shaking the mystery box.

sometimes, i apply for so many freebies and shit online, that i completely forget what i’ve applied for. in the last few weeks, i’ve had not one but THREE  mystery boxes show up on my porch with a WTF, and then subsequent OMG upon opening them. i’ve gotten some really kick ass stuff in the last month… and now i’m gonna tell you about it:

what the F is birchbox?

anyone who has read the weekend pickthrough in the last few months knows that i have an undeniable crush on the hairpin.  what can i say, it’s a sassy online lady magazine that boasts such hardhitting articles as “how to make a doll into a wine glass in 23 quick steps“, and “9 things to name your oregon trail family“.  it’s true love.

well, a few weeks ago, i stumbled across this fine piece of journalism regarding a beauty sample subscription service called birchbox. you give them $10 a month, and they send you a very sexy (and i mean that packing is CRAZY FINE) box of hand picked samples designed to give you a big giant beauty boner.

in my package, i received the following:

juice beauty- green apple peel
archipelago- pomegranate soap
kerastase- reconstructive shampoo & a packet of something called “topseal” that i don’t entirely understand
ahava- mineral body lotion
jouer- tinted lip enhancer (i think it makes them puffy & glossy)

theoretically, you’re supposed to love the samples so much, that you go onto the birchbox website, and buy full sized versions of the products. and here is where i think we will part ways.

i’m not a fancy beauty product lady. there are 1,000,001 things that i feel like spending $50 dollars on, and fancy lip gloss and lotion are not included in that number. sure, $10 for samples of all the fancy stuff is perfect for me, so i can play without the financial impact.  but i’m never going to spend $25 on anything with the word “plumper” in the title, i’m just not.

selfishly however, i want their endeavor to succeed because i think it’s cool and i want more samples. therefore, if you are a beauty junkie, this is a really fun way to test drive all the newest smelly hair stuff technology before you buy. plus, the stunning little box you get in the mail makes it feel like motherfucking xmas.

thawing out: get ready for springtime craftiness!

this morning, my sun worshiping boss came into the office and said:“i don’t know why ANYBODY likes spring”.

and i was all like: “why you be hatin’ on spring bitch?”

or more accurately, i said: “i like spring.”

and it’s true, i do like spring. it happens to be my favorite season. i like the way it smells, i like to see borders of grass poking out beneath the rapidly receding snow, i love those little rivers that form along the sides of the road when everything starts to melt. to me, spring is hopeful and exciting. as if practically anything could shoot out of the ground with the crocuses.

spring is possibilities.

well, this year  something quite exciting an new is busting through the soil. genius craftstress audrey hotchkiss (of little eye designs) has spent her winter digging up the best in local artsy-craftiness so that next weekend (april 16^th from 10 am to 4 pm), we can all don our light coats and go spend our tax return money supporting amazing local artists.

it’s called THE BIG THAW, and it’s a well tailored collection of mostly etsy-based maine artists with a bit more of an edge than the average family craft fair (sorry grandma joan, we’re gonna pass on the crocheted toilet paper cozies this year). you can get the full vendor list right here, but here’s a little list of my  current top 5 biggest BIG THAW craft crushes:

1. my kingdom for this a new heirloom silk scarf!

2. stunning silk screened potholders from doonyaya. (almost too pretty to get covered in kitchen gunk!)

3. the very best maine t-shirt ever made. (way to go flat out tees!)

4. gulf of maine memory tiles by merchant’s row!

5. perfect dainty bird on wire pendants by high wire handmade.

and i’m a jerk because i didn’t even touch on photos and vintage and handmade beauty products…

you’ll really have to go and see the loveliness for yourself.

so just to reiterate, you should definitely get yo ass over to the mayo street arts center on saturday the 16th of april (that’s THIS SATURDAY)  from 10 am-4 pm to peruse the goods. and if the very sexy arts crafts aren’t enough to entice you, you can come visit me. i’ll be there helping audrey fetch and carry. so please, drop by!

resolved.

i was lucky enough to come into a bit of an xmas windfall this year. nothing earth shattering (most of it went to bills and to my saving’s account), BUT i decided to give myself a small allowance to spend on whatever i wanted. DANGEROUS. it could have been anything, or everything… i have a bad habit of burning through cash without really paying attention to where it goes, or really caring too much when it’s gone. i’m all like “oh, that’s was fun”, instead of feeling the intense sense of guilt and shame that keeps most people from getting in financial trouble.

the last year has overall been a good one for my financial evolution. this was the first year in over a decade that i didn’t use my credit cards even once. i also managed to have a savings account with actual money in it for more than 15 minutes. on the other hand, i didn’t pay off my credit cards as much as i would have liked, i didn’t manage to keep the majority of the money in my savings account, and i still didn’t start an HSA.

so for 2011, i have only one resolution. it isn’t to save more, or spend less, pay off the credit cards, or even open an HSA… (although all of those things are certainly worth keeping in mind). my resolution this year is just to PAY ATTENTION. wherever my money travels should take me this year, i would like to be watchful and be thoughtful about every dollar i spend. i’m thinking about leaving my debit card at home, giving myself a cash allowance, being more careful about monitoring my mint account… but it doesn’t really matter what i do, as long as i’m being vigilant.

