Books and Bloggers Swap!!!

This is my absolutely favorite swap of all time all year round! I had a really bad swap experience over Christmas so I ALMOST didn’t sign up this time around but I am SO glad I did. CGSwaps really know how to run an amazing and wonderful swap!!

For those of you who are new to this swap (you should sign up next time!!) It is in 3 parts,

1. a book you love

2. a book from your partners wish list

and

3 a book that you haven't read but really want to read!

This time around my partner was Kristen from Pretty Little Pages, and wow did she make an AWESOME Swap box for me!!!

I got a super sweet note from her, and she mentioned that she went a little overboard because of my problem with the swap over Christmas. Which was super sweet of her!!

 

She sent me Green Tea Kit Kats, which are her favorite candy and are totally getting added to my Amazon I want list because they are freaking amazing!!!

an adorable little keychain and a pretty bracelet!

some of my ALLTIME FAVORITE candy, which I only got my box 2 days ago and this entire bag is already gone…

Now for the books!!

A Book Kristen Loves:

She says that she loves this whole series, and the follow up series Bloodlines, I love that she picked this books, as one of my goals this year was to actually read all the books in this series!!

A Book from my wish list:

I have been wanting to finish this series for almost a year or two now, I loved the first two books, but just never got around to picking up the last one!!

A book she wants to read but hasn’t

I love the way this book sounds, Kristen says that is sounds like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code for the YA Crowd only better!! So looking forward to this read!

This one makes me know Kristen is a girl after my own heart, she doesn’t normally read historical books, but when she saw the cover she felt like it sold her on this one, and I am with her, I will honestly admit over half of my book choices are based on cover alone…this does lead to a lot of regrets, but some great reads!!

and lastly she picked out Gena Showalter’s new series' first book, I love her books and am so excited to have the first one in this series!!

 

I want to thank Kristen for being an amazing wonderful awesome swap partner!!!

January 2015 Loot Crate!!!

 

 

Today We are unboxing Kensei’s Lootcrate!!

First off the box looks like a Nintendo!!! How cute is that Lootcrate!!!

Kensei adored the Transformers schematic T-Shirt!

8 bit sunglasses are super cute, but Kensei and I both wear regular glasses so we can’t wear these.

Make your own comic book, this is super cute and looks like fun, only I can’t draw worth junk…

a super cute little Nintendo figure, We need to get a cute way to display these now!

I adore the little skinny tie with its space invader print! I want Kensei to wear it for our next date night!!

 

Do you get a geek box? What did you think of this month’s Lootcrate?

Life or Something Like It…

 

School…. School has started again and I am swamped. I had a class the other day where I almost punched my professor in the face. We were all talking about school and work and things along those lines and he goes, “When ever I advise students I tell them, you can go to work full time, and make money, or you can go to school full time and make A’s, but if you do both you will be lucky to make C’s and be miserable” As someone who has maintained a 3.0 GPA and tries VERY hard to make A’s and B’s in her classes while working a full time multi shift job this pisses me off, because it can be done.

I will admit though I buy lottery tickets once a week so that if I ever win the jackpot I can tell my boss that I would only like to work 2 or 3 days max and concentrate on school.

Wedding planning has stalled somewhat, I still want to have my Reception at No 2 Vance, but I am waiting on the final contracts to be drawn up so I can pay the deposit. I know what dress I want, but My mother swears she’s paying for it and I’m not allowed to order it. Kensei is completely opinion less apparently because if I ask would he like anything I get shot down almost instantaneously with a whatever or I don’t know.

How is life going for all of you?  

I Think I Found My Reception Venue!!!!

 

This is going to be a wedding post, so I hope you all like it!!

I have been dreading the invitations because well I haven’t found any that just SCREAM me and Kensei, but I have someone AMAZING who wanted to try to make one for me so I know it will rock!! (Hi Karen!!)

I went to look at a possible venue for the reception today and honestly? I LOVE it!!! It might be a tad bit tight once we get everyone inside, but I think it is a great space with AMAZING views, plus the Memphis Trolley line stops right in front so guests won’t have to park and will have a cool way to get there!!

