit at the same time?! Also, who's excited for the release of Just Dance 2014 this October?

Dance on!

I'm Baaaaack

I haven't blogged in two months, and I don't really have an excuse for that. What I do have though, is several good excuses to begin again! I think I was trying to hard to blog like every day, but that's just not me. So I'm going to go with the flow, hopefully impress you with my new Canon Rebel shots (none yet though), and just blog what I feel!

Croatia last June.

You probably don't know that I head to Turkey and Greece for two and a half weeks in less than a month. I've been really focusing on how to pack light. It's hard for me because I honestly don't want to wear the same outfit four times like all the tips suggest, but I have taken some advice to heart, or I plan to at least.

Have any of you been to Turkey (Istanbul or Cappadocia) or Greece (Athens, Santorini, Mykonos)? I'd love to hear your travel secrets, best things to see, and packing suggestions. Did it get chilly at night? Did you find more souvenirs than you'd imagined? What are your favorite shoes/sandals that are comfy and cute? Will I really feel that out of place if my legs and shoulders aren't covered? Please fill me in!

That's all for now, but I'm happy to be back!

Arrested Development Season 4!

Are you loving season 4 of Arrested Development? I have two episodes left to go, and then several re-viewings, but overall I love it. Maybe not exactly what I expected, but I just love so much that fans wanted this show back and everyone who needed to make it happen did just that. I always felt guilty that I had no idea this show existed until it was over, so I'm feeling a lot better that I was part of the push that resulted in a comeback!

So did you host a #bluthparty? Andrew and I (Mr. Manager) had our friends Scott (Buster), Amalia (Lucille), and Gaby (claimed to be Maeby) over and we had catering by ICE and frozen bananas, which are actually pretty amazing. I made a banner, put a dead dove (bag) in the freezer, led a Bluth drinking game, and we had many laughs. It was such a joyous day!

Have you download the new A Beautiful Mess app? Solid use of $0.99!!

My banner - pre-strung or hung. 

So good, and very fun/easy to make. The above was double dipped - GOB style. We have leftovers, too! Don't mind if I do.

I'd LOVE to hear about your party!

Currently

Since I have let myself go without blogging for so long, I need a prompt. Currently...

Watching
Game of Thrones season 3 has two episodes left. I read ahead and finished the corresponding book. I've been stressing about how they will fit everything into this season, when I found out they are not covering the whole book this season. Who will die?!?!?
Also, Arrested Development season 4 is happening this Sunday. I am so excited! We are also having a couple fun things like frozen bananas and catering by ICE. Are you doing anything for the big day?

Listening to
Not enough. NPR, Kate Nash's newest album, and random stuff on Spotify. Music suggestions? Send them my way!

Planning
Our trip to Turkey and Greece in late summer. We bought the plane tickets a while ago and haven't done much else. Now it's time to start booking a boat, a villa, etc. It's getting kind of expensive, but otherwise I'm excited!

Thinking about
Lots of things. I just started a new job, got some good news from the doctor, and had a fun trip to San Francisco and Napa. But I'm a worrier as well, so I always have something on my mind. I'm so happy that it's finally warm outside and that my allergies are finally letting up!
Oh, and I'm thinking about those in Oklahoma. That's scary stuff.

Looking forward to
My first paycheck from my first "real job."
Also, this weekend! We are celebrating Memorial Day with friends and also watching Arrested Development. If it's warm enough, I think we'll head to the beach as well.

Reading
Well, I finally finished the third Game of Thrones book, and then I whipped right through Lean In, which I highly recommend. Now I'm working on re-reading our book club book (my pick!), The Lords of Discipline, and a couple other books like Change by Design and Quiet.

Making me happy
Watching my cat Stevie sleep right now. He's all sprawled out on his back like this:

Goodnight!

As of Late: Instagram

I haven't posted much at all lately! Besides being busy, which I really have been, can you believe all the flooding we've been having and on top of that it's not even been warm - it snowed three mornings ago! The forecast finally looks like winter might be behind us though, so I'm eager for sun and inspiration. In the meantime, here's what I've been up to.

The sun's been coming up earlier and the birds are singing songs again. Stevie is enthralled by them and often tweets back.

Andrew and I finally tried out Two Beards Deli in downtown Grand Rapids. It was hard to choose what to get because they have several vegan and vegetarian choices! We'll be back again.

