July 2014 POPSUGAR Must Have Box Review with Spoilers

POPSUGAR Must Have is a monthly subscription lifestyle box for gals.  The cost is $39.95 a month, free shipping, but it's cheaper when you subscribe with a 3, 6, or 12 months subscription.  On any month you can receive goodies for home, a book, fitness, snack, makeup, pampering, fashion, etc.  You never know what you're going to get, only that it will be fun and worth around $100, give or take a little.

Coupon code REFER5 saves you $5!

 The big reveal!!

 Each box comes with a nice pamphlet.

 Beach Hat, Michael Stars, valued at $48.

I love this hat!  The front is a little sloppy, so I may need to undue the leather and fix the stitching, which is a shame.  The style is cute.  This item came in two colors, selected randomly.  I would have loved the other color, because it's more casual, but this is cute, too.

 Ziggy Salad Servers, French Bull, valued at $12.

A very cute way to dazzle any salad, and I love making salads, so this will be fun. 

 Sunscreen and lotion, Sun Bum, valued at $20.

This is a really cool duo.  One is the sunscreen in an SPF 30, and Cool Down is a hydrating lotion for when you're done playing in the sun.  Love the smell.

 Chevron Straws, ACME Party Box Company, valued at $7.

Chevron is totally in, and these straws celebrate the fact in really cute colors.  They're old-fahioned paper straws, which is kinda weird, but I think that's because I'm young and spoiled with plastic.  My Dad said he use to use paper straws all the time, and that you have to drink your drink really fast.  Heh, this will be interesting.  Really cute for a party, and this will be fun to try.

 Jump Rope with Soft Grip Handles, TKO, valued at $13.

I've been wanting a jump rope!  Almost bought one a couple months ago, and I love the color and style.

 Toasted Coconut Chips, Dang Foods, valued at $3.

These are so good!  I ate them in no time flat.

Special Extra from Revlon

Bold Lacquer Length & Volume Mascara, Revlon.

I just started using a mascara last month, and I always go 3 months per tube, but this will be nice to try.  A $1 off coupon also came with this mascara.  Love the packaging.

In Which I Turn My Blog into a Blurb Book

 I first found out about Blurb, a site where you can create print-on-demand books, from the NieNie Dialogues blog.  In one entry she mentioned how she likes to compile her blog entrees and put them into a book.  I thought that was a cool idea!!

So I looked into it, and the books aren't cheap, but that's because what you're getting is quality.  This book would have cost me $100 with shipping if I hadn't used a 25% coupon (there's a lot of coupons out there, so keep a look out.)  But this book was also expensive because I used high quality paper (not the highest which would have put this book at $124), Pro Line end sheets $3 (worth it!), and Pro Line linens for the hard cover $6 (also worth it), and 240 pages, which really ups the price.  At 240 pages the cheapest option with soft cover and standard paper would have cost $56.99.

If you want to play around with prices and options their Price Calculator tells you what to expect.

The site offers many ways to create books, but I used their BookSmart program which is free and easy.  (Except with text; don't copy-paste a lot of text at once).

Overall awesome, and I'm so glad I took the time to make this book for myself and family.

 The back cover.  The picture is from a photo my Mom took while visiting the Ventura Beach.  The saying on the back is a line I wrote, "You never know the last time you'll see something you love so much.  Life's short.  Drink in the sunshine.  Breath it in."

 240 pages is thick!!  And the book has a nice weight to it.

 The books I used as inspiration while designing the pages to my book.

 A lot of my favorite photography and poems made the cut.

 Pictures I took and never blogged.

 Pictures I took meaning to blog about, but haven't got to yet!!!!  Heh.

 My favorite family excursions.

 And favorite stories.

 "When I first started my blog, Completely Indie, I intended it to focus mainly on my music and Talea Studios.  Never did I imagine my personal life taking over!!!

      "But I'm glad it did, because I started taking my camera everywhere, and many of the photos in this book wouldn't exist.

     "This book is a gift of  moments.  And I hope everyone pictured herein will love this book as much as I loved creating it.

      "Life's a journey full of good ol' fashioned awesomeness."

I ordered this book earlier this week, and it arrived in only four days!!  Just in time to give my Grandma her copy for her 80th birthday.  She's already read through it and loves every page :0)

A definite treasure.

Who is Wise?

(Picture my Mom took at the Ventura beach)

"Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody."

 

~ Benjamin Franklin 

 

(In other news . . . I'm listening to One Direction on Spotify!  Someone save me!!!!) 

What's Your Revolutionary War Experience?

I've heard my Sister-in-law talk about the "You Choose" books, the type of book where you pick your own adventure.  She loves them, admitting that when she was younger she always managed to die.  I've always been curious, but not curious enough to buy a book to try out.

Then late last week, while visiting Costco, I found a set of You Choose books featuring the American Revolution, Civil War, and two different WWII.

The books are AMAZING!  Sure, the writing level is Young Reader-ish, but the material gives you a feel of the times.  The pictures and maps are fantastic.

It's more fun to interact with history then read it through a text book.

With this being 4th of July week, I've been focusing on the Revolution book.  So far I've experienced the Boston Massacre through the eyes of John Hancock's maid, a British Soldier, and a 13 year old apprentice.  Fought on both sides of the battle of Bunker Hill, and both sides during the Revolution.

When we think of early America, we think, at least I do, that everyone must have been a Patriot.  But that's not the case at all.  There were a great many loyalist as well, and this book does a great job showing what it must have been like to live then, and why some people followed one path verses another.

