Joy, Life and More

I didn't post about the November 2015 box because I was too busy and forgot to take pictures. Sorry! The December 2015 box came really early, and I didn't even get a notice from the Love With Food folks my box was on the way. I was pleasantly surprised to receive the box on the 9th. I order the deluxe box which comes with approximately 16-20 snacks which works great for me because as a diagnosed diabetic, I need to make sure I have appropriate snacks on hand. I am a big snacker, and I want to have great tasting snacks on hand. Many of the snacks in the box fit within my dietary needs for carbs, sodium, fats and other nutrition. I also want to point out how great  this subscription is because you are not only getting a bunch of snacks but you are also helping feed. On the inside cover of the box, it will tell you if the box you purchased helped to donate one or two meals. The smallest box (Tasting Box) is filled with 8+ snacks and donates 1 meal. The Deluxe Box

It's been about four months since my journey toward better health and beating diabetes began. So where am I now? At the end of October, three months since I took the A1C test which diagnosed me diabetic, I retook the test. This time it was a simple finger prick and a small amount of blood. I was lucky that the lab in my doctor's office had a machine which didn't require them to send out the sample. The phlebotomist was nice and told me I would get the results in a few minutes. In all honesty, before I took the test, I told myself there was a chance my results might even be higher than 6.4% despite all the things I had been doing to get it down. The problem with diabetes is if someone in your family has the disease, the chances of getting it goes up, and someone in my biological background had diabetes (side note: I was adopted as a baby but my mom told me my biological grandmother had diabetes). Of course, this is not an excuse why I have diabetes. I know my lifestyle

This is a late review as I am about to get my November box but I wanted to post it just so you have an idea of what this subscription is about! Let's be honest. There are so many subscriptions out there ranging from beauty to food to clothing to just about anything you are looking for in a monthly box. Sometimes it seems like all the subscription boxes are the same except for the different ranges of price. It takes a lot for a box to fill a niche and to me Love With Food is just that kind of box. Love With Food is a monthly subscription box which contains organic or all-natural snacks. In a word or two, it contains healthy snacks! But these snacks are great if you are looking for healthier options and it gives you a chance to try out a variety of items without having to purchase a whole box or bag of one snack. There are three different options with this subscription. The first is a tasting box which contains about 8+ snacks and can cost about $8 to $10 if you purchas

I wanted to address the cost of being healthy versus the cost of not being healthy. When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, many thoughts went through my head. Would I need to take medication? Have I signed myself up for a lifetime of insulin injections? Do I need to sign up for a gym? Would I need special food? How much is this all going to cost? Let's be real here. Being healthy cost money right? When you visit the doctor, it will cost you money. Then when the doctor prescribes this pill or that pill, it will cost you more money. This is all aside from the money you already pay out for health insurance. Of course not to mention all the tests you need to take to make sure you are healthy (or not healthy). Pretty soon you figure out how much it is going to cost you to stay healthy and maybe it makes you feel ill. But think about it this way. If you don't go to the doctor, get sick and land in the hospital, how much will that cost you in the end? The average cost of one

I haven't put up one of these in awhile but wanted to highlight my October 2015 Birchbox ! I also made ACES (exclusive Birchbox VIP program), which meant I spent way too much money on their website :) so I am now able to get first dibs on subscription box choices. This month Birchbox offered several mascaras as one of the sample choices in their regular subscription box. They also offered two guest curated boxes instead of one in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month! These boxes were by the Estee Lauder Companies and filled with products which support breast cancer research. In addition, Birchbox also committed funds which will go toward one year of breast cancer research. I chose one of the curated boxes because I liked the variety of products it offered and I felt it would fit in with what I was looking for in beauty this month. The Power Pose box contained five products from the brands Estee Lauder, Clinique, Darphin and Smashbox. I have not tried all of them yet bu

So where do you start when you have diabetes, need to lose weight and start exercising regularly? I am no expert but for me, sadly, it had to be an incentive. My incentive was I didn't want to have diabetes! I didn't want to "shudder" inject myself with insulin every day. This was incentive enough for me! As I already said in my prior entry, I started using MyFitnessPal (MFP) to track what I ate, calories and all that good stuff. It was a learning process the first week. You can easily put in your starting weight and the weight you hope to be at some point, and it will tell you how many calories you can eat each day. My challenge was I also had diabetes and high blood pressure. Not only did I need to watch my sodium intake but I also need to consider how much carbohydrates and sugar I was consuming. When you use the free portion of the MFP App, you can only indicate what percentage of your diet should be carbohydrates, fat and protein as well as limit the amou

