Back-to-School with Famous Footwear - 15% off + BOGO

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Famous Footwear. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

It seems like just yesterday that summer was beginning, but we are quickly approaching the new school year. Preparing to go back-to-school can be both exciting and anxiety-inducing. That’s why Famous Footwear wants to make back-to-school shopping as easy as possible on parents, students and all of our wallets.

Famous Footwear offers a wide selection of name brand shoes and accessories at discounted prices. I’m talking about hundreds of brands making up thousands of styles.  With variety like that, Famous Footwear can meet all of my one-stop shoe shopping needs just in time for back-to-school.

While buying new shoes may not be a victory on par with winning the gymnastics team gold (Go, Fierce Five!), Famous Footwear wants to recognize all of our victories – big or small. To celebrate, they are currently offering 15% off plus BOGO (buy one, get one half off).

Famous Footwear is also offering an additional five percent off for their Rewards Program members and those who sign up to become a member, for a total of 20% off. Becoming a Rewards Program member is free and provides great benefits:

• Members earn 1 point for every dollar spent online or in-store
• Members accumulate points over time to earn certificates of up to $100 per year
• Members receive a discount offer at sign up
• Members also receive special insider discounts and perks

Print out and bring this coupon BOGO + 15% off Famous Footwear Coupon with you when you visit a Famous Footwear store from now until August 18^th to take advantage of this offer.

 

Second day in Lisbon

Giveaway: $35 gift certificate from CSNStores.com

I'm happy to announce an opportunity for one lucky blog reader to win a $35 gift certificate to CSNStores.com. If you still haven't had a chance to visit CSN Stores, they operate 200+ websites with thousands of products. While I enjoy checking out their travel accessories and cookware, they also sell everything from backyard furniture to barstool and lighting.

You might recall the product review I did last month. Currently, I'm longing for these two products to add to my kitchen.

Owl Oven Mitt and Potholders Set - $19.99

Wine decanter and aeration system - $59.99

Enter to win the $35 gift certificate to CSNStores.com by leaving a comment below and sharing what you would buy with the gift certificate. Please include your first name and email address. Open to residents of the United States and Canada only. Limit one entry per person.

The giveaway closes on Friday, December 17, 2010 at 11:55 pm EST. One winner will be chosen using random.org and notified via email. 48 hours will be given to respond or another winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: No monetary compensation was received for this post.

In the Kitchen: A CSNStores.com Product Review

My products from CSNStores.com arrived some weeks ago, but I only had a chance to put them in to use recently. Shopping with CSN Stores is easy; the only hindrance is the variety of products they carry makes picking out what to buy hard!

I decided to go the practical route and picked out two new items for our kitchen. As you know from my previous posts, Raisin Bread and I have been cooking quite often at home. While we have made lots of healthy meals, a few of our cookware and electronic items died as a result.

We needed a new hand mixer to replace the one that broke, and I chose the Proctor-Silex Hand Mixer. This model is extremely non-fancy and is pretty generic, but I liked the price point and it does the job that it was meant to do. I've only used the mixer once so far and it was to make a Hong Kong-style egg custard tart. It came out beautifully!

Proctor-Silex Hand Mixer Features:

• Bowl rest feature
• 125 Watts
• Beater eject
• 5 speeds

The other item I chose was a Farberware Superior Nonstick 8" Deep Skillet in Black. We have several other small skillets, but they have lost their nonstickyness due to overuse. Besides the nonstick surface, I absolutely love that deepness of the skillet. This makes it more difficult for me to fling food out of the skillet while I'm stirring. Since I'm not sure how long the skillet will stay nonstick, I used the skillet to make some omelettes for brunch last weekend. Yummy!

Farberware Superior 8" Skillet features:

• Deep skillet
• Superior nonstick interior for fat-free cooking
• Even heat distribution throughout the entire pan for perfect cooking performance
• Comfortable, riveted handle is oven safe to 350°F

Specifications:

• Cleaning and care: Dishwasher safe
• Color: Black
• Overall dimensions: 3" H x 8.5" W x 14.25" D

Disclosure: CSNStores.com provided me with an electronic gift certificate in the value of $35 to purchase the items in this review. No monetary or other compensation was received for this post and all opinions are my own.  

Say Cheese: Shutterfly's 2010 Holiday Collection

This could just be me, but I have always thought that sending your friends and family cards with your face on it was some how strange and narcissistic. Over the past few years, as we’ve all grown up and become adults, I’ve found more and more of my friends and family living farther and farther apart. It’s not unusual for me to see certain people in my life only once or twice a year. Now, seeing their gorgeous faces smiling back at me on a greeting card is a comfort.

Shutterfly recently debuted its new 2010 holiday card collection. With over 700 designs, Shutterfly offers a variety of sizes and styles as well as both folded and flat Christmas photo cards. These cards are a great way to mark significant moments in life. If you are newly married or have just had a child or have just returned from the most amazing vacation of your life, sharing those moments with loved ones is what the holidays are all about.

