Life Lately

I have been failing miserably at keeping this blog updated. Life has been moving at an unbelievable pace, faster then it ever has before and it's amazing how many items remain on my to-do list as I pass out at night after a long day. Blogging and exercising have easily been pushed to the bottom of my list and it's time to make those a priority again. I will attempt to be better I promise!

I thought tonight I'd update you on my life lately with some picture overload!

Back in July I went to a Pawsox game with Tim, Brittni and Stephen. We had a blast watching the game and Tim even caught a ball thrown to him by one of the players.

After the game there were fireworks over Mccoy Stadium which was a nice way to end the evening.


Tim and I also took a trip to Southwick's Zoo back in July. It was a much better zoo then Roger Williams just because they had so many more animals! There were a ton of different types of monkeys (and even a baby monkey too!).

We saw a huge turtle, he was a monster!

Tim had his beard eaten by a goat.

We fed birds with food on popsicle sticks, which was fun until one of the birds started trying to eat the skin off our fingers...not so fun.

This alligator was pretty cute.

This sloth has his routine down pat! Pure comfort right there!

Tim and I also joined Brittni and Stephen for a double date to see The Minion movie which was fantastic. I have seen quite a few movies lately now that we're on that topic... Trainwreck, Antman, Minons- all awesome, go see them if you can!

One Saturday was spent on Block Island, an island off of our little state where it is always crowded but full of summer fun.

We took the Block Island fast ferry from Pt. Judith with Tim's parents.

We had a fun day hanging out at Ballards, a restaurant on the beach; We had a ton to drink, enjoyed listening to the ACDC cover band (Dirty Deeds), and soaked up a ton of sun.

It was a super fun day on the Block!

Then, I joined Tim's whole family on a kayaking trip down a local river. It was a blast and I think we did really well in our two-person kayak! Tim's brother and his girlfriend ended up tipping their canoe at one point when they were trying to race us. Despite that it was a relaxing kayaking trip!

At work we held a baby shower for my co-worker Magda. She is about to give birth to her baby boy Oliver any day now.

It was a nice break in the middle of the day and it was quite the party! Everyone pitched in and brought different food, we also enjoyed pizza that my boss picked up. It was a great time at work.

I've also been going on a ton of walks with my mom after work.

We found an area in our town that is a great walking trail and has a separate path that leads down to the water and a dock. It is gorgeous out there and I had to snap these pictures on a particularly beautiful day!

I also went to a party where hundreds of glow sticks were thrown into the pool.

It looked even cooler in person, I wish I had been able to take a better picture of it. I would highly recommend trying this during a nighttime summer party. It turned out awesome!

Marissa and I having fun chatting during the party.

Tim and I at the party.

I also got the chance to try on a Patriots Superbowl ring! It was incredible and came in a lit up box. One of the coolest things I've been able to do.

One of my favorite summer activities is visiting Buttonwoods Sunflower Field in Griswold CT. This year I took Tim there to show him how cool it is.

This year I notice that so many people were doing different photos in front of the sunflowers. One girl was doing yoga poses while someone took pictures of her. Another group of people were having an actual photoshoot there. It is such a popular place, but so worth it if you are in the area!

I attended a Theatre By The Sea production of The Little Mermaid one weekend. It was a great show that I saw with my trivia team. We purchased tickets on Black Friday last year and enjoyed every second of the production.

Last weekend, Tim, his parents and I went to Foxborough to watch the Patriots practice!

We had a fun time watching the boys play and got super close to Tom Brady! We had lunch at CBS Scene which was delicious and enjoyed exploring Patriot Place. I would go to another practice next year if I have to opportunity to!

Last Sunday Tim and I took a walk at Trustom Nature Center. We walked all around the paths, stopping at each of the docks to see the beautiful views and look for birds. We saw plenty of ducks and swans hanging around. It was a nice way to spend a beautiful day!

Phew! What have you been up to lately?

Project Declutter and Organize Beauty Products

Hi my name is Melissa and I am a beauty product hoarder.

The funny thing is, growing up I never had any interest in makeup, perfume, lotion, etc. I was a basic supply girl who rarely painted her nails, didn't wear makeup until high school, and had maybe three bottles of lotion in her possession. Since then a lot has changed and I hoard beauty products like they are going to never be released again. It's actually pretty gross and makes me upset.

One of my biggest fears in life is becoming a hoarder which is why I am so crazy about decluttering and getting rid of things, but it's hard for me to get rid of products because they are something you use.  I have absolutely no problem getting rid of decor items because they sit around and get in my way. I have no problem getting rid of clothes I no longer wear so it should be no different with products. Does anyone else have this problem?

So I set out to start reorganizing my beauty products and see if I could get rid of anything. I started with my huge collection of nail polish.

