Meal Planning Made Easy

Some people have been asking me lately about my meal planning. I'm a huge advocate of meal planning and using Sunday as a prep day. Plan out your meals, go grocery shopping, wash, chop, roast, bake, and grill - it will make your week SO much easier! All you will have to do at night is box up your portions for the next day and stack them in the fridge. Fill a bottle of water to drink on your way to work and pack your gym bag and you're ready to go to bed with no stress!

NOTE: A few of the dinners listed are not really diet friendly, but I also have a boy in my house who has COMPLETELY different nutrition goals than I do, so I work some things in for him. I'll leave off the top bun for sloppy joes and make a taco salad with black beans instead of crunchy tacos for myself.

January 2013 Birchbox Review

My January 2013 Birchbox is here! I get so excited every month when I pull that pink box out of the mail. I rush inside and tear it open to see what wonderful product samples the ladies have sent me each month. I wanted to vlog this using a cross platform of this blog and my YouTube channel, but unfortunately my face started swelling. I'm a little too vain to go on YouTube for the first time with a giant knot in my neck. Okay, a LOT too vain. This month we'll stick with the blog, and hopefully next month I'll be able to broadcast!

This month I received:

Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre 24 Hour Miracle Cream - This French moisturizing cream has been a favorite of models and makeup artists for 60 years.

Viva la Juicy perfume - I smelled it and I love it. It's got a light, flirty scent that is great for warm weather, which I get 12 months out of every year in Florida.

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner - I'm a little scared of this one. I've never done well with liquid eyeliners, so get prepared for lots of twitpics with terrible eyeliner. Fortunately, Birchbox has tons of how-to articles and videos so I'm sure to be able to find something to help me out on their site.

Oscar Blandi Dry Styling Heat Protect Spray - This thing does it all. It's a keratin infused spray that helps your hair withstand the torture we put it through everyday. It protects against heat and breakage and doubles as a hair spray. I'm very excited to try it out.

Oscar Blandi Hair Lift Thickening and Strengthening Serum - this one isn't pictured because I had one of my infamous blonde moments. I left it in that white box sitting inside the cardboard box with the pink tissue paper. This is a serum that you use before blow drying. It's supposed to give your hair salon volume and bounce. I hope it lives up to it's claims, because I found it at Ulta today and the price wasn't terrible!

I'll update you on how I feel about these products toward the end of the month - maybe even on a vlog!

Did you sign up for Birchbox? What did you get?

52 Week Money Challenge Update

We're 4 weeks into 2013, and I'm doing the 52 Week Money Challenge. It started on Reddit and spread like wildfire all over the internet. Or maybe spread like Firefox. Something with fire. I saw it on Facebook after one of my friends posted a link to the image above. So far the challenge is going very well. I'm stuck in that post holiday whiplash, like most of us probably are, and I've still managed to save my $10. I actually have 4 bank accounts, one for bills, one for my emergency fund, one for disposable income, and one for growth. I'm using money out of my bills account and my disposable income account and feeding equal amounts into my two savings accounts. Technically I've saved $20.

How are you doing with the 52 Week Money Challenge? It's not too late to catch up!

Birchbox Review

I talk about Birchbox at least once a week on this blog, and have gotten a lot of questions about it. Since later this week I'm planning on doing my January Birchbox review I thought it was finally time to explain what Birchbox is and why I love it so much!

Birchbox is a monthly subscription service that delivers 4 - 5 brand name samples to your door for women or men. I love getting the chance to try new products every month that I may not have known about otherwise. There are several brands I've received that I've fallen in love with that I had never heard of. I'm even getting brands that have been around for more than 60 years that I never knew about. I don't live in a small town, but our shopping choices are a bit limited. We do have a Sephora and an Ulta, but there are so many brands all crammed in together that it would take DAYS to pick up each one, read labels, smell products, and swatch colors. Who has the time for that? I certainly don't. Unfortunately it is also very difficult to find some things in sample sizes.

