Glam VoxBox Review! #ChooseToSmooth #SoCutex

This month I was given the opportunity to review some products thanks to @Influenster and the Glam VoxBox I received! These are the products I was given for free to review! All opinions and thoughts are my own!

Cutex Advanced Revival Nail Polish Remover Pads

So, I was super skeptical on this one. I have bought tons of nail polish remover that promises to work quickly and effectively and none seem to work all that well... This one is different! It worked great!! I am now obsessed with these and will be purchasing these when my little trial pack of three runs out! You should absolutely try these if you love to paint your nails but hate the removal process!!They took off the polish (RED) in seriously like 20 seconds per hand! LOVE THESE!!!!
@CutexNails #SoCutex #HealthyNails #contest

Q-tip Precision Tips

I've always used the Q-Tip brand but this was my first time using the Precision Tips. They worked great for cleaning up my manicure. I need to try them to clean up make up accidents but I have not tried them for that yet! I would recommend these if you are like me and constantly flood your cuticles when you do an at home manicure!

Gillette Venus Razor! and Olay Violet Swirl Shave Gel

I am not normally picky about my razors, I typically just steal my husbands and hope he doesn't notice! When I got this razor and the Olay Violet Swirl shave gel, I didn't think it would make a huge difference... but I WAS WRONG! This razor slides right over my legs and I hardly miss any hairs! The shaving gel is not that great compared to ones I have tried in the past but it does help me make sure I get all the spots of my legs. If you try the Razor you will not be sad... I promise!

# ChooseToSmooth

Not Your Mother's Unscented Dry Shampoo

This product is something that I would not use very often since I have curly hair and it's just not that easy to style when it's not wet. I did straighten my hair so that I could give it a shot though! I did like the fact that this was unscented as it was not competing with my shampoo smell or the other hair products that I used to get it straight. When I woke up the second morning after I had straightened my hair I applied this and ran out of the house to meet some friends for breakfast! It worked great until that afternoon when I felt that I needed to re-apply or shower! I felt kind of like I was making my hair worse by applying it more than once. It worked well though and my hubby and friends could not tell that my hair hadn't been washed! 

SheaMoisture Trio Trial Pack

This Trio Trial Pack came with a Facial Wash and Scrub, Anti-Aging Moisturizer, and Anti-Aging Facial Mask. I did not use these products all at once but I did use all three of them. The Wash and Scrub made my skin feel great but I did not care for the smell of it. I always love a good scrub but I do look for something a little more of a bright citrus-y scent, but like I said, it did make my skin feel great! The Anti-Aging facial mask and moisturizer were alright. I didn't feel like they helped with my aging face at all but how much can they help when you only get to use them once?! The moisturizer made my skin feel smooth though! The mask felt good but I couldn't tell if it did anything different than any other mask! Check out the company's twitter account! https://twitter.com/SheaMoisture 

All these products were so fun to try out! I love Influenster! If you haven't heard of it or given it a try yet.... YOU SHOULD! Check it out HERE! Start your journey and get your first voxbox soon! 

I Scream! You scream! We all scream for ice cream!

Recently I was chosen by Influenster to try out Weight Watchers line of ice cream. They sent me two coupons to for free boxes! I chose to get the Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream Popss and the English Toffee Crunch bars! The English Toffee Crunch is so delicious! The ice cream on the inside is just as creamy as the other brands Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream Pops and those were alright. I felt that the Raspberry was a little artificial tasting. The chocolate coating was great though! If you are looking to cut back on calories, I highly recommend these little treats!

#FrostyVoxBox

I'm a member of a site called Influenster. I love this site. I can get on there and check reviews from people like me for products I'm curious about. I recently received their #FrostyVoxBox. A VoxBox is a box full of freebies that Influenster sends you so you can try them out and write a few reviews for these products! I decided to share this review with my blog readers! Check it our below!!

I got the Rimmel London Gentle Eye Makeup Remover and the Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl Kajal Eyeliner! I love the eyeliner! It tends to go on a little thick, but that's the way I like it! :) The Gentle Eye Makeup Remover is a little bit too gentle and has trouble off all my eyliner. It doesn't burn if it gets into your eyes though, which is a huge plus!

I also got the NYC New York Color Expert Last Lip Color in #SugarPlum. I LOVE it! This lipstick is the perfect mixture of a nude type color and a tiny bit of shine! This is my FAVORITE product I received in my #FrostyVoxBox!!

The Fruit Vines Bites Cherry Flavor that I received were pretty good. My hubby loved these. He ate all but the 3 pieces that I tried. They were a little more chewy than I prefer but like I said, the Hubster loved them!

The Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane Decaf Green Tea that I got was good. I used the coupon that I got for the Bengal Tea. I love all the Celestial Sseasonings teas. They are flavorful and have great pop of color. I love leaving the bags in until the very last drop of tea is gone. It the best until the last drop!

Eco Tools also sent me an awesome hair brush! It's great for when I want to straighten my hair! It's a round brush and perfect for using when I use a blow dryer.

The other items I got were the McCormick Gourmet All Natural Thyme (which was a great addition to my holiday cooking) & last but not least Boots No7 Protect & Perfect ADVANCED (which came in a trial packet and was not enough for me to know if I actually like the product and I don't have wrinckels to get rid of really).

All in all, I loved this VoxBox and will be purchasing some of these products I got again! If you would like to get on influenster and earn your own VoxBox, go to influenster.com and sign up!! You can also always let me know and I can send you an invitation!  I love Influenster and I know you will too!

Start Spreading Christmas Cheer

Constantly I hear people complain about how early the Christmas decor gets put out at places like Hobby Lobby. Why is this a shock to people? It's been out before Halloween for as long as I can remember and I happen to LOVE it! This time of the year contains my favorite weather AND my favorite two months. November with Turkey day and remembering all that we have to give thanks for (including Christmas decor that gets put out in September) and December with a two week break from work and my favorite holiday ever, Christmas. Last year, Christmas just did not feel like Christmas to me. This year I'm determined to make my home cheery and bright and surround myself with family! Sure, I decorated last year and I kept those decorations up until after the holiday. I decorated my front yard right along side the rest of the neighborhood complete with a blowup character and everything. I even hosted "Gogo Christmas" where the whole Bell was together for the again, which hadn't happened in years, and am very thankful that I did. I was ready for the holiday and was sure it was going to be the best one yet! Somehow, though, it fell short of my expectations.

Thanksgiving was spent on a cruise boat sailing with the Disney Cruise Line, just my hubby and me. We had a BLAST! It was such a great experience we're planning on going on the exact same cruise next year just the week after Thanksgiving! BUT, with as much fun as we had, we were not with family. To me, holidays mean family time. I think that is what started my holiday funk. Thanksgiving was not spent at a table surrounded by family with the kids running around taking about what they wanted for Christmas. We missed the annual discussion of what sales people were planning on hitting the next day and we were not there to eat my mom's Mashed Potato Souffle.

This year, we'll be home for it all. We already have some plans made for Thanksgiving and we're talking about the dinners we plan to have with both sides of my husbands family to celebrate dinner. We have some family members who want to join us on our annual Christmas Eve Asian food tradition, and we're starting to plan out what gifts to buy each person. We're surrounding ourselves with our family and that is how I know this years holiday season will start us out good and ready for the Christmas holiday. I have learned that even if my decorations are perfect and we are having fun, the holidays just aren't the holidays with out being surrounded by family. So, as people start the daily I am thankful for XYZ on Facebook, I am going to say a little prayer of thanks for my family. When the hustle and bustle that is the holiday season begins to take over, I will remember to stop and surround myself with family. I will remember that family is what I am thankful for and that a holiday would not be the same with out the people I love and care about.

May you all find some Christmas Cheer in this holiday season and surround yourself with family.
XOXO,
Christina (your not so newlywed but defiantly a slacker blogger)

Oh, my!! "Decisions and de-cluttering..."

PEASE NOTE THAT THIS BLOG POST IS OLD. FOR SOME REASON IT NEVER GOT PUBLISHED! (PROBABLY BECAUSE I DID NOT FINISH WRITING IT! BUT I FEEL LIKE IT HAS GOOD STUFF IN IT AND WOULD LOVE TO POST IT NOW!)