I made puppy chow! There have to be unhealthier ways to eat chocolate and peanut butter, I'd imagine.

Just another Stevie shot. He is such a sweetie.

Grand Rapids has a place called Marge's Donut Den. It is totally authentic and wonderful, and I realized I don't even live too far away from it! Marge was nice enough to donate her treats to a press conference I was a part of.

The press conference was for the 2013 Festival of the Arts poster unveiling! I am a volunteer on the PR team. Above is artist Abbey Bradley with her design. I also found out that she is going to TEDx, as am I! Cannot wait for that.

And here is my baby girl Ellie, who is not such a baby anymore. She has been a little cranky this weekend, but last night she looooved playing with her feather. ^.^

Follow me on Instagram!

Best Shopping Apps for Saving Money

I grew up in a household with a mother who was constantly bargain hunting. She'd only get certain things if they were on sale and she had a coupon. She would take advantage of double coupons, price matching, and using a manufacturer and store coupon at the same time. Some people may think this is a waste of time, but it's basically free money, at least to me! I caught on to the thrill of the hunt, and my boyfriend thinks it's silly that I look at the online ad, gather up my list and my coupons, and then go to the store. But I think it's smart. We can spend our money on other things if we save it where we can. Some of my friends have also noticed all the great deals I get, so I thought I'd write a post about a few tips and also a couple apps that I use to stretch my dollars further.

shopkick is a free app that turns shopping into a game. When you enter certain stores (Target, Best Buy, and Macy's to name a few), you open up the app and a bubble comes up that you pop to get your "kicks." When you've reached a certain number of kicks, you can exchange them for a reward, like a gift card. There are also coupons within the app, lookbooks to browse, and you can earn even more kicks by looking for specific items in the store and scanning them. Yes, it takes a little extra time, but don't most of us go to Target knowing that we won't quite stick to our list anyway? I haven't redeemed my kicks yet, but after using the app for a few months mainly just when I go to Target, I have enough for the $5 gift card rewards.

Endorse is a really cool app, that I'm able to take advantage of maybe once a month or so. Endorse gives you about 15 or so offers each week - like 10% off fast food or 20% off Nature Valley Granola Bars. If you buy those items, you upload a photo of your receipt to Endorse. Then they give you some money back. It's that simple. They also have a component where you get points that equal money for charity. Just now as I was reading the site, I realized that you get charity points for every receipt you upload, even if no offers are involved. I wish I would have realized that sooner! Some examples of offers I've gotten - 50% off champagne or beer (around New Year's) and 10% off any brand of pet food. You should definitely download the app. Once you hit $25 you can get a check, otherwise you can have your earnings put in your PayPal account. Very cool and super easy way to save money!
Disclaimer - the link above is a referral link - please use it : )

I was going to talk about Meijer's app, but I know that's sort of a midwest thing. If you do shop at Meijer though, make sure you sign up for their mPerks program.


So what apps do you use or tricks do you have to save money? I'd also love to know which stores are worth getting a credit card at or signing up for their email list. I may do another post about that and also one about getting the most free stuff around your birthday! Happy Saturday! I cannot believe there is snow on the ground here...

Do Me a Favor?

Hello everyone! I entered my mom in this World Market mother's day contest, and I was really hoping you'd take a moment and go to this link to vote for her! I'm way far behind, but it's still somewhat realistic that she could win, so pretty please?! If she does win, I'll make sure I reward you all with a great giveaway!

Vote Here!

April Floods Bring What Exactly?

Rain, rain go away

Come again some other

Photo from mLive

Photo from WOODTV8

Photo from WOODTV8

day.

Ode to Oberon

Dear Oberon,

You taste much nicer than you did last year, and with this winter dragging along so late, you are a welcome sign that summer is near. As I wade through day 3 of five 100%-chance-of-rain-y days, I am happy to call you my friend. I pity those who have not tasted you and cannot buy you in their stores. Michigan isn't good for many things (more than you think though), but you are one of them. Thank you for being you. 

