Starbucks Instant Coffee - Via Ready Brew

Starbucks is rolling out its new instant coffee, Via Ready Brew. 

When we heard Starbucks was creating instant coffee we were shocked. CEO Howard Schultz said, "it takes a lot of courage to say that even though instant coffee is the worst cup of coffee you can have, we are going to reinvent it." 

A lot of time and dedication has been put into creating their instant coffee, but we still seem quite skeptical. The price of this packaged coffee... 3 single-serve Via packets will see for $2.95 and a box of 12 will cost $9.95.

We will be making a trip to Starbucks this morning to get a free sample of Via and we will give it a try this afternoon. We will report back with our product review. 

Have you tried Via? Review the new product under "comments."

Cinnamon Benefits

Cinnamon is said to help enhance your memory. We are always looking for natural ingredients that give us a boost in a natural way. Look what we found...

Cinnamon Spice - this spice can nourish your skin, boost your memory, and keep the pounds away.

Cinnamon Gum - In a Wheeling Jesuit study, people who chewed the gum did better on memory tests than those who chomped on other flavors or didn't chew gum at all.

Antioxidant-rich cinnamon softens rough, tired skin. Try this pampering foot bath. 

Mix the juice of 5 lemons, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/4 cup whole milk, 1/2 cup water, and 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon; soak your feet in the mixture for 15 minutes.

Exorcise Your Ex

"Exorcise Your Ex..." While Benefiting a Good Cause

Our event to raise funds for METRO is finally here! 

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

6:00 - 8:00 P.M.

CURE

4905 Freret Street

New Orleans, Louisiana 

$10 Donation to METRO at the Door. 

Please join us on October 15th at Cure in New Orleans! Come enjoy cocktails and fabulous door prizes as we bury our EX's and raise money for METRO. 

The event is held to benefit the Metropolitan Center for Women & Children in New Orleans. 

Join us on October 15th to:

* Melt your tainted gold for $$$ with Ex-cessories.com

* Meet Kathleen Horan, author of Relationship Obits

* Write your own obit (aka bury your ex)

* Sip creative cocktails

* Support the efforts of the Metropolitan Center for Women & Children

* Win fabulous doors prizes from New Orleans merchants like Febe Boutique, Hiller Jeweler, Acme Oyster House and so much more. 

Adventures of the Ex-cessories Gals

Allison is coming to Orlando!

We will be posting pictures throughout the weekend, so you all can follow what the Ex-cessories gals are up to. Allison's Orlando trip has been way overdue and I cannot be more excited that she is making a trip to the city where Ex-cessories.com was conceived.

Don't forget to also follow us on Twitter - @excessories

Swine Flue Vaccine - Will You Get It?

With the emergence of Swine Flu many people are scared and nervous that they too will fall victim to it's wrath. 

Health Officials plan to release a vaccine in the next month or two, but no specifics have been revealed just yet. Do you plan on getting the Swine Flu vaccine? Do you usually get a flu shot? 

We are big believers in getting our flu shots, but are not too sure about this new vaccine. Side-effects and other factors are not known or revealed with a brand new vaccine. We are still on the fence. What about you? Let us know under "comments." 

Item of the Day - Tiffany & Co. 14 Karat Gold Necklace

Today's spotlight item is the Tiffany & Co. 14 karat gold necklace. 

This item is a vintage piece, which we love! We like to mix vintage jewelry, bags, and clothes with trendy new pieces for a more unique and sophisticated look. 

This item is currently on sale for $1,150 and would retail for $3,500. Great savings! Click here for additional information. 

For a day look, we recommend layering this necklace with other small gold necklaces. This will give the piece a more trendy appeal. For a more sophisticated look, wear this necklace alone. Day or night, this piece looks great with anything and everything. 

Let us know what you think of this necklace under "comments." Do you like to wear vintage? 

Subway Vs. McDonald's

Is Subway the new McDonald's?

Perhaps! In the next few months, Subway will become the world's largest food chain. Subway has been continuously multiplying with outposts in China, Qatar, India, and France. This week it is expected to exceed 31,800 total stores (McDonald's has a total 32,158). 

Most fast food restaurants are struggling to keep their heads above water, but Subway is floating along and even turned a profit in the last year. This is likely attributed to their $5 footlong promotion. However, in overall sales McDonald's generates $2.3 million in sales, compared to $445,000 for Subway. 

