Thursday Thoughts

Good morning, all!  I'm liking up with Jen again for a Thursday Thoughts post.  I love link ups!

I can NOT wait until Friday.  I will leave work and will not return for nine days!  That's right...an entire week off for me!  We are headed to the Oregon Coast.  I don't even care if it rains. I just want to spend time with the hubs and kids.  And I want to nap.  A lot.  And read a book.  And watch movies. And walk on the beach.  And fly a kite.  And eat a bunch. Because when I return, I am starting the 24-Day Challenge.  Mmmm Hmmmm.  Mama's gonna get in shape, ya'll!

So, I sent in my ThredUp bags the other day and I already got an email saying they got them! This email came in yesterday.  I could not believe how fast it was to hear back from them.  They did say they are experiencing high volume of bags so there could be a wait of up to 3 weeks to go through it and give me a payout, but I don't think that's a big deal...especially since the communication has bee great thus far.
I can not believe it's already June 20th.  Every year the summer seems to FLY by.  This year is no exception.  I woke up in the middle of the night to pouring down rain and thunder.  Does anyone else love a good summer storm?  My enjoyment of listening to it was halted when I laid in bed at 3:00 am worried that I left my car windows open.  Don't worry, I didn't.  But I have in the past and it sucks.  I grew up in Seattle and, well, it rains once in a while there, and I can remember time after time (do I never learn anything?) getting in my car to soaking wet seats and musty smell.  Sure, I sat on a towel or two, but you always end up with a wet bottom.

I am tired of Rite-Aid.  I wish I could go to a Target or Walmart or Fred Meyer.  A Costco would be nice, so would a mall.  And I would give about anything to go to a craft store.  Living in the mountains is beautiful and peaceful, but being 2 hours away from a city is a bit much sometimes.

I wish I would start doing some of the pinterest crafts I keep pinning.  I spend a lot of time looking at what other people do, sure would be nice if I was one of "those" people.  I know I am capable of at least some of it.

I finally found a good moisturizer to use under my makeup that doesn't make my face all shiny and oily.  Supergoop is awesome stuff!  It's on the expensive side, for me anyway, but this was an item I got in one of my Little Black Bags...I traded something or other for it and I'm real glad I did!

Guess that's it for me.  For now.

Peace out.

Blog Advice Giveaway I.WANT.TO.WIN

I'm fairly new to blogging.  I do a lot of blog reading.  One blog I really like to read is Mama Laughlin.  She's hilarious, beautiful and very inspiring.

While stalking her blog the other day, I saw she is doing this awesome blog advice giveaway!  I really want to win.  There's lots of successful blog ladies that will give blog advice to the winners.

Check it out and  you should totally enter too.  But I hope I win, not you :)

Blog Advice Giveaway

June Lip Factory Review

I was so very excited when I heard about Lip Factory subscription box!  Amongst my most favorite things in the whole world, lip gloss / lip balm is definitely one of them!  I have seen reviews of past boxes and some were loaded with lip gloss!  This month there was a mix of makeup items...which is great, although I was hoping for a box full of gloss!

 

The cost for this box is $21 per month (or was it $22?).  Anyway, I think it's a great deal for all that I got!

 

 

 

Fun little information card

 

 This Be fine exfoliating cleanser with brown sugar looks amazing!  I can't wait to try it out!  And you should seriously check out their website.  It's great fun.

 

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And this Essence volumizing eye lash powder is cray cray.  I tried it once but need to "practice" a few times.  From what I can tell you are supposed to put on mascara, and then this before the mascara dries.  When I did that, there was the little powder all over my eye lashes and you could see it on there, so I did another layer of mascara.  By the time I was done, my eyelashes were definitely full but that could be because I kept putting on more mascara to cover the powder.  Hmm.  I'll give it another go sometime soon.  Hopefully I'm cool enough to figure out this type of product.

