I’ve had my iPhone 6 for a week and a half now, but I’m already so used to it that I hardly recognize the iPhone 5. I’m absolutely loving it and I’m so happy with the whole experience. Here are some pics of it, along with a few side by sides with my old iPhone.
Another ok but not fabulous box for me. I like that they include nail polish a lot but it’s not really in shades I’d use. I do appreciate the hair products they include, since I like to switch up my hair routine.
Beauty Box 5 is $12 per box (or as discounted as $99 for an entire year, with an option in between) and comes with 5 cosmetic products. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. You also have the option of buying it as a gift your box to a friend. They offer a referral program that earns you points towards products or boxes.
Nicka K New York Eyelight Crayon in Charcoal: This color is far too dark for me so I hope there’s someone out there who’d like to trade for it! If it had been a lighter color or something fun like a pop of color, I might have tried it. I’m curious about the crayon application so it’s a pity it’s not suited for me.
Natural Style by FUBU Deep Conditioner & Co-Wash: I haven’t tried this yet, but I love the smooth feel of using conditioner so I look forward to it. I’m still working through other samples I have at the moment.
Sally Hansen Toe Spacers: Haha, it’s always so awkward to have things between your toes. These will be useful next time I want to paint my toenails. I’ll have fun strutting around with my toes all fanned out.
My Beauty Spot Nail Polish: Oops, I can’t seem to find this polish now. I hadn’t decided if I was going to try it or trade it, but at this rate it looks like it will be neither. I think this would have been a nice polish to use for when I want some color, but nothing that stands out too much. If I can figure out where I put it, I’ll give it a shot.
Dr. Lin Acne Spot Corrector: This is my favorite product from this box and I’ve used it a few times. It feels nice, doesn’t dry out my skin, and seems to calm down my acne issues. They haven’t completely gone away, but using this has helped things from spiraling out of control as they often do.
The theme for this box was “balancing act” and I think overall it works. It’s not that important to me that boxes follow a theme though, so no big deal! Which items do you like most from these?
[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!]
A great variety this time around and all tasty stuff in this Treatsie box! The items had a more fall feel, just in time for the cooling season.
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!
Quince & Apple Tart Cherry and White Tea Preserves: Hmm, this is an interesting flavor I wouldn’t be able to describe! It’s lightly tart and not overly sweet like many preserves. I like that it’s a more subtle flavor and I’ll have to find something to spread these on. It’s so cool that it’s made with tea and jasmine flowers.
J&M Triple Chocolate Cookies: Wow, they cooked these perfectly. The chocolate flavor, the crunchy texture, and the soft bits of chocolate chips is a wonderful combination. It’s a rich flavor and not the dry crunchy cookie, but perfectly made for enjoyment. I shared these with my coworkers and we couldn’t get enough of them.
Béquet Confections Classic Soft, Celtic Sea Salt, and Salted Mocha Caramels: We received these at the office last holiday season, so imagine my surprise when they showed up in this box! I love these caramels and was totally addicted to the bags we got last year. I sure hope we get more of these at the end of the year. They’re tasty and there are a ton of great flavors.
I’m happy with the selection and I look forward to getting more of those cookies. What do you like best from this month’s box? To get Treatsie, sign up with my link 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!]
My opening trail.
Every time, no matter how much I seem to be prepared to order my new iPhone, it’s always a complicated process. Things seemed to go smoothly with AT&T about half an hour after pre-orders were supposed to open up at 3:01 EDT on Friday, 9/12. I had set an alarm for 2:40 and decided I could wait around. I ended up falling asleep until past 3:30. I thought I might have missed my window when the Apple Store app wouldn’t let me purchase. I soon discovered the Apple site was down so I went ahead on the carrier side. I placed my order, but was paranoid about whether I got it in and everything worked out. Thank goodness for that, because I went to the Apple site and pretended to go through the ordering process from them when their site finally came up two hours later than expected. When it got to the stage where it needed information from AT&T, they couldn’t get a response, so they actually reserved a phone for me. All I had to do was complete the order by a certain time.