What team do you root for? Subway or McDonald's? We are 100% on team Subway.  

Our Favorite Emmy Look - Leighton Meester

Our pick for Best Dressed at the 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards is Leighton Meester. 

We love the contrast of her white dress with her red accessories and red lipstick. We also like the old hollywood glam the gown exudes. Who was your Best Dressed of the night?

Emmy Style Jewelry

Did you watch the Emmy's last night? There were many fashion themes that emerged, but the always present beautiful jewels was also a fashion spotlight of the night. 

Purchase your very own "Emmy Style" jewelry on Ex-cessories.com! Check out our picks below. 

14 karat yellow gold amethyst bracelet - Click here to learn more.  

14 karat yellow gold amethyst, blue topaz, garnet, citrine, and peridot bracelet - Click here to learn more. 

14 karat white gold diamond waterfall cluster ring - Click here to learn more. 

Gold Croissant Shaped Earrings - Click here to learn more. 

Vintage Brooch - Click here to learn more. 

We Can't Wait for Valentine's Day...

... We mean the movie Valentine's Day! 

Watch the trailer for the star studded flix and let us know what you think. Are you as excited as we are?! 

We are already in love with Jessica Biel's character. Hilarious line in the trailer! 

Rosh Hashanah - Honey Cake

Also ring in the new year with honey cake!

Honey Cake from Jewish Holiday Feasts by Louise Fiszer and Jeannette Ferray 

Ingredients
1 cup hot brewed coffee
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup honey
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 large apple, cored and grated
12 whole blanched almonds (I used dry-roasted almonds, which I had on hand)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. In a small bowl, combine coffee and baking soda. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat honey, sugar, and oil until well blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until mixture looks homogenized. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

3. Beat flour mixture into honey mixture alternately with coffee mixture until well combined. Stir in apple.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Place almonds on top of batter, to mark the center of each of 12 squares.

5. Bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.

Serves 12.

L'Shana Tova - Happy New Year

We would like to wish everyone who observes the Jewish holidays a very happy new year! 

Today marks the Jewish New Year and it is customary to celebrate with apples and honey for a "sweet" new year. We recommend using raw honey, which is extra sweet as well as healthy. To learn more about raw honey click here. 

Learn from the hardships last year and start fresh today! Everyone deserves new beginnings. 

ShopBop + Elizabeth and James Breast Cancer Awareness Nekclace

ShopBop and Elizabeth and James have teamed up to create a Breast Cancer Awareness necklace.

ShopBop.com will be donating $15,000 to Breast Cancer Network of Strength, an organization whose mission is to ensure, through education and advocacy, that no one faces breast cancer alone. This necklace will be an exclusive symbol of support.

Click here to find out more about this affordable necklace that promotes a good cause.

#Whatnottowear

The #1 trending topic on Twitter yesterday was #whatnottowear. 

Typically, we don't follow many of the trending topics, but yesterday we had a lot of fun with #whatnottowear. There are so many things we could say that about! We tweeted #whatnottowear about the flower leggings and mom jeans pictured above. 

Did you tweet about #whatnottowear? What is your #1 what not to wear tip? Let us know under "comments."

#Whattowear is any jewelry from Ex-cessories.com! 

Your Look Match Your Mood?

Do you ever dress according to what mood you are in? 

We definitely do! So, if we had to match some of the great jewelry on Ex-cessories.com to our mood, our picks would be...

The 14 karat yellow gold bracelet pictured above and the Chanel charm bracelet. We love to layer our jewelry and layering thin gold bracelets is trendy and fun. Click here to see the yellow gold bracelet and click here to view the Chanel bracelet. 

Our ring mood would be fun and colorful bling like our 14 karat yellow gold sapphire and diamond ring with matching band. Click here to learn more. 

We love pieces that we can mix and match and enjoy layering gold bracelets. Let us know what pieces on Ex-cessories.com match your mood by commenting under "comments."

New Orleans Special - Gluten Free

We love our classic New Orleans foods! For those of you out there who are sensitive to wheat, please see the Gluten Free New Orleans Style Bread Budding with Whisky Sauce recipe below.

