More Outside

We have really been enjoying being new home owners. But it is a lot of hard work!

We have about 5 bunnies that live in our woods and mostly chill in our yard so I had to think of a way to grow strawberries where they wouldn't get eaten. This hanging bag works great.

We had some old torn out fencing that we were going to burn but instead Tony built a raised bed.

Is it weird that I love doing laundry? Like.. really love it. I find it to be very calming.

And of course I had to include a haul picture. Recent Bath & Bodyworks haul. They had a promotion for a free candle so I couldn't resist.  Also, this mini perfume of Endless Summer smells so great.

May Wantable Intimates

Oh Hey, my Wantable Intimates box arrived the other day. Wantable is a subscription box that specializes in Make Up, Accessories, and Intimates. I have been subscribing to the intimates box for a few months now. I find that it's consistently a great deal on items I would pick for myself. I am considering trying the accessories box as well. You can buy one box for $40.00 or subscribe for a reoccurring cost of $36.00. Wantable has some of the best communication and customer service out there. They are based in my home town so I may also be biased towards it.

Wantable is fairly customizable, allowing you to take a survey about your loves, likes, and dislikes. 

Wantable is always packed with goodies and covered with a quote strip.

I'll start with my first kind of..meh.. item. It is the Rhonda Shear Seamless Boyshort in black. $12.00. 

Then I saw these. They are so much brighter than you could ever imagine. They blew me away. At first  I was looking at them like.. WTF.. but then I realized that I love bright enormous socks so these are perfect. Now all I need is some daisy dukes and a pair of roller skates. 

This is the Honeydew Essential Bliss Cami. $30.00. I couldn't get a great picture of the lace details but I assure that this cami is gorgeous. It is made of the softest fabric.

And my final and favorite item is the St Eve Sleep Capri. $22.00. These are much more vibrantly colored that you could see. I was beginning to lose daylight while taking these photos. These capris are all cotton and one of the comfiest pairs of pj pants ever. I have been living in them since getting them.

What do you think? This wasn't my most exciting box yet but I still loved everything I received. The box has a retail value of about 78.00 so that is a great deal for $36.00! I have noticed that the value of almost every box has been at least $75.00. Click HERE to join Wantable. 

The Gift Shoppe

I love supporting local businesses. I will go out of my way to make sure that I purchase local at any chance I have. This sometimes means paying more, but there is a joy of stepping into a tiny shop and being able to scour the shelves for treasures. You don't get that online. 

My favorite shop is called The Gift Shoppe. It smells nice and is beautifully decorated. They offer a customer rewards program and often give small gifts as thanks for shopping locally. 

It helps that they have an entire wall of candles. Oh lord I could stand there sniffing all day and be perfectly fine with it. I picked up these Blissful Sunrise votives on my last trip and also this handmade coffee scented wax warmer refill called Perfect Morning. If you ever see Legacy candles at a shop near you, check them out. The scents are amazing.

These magnets were on a table outside for their annual sidewalk sale. They were about $2.00 each so I think that's a score. They are so pretty and larger than they look.

Dean Crouser is a watercolor artist from Oregon that takes his inspiration from nature. Click here to see his work.  I have so many of his pieces and my collection keeps growing. My living room walls are a collage of his paintings. 

Aren't they stunning? The bring a light and life into my home.

Beauty Army

Have you ever heard of Beauty Army? Beauty Army is another subscription box in my arsenal. And I am here today to warn you about this subscription. It is $12.00 a month and I signed up when they were fairly new. My first box was phenomenal and was packed full of great products. I immediately jumped on the 1 year option to receive one box free. I have no idea how long I have left on this year because I end up skipping every month. Yes, you did read right, you can skip. And that is the only saving grace to this train wreck of a service. 

Beauty Army promotes it's ability to customize your box to your preferences but I can attest to the fact that no matter what you do and how many times you change your profile, you will only get 1 or 2 minor changes in product. 

Here is a look at my profile. You can update your skin tone, hair color, scent preference, and also what you are interested in receiving. It only makes a difference in what foils you get.

Yup.. Foil packets. $12.00 in foil packets. Foil packets that I can and have gotten for free. Literally, almost every single one of these I have already received from a sample site at no charge. You have the lovely option of picking 6 out of 9 offered.

So those are my choices. For $12.00. It is a joke. Really. It has to be a joke. How can a company think that this is okay? And it's not that I am ranting for no reason.. this is not the first time I have been offered all foils. This happens 90% of the time with this company. 

Please do yourself a favor. Save your $12.00 and visit Walmart and Target's online sample center because you will not pay a dime for these same products.

/end rant.