 

(Images from the Venues Website No2Vance.com)

Are the views not amazing??? I think it will be a great venue!! What do you think??

Birchbox Brag Box #1!!

 

So for the month of January I opted in on the special Birchboxs: I’ve gotten one but not the second.

I was a little disappointed when I saw that I got a regular box, particularly after all the hype they were making about the special box and make sure you save your box because of something special at the end of the year.

I got the When Travel Sheet masks, I am looking forward to a night of studying and pampering when I don’t have to work, to try this one out.

Briogeo Don’t Despair Repair mask: This one smells really good, and I love deep conditioning masks for my hair.

Shea Butter body balm, : oh my gosh this stuff makes my hands feel amazing!!! Super moisturized and I LOVE the smell!!

This Manna Liplocked stain I just don’t know if I haven’t figured it out or what, it doesn’t stain, smells off and tastes funny.

I have had the Balance me under eye cream before and it rocks! I am so excited to get a new tube!

Penni was excited about the next and last part of the box and so was I!!

Tea Pigs tea… I ADORE getting tea samples in my boxes because I LOVE tea!!

 

What did you get this month?

Music Monday Going To The Chapel…

Today’s song is something that I really wanted to get out there, GUESS WHAT GUYS???!! I’m Going To The Chapel and I’m gonna get MAARRIED!!!! I am FINALLY Planning Kensei’s and my wedding!!! Our tentative dates are either December 29th or 30th depending on our venues availability. So fair warning my blog will probably get mushy and wedding obsessed this year!

 

What song is on repeat in your brain this week??

Books & Bloggers SWAP!!!!

It is time for my ALL TIME FAVORITE swap of ever!!! The Books And Bloggers Swap!!!

You can still sign up so go on over to CGSwaps and join in the fun!!

Important Dates to Remember

• Sign-Ups Close on January 12th, 2015

• Partners Assigned by January 14th, 2015

• Packages Ship by January 24th, 2015

• Swap Show-Off Post/Linky goes live on January 28th, 2015

Music Monday Into The Woods

I have always Loved Into The Woods, and Felt most connected to Cinderella’s character, and even though I’ve not seen Disney’s version of one of my favorite plays of all time I do like the way Anna Kendrick sounds as Cinderella, and Honestly this song has always resonated with me, I have a lot of decisions that I need to make this year, a lot of choices and chances for things to go right or wrong and Stuck on The Steps is probably going to be my theme song for this year. (even though some of the words were changed…)

What song do you think will be your Theme this year?

InstaNatural

I was really lucky in that BrandBacker asked me to try out some new face products from InstaNatural, I got to try out their Hyaluronic Acid Serum, Youth Express Eye Gel, and Pore Tightening Vitamin C Toner.

I really loved all of these products, I have a daily moisturizing routine, that if I don’t moisturize my face 2 times I will end up with dry patchy flaking skin, which is NOT Pretty, with the InstaNatural products my skin was very well hydrated.

Here are my individual thoughts on each product:

The Eye gel: You get 1.7 oz or 50 ml in the bottle, that is a LOT of eye cream, it says you can use it all over your face, but I never did because to me, eye cream is eye cream not face cream. I loved the smell and that it was thick but not super thick to make my eyes look puffy.

The Toner: I have honestly never gotten used to using a face toner, but this one wasn’t bad, first of it is a spray not a pour on the cotton ball type of toner, which I LOVED! The sprayer could have had a little finer mist though, the smell was a nice burst of orange which helped wake me up in the morning. It has witch hazel and a UV blocker!

The Acid Serum : I love the trend of putting acid on your face, it makes me smile when I apply it, I will say the dispenser for this was not a well planned one, it comes in a medicine dropper style dispenser which the serum is honestly to thick for, but other than that the serum absorbs quickly and with no residue, which is a major plus to me!

You can get all of these products from Amazon or their website,  What do you use in your skin care routine?

*This product was sent to me free for my honest review and opinion, by BrandBacker, All thoughts and opinions are my own and not in anyway influenced by the company*