Hunker Down!

Hey everyone! This is going to be a very short post because I'm preparing for this blizzard we are supposed to have. Apparently Long Island is expecting hurricane force winds and 2 feet of snow so I'm just getting my stuff ready and hunkering down. Hopefully we have our power but I guess we'll see. I just wanted to pop in and wish all of friends here in the North East a safe few days! I'll be back soon assuming I have power... and if I don't I'll be back as soon as I can! I have lots of fun things planned for you all!

I figured I'd leave you with some cuteness! Enjoy my friends, and be safe and stay warm!

XO!

Show & Tell Sunday: Fortune Cookie Soap Review

Hi everyone! I'm not going to lie, it is absolutely miserable here today. Pouring rain and cold and miserable. Perfect day to lay around, watch movies and drink mug after mug of tea. And I've done all of those things... as well as make a pot of soup. Because that's what you do on a miserable, rainy winter day. But that's not why we are here today. We are here today for Fortune Cookie Soap!

You guys. I don't even know where to start. I have had my eye on Fortune Cookie Soap for a while after watching tons of reviews and monthly subscription unboxings on Youtube. You know I'm a sucker for soap, bath, and shower products and I'm definitely a sucker for things that are just adorable. Which brings us here.

By "here" I mean looking into a box of products from the Fortune Cookie Soap website. I have been so curious about a lot of them so I was excited to try some of them. I checked the website to see the vegan status and was happy to find that most products are vegan and the ones that are not are very clearly laid out for the consumer. According to the FAQ page, the Lip Balms and Tints, Hydrate Me's, Cuticle Butter, Milk Bath, Lip Scrub, Massage Bars, and Solid Sugar Scrub Bars are NOT vegan. Everything else is! 

After receiving a gift certificate from my friend for the holidays I knew now was the time so I placed an order. I was so excited to tear into the box as soon as it came! 

It was really difficult for me to narrow down what I wanted but I finally made a decision. I ordered 4 of the Fortune Cookie Soaps, and 2 different Shower Steamers (yes!!!). When I opened the box there was a wax tart in there as well so I don't know if it was a sample or free gift?

You guys. Just look at these. How freaking cute are they?! They look like the cutest little fortune cookies, smell AMAZING and they have fortunes in them!! The "flavors" I chose are In the Loop (bottom left), Hazelnut Cappuccino (top left), Oatmeal Cookie (top right) and Candy Cane Fluff (bottom right). First of all, they are gorgeous. Each is hand made and they take a lot of care in making each one. The scents are all incredible. My favorite by far is the "In the Loop" scent. It literally smells like a bowl of fruit loops! I didn't know how I would feel about it but it smells SOOOOOOO good and is so adorable!

So beautiful. These soaps each cost about $3.25 so they are much more affordable than Lush soaps. I believe they are supposed to last for about 90 hand washings and from what I saw on Youtube about 18 showers. I have the Oatmeal Cookie soap in my shower now since I thought it would be great for my dry winter skin and I have been loving it. They have tons of other scents as well and they are just so cute. I highly recommend the Fortune Cookie Soaps.

I'm so sorry for my horrible chipped nails. Please excuse that. Each Fortune Cookie Soap does have a fortune which I think is an adorable little detail. This one came in my Oatmeal Cookie Soap.

Like I had mentioned before I had a wax tart show up in my box as well. I have not used it since I do not have a wax warmer yet but the scent is actually really lovely.

I think I was most excited about trying these! They are called Steam Me Up Scotty and they are Shower Steamers! For those of us who do not have access to a great bathtub we now have a way to enjoy a beautiful shower with aromatherapy. The two I chose were called Cold Buster and Serenity. Cold Buster is a Tea Tree, Peppermint and Eucalyptus scent and it is supposed to help clear you out when you have a cold. This one arrived just in time because I had a horrible cold so I used it first. You drop one (you get 3 per order) in the far corner of your shower and when the hot water gets to it, it dissolves and leaves a lovely scent in your shower. Truthfully speaking the scent wasn't as strong as I expected it to be and it certainly did not clear me out at all but the scent was really lovely and I did enjoy it. I do wish the scent was stronger but I still did enjoy the product and I can't wait to try the Serenity one (which is a Lavender scent as you can image and is meant to help fight stress and promote sleep - which is great because I shower at night).

