Petit Vour June 2014 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
30 June 2014
0

This month’s theme is “bon voyage” to get you travel ready. It features a bunch of items you can bring along to take care of yourself while on the go.

Petit Vour is $15 per box (or as much as $30 for international subscribers) and comes with vegan beauty, skincare, and other personal care products. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a referral program that earns you points towards free boxes (email contact@petitvour.com to say I referred you if you sign up!).

contents of petit vour june 2014 box with evolvh shampoo and conditioner, tay balancing cleanser, mun brightening serum, ncla luxury nail lacquer, and info card with bon voyage theme

contents of petit vour june 2014 box removed from packaging

A closer look at some of the items.

petit vour june 2014 box info card with item details

EVOLVh UltraShine Moisture Shampoo & Conditioner – If you want to feel like you just came out of a salon, you need to try this shampoo. It lathers fantastically well and smells so luxurious! All day long I kept getting a whiff of it (a sweet sort of scent) and thinking I just stepped out of a professional haircut. Definitely one of the nicest shampoos I’ve tried. The conditioner has a more refreshing scent and it didn’t make my hair super slippery like I’m used to. Maybe it was getting absorbed into my hair? It worked pretty well, though I had a little chunk of hair that didn’t smooth out on its own without a hairbrush.

MUN No. 1 Aknari Brightening Youth Serum – I’m not sure if this sample is enough to really get a sense for how this serum performs… at first use it feels nice and smells herbal, so it’s promising. I did have trouble getting enough out of the tiny tube and it took awhile to apply the amount I wanted. We’ll see if I notice anything by the time I finish it up.

ncLA 5-free Luxury Nail Lacquer in Santa Monica Shore Thing – I’ve heard of this brand and got their nail wraps in a previous Petit Vour box, but this is my first time trying their nail polish. I got the shade Santa Monica Shore Thing, which is a creamy minty green. On the nails, it’s a slightly darker shade than what you see in the bottle and two coats provides a nice even color. It’s a more liquidy formula that applies well and smells rather like Julep’s polishes… somewhat apple-scented, I’d say.

TAY Rosehip Balancing Cleanser with Seabuckthorn – Immediately fell in love with this – not only is the packaging fantastic, it smells lovely and feels great. I’m a fan of this brand based on that.

Once again, Petit Vour delivered with nice products that I will use all of and would be the sort of thing to bring on my summer vaca. I really enjoy their curation of beautiful, luxurious, vegan products. What do you like best from this month’s items?

[This post mentions a referral program. Signing up and emailing contact@petitvour.com to say I referred you helps support my subscription and I’d be ever so grateful. 🙂 All opinions are my own and I received no compensation for this review. I just purchased this box and wanted to share what I got!]

Sunday stroll

laelene Posted in lifestyle glimpses，Tags: , , , , , , , ,
29 June 2014
0

Yesterday after dusk, Panda went on a walk to Walgreen’s to pick up some food. Along the way, he spotted a ton of fireflies, so tonight we decided to go back along the walk and catch some on our way to get groceries. We got some bug bites out of it, but it was well worth the effort. We both came away with five each, proudly stored in our respective jars. Our little stroll turned out to be a bit of a nature walk and we came across all sorts creatures! As we approached the first area we saw fireflies, a bunny rabbit scurried off. Then I spent a little time poking at an Eastern Bess beetle running across the sidewalk (thanks to my time volunteering at the Smithsonian Insect Zoo for that knowledge!). After getting our groceries, I stopped for a quick look at a June bug and then a toad.

I was pretty thrilled with our little excursion and soon we got home to play with our new firefly pets. Smokey immediately started stalking them even as they climbed around in the jars. We let one out, which she swatted at, so we quickly learned that they are not safe around her. Since they like humidity, we took them into the bathroom and let them fly free as we ran the shower. Seven out of the ten took advantage of that time to crawl out and explore. After my shower, I recaptured them all and then took the jar to the porch to set them free. Again, seven eventually made their way out (some with a little “help” from Smokey) and I decided to retire and keep the last three overnight. Smokey’s been having a blast staring at them so much that I don’t know if she’ll sleep a wink tonight!

eastern bess beetle on sidewalk at night june bug on sidewalk at night toad by sidewalk blending in with wood chips

365great: parking balloons

laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: , , , , ,
27 June 2014
0

When I first saw this fun solution for parking woes, I thought it was pretty cool. It’s such a simple idea and striking because of how simple and effective it can be. From my office, we’re able to look down and see how painful it is for cars to find a parking spot in a busy open lot. A whole lot of time is wasted circling around trying to find an open space, not knowing there’s one just two aisles over. A bird’s eye view look allows us to see all this happening, but there’s nothing we can do. It reminded me of this parking balloon solution I’d seen awhile back. Take a look at the video! It’s certainly not perfect and has its weaknesses, but I think it starts to think about an issue in a creative way that can lead to great results.

