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Posts Tagged ‘pictures’

My cats love plants

laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: cats, gardening, hobbies, home, nature, panda, pictures, plants

08 October 2015

To sniff and eat them, that is. Not just catnip either, though I do have that for them. Missy’s more interested in grass most of the time.

My new plants have been growing in a planter I got this summer. I have catnip, various wildflowers, poppies, and a smattering of other flowering type plants. I hope they make it through the colder weather coming up! I’ll have to find a place inside the home to place them later in fall. I recently planted tomato seeds and Panda saved pepper seeds from the last pepper we ate. I’d love to have my own little garden someday, though for now I don’t have a yard so my options are certainly limited.

My new compost tumbler

laelene Posted in lifestyle glimpses, photo blog，Tags: home, nature, pictures

29 September 2015

This weekend, I received the compost tumbler that I ordered online! I wanted something compact that I could keep on my porch and put my food scraps in. The tumbling kind is perfect because you can rotate the mix around and distribute it more evenly for better “cooking” in there.

It was pretty easy to figure out once I tried out the components. There were a ton of screws to put in! There are some ventilation holes that can’t be sealed so I can’t pour straight liquid. I hope it decomposes well and doesn’t leak!

Escape Monthly September: Greece Box review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: boxes, candy, chocolates, escape monthly, food, greece, greek, gums, juices, lotions, olive oil, orzo, pasta, pictures, reviews, snacks, soaps, subscriptions, treats

27 September 2015

Yay for Greece! I love the wide variety of products, many of which feature olive oil, of course. Nothing looks familiar but it’s cool to see some Greek on the packaging.

Escape Monthly is just under $40 per box (with code for 20% off your subscription – see end of post) and comes with a variety of food, home, skincare items themed around a city/region. Each box comes with a guide for that area. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a referral commission program.

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It shouldn’t be a surprise that there were plenty of awesome food items and I love that I’ll be able to make a dish or two to really get that sense of Greece.

Here’s what came in the box:

Mastic care body lotion – I can smell the plants in this as I rub it in. It is very smooth and instantly softens my hands. Feels great and I think I’ll use it for lotioning up after showers to lock in that moisture.

Iliada extra virgin olive oil in vanilla – Whoa, I had no idea olive oil comes in flavors! Love it. I like the vanilla one I got, which should offer a nice fragrance and a hint of sweetness to my food. I’ll try cooking with it as well as making a dressing to try.

Misko orzo – I’ve never cooked orzo and I’m excited to not only try the salad recipe (with some modifications for my taste), but also make some lemon orzo soup. I’m a fan of that soup at restaurants and I’d love to make my own version.

glass evil eye – Not much evil to ward off here, but I like trinkets like this so I’ll find a place to hang it for good luck. It reminds me of a bar in York called Evil Eye, which was a really fun quirky place.

Rick Steves’ Pocket Athens – I’m going on a Europe trip this year, but won’t be making it to Greece this time. I look forward to returning to Athens though, and perhaps being very well-prepped if I read this guide!

Elma gum in classic – Cool, gum inspired by ancient times in Greece. This is another product making use of mastic trees. I’ve never heard of them before!

Olivia olive oil soap – Olive oil should be good for the skin and hair, so I might just rub this on my head too. I’m not a huge fan of the scent, but it’s not too strong so that’s not a big deal.

Bingo Serenata milk chocolate wafers – What fun! These remind of Kit Kats and I’m glad we got two. I enjoy chocolate wafers for the combination of taste and crunch.

Ivi peach juice – No wonder this box was so heavy! This giant bottle of juice is nice and the packaging makes me think of Ribena and other squashes (which you’ll easily find in the UK). I love peach products and I’ve put this in the fridge to chill.

Greece was a great choice and I’m happy with the products. I look forward to where the next box will take us! What items from this Greece Escape Monthly box do you like most? If you want to sign up, be sure to sign up for their newsletter to get a code for 20% off the lifetime of your subscription.

[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!]

Petit Vour September 2015 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: beauty, boxes, cruelty-free, eco-friendly, face sunscreens, facial cleansers, facial masks, green, lipsticks, pictures, reviews, skincare, subscriptions, vegan

25 September 2015

Alright! I’m loving the wooden packaging of some of these brands. It just feels more luxurious that way, much like glass bottles do.

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!).

Blissoma Mild Rice Facial Cleanser – Good timing with this, since I just got a bout of breakouts and my skin needs some soothing cleansing. This has a very healing scent and I really feel like it calms skin down. At the least it is calming my mind!

Mahalo Pele Mask – Another great and timely product. The inside looks like it could be spirulina it has a strange earthy smell. I look forward to trying this out as my next mask.