The problem is that I have gotten so many bottles for free, I haven't had to pay for all of them so they seem to accumulate very quickly. There are some nail polishes that are favorites of mine and ones that I choose often. Those bottles are on their way to being empty so I might as well keep them and use them up. There are plenty of polishes I have only tried once but I liked the color so I want to keep it to use in the future.

I sorted all my polish by brand and considered whether or not I wanted to keep each bottle. When I placed them back inside my Alex 9 drawer unit things looked still full, but slightly better then before.

See? Not terrible right?

I managed to toss three old bottles of Crackle nail polish which I will never use again. That fad has certainly passed. I got rid of two top coats that were discolored. I also gave my mom three nail polishes that are light pink and I never use. I prefer more color then those give off so I passed them off to my mom who loves just a tiny bit of pink on her nails.

After decluttering my nail tools I was able to get everything into just one drawer instead of two. I learned that many of my tools were old and I also need to pick up some more nail polish remover so I can get to using some more nail polish!

This was my final toss pile. Nothing too miraculous, but it feels good to declutter a little bit!

How many nail polishes do you have?

I think my tally is somewhere in the 50's. That is a LOT of polish and I hope to declutter my collection again in the near future. I also hope to use up some of my polishes and I will NOT be buying any nail polish for a very, very, very long time!

June Birchbox Review

My June birchbox was the prettiest birchbox I have received yet!

The fading blue with the quote "adventure is a state of mind" on the box made me super excited to see what goodies were inside! As a side note I don't actually save these boxes, they go straight into my recycling bin. However, I do appreciate the creativity behind them. Some of you might ask why I don't save them because they would be great for organizing things in but I have plenty of containers to put things in and I don't want to encourage holding on to more things.

It seems that they are always saying there is a latest and greatest hair elastic that will do absolutely wonders for holding your hair back in a ponytail. This light blue beauty is an L. Erikson Grab and Go Ponytail Holder and while it's very nice I would never pay the retail value of $18 for this baby. I get along just fine with my old fashioned elastics. This is a nice addition to my hair accessories but not something I feel the need to rock every day.

I love love love love Supergoop sunscreen! This is SPF 50 which is fabulous for those of us with skin that is as pale as a ghost. I wear this strictly on my face so I can make it last as long as possible and I love how light it feels on your skin while you know you are definitely getting full protection.

Dr Jart's Ceramidin Cream smells like a lotion that should be put on your body not your face! It made me a little nervous that it would break me out so I may continue to just use it on really dry areas of my body instead of on my face.

 I love this color! I received a Marcelle Waterproof eyeliner and this is a gorgeous color called Blue Lagoon. It is a little out there compared to what I would normally use but I'm determined to make it work because when I tried it out the eyeliner goes on so easily!

I love to use serum in my hair after I've finished styling it to give it a little bit of extra shine and also keep my frizziness at bay. I use a bunch of different serums and this Obliphica Professional serum is just as good as the rest. I will continue to use up this little sample!

Lastly I received Number 4 Blow Dry Lotion which is meant to be put in damp hair before you blow-dry and style your hair. I liked this okay but I didn't think it did anything miraculous for my hair. I will use it up, but I prefer the Macademia product that is similar to this.


So that's what I got in my June Birchbox and what I thought. What products have you tried out recently?

Magic Mike XXL Premiere!

On Tuesday I was lucky enough to attend the Magic Mike XXL at premiere at a local theatre!

I was planning on going out to dinner with my friend Doreen on Tuesday night, however halfway through my work day I had a text from her asking if I would be interested in attending the premiere. Her daughter Jess had won tickets on the radio and wanted to bring Doreen, Sam (her sister) and I! 

When we arrived we walked down a red carpet and checked in. We received purple wristbands and swag bags which were filled with so many goodies!

One of the best goodies was a gift card for a free movie! I will definitely be using this card soon thanks to Entertainment Cinemas!

Not only did we get gifts, when we entered the lobby of the theatre we were greeted with tons of snacks, wine, and contests to enter. The fun didn't stop there...

Inside the theatre there was free popcorn and soda. Theatre employees also made the rounds with trays of smoothies which were delicious!

Then it was time to watch the movie! I thought the movie had some extremely awkward/funny moments and overall it held my attention from beginning to end (Channing Tatum definitely contributed to that!) I would recommend this movie for a girls night out- it's nice to have someone to giggle with and I have to say I felt pretty bad for the boyfriends and husbands that seemed to be dragged to the premiere!

 So you probably want to know what was inside the swag bag...

There it is! A ruler, movie poster, tons of candy, a free movie ticket, popcorn seasoning, and lots of coupons and local offers.

I had a great time thanks to Jess, Doreen, Sam, Coast 93.3 and Entertainment Cinemas!