Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Tea Exchange

Here's an idea for all of you tea lovers out there...
Do a tea exchange!
Myself and some girlfriends at work today did one and its a great way to try new teas before you go out and buy a whole box (without knowing whether or not you will actually like it).
Here's the idea. You and your friends agree on a date and on that day each of you brings in a tea bag for each of the other people. Depending on how many of you decide to do this you could end up with a box chock full of varying teas to try.
Today I ended up with Green Tea, Ti Kuan Yin Tea, Lipton Tea, etc.
It's lots of fun and a great way to get some super sampling on with little effort/cost...

Give it a try, maybe you will end up finding your new favorite tea flavor!

Enjoy!
D of J.A.D.E.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Cappuccino in Italy!

I'm just back from a great trip to Rome and one of my favorite parts of the trip was getting a Cappuccino every morning at the local caffe! One of the greatest parts about this morning journey was that in Rome the Cappuccinos ranged from .90 to 1.40 euros which is approximately the equivalent of 1.05 to 1.85 cents! I was in heaven! How tired are you of paying over 3 dollars, many times closer to 4 or 5 at Starbucks!

My main message in this blog is that it's important to travel and when you do, it's important to seek out the bargains!

If you happen to find yourself in Rome or any part of Italy for that matter, be sure to wake up with a nice Cappuccino, the taste will please you and the price will please you even more!

A true European treat!

Enjoy!
D of J.A.D.E.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Heading to a Far Away Land??? Pack Light!

Since I am about to leave on a trip to Italy I thought now would be a great time to talk about packing light and saving tons of money on checked bags.

So many of you are over packers...come on, you know you are...don't try to deny it!

The thing is so often we think we will need all of these items that we never will during the length of the trip, while on top of that it's so rare that you will be traveling some place where you wouldn't be able to buy something you might need in a pinch.

Think of it like this...just because you are going away for 10 days does not mean you need ten pairs of shoes. Really, when you are home do you wear a different pair of shoes everyday? Probably not, so why should it be different when you travel? When you are home do you change your clothes three times in a day or more, again, probably not! So really you don't need a million outfit changes.

We so often get consumed with what we need when in truth all we really need for a trip, or life in general, can fit into one suitcase.

Before you pack two toothbrushes because well you might lose one, really think about it...when was the last time you lost a toothbrush?

Before you pack the skirt you haven't worn in ten years, the heels that hurt your feet, the camera that you don't know how to use, the blow dryer that wont work cause you are going oversees, the ten books that you wont read, the 12 extra pairs of socks and underwear that will return home clean...take a deep breath. You are not facing the end of the world, you are going away for a week.

Trust me you will be so much happier when you and your one bag walk onto the plane and you don't have to pay a fee to check bags or have to wait for that bag to be the last bag off the shoot at baggage claim, or worse yet, your bag gets lost!

Much like family and good friends...if you always keep everything you need close to you, you will never have a problem.

xoxo

D of J.A.D.E.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Free music!

Summer is here and there's nothing better than going to a free show, especially during the warm summer nights! I always check out KCRW sponsored shows as most are free and the music is always good:

http://www.kcrw.com/events/summer-nights-2011

Also, I'm a fan of Grand Performances. They have world music and often give free instructional dance lessons on Fridays. Check out their July schedule especially for the free noontime concerts for the lunch crowd:

http://grandperformances.org/en/gp/events/calendar.html?month=6&day=3&year=2011&langId=en

To top it off, I often get ads for free downloads from:

http://www.emusic.com/

Right now they offer a $20 credit (which is pretty much 20 songs) that you can d/l legally and for free. Their cancellation policy is really easy. Trust me, I've tried. ;)

Enjoy and happy grooving!

A of J.A.D.E.