 

This 29 Lipstick looks so fun in the tube.  Not fun on my lips.  MJ saw it and immediately wanted it.  I might just give it to her one day for dress up.  For now, I just like it in my makeup stash.  Not sure why.

 

This Manic Panic High Voltage lipgloss is awesome.  It's a great color for me, not too bright.  It's really soft and easy to wear.  For some strange reason the lid lights up when I open it.  That's fun.  And there's a nice mirror on the side for application on the go!

 

This Colour U mineral eye shadow is a very pretty turquoise color.  I haven't tried it yet but one day, or night, when Big D and I go out for a hot date I might just feel sassy enough to give it a go.

 

Ok.  This is the best part of the box for me.  I truly needed, and I do mean needed mascara.  I saw that this was in the box from other reviews so I held off buying some until my box came.  This is a really good size mascara and I really like it.  It's also from Manic Panic

 

I really, really, really like this Londontown Lakur nail polish.  I can't wait to try it.  Perhaps it would have been a better choice than the green sparkly stuff I put on last night....

 

Not sure what my problem is but my pictures really suck for this review.  I love the products and hope the pictures don't ruin the whole experience for you viewers.  I would say it is definitely worth the $21 for this package!!!

 

Did you order a Lip Factory box??  Did you get the same things?  What was your favorite?  Do tell!

So What Wednesday

I'm linking up with Life After I Dew for this So What Wednesday...

So what...

-That I painted my nails a bright green with a top coat of big sparkles....It looks ridiculous on a 36-year-old at work trying to be professional....but it sure made my daughter happy when I agreed to paint my nails the exact same as hers.

-That I fed my kids smoothies for dinner last night.  I want to use up all our food before our vacation and refuse to go to the grocery store until then.  Ally told me she was "on the brink of hunger all day".  Really? Do I need to force you to watch that video of starving African children AGAIN?  (and I have done it, seriously). 

-That I let MJ skip her softball game last night because I didn't want to drive an hour to get there when I have so many other things I want need to do.

-That I have the world's biggest stack of papers to go through at on my desk at work and won't have time to get to it all before I leave on Friday.

-That ALL my pants were tight on me this morning.....you think it's cool if I wear yoga pants to work with a nice blouse??

-That I finally broke down to MJ's pleas and gave Lola, the cat, a bath last night just to make her happy.  "Her" being MJ, clearly not the cat.  I wore rubber gloves so that I would have a minimal amount of scratches!  It was quite the scene, let me tell you!

I guess that's it for my So Whats.  Time to get crackalackin on the stack of papers.  Ugh...NOT FUN.

Birchbox, Total Beauty, Klutchclub, Julep,ThredUp, Little Black Bag, Advocare, Etc.

I have a lot going on.  So many things to talk about. So little time to blog about them.  So here are some things on my mind today in little snippets.  I feel ADHD.

Yesterday I got my Advocare Distributor kit!  YAHOO!  I've been waiting for a few days and could not wait for it to arrive.  It came with some super fun samples and I LOVE the Spark drink and the little bottles of Slam are awesome too!  Great flavors and they give a TON of great energy.  I feel happy.

I also ordered a canister of Watermelon Spark and the 24-Day Challenge that I'll be starting on July 1st.  I really can't wait to start feeling more healthy and just all-around better!  I feel yucky.

I signed up for Klutchclub through a coupon deal on Plum District.  I was super excited when I saw the "three months of Klutchclub membership for only $7!" and bought it instantly.  I then went to the Klutchclub website and had to pay $24 shipping for the three months.  Hmmm.  So I ended up paying $31 for the three month subscription, which comes out to $10.33 per box.  Still not a bad deal, but I did think I was going to get it at an absolute steal.  I felt a little violated.

Yesterday I was feeling really good about staying strong and not buying anything on the Julep online warehouse sale, even though there were REALLY good deals.  I looked at the site a few times but stayed strong. Until I turned weak, and bought some things.  I spent $19 and got quite a bit.  I'll be sure to show them off when I get them.  I felt a little weak.