Ingredients
6 cups 1-inch cubes gluten free bread
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cups double cream
2 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Sprinkle of salt
1/4 cup raisins

Directions
- Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C.
- Place the bread in a large bowl. Grease a 9 by 13-inch casserole dish with the butter and set aside.
- Combine the cream, milk, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and raisins in a large bowl. Whisk to mix. Pour the cream mixture over the bread, and stir to combine. Allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes.
- Transfer the bread mixture to the casserole dish and bake until the center of the bread pudding is set, around 30 minutes.

Serve warm with warm Whiskey Sauce.

Whiskey Sauce
1 cup double cream
1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoons cornflour
1/4 cup bourbon or other whiskey
Pinch salt
1 tablespoons unsalted butter

In a saucepan set over medium heat, combine the cream, milk, and sugar. Place the cornflour and half of the bourbon in a small mixing bowl and whisk to blend and make a slurry. Pour the slurry into the cream mixture and bring to a boil. Once the sauce begins to boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat, add the salt, and stir in the butter and the remaining bourbon. Serve warm.

New York Eyes 'No Smoking' Outdoors, Too

New York City's workplace smoking ban was called into action 6 years ago and smokers reacted by moving outside. But now, outdoors may be off limits too. 

The City's health commissioner, Dr. Thomas A. Farley, said Monday that he would seek to ban smoking at city parks and beaches. Dr. Farley said that ban was part of a broader strategy to further curb smoking rates, which have fallen in recent years. 

Mayor Bloomberg seemed to be caught off guard by this proposal, but is not completely against it. The Mayor wishes to conduct additional research and see if it is even logistically possible to set this ban into place. 

People want clean air and smoke free environments both indoors and out. We are not fans of smoking, so would definitely support a trial of this program. 

Would you support this ban? How do you feel about smoking? Let us know under "comments." 

Kanye West - Disrespectful at the 2009 VMAs

Incase you missed Kanye West's outburst at last night's MTV Video Music Awards, check out the video below...

Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift while she is excepting her award and we thing his behavior was ridiculous and inappropriate. Taylor Swift looks shocked and shaken and Beyonce looks humiliated. We wonder what Jay-Z will have to say about this... Either way we do not support Kanye West's actions. What do you think about Kanye West's actions last night? Discuss under "comments."

Remember September 11, 2001

September 11th marks a date that the world will never and should never forget. 

We would like to emphasize the importance of this date and give thanks to all of those who lost their lives protecting our Country and our people. We also remember all of the victims who were subject to this horrific terrorist attack. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families today. 

To visit the 9/11 website please click here. 

Clean Your Make-Up Brushes

After many uses and laying in powders and foundations, your make-up brushes need a cleaning! 

We always wonder what the best way is to clean your make-up brushes.

We have tried using different brush cleaners, for example Clinque's brush cleaner, which can be purchased at department stores. We were also told by a cosmetic professional that the best way to clean your brushes is with the store bought Palmolive. She recommended using this home cleaning product because it cuts all of the oils out of your brush to really get it clean. Have any of our readers ever tried this technique?

We also read that vinegar and water make a great brush cleaner. Use 2 parts water and 1 part vinegar, dip your brushes in the mixture and rinse clean in warm water. 

Would you try the unconventional cleaning methods or do you only use department store bough cleaners? 

Shape Beauty Awards 2009

Shape magazine has come out with its beauty awards for 2009. 

We were most interested in their eye makeup and lip color categories. The results...

Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express Mascara ($8; drugstore.com)

Exceptionnel de Chanel Intense Volume and Curl Mascara ($30; chanel.com)

CoverGirl Outlast Lipstain ($7; drugstore.com)
Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer in Caramel ($5; burtsbees.com)
Shiseido Makeup Perfect Rouge ($25; nordstrom.com)

We will give Maybelline mascara and Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer a try. The price of both pieces are reasonable and we know that Burt's is known for great lip treatments and chapsticks. 

Do you use either of these products? Are you always looking for new beauty products to test?

Green - Nail Color Trend

We all know that when it comes to fashion, color has made a comeback. 

Adding color doesn't stop with your clothes and accessories. We are used to seeing reds and dark tones on nails, but this year neons made an appearance. Now that summer is officially over, it is time to put our bright nail polishes down and turn to the new fall polish hues, like green. Yes, green! It seems that everyone is designing a shade of green for fall. 

Chanel has come out with "Jade," OPI has come out with "Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow," and MAC has "Beyond Jealous."