When I started this blog, I didn't want it to stagnant but it's come to that mainly because I haven't posted in awhile. I have two boys, ages 5 and 9, and I am 46 years old. I had my children later in life because I didn't get married until I was 35. My husband and I planned on having children as soon as we got married because we didn't know if there would be problems getting pregnant because of our ages. But we were able to get pregnant after a couple of miscarriages and now have two healthy boys. Speaking of health, I've always been overweight. There I've said it. Ever since I was young, I've always favored being heavier than I should be I think. I'm not sure but it seems that way. I know for sure I've never been skinny and been able to fit into normal clothes. Sure I've tried to lose weight over the years but without much success. To be frank, I haven't really been trying and it's shown. I've gained a significant amount of

Just when you thought Hellmann's couldn't step up their game, they came out with a new squeeze bottle! It's the same great mayonnaise (disclaimer: we only use Hellmann's in our household) but in a no fuss or mess squeeze bottle. Influenster sent me a free Hellmann's Squeeze Bottle to try out and review. If you don't know what Influenster is, then you are missing out! It is a website where you can get free products to try out and review. Anyone can join though they do measure your social impact through connecting with your various social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Products are sent to you to review with various activities to complete during a certain time period. The more activities you complete, the more chances you have of getting more products! The Hellmann's Squeeze Bottle is a great way to dispense mayonnaise without having to dig into a jar and making a mess. It sits with the cap down in the refrigerator so that the pr

A few weeks ago I was selected for a Chatterbox House Party to share and test out the Febreze In-Wash Odor Eliminator . Chatterbox is part of House Party  where you can apply to host a house party for different products including household items as well as food, books or even toys! When you apply, you answer a simple questionnaire to find out if you'd be a good match for that particular house party. Some parties involve actually inviting your friends over to share and test out the products you receive. This is completely free in return for completing a few activities about the products such as posting pictures and a review. In my Febreze In-Wash Odor Eliminator House Party box, I received three samples, coupons and some simple instructions. I shared two samples and two $2 off coupons with friends. The third sample I used along with the last coupon for a free full-sized bottle. I have been using the Febreze In-Wash Odor Eliminator over the last few weeks. I wanted to try this

Unlike other beauty boxes, Target does not offer a subscription for theirs. Instead, you have to get lucky and grab one as soon as they are offered on the Target website . I missed the winter box, so as soon as I got wind the spring box was available, I grabbed one. The Target Beauty Box is only $5 and ships free though you will be charged tax if you live in a state with a Target store, which is every state I believe. If you have a Target Red Card, you can save a little bit on the tax. I paid $5.08 for my box with my Red Card. This box was definitely worth the price. There were 5 items and a coupon for $3 off any $15 beauty department purchase in store or online. The coupon has a quick expiration date of May 17, 2015. There was also a description card enclosed which described each item and how to use the product. According to the card, only one item was noted as full-sized but I happen to know another item was also full-sized since I already owned it. The noted full-sized it

My April 2015 Birchbox subscription came early this month. I was so excited to receive this box because the box itself was designed by Rifle Paper Co.  and is just so beautiful. It just exudes spring is here! It is simply just gorgeous with gold lettering on the front. This box is not just a boxful of goodies but worth putting on display. As with all Birchbox subscriptions monthly, there are at least 5 deluxe sized samples. This month I received the Beaver Professional Hydro Nutritive Moisturizing Shampoo and Repairing conditioner . They are a nice size with 2.0 fl. oz. of shampoo and 1.35 fl. oz of conditioner. I love that I can take these are great sizes to put into my travel case. The shampoo cost $15 for the full size and $16 for a full-size conditioner. The value of the samples in my box together were approximately $6.54. The next item I received was a small shadow palette by POP Beauty . It is described as a Peach Parfait Trio with colors of that shade. they are past

April is already here. What happened? I have no idea. It seems like February whizzed on by and then March seemed to march quickly by, and now we are in the first weeks of April. Here are some faves from February and March: e.l.f. Kabuki Face Brush, $10 (Target, Walmart and online) No doubt the e.l.f. Studio brushes are one of the most affordable and best brushes out there in my opinion! I purchased this at the end of January and have used it almost daily to brush powder on my face after applying my foundation. I found no fallout of bristles and it was soft on my face. For the price, it really can't be beat! MUA Pro Angled Shadow Brush , $10 CVS As I continue to learn more about makeup and trying out different techniques, I find I need additional tools. I knew I needed an angled shadow brush to apply shadow on my lower lash line. I picked this MUA Pro Angled Shadow Brush from CVS when it was on sale. Even not on sale, it is reasonably priced considering how much make