For instance, I didn't know that after the war many loyalist fled to Canada and East Florida, a British colony.  When I played/read through as a loyalist, I choose East Florida, which, in a couple years was traded with Spain for the Bahama's, so I ended up living the rest of my days in the Bahamas.

These books are also really good at showing how a simple choice and action can drastically change our life.

Really interesting and fun.

In other news I'm getting over influenza!!  It suddenly attacked me Thursday, and by 10:00 pm that night I had a 104 fever!  I was feeling well enough last night to eat and watch street fireworks.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to help volunteer with the parade this year, it was a blast last year, but my Dad brought me back an American Freedom Festival Volunteer shirt, which I'm wearing now.

You want to know what else I'm doing now, besides writing this?  Watching the FIFA World Cup.  Argentina vs Belgium.  Argentina up one point!  I'm cheering them on.

Another random thought: Why do we need another Hercules movie this year?  Having to endure the first incarnation was bad enough.  (Just saw a commercial.)

Heh, and with all the randomness, none of my family warned my Grandpa what the 4th is like in Utah.  We have surrounding neighbors who love to buy the expensive aerials, and it's 2 + hours of bangs and whatnot.  Heh, so it'll be interesting to see  if he has anything to say about it! He's not in California anymore!!!

(There were a few years in Porterville where sparklers were made illegal.)

Half time is almost done!!  Back to the game :0)

Me The Machine

I love Imogen Heap as an artist and musician.

And I love this song: Me The Machine

Imogen created Me The Machine using the Mi.Mu gloves she helped create.  And with this music video she goes one step further using the gloves to manipulate images live.

Really, really cool.

You can read all about the Mi.Mu gloves, explanation with videos, etc, on their Kickstarter campaign.  The donation time is over, and unfortunately they didn't meet their goal, but it's an incredible piece of technology.  Turning movement into music.  I hope these gloves will officially be made.

June 2014 Your Bijoux Box Review with Spoilers

 Your Bijoux Box is a Jewelry Subscription monthly box, costing $35 with free shipping.  Ships to the USA and Canada.

You can read my review of the April 2014 Your Bijoux Box here to see past contents.  

 

Another beautiful box.

 Each box comes with an info card talking about each piece, why it was selected, and some styling options.  The Your Bijoux Box Blog also has some styling tips.  Love their classic style.

 Camille Coral Necklace

 My favorite jewelry piece in the box!

I love the soft coral color and beautiful rhinestone accents.

Adeline Pearl Collar

 This piece was the spoiler for the Jun box released last May.  For some reason I thought the pearl pieces would be smaller, but I was surprised by the size!  A good surprise, mind :0)

 Gigi Earrings

I love of design of these earnings.  They remind me of Renaissance Royalty.  I'm going to have fun styling this pair.

Overall another wonderful box!

The July box is now on sale, and since it's their Birthday month, one year old, the July Your Bijoux Box is going to have 4 pieces instead of the typical 3!!!!  So excited.  And they've already released a spoiler.  Can't wait!

Thank You Synonyms

 

Sometimes I know how to spell. When I don't I use spell check. If I don't have spell check I write the word several times until it looks right, and if it never looks right I choose a related word I know how to spell. Thank you synonyms.

What Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are Suppose to Look Like

When I think of Ninja Turtles, the way they would look in our Universe, this is what I think of.  The turtles from the second movie.

I didn't really like the first movie.  All I remember is that Raphael goes emo.  The third movie was fun with all the time traveling and whatnot.  But the second movie,TMNT II The Secret of the Ooze was my favorite.

Then I heard that a new TMNT movie was coming out this year.

I got super excited.

Then I heard Michael Bay was behind it.

I groaned.

. . . And then I started hearing rumors that the new CGI TMNT design is a bit controversial.

I groaned again.

And then the reveal happened, 1:05 minutes into the trailer when Michelangelo takes his mask off.

. . .

They look like Aliens!!!!!!

I'm still going to see this new installment in the TMNT Universe, because the TMNT will always hold a special place in my heart.

I remember going to Pizza Hut just to play the arcade game, and then eating pizza simply to relate to the characters.  When the game got a Super NES release, I was super excited.  And there were all those times I got my friends to play TMNT on the playground at school, insisting I had to play April.  (I didn't always get to, taking turns and all, but it was fun.)

Case in point, I'll reserve judgement until I see the movie, but first impressions are everything, and this isn't a very good first impression.

Never Worry

A little something I found in a Peanuts book today at Target :0)

Never worry about tomorrow . . .

For once Lucy gives good advice!

The Power of "P"

Practice, Patience, and Persistence are the three P's you need to learn any new skill.  A fourth P, Procrastination, is a giant hole.  Don't fall in.

I wrote that yesterday on twitter, and suddenly I started getting all sentimental towards the letter P.

The Poor Pathetic People of Porterville was a group my friends and I put together in High School.  The dating situation in the small city town left a little to be desired, so on Friday nights we watched old fashioned movies instead of going out.  Sounds fun, right?  Heh, it actually was.  Alfred Hitchcock, classic musicals, Them, a 3 hour silent film that went into fast forward mode, lots of fun.

But then I got to thinking, (a dangerous pastime, I know), that there's a lot of great words that start with the letter P, both Positive and negative.

Priceless, Principled, Polite, Peculiar, Particular, etc.

There's a "getting to know you" game I've played a few times.  You sit in a circle with new friends and say your name, and then an adjective that starts with the first letter of your name, related to your personality.

Sarah: Sassy, Saucy, Sophisticated, Smart, Sincere.

Great words, granted, but if my name was Penelope, I'd really have fun.

(I suddenly want to watch Sesame Street.)

This blog post was brought to you by the letter "P".