Recent Swaps

                                            Just a few snaps of some things I swapped for.

I had never tried a Square Hue polish before. The formula was great but I didn't have a chance to snap my hands w/ it on. I forgot a top coat so it chipped after 2 days. The color is called Ginza.

This Nailtini shade is called Mai Tai and was included in many Ipsy bags. I had received a different color and was hoping to try this one. I love the vibrant reddish orange.

I was all too glad to get rid of some items from my Fancy Mystery Box. I hated pretty much everything so most of these swaps are from those items. I feel like I lucked out though because I got to swap for things I really wanted. This set was made exclusively for Fancy Box by Rainbow Honey. It includes Fancy Red and Fancy Black with a cuticle butter stick.

I will most likely save these colors for Halloween because that's what they remind me of.

I love Lumene moisturizers and products. I first tried the brand through Blush Mystery Box and fell in love. The best part about it too is that Lumene is affordable! I have very oily skin so just a couple dabs of this moisturizer on the few dry spots I get and I am good to go! I do use moisturizer at night though because I like to have soft skin. Lumene does not break me out, and that is priceless to me.

I also finally got to try Harvey Prince's Yogini perfume. Okay.. so am I the only one that says Yogini like.. Vagini? That's what it reminds me of : / …. I love the smell though and I am so mad at myself for buying Journey because Yogini was out of stock. Journey smells god awful.

And the fragrance Clean is lovely as well. I had been wanting to try it and now I may buy the full size.

I received this Caldrea scented body wash in my Glossybox last month. I think it is lovely. I love lime scents because they remind me of summers. I also have been seeing a ton of Caldrea products lately in sub boxes and I am so cool with that. 

Have you ever used a swap site? If not, I really recommend giving it a shot. The only downside is the constant trips to the post office. I sometimes have to go 4 times a week! 

May Julep Maven Review

May's Julep Maven's Collection was called 'Fresh Twist' and included the much talked about Plie Wand. I battled between Boho Glam and Bombshell, ultimately choosing the Boho Glam box. 

The polishes included are Jeanne, "a jet set blue creme" and Paulette, "a golden lilac tulle shimmer".

Jeanne

Paulette w/ the pile wand attachment

And this is what Paulette looks like on. It's gorgeous. I haven't tried Jeanne yet and although I love the color, I have not had luck with their creme polishes. They are generally goopy and take way too long to dry. And the second you think they are dry and touch something…you end up ruining your whole mani.

I really enjoyed the Plie Wand and I did not have high hopes for it. I sat there thinking that if there was truly a way to make applying polish easier than someone would have done it by now. But this wand does work.  I was pretty shocked.

UPDATE: Ended up not canceling Julep. I received a call from their customer service informing me I had been grandfathered into being able to skip any month I want. Woohoo! I had NO idea and I think it was so awesome that they let me know that. Now I feel like I can rest better knowing that I can choose the products that I truly want and can be happy with. That alone makes me much happier with Julep.

Thursday Thoughts

                          Today I'm linking up with Jennifer over at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom.

* I'm not sure how it is in other parts of the country.. but the weather here is miserable. My yard looks like a swimming pool. At 2 AM I got a wake up alert about flash flood warnings. It's also very cold.

* I work for a fertilizer company, did you know that? Well, it's our slow season so I am able to blog from work. How cool is that?

* I'll be turning the big 3-0 on the 23rd. Who wants to start a betting pool on whether I seriously wig out? When I turned 25 I had a complete mental break down.

* I know you all saw the news video of the dog attacking a child in California. And all of a sudden this cat comes out of nowhere like a superhero and chases that dog down. One of the million reasons cats rock.


So impressed.

* I really need to find something awesome to do this weekend. The last fun thing Tony and I did together was go to the pumpkin farm in October. We are way past due.

* And then PopSugar released another limited addition box. And I bought one. Can I consider that a Birthday gift to myself? Yup.

* I canceled my Julep account this morning. It was a long time coming. I love the idea of Julep. I love the concept, the colors, and the deals. But I don't love the polish. So what the heck was I thinking for all these months? I stare longingly at my Julep collection every time I go to paint my nails. But I never choose it because the fact is.. their formula sucks. It's streaky, inconsistant, and takes hours to dry. I have at least 40 of their polishes and gosh.. that's a lot of money wasted. Now if Zoya had a sub box.. I'd be on that in 5 sec flat.

* I still have received no reply from Paxton Cove about my unsent order.

* I really should have saved all of my empties from this month so far. I think you'd be impressed.

* I am watching impatiently as my little tomato plants and basil grow. Why? Because I need this Quinoa w/ Tomato, Basil, & Mozzarella Salad right now.