i decided to lube up my resolution and get started a little early with the aforementioned windfalll. instead of just throwing the money into my checking account and going apeshit on whatever i happened to find first, i sat down and really thought about things that i wanted, needed, and would generally be too cheap or too broke to afford the rest of the year. here is what i came up with:

rip off artist.

i have a blog crush. several actually, but the object of today’s affection belongs solely to a sweet disorder. there are many days when i wish i had decided to write a style blog instead of a financial blog… although i’d probably be in a lot more debt if i had taken that route.  but then i read kate’s blog, and i realize that i just don’t have the fashion chops. the girl rocked a goddamn air cast boot for like 2 months, and still looked cooler than everyone else in the room. i think my wardrobe is too basic to be interesting. not ballsy enough. although i’m also not a gorgeous amazon redhead with a tuft of peacock green hair.  but enough of the gratuitous love fest. i’m really loving on a sweet disorder today, because i’m about to blatantly rip off one of her posts (with love!).

i hold kate entirely responsible for my new polyvore addiction. it reminds me of being 14 years old and papering my bedroom walls from floor to ceiling with pictures i dissected from my mom’s old vogues & Ws. plus, it has an interactive shopping element! SHOPPING! kate’s been killing with the polyvore for a while now (i especially love her “cute stuff you might actually be able to afford” series), but this week she turned turned her gaze on drugstore beauty (well, she does work at a drugstore), and i decided it was time to steal the post and RUN.

i’m not really a beauty products person, but something about her post (possibly the glorious mint green nail polish) made me want to think about the beauty products that i do use. i definitely didn’t have a whole page worth, but i had some fun narrowing it down to just 10 products that i absolutely can not live without:

1. l’oreal hydrafresh toner– i have super sensitive skin, and this stuff is so gentle that i can carelessly get it in my eyes with no ill repercussions.

2. bonne bell gel blush– i’ve been using this since high school, and it’s the only blush that i’ve ever felt looks even remotely natural. plus, it’s dirt cheap @ $4.00 a tube. too bad it’s only available online through the bonne bell “heritage collection”. i should stock up now before it goes extinct completely.

3. dove deodorant– nice smell, moisturizing, does its job.

4. blistex lip medex– i’m a complete slut for chapstick, and probably apply some sort of lip balm upwards of 20 times a day. i’m also very partial to carmex and burt’s bees, but lip medex wins the overall prize for being the longest lasting and most moisturizing.

5. philosophy candy cane body wash– frugal me should think that paying $16 for a container of bodywash is a poor value proposition when there are so many similar products on the market that cost so much less. but this one is so minty and tingly and perfect. i mean, who doesn’t want to smell like a candy cane year round?

6. egoiste by chanel– i’ve been wearing this since high school. i often find perfume to be too heavy and flowery, but men’s cologne seems somehow lighter and more sophisticated on a woman (although i’m probably making that part up). this one smells like lemons and campfires and vanilla ice cream, and i’m pretty sure if i was douchey enough to use the phrase “signature scent”, this one would qualify as mine (i’ll be buried in it!).

7. revlon super lustrous shiny sheers in plumdrop– the perfect natural shade of lipstick is rare and beautiful, and i’ve got 4 tubes of this under my sink right now (right next to the enormous bin of reject colors). i’m hoarding, because it’s been discontinued (bummer). but if you know there’s something that you love that has left the shelves, check BIG LOTS. a ton of the major makeup manufacturers sell their discontinued overstock to discount stores for low low prices, and i got mine for $3 each.

8. biolage normalizing shampoo– i spent $.99 on my shampoo for YEARS. and in general, i don’t give a shit about my hair at all (i might own a comb or something…), but this one smells fresh and perfect like grapefruits and summertime. i can’t say that it works any better than my suave, but the scent alone makes it worth the $19 a bottle. also, i hate showering, so it takes me a while to go through.

9. max factor facefinity foundation in #2 light ivory– yet another shamefully discontinued product. this time, the only foundation that ever matched my skintone. another tip for hunting down and stockpiling fallen favorites, bring on the ebay. even if you missed it at big lots, somebody else grabbed it, and will not sell it to you for twice the price. my long-term solution, stockpile now, keep foundation stash fresh in the fridge (butter dish) for later.

10. earth therapeutics tea tree oil foot spray– i’m a flats girl, and with the sheer amount of miles i put on those babies by the end of the summer (those invible socks that aren’t ever invisible, don’t really do i for me), they start to get a little rank (and by a little, i mean a lot). this spray makes my smelly shoes smell like the minty rainforest (sometimes i spray it on my wrists it smells so good), and is super refreshing spritz on my hot and tired summer feet.

now it’s your mission to copy me (well, kate) and gell me your own beauty secrets. (and seriously, go to polyvore- it’s the funnest ever).