By the time I woke up for work a few hours later, I finally saw a confirmation email in my inbox. That set my mind at ease, in addition to my backup plan with the reserved phone through Apple. Just as I was feeling good about things by Saturday, I got an email from AT&T with further details on my order. Instead of the anticipated 9/19 ship date I expected, they were now projecting 9/23-10/2! I was not pleased with this news, so I immediately set about activating my Plan B. I called AT&T, cancelled my order, made sure my line showed up as eligible for an upgrade again, and went to place my reserved order (with guaranteed shipment on 9/19) via Apple.
Activating phone…
Alas, once I got to the billing part, I ran across an issue that led to three live chats and a bunch of service calls to both Apple and AT&T. You see, Apple forces you to ship to your billing address. This would have been fine had it been set to use the billing address I had updated with Apple. What I did not expect is that it latched on to the AT&T billing information and would not allow me to change it! That information was still under my old information in LA, since part of the account is for our Uverse service at home there. Even after making the update in my account, my reservation didn’t update. I didn’t want to lose the delivery date I had locked in and I certainly didn’t want my phone shipped clear across the country, so I spent the rest of Saturday and much of Sunday figuring this all out!
Ultimately, it was as simple as completing my order through the reservation and then calling in to Apple support to have the shipping information fixed. If only they had come to that solution before I jumped through all sorts of hoops to order. Even after that, I was anxious about my shipment. I kept checking to make sure the shipping information remained updated and that the shipment date still said 9/19. Over the course of the next week, all went well with that and by last Friday I was tracking my shipment. Luckily, Panda wasn’t working that day, so he was home to sign for the package when it arrived around 10:30 that morning.
I was so excited and eager that I had him meet me for lunch and bring the phone so I could get started with it right away. I even did my unboxing at Vapiano’s while waiting for our food! I love how it feels and I actually find it less likely to drop than my iPhone 5 (and 4 and 3G). In fact, I’m happy that I’ve yet to drop it so far. Setting it up was super easy once I was on wifi. I’ll show some comparisons of it with my old phone sometime.
It always amuses me that tarantulas weave their web by doing what looks like a happy dance. This one just got a cricket to eat and is repairing parts of her web.
tarantula dance from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
I haven’t been super impressed with LWF so I actually cancelled my subscription, but since I bought the 6-month one, I’ll still be getting a few more boxes through the end of the year. Three of the items were exact repeats from a previous box! Definitely not what I want to see.
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.
(click to enlarge and read messaging)
It took me awhile to get that the theme was about smiling. I guess they couldn’t come up with a fall theme. The repeat items were the Skeeter Nut Free Cinnamon Grahams (great crunch and taste), the YumEarth fruit snacks (tasty, but small sample), and the 180 Degrees Nutty Rice Bites with Blueberries (not my thing).
The Desert Gardens Spinach Dip Mix should make a nice. I’m really looking forward to brewing the Revolution Tea Southern Derby Sample Pack at work. There are three flavors included: Honeybush Caramel Herbal Tea (whoa, intriguing), Tropical Green Tea, and Southern Mint Herbal Tea. I certainly love drinking tea and I love their bags.
I tried the Vintage Italia Marinara Pasta Chips and loved their strong taste! Panda complained about the garlic smell, but I’m all about that tomato flavor. These taste a bit grainy, like they’re made with whole wheat (they’re actually made with semolina flour – no idea what that is). As for the Terre Di Puglia Tarallino Snack, it was not as tasty as I had hoped. I found it to be rather bland, though the cookie shape is cute.
I’m pretty pleased with the non-repeat products here, so I really wish I’d been introduced to more snacks. I’m most excited about the tea! What did you like in this box? Any favorites?
[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!]
I skipped the September box, so I was looking forward to a mystery box that I might want. When I saw the Jewel Heist one, I was intrigued enough to order it! I would definitely have loved to win the whole birthstone collection. I only have one of those colors right now.
Julep mystery boxes are just under $25 per box and come with a mix of polish colors and beauty products. These are one-time orders and do not require a subscription.
Great selection of items overall, though that polish color is ick.
Mask Noir
Yes! This has been on my wishlist, so I’m very happy to get it. I love masks.
Double Duty Makeup Brush & polish in Alma
I had no idea what kind of brush this is meant to be, but I love having another tool to use. Turns out it’s two brushes in one! As for the polish… it’s from 2012 and it’s not an attractive color at all.