My latest box from Influenster  came with a product from a company I have used other products for many years. In fact, if you are woman, I would guess at some point in your life you have used a product from this company.  Carefree has come out with a thin body shape pantiliner with acti-fresh, which is supposed to leave you with a fresh feeling! I received a pack of 20 liners to test. These liners are so thin, I didn't even notice I was wearing anything at all. Plus I didn't worry about any yucky smells. C'mon now, we all worry about those things that time of the month and just about any time we need to use a pantiliner. I admit with age and after giving birth, my bladder muscles aren't the strongest. So in addition to the other Carefree products I have used in the past, I'm liking this new product. Another great thing is it doesn't take a lot of space in a purse! I'm not sure the retail price of these but I imagine it would be in the range of

One of the first beauty box subscriptions I purchased a few years ago was Birchbox . To be truthful, I ended up canceling my subscription after three months because I didn't find the samples compelling enough to want to use any of them. After a couple of years, I decided to sign up again last August. I started watching videos on YouTube of beauty vloggers unboxing their beauty subscription boxes. I also got interested in makeup again and wanting to feel better about myself. I used to use makeup regularly when I worked but after I got married and started having children, I put that part of myself aside. It was just easier to get up in the morning and not have to bother with makeup. Now that my boys are a little older and don't need as much concentrated attention, I have time to primp in the mornings. Birchbox costs just $10 a month and comes with at least five samples. I wouldn't categorize all the samples as deluxe sized samples but you can usually get at least 2-3

So I popped into my local Marshall's the other day to see what kinds of beauty products were available. You can find some makeup, skincare and hair products at prices much cheaper than retail. I used to think some of the products were discontinued or slightly damaged. But lately there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason why you can find certain products there. Be aware, many times there are only a few quantity of each item, so don't go expecting a large beauty section like in a drugstore or big box store. The biggest disappointment for me is when I find something I might like and it looks like someone has already "tried" the product be it a swatch or actually trying it on themselves! That is unsanitary and completely gross! On the other hand, I found this little gem which was nicely sealed with no way of someone getting in the box. It is a collection of three salves (balms) from the company Rose & Co. out of the UK. It is a company created by a mothe

Wet n Wild Mega Slicks, Wet n Wild Natural Blend Lip Shimmer, Jordana Modern Matte I found two Wet n Wild lip products and one Jordana at my local Walgreens which looked interesting, and I wanted to try them. All these lip products are inexpensive and probably available at most Walgreens around the nation. The two Wet n Wild products were regular $1.79 each or 2 for $3 with the Rewards Card, the latter which you could also earn 500 Balance Rewards points. The Jordana product was $2.49. The Wet n Wild Mega Slicks  lip gloss was just okay for me. It smelled fine but when I put it on my lips, it was just too shimmery for me. Maybe if I was 30 years or more younger :) this would have looked just right for me. On the other hand, I may try to wear this over some lipstick. But this really isn't as sheer as what I would like in a lip gloss. The Jordana Modern Matte was in the color Matte Tease. It is a pretty color but other than that, I thought this was awful. It had a vanil

Here are a few products I'm loving at the start of 2015!  Stila In The Light Eye Palette, on sale $20 Stila  Stila's In The Light has been my go-to makeup palette this month! It is not new and has been around for awhile. I think that is why it's being phased out on the  Stila  website. I received this as a Christmas gift, and as someone getting back into makeup, it has been a great starter palette. There is a lovely mix of mattes and shimmer eye shadows, the latter which is fine for day wear when combined with the mattes. It also comes with a booklet showing different looks with the eye shadows. I definitely recommend this palette especially if you are using makeup for the first time or getting back into makeup like I am! Equate Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover, $3.97 Walmart I picked up this eye makeup remover after watching YouTuber JulieG. mention this as her go-to eye makeup remover. It is affordable and works well removing makeup. I use this makeup remover

Aside from makeup, the tools you use can be rather expensive especially if you are looking for long-lasting and quality brushes. I'd been hearing about the e.l.f. Studio line of brushes which are a higher end to their regular brushes. The Studio line of brushes are black handled and metal whereas the regular line is white and plastic handle. Of course the price for the Studio line is higher at about two to three times the cost of the regular line. Now before you throw up your hands and say, "I can't afford it," let me put it into perspective. The regular line costs anywhere from $1-3 while the Studio line is $3-6 on average. I had never tried any of the e.l.f. brushes but had heard wonderful things about their Kabuki Face Brush . The Kabuki Face Brush is one of those staples you need especially if you want to apply face powder flawlessly or as flawless as you can get. It is usually short with a wide soft head. According to the e.l.f. website, this brush is a synth

I couldn't help but stop in at my local CVS again to pick up a few more L'Oreal Infallible products last week. This time I got Pro-Matt Foundation in Shell Beige and the Pro-Last Lipcolor in Timeless Rose . I have not tried out the foundation yet but I have heard great reviews so I'm excited to try