Quick Update

Via

Hello!  The husband and I are in the process of moving to a new place in a new state.  As you can imagine that takes up a lot of time and I have been so swamped with lists, tasks and still working full-time (for now).  We should be to our new place by the end of the year, so I am *hoping* to resume blogging after the first of the year.  In that case, I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  I'll be back soon.

Lola's Day of Thanks

Hey Guys, Lola here.

I thought today would be a good day for me to discuss what Thanksgiving means to me.  Dislaimer: It's food.  If you want touchy-feely go elsewhere.

Thanksgiving is a day of food (and family and blah).  It doesn't matter which set of grandparents we travel to, both love me to the moon and back and are super generous.  My day of wonderfulness goes into action before I even arrive.  Let's look at the timeline, shall we.

Before I arrive: Grandparents go crazy cleaning for my arrival.  They dust, vacuum, and mop.  Here's a tip about hosting me as a house guest: You cannot clean your home to the level of cleanliness required for me to not find crumbs.  No matter what you do I will find some.  I will even wedge myself under appliances to reach the goodness of a crumb, stale or otherwise.  So, go ahead, break out the broom and mop and vacuum.  You will never win.

I arrive: I scope things out, kiss you hello and I'm off to the kitchen.  I find the crumbs left behind as stated in paragraph one.  We usually arrive the day before Thanksgiving and by this time you have already made cookies, snacks, pies, and cake.  They are all delicious and I will eat them crumb by crumb.

Thanksgiving Day: You labor all morning long to prepare the big meal.  I am your supportive sidekick.  I am here for you and you are doing a fabulous job.  You are also a little stressed and a little rushed.  Some things fall on the ground.  No problem.  I am here to help.  I eat all morning.  Then everyone gathers around the big table and I take my place to watch for careless eaters.  There are many.  I think some do it on purpose to annoy the Big Ones.  Haha, I'm happy to be part of the joke.  I eat and eat and eat.  Then after I help clean up the kitchen, I go and look for a cozy place to take my nap.

Days following Thanksgiving: No more food is cooked, but there is a ton of moving food from Tupperware to plates and into the microwave.  All actions that I love.  There is also more sneaking from the grandparents.  These are all delightful days to me.

I am always nice and full by the time we leave, which induces a food coma and I sleep the entire drive home.  That is what Thanksgiving means to me.  Plus, family and stuff.

Lola

Popsugar: October

I realize that I should review the October box before we get too far in to November.  Not sure what this box is all about?  Check out the details HERE.

The Wet Brush
Description:  A gentle, detangling brush that works on wet and dry hair.
Price: $14.00
Review:  I actually really like this brush.  I use it on my hair when wet and dry.  It does a great job on my tangles and doesn't pull at all.  It really is very gentle.

The Can't Cook Book
Description:  A beginner's cookbook.
Price: $12.59
Review:  I don't cook.  Okay, I don't cook well.  I do attempt to every now and again.  I am a good baker, though and the husband and I decided that the reason behind that is that I'm a good recipe follower.  Give me a recipe and I'm okay.  Therefore, I think I can be successful with this book.  If you know how to cook well, this book is probably not for you.

Crispycake
Description: A gourmet rice krispie treat.
Price: $3.95
Review:  I absolutely love rice krispie treats, especially the ones at Starbucks.  This, though?  No.  I love marshmallows, but this cake had too many and it made the entire thing soggy-ish.  It was gross.

Jane Tran Bobby Pins
Description: Modern bobby pins with better hold.
Price: $12.00
Review:  These are bigger and prettier than my plain jane bobby pins.  I have fine hair, but a lot of it and I struggle with basic bobby pins.  These pins hold my hair up very well and given the pretty colors I don't even care if people can see them.

NYX Eyeliner
Description:  Easy to apply liquid eyeliner.
Price: $6.00
Review:  I don't do well with liquid eyeliner.  I don't have a steady hand and liquid eyeliner is not mistake friendly.  I tried this and it was unsuccessful.  I could not get a very straight line (no matter how many tutorials I watched) and I had a hard time getting close enough to my lash line.  I felt like I was ON the lash line, but I would look in the mirror and see a gap every time.  This is more user error than product error.  I have no idea if it lasts long, because I never wore it longer than 5 minutes.  So there's that.

NYX Smokey Shadow
Description: Eyeshadow palette.
Price: $7.00
Review:  I don't normally wear a smokey eye, but I did test these shades out individually.  They held up pretty well given that I started with a healthy layer of lid primer.  The shadow did crease as the day went on, but all eye shadows crease on me.  It was pretty pigmented and lasted all day.

Gorjana Bali Bead Bracelet
Description: A delicate, pink bracelet.
Price: $45.00
Review:  This is a very cute bracelet.  It's pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  It's also rather small, which works well with my tiny wrists.  All that being said I would never in a million years pay $45 for it.

Stitch Fix Gift Card
Description:  Clothing subscription box
Price: $20.00
Review:  I haven't used this.  Let's not start another box addiction.  Plus, this box works differently and I would for sure spend way too much money.  A stylists puts together a box for you and you view the box before you decide if you want it or not.  If you decide to get it you are charged $20, but that goes towards anything you decide to purchase in the box.  You get the box and try on all the things.  If you like something you keep it and pay for it and mail everything else back.  If you don't keep anything, you are out $20.

Julep (not pictured)
Description: One of the season's best colors and a top coat.
Price: $25.00
Review:  I haven't tried this yet.  It wasn't actually in my box.  Somehow it was missed when my box was being put together.  I emailed Popsugar and they replied within 24 hours to let me know that they would ship it to me.  I received it about a week later.  I honestly haven't had time for a manicure or pedicure lately.  I'm sure it's lovely.  I own several Julep polishes and they are all very nice.  Not Essie nice, but nice.

Popsugar is also giving away one of the Neiman Marcus Special Edition boxes.  It's a specialty box that is sold out.  Enter to win HERE.

Random Friday

Happy Friday everyone.  Here's my list of randoms for this week.

1. Look what I made!  Okay, okay.  The husband did most of it.  All I did was the string part.

2.  I came across this on the internet and I really wish I would have thought of this in college.  This is the perfect incentive plan.

Source

3.  Being an only child might not be so bad.

4.  This weekend is Daylight Savings Time, so Fall back*!

Have a fabulous weekend.

*I'm surprised no one called me out in the comments, but it's Fall back, not Fall forward.  Carry on.