Popsugar Must Have Box–May 2013

I feel like all these boxes come at once. It makes for a few days of very happy mail!

A lot of people seemed to hate on last month’s box. I didn’t hate it, but I love this month’s box so much more. It’s such a fun box!

The black sun hat is fantastic. It’s crushable so it can be packed easily and the wire brim makes it easier to adjust to block the sun when you’re reading on the beach. It’s so coming to Outer Banks with me!

The Modern Cocktail mixers look super fun. I’ll probably bring them to OBX too. Except for the blood orange one – that one seems like it’s made for the True Blood premier.

Questions I Ask When I Want To Talk About Myself look hilarious. I’m sure I’ll bring them to book club at some point.

The Way Better Snacks are already gone. They were beyond delicious.

I’m super excited about the Beauty Blender. I’ve heard so many good things about it and I can’t wait to try it out.

The lip color is a nice fig color. You can never have too many lip products!

There was also a $30 gift certificate to Charm and Chain. Their cheaper items have gotten super picked over since the boxes went out, so I’m going to hold on to mine for a few months before spending it. I’m hoping for a cute necklace.

This was such a perfect, summery box. I loved everything! I hope next month’s box is this awesome!

Nuance by Salma Hayek Birchbox

I came home to a box from Birchbox and immediately had a moment of panic thinking I ordered something by accident. It wasn’t an order, though, it was a special edition box!

I did some googling after I opened it and it seems this was a free, additional box that Birchbox sent out to promote the new Nuance collection by Salma Hayek that’s exclusive to CVS. From what I read, I think you had to opt in via a special email to get this box. I honestly don’t remember doing that, but I guess I did!

There were five different samples, all of a really good size. The small box is an anti-aging lotion. The two bottles with green labels are shampoo and conditioner. The big bottle is body cream. And the stick thing is a 3-in-1 eye product featuring eyeshadow, liner and a highligher. There was also a coupon.

I opened the eye stick and it’s really neat. I don’t know how much use I’d actually get out of it, but I think it would be a fantastic item to travel with or to keep in your bag for touch-ups.

I tried the body cream tonight after my shower and it feels a little greasy to me. I don’t love it, but I also may just be mourning that my bottle of Thymes lotion is officially done.

Kali just wanted the box. I’m kind of think she gets just as much of a kick out of packages as I do.

7 Acts of Kindness for Sophie’s 7th Birthday

This is a sad/happy story:

In January, a family in Maryland lost their two young daughters in a house fire. The older daughter, Sophie, would have been 7 years old today. It could have been a devastatingly depressing day, but instead the family made a campaign out of the day and asked people, via Facebook, to do 7 acts of kindness in Sophie’s honor.

How can you not get involved with something like that?

Throughout the day, I was seeing stories on FB and Twitter of what people were doing. Everything was awesome. There was a lot of extra love and goodness in the world today because of Sophie.

Here was my contribution:

1. I made a few loans on Kiva. If you’re not familiar with Kiva, it’s a site that lets you lend money to entrepreneurs all over the world. Today, I loaned to women in Ghana and Timor-Leste so they could grow their small businesses.  Right now, if you sign up with this link, Kiva will give you a $25 credit to make a loan – and I’ll get a $25 credit to make a loan too. There’s no catch, just an opportunity to do some good on someone else’s dime. Do it!

2. I made a donation to my friend Nicole’s Relay for Life efforts. Nicole really puts her heart and soul into Relay each year – she just cut off 12” of her hair to donate to make wigs for cancer patients. If you’d like to support her, you can find her fundraising page here.

3. I bought a big bottle of lotion and stuck it in the bathroom at work.

4. I went through my closet and pulled out any gently used business attire I didn’t want/didn’t fit to give to a friend. She’s going to be donating it to an organization that helps outfit homeless women for job interviews.

5. I rounded up the perfume samples I didn’t want and stuck them on random cars, along with happy notes.

6. I taped quarters to the vending machines in the women’s bathrooms at the mall. (I never have a quarter when I need a tampon out of one of those things, so I’m hoping this saves someone’s day!)

7. I bought some Mother’s Day themed lottery scratch-offs and tucked them into pregnancy and childbirth books on the new book shelf at the library.

I’m not sharing them because I want a pat on the back – I’m sharing them because seeing stuff like this inspires me and I hope that this can inspire someone else.

Happy Birthday, Sophie!

10 Thoughts for Tuesday

1. We got frost last night! Frost! If it kills my plants I’m going to be so sad.

2. I still haven’t cracked open that Sookie book. I’m in a bit of a reading slump. I just don’t feel like sitting down and focusing on a book.

3. On the other hand, I’m getting ridiculously excited about BEA. I’ve been plowing through this guide they sent out. I can’t wait!!

