The Amazing Roku 2 XD

Originally submitted at Roku

Roku 2 XD Streaming Player

Compact, great TV option

 

5out of 5

Pros: Easy to use, Compact, Reliability, Great value, Built in Wi-Fi, Easy to set up, Video selection, High quality picture

Best Uses: Secondary TV, Bedroom

The main reason we picked up a Roku was to avoid a monthly (and expensive) cable bill. We have a PS3 on our big TV in the living room for DVDs (and blu-rays) and streaming options. But the Roku is PERFECT for the bedroom, where we can stream all of our content, without having to pay a monthly recurring fee. And it’s tiny and cute!

Well, hello again!

Hello again WordPress! Unknowingly, and certainly unplanned, I took a hiatus from this blog. With a new job starting (one that will officially become full-time in one week!), life just didn’t have much room for blogging. However, making room for this blog, sharing fun finds from around the web, is worth getting a little busier for. Time to press the restart button.

Just a few things I’ve spent my evenings perusing…

* Tunes from Vitaljuice for running (especially “Pumped up Kicks” from Foster the People)
* Oh boy, it’s official, Kindle eBooks are outselling print books on Amazon
* Who knew brooches could work on scarves?
* Citified safari style on Madewell sale
* I ❤ Disney

Image from eye candy musings

New Kindle (!!!) and All Hail McQueen Polish

I can’t believe a new Kindle has come out. I feel like I just got the Kindle 2 for Christmas… what is a girl to do? I hear it is smaller, lighter, has buttons that are more easily depressed (big difference here being not having to press inwards on the Kindle, but out), and has better button placement. Oy. This is always going to happen in the world of technology though, right? Everything coming up new every time you get the latest new gadget; you get it just in time to hear about a newer and better version. Hello capitalism, I enjoy supporting you with my money!

On another, lighter note, I thought I would share a picture of my nails… with the butter All Hail McQueen nail polish! I finally took a mini snapshot of my nails with the polish on… I had to. The color is so pretty! Hopefully my Blackberry camera didn’t ruin the beauty of the polish!

So pretty right!

The flash makes the color look the teensiest bit off, but you can generally adore the shimmery taupe color 🙂

Love this stuff. Perfect for everyday and it chips incredibly discreetly so you really don’t have to worry too much about the horrors of a chipping polish!

Maui Beautiful

We all like a good, relaxing, sun-filled vacation once and a while (or more than once and a while). Now that I am on the West coast, these vacations, which will be few and far between, will probably take place in Hawaii if I want my share of sun and relaxation. I’ve been to a few of the islands: Oahu, Maui, Hawaii, and Lanai, and plan on visiting more. However, whenever I leave with my bag full of shopping and souvenirs, I don’t usually feel like I’m bringing home the perfect souvenir for any of my friends and family. But, I might have found the perfect alternative to cheap and tacky souvenirs from Hawaii, without even having to go!

One’s of my boyfriend’s best friends from home started her own Maui-inspired jewelry line, based in NYC. Tiffany Chou uses shells and other ocean elements she finds on the beach (never plucked from the ocean) to cast necklace pendants in silver and gold. Her designs are beautiful and delicate, so if you want a bit of authentic Maui on your jewelry, check out her website.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Honeycomb Coral

Listen to the Ocean

Branched

Puka

And one of the best parts of her jewelry line is that 5% of the proceeds go toward the Dancing Palette and the Coral Reef Alliance.

butter… for my nails!

Today I had the pleasure of visiting downtown Kirkland for a Starbucks meeting. Thanks to the early person in me, I arrived way early and got to check out some of the local shopping. And lucky me, I found some butter London nail polishes! I despise paying shipping prices for online items but fortunately ran into quite the selection at Seduce, a clothing boutique right on Lake St in Kirkland. Though I cringed at the price I had to pay I am so excited to try out the new colors I purchased! Currently I have “All Hail McQueen”, a shimmery taupe which I adore, and today I added “Blowing Raspberries”, a bright raspberry hue, and “British Racing Green”, a shimmery, deep forest green, to my Butter collection. Woot!

Check them out, I highly recommend them with their no-chip policy.

All Hail McQueen

Blowing Raspberries

(A bit pinker in person than this picture shows)

British Racing Green

(A deeper green in person)

Check out the rest of the collection online: butter London

Or better yet, check out the collection on their website and buy through Amazon, especially if you have Amazon Prime with which you receive free shipping!

Moving (farther) Out West

A couple of days ago I moved even further west. Before I was in Northern Idaho, now it’s north of Seattle. Oh boy! I can even see the ocean which I am incredibly psyched about! The area I am in reminds me a lot of coastal Maine… it’s like the northwest version of the northeast! Good and fishy and filled with trees 🙂

However, now that I’m making my way out, out of college and the comforts of home, I’m trying to work out a reasonable budget. Buying a brand new eyeliner or book online just because? I don’t think that’s going to happen anymore, at least for a little while. Oy vey.

Anyways, this should be an interesting time, filled with searching for work, hanging out, and thinking about graduate school.

Typical coastal day:

Image from: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/4425718442_221ca1e40f_o.jpg

Yummy and Convenient Pad Thai!

