Posts Tagged ‘spring’

Prospurly April 2016 review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions,Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Oops, I almost forgot to write about this one! It’s been here since the weekend and I opened it up, but then got distracted with the busy work week.

Prospurly is just under $45 per box (with code for 10% off your subscription – use my referral links from this post) and comes with artisan foods, bath & body items, home products, and other sustainably crafted items. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a referral program that earns you free boxes.

prospurly april 2016 box open with products showing prospurly april 2016 info card with product details

Holy Schmidt Coffee Co. Costa Rica Rio Jorco – Alas, I’m not a coffee drinker so this will have to go to someone else. I don’t know much about coffee, but I like that this is ecologically responsible.

Heather Lane Cosmetics Hand & Cuticle Salve in Garden Blend – This is a great item for spring. I like the unique ingredients, like plantain and mallow leaf. It’s wonderful for the rougher skin you might get from working outside or even washing dishes. My cuticles will be very happy with this!

The Moontree Jasmine Rose Cleansing Facial Serum – How cool! I love the actual flowers and petals floating in the serum and I’ve never had a cleansing serum before. I guess it’s sort of like the cleansing oil I use. I didn’t really smell the flowers though, so I wish they’d added some essential oils for an extra boost. I enjoy rubbing it in and feeling it sink in, softening my skin.

Rishi Tangerine Ginger tea – Totally saving this for school, when I think I will be drinking tea all the time (at least I’ll try). This one’s herbal so I’ll keep it for drinking before sleeping.

Lotus Natural LifeBlends Essential Oil in Allergy – This came at the perfect time. I was having an awful time with allergies I developed recently and I needed everything I could get that would help alleviate the discomfort. This roll-on helps with sinuses and it just feels soothing to apply to areas that I’m itchy too.

Free Mountain Seeds Wildflower Seed Bombs – Perfect for Earth Day and spring in general, these seed bombs will be fun to plant! It’s so exciting to see something sprout and grow, though I’m not good at keeping things alive beyond that initial stage. Still, these will be great to use when I want an assortment of flowers. I’ll probably save most until I’m done with school and have a place to garden. I wonder if my mom would like them…

The Moontree Blush & Blossom Rose Clay Mask – I like how this mask smells and having it in powder form makes it easy to bring along. I love that I can mix it with things other than water, like honey or yogurt. That sounds like fun! I look forward to trying that out.

I enjoyed this box and found many items to be very timely for the season. I’m not sure I’ll be able to give this subscription up! What do you think of this month’s box?

[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!]

Spring sightings

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , , , ,
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I feel like spring wants to be here, but winter keeps shoving itself back in the picture here and there. Today was craaaazy windy out! I look forward to things getting warm for good before I head off to grad school, though I’ll miss things like these…

spring hail outside office window from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

double rainbow from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

loud rain on car from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

ladybug on 8th floor window from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Bird calls

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , , , , ,
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Whenever spring rolls around, I always look out for the emergence of birds. Last year they were everywhere! I’m finally starting to hear them again as the weather warms up. It’s supposed to get over 80 tomorrow!

birds swarming tree from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

symphony of birds from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

birds galore from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Cherry Blossom Festival

laelene Posted in lifestyle glimpses, photo blog,Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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Rather last-minute, Panda and I decided to go check out the Cherry Blossom Festival today. Most of the trees aren’t quite ready yet, but a few early bloomers were there to greet visitors and it was a lovely day out to walk around. We got stuck in traffic all the way around the Tidal Basin and eventually got a parking spot at West Potomac Park. It was so crowded there were even a line of cars parking on the shoulder of an on ramp. Luckily, we were able to find a spot to park in legally. We then walked from the FDR Memorial all the way to the booths set up for the festival and then kept going to the MLK Memorial and back to the car. It’s the first time I’ve worn sneakers this year, after the crazy winter weather we’ve been hit with. I’m ready for the warmer months to finally kick in!

electronic traffic sign sharing message with drivers

We arrived to blocked off roads and I noticed that the dots on these signs are actually three dots in a triangular configuration. Never knew that before!

police k9 canine car parked on grass by cherry blossoms as lady stops to ask question

As we were stuck in traffic, I got to see this K9 police car complete with fan in the back window for the dog.

view of washington monument from across tidal basin with reflection in water

I don’t come to the Tidal Basin much, so it was a treat.

looking into interior of hollowed out tree trunk

A random tree trunk had been hollowed out from two sides.

tiny purple flowers growing in grass

Before we really even saw cherry blossoms, I stopped to admire these flowers.

edge of tidal basin by jefferson memorial

A ton of people were out enjoying the day.

view of cherry blossom festival booths and washington monument across tidal basin

Across the way were all the booths for the festival.

police patrol on horseback near tidal basin

Patrolling on horses. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

white blossoms on tree near tidal basin

One of the few trees that was a-blooming.

dozens of people on paddle boats in tidal basin

Every single paddle boat was out on the water.

cherry blossom buds on tree

Most trees looked like this.

bloomed cherry blossoms on tree by tidal basin

Some of the cherry blossoms had opened up. Spectacular.

Artic chill

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , , , , ,
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It’s snowing outside again and the cars are getting yet another layer of powder. Good thing I didn’t wash my car, which I considered doing at one of those gas station drive-thrus since I thought the snow craziness might have ended. This morning it was colder here in Virginia than it was in my hometown of Shenyang and as far as I know, that never happens. I mean, my birthplace is so cold in the winter that it’s like Russia or North Korea. Have you seen what they wear in those countries? Talk about bundling up like crazy. Even the Potomac has frozen with quite a thick layer of ice, which I got a chance to see today when I went into DC to apply for a visa.

So while we freeze our butts off here, let me reminisce about a beautiful spring afternoon in which I went to get the mail and found the tree humming with sound. Turns out there were many bees working quite hard.

buzzing tree from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

busy bee with pollen leg from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

365great Day 34: spring

laelene Posted in 365great,Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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Learn more about 365great here.

365great challenge day 34: springThis year, spring has been elusive. When flowers should have been budding and people should have been admiring the lovely cherry blossoms of our capitol, we were stuck with mini snow/slush/rain storm after storm. Cold front this, wacky pressure that, and no temperatures over 60-something. Over here on the west coast, at least the LA area, high winds have briskly whisked away our hopes for a nice warm day. What’s going on?!

I think just about everyone looks forward to spring – the renewal, the budding flowers, the warm air, the change of wardrobe, maybe even some cleaning! The world around us becomes more active and the weather gets warmer so we can shed those layers. Colors come back and beauty is everywhere – check out how amazing this flower in my yard looks! Playing outside becomes more accessible and everything just seems so alive. What a great feeling that is!

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