That certain coffee cup!

Why is it that coffee seems to taste better if I drink it out of certain coffee cups? I think many people have those favorite mugs that they like to drink their coffee out of. I am drinking some really good coffee right now. I am still away visiting my family in Alabama and having a very nice time. My husband couldn't stay long so he is back home in Florida already. My son Kavi is having fun and entertaining the family with all the cute things he does.

We are going to meet my grandmother for lunch today at a downtown lunch place called "The Choice". It's only open for lunch Monday-Friday but all the people who work in the cute downtown area or live nearby head there and it stays busy all through lunch.

I am going to finish my really good cup of coffee now in a cup I picked out because it looked like I would enjoy drinking my coffee from it! So silly, but it's true!!

Hello Yellow

Hello Yellow by ChristinaD featuring Tibi flat shoes

I love the different shades of yellow in the items above. I again used www.polyvore.com, I can't get enough of that website.

I like the calm gray accents next to the bright yellows.

Lemons are so refreshing. I think during my pregnancy, the scent of fresh citrus was very soothing to me. I still love the smell of real lemon in things.

Here are some lemony items I found on etsy that look like they'd smell delicious!
(click pics to get to their listings)

Ms. Pucker Soy Candle

Lemon Blast votive

And here is a necklace I have listed on Artfire.com called "Lemon Tree Visitors":

As a promotion for all things lemon, I will give free shipping on the above necklace--just send me a message at Artfire, letting me know you read considerthecoffee! I will refund the shipping cost or reserve it for you ahead of time minus the shipping cost.

Anthropologie

We are having a good time with the family! Today we are going to go to Birmingham to look at stores and eat lunch out. A store I love looking at for decor inspiration is Anthropologie. The prices are just too high for my taste unless something is on clearance, but I love browsing the housewares and textiles there. And once in awhile you can actually find a great deal on something for the home. The bedding is to die for in my opinion. I just love most of the things they have there!!

Frame Inspiration and Family Time

I love the look of vintage frames painted white or bright and beautiful colors. I really want to do this around my house soon! IKEA also has a neat frames wall decal
Today I am getting ready for a trip to visit my family in Alabama. I will still be able to get online so I will update my blog still, just maybe not as often. We will see!
Some pictures of the area I am going (northeast AL), taken over 2 years ago in November 2006.

Here is a nice shot of the historic downtown area I found online

Internet Problems!

Our internet connection is not working very good. It is very intermittent! We have someone coming to the house tomorrow to find out what the problem is so hopefully it'll all get fixed by the afternoon!!

Pillows

I have some hope for my Etsy shop again. It has been very slow, only making one sale in almost two months. And that sale was to my mother! At least she lives in a different state than me!

My hope comes because I am going to be working on a custom pillow order from a lovely customer, who ordered from me as my last non-relative sale in February before we went to India. I had made these four birds for her, for cute decoration in her daughter's room. She just contacted me again about the new pillow so I am excited.

I also have been asked by a friend to make a bracelet featuring the orange blossom look of the necklace I recently listed.

I had been working on necklaces for a little bit but now I need to go back on working on pillow designs and ideas. I have ideas, I just haven't actually made them yet. I have cute fabrics laying around waiting to be made into something fun.

Brownies! and Plaid!

I recently ate the most delicious brownies, made by my cousin! The recipe is so simple, but they were so moist and rich and in my opinion the perfect brownie!!

The recipe is from my dear Aunt's collection of recipes that she gathered over years and years. My aunt passed away last year at the age of 54, too soon. But she left behind a wonderful legacy of her faith and also being one of the best cooks/bakers that we knew! Her recipes mean a lot to all of us.

Here's the recipe as given to me by my cousin:

"Rainbow Cafe Brownies"
Oven at 350 degrees
Bake for 25-30 mins, in an 8x8 pan

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons cocoa powder OR 2 squares bakers chocolate
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup nuts(optional, or add in any other extra you want)

That's it! My cousin used dark chocolate cocoa powder and that made them soooo good! The dark chocolate was not overwhelming, it just gave a nice rich flavor. The consistency of the brownies were great in my opinion.

I was looking around forever21's website yesterday. Without divulging too much info, let's just say their clothing runs small for someone like me! Their large looks small in many cases. Well they are releasing a new line of clothing for the "curvy" or "full figured" woman in May! That is exciting. Anyway while browsing I saw some cute items I had to post, even though the shirt is not from the new line. I love it!




I love the ruffles, and the buttons.







Some items that go well with it






Rose ring

Rosie Bangle

New "polyvore" set. And more links!

