Verve Espresso Review

Awhile back I promised you that I would let you know how the Verve espresso turned out on my Rancilio machine at home. I was really impressed with this espresso in the Verve shop in Santa Cruz, CA. It was fantastic, and I even dreamed about it and woke up the next morning and all I could think of was how much I wanted to buy the 6 month (subscription?) for it.

So I bit the bullet and paid the whopping $20 for a pound to try it at home before making any major commitments.

And the results?! . . . . Definitely less than steller at home. It was missing the wow factor and the flavor was a little flat. Don't get me wrong, it was still a pretty solid tasting espresso, but not nearly as delicious as other espressos have been in my Rancilio (my favorite home espresso is still "World's Best Espresso" from Klatch). Over the course of the next week or two, the flavor suffered even more. I've come to the conclusion that fancy espressos are much more temperamental and their flavors change quicker than mid-level espressos.

Final thoughts: Go try Verve in their official store, it's awesome. But don't waste the money on it at home unless you've got money to burn, or want to drink the entire pound in a day.

A Blog Benchmark?

Whoa, whoa whoa!! Sometime within the last 24 hours my blog just passed 10,000 views. I am proud, slightly baffled, and happy all at the same time. Thanks to everyone for stickin' around. And feel free to let me know if you want to see more or less of anything. You're the best!

Maybe I'll Start a Garden . . .

This spring I really had the itch to start a garden. Well maybe less of a garden and more of a "let's redo this ugly flower bed." Maybe it was due to the fact that I got married 9 months ago, or moved to a new house five months ago, a subconscious desire for a little blue-collar work outside of my normal white-collar job, or simply the fact that my mom and grandma both keep gardens, so maybe I should to. Whatever it was, I spent hours digging up tons of junk in order to make room for my plants. It was so fun, relaxing and spiritually refreshing as I pulled the junk and dead stuff out of the ground to remember that my life is the same way. The dead and the ugly easily creep in and can choke and cover any good thing or joy I have. Thank goodness I have a loving creator who cleans and forgives, prunes away the dead and gives life.

And no . . . I didn't just plant tufts of Irish Moss. But who says I can't transfer my love of simple style and clean lines into my flower bed? The moss is right by the front door, and there are flowers everywhere else. Everything was planted in April and is really starting to grow. I'll post the rest of the project soon.

Before

 After

Black Ballerina Flats . . . from Ebay!

Happy weekend everyone! I hope yours was as nice as mine was. After being gone the last 4 weekends, I savored my time at home and filled it up with lots of sleep, house cleaning, hammock time, weeding the garden, a movie, hosted a fire-pit s'mores party and drank lots of iced-tea.

Anyways . . . I love a good deal, so I just have to show you my new favorite shoes in case you need some fun black flats too. These were around $11 from ebay. They came from China (sorry, I still haven't quite bought in to the whole buy-American thing). They aren't going to last a lifetime, but they are perfect for casual wear, or to dress up a little. These also come in teal, watermelon and cream colored. I'm tempted to buy another pair. I think what I love most about them is that they are plastic, so I can easily wipe the dust and dirt off that's just a given living in the mountains. Winner winner!