4. The day of BEA is also the day of Mark’s CFA exam. I’m so, so excited for this test to be over so I can have my husband back!

5. You know how everything seems to happen at once? That’s my Thursday. It’s the library book sale, I have a dentist appointment and I’m signed up for a workshop at Home Depot.

6. I made my favorite ham and cheese waffles for dinner last night and threw in some green onions too. SO GOOD.

7. Twitter suspended my account for a bit this week. I got it back, no explanation given. I’m still baffled as to what they thought I did.

8. I have a whole bunch of sample-sized perfumes and my favorites are all going empty. Logically, I should buy the ones I like… but perfume prices are crazy!  just can’t do it.

9. My talented friend, Melissa, framed some art we bought in Europe and another poster I love. I got them hung in the office this week. They look amazing!

10.  I have two long weekends in a row coming up! Hooray!

Garden’s In

Mark’s Mom and I kicked off the weekend at the annual Master Gardner plant sale. The Master Gardeners start all of these plants that are supposed to grow well in our area and harden them off nicely – the grow great.

The sale is basically hundreds of different kinds of plants all laid out on the lawn of the 4H center. Some people know what they’re getting, but I just end up wandering around. Since we’ve moved here, I’ve been getting plants at the sale to supplement the seedlings Mark’s Mom starts for us.

And then I came home and planted. This is what the garden area looked like right before I started:

And this is post-planting:

The strawberries (lower right) are going nuts. We already have some green berries there. They’re also the only thing that actually match the garden plan (because they were already there). Mostly everything else I switched up.

The long box has cucumbers (a new variety for me), zucchini (also a new variety), green onions and carrots. A ton of carrots since they’ve been growing well and we love them.

The closer square box has cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes and a variety of tomato that was developed at a college here in NJ. I also have tomatillos, hot peppers, green bell peppers and eggplant in there. The plant sale had Fooled You peppers (non-spicy jalapenos) again this year, so I couldn’t resist. It’s a crowded box!

The further box has personal-sized watermelon, pole beans, spinach, leaf lettuce, small heads of lettuce, basil, parsley, cilantro and mint.

I still have to get a few more tomato cages and a pot big enough for corn (that still needs to get planted) but I made good progress! I can’t wait until things start growing.

May 2013 Birchbox

My Birchbox came today – earlier than expected, so that was a nice surprise! I had been looking at other people’s boxes on Instagram this week and was really underwelmed, so I was pretty excited when I saw what was inside mine.

From left to right:

A Acroball Pure White pen by Pilot – This was the lifestyle extra for the month. It’s cute (it’s pink), but it’s still a pen. I already have plenty.

COOLA Classic Face SPF 30 Cucumber Moisturizer for Face – I’m excited to try this. I decided this morning that I really don’t like the SPF I’ve been using so I’m officially on the hunt for a new one.

amika Obliphica Nourishing Mask – This is a deep conditioner and I’ve decided I want to work one into my weekly routine. I had my eye on another that everyone seems to be raving about, but we’ll see how this one works before I buy that one.

Sumita Color Contrast Eyeliner – I’m a disaster with eyeliner but I tried this on this afternoon and it looks halfway decent. I was sort of hoping for a fun color, but I got black. I’m not really disappointed, though, because I’m so thrilled with the idea that this might actually get me to learn to put on eyeliner!

Marvis Classic Mint Toothpaste – I’m not terribly excited about this, but I’ll use it.

Isaac Mizrahi FABULOUS Eau de Parfume – I don’t think I really like this, but my box also came just a few minutes after I put on another perfume and my nose is a little stuffed, so I’m reserving judgement for now!

Overall, I really love this box. I’m excited to try everything!

Free Comic Book Day

Saturday was Free Comic Book Day. It’s a lot like the comic version of World Book Night. Participating comic book stores give out selected free editions to anyone who happens to come in.

We were out running errands Saturday morning so I dragged Mark to our local comic shop with me.  They had a table set up with all of the free picks and the owner’s son (who was maybe 10?) was there to oversee things and give suggestions.

Everyone was allowed to take three per person, so Mark and I made a point not to overlap. I picked: The Steam Engines of Oz, Grimm and Kaboom; Mark picked: The Tick, Bongo and Superman.

We had different comic-picking strategies. Mark went with ones he knew he’d like. I haven’t read a comic book in ages so I tried to pick ones that I thought I may want to continue reading in the future.

Kaboom was one of the ones recommended to me by the owner’s son. It was a compilation of some kid-friendly comics: Garfield, Peanuts, Ice Age. They were all shorts or to-be-continued strips. The standout was Adventure Time, which is a choose-your-own-adventure in comic book form. It was really fun. The whole thing was a little young for me (which, I expected by taking recommendations from a 10-year-old), but I enjoyed it.