Green Tea Facial Blotting Papers
I’m a fan of these even if I always forget to use them. They smell amazing and I’ll try to make good use of them!
Ink Gel Eyeliner in Jet Black
Oh, dilemma. I’d like to try this, but I’d never use this much and I don’t even have a brush to apply it with. Should I trade or try?
Boho Glam Lengthening Mascara in Espresso Brown
This came in a previous mystery box, so it’ll go up for trade. They must have a lot of overstock!
I definitely like the value of the box and the selection of items overall, even if I wouldn’t use them all. I sure wish they’d picked a better polish color (and one not so obviously from years ago). I certainly would have loved to win one of the prizes this time!! Oh well, here’s to next time.
Estimated value: $121 (Mask Noir $32, Double Duty Makeup Brush $28, Nail Color $14, Green Tea Facial Blotting Papers $10, Ink Gel Eyeliner $22, Lengthening Mascara $24) or $96.80 at Maven prices (20% off)
Join as a Julep Maven to get polishes sent to you monthly! Use code FREEBOX or FREEMAVEN to get the first box free (you pay shipping).
[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!]
This weekend was pretty brutal for my mind and voice. I spent pretty much all of Saturday and then half of Sunday dealing with customer service folks and I am pooped. I sure hope I don’t have to do these kinds of marathons again.
It started off Saturday morning with a trip to the DMV. You see, I got a ticket on my car at the parking lot at work on 9/11. Apparently my plates had expired, which I had no clue about since I hadn’t received the notice in the mail and this would be the first time I needed to do this since moving to Virginia and getting this car. So I drove to work on Friday with the ticket so I could place it back on my windshield to avoid possibly getting ticketed again for the same infraction. Saturday, I had Panda drive us to the DMV to take care of the registration. I think it took us 2 hours, which actually isn’t so bad for the DMV. It was freezing though, so it was rather uncomfortable. I didn’t get this cold weather memo and apparently neither did the DMV’s cooling unit.
After we got home from that, I saw an email from AT&T. I had ordered the iPhone 6 from them Friday morning so I could be one of the first to receive it this upcoming Friday 9/19. But then this email says my expected delivery date is 9/23-10/2. I was not happy about that, especially since my confirmation had originally said on or about 9/19. I would not consider as week or two later to be “on or about” if it really did end up being that late. Luckily, I still had my backup plan in place, so I was able to cancel my order and get the locked in delivery date through Apple. More on that in another post.
There were complications on the way that nearly forced me to have the device delivered to my parents’ place in CA. Ultimately it took a good 3 live chats with Apple, 2-3 phone calls to AT&T, and two phone calls to Apple (the last of which had me on hold for an hour, yeesh) over the course of two days to resolve this. Happily, I did manage to get the best outcome and my phone is guaranteed to come in just three more days!
After dealing with that for part of Sunday morning and afternoon, I then had a set of requests to speak to Chase about regarding a new credit card I’d received. By the end of it all, I did not want to speak to another customer service person again. Not that the experiences were bad, but gosh it’s such a hassle to try to explain the situation and figure out a resolution time and time again. My throat hurts and I don’t want to think anymore.
In the mean time, Panda and I are both addicted to those numbers games like Threes and 2048, so that’s been taking up all our time now.
So I had some credit sitting around in my account and I wanted to redeem an outfit with those points. I ended up coming across the Temps outfit and going for it. I figured I could use another top that also works for casual wear and an extra pair of capris to round it out.
Fabletics is just under $50 per outfit credit and comes with a 2- or 3-piece set of athletic wear. Each month, three outfits are selected for you to choose from at the 1 outfit credit price point. You can always get other outfits at their VIP pricing of $50-80 (2- and 3- pieces available) or buy any individual item separately. Outfits are sent monthly unless you choose to skip (which is very easy to do). They offer a referral program that earns you money towards free outfits.
Get your first outfit for half off with my referral link! All fitted Fabletics items are chafe-resistant and feature four-way stretch for comfort and movement.