On my most recent visit to NYC, thanks to Metro-North, my cousin and I decided to eat some noodles for dinner at Republic on the corner of Union Square W and 17th St. We were in the mood for either Italian or Thai, and since we were about two blocks away from Republic, which we have been to before, we decided to revisit the trusty noodle shop. The restaurant is long and crowded, at least it has been the two times we have been there. They seated us extremely quickly was exciting, however we were less than excited when our table was one shared with another couple. If you’re going to dine at Republic, I recommend not going on a first date there since it is a bit noisy and the seating is less than spacious. But our water was quickly served and our waitress bounced over with an electronic pad to take our orders (pretty spiffy!). My cousin dared to try something besides the Seafood Pad Thai (I wasn’t as adventurous as she) and ordered the Glass Noodles. After ten minutes of waiting, we tried our noodles and both of us were incredibly satisfied with our orders! When you want some Pad Thai, a tasty dish of it really hits the spot. And combined with a glass of Asian Sangria, their concoction with passion fruit, and lychee, amongst other ingredients, the dinner was perfect.

If you need a place to eat, don’t mind sitting next to strangers, and are especially in the mood for noodles, check this place out!

The Kobo eReader

Everyone seems to be releasing their versions of the eBook reader. It’s getting harder to decide which one is the one to purchase! I didn’t have a choice in the matter and also happen to be very content with my holiday gift, the Amazon Kindle. However, seeing new eBook readers come out makes me wish I could own more than one, but they aren’t the cheapest commodity for a soon-to-be graduate.

The Kobo eReader will be released on Father’s Day in June and it has some of the same functions as does the Kindle, and the Nook. It does not have a separate colorful library presentation as does the Nook, but seems to be more similar in interface to the Kindle. However, from what I could tell from it’s website, it looks more customizable than Amazon’s Kindle. I think one of the best features about the Kobo eReader software-wise is the ability for the user to sort through their library easily, using chapters to move throughout the book, instead of the locations used by Kindle. It will give the user more ease at finding their place in their book, in addition to skipping around to random pages. Also, it’s a nice touch to have the book covers viewable, where in the Kindle, there is no option to view all of your books by cover, and even when you open your book, it’s right to business, starting on the first page of the first chapter. The Kobo also includes a nice built in quilted back cover, a nice addition to the eReader lineup, that is meant to mimic the feel of a real book (it also makes it look quite cute, in addition to the cute customizable front panels design accessories). The only weird thing about this eReader, in my opinion, is the small blue navigation button. It looks like it might be awkward to control and navigate the reader. The side buttons also look a little small to manage… the Kindle’s large buttons simplify the task of turning that page! Not that I’m saying it’s difficult… Still, at $150, it presents a competitively priced unit that could present competition for other established eReaders like the Kindle. Who knows how good its library really is though… you can’t beat Kindle’s library of over 500,000 books!

But at less than 8 ounces (compared to Kindle’s 10.2 ounces), it could be the next big thing. Maybe.

http://gearpatrol.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/kobo-ereader-gear-patrol.jpg

Kobo eReader

Yummy French Food Made Simple

I was at Borders yesterday procrastinating writing my paper for class, and I found that I had a 40% off on one item coupon! The frugality in me immediately won over so I then shut my computer and walked out of the Seattle’s Best into the closest section that also happens to put a smile on my face: the food section. Now, I’m not a very… experienced cook or baker, but in January I spent some time trying different recipes and only improvising a little bit. But though I am new to the gas burners, I love food and want to be wearing the apron (my cute little one from Anthropologie)!

So I started at the first cookbook shelf and found I was in the soups and stews section. Boy do I like soup. One of my quick and easy favorites at home was Top Ramen Chicken/Beef/Oriental. Classy, I know. But really, I do like soup; just hold the cream, please.

Anyways, finally I found the Food Network cookbooks section and almost bought the Everyday Pasta, cause I love pasta, Italian food, and Giada’s recipes are always easy to follow and delicious, but I didn’t want to limit my cooking extravaganza to pasta. I only had one 40% off coupon and I needed to use it wisely. That was the moment I happened upon Barefoot Contessa. That lady can cook! So here’s the book I chose: Barefoot in Paris.

Lovely French Cookbook!

It is a lovely French cookbook with classic treats, dinners, drinks, and desserts. I have yet to try a recipe, but I’m excited to work some French cuisine magic in my kitchen and also improvise on some of the meals! Wish me luck!

Churchill’s Steakhouse in Spokane, WA

I had one of the most delicious steaks three nights ago on the eve of my departure from the Northwest. My boyfriend and I were looking for an elegant, tasty restaurant for our anniversary which we spent in Spokane, WA. I was a bit apprehensive about being able to find a memorable restaurant for our anniversary, but as we were driving to our hotel (we stayed at the Davenport Hotel, which I highly recommend), we passed a burgundy awning with “Churchill’s Steakhouse” written in script on the right-hand side of the street. I looked to my boyfriend and asked: “How do you feel about having a steak tonight?” And that was that!

However, when we went to make dinner reservations, their number was unavailable and had been disconnected. Confused, I called the Davenport Hotel Concierge and he informed me that the hotel had burned down (or at least some of it had) a year and a half ago! Oy. However, the concierge proceeded to inform me that the steakhouse had just reopened last Friday but had yet to issue a press release of their reopening! Score 1 for the anniversary.

Needless to say, we had a delightful meal, filled with excellent wine, steaks, cheesecake, and a special bottle of champagne. Spokane may not be a tourist destination, but it certainly does offer a high-class steakhouse that delivers on all accounts. Delicious!

Image from: http://media.merchantcircle.com/25314662/Picture%20029_medium.jpeg

Churchill’s Steakhouse