My first Birchbox is in Utah...on it's way to me in Idaho from the East Coast.  Hopefully tomorrow?  I feel impatient.

Yesterday I sent out two STUFFED ThredUp bags!  I was going to drop them off at the post office but decided to run them into the UPS store (the paid sticker on the bag said either usps or ups would be fine).  The man at the UPS store politely thanked me and said they got $1 per bag since I brought them there.  I felt kind.

Today I will try not to eat two cookies like I did yesterday at the bank when I go do my deposit for work.  I hate when I have every intentio of NOT eating the cookies but do anyway.  And they have licorice too.  What bank HAS to have cookies and licorice every.single.day.  I just walked by and took two yesterday.  I felt like a fatty.

I sent some item to return to Little Black Bag last week and am waiting for my exchange credit to show up.  It's super fun with exchanges as there's an "exchange gallery" and I will ge to choose  anything I want to replace the three items I sent  in.  I keep obsessively checking my inbox to see if I have gotten a notification of the exchange on my account.  I fee like a stalker.

Last week I read about Total Beauty mystery box for $18.  It has 13 products valued at over $100.  I also bought that.  I have not received a shipping notification but I hope it's on it's way.  I do love a good surprise!  I feel like I am spending too much money on boxes.

Clearly, I have a subscription box obsession.  And it's going to not be good here shortly.  So I need to pull in the reigns for a little while and NOT.SPEND.ANY.MORE.MONEY online.

A Day with MJ

Over the weekend I had a chance to spend a lot of time with my girls. Both boys were gone and it was just us for three days!  We loved every minute of it.  I didn't cook dinner....or lunch...or breakfast.  We pretty much just snacked all weekend.  We did some cleaning and organizing, some movie watching and sleeping in, some snuggling and laughing.  I also got to spend an afternoon with just MJ.  I asked her what she wanted to do and she said she wanted to go to the park. 

One thing about having two teenagers is that I am really appreciating my youngest still being little.  I LOVE that she still loves to play with her toys, play dress-up and pretend, and I love that she just wants to run and play at the park without a care in the world.  She's 9, so I am aware that my time with her as a little girl is limited.  And that is heart breaking.

I used to want my kids to get older.  I, like any mom of little kids, was exhausted from just the day to day grind with little ones.  I was always excited when they started school.  But now, B will be a senior next year, and Ally is now a teenager, I do not want MJ to get any bigger.  I am suddenly wishing they were all little again and I was a stay-at-home mom again taking care of their every little need.

But since I can not go back in time, I will enjoy the experiences I have with each of them.  And I'm thankful for my day at the park with my littlest last Saturday.  Just look at how dang cute she is!

June Ipsy Bag Review

Whew!  My Ipsy bag FINALLY arrived!  Sheesh!  I was waiting for what seemed like forever.  I kept tracking it and it was supposed to be here a few days ago and it finally showed up yesterday.

I was happy with this bag for the most part.  You can't really beat the price.  It's just $10 a month and so far I've received full size products.  And it's fun to get things that I wouldn't normally buy for myself.  It's fun to try different things :)

I took terrible pictures.  And I didn't crop anything.  But oh well, you'll get the point.

So, first up is a super fun highlighter pencil.  It's from Chella and it's officially called the Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil.  I will be able to brighten up under my eyes with this baby.  I've never had a highlighting pencil before so it will be something new for me to try.

Also in the picture is a Starlooks lip pencil.  The shade is a nice light color so I might not be too afraid to try this.  I'm not really into lip pencils, but maybe it's because I've never really tried one?  This will be a first also.  I love "firsts"!

This sparkly cream palette looks really fun!  It's a J. Cat pallete, and well, call me new, but I've never heard of J. Cat.  I might save this for one of the girl's stockings at Christmas.  It looks so very fun but I don't really see wearing it anywhere.  And it says to not wear it on your eyes. Which is the only place I can even think TO wear it.  Hmmmm.