Metropolis Soap Co. (msc) grapefruit & spearmint sugar scrub – What a unique combination of scents. I really like it and this scrub melts with your body heat to because a super nourishing product. It’s fun to exfoliate until the grains melt away and you’re left with soft skin.

Elate Clean Cosmetics creme lipstick in lively – What awesome packaging! I think it’s fabulous and the shade is a nice sort of deep rose that matches my lip color well. I feel conditioned with it on and it gives nice little sparkles without being too bold so it’s perfect for a more natural look.

I will absolutely use all the products in this box and I love them all! What do you think of these 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!]

Treatsie September 2015 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: biscotti, boxes, brittle, candy, foodsnacks.treats, pictures, reviews, subscriptions, taffy, treatsie

21 September 2015

Wow, what a delivery day – I got three boxes at once today!

Treatsie is $15 per box + $4.95 shipping and comes with artisan candy from 3-4 brands. That means about 6 or 7 different flavors of treats. 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!

Mighty Brittle in Maple: Mmm, the maple flavor makes this taste sort of like it was made with brown sugar. It’s a deeper sweet that really grabs you. I’m a fan and like that the nut pieces are nice and small.

Salty Road Salty Caramel Apple salt water taffy: I like the hint of salty with a nice burst of apple flavor. I wouldn’t choose this flavor on my own, but it’s just right for the fall. Wonderfully chewy and sweet for a little morsel of the season.

Marlo’s Bake Shop Original, Midnight & Banana Bread biscotti: I like that these are soft and not the super hard, super crunchy kind. They are a little dry on their own, so it’s the perfect complement to a nice hot drink. Next time I have hot chocolate, you bet I’ll be dipping these!

It’s a pity there wasn’t another recipe this time, perhaps for an apple cider! I hope that they try that again on their cards. Their treat selection was on the money with the transitioning season. Which treats do you want to try? To get Treatsie, sign up with my link and get your first box free!

Yogi Surprise September 2015 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: boxes, candles, cookies, pictures, reviews, soaps, subscriptions, tonics, yoga, yoga mat sling, yogi surprise

19 September 2015

Alright, first subscription box of the month. I’ve whittled it down to just four now, so I appreciate each one all the more.

Yogi Surprise is just under $36 per box (with code for 20% off your subscription – use my referral links from this post) and comes with yoga gear, skincare, food, and other lifestyle products. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a referral program that earns you free boxes.

Gaiam yoga mat sling – What a nice, simple tool to easily transport a yoga mat to and from class. I currently have a yoga bag that is quite well-ventilated and does the job, but this will be handy to have when I need to save on space.

Molly Muriel Butter Up soap – I feel pretty familiar with this brand now that I’ve received multiple samples and full size soaps of theirs. The other Butter Up bar I got was from Escape Monthly box this January. I like how gentle and foamy it is with just a mild scent. I wouldn’t have minded receiving one of their other soaps, but I’m happy with this.

All Good Coconut Sunstick – I find rubbing solid formulas like this a lot of fun. A little goes a long way and I end up smelling like a delicious snack! This will be perfect to bring along on travel without worrying about airline liquid limitations.

philosophie Berry Bliss vegan protein & superfood powder – Erm, I’m not really sure how to consume this. Can I just mix with water or would that taste awful? They have a smoothie recipe on the back, but I don’t really make those so perhaps I will try mixing this in with my morning yogurt.

Yogi Surprise Rooting Down yoga sequence series card – Here’s the second card of the series, with a focus on grounding and having a strong foundation. The instruction page has been updated for this month’s sequence so you can download the PDF and view the poses, but no video this time.

Urban Moonshine Joy Tonic – I first came across this brand in another Yogi Surprise box and this is one of their other products. This is supposed to help with anxiety and bring a sense of calm and peace.

Big Dipper Wax Works Citronella tea light candles – What timing! The Homegrown box just came with ingredients to make my very own citronella candle so these are perfect to have as well. I like to keep the porch door open for the cats, so I will try keeping a candle burning near that area to see if it prevents mosquitoes from making their way inside.

Caveman Cookies in Original – Wow, I tried just tasting one but it was surprisingly addictive and I ate the entire cookie. I like how it’s sort of like an oatmeal cookie combined with a soft energy bar in its texture. It’s very chewy and moist. Great little snack to pop in your bag for whenever you need extra energy or to stave off hunger.

I’ll get around to trying each of these and expand my horizons a bit. I like the mix of product types! What products do you want to try from this box?

The hidden gems of iOS 9

laelene Posted in general blog, reviews，Tags: apple, ios, pictures, reviews, software, technology

17 September 2015

I just got around to upgrading my phone to iOS 9 today and there were some surprises in store for me! First was the new font, which is a bit… cuter, I’d say. It’s hard to describe but I feel like it’s a bit thinner, more rounded, and seems slightly more spaced out. Most people probably won’t even notice it.