Love,

Angela

Weekly Wrap-Up

J. Crew Factory stores had a half off sale last week! I bought a pretty dress.

Here are my favorite posts of the week:
This spaghetti squash alfredo from Jenny at Everyday is a Holiday looks soooo good. And it's vegetarian!
Oh my goodness, these mushroom sugar cookies from Kaylah over at The Dainty Squid look delicious and are beautiful! She also made letters and teeth - I am so impressed!
I love Vanessa from Vanessa Chloe's World's five favorites. I think I might borrow this blog idea and share a few of my current favorite things later this week!
Gentri Lee went south and shared some gorgeous photos. I've been to Austin, Texas and LA but really no where in between. I'd love to go!
I love this post from A Cup of Jo about making your own salad dressing for the week. Not only is it easy, but it is way better for you than store bought dressing. Eat healthy!
I'm not really into nail art myself, but I like this coral ombré idea from Lily Pebbles because she used a different color on each finger. Really pretty!
Mmm, I used to hate rosemary but I've been coming around. The ladies from A Beautiful Mess posted a recipe that I've been eager to try - Rosemary Lemonade. It looks divine!

Best thing I ate this week:
I'm just going to throw it out there. Qdoba naked vegetarian burrito. I seriously love Qdoba. Do you have them where you are? Everyone is all crazy over Chipotle, but I don't get it. I also had a delicious bloody mary from a fun bar we have here in Grand Rapids, Stella's.

Favorite day of the week:
On Wednesday, I received my official offer letter for my first "real" job ever! It's been three years since I finished my coursework, two since my internship, and over one since I had to start paying on my student loans, so I'm really excited! Finally!

Best purchase of the week:
In addition to buying a bunch of great clothes on sale from J. Crew and Kohl's last weekend and then getting compliments all week, Andrew and I ordered a couch yesterday. We've been sitting on a cheap futon for years, so we're really excited for it to arrive! I love the throw pillows that come with it. Pictures soon!

Something I learned this week:
That hard work really will pay off in the end!

Lovely Llorys Turns 90!

Gotcha! The internet isn't even that old! But the namesake of my blog, Llorys, my grandmother, turned 90 about two weeks ago. If you haven't read my about me, my middle name is Llorys after my grandma, as is my mother's, so that's where I got the idea for my blog name. I still like it after a year, which is about how old Lovely Llorys the blog is, but enough about that, here's my grandma!

Llorys was born on March 21st, 1923 in Minnesota. I looked up the year 1923 to see what was going on. Time Magazine debuted, Yankee Stadium opened its doors for the first time, the Hollywood sign was inaugurated in California (it said Hollywoodland back then), Disney was founded, and the first refrigerator was sold in Sweden.

My grandma lived through some major changes. She recalls WW2 and dealing with ration coupons. She considered herself an old maid when she was married at 24 (I'm 24!). She has no interest in getting a cell phone or computer. Just to impress/motivate you, she still drives, lives alone in the house my mom and siblings grew up in, and has no major health issues.

For her 90th birthday, my mom and aunts had contacted some people to card-bomb her. Not only did friends, family, and extended friends send her cards, but she received something from the Detroit Tigers, Barack Obama, our state senator Carl Levin, Mickey Mouse, and the "special tribute" shown above from the state of Michigan. How cool!

My grandma is a very cool lady. She has a monkey collection and also collects Woody (from Toy Story) things. She has a very good sense of humor and is still "with it." She even knows who Justin Bieber is, and made me feel silly for asking if she did. I'm very lucky to still have her in my life!

Here's to 90 more years!

Earth-Friendly Tip!

Happy April! I am all for making the whole month about the earth instead of just one day, so I'll try to share some sustainability tips with you. Here's my first helpful hint!

Don't you hate the way some things are packaged? Like at some point I can't get anymore toothpaste/shampoo/body wash/lotion out of its container, and I feel like I've been cheated. And more than I hate wasting money, I hate waste in general. So I have a nifty little trick to share (you've probably already thought of this, but in case you haven't)! 

I use a pan scraper, or if you don't have that, something with a flat edge that's somewhat thin and sturdy. Starting at the end furthest from the opening, use the scraper to push whatever's left to the other end. Then find some sort of handy container and both your hands' squeezing power to empty the contents into your container. With toothpaste, you can't really empty it into anything else, but at least you can squeeze more out of it! 

Then find a cool store near you like Tree Huggers or participate in Terracycle to be even more earth friendly and recycle your tube! 

What tricks do you have for reducing waste or making life easier? I'd love to hear!