Here are a few of my favorite Christmas card designs.

Disclosure: Shutterfly is providing me with a set of holiday cards but no monetary or other compensation was received for this post. 

Coming Soon: CSNStores.com Product Review

I was recently approached by CSNStores.com to participate in a product review. If you aren't familiar with this company, CSN Stores operates 200+ websites with thousands of products. They sell everything from furniture and upholstered headboards to clothing, cookware and luggage.

Over the coming weeks, I will be perusing their pages for an item to review. Here are two items that have already caught my eye:

ferm Living's Velo Wall Sticker - $59.95

Alessi Mediterraneo Kitchen Jars - from $30

Stay tuned to see what I pick and hear about my experience shopping at CSNStores.com.

Disclosure: No monetary compensation was received for this post. 

Good bye!

This blog will soon be decommissioned. I have been thinking a lot lately about what I want to say as a blogger, and I realized that I want to say more about me. So I'm moving all of my old content and writing new posts here:

paintingonawall.blogspot.com

I would love it if you would follow me there!

Love, Irene

Things to Do Before I leave LA

I have approximately 81 days left in Los Angeles. I don't think I can add much more to this list because it will be impossible to achieve. 

Things to Eat:
- Eat a bacon-wrapped hot dog from a street cart
- Palm Springs date shake (June)
- Eat a chili burger at Tommy's
- Animal
- Beacon
- Bludso’s Brisket
- Cole’s French Dip
- The Coop (April)
- Craft
- Fraiche
- Gloria's Salvadoran (April)
- Jitlada
- Lawry’s Prime Rib
- Let’s Be Frank’s Hot Dog
- Ludo’s Fried Chicken (April)
- Mo Chica (April)
- Nickel Diner
- Patisserie at The Bazaar
- Spago
- The Gorbals
- The Golden State
- Umami


Things to Do:
- Watch a Derby Dolls match
- Get a naked scrub down at a Korean spa
- Watts Tower
- Self-Realization Fellowship
- Van Nuys Japanese Garden
- Mt Wilson
- San Antonio Winery
- Monastery of the Angels
- Charmlee Wilderness Park
- Griffith Park Hike
- Heritage Square

NomNoms: Resto (New York City)

I get a day off for Cesar Chavez Day, so Matt and I planned a short trip to New York for the weekend. We didn't have any luck with the two restaurants that I wanted to try. When the original restaurants had entirely too long of a wait, we wandered some back streets, looking on Yelp for possibilities. We wound up stumbling upon Resto in Murray Hill, and I am glad that we did.

Resto is an adorable, homey Belgian restaurant. It was very quaint and unpretentious for a New York restaurant and was just comfortable. I ordered the chicken and waffles. The citrus chili syrup was kind of a strange addition and I wasn't particularly fond of it. But the gravy, chicken and bacon waffle were amazing. 

Chicken 'n Waffles

(bacon waffle, peppercorn gravy, citrus chili syrup)

Matt ordered the traditional Belgian dish of steamed mussels and fries, but with a twist. Resto has three different kinds of broth you can choose from, so he picked the Thai-inspired one. It was absolutely delicious. The frites were also great. Big and fat, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. They also come with a ton of options for dipping sauces, and he picked an Indian-inspired cumin, yogurt one. Yum! I do wish I had ordered this dish now!

Moules & Frites
(green curry, lemongrass, coconut milk, kaffir lime broth)

Resto
111 East 29th Street
New York, NY 10016

NomNoms: The Golden State Cafe (Los Angeles)

Seems to me that there is no limit to the number of amazing burgers to be found in Los Angeles. The Counter. Father's Office. 25 degrees. Umami Burger. I heard another amazing burger could be found at The Golden State. Then I heard that a beer float could also be found there and I had to try it despite the fact that it scared me to death.

The burger looked tiny to me when it was set before me, but it was extremely filling. The bun and arugula were perhaps my favorite elements of the burger. I was still on my 40 days without fried foods, so I ordered the Persian cucumber salad. I was very happy that I did because it gave a fresh contrast to the heavy burger, rather than the normal heaviness upon heaviness that the combination of burger and fries normally presents.

Burger with Harris Ranch beef, Fiscalini Farms cheddar, 

glazed applewood smoked bacon, arugula, housemade aioli and ketchup

And now for the beer float. Made from Old Rasputin Imperial Stout and Scoops brown bread ice cream. I could only eat half of it. The stout was extremely bitter and hoppy. However, it was a fine experiment. Next time, I would prefer the root beer float. 

Beer float with Scoops brown bread ice cream

The Golden State Cafe
426 N. Fairfax Ave. 
Los Angeles, CA 90036