The biggest shock was when the keyboard popped up and *gasp* there were lowercase letters! This seemed like such a basic thing, yet it took years to finally get it. In fact, I’ve already converted to Swiftkey as my default keyboard because the Apple one just doesn’t cut it.

ios 9 new safari bookmark icons and lowercase keyboard

As you might also note from here, Safari bookmarks now show a letter when there’s no custom icon from the site. Previously, they used the Safari compass icon as a placeholder.

Switching between apps takes on a new feel as you swipe in the opposite direction now. It glides more but I find it harder to close two apps at once.

Menu box pop-ups feel rounder and more spaced out.

ios 9 new photos folders for selfies and screenshots

New default photo folders group together “Selfies” and “Screenshots”

Photos have a scrubber at the bottom, where you can quickly navigate through.

Other nice updates allow you to zoom on videos to get a better view, quickly select a bunch of photos by swiping across them (no more individual taps!), and swipe down on a photo to go back to the thumbnail view of an album.

ios 9 new notes with checklist, sketching, and image capabilities

Notes gets a lot more functionality, with the ability to create checklists, draw sketches, and insert photos.

Notes can also be put into folders, making it easier to organize.

Now easily add a webpage to your notes too!

ios 9 search within settings functionality

Search within settings when you can’t remember where something like battery usage would be found (don’t we all have trouble with this?)

ios 9 view event showing schedule before and after event

Viewing events in Calendar show you a glimpse of your time before and after the event.

ios 9 reminders with number of reminders and overdue items shown

Reminders have nice summaries of how many items are in each list and which of those are overdue.

Sometimes text runs into each other though.

And then of course there are plenty of other changes that you probably heard about as well:

-directions for public transit in select cities

-smarter prompts from Siri: swiping right from the home screen pulls up suggestions for contacts, calendar events, apps, and more

-“Back to [previous app]” option in the top left now lets you quickly return to the app you just came from

-Low power setting to conserve your phone’s power usage

-Improvements to performance so battery life is extended

-Passbook is now Wallet and you’ll be able to add loyalty cards in addition to other forms of digital cards/tickets

-A News app for aggregating news that you might want to read

-“Remind me of this” prompts Siri to set up a reminder about whatever you are looking at

-Add attachments in Mail – not just for photos anymore!

So far I’m really liking the changes and I look forward to stumbling upon others that make the experience better in subtle ways. I’m not upgrading my iPad mini just yet because a coworkers told us that the version of Reflector we use isn’t compatible with it. I need to be able to show my tablet screen for demos and webinars and I’m not keen on paying for the newer version of the software just so I can have iOS 9 on my tablet. Have you upgraded to this new operating system? What do you think so far?

Homegrown Collective August 2015 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: boxes, bug spray, candles, homegrown collective, insect repellants, pictures, reviews, salves, subscriptions

13 September 2015

Hah! How perfect that this came when I’ve been having some skin flare-ups. I wonder if they’ll be good for that in addition to actual bug bites? I don’t know what is causing my redness and bumps but it might just be worth a try.

The Homegrown Collective GREENBOX is $39 per box + $9 shipping (or as discounted as $429 for an entire year, with options in between) and comes with fun and easy projects to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a referral program you can apply to join.

Project #1, DIY anti-itch salve: This looks really promising for soothing itching skin of all sorts. I love how simple it is, so it can be quickly put together and slathered on. I’ve rubbed it on my swollen fingers and so far so good with the soothing effect. I may smell like I’m trying to ward off vampires, but if it helps with the itching then I’m all in.

Project #2, DIY plant-based bug spray: Whoa, there’s a lot going on here! All sorts of scents to keep those bugs at bay and create a barrier between us and anything that might want to to irritate our skin. Mosquitoes, beware! This should definitely pack a punch.

Project #3, DIY mint citronella candle: I know that citronella is great for keeping bugs away, so this is a great candle to have for burning outdoors. Luckily, it smells good to us humans and can provide a nice freshness to the air. I like to keep the door open in the evening so the cats can play on the porch, so I might try having this candle by the door to hopefully keep the insects from flying in.

It’s great to have these natural ways of repelling insects so we don’t have to worry about what we’re putting on our skin or what we’re breathing in. This box offers three great ways to keep the bugs away and/or soothe any bites that you might have gotten.

Want your own? Subscribe to the Homegrown Collective to start getting projects too!

Petit Vour August 2015 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: hair care, pictures, products, reviews, scrubs, serums, skincare, subscriptions

09 September 2015

I was really excited about this box, which came with a really large full-size product to try. Everything happened to be from a brand I’ve experienced before, but all products were absolutely new to me.

Juara Clove Flower & Tumeric Serum – What fancy ingredients! I’ve never had any product with clove or tumeric before. A little bit is enough to nourish the whole face and it has a slippery texture that then absorbs into skin well.