Fresh Spring Rolls

Edit 1/12/14: Here from Pinterest? Good day to you! This is my most viewed blog post, due to many repins on Pinterest. I know I'm not very specific with my ingredient amounts, so please feel free to leave a question in the comments if you need help. Also, if you ended up making these, I'd LOVE to see a photo! Thanks! -Angela

Happy (technical) spring to you! The weather here still has not let up! It's proving difficult to sustain sanity while I wait for sun and warmth, but I did kick off the season with one of my favorite recipes! Have you ever had fresh spring rolls? They are one of my most favorite guilt-free snacks. I went to a dinner party last night and they were my contribution. And why yes, I'd love to share my recipe with you: ) 

Fresh Thai Spring Rolls:

For the rolls, combine the following:
Carrots
Cucumber
Iceberg Lettuce
Cilantro
Basil
Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Maifun Rice Noodles
Juice of 1 lime
TBSP of peanut oil
Then soak spring rolls wrappers in warm water until soft, and roll!

Whisk these ingredients to create the peanut sauce:
Peanut Butter
Sweet Thai Chili Sauce (red)
White vinegar
Brown sugar
Juice of 1 lime
Soy sauce
Just keep tasting it until you reach the desired taste and consistency. (I barely use any brown sugar or vinegar, but lots of PB and sweet chili sauce).

These can't sit around all day. Make them and enjoy immediately! So delicious: )

Living the Frugal Life

This post is brought to you by CampusBookRentals.com! I'm personally done with school, at least for now, but I know many of you still are at it, so here's another resource when looking for affordable textbooks!

CampusBookRentals.com provides lots of great perks:
-save 40-90% off of bookstore prices

-free shipping both ways
-can highlight in the textbooks
-15 days grace period
-flexible renting periods

Campus Book Rentals also recently launched a program to rent your old books to other people. They've found that you will make 2-4 times more than if you sell your book back to the store (and in my experience, the store won't even buy it back half the time). Learn more about this at RentBack.com!

Couldn't find straight up photos of me with textbooks, but here is a flashback - studying for my first set of college finals! Seems like forever ago...

So before I let you go, let's talk about Operation Smile for a minute! Did you know that a cleft palate can cause ear disease and dental problems? It can also impair speech and make it difficult to eat and drink. Approximately 1 in 500-700 births result in a cleft palate.


Operation Smile mobilizes a world of generous hearts to heal children's smiles and transform lives across the globe. They believe that all children deserve to live their lives with dignity, and that for those suffering from cleft lip, cleft palate or other facial deformities, dignity begins with a smile. Driven by a universal compassion for children, they work worldwide to repair childhood facial deformities by delivering safe, effective surgery and related medical care directly to patients.


Campus Book Rentals donates to Operation Smile with each book rented!

Not only are you getting a great deal on an originally overpriced book, but you're donating to a great cause. As you start looking at books for summer classes or selling back books at the end of the spring semester, consider CampusBookRentals.com so you can spend your hard earned money on other, more important things!

Kate Nash

On St. Patrick's Day I got to see Kate Nash in concert for the very first time! I feel like I've loved her forever, so I was ecstatic when I found out she was coming to Grand Rapids! Here are a few pictures: )

She is so beautiful and wonderful and has the best voice you've ever heard. She is also a great advocate for women and mentioned more than once that certain words in her songs were "non-gender specific" and how if you're a woman and you want to make music how you shouldn't be afraid and you should just go for it! All this in a British accent, btw.

Her band was also all girls! As was the opening band, Supercute! If you haven't listened to Kate Nash, take this opportunity to check out her new album, Girl Talk. Her old albums are brilliant as well!

Check out Plan USA, the charity she is working with! They are doing great things.

Are you a fan yet?!

Bloglovin'

I'm sure many of you have heard that Google Reader is going to discontinue service as of July 1st, which is a huge bummer because that's mainly how I read the blogs I follow. Of course, that's how many of you follow me as well. I'm going to look into other options (and I'm sure a few will reveal themselves), but for now, please consider following me on bloglovin'. I promise to update more when the weather changes. Like I said the other day, I haven't been feeling the inspiration lately!

I have many fun things planned this year including looking into buying a DSLR camera (higher quality posts for you), traveling to Turkey and Greece, sharing many more outfit posts, and hopefully hosting lots of giveaways. I'd love to have you here, so I hope you'll stick around!

What are your St. Patrick's Day plans? Are you Irish? Irish I was, but I'm not! Heh. Anyway, here are my plans:

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Spring Is Coming (and Winter)

Just wanted to say a quick hello and let you know that I should have more time and energy to update soon. Here are a couple photos from Laughfest, which ends on Sunday. We've had a great time so far volunteering and attending, but I am a little tired!

Reasons why I don't have time/energy:

• I have a cold. Or it might be allergies. I can't tell but I hate that I have the sniffles/the watery eyes/the sneezes.
• Laughfest, although a wonderful event, is taking up lots of my time! 

Reasons why I will soon:

• Spring is almost here!!! The ugly black snow has finally melted and the sun's been out way more.
• With nice weather comes better photo opportunities. I wanted to do "what I wore" posts so many times in the last few months but gave up because I'd be wearing winter boots and a coat in every one of them. I can't wait for spring clothes!
• If you noticed the title of this post, Game of Thrones season 3 starts on the 31st!!! I am soooo pumped. 

World Record Holders

Good Saturday to you! I am a "lead" volunteer for a great event we have in Grand Rapids called Laughfest, which runs this year from March 7th - 17th! Laughfest supports our local Gilda's Club, named for SNL great Gilda Radner who was diagnosed with cancer, and as a result lost her funny. She eventually made the most of the remainder of her life but unfortunately lost her life to the disease. Luckily, her legacy lives on! Gilda's Club is a free and open place for those grieving to find their funny and be a part of a great community! Anyway, Laughfest directly supports this great organization and I'm volunteering for my third year, which is coincidentally the third year of Laughfest.

To kick off the festival, we always attempt (and succeed, obviously ) to break a world record! This year it was the most people to wear a fake mustache! Very fun. So my friends and I helped out:

Can you believe it - they actually ran out of mustaches! The previous record was 648 set in St. Louis. We more than doubled it with 1,544. And we would have had over 2,000 if the mustache supply was adequate!

Tonight several of my friends and I are going to see Joel McHale! I'm super excited because the rest of the festival is volunteer mode for me, where I may or may not get to see the show (crossing my fingers extra hard for Wayne Brady)!

Have you heard of Laughfest where you're from? And what do you have going on this weekend? Remember to smile!

My Giveaway Prize Arrived!

I recently won a fun "winter essentials" giveaway from Hey Miss Pickle, and my prizes arrived yesterday!!! (I actually have an additional prize too, a credit to Stranger Bird Vintage, so I'm waiting for the perfect piece to pop up in her shop). Anyway - here's what I received!

The contents were neatly contained in this lovely mesh bag from lolobag. This bag is super fun!

This is the loot! I'm excited to try the Nivea lip moisturizer! My lips are very picky and I currently use carmex, which is just stinky.

Stevie was very interested.

Hey Miss Pickle's adorable little zines! These are so cool and creative. Thanks for sharing: )

A pretty nail polish, some lovely bracelets, and two hair clips as well!

A brooch that was made out of recycled paper! Sustainability!

Here is the necklace from IndigoBean! (Sorry about the spit stains on the mirror). I love it! Thank you!

Thanks Miss Pickle! I LOVE everything! I'll let you know when I pick out my piece from Stranger Bird Vintage as well! Happy Hump Day!

Foodagram

I really do enjoy remembering the great things I ate, so I take pictures and make them pretty on Instagram. Haters, they gonna hate. And I'm gonna drool.

Lunch the other day - Morningstar veggie burger topped with cheese and lots of veggies, notably avocado. Also mozzarella sticks with marinara and granny smith apples, strawberries, and blackberries.

Vegan meal from a Symphony event we volunteered for. I'm not certain of all the ingredients, but the way they cook their tofu is excellent and to die for.

One of my favorite dishes to make - avocado enchiladas. I make the sauce myself and it is so worth the effort. This would be vegan if I didn't put the cheese on top, which makes it even more rewarding! Mmmm.

Someone at work had these! I asked where they got them and they let me try one! I'm so excited because of the viral youtube video from this summer, "Hot Cheetos and Takis."

White sangria. I'm on a white wine kick these days. I think I'd like red more if it was something people drank chilled.

And the vegan banana coconut cake I shared my recipe for. It's so good I can't even