People will Love You, People will Hate You

So true!

Fast Tip Friday: Floral Napkin Folding

I found this on the Ali Does It Herself blog and I thought she had some creative ideas. Take a look.

Fast Tip Friday: Floral Napkin Folding.

Pure Subscription Box Review

Pure is a subscription company that sells soap subscriptions as well as other products like lotions, bath salts etc. I decided to buy the Spring Love Box because it had a variety of products and scents that I could try. Cost was $25. I’m not at all sure why they call it the Love Box but anyways here’s what was in it.

Wooden Soap Deck – This is kind of neat. It’s designed to keep your soap dry so it’s doesn’t get all “melty.” The only problem with it is I found the soap tends to stick to it. This seems like a design flaw they should have addressed.

Egyptian Rose Sugar Scrub – This is a sugar scrub exfoliator that comes in little cubes. The scent was eygptian rose and I generally like rose scents so I was ok with it. The little cubes were fun to use and the scent wasn’t overpowering which is always good in my book.

Lip Balm – I haven’t tried the lip balm yet as I’ve received so many lately. I may gift this.

Lemongrass Lotion Bar – This is a lotion bar similar in feel to a deoderant bar only instead with lotion. It’s an interesting idea and probably good for traveling or people who don’t like greasy lotions. The lemongrass scent was kind of like lemonade and VERY strong. I’m not really that crazy about smelling like lemonade so this was my least favorite of the products.

Grapefruit Soap – This was my favorite of the scents and this soap was very nice. It has a luxurious feel to it and isn’t as drying as regular soap.

It was interesting to try them out but I didn’t fall in “love.”

If you’d like to try them here is a link to their website. If you just google search “pure soap” you’ll never find it.

http://purenaturalhandmade.com/pure-subscriptions-soap-and-more/

March Escape Monthly

There was a coupon on Plum District for Escape Monthly so I had to sign up and try it. It seemed like an interesting idea to receive products from different destinations around the world. For March the destination was Ireland to tie in with St. Patrick’s Day. Here’s what was in the box.

First up is a Moon Book on tips for living in Ireland. This book is filled with interesting info about the culture, history, and modern day living in Ireland. I’m only a few pages in so far but I’m learning a lot and now I totally want to go and live in Ireland. For example, according to the book they have four weeks of paid vacation a year, six months paid maternity leave and nine paid holidays. How nice would that be?

The next item is Irish Soda Bread. I have never had soda bread before and this seemed pretty easy to make so I baked it up this afternoon. It is a very dense bread similar to cornbread or cake. I spread it with butter and orange marmalade and I thought it was delicious. So glad to have tried something new.

Next is Shortbread Cookies. These are buttery deliciousness. They are good alone and even better when dipped into tea. I may have to order more of these.

Speaking of tea that brings us to the next item which is Gift Of Gab tea. This is your basic tea. But it has a nice “soft” flavor that I really liked.

There also was Irish Cream Coffee. I made a pot of it this afternoon. It was good but a bit strong for me I think. After I brewed it my house had a very nice Irish Cream Coffee scent. My picture is a bit blurry but it’s just a little can, suitable for about an 8 cup pot.

Next up was a Mint Truffle Bar. This was very good also but I’m disappointed that it was dark chocolate instead of milk. My husband who prefers dark chocolate really liked it so I didn’t get to eat much of it.

Human + Kind Skin Care Cream. This is an interesting cream. It claims to help every skin condition from sunburn to bug bites to stretch marks to acne. It has all sorts of odd ingredients that you don’t normally see in skin cream such as coconut oil, avocado oil, tea tree oil, birch extract, marshmallow extract, broccoli extract and so on. I tried some on my hand and it seemed ok. It doesn’t smell medicinal but it does have a scent, I think it may be the tea tree oil. I like that it doesn’t have any chemicals in it and it will be interesting to see over time if it lives up to it’s claims.

Lastly, we have Irish Shamrock Seeds. How fun is that! Can’t wait to plant these.

This was a fun box. I really like learning about Ireland and trying these products. Next month is Mexico. It will be interesting to see what they do with that. I’m guessing tortilla and refried beans maybe. We’ll see. Stay tuned for next month.

March Citrus Lane

Citrus Lane is a monthly subscription box that delivers various items each month based on your child’s age. Mine is 24 months so let’s see what we got.