Modern Minerals Tea Rose Finishing Glow – Hmm I’m debating whether I should use this product. It seems like a blush-like item and I don’t usually use that, but this seems like fun to apply. I might try it on my cheeks or even eyes, for a rosier look.

Yarok Feed Your Shine hair serum & Feed Your Curls defining creme – This definitely brings more shine and luster to my hair. I just don’t like the smell though, so I’d have to use it super sparingly to not get a whiff of it with each move. The creme seems like a cool product to style with. I hardly ever do my hair, but I’ll pull this out the next time I do.

MyChelle Fruit Enzyme Scrub – I love this product! So happy that we got the full size to use. It smells wonderfully of something sweet and the little grains offer excellent exfoliation. It’s so much fun to rub around on my face and I feel great using it.

I’m a fan of what came this time and just the scrub was more than worth the value. What do you think of this box?

Escape Monthly August: Hawaii Box review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: body mists, boxes, coasters, dried fruit, food, granola bars, guidebooks, hawaii, keychains, lotions, pictures, postcards, reviews, snacks, subscriptions, sunscreen, travel

03 September 2015

Wow, Hawaii again? I hadn’t paid attention to when they announced the next month’s theme or I might have thought about the wisdom of a third Hawaii-themed box. Still, it turned out ok and there isn’t much overlap in products, which is great.

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I must say, I’m pleased with the selection here and really found some new favorites!

Here’s what came in the box:

Moon Handbooks guide to Maui – Darn, this is the same one I got in the second Hawaii box. I wish it was a third kind so I could keep amassing my collection! Now I don’t know what to do with this. Maybe donate it to a library?

Island Art Store map of old Hawaii vintage-style postcard – Adorable postcard that I’m going to keep as art! I love the look and feel and it’s a great little map of Hawaii. It’s just too nice to actually use!

Pure-Aid sport sunscreen – While sunscreen is important, I wish they’d included either a local brand or a tropical scented one at least. The sport version just seems generic, though it will be useful for the outdoor activities you’d want to do in Hawaii.

Kahala Pineapple slices – These are amazing snacks that I already want more of. I love how the pineapple is soft and slightly chewy. Most dried pineapple gets too hard and chewy for my liking. The sweetness was just right to offer a snack that’s also a treat. I see they’re in Whole Foods all around Hawaii, but what about elsewhere?! I’ll keep searching every Whole Foods I go to.

glass coasters – Totally random items that weren’t even listed but this pair of coasters is one of my favorite items. Ever since being a homeowner, I’ve enjoyed mundane household things. Like cute glass coasters. The design of seashells fits the Hawaiian theme nicely and these coasters add an elegant look to our coffee table.

surfboard keychain – This surfboard is nice and smooth with a glossy finish. I love the look of it but I wish I’d gotten any color other than pink! Oh well, it still looks good and I might swap out the Australian surfboard keychain on my keys for this one now.

Island Soap Candle Works plumeria blossom body wash – The body wash smells great, with a nice light flowery scent. I’ve never had anything plumeria scented before! I’m surprised this is the bonus item and would have expected the surfboard or coasters, but hey we seem to always get the bonus item anyway so that’s great.

Ola coconut body lotion – I’ve got this same scent from this brand in the body butter, which is of course thicker than this lotion. The coconut scent is quite subtle once you rub it on and the consistency is somewhat runny.

Ola passion fruit body mist – Whoa, what an immensely fruity smell! Great in the spring to liven things up, or to remind you of blossoming flowers. I like that this spray can be used around the room, on linens, or of course, on the body. It’s sure to add a little boost to the experience.

MacaMania Anahola tropical granola – I’ll never love granola bars, but this one looks pretty good. I’m saving it for a trip when we do something like hiking or a long drive. It’s great to have a burst of energy for those types of things.

I’m happy with the different products being showcased this time around, but I do wish they wouldn’t rely on Hawaii so much. The third year in a row isn’t necessary when there are so many places in the world yet to explore. Which products from this Hawaii Escape Monthly box would you want too? If you want to sign up, be sure to sign up for their newsletter to get a code for 20% off the lifetime of your subscription.

Next up is Greece! Now that’s a great place we haven’t escaped to yet and I can’t wait to see what comes. I’ve been there before and really enjoyed it, so I hope some things remind me of my trip.

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((little fat notebook))

Posts Tagged ‘pictures’

My cats love plants

My new compost tumbler

Escape Monthly September: Greece Box review

Petit Vour September 2015 review

Treatsie September 2015 review

Yogi Surprise September 2015 review

The hidden gems of iOS 9

Homegrown Collective August 2015 review

Petit Vour August 2015 review

Escape Monthly August: Hawaii Box review

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laelene

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