Homegrown Collective beeswax wood butter project

laelene Posted in lifestyle glimpses, reviews, subscriptions，Tags: , , , ,
26 June 2014
2

About two months ago, I got around to trying the beeswax wood butter project that came as part of the February Homegrown Collective box. I now have some fun wood coasters that we’ve been using. Recently, I found that the sides I chose not to polish up were getting grease marks so I decided to rub in the wood butter to all of them. It’s a full set of wonder wood coasters now. 🙂

ingredients to make wood butter including beeswax and grape seed oil

Making the wood butter required beeswax and grape seed oil.

collage of melting beeswax and adding grape seed oil to make wood butter

Once the beeswax melted, I added the grape seed oil and it coagulated before melting together.

collage of bowl of melted wood butter poured in container

With a nice smooth mixture, I was able to pour it into an empty jar I had. It fit perfectly! The remainder on the glass bowl was used to start the polishing.

collage of wood coasters being polished

And then started the polishing process of rubbing in the wood butter. Check out the difference!

Treatsie June 2014 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
24 June 2014
0

I had just mentioned how Treatsie seemed to not be using ice packs anymore, so of course I had to be proven wrong. 😛  This time, it was hot enough outside that it warranted some cooling packs again. The box came in an insulated bag with two ice packs that weren’t solid anymore, but did their job along the way.

Treatsie is $15 per box + $4.95 shipping and comes with artisan candy from 3-4 brands (I am grandfathered in for $15 for 2-3 brands and fewer items). That means about 6 or 7 different flavors of treats (or 4 or 5 for me). Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a referral link program to earn store credit. Use my referral link to get your first box FREE!

treatsie june 2014 box contents with salty road salt water taffy, olive & sinclair chocolate bar, and brittle brothers cashew brittletreatsie june 2014 outer packaging with insulation

Salty Road Salt Water Taffy in Peppermint: I would have preferred most of the other flavors that could have come in this box. Peppermint as a breath mint works for me, but for most other things it’s just not a flavor I’d choose. These taffies are interesting, with their salt bits that is completely unique to a taffy. I love that idea and would especially like a caramel-flavored taffy.

Olive & Sinclair Buttermilk White Chocolate: The chocolate was not melted at all, which was wonderful. I wasn’t really into the tangy sort of taste that the buttermilk apparently creates. Pretty sure I would have liked the sea salt dark chocolate flavor better. I like the firmness and smoothness of the chocolate though.

Brittle Brothers Gourmet Cashew Brittle: At first glance, I thought this product was a repeat. Turns out this is their cashew brittle whereas previously I had received their peanut brittle. The difference in nuts does matter! I can’t compare how this one tastes next to the peanut exactly, but I think I prefer the peanut one slightly. Perhaps I’m just not use to cashews in a brittle. It’s super nutty and I really like the sugary bits.

treatsie june 2014 info card

Flavor-wise, this was probably my least favorite box so far. Brand-wise I think it would have been more exciting for me if the flavors matched up to my taste better. I’ll be sharing these with my co-workers or whoever wants them. Which of these treats is your fav? Sign up for Treatsie and get your first box free.

[This post contains affiliate links. Signing up through them helps support my subscription and I’d be ever so grateful. 🙂 All opinions are my own and I received no compensation for this review. I just purchased this box and wanted to share what I got!]

Blinding

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , ,
23 June 2014
0

Yesterday I spent the day relaxing at home, spending a ton of time on my beloved technology. I think the entire day I was either staring at my phone, my iPad, or my laptop. So as the light started to fade outside and the phone started to blind me a bit, I thought it was just an adjustment issue. But when it didn’t go away, I started to get confused. One corner of the screen was so bright I couldn’t tell what was on it. Then when I looked over to my laptop, I noticed that I had a blind spot to part of the screen. I tried blinking it away, but there was no change.

As I started to notice a strange halo-ish glowing pulsing in the right peripheral of my vision, I tried to pinpoint where it was coming from. It felt like it was related to my right eye, but when I closed that eye and covered it with my hand, the brightness still made its way through my eyelid and caused the same pulsing glow. Looking out at things like the rooms of the home and the buildings outside made the effect less obvious, but I could see how small areas were distorted and jiggling. I thought I’d try a headstand since an inversion could bring more blood to my head and perhaps flush out the feeling (yeah, I wasn’t thinking straight). It didn’t change a thing.