Steam Engineers of Oz is a steam punk future of what happened in Oz after Dorothy left. It’s an interesting concept, but the free book was only a bit of a set-up and then “to-be-continued”. I think I might enjoy it, but I don’t feel like enough got fleshed out in that little bit for me to take the plunge and buy it. I couldn’t even really get a handle on the characters in those few pages. (I think Tin Man is now the bad guy?!)

Grimm is based on the show. I believe this was a preview of a forth-coming series. I didn’t love it – the characters didn’t have any depth yet. But, I could see it being a really good show so I might go track down some of the episodes and see how I like that.

Superman was my favorite out of all of them. Like a few of the others, it ended in a cliff-hanger so you have to buy the next one to find out what happens. It’s the only one, though, that got me to care about the characters and the story enough to really want to go out and spend money on finding out.

Bongo is a Simpsons one. Mark’s a fan, but I’m not so I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this one. It didn’t make me love the Simpsons, but I can appreciate that this was one of the better-done books we picked up.

The Tick was new to me. It was cute and I could see it being loved by a kid. (I’m pretty sure Mark picked it up for more nostalgic reasons than serious ones.) There was no cliff-hanger, which I really appreciated, and as sweet note from the writer about Free Comic Book day.

So, the result of it all is that I’ve picked up a comic I want to follow, Superman, and a new show to catch up with, Grimm. The rest were fun to read, even if they weren’t totally my cup of tea.

Thank you to Comic Fortress for participating in such a fun event! You’ll be seeing us back soon!

Ten Thoughts for Tuesday

1. My allergies have been fine so far this year – until yesterday. I know pollen counts are high, but a half hour outside and my nose is killing me. I’m not totally sure if it’s allergies or part cold too, but it sucks.

2. I bought the new Sookie book today. I sort of feel like a sucker for doing so. It better be good.

3. I finally found tahini paste at the grocery store. Homemade hummus here I come!

4.  I have a really pretty light blue nail polish that I want to wear – but I have a light teal shirt and light teal necklace laid out to wear to work tomorrow. Too much of one color, I think.

5. I think Zendaya and Derek are the only reasons to watch Dancing with the Stars this season.

6. I have an insane amount of scrapbooking to catch up on. My to-be-scrapbooked drawer is completely full. I really need to get working on it. Also, once I catch up, I think I’m going to stop scrapbooking. I’d stop now, but I can’t wrap my head around getting rid of all this stuff I’ve collected.

7. Prince Harry is going to be in NJ next week. I need to figure out a way to meet him and convince him to introduce me to Princess Kate so we can be BFFs.

8. I did some yoga yesterday and it really highlighted how weak I am. I’ve never been strong, but this is pathetic.

9. Godiva always emails me at lunch time. It’s cruel.

10. I bought Mother’s Day cards for my Grandma and Mark’s Mom today. The only card I liked for my Mom was $7. And she taught me better than that.

Decisions, Decisions

Now, I’m not really one to run out and buy a book the day it comes out. I think I’ve only done it twice before: Insurgent and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Both times I wanted to read it before any chance of spoilers. Usually, I just wait for my name to come up on the library hold list.

Dead Ever After comes out tomorrow.

On one hand, spoilers have already leaked on the internet. I’ve avoided them so far, but once the book is officially out, it’s going to be a lot harder. I’ve invested about four years of reading into this series and, although I haven’t loved the last few books as much, I’d like to finish it off without having someone ruin it for me.

On the other hand, the eight books I currently own from the series are all mass-market paperbacks. The thought of picking up a hard cover tomorrow makes me twitchy. I hate when my series don’t match!

I keep going back and forth over if I should try to avoid any Sookie talk for the next month until I can get the book for the library or just run and get it on my lunch hour tomorrow.

I’m torn.

Kristen’s Baby Shower

This afternoon I helped celebrate Kristen’s baby-to-be. I’m used to getting invitations to these showers and having no idea where they are, so I was mildly excited to open this invitation and know where the restaurant was. Life’s easier when you don’t have to GPS everything!

There were the baby shower standards – food, gifts and guess-what-she’s having. I’m thinking boy. And she’s due right around my birthday, so I’m sort of rooting for a birthday buddy.

I helped with the gifts (or really, helped wrangle Kristen’s nieces as they brought her presents). The girls were a great help and completely adorable.

It’s funny to watch a lot of this stuff be opened because half of the time I was thinking, why on Earth do you need that? Or, what is that for? I remember thinking the same sort of thing about bridal shower gifts before I was the one getting married so I’m sure I’ll catch on when the time comes – it just amazes me how much of a learning curve there is with this stuff!

Tara’s not far behind – she’s due in September – so I’m sure we’ll be showering for her soon too. If all the weddings of the past few years are any indication, I’ll be going to a lot more baby showers soon!