Omemee Tank in Pink Grapefruit Heather
This tank is all at once casual yet dressy. While it’s not dressed up exactly, the look and feel of it is fancier than most tanks. I enjoy the asymmetry that gives it more character! The built-in bra makes it an easy choice to throw on whenever. Perfect for hanging out in at home or running errands. I like how much freedom the shoulder blades get in this one, so no amount of sun salutations would affect the back. I definitely like these types of tops for my yoga practice. Retail value for this is listed as $34.95.
Salar Capri in Pink Grapefruit Stripe
I was really hoping this shade would be vastly different from the Salar leggings I have. Turns out it’s pretty much the same, so now I have them in legging and capri styles. I’m not too sure how this works for me, but I’ll keep it around and see if I find myself wearing capris more. I do like the new mesh being used for the hidden pocket. It’s a fun little detail that I certainly appreciate. I kind of wish they had another color I liked in my size when I chose my outfit. Listed retail value for this is $39.95.
This outfit was very grapefruit-y! I love the top and I’ll probably use the bottoms, though maybe I’ll try to trade them. Most likely I will just wear them around the house on weekends. Interested in trying an outfit too? Sign up for Fabletics to get your first outfit for just $25!
[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 outfit and wanted to share what I got!]
It starts off as an innocent (and usually simple) question. “Where are you from?” asks the person meeting you for the first time. For most people, a city or country name will suffice to bring about a certain level of understanding regarding their background.
But for me, this is a truly complicated question. Do you mean where am I from ethnically? Do you mean where I am from as in where I’m living right now? Do you mean where I am from as in where I grew up? Do you mean where I am from as in where I identify with most and consider home? I mean, really, this is a loaded question dressed up in innocence. The poor people asking me that question never know what’s coming until they’re knee deep in my explanation. So let’s break this down bit by bit.
To start, the easiest answer I have is when I am traveling abroad. Then I can say either the US or China, based on if the asker wants to know where my family heritage is or where I grew up. Since I’m in another country, I don’t have to explain in as much detail and general answers like that work. But when I’m in the US and people ask me, it’s too broad to just say “United States” – they’ll want to know what state, what city even.
Where am I from? If you mean my ethnic background, my familial “roots” then the answer is China. More specifically Northern China and even more specifically, Shenyang in Liaoning Province. This drills down enough that those familiar with Chinese geography and culture will know right away some basic things: I am from a Mandarin-speaking area, I probably have some Mongol in me, and there are certain slang terms specific to my region that I may use. This also explains why I often get mistaken for Korean – we are very close to (both) Korea(s) and people living in the same region tend to look alike. However, this doesn’t mean I’m truly Chinese. I’m certainly nothing like those who grew up there.
Where am I from? If you mean where I’m living now, then I would have said California, Southern California, Los Angeles, or Valencia. Do I feel like I am Californian or an Angeleno? Yeah, by now I do, since I’d been in the area on and off for a decade. I didn’t grow up here though, so I don’t consider it anything more than my most recent home that felt like it. For now, I’m still not connected enough with Virginia to think of this as my real home, even if my beloved condo, husband, and cat are here.
Where am I from? If you mean where I grew up, oh boy. I didn’t grow up in one place – which do I choose? I really can’t pick, since I spent an average of 3 years in each throughout my childhood before moving on to the next. First, 3.5 years in China, then about 2 years in Pennsylvania, then 3 years in Kansas, 1 year in China, 1 year back in Kansas, 2.5 years in Missouri, 3.5 years in New York, 4 years in California (2 in Valencia, 2 in Westwood/UCLA), 1 year in England, 2 years in California, 0.5 years in Singapore, 2 years in California again (El Segundo), and then back and forth between CA and Virginia for 1.5 years until my most recent 1 year in Virginia. Do I feel Mid-Western, as my 7 years there would suggest? No. Do I feel like an East Coaster? Certainly not. Do I feel like a West Coaster? Only in more recent years.
Where am I from? If you mean where I identify with the most, where my childhood memories are, where I consider home… I really don’t know. I can’t pick a single place, whether a city, a state, or even a region. For my adult life, it has mostly been the greater Los Angeles area, within about 50 miles. But my childhood? There is just too much of a story there to give a simple answer. And then of course I am now officially moved to Virginia, giving me yet another piece to the identity puzzle.
Who knew such a seemingly straightforward question would create so much havoc in my attempt to answer.