I'd like to sleep in here! by ChristinaD on Polyvore.com


I am still experimenting with polyvore and the thousands and thousands of items they have available. I love home decor and always wish I could do something new in parts of my house. This would be one of the styles I like. I guess it's a shabby chic kinda look? But I like when modern elements are also thrown in.

I am on the lookout for blogs to read that are about home decor, etsy related, or style related in general. As I said a couple days ago, I have found some fun blogs to read already. I have found many through Etsy, and then by reading other people's blogs I am finding even more stuff to read!

Some blogs worth checking out:

Bloesem - home decor section, but there seems to be various topics to read about!

Get Togetha -about all different things, home decor being one of them

Flickr gallery :

"There's no place like here" - great decor inspiration

A website I can't even understand but has cute things to look at:
VT Wonen

New Finds and Links

I have been excited to find new blogs to read lately. Sometimes I don't get lots of extra time to read other blogs, let alone write a long post in this one! But I am trying to be better about it.

I have found new blogs to follow and will always be on the lookout for more! It's fun when they post really cute home decor inspiration pictures. I need it. My house is mostly decorated but I wish I could completely change some decor. But I can't just go buy a bunch of new stuff at once!

Also, I will share links for the free blog background/templates sites I found:

Background Fairy - Very nice choices, got this one there! Very very easy to add to your blog and change the whole look.

My Blog Makeover - Just click "backgrounds", also easy to add! (I know b/c I experimented with some)

Simply Chic Blog Backgrounds - Good choices, but I had some issues with getting them to turn out right on my template, maybe others will have better luck!

Blogger Templates - A nice collection of templates(not just backgrounds). I couldn't decide on just one, so I didn't use any.

Also, it's best to use the template here on blogspot called "minima" with the background options. For entirely new templates, that's a different thing. But for easily adding a background, choose the minima template here in your template choices.

I made my "consider the coffee" header using a free online text image generator. It has lots of cool looking fonts, that you can make bigger or smaller, change the color, etc. Then copy/paste it into a simple Paint program on your computer if you don't have a new high tech kind of banner maker/photo program. I just use "paint". Save it as a .jpg or .gif and upload it on your blog template's layout Header. (In blogspot, under "Layout" and the Page Elements) Hopefully that didn't sound extremely confusing, hehe!

And for tomorrow, wishing you all:

Artfire

I recently opened a shop at Artfire as well, just to see what kind of traffic I'd get there. I only have three things listed right now though!

Visit coffeeandcream's ArtFire Shop

also want to tweek the way this blog looks, brighten it up a little. I've been looking around at templates but haven't really settled on anything yet! I'll have to take more time for that.

My daily kind of style

Daily Life Style by ChristinaD

I used that new fun website I found www.polyvore.com to put together these items. This is kind of what my daily style is. I don't have these exact items, except I DO have the old navy shoes with the pink bows and I love them. I had gotten them for around $7 on sale I believe. My clothing basics are jeans, similar to the ones shown, and cotton shirts that are comfortable but have a cute detail to them. I love necklaces these days too and earrings. My eyes are brown so I mostly wear colors that compliment brown like purple, gray, blues, etc. This was fun to put together!!

Shipping Sale!

FREE SHIPPING SALE ON ALL NECKLACES/PENDANTS!
Fri, April 3rd - Sun, April 5th
FREE SHIPPING on all necklaces and scrabble tile pendants, within the USA!
$1 off international shipping price!

Visit CoffeeandCream.etsy.com!

Let's see if I can make a sale this weekend!!

Also, I listed two new pillows for sale yesterday. Today I hope to list other items too---two sets of small bird shaped pillows. I also have a robot pillow ready for pictures!

Good morning!

I still haven't made my coffee yet today, will be doing that as soon as I am done on here! ;) My parents recently visited and my mom got some Seattle's Best coffee that is pretty good, breakfast blend.

I am thinking of redoing my template here. I am not so happy with the colors on this blog, though it's supposed to be coffee looking. But I found some really cute templates I might use, I just need to have the time to spend on it.

A month ago, my husband and I and our little guy were in India. We had gone from Feb 27th to March 8th. My husband is Indian, which is why I have a vintage visit India poster as my blogger profile pic right now. We visited my husband's family. And that is why my "life in general" blog is called East Meets West. I want to get together a group of Indian inspired items from Etsy or other shopping sites and post it here to bring some of the Indian spice into this blog from time to time.

My shop and my mother's shop on Etsy have been very slow for over a month now. I am going to have a sale starting this Friday but I haven't figured out all the details yet. I hope to post them later today in my shop, and on twitter, and here.

Off to make coffee!

Items from my favorites list at Etsy

A lot of it looks very Spring-y!

Etsy Buy Handmade CoffeeAndCream