They are wrapped up like candies! The steamer tabs are fairly large and dissolve pretty quickly which is something else that I wish was a little different. I wish they lasted just a bit longer.

The purple ones are the Serenity steamer and the silver are the Cold Busters. Aren't they gorgeous?!

There are plenty of products on the Fortune Cookie Soap website that I can't wait to try. They have hand sanitizers, full bars of soap and so much more. I already know my next order with be their Body Butters (which they call Whipped Creams... but do not contain cream thankfully!). They have a sampler set which is really exciting because I want to try a bunch of their scents but don't want giant containers of them. They have a body butter in the In the Loop scent which is really exciting! The best part is you get to choose the scents in your sampler set. They also have a soap sampler which is nice for people that can't make up their mind (you don't get to choose those scents though)! They also have seasonal scents which I love (I'm a sucker for seasonal anything) and some of their products have really cute and funny names! 

Something else to mention is that I chose to have my products sent with no packaging but they do have packaging options if you are purchasing products as a gift!

So there you have it! I definitely recommend checking out this company if you like cute, affordable bath, shower, body and hair products that smell amazing. I love that they don't take themselves too seriously (as you can tell by some of the names of the scents!) but take pride in hand making their products. They do also have products tied to charities and do make donations which is always nice.

I hope you like this review! I do have another product waiting in the wings and I can't wait to share it with you! I hope you all have a great week and stay warm!

*Disclosure - All products were purchased with a Gift Certificate I received from a friend and the balance was paid with my own money. I have no affiliation with the company and all opinions are my own.

Winter Projects!

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great week! I'm mellowing out after a long day and thawing out. It's been so cold lately and the thought of leaving my house is pretty horrifying to be honest. Needless to say I'm cozy under some blankets whenever I can be. I've been back on Pinterest lately pinning like a madwoman and finding some really fun (indoor) projects that I want to try this winter to entertain myself. I thought it would be fun to share some of the things I found on here and then update with progress as I try some of these projects out.

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I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of obsessed with these DIY Map Panels made from wood canvas, nails and string. I definitely want to make one for myself using New York State/Long Island. It took me a long time to grow to love Long Island (I moved here from Queens in 8th grade) but I love the rich history and "my spots." This one looks like it will be the most frustrating and time consuming so I may make this a snow day activity should we have a snow day at some point :)

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How freaking cool is this DIY Mosaic Plate Made of Recycled CDs and DVDs?! When I first saw it I was in love. It is so beautiful on its own and then the fact that it is made out of CDs is even better. So cool, I would definitely love to make something like this!

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This little art project is geared toward children but this Crayon Art immediately brought me back to when I was 13 years old and making the Bar/Bat Mitzvah rounds (when you go to Hebrew School for 8 years you go to a lot of Bar/Bat Mitzvahs). It became tradition to make the guest of honor a Memory Glass. Has anyone else heard of these? It's basically where you take a champagne or wine glass, fill it with water and some sort of decor from the party (some sort of ribbon or confetti or something) and then you seal the water in the glass by melting a thick layer of crayon wax on top of the water and the side of the glass. They usually look really pretty and are fun to make. This project made me think of those Memory Glasses and I thought it would be fun to make some Crayon Art. I have an idea already ;)

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How gorgeous are these handmade Clay Jewelry Dishes? They seem fairly easy to make and the design possibilities are endless. I think these would be a really cute gift and I could see having one of these in many places in the house and would be great for jewelry, keys, change and lots of other things. I definitely can't wait to try to make these.

