Friday, November 29, 2013

October and November Pijon Boxes

Simply put, I love snail mail. I love it even more when I get packages in the mail, and that's one of the main reasons why I love the idea of subscription boxes. It's like getting a gift in the mail every month and what's not to love about that? I got a 4-month subscription to Pijon, which sends out monthly care packages geared towards college students. So far, I've definitely enjoyed the products they've sent me so I'm sharing the contents of the box from the past 2 months. They also contribute to an awesome charity so it's like a gift that keeps giving back. I highly recommend them to fellow college students or subscription box lovers!


In the October box, I received the following products:
  • Rooted Beauty Raspberry Citrus Invigorating Facial Wipes - I've actually heard about this company before, and I'm dying to try their lip butters. I haven't tried these face wipes yet, but I already love that they're earth-friendly and gentle for your skin.
  • Metropolis Lavender & Spearmint and Lime & Spearmint Lip Creams - I'm using the lavender one right now, and it's like a mini aromatherapy session when I apply it. They're so moisturizing, and the packaging is also beautiful.
  • Awake Caffeinated Chocolate - These are so yummy, and the caramel flavor is my favorite! They don't give you a lot of caffeine, but I've gotten a little bit from eating them.
  • Awesome Bars in Salty Peanut and Blueberry Almond - The packaging and name are definitely a win! The salty peanut was a tad too salty for my liking, but they were still okay. The packaging was kind of loud, almost similar to the Sun Chips packaging a while back when they became more eco-friendly, so be careful opening these bars.
  • Baggu Reusable Bag - I love reusable bags, and I really like these because they fold up so neatly. The info card also noted that they're freakishly strong so that's a super win in my book.
  • Coupon Codes for InstaEDU and ThredUP

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgivukkah!

Found on Pinterest

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you that are celebrating it today. I'm home from college so I'm extremely grateful to be with my family. Life isn't always great, but I still have a lot to be thankful for regardless. My family and friends mean the world to me so I am eternally grateful for them. Count your blessings everyone today and always! And may the odds be ever in your favor if you're braving Black Friday tomorrow!
Found on Buzzfeed
If you're celebrating two holidays today, happy Thanksgivukkah! I love Jewish food (mmmm hamantaschen!), and one of my closest friends is Jewish so I know a thing or two about Hanukkah. If you don't know how awesome Thanksgivukkah could be, you have to read this. Challah stuffing anyone??

Whatever you're celebrating today, have an awesome one! Every day may not be good, but there's something good about every day. :)

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

CVS Couponing Haul

Everything was free.99!


I'm just gonna say it - I'm a broke college student. With the cost of tuition, books, and rent nowadays, I'm on a tight budget and it's a rough life. I'm pretty frugal in general so I try my best to make this all work and please place an emphasis on try. Anyway, one of the main ways I save money is to shop with coupons and browse the weekly circulars for good deals on stuff that I need or want to get in the near future.

This week, CVS and Rite Aid are running some great promotions this week, and you can score some free products after CVS's Extra Care bucks or Rite Aid's Up Rewards. If you're not sure what those are, they're basically like vouchers that you can use for your future purchase(s) at each store. In the picture above, those are the free items that I purchased on sale at CVS this week. I think I spent about $12 and I got $12 back in Extra Care bucks that I will definitely use soon since I need to pick up some more stuff for my apartment anyway.

So, I just wanted to share this post because there's still time to get the same deal at CVS this week. Rite Aid has a similar promotion so I'd check out Rite Aid as well if you can. I think I might make a trip this week too and check out what they have since I love getting essentially free stuff. I really like couponing sometimes, and it's not as much as work as some people think. To my fellow college-aged peers, I highly recommend that you try couponing. All the savings really add up in the long run, and there are a lot of couponing blogs nowadays that make it so much easier for beginners. Happy couponing!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Friendsgiving '13!

On Friday night, my friends and I had a "friendsgiving" dinner, and it was a potluck style event. Everything was yummy, and I definitely had seconds of mashed potatoes and stuffing. Yummmmm! They're definitely my favorite Thanksgiving dishes. I made pumpkin swirled brownies, and the recipe didn't turn out exactly the way I hoped it would. If you have any suggestions for a recipe, please leave some ideas in a comment below.
Even with our busy schedules, I'm so glad we all managed to have a friendsgiving together. It was the best way to wrap up a long, busy week. I can't wait to get through the next few days of school so I can finally go home and relax with my friends and family!

Anyone else super excited for Thanksgiving with friends or family?