Next up is a really nice Nyx blush.  The color is perfect for me as I do not like pink blushes.  This is more of a brown-ish color.  I don't usually wear a lot of blush but I'm going to give this a try for sure!

The next thing is a Cailyn gel eye liner.  This looks so fun.  I like how it all fits together with the brush in the handle and all.  I'll be using this for sure.

Here's a picture of the bag.  I really like the animal print!  I am getting a nice collection of makeup bags. 

All in all, the Ipsy bag is great.  I really like the bright pink bubble wrap outer packaging it comes in!  I love opening my mailbox and seeing it in there!

Thursday Thoughts

Thursday Thoughts with Ramblings of a Suburban Mom

So happy to be doing my second link up!  Too bad I don't know how to add the button with the link attached....I figured out how to do it if there's html code with the button.  If anyone at all can help me out that would be awesome.  Clearly I'm "new".

Since ThredUp seems to be a common topic amongst bloggers in this link up, I think I'll share that I ordered a bag a few days ago.  Hopefully it will arrive soon.  The bag was free to order, and then I fill it with quality gently-used items and send it back to them.  The best part? The shipping is FREE for me!  They pay shipping for the bags full of clothing.  Everyone else, it seems, has been doing reviews on little kids' clothing. When mine were babies and toddlers I did a LOT of consignment shopping.  I still do, but now that they are older and wear through their clothes more, I don't find quite as many deals.  I'm thinking I'll send in some of my clothes and do a review on ladies' items.  Maybe I'll send a few pieces of my girls' clothes to (they are 9 and 13).  I'm not sure how big the bag is that I ordered...

I am looking forward to our "girls" weekend this weekend!  The boys will be gone so it's just me and my girls.  We love our special nights together with movies, junk food, nail polish, sleeping in my bed with me, staying up late, etc.  So looking forward to it!

I am really loving Starbucks Refreshers!  Just add the powedered packet into 16 oz of water.  I've been having one every afternoon at work.  It's such a great pick-me-up and the flavors are great!

Tomorrow is payday (woot woot) which means I will get to order my Advocare 24-Day Challenge kit!  I'm going to start on July 1st, after my much awaited vaca to the coast!  I'm so excited for this challenge.  I could use a good cleansing detox and clean eating!  I have been really out of control lately.  Sad face.  I've heard great things about this challenge and can't wait to start!!!!

Guess that's all.  Have a great Thursday!

So What Wednesday

This is my very first link up and I'm excited!  I don't even know the protocol, or blog ettiquite, or even how to spell that word, but I hope I'm doing it right!  This is from the ever-so-wonderful blog Life after I Dew.  It's a new blog to me and I love it.

Here she goes...

*So what if I had to google "how to get someone else's blog button on my blog" to even do this post.  I'm learning.  Slowly.  And I do not even think I did it right.  Why doesn't the button I finally figured out how to past doesn't link back to her site?  So sorry.  I tried. I'll figure it out. I swear.

*So what if I swore off all sugar and processed foods the other day and then gladly accepted the cup of coffee laced with sweet sugary goodness of not-even-real-food creamer in it from my boss about 5 minutes ago.

*So what if I signed up to be a distrubutor of Advocare before I even tried any of their products.  And I can't wait to get my start-up package in the mail.  Thank you to Jennifer at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for having a super fun blog with a link to her Advocare site and for being so helpful after I signed up under her!

*So what if I like the Walking Dead and watch an episode every night before I go to bed.  Who would have EVER thougth that a girl like me would like a show like that.  I both hated and loved the first couple episodes and now I'm hooked.

*So what if I quietly left the house this morning for work leaving a gigantic mess everywhere and in every single room for my husband and kids to wake up to.  Hey, he's a teacher, people, and I have to work all.summer.long.  Seems fair enough, right???