I figured my eyes might be strained from all the technology, so I looked outside for awhile, but the blurred spots remained. I started to imagine what I could do… should I go see an optometrist? They wouldn’t still be open at 8 or so on a Sunday. Perhaps I should wait until the next day. What if it was still like that tomorrow? Would I be able to drive? Could my neighbor take me to the optometrist? Could I drive there slowly with my hazard lights on?

At that time, I started to get worried and really wished that Panda was around. I tried to look in the mirror to see if there was unusual movement with my eyes or something visible on them, but with my poor vision I couldn’t tell. I tried taking a video and playing it back, but that didn’t help either. Looking at any screen just didn’t seem like a good idea anymore. After about 20 minutes (and some pondering how life would be without my eyesight – or losing it in one eye), I went to go take my contacts off. They didn’t have anything on them, but soon after removing the right one from my eye and stumbling around trying to figure out where my glasses were, the effect went away. Was it related to my contacts or just coincidence in timing, that the effect faded just as I decided to finally try removing my contacts? Hard to say.

Today I put the same contacts back in and haven’t experienced any problems. I’ll be monitoring things closely to see if anything weird happens again. After all, nobody wats to go blind or have severely impaired vision, do they?

Love With Food Take Me Out to the Ballgame June 2014 review

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , , ,
20 June 2014
2

This is my very first Love With Food box, which I got because it was free (I paid $2 for shipping). For the life of me, I can’t remember where I got that deal (and no amount of searching has helped). But hey, I came across a link to the deal that you can use this month! So try Love With Food free too (and pay for shipping).

Love With Food is $12 per box (or as discounted as $120 for an entire year, with an option in between) and comes with 8 or more snack products. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a referral program that earns you points towards products or boxes.

love with food box in plastic wrap

The box comes nicely packaged and protected from the elements with plastic wrap.

love with food june 2014 box first look with card and snacks in open box

First look! The card shares the theme of the month.

contents of june 2014 love with food box including eight snacks

And the snacks for this month.

love with food june 2014 box info card listing snacks included

Check out the deets here.

Overall, they stuck to the theme well and these are all snacks I can see bringing to a ball game or eating on the way there. I’m not sure about the value, which certainly doesn’t blow me away, but I do appreciate being introduced to some nice brands. My favorites are the Dolcetto chocolate cookies and the Snikiddy baked fries. The cookies attracted Smokey too, and I had to quickly ensure she wasn’t able to eat any lest she get sick. They kind of remind me of those flute/straw cookie things that are crispy and crumbly (just looked it up and apparently they are called Piroulines). The Snikiddy baked fries were strangely reminiscent of onion rings, even though they’re actually made with potato and corn. I really liked them for the super crunch!

The YumEarth fruit snacks were quite good, but it was such a tiny pack and half of it was mango-flavored, which I don’t like. If I could get just the raspberry and pineapple, I’d be a happy camper. The G.H. Cretors Chicago mix was quite interesting and featured a mix of salty cheddar popcorn with sweet caramel popcorn. I’ve never had such a thing before and I enjoyed it. The Stoneridge Orchards dried cherries were pretty good, but I’m not into cherries that aren’t fresh, so I can’t take more than one bite at a time. I would want to try one of their other fruits though!

Finally, I have not yet tried the rest of the items. I’m most interested in The Cookie Department’s cookie because it’s been on my wishlist. I didn’t want to open it for a taste test until I wanted to gain the benefits of this detoxing cookie though. The Tree Hugger Gum gumball is cute, but again, the sample size could have been more generous – say, three gumballs? I don’t chew much gum and if I do it’s almost always to freshen my breath so I prefer a strong mint flavor. The Jolly Oak granola looks more appealing than granola usually does to me, but I still am not interested in granola so I gave this one to Panda for his travels. Great little snack to have handy!

I’m going to keep the subscription and see what the next box or two look like before deciding if I’ll keep this subscription. It’s nice to get more food sent to me again. What do you think about the snacks in this box? Have you tried any of them?

[This post contains affiliate links. Signing up through them helps support my subscription and I’d be ever so grateful. 🙂 All opinions are my own and I received no compensation for this review. I just purchased this box at the special offer price and wanted to share what I got!]