Thursday, November 21, 2013

UCD, You're the One for Me.


I can't help but feel immense pride in my school after watching this video. The campus is enormous, and I like the areas that were highlighted and included in the video. It really captured the beauty of campus, and I'm definitely going to miss a lot of things here after graduation. I love my school through the good and bad, and it's a blessing to be an Aggie. Go Ags!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Target Haul!

Overview of my Target haul!





Yes, I have a serious problem. I basically have no self-control when I shop at Target so hauls like this tend to happen. #sorrynotsorry - real talk. The quality of the pictures isn't the best, but I tried to do this under 5 minutes while my roommate left the room so I did what I could...
I got the L'Oreal Original Voluminous mascara at a good price with a coupon so I'm excited to try it. I've heard a lot of Youtubers raving about this mascara so I hope it works well for me. I've never tried a L'Oreal mascara before so I'll definitely mention it in a favorites post if I end up liking it. Then, I also saw a bunch of OPI polishes for $4 in the One Spot area so I grabbed this light gray/off-white neutral color. I love OPI polishes, and that was a great bargain!

I bought two dresses in the clearance section. I LOVE the dark blue dress, and it has a great silhouette. It'll be perfect for professional and party settings so I had to buy it. Plus, it was on sale for $12 - no joke! The pink dress was on sale for $5, but I'll be returning it since it doesn't fit me well. It's also a bit longer than I would like so I'd rather get my money back.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Empties #3

Sadly, I lost the other pictures I had from my Moving Out mini series so I'm just moving forward with recent empties. These are the recent products I've used up lately, and this will be a little review of them. I love finishing products, and I've been going through a lot of stuff lately so more are on their way soon!
  • Kiss My Face Ultra Moisturizer in Peaches & Creme - I used this as a body lotion, and it was really hydrating and moisturizing. I didn't like the scent after a while, and it was also really hard to apply because you had to really rub it into the skin. I won't repurchase it in the future.
  • EOS Shave Cream in Vanilla Bliss - I loved the warm vanilla scent, and it was a great thick shaving cream. You can use it wet or dry, but I always used it in the shower for convenience. I may repurchase it in the future, but I have other ones that I want to try for now.
  • Method Antibacterial Kitchen Cleaner Spray - It worked pretty well, and I'll probably repurchase it in the future since it works well. The scent is pretty strong so beware if you're sensitive to fragrances. I'm in the mood to try other natural cleaning products so it may be a while before I'll repurchase it.
  • Hurraw Vanilla Bean Lip Balm - This is probably my favorite lip balm out of everything I've used in my life. It's so moisturizing, and it also has a decent wear time. With this lip balm, I usually only applied it once or twice a day and I experienced no dryness whatsoever! This is a holy grail kind of product for me, and I will definitely repurchase!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

My First 5K!

Obviously we kicked butt! ;)
If you really know me, you know that doing a 5k is a pretty big deal for me. Don't get me wrong, I like to be active, but running just doesn't do it for me. Even with good music, it's just not too fun or interesting for me so I get bored and feel tired quickly. Basically, it's just not my thing. I like to play tennis or do fitness classes a LOT more than running so why the 5k?

Over the summer, I started going to the gym and being more active again so I wanted to keep that going by trying to get into running. A 5k is only 3.1 miles so that's not too bad, right? Considering that I've probably never ran that much in one go in my entire life, I got a little panicky, but I just hit submit button on the online form anyway. 3.1 miles is a lot less than a marathon so I figured I could do it. With months to prepare, I thought it was a lot doable so I signed up and hoped for the best.

Just my luck, I actually got a little sick a couple of days before the race. The weeks leading up to the race got really busy for me so I wasn't able to run as often as I had planned. With those two things in mind, I was starting to think that the world was seriously sending me a hint. Well, I didn't want to back out last minute so I went ahead with the run anyway. I honestly didn't care about getting a good PR so finishing was more than enough for me.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

October '13 Snail Mail Collective - Autumn Adventures

 
When I started my blog, I discovered a monthly international gift and postcard swap called The Snail Mail Collective that's hosted by Melyssa and Chelsea. I definitely wanted to join in on the fun so I participated in last month's program. The theme was Autumn Adventures, which is perfect since y'all already know how much I love fall. I was paired up with Gaelyn from Gaelyn's Heart of Iron, and she is currently living in South Africa. She is super sweet, athletic (she's even doing an Ironman in January!), gorgeous, and friendly. And she definitely has sold me on traveling to South Africa someday so that's now on my bucket list.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Sweater Weather Tag

