November Birchbox Review

This month's Birchbox had a quick turnaround here! I was excited to try all of the products out the moment I received them so I have already given them a weeks worth of tries (or a lifetimes worth of tries- depending on how you look at it for some of the items) So here we go with quick reviews of each item I received in my November Birchbox!

This Make makeup remover works well- clearing all the eye makeup off my eyelids and eyelashes. My only complaint about it is that it's extremely oily! I love my Sephora eye makeup remover and use that one regularly and this one was just full of oil in comparison. I will definitely finish this container- but will be using up my Sephora eye makeup remover first and use this one as a backup.

The Hello shampoo and conditioner smelled fantastic. I loved the citrus scent and really enjoyed using them. Although I can't say they did anything miraculous to my hair- I also can't say they did anything bad to it either. I liked these enough and would definitely use them in the future if they were available to me!

Mirenesse mascara definitely curls my lashes like no mascara I've ever used before. It does get slightly clumpy but other then that it's a fantastic mascara! I have to say it passes my dry test since I only like mascaras that are very dry and don't smear all over the place. I would repurchase this if I had the chance.

I like this Not Soap Radio shower gel. It's citrus scented and fresh, and overall I felt like I was getting clean while I used it. It's not my favorite scent of all time but I will finish the bottle and would use it in the future, I just wouldn't pick this scent over a lot of other scents that are out there.

I'm not a dark chocolate person. At all. However, this chuaco chocolate bar was filled with pop rocks and for some reason that made the chocolate bar amazing! It was so cool to eat chocolate with pop rocks inside and I would eat this again for sure. If you haven't tasted one- you should get on it!

What products have you used lately? What did you love? What did you hate?

Have a great day!

November Birchbox

My Birchbox arrived over the weekend and I think this might be the best Birchbox I've received yet!

The Make eye makeup remover seems like a great makeup remover and is something I will definitely use since I need to take my makeup off everyday anyways!

I received the Harvey Prince Hello Shampoo and Conditioner. This is a citrus scented hair line and I absolutely loved the last Harvey Prince product I tried, so I'm excited to try these as well.

I love getting mascaras to try because it is something I will definitely use right away. This Mirenesse iCurl Secret Weapon 24hr mascara looks very different in shape and the wand is different then I normally use as well. It should be interesting to try!

Not Soap, Radio is not a brand I've heard of before but I'm always game to try a new shower gel like this this Joy Inducing Body Wash.

This chocolate sounds interesting by Chuao...it's definitely something I've never heard of before!

What did you receive in your Birchbox this month?

Holiday Chocolate Fudge!

This is an easy recipe that would be great to bring to any holiday party (or any kind of party) you have going on! My mom taught me to make this, and we shared it with everyone on Christmas Eve- it was a hit! My favorite part? That it's super easy!

Here's what you will need:

A baking pan  (and tinfoil)

A mixing bowl

14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk

12 oz bag of semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup of milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup of butter

1 tsp of vanilla

First, take a baking pan and cover it with tin foil.

Next, gather your ingredients, and a bowl to mix everything in.

Take your sweetened condensed milk and pour all of the can into your mixing bowl.

Take your 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and one cup of milk chocolate chips and put them in the same mixing bowl as your condensed milk.

Microwave on high for one and a half minutes. When you take it out of the microwave you should be able to mix up the chocolate chips and condensed milk nicely into a thick but melted concoction.

Once it is completely mixed (make sure you mix it REALLY well) you can add the vanilla. At this time if you wanted to add nuts you could as well. I don't like nuts in my fudge, so I just stick with plain chocolate fudge!

Smooth all of the fudge into your tin foil-covered pan until it is smooth across the top and everything is even.

Let your fudge chill in the fridge for at least two hours.

Finally it's time to taste test and cut everything up!

Then store it in the fridge until you're ready to serve!

This is really delicious fudge, my dad said that it tastes like a chocolate bar and I can't help but to agree! If you're looking for a seriously easy fudge recipe then this is definitely it!