It has been quite a while since I posted! Kenny and I have celebrated our first yerar of marriage (post on that and pictures to come) and made a few important decisions. Kenny and I are about to make some major changes in our lives; Changes we are welcoming with open arms.
Decisions: We are packing up the apartment that I have lived in for five years and moving in with his mother and step father for about six months. During that six month time we are hoping to pay off the debt that we have as well as fall in love with a house to buy. Most people I tell our plans warn me about living with my MIL, but I'm not too worried! I was blessed with in-laws that I get along with and love as much as my own parents. I will miss having our own place and space, but know that this is the right path for us if we want a house in the near future. Which we very much do!
Decluttering:
I am starting to get that nesting feeling. Spring cleaning like whoa is going on up in the Nye apartment. I am getting rid of the clutter that i have been hanging onto because you never know when you might need that essay that you wrote back in high school. Or all the teddy bears that used to cover my bed. Oh, and all the pink that used to be my bedroom that I took down for my husband. After living on my own for 6 years and in one place for five of those six, I find that I have accumulated a ton of junk. None of this junk do I want to take with me in to a home that I will bring my first child home to. When we have a home, I want it to be clutter free and ready to fill with things that really matter.... like baby clothes that I just can't get rid of and story books that have been worn out from the many bedtime stories that have been read from the pages. I don't want to lose the memories of my start or from the beginning of mine and my husbands relationship, but how can I purge with out thinking everything is going to be a lost memory? Well first of all I have figured out that half the items I kept because I just  knew it would remind me of that one time that we went to that one place... I really can't recall why we went there or what we did or who was with us. Dump! The things that I am for sure keeping are the items that I can place with a special day. I'm getting rid of those ticket stubs for every movie we saw together in our first year of dating and the boxes from every piece of jewelry he has given me. As long as I keep the jewelry I have that memory, the velvet box is not what matters! Whenever I see those movies on TV I will recall that date night... but those stubbs are worn out and hard to read and will fill my trashcan nicely!  I am loving the weeding out process. It feels like I am de-cluttering my whole life. Just like people who do nothing but bring you down, I had junk that was bringing me down and I had to get rid of it. I gave at least four bags of clothes, a giant box of books, and a box of shoes to goodwill. With each bag of trash I throw out I can feel the space around me getting lighter and I can see how pleased it makes the husband! ;) I really want to continue the de-cluttering process every year. The is no reason to take a stuffed animal from childhood into the retirement home!

Goodbye Summer Wife

When you work for a school district, summers are things that you cherish. You get time off to do all the things you don't have time to do during the school year... like sleep, and read, and watch those shows you DVR all year long. It's great. It puts you in a fantastic mood and brings about what we like to call "Summer Wife" in my house (it's a term we got from a teacher friend). My husband loves summer wife. She is always in a better mood than "School Year Wife." She is more fun and wants to cook and clean much more often! This month we waved goodbye to Summer Wife. I'm not sure who is more upset about this... Hubs or me?!

I have made a promise to myself this year. As I wave goodbye to my free time and say hello to my morning alarm, I promise myself that this year "School Year Wife" will be in just as great a mood as "Summer Wife." I am going to leave work at work, and come home and RELAX with my husband. Please keep in mind that I am not a teacher. I might work for a school district, but I am not a teacher. (I have mad respect for teachers and all they have on their plates. THEY deserve to get the summers off, I am just lucky enough to have their schedule!)

So, as I wave goodbye to "Summer Wife" and make myself the promise to keep some of her fantastic traits throughout the school year, I want you all to be aware of my promise so you can hold me to it! If you're one of my friends and you see me stressing... REMIND ME of my promise that I made. REMIND ME that I should have left work at work and that I can and should be relaxing and re-energizing for the next day!

Until next time,
"School Year Wife"
Christina (You're not so newly wed blogger)
XOXO

The last year...

Oh, my! I have been a slacker and have not updated in over a year so let me catch you up with a quick recap.

This past year has brought on a ton of changes. We have lost touch with friends that are on different paths. We have gained some great new friends that are married couples like us. We have gotten closer to some friends and our family (for sure) and have a better appreciation for them and the love they show us. Kenny and I both got promotions at work and are loving our new positions. I started selling Scentsy as an Independant Consultant on top of our first and second job. I have found a love of photography and have started taking pictures for friends and family.  We moved out of our apartment and into my Mother-in-law's home for about six months. The reason this did not last very long is because.... WE FOUND OUR HOME! Notice that I said HOME and not house. I belive that a house is just some place you like but that a home is where you make memories and create a life. Our home is beautiful. I have gotten to decorate and make it ours. I have pictures hung on every wall, and I even have a "family tree wall" that has a ton of pictures of our family. I have painted, hung curtains, and even planted flowers in my front yard. It is OURS and we could not be happier.

This is our house on move in day. It was snowy until the afternoon. Kenny had to stay there all day in the cold until the power/gas/water had been turned on. He's such a trooper!! He even painted in the dark for me while he waited!

We had some great family and friends helping us move in too. (Like I said we have gotten closer to some family and friends this past year and we know who we can count on now!) I wish I had gotten some pictures of all of us standing around eating pizza after everything had been moved in, but I was not thinking about pictures at 9PM that night!

The community we moved into is very family oriented and we are happy that we live close to my Father-in-law and Stepmother-in-law. We love being able to stop by their house or have them stop by to say hey or to hang out on a slow night! Family dinner and hookah nights are some of my favorite nights! :)

Until next time and with lots of love,
Your Not-So-Newly Wed Blogger,
Christina