Petit Collage has some really cute things and I was pleased to get this puzzle. My daughter doesn’t quite have the hang of the puzzle pieces yet but we had a nice time sitting together and working on it.

This is such a good idea. A first aid kit to go. I am very pleased to see this.

At first when I saw this I thought it was two jars of finger paints but actually it’s play-doh. This is a nice dough to work with and has a pleasant scent. We had a fun time playing with this as well.

The last item in my box was Hand Sanitizing Wipes. Inititally when I saw these I thought they were great but then when I went to use them not so great. They have an awful smell. Awful! The main ingredient is Thyme. Nice on spaghetti, not so nice in a wipe. These smell so awful I can’t even in good conscience give them away.

Otherwise great box this month. One thing you have to say about Citrus Lane is they know kids. I’m looking forward to next month. And I also have Stork Stack and Bluum coming soon so look for those reviews coming up.

What was in your Citrus Lane this month?

March Barkbox Review

Barkbox is a subscription box filled with treats and toys for your dogs. Sign up is easy and they send products based on your dog size. I have a little 10 lb Maltese so my box is supposed to be designed for small dogs. Not everyone gets the same box even amongst the small dogs. Other reviewers Barkbox had a breakfast theme but my box doesn’t appear to have any theme that I can discern. And I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t get the breakfast themed one. Let’s look at each item individually.

This is yogurt & banana flavored Twistix. I’m disappointed to receive more Twistix because my dog still hasn’t finished all the Twistix from last month’s box and while the Mint one he eventually eats this flavor he doesn’t like at all. Going to have to give this away.

These are little lamb treats kind of in the shape of small hotdogs. My dog loved these so this item is a win.

I thought my dog would really like this but he didn’t see to really care about it. He batted it around for a bit but then lost interest. Maybe when it gets warmer out we’ll try it outside.

When I saw this in the box I thought that it would be destroyed within minutes but actually this is another things my dog just isn’t that interested in.

These are apple-cinnamon flavored dog treats. I like that these are small but I haven’t yet given them to my dog. I’m still working through the treats from last month’s Barkbox. I think Barkbox is a good box for someone with multiple dogs or puppies who need a lot of toys. But for me I was very disappointed in this box. It didn’t have a bully stick in this months which I was hoping for and I think some of the items posted on other review sites were much better. At $29 a month I don’t think it’s for me.

Finding Abundance when your Bank Account has Other Plans

This is a great reminder to be grateful for all that we have in life instead of spending our time wishing for what we don’t have.

10 tips to armour yourself with optimism

I saw this post and had to reblog. These are things I need to remind myself of. I especially like #10.

sheri writes

Whether you’re undertaking an entrepreneurial pursuit or are just trying to get through your daily grind, it’s good to buffer yourself with a cushion of confidence in order to stay focused. It’s so much more effective to keep a positive output going out, so that you are more likely to attract the sort of attention you want (and need) for your business and life. This can be easier said than done, sometimes, but I’ve got a few tricks I’ve used to get me through even the lowest of the low. Some of them are:

1. Never lose sight of your ultimate goal. Have or do something to remind you of it every day.
2. Ambition is why we do what we’re doing, and therefore it’s never something to be ashamed of (as long as it’s not at the expense of someone else).
3. Don’t second-guess the past or regret decisions. You did what…

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Nature Box Review

One of the things I like about Nature Box is that they let you choose your snacks. This month I chose these five:

Pistachio Power Clusters – I got these last month as well. I really like them. Sadly they are already gone.

Peanut Butter Nom Noms – These are very good. I expected them to be chewier but they are a hard cookie type treat. My toddler didn’t like hers though. My only real complaint is that there weren’t very many in the bag.

Cherry Ganache Granola – This tasted as yummy as the name implies. More please.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries – I had expected these to be like potato chips only with sweet potatoes but they’re not, they are crackers. They have a good flavor but a bit spicy. My toddler wasn’t a fan of these either but I liked them.

Sour Cream & Onion Almonds – They were out of the snack I had requested so they substituted these. I have not tried them yet because I’m still eating almonds from my Yumvelope Box.

Nature Box has tons of snacks to choose from and it’s fun to try new flavors. I am going to keep this subscription for awhile longer. To try them out for yourself use coupon code REFER25 for $5 off your first box.