fall colors

Red.  Orange.  Yellow.  Leaves changing color in the Pacific Northwest.

november

As soon as Halloween is over (or maybe they do it on Halloween day), the Christmas products are up for sale.  It's like Thanksgiving doesn't even matter.  Some holidays just get the shaft.  Thanksgiving is a holiday reserved to giving thanks, but for most of us (me included), it's about the food.  Mmmm..love me some green bean casserole and stuffing.  The turkey ain't bad either ;)  Since November is National Novel Writing Month, I thought, why not take giving thanks to another level?  Why not do a whole month of giving thanks by sending out thank you cards?  Hey, I won't be partaking in novel writing, but I will be writing.  I don't know about you, but I love getting hand written notes in the mail.  Maybe I can make a few people smile this month with a thank you card.  I don't know if I can do a card a day (do I even know 30 people?), so I'll just say I want to send at least 10.  First, I better swing by Papyrus and pick up some blank cards.  

being snooki

I don't like horror movies and I don't like to be scared, but I love Halloween.  It's all about the costume!!  I'm just making up for all those childhood Halloweens I wasn't able to dress up.  I like to put together my own costume instead of buying an already made one.  It's about being creative!!  Here's my Snooki transformation:

Don't you just love my facial expression? ;-)

It took pretty much two days for me to get that "tan".  And here's "Snooki" with her baby, "Lorenzo":

He looks so pale compared to me. Hee hee

Transforming into Snooki took a lot of time and work.  I googled numerous images of her and also stalked her Twitter account.  Yup, I really study my "subject" to get it just right.  Here's the breakdown of how I became Snooki:

1.  Black hair extension, $9.99, Cool2Day -  Several people actually thought it was my real hair.

2.  Flower hair clip, $3.99, H&M

3.  Dress, $10, H&M

4.  Shoes, $10, H&M. These are the shoes:

Absolutely, terribly hard to walk in these. How does Snooki do it?

5.  Fake eyelashes, $1, e.l.f. cosmetics - This was my first time wearing fake eyelashes and they were quite difficulty to put on.

6.  Fake tan, $3.49, L'Oreal Sublime Bronze One Day - This really works.  After one coat you can see the difference.  Of course, as Snooki, I had to apply at least 3 coats.  Thankfully this washed away easily with soap and water.

7.  Gold hoop earrings, $3.99, H&M.

8.  Gold and pink gem necklace (the bling), $3.99, Forever 21.

Of course, Snooki wouldn't be seen at a party without her Jionni.  Bubba loves dressing up too.

I think next year we'll go as zombies.  Happy Halloween!!!

Honest company

 Along with my Birchbox subscription (see this post), I also signed up to receive some free diapers and wipes from the Honest Company.   If I was going to get some cool free samples, why couldn't Charley enjoy some as well?    Let me start by saying I am in no way a fan of Jessica Alba, co-founder of the company, or any of her movies.   In my opinion, her acting is one dimensional.   Acting chops aside, she's done a great job creating a green friendly company.   I read her interview in Marie Claire magazine and realized, now that I'm a mom, Jessica and I have a lot in common.   Hey, if I came into Charley's room and found him eating parts of his diaper, I too would take action and try to figure out what exactly he consumed.


The Honest Company boasts that their diapers and wipes are "100% non-toxic, chlorine free, sustainable & plant based materials".   So you pay $5.95 for shipping and you're sent 7 diapers and a pack of 10 wipes to try.  Upon receipt of these products, you have 7 days to cancel your subscription.  What is a subscription, you ask?   Well, if you get the Diaper bundle, you pay $79.95 a month and receive diapers and wipes. The number of diapers you receive depends on your baby's size.  If you sign up for the Family Essentials bundle, you pay $35.95 a month and receive 5 different "non-toxic bath/skin and household cleaning products".   I opted to try out their diapers and wipes.   You get to choose the designs for your diapers. I thought the skulls, dinosaurs and anchor were the best designs, so I picked those.

I was amazed by the Honest Company's quick service.  I signed up for my free samples on Thursday and they shipped my items the next day.  I received my samples on Tuesday of the following week.

The package is the size of a small shoe box.  Alongside your samples, you get product information, which you can also find online.  The first thing I immediately noticed about their diapers was their lack of odor.  Normally, new diapers have a distinct smell.  I can't really begin to explain or describe the smell, but it reminds me of...duh...babies!  Well, these non-toxic, plant based diapers did not have any smell AT ALL.  They felt like the diapers Bubba and I buy for Charley at Costco, except they seemed a little more stiff in the crotch.  We change Charley's diaper every 2-3 hours or when we smell poop (haha).  So I gave these Honest Company diapers a test drive.  Charley didn't seem to notice the difference between these diapers and the Costco ones.  After 3 hours, I went to change him and did not like what I saw.  The diaper did not keep him dry.  It didn't seem to be very absorbent.  Charley has gone without a diaper rash (knock on wood) since he was born and I wasn't going to risk him getting one.  So I decided to just keep the Honest diapers on for 2 hours instead.  I honestly don't know what I was expecting with these diapers.  Besides being less toxic than the ones we normally buy, I don't see how they are better.  I will, however, give them an A+ for the diaper designs.  The skulls design looks awesome on Charley.

After having used up all the diapers I was sent, I gave the Honest Company a call to cancel my subscription. It was a 10 minute wait for the next representative to receive my call.   I knew that if and when I called (I had to call because it's the only way you can cancel your subscription) I would be asked to stay.  The customer representative I spoke to did give me a spew about how non-toxic their products were and how great they were for my baby, but I insisted the product wasn't for us and she didn't push it.

Bubba and I will continue to buy Charley's diapers from Costco and hey, maybe I'll just start drawing skulls on them. :)

birchbox

I love samples.  I'm the person who rips samples out of magazines while I'm sitting in the waiting room at my doctor's office.  I'm also the girl who asks for extra samples at Kiehl's.  Yeah, I'm that fool.  So when I first heard of Birchbox from my friend Jenny, I thought, what?  They send you samples? Every month?  Like a magazine subscription?  But I didn't automatically jump on board. I waited.  Until goop came along.  I'm not going to lie, I wanted to know what high end products Gwyneth Paltrow uses, so I signed up to get my first Birchbox.