Birchbox Man Review June 2014

I finally got Geoff to take the plunge into the Subscription Box fun.  He's decided to start trying a bunch of new stuff for a better shave.  Since Birchbox was offering the June Box for 50% off, he decided to give it a try.

Birchbox Man operates slightly different than the Woman's Box.  For starters, the Men's box runs $20/month.  You receive 4-5 samples based on a profile you set up (including whether or not you shave) including a lifestyle item that is a nicer, more expensive item.  It is normally shipped out by the 25th of the month prior.  You also still get points for reviewing the items you receive in your box.

Per usual, I'll start in the top left.  First up is Baxter of California Facial Scrub. It has walnut shells in it, which is interesting.  As I mentioned earlier, Geoff is really interested in shaving products, but he was happy to get the face scrub since he doesn't use anything like this.

Birchbox Woman & Modern Mermaid Review, June 2014

This month I splurged when Birchbox released a Limited Edition Box that they called the Modern Mermaid. I'll review that before I get into this month's regularly scheduled box!

Every so often, Birchbox will release a Limited Edition Box.  These are more expensive than the monthly boxes, and curated around a theme.  This theme was "Modern Mermaid" or a Summer beach essential kit.  It was priced at $44, but with a discount code & saved points, I paid $15 for this box.  Which is a steal considering the value of the box is over $100. I mean really, it was awesome.

The packaging on this box was fantastic, right down to the outer box it came in.  They really nailed the presentation.  I'll start from the left and make my way to the right.  First, there's the Mermaid Mirror that is essentially a little compact mirror.  I haven't used it yet, but it's a cute little mirror.  I should bring it in and keep it on my desk at work so I don't have to run to the bathroom to re-apply my lip gloss.  Or maybe I'll gift it, I haven't decided yet.  Next in line is the Atelier Cologne.  I wasn't really looking forward to the perfume as I can't wear most perfumes as they're too strong and will give me a migraine.  I love the smell. It's light, so a spritz or two on my wrists is enough that I smell great, but doesn't give me a migraine.  It wound up being one of my favorite items in the box.

Graze Review, Boxes 5 & 6

Time for a new Graze review!  If you're not familiar with Graze, it's a snack subscription box that runs $6/box (includes shipping.)  You can get them either once a week or once every 2 weeks.  We're on the 2 week plan.  The snacks are healthy and individually portioned.  They're great for taking to work for a mid-morning snack or on the weekends for a quick snack.  It's set up so that you can rate snacks - anything you rate as "trash" you will never receive.

This was our 5th box, starting in the top left and working clockwise, we received the Apple & Cinnamon Flapjacks.  The flapjacks are my favorite thing to receive.  They are absolutely delicious and they make me wish I could buy full sized snacks from Graze (basically the only complaint I have.) Next is the Smoky Chipotle Dippers. These were all Geoff and he loved them.  Bottom right is the Tropical Daiquiri dried fruit mix.  One of the things in Graze snacks is flavor-infused raisins.  They are delicious and this one had lime raisins in it.  I love dried fruit, so this one is definitely a win for me! Finally in this box there's the Nature's Immunity Nuts.  It includes roasted unsalted cashews, brazil nuts and raw pistachio kernels.  We wound up trashing these - not because they were bad, but because there are other things we'd rather get.  This is a recurring theme with our boxes. The snacks we trash aren't bad, just not anything that excites us.

I have been nominated for a Liebster Award

I was nominated for a Liebster Award by UnBoxing Beauty!    I feel very special!  It sounded fun, so I accepted it and am passing it on.  I’ve never heard of it, so this is all totally new to me!

The Official Rules Of The Liebster Award 
If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award AND YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT, write a blog post about the Liebster award in which you:
1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.
2. Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)
3. Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.
4. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.
5. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 200 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)
6. Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.
7. List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:
8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)
9. You cannot nominate the person who nominated you

Post 100: A look back on moving to Florida

This is my 100th post on this little blog!  A little over 2 years ago we started our adventure of moving to Florida.  I'm amazed at how much things have changed in such a relatively short period of time.  I've been meaning to do this post now for about a year.  One of the biggest questions I'm asked is if I'm happy we moved to Florida and if I miss anything about New York.  Seems like if our 1 year (*cough* or two year) anniversary of the move isn't a good time to post, perhaps post 100 is the next best thing.  Spoiler alert: I still love that we moved and would do it again in a heartbeat.