Now a couple tips…

~Use Ghiradelli chocolate chips because they are the best! They truly make it a million times better.
~Mix everything really well- and if you need to put the chocolate chip/milk mixture back in the microwave that will okay, just don't put it in for too long!

If you make this recipe, let me know how it goes! =)

Have a great weekend everybody!

25

So today I am officially 25 years old! Happy Birthday to me!

Last night, we had a little family dinner to celebrate since I will be working all day today on my actual birthday. I chose to have chinese for dinner which was absolutely delicious and the perfect choice!

I also got TWO fortunes in my fortune cookie which were completely identical, down to the lucky numbers (which are actually MY lucky numbers- weird right?)

That's nice to hear! I'll take it!

For dessert? A death by chocolate cake from Greggs. If you live in or come to visit the RI area and don't visit Greggs in NK and have cake, you will seriously disappoint me. It is delicious.

I highly recommend this cake...

but not for dogs! Sorry Roxy! =)

In addition to my family, one of my best friends Brittni also joined us for dinner which was really nice! Then we headed off to Trivia at the Wood River Inn for some fun game time. Our team didn't place- but it was still a great way to kick off my birthday!

25 feels awful old...a quarter of a century...halfway to 50? Scary stuff!

I'm back!

So, remember how I posted that I was still able to get online and post because of our generator? Well, as soon as the power came back on Tuesday night we lost our cable, internet and phone! So of course I wasn't able to get online to do any blog posts- I feel like I have so much to catch up on...

My family and I woke up on Tuesday to a small mess in our driveway/yard- it wasn't nearly as horrible as others, but presented us with our own challenges.

Through the storm, we huddled inside the house listening to the wind outside and woke up to see trees down around our property...

Roxy, was just happy to have lots of snuggle buddies...

Even our bench was knocked over by a branch!

The HUGE branch in our driveway was the worst- it had to be chainsawed up and then pulled away by a car! It was all tangled up in live wires so my dad and brother had to be veryyy careful about what they were doing- luckily they are both electricians!

Eventually we were able to get out of our driveway and go exploring- but it was difficult because not many roads were open! Many people in our area are still without power and a bunch of stores and local businesses (including Dunkin Donuts!) don't have power either! It was quite a storm that's for sure.

Now for today's workout. I slacked off quite a bit during the storm so today was tough but I did it!

5 minute warmup walk

5 minute run

3 minute walk

8 minute run

5 minute walk

5 minute run

5 minute cool down walk

I ran a different way today, so coming home was almost all downhill which was much more pleasant- but running uphill at first was awful! =(

I came home and dug into our trick or treater candy bowl =) 

My mom still insists on buying candy even though we don't get ANY trick-or-treaters at our house- so more candy for us!

I have another post to do with pictures from when we explored around during/after the storm and also an organizing project so I'll have some more blog posts coming up soon...hope everyone is safe and is getting their power back!

Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate!

I had an amazing run today- I honestly didn't feel like it was that difficult. Maybe it was because of my running buddy...

Yeah no- not her.

She wouldn't make it 5 minutes =)

My daddy ran with me! He mostly walked, but it was nice when I ran to have somebody to walk back to and talk to during my workout! We talked about how we'd like to fix up our bikes and bike around the area. He also thinks that he could bike along beside me as I run-which would be nice! 

This is what todays run looked like:

5 minute warm up walk

3 minute run

2 minute walk

5 minute run

2 minute walk

5 minute run

2 minute walk

3 minute run

2 minute walk

5 minute cool down walk

I'm 1/2 to 5K!!!

My reward? A sweenor's chocolate bar! yum yum yum.

Then I got started baking with mom- ready to bake some more yummy treats.

I have a few events to go to this weekend, one of which being a Halloween party- so I attempted to make some witches hat that I saw on Pinterest! Aren't they cute?

All I needed for this recipe was: Keebler Fudge Strip cookies turned upside down, icing, and hershey kisses. No cooking involved= my favorite recipe!

And here are my finished treats- some with hershey kisses and some with rolos. Can't wait to bring these to the party!

It was definitely a chocolate filled morning/afternoon. Now I'm off to get a few more things done before I head off to work for the night!

Enjoy the rest of your Friday everybody!