Sweater weather is the best weather. I love that it's finally cold enough outside here in northern California to wear sweaters and hoodies. It's super chilly in the morning, but it warms up throughout the day to the perfect cozy temperature. I love fall so much that I needed to do this tag in addition to The Autumn Tag. This tag has been going around Youtube for a while now so I got the questions from there. Of course, I had to include the Sweater Weather song, right? :)


1. Favorite candle scent?
I love cinnamon or apple scents. More like the sweet kinds, not the spicy ones.

2. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?
I like all of them, but I think I've been into teas more often lately. My current favorite is Good Earth's Sweet & Spicy Tea. It's like fall in a cup. Yep, best description ever.

Available on Amazon, but the best deal is in Costco!
3. What's the best fall memory you have?
Apple Hill visits! The place simply epitomizes fall for me.

4. Which makeup trend do you prefer: dark lips or winged eyeliner?
Winged eyeliner! I prefer very plain nude lips since I'm more of a lip balm girl on the daily. I have the hardest time with winging out eyeliner, but when I get it right, it is amazing!
  
5. What do you want to be for Halloween?
Well, I wanted to be a cat burglar, but I ended up doing the baseball girl thing instead. Special mention goes to this awesome cat puns costumes list!

6. Favorite Thanksgiving food?
Mashed potatoes and gravy - 'nuff said!

7. Hats or Scarves?
Scarves! I recently discovered the awesomeness of infinity scarves so I'm looking forward to acquiring more of those this season.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Influenster Dr. Scholl's Active Series Insoles Review

I recently received another box from Influenster, and the Dr. Scholl's Active Series women's insoles came in during the perfect time. It came during the week of my 5k run so I immediately started using it to help me workout and of course also use it on the day of my 5k. I regularly use foot insoles already, and I'm a huge fan. Surprisingly, I never thought about using insoles during my workouts but it makes a lot of sense, considering that running and playing tennis can definitely put a lot of pressure on your feet and legs.

These Dr. Scholl's Active Series claim to reduce shock by 40% and help relieve and prevent pain from 3 common sports injuries (shin splints, runner's knee, and plantar fascitis). It has a lot of cushioning, and it has a reinforced arch that I love since my feet are so flat. It's a really thick pair of insoles so I ended up having to adjust my shoelaces to give my feet more room. The insoles I received were slightly bigger than my shoe size, but you can trim the ends to make it a perfect fit.

So what's the verdict? I loved them! I may never go back to working out without insoles because they're just THAT comfy! It definitely provides a lot of support and cushioning, and my feet feel very relieved after each use. So far I've only used them for the gym and running, but I think I will love them even more for tennis. Playing tennis can be really hard on your feet so I'm excited to use them for that. My feet and knees can be so sore after playing, and I know these would really help a lot. I'm so stoked for these insoles, and they're definitely worth checking out!

Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes; all opinions are completely my own.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Halloween '13

Not your average lecture: Star Wars edition
This year's Halloween weekend was really fun so I definitely have to share what I've been up to in the past few days. In one of my classes, the professor and TA's did a cool Star Wars skit in the beginning of class. It was really entertaining and totally unexpected. I love this professor's sense of humor, and it's awesome that he really got into the Halloween spirit!

Halloween night!
My club had a fundraiser on Halloween night so of course I had to dress up! I went with being a baseball girl since I already had the clothes in my closet. It was a really fun, successful clubbing event, and I got to hang out with my new little sib (in the top left box). My roommate dressed up as a chola (in the top right box), and that was hilarious. I got to hang out with some friends that I haven't seen in a while too so that was really nice. I tried a new drink that night, and it was the tequila sunrise. I think it was a mix of tequila and orange juice, and it was pretty yummy. Not really my kind of drink though since I'm not a big fan of OJ.

#21
At midnight, one of my closest friends here turned 21 so we went bar hopping in downtown. It was an extremely fun evening, and we went to 4 bars total. She even completed the Holy Trinity, which is sort of an unofficial ritual that's about drinking 3 of some of the strongest drinks in town. She's definitely a pro! My friends/her roommates also decorated their apartment a little bit and bought her lots of alcohol. I baked her a vanilla cake, and it turned out well. I tried this vanilla cake recipe, and the frosting was really good. I would probably tweak the cake recipe in the future since it was a little on the dry side. Overall, it was a very fun and memorable birthday! Glad she's finally in the 21 club! :)