I pinned a ton of other things but this post would be so long if I kept going so I'll just cap it here. I'll definitely keep you updated on my progress with trying out these pins and I will probably do a similar post to this with recipes that I found that I plan on trying.

I've been brainstorming some ideas for posts on this blog and was wondering if you would be interested in reading these posts. My first idea was to post my monthly favorites which would essentially be a roundup of the beauty products, foods, books, movies, etc. that I loved from that month. I'd post them at  the end of the month or the beginning of the next month. Is this something you would be interested in reading? I do have a few reviews for fun vegan products and brands as well and I'm excited to write those up for you as well! 

So that's what I have today! I'm hoping to be back later this week to show you some yummy meals I've been eating lately. I hope you have all been well!

Grocery Haul and Other Fun Stuff

Whoa, two posts within a few days of each other?! Baby steps here my friends :) I can't pat myself on the back too much as this is actually a partial grocery haul. Want some real talk? I had put away most of my produce before I thought to take pictures and was just too lazy to take it all out. So, here is a partial grocery haul. It's better than nothing I guess!

This is a collection of groceries from three different stores: Target (just two or three items), Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

Suja Essentials juices seem to be all the rage here in the blogosphere lately (thanks for the recommendation FF and Shen) and I had decided that I wanted to try and get some when I went shopping this week. I should mention as a side note that I've been battling a nasty cold for the past 10ish days and as a result I've had insane fruit cravings so these juices were definitely on my radar. Anyway, they seem to have juices and smoothies and the four that I chose all happen to be the smoothies. The two on the left (Sweet Beets and Berry Goodness) were on sale at Target 2/$5 so I grabbed them and then I found the other two flavors at Whole Foods. I really wanted to try those two and I was happy that they had them. These bottles are smaller than the juices and are less expensive in general. I'm planning on bringing them to work and drinking them as a midmorning or afternoon pick me up. I'll let you know how they are when I try them! I want to try the juices as well. The "Purify" one sounds really good.

These are some snacks I thought would be yummy for work. Like I said, I've had random fruit cravings so I grabbed some fruit leathers and I got a few of my favorite Coconut Cream Pie Larabars. In the top left corner I have the Garlic and Herb Roasted Cashews and these are probably the best cashews ever. I know I've posted them before but I can't say enough how amazing these cashews are.

Oranges, pears, hummus, stuffed grape leaves, miso and avocados.

I also had a few photos hanging out in my phone from last week so I figured I'd share those with you as well!

My brother sent this picture to me of Delilah wheeling her light up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles suitcase around the airport. I can't even deal with how quickly she's grown. She is so cute. And clearly she is on a big superhero kick. Spiderman is her favorite, the Ninja Turtles are a close second :) I love it, I was a big Ninja Turtles fan when I was a kid!

Here is TJ being adorable! The two pups were so cute, they always wanted to be cuddled up. TJ is too cute, he is always crawling all over me and getting in my face. He's too funny.

My friend and her husband came over for dinner one night while I was at my brother's house and it has become a tradition that we will drive around and look at Christmas lights. I know I will probably sound like the worst Jew ever by saying this but I really love Christmas. I love that it is so festive and there is just an amazing feeling that comes with the season. Anyway, we always like to drive around for a bit and look at the lights so we hopped in the car and some of the decorations we found were so cool/crazy I had to take pics!

First I clearly had to show off the Jewish pride here with these cool dreidel decorations. They were so cute!

I don't know if you can tell the scale of this Santa but this guy is HUGE. That tree next to him is a GIANT tree... I'd say he's probably a few stories high. 

Another GIANT Santa lawn ornament. I feel like this one is more cartoonish and definitely cuter. We couldn't believe how big these two decorations were!

So that's all I have for you today! I just wanted to get you caught up on the few pics I took at my brother's house. I have a few things lined up for the next couple of posts and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you. I hope you are all well and that going back to work hasn't been to traumatizing for you!