Lightning storm!!

laelene Posted in lifestyle glimpses, photo blog, video blog，Tags: , , , ,
18 June 2014
0

Ok, I’m a total sucker for lightning. It’s such a wonderful phenomenon and I could stare at a light show for hours (if only the need for sleep didn’t get in the way). Tonight as I was drafting my Love With Food box review, Panda came running in from the kitchen to tell me there was lightning outside. That made me happy, to think a thunderstorm might be rolling its way through.

But when I got outside to look, it was so much better than I could have hoped for. Flash after flash of brilliant light lit up the clouds in the sky. A gentle roll of thunder was barely perceptible in the distance. And boom, boom, boom, the lightning kept coming! It was so quiet and peaceful out – the crickets singing in the night didn’t seem to care about the show overhead. Even Smokey meowed at me to let her out and join me on the porch. Together we enjoyed the warmth of the night, the humidity in the air, and the flashes that lit up our faces.

This is so much better than a fireworks show and I even saw lightning that went up for the first time. Freakin’ amazing. So I dropped everything, got some videos and a picture, and of course put off that review for another day. This is far more exciting to me. Check it out:

lightning behind cloud at night, lighting up parts of cloud in the darkness

lightning storm from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

lightning storm flashes from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Knackered

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , , , ,
17 June 2014
0

I was going to write a review of my newest subscription box, Love With Food, today, but I am just pooped. Between a day at work that required quite a bit of effort and a night that just kept going, I don’t have enough energy left to finish that post. Tomorrow, perhaps.

cat and person lying on ground sleeping

Felt much like I did this Sunday afternoon, when we had a little impromptu nap time.

I’ve been running a series of webinars at work to train partners on the features and benefits of our product. It’s surprisingly tiring to talk for an hour and explain things via a presentation, demo, and Q&A session. On top of that, I’m trying to manage follow-up for a set of events that occurred over the past two months, which required a lot of navigating websites that wouldn’t load due to some awful internet connection quality. There are a bunch of other projects I’m supposed to manage too, but those were put on the backburner while I focus on the webinars and events. I’m starting to have trouble keeping up with things.

I left work just before 6:30 and headed off to yoga class. I’m not sure why I’m so tired coming out of it because it wasn’t very difficult and we even spent half an hour meditating. I always fall asleep during meditation, so I got a nice nap out of it. Perhaps the physical exhaustion is from my attempts at headstands after getting home today. I an easily get up into one by the wall, but can’t quite seem to find the strength required to balance straight up on my own. Before I got into that, I had to jump on a call with another partner (out in the Philippines) the moment I got home. After we synced up for the week, I was finally able to eat dinner (but not before I tried those headstands).

Have you ever eaten a light salad on an empty stomach? If you’re hungry enough, it’s kind of nauseating. So I asked Panda to make me some ramen, which is helping. But boy am I absolutely knackered! Not even mentally, mostly physically. So much exertion today. I hope I can get up tomorrow.

A year in

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , ,
15 June 2014
0

It’s the 1-year anniversary of our engagement, just so happening to fall on Father’s Day this year! We’ve made plans for the marriage, but not yet the wedding and it’s one big confusing set of circumstances. I’m putting off wedding planning as long as possible, but I probably should start since it’s going to be only a year away soon enough (less than two months from now). A year is a decent amount of time to plan, right? It’s not like we’re going all out crazy; I’d rather have a nice time celebrating and enjoy a more elaborate honeymoon. Actually, it looks like our “honeymoon” will be coming in three (or more) parts. A 7-day thing here, a 10-day thing there… and hey, why not make every vacation going forth part of our never-ending honeymoon?

Was it just a year ago that Panda was getting his Master’s and we got engaged? Hard to believe, with all that’s happened since! I relocated from California to Virginia, decided to rejoin the workforce as an employee rather than an entrepreneur of sorts, got a condo, adopted a cat, and pretty much experienced change in most parts of my life. I feel like we’ve grown up so much in this span of time and I look forward to all the adventures we’ll have together over the years. The next great adventure will be getting our marriage license and legally getting married, which seems so strange to do a year before the wedding ceremony. We’ve grown up associating the two, but they don’t have to be hand in hand. So, as I always seem to do in my life, I fall neither here nor there – the exception to the norm, the couple who’s married but not yet, sort of? How are we going to explain this to people?

Nevermind that, though. We’ll do things our way and enjoy it all along the way! I just learned that my dad is going to be around for the civil ceremony this year, which is super exciting since he’s usually only in the country a few weeks each year. It looks like our entire immediate families will be able to attend – both sets of parents, plus Panda’s brother (maybe even my cousin??). That’s all we need! I don’t want all the fanfare and formality and I hope they don’t expect it. Let’s just do the legal stuff and have a good meal together.

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