Victory Over De Feet

Let's chat about feet today and my victory over de feet. ;)

When BzzAgent contacted me recently and asked if I wanted to review Dr. Scholl's Massaging Gel Insoles, I was like... sign me up. I haven't always had foot problems, but in the past few years I found myself really struggling with foot pain. My foot pain really became unbearable during a past retail job in which I was on cement floors, walking and standing for hours at a time, and any type of sneaker wasn't allowed. It's hard to find a comfortable and relatively stylish shoe that has arch support and any type of cushioning that isn't some sort of a sneaker! Luckily, things changed and I left the position that had me standing so often, and shortly thereafter my foot pain subsided. I also found that not wearing flip flops (I know they're stylish, comfortable and seem to go with everything, but they are SO bad for your feet and your toes!!) really helped nip a lot of foot pain too.

But every once in a while... I'll have a day where my feet are just pooped out. When I received the Dr. Scholl's Massaging Gel Insoles (and a pack of coupons!), I was pretty excited to see that the "model" was wearing a flat, dress type shoe with her insole (it's on the back... sorry I did not get a picture!). One thing I have found with insoles is that they tend to be too tall. The shoe maybe is too short? But it seemed when you added something extra in there, your foot didn't actually fit the shoe any longer and your heel would flop out. Now that I am wearing a lot of dress shoes and flats, I thought this would be great for some of my flatter flats.

And you know what? It actually was flat enough to wear in my shoes and actually have my shoes still fit. The ones I received didn't have a very large arch support, but I also think that's why my foot actually still fit in the shoe. I received "Outrageous Comfort", which features gel waves that massage the foot's most sensitive areas and also absorb shock.

My favorite feature was the trim-to-fit.  Dr. Scholl's has put trim to fit lines on the bottom of the insole, so that you can trim your insole to fit your size. I have a pretty average size foot (8), but I ended up needing to cut on the 7 line to make it fit, and especially to actually get it perfect into the toe region of your shoe.

I ended up putting them in my flattest of flats and I love them! I don't feel more or less fatigued, so I haven't seen a difference there, but my feet are absolutely more comfortable and my shoes are more fun to walk in! My only "complaint" is the lack of arch, but then again, my foot fits better in my shoe without it.

Thanks for reading! Have you ever had achy foot problems? Do you wear insoles or have you before? I'd love to hear about what you use to combat your foot problems!






(Disclaimer - I was sent these Dr. Scholl Massaging Gel Insoles for my review from www.bzzagent.com. I was not compensated in any other way to give a negative or positive review of these products and was allowed to keep the products in return for my honest reviews.)

Broadway Nails imPRESS Press-on Manicure

So I was given the chance by Influenster to try out Broadway Nails imPRESS Press-on Manicure, and I received the color "Joyride", which is this really purple fuchsia color. I have touched on these nails in my VoxBox reveal blog post, but I wanted to chat about them a little more as I really was impressed with them.

I was wearing these fantastic flats that my friend over at Voyage On gave me, and they are very bright so I paired them with a pair of black pants and a white and black checked dress shirt. But I knew that I wanted something a little more... and these nails fit the bill. They matched my shoes almost perfectly and it gave my look a punch of color without being over the top.

I have a wedding coming up later on this summer and I know I'll be wanting fancy nails without the price for it, so I've been looking at the imPRESS website and I think I'll be getting the french manicure for the occasion. Nothing is more classic than a fantastic french manicure, and these nails are not so ridiculously long that they'll get in the way.

They stayed on all day, and they looked great. I only had a problem with one of the nails... as I was removing the plastic from the sticky part to put on my nails, the plastic "ripped", even though they were quite thick.

You can see it just a little in the picture there (sorry for the not so great quality... not sure why it's not very good). It didn't really continue to rip as the day progressed, but it didn't look very nice up close either.

All in all, I'd absolutely get these again. In fact, there is a $1.00 off coupon on the http://impressmanicure.com/ website, and you know I love a good deal. :) And as always, I received this product complimentary for testing and review purposes from Influenster, and I am grateful to have been selected to review these products!

Apple Walnut Cake

Hi all! It's been a quiet May around here and I hope to be posting a little more in June as I get into more of a routine.

Today I am making Apple Walnut Cake, a recipe that I found originally in the Glycemic Index Cookbook. This cookbook is actually one my mother picked up for me at a yard sale, and man, there are some gorgeous low GI recipes that actually look pretty do-able and don't have a million ingredients, AND look yummy.

This recipe was good - just enough sweetness to silence that sweet tooth, but not enough to leave you craving eating the rest of the pan. Does that make sense? Sometimes I feel "I can't get enough!" when something is ultra sweet and I want more... where this recipe is just enough. It's not ultra rich where you feel "bleckk" the rest of the night, either. Although, I highly recommend just a HINT of vanilla ice cream... :)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups chopped sliced Granny Smith apples (they said that's two large apples, it took me four.)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar substitute. (I mix my regular sugar with my Splenda-like sugar substitute, so I didn't use just straight up sugar substitute.
4 1/2 tablespoons of margarine or butter, melted. (I used margarine, next time I would use butter.)
3/4 cup fat-free/skim milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

You'll also want:
A large mixing bowl
An 8x8 glass pan
A large Pyrex type measuring cup. I used the 4 cup version.

First, preheat your oven to 350. Just a heads up - this recipe takes 50 minutes to cook, so don't make this recipe if you want "instant" results ;) While you're at it, spray a 8x8 glass pan with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, apple pie spice and salt in a bowl. Use a larger bowl, as you'll be mixing in this later.

Slice your apples and dump them in the prepared baking pan. Using the large Pyrex measuring cup, beat the brown sugar, the sugar sub, and melted margarine until well blended. My suggestion: once you've got the apples out of the measuring cup, melt the margarine in the measuring cup, then add the sugars. No sense in getting other dishes dirty!

Now, once the margarine and sugars are mixed, whisk in milk, eggs and vanilla, mix until smooth. Then, dump this mixture into your awaiting flour bowl from earlier. Stir until smooth.

Pour the mixture over the apples. Sprinkle the walnuts over the batter.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted in the center comes clean. Let it cool for 10 minutes when it comes out. Serve warm, and refrigerate leftovers.

Hope you enjoyed! This makes 9 servings and has 204 calories per serving, 23g of carbohydrates, 12g fat, 2g Saturated fat, 2 grams of fiber. Thanks for following along!