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone! Happy New Year! I know I'm a little late to the New Year's party this year but tonight is my first night home after a week taking care of the fur babies at my brother's house and thus my first night back on my computer. I did want to pop in and say hello and happy new year and talk to you about my New Year's resolutions.

I honestly don't really make New Year's resolutions because I just feel like they end up being broken anyway and just because a new year is starting it doesn't mean that all of a sudden everything is going to change. This year, however, I've decided to go ahead and make those resolutions as I've been reflecting a lot lately on life, how I'm feeling and most importantly where I want to be after this next year is over. I've decided to share them for you because it will keep me accountable and because you have always been so supportive of me. So here we go!

Re-claim My Physical Health

It's no secret that I'm kind of a disaster of a human being, ha! The fact that my immune system is so week is really alarming though and I really want to focus on fixing my overall health. I have become allergic to a lot of things and sensitive to other things and this is kind of a huge red flag for me. I had a reaction to a makeup remover wipe a few weeks ago (red swollen face and burning skin... no bueno) and I just got fed up with feeling like I'm just going to end up being sensitive to everything as well as being exhausted and congested all the time. 

Now it's nice to sit here and say that I want to become healthier but do I have a plan? Well yes, yes I do. First, I'm going to go back to eating a whole foods diet focusing on greens and alkaline foods. I'm not going to sit here and make claims about eating a certain amount of raw and not eating gluten or processed food ever again, but I am going to say that I will be focusing more on nutrient dense foods and eliminating trigger foods. 

In addition to nutrition I'm going to get back into a routine where I'm doing some sort of exercise on a regular basis. Sadly the shoulder issue that I have restricts me from really getting back into boxing and kickboxing but I do want to get back into yoga and then take it from there.

Get Back to Posting Here Regularly

I'm sure it has been pretty clear that my interest in blogging has dwindled significantly. I think it really started when I lost interest in photographing every single meal and fussing over my food and plates and recipes. I think that as time has passed I've become passionate about other things and my blog suffered. 

This is why I've decided to take a new turn and focus more on embracing lifestyle posts rather than feeling guilty about not wanting to write the food posts that started my blog. Instead of focusing only on food I'll be focusing on everything that I enjoy and that have become part of my lifestyle. It took 31 years but I've finally become a girly girl. I really love makeup and soap and bath/shower products and nail polish and other fun girly things like that. I also love skulls and heavy metal and 90s rock. I love going out and exploring new places and products and brands. I am looking forward to doing reviews on products and showing you some fun new companies that I've discovered that make awesome vegan products. I'm also REALLY looking forward to doing posts on gift ideas and packaging because NOTHING makes me happier than finding the perfect gift for someone.

I think that branching out and posting about all of the things that I am passionate about will help me renew my interest and passion for blogging. I'm really excited about it because I have missed posting regularly!

Pursue Side Businesses to Earn Extra Income

I have a few ideas in my head of ways to earn extra money. My friend had a genius idea of how to make a baking business manageable with my schedule and it made me really excited so I'm figuring out the logistics of it. I also really love creating things out of recycled materials so I'm working on something with that as well :) I know this section is a little more cryptic but I will give more details as I work on it and figure everything out!

Get Back to the Books

No, I won't be going back to school this year but I do want to get back into reading. When I was a kid you would always find me with my nose in a book. I had a full bookcase with tons of books I had read 20 times over. I don't know when the switch flipped and I moved away from reading that much but I've decided recently that I really want to get back into reading regularly.

On that note, if anyone has any book recommendations I'd really appreciate it! I'm a big fan of biographies and non-fiction but I'll definitely take any recommendation!

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I do have some more resolutions but none that I can really discuss here :) As things do unfold I will be able to let you in on it but for now, those are just for me to know.

Thank you all for bearing with this long post! I always appreciate your support and kind words. I hope you have all been well in the New Year. What are some of your resolutions?