Why I love the service is that Birchbox takes care of all of that for me. They send me brands and specific products that are tailored to my beauty needs, skin tone, and hair type that they think I'll love. There are certain brands that they sample every month, but they pick from that pool and send me their best choices. I will be honest that sometimes I hate a product. It stinks, or the texture is terrible, but every month there is always one thing that I absolutely love. They also sometimes send out what they call "Lifestyle Extras" that range from Soy Joy bars, to granola packets, and I even got a really neat set of earbuds one month.

They also have their own rewards program. For each product that you review from your box you get 10 points - every 100 points is $10 that you can use on a full size product, plus you get one point per dollar that you spend in the Birchbox shop. Their website is bright and easy to navigate, and I love the bright pink box they use for their logo. I was really skeptical about Birchbox at first, as I am about everything internet related, but signing up for their service was the best beauty choice I've made in a long time.

If you would like to sign up, I would be super appreciative if you would use my referral link. Beauty products aren't cheap! Click here to go to the sign up page: https://www.birchbox.com?raf=cdz24

Monday's Blog is Full of Thanks

Ouch - fail. I know. Last week I definitely did not keep to my goal of writing two blog posts. My jaw started to swell on the right side of my neck and I was so freaked out and worn out that my creative juices were stagnant. It did, however give me some new things to be thankful for!

1) Doctors with flexible schedules - my old PCP never had any open appointments, so it was impossible to get an emergency visit with him.

2)Pharmaceuticals - I know most people hate pharmaceutical companies, but I've worked at one so I understand the industry. There are bad things about the industry, I'm not going to lie to you, but they honestly do try to do good work. Plus, the antibiotics I'm on started working in less than 24 hours which helped calm my anxiety.

3) Birchbox - yes, again. It got here when I felt like crap and it gave me something to distract me for a few minutes.

4) A slowly improving economy - raises and bonuses at work aren't frozen anymore! I don't know exactly how much we're getting, but every little bit extra helps. There are actually a lot of changes coming at work that I'm very excited about. I can't wait to see what the next year is going to bring for us!

5) BOGO brownies - do I have to explain?

What are you thankful for this week? Let me know in the comments below!

Monday's Blog is Full of Thanks

I can honestly say that the last week of my life has been one of the hardest I've ever had to deal with. On Monday the search was called off for my missing friend. As of this writing no one is looking for him and he has not turned up anywhere. A massive snow storm moved into the area where he disappeared and the odds are not good. On top of feeling sick and being extremely tired, the week was also incredibly hectic for several different reasons that I won't go into. This is another week where I have to struggle to find good things in my life, but I try to be a positive person every day and I feel that it helps me deal with those days when it feels like the world is collapsing around you.

Here are the things I'm thankful for this week:

1) Family visits - both of my parents have been at my house for dinner in the last couple of weeks and it was wonderful having them here.

2) My extensive recipe collection in my head - I cooked dinner when both of my parents were here. For my Daddy I made a skinny sesame chicken with stir fried vegetables and for Momma I made my italian mac n cheese.

3) New books - I'll never get tired of hearing the crackle of paper and binding in an otherwise silent room.

4) Warm weather - I know it's January, but I live in Florida. It's 80 degrees today and I'm seriously considering heading to the beach!

5) Paychecks - goes without saying!

What five things are you thankful for today? Let me know in the comments below!



(Photo from: fotosearch.com)

The 52 Week Money Challenge Review

If you spend much time on the internet you've probably seen this floating around:

This is the 52 Week Money Challenge. It looks simple enough, and is a great way to get used to saving money. I like how the increments start at $1 and go up from there, but I am wondering how December will work out for most people. Saving $49, $50, $51, and $52 dollars a week is a great goal, but when you also have to buy Christmas presents, holiday meals, and pay for gas to travel that month I'm afraid that most people will just give up and consider the experiment a failure.

I have heard that some people are starting at the bottom and working their way up - starting at $52 and going to $1. Since this is a program to help you get used to saving money I wonder if people who start at $52 will get overwhelmed with the large amount at the beginning and give up halfway through the year.

I plan on starting at the $1 mark and working my way to the $52 mark. I'll update my progress periodically to let you know how it's going and whether or not I'm finding it difficult.

Are you doing the 52 Week Money Challenge? Let me know!