What do you think of this new nail polish hue? Would you wear green nail polish? We are thinking that we could try MAC or OPI's green versions because they are so dark the green isn't as apparent. When it comes to Chanel's "Jade" we just don't think we could take the plunge. Discuss under "comments." 

Labor Day No Bake Desserts

Need a couple of quick and easy no bake dessert recipes for a Labor Day bash? We have your covered! Check out our favorites below.

Blackberry Fool

Ingredients:

2 cups blackberries (8 ounces total), plus more for garnish
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions: 
1. In a blender, combine berries, sugar, and lemon juice; blend until smooth. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing with a rubber spatula to push through. Discard seeds; transfer 1/2 cup berry puree to a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate; reserve for topping.

2. In a large bowl, combine cream and vanilla; whip until stiff peaks form. Gently fold remaining berry puree into cream. Spoon mixture into custard cups. Cover loosely and refrigerate 1 hour (or up to overnight). To serve, drizzle blackberry fools with reserved berry puree, and garnish with blackberries.

Oreo Balls

12 Oreo cookies

1/4 cup milk

8 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

Spoonful of honey

Crush the oreos in bowl. Add the milk and mix. Add the peanut butter and honey. Roll into balls. Refrigerate on a plate for at least 30 minutes. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bonbons

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup chopped dates (NOT the prepackaged chopped type)
1 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

In large bowl, combine peanut butter, pecans, powdered sugar, dates, and butter and mix well; form into 1" balls.

Melt semisweet chips and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips together in a glass measuring cup in microwave on medium power about 2 minutes, stirring once, until melted and smooth. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips and stir constantly until smooth (this tempers the chocolate, setting up crystals so it will harden). Dip each ball into melted chocolate mixture and set on parchment paper. Let stand until chocolate is firm, then store tightly covered at room temperature.

Labor Day 2009

We would like to wish everyone a very happy Labor Day. Everyone who gets the day off of work enjoy and relax! 

Rachel Zoe for QVC

Rachel Zoe's collection for QVC is finally ready! 

Her collection will include jewelry, luxurious looking faux furs, and sparkly evening bags. The style will be one of Zoe's signature styles - retro-glam. 

The best part is the price! Her collection will range from $32 to $130 and will debut on QVC.com September 12, 2009 at 8pm EST. 

We cannot wait to get our hands on Rachel Zoe's collection for QVC! Are you excited? We think our favorite piece will be the faux fur vest. Discuss Rachel Zoe and the fact that she is designing for QVC under "comments." 

Tip for Post Labor Day Party Hangover - Asparagus?

A new study suggests that asparagus could aid in relieving a hangover and protect liver cells against the toxins in alcohol. 

Researchers in South Korea studied the effects of asparagus on human and rat liver cells and found that the cells could be protected by the amino acids and minerals found in the green veggie. 

We would definitely be willing to give this veggie a try. Asparagus is also high in vitamins K, C, A, folate, and potassium, which is definitely better to try than greasy fast food. 

Click here to read the article accompanying this story. 

Make sure to add an asparagus dish to your Labor Day party menu! 

Labor Day is almost here!

Labor Day is quickly approaching and during this holiday it is great to celebrate outside with a nice barbeque, light summer sweets, and delicious cocktails. This holiday marks the end of summer (and the end of white pants!). 

Cocktails for your Labor Day celebration:

Champagne Punch

Makes 2

3 tablespoons grenadine
3 tablespoons Cointreau
2 tablespoons brandy
1 3/4 cups champagne
Raspberries, apples, or other seasonal fruit

Directions
Fill a small ice bucket halfway with ice. Pour grenadine, Cointreau, brandy, and champagne over ice. Stir gently, and ladle punch into 2 wide-mouthed stemmed glasses. Garnish punch with raspberries, apples, or any other fruit in season.

Spearmint Juleps

Serves 4
2 1/2 cups bourbon, preferably Maker's Mark
1 cup packed fresh spearmint, plus 4 sprigs for garnish
2 to 3 tablespoons superfine sugar
Ice cubes, for serving

Directions
Combine bourbon and mint in a large pitcher, cover, and refrigerate 12 hours or up to 1 day. Strain, discarding mint. Add sugar, stirring to dissolve. Divide julep mixture among 4 ice-filled glasses. Garnish each with a mint sprig.

More recipes and decorating ideas to come, so make sure to check-in with us again!