*So what if it's only been warm out for a few days and it's already too hot for me and I wish it would rain.  Perhaps if I was a teacher and had the entire summer off to just play with the kids I would enjoy the hot sun a bit more. 

I guess that's it for me.  Link ups are so fun!

Nazy

Julep Box Review May 2013

I got my very first Julep Box the other day in the mail. I was super stoked.  Remember I mentioned the free box coupon code?  Well I used it and got a free box!  Actually, it was $3.99 for shipping. Not bad!  This box shipped USPS and got to me in just a couple days!  Probably because it ships from Washington and I'm there neighbor, over here in Idaho.

Julep is a nail polish subscription box.  It is a monthly box and the cost is $19.99.  Becoming a Julep Maven gives you exclusive access to COLOR. Each month they hand-pick trendsetting new nail colors, cult faves and cutting-edge beauty products that are just right for you. Commitment shy? No problem. YOU decide how often to receive your Julep Maven box, and you can cancel at any time.

I went with the "Classic with a twist" subscription box.



Outer Packaging

 

Here's my first look into the box!

 

Information cards about the box. I did not know that being a Maven gets me 20% off everything on their site and FREE shipping all the time!  Sweet deal!

 

I really like the nail polishes were wrapped up real pretty!

 

First items....a nail file and a sample of their one-step polish remover pad.  I used it immediately as I had terrible nails with chipped polish.  It was rad.  I really liked it.

 

Here are the two fun colors I got!  I'm not usually a red nail polish wearer, but I put this on right away and really like it!  I have felt so sassy the last few days.  It glides on perfectly and hasn't chipped yet.  I honestly never thought there would be higher quality nail polish than what I buy for a couple dollars at the drug store.  DUH!

 

I also got a full size Glycolic Hand Scrub!  I Haven't used this yet but I will soon.  It looks and seems like an awesome product!

 

Everything together....I am really pleased with this starter box from Julep

 

I  will be excited for next month's colors to come out.  I really like how I can choose to buy the current month's box(es) or not.  Makes the commitment of the subscription a breeze!

Trying to love where I live

I live in a gorgeous place.  Smack dab in the middle of Idaho.  In the mountains.  5000 feet above sea level.  This is a ski resort town and a summer lake hangout place.  It truly is gorgeous. I can see God's gift of nature to us all around.  Everywhere I look.  The town is very small.  Only about 2500 full time, year-round residents.  It's the kind of place that I thought only existed in the movies.  A place where you know people every where you go.

Lately I've found myself sulking because we don't have a Target, or a movie theatre, or a craft store of any kind, or a mall, or any cheap restaurants.  I know it's ridiculous on one hand to want those things, and I even feel guilty typing the words on this screen.  It seems so shallow.  So materialistic.  But the truth is, I do want to go see movies at a theater.  And I do want to go to Fred Meyer or Target sometimes.  I want to take a class on quilting, or bracelet making or some such thing. 

And then I look around me.  All I see outside is beauty.  Green beauty.  Today on my lunch I decided to go out and look at the beauty everywhere.  Really take it all in.  I want to appreciate the fact that I live somewhere where God's creation is so vivid.  Somewhere that time seems much slower than everywhere else.  I want to feel blessed for living in such a place as this, rather than sad that it is so small, so remote.  Here's some of the beauty I found.

This lake is two blocks from my work and only five minutes from my home.

 

Aspen trees are everywhere.  I wish I could have somehow captured the sound as I took this photograph.  It was a tad breezy and the leaves make a really neat sound as they blow in the wind.

 

This one is just for fun.  And because I look smaller than I do in real life.  Yes, I am at the point where I post ANY picture of myself where I look smaller than I do in real life.  Even if it's just me in a shadow.

 

 

I was able to sit on a bench and read my book for a while at lunch.  Have you read this book, the Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh?  So good! But so sad.  I sure hope it ends well.