Introducing Coral 8

I love it when a new shoe brand comes on the scene, especially one that is trying to improve the offerings in the vegan and sustainable category.

 Coral 8 is a new business bringing some cute new styles with non-animal based materials.

Their Zooey pumps are super cute. The black and white is a classic combo but the gold glitter is really jumping out at me in a fun way.

The Bell lace-up comes in a bunch of different combos but I like the tri-tone the best.

Who couldn't use a sweet cap-toe flat, especially in coral and cream.  The Alicia ballet flat has you covered with this and creme/gold and black/black patent.

And I wear the heck out of driving flats, especially in the summer with cropped jeans or shorts.  So comfy and colorful. I'd select the royal blue Michelle but their green and black versions are great too. 

I'm really looking forward to see how they continue to expand their collection.  There are a number of other options including some very fun peep-toes and some work-appropriate options.

They are reasonably priced too so tons of positives all around!

What a Minx

A great lifestyle shot of gorgeous shoes in action goes a long way to peak my interest.

Case in point - How fabulous do these Nasty Gal Minx lucite heels look in this shot?

They're so breezy and summery.  I love the almond toe and cruelty-free materials.  Plus the heel is so fun.

And for $88 they are on trend but inexpensive enough to not worry if they are too seasonal or trendy.

Now if they only started at a size 35, I'd be set!

5 Years of Thanks

This year is going to be our 5th year having a vegan Thanksgiving.  And I'm thankful for that every single day!

Turkeys are such wonderful, sweet, compassionate animals.  It's so horrible to think of the abuses they go through - not only through genetic manipulation but how they are forced to live, that they are killed early and the actual gross physical abuse they are subjected to at the facilities.

I'm so glad we have our beautiful boy Jake with us.  He is a great reason to be thankful too!

Each year about 45 MILLION turkeys will be killed for this "holiday". That's a lot of violence on a day when we are meant to be expressing peace and gratitude.

The great thing about traditions is that they are so easy to change and/or create. Do something more than once and you have a new tradition!

We've had a compassionate, no-turkeys-or-other-animals-killed meal for going on 5 years now. Our

 meal includes: stuffing, root veggie mash or mashed potatoes (or both!), asparagus, Brussels sprouts, salad, pumpkin-herb rolls, gravy, fresh orange cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, apple pie and ice cream. Our "centerpiece" food have been Field Roast's Celebration Roast and their Hazelnut Cranberry Roast En Croute. This year we are going to add stuffed, maple-glazed roasted acorn squashes.

Just sub out a few ingredients and 1 item and your celebration becomes thankful, caring and compassionate. A TRUE celebration for the season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Autumn Goodies from Sugar Bean Bakery

Equal to my love of shoes is my love of baking.  And what's as much fun as accessorizing is picking out all the displays I want to use and my packaging.

In the Spring I did a booth for my bakery, Sugar Bean Bakery, and this past weekend was the Fall event.  Spring was all pinks and yellows and mint green but Fall calls for a different color scheme.  So I went with orange, creme, gold, dark brown and green.  This leads to new signage, vintage tablecloths and matching cake stands.  And the flavors included cinnamon, pumpkin, walnuts and nutmeg.

I ended up making:

Pumpkin whoopie pies
Apple Oat muffins
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins
Vanilla cupcakes with autumn leaves
Cinnamon coffee cakes with walnut crumble
Spice cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting
Brownies with and without nuts
Spooky chocolate cupcakes
Lollipops in orange, lemon, chocolate and butterscotch
Rock candy sticks in orange and apple

We even served hot mulled cider and lemon-thyme water.

Admittedly, I do get a bit out of control with the decor (mini-topiary price holders!) but it's such fun I can't resist.

We had a great event and nearly sold out.  All the proceeds are going to The Gentle Barn (we do a different charity each time) and I can't wait until the Spring show!

More pictures on Flicker.

Sweet Dreams from Sugar Bean Bakery

I have been sooo busy in the last few weeks. From traveling for work, to just working, I feel like I've been out of action.

 But I had to add one more thing to my plate. It was a ton of work, but also a ton of fun.

 I decided to do a Sugar Bean Bakery booth at a local art show on Saturday.  I spent a good 12+ hours baking and packaging and a few days before that planning my decor.  When Saturday came around, I was glad it wasn't raining!  I pulled out my favorite cake stands and set up my goodies.

All proceeds are going to a local farm animal refuge that is in development and, since we totally sold out, I will be getting to give them $360!

I really really loved my booth (as you can tell from the tons of pictures with more going on Flicker), making delicious vegan goodies and can't wait to do it again in the fall!

Ensemble du Jour: 7-6-11

Yeah!  An outfit post!

I really need to try to find time to take these in the morning because, as you can see, the lighting in my house is "dim" to put it kindly. Dismal and cave-like would be more appropriate.

But, I was so happy with my outfit today I decided to take some shots anyways.  I made the mistake of going into Target last night and ended up with a bunch of stuff. Some of it needed, none of it pricey ($8 tanks, tees and yoga capris, yes please! $19 comfy cute dresses, okay! Robe so I stop scaring the neighbors, yep!) and perfect for wearing to work and on weekends.

The first thing I wanted to wear was this really cute stripey jersey tank dress. And then I saw the bright apple green 3/4 sleeve cardi.  I have to admit here that I am hopeless at mixing patters.  I love it on others, aspire to it and then fall into the trap of matchy-matchy all the time.  So here's my happy little mixing outfit... I paired black and white stripes with a leopard belt and shoes.

WHOA!!!!

I know, I know, CRAZY TIME!!!!

This dress is so cute I got in solid red too.  Get ready for, wait for it... color-blocking!  Shut the font door!

It does have this nice little princess-seaming element.  Not a bad little detail for a less-than-$20 dress.

I'm loving the color/pattern combo. 

For jewelry, I'm also mixing but more like matching - my Wendy Brandes "Chicken on Nest" necklace and my new "vegan" hen necklace from Julep115 via Etsy.

For shoes I wore my Coach (circa 2003-2004???) Tully leopard/oscelot kitten heels.

I do love a good kitten heel.

Grosgrain bows and heel detail.

I took a bunch more shots tonight so I have a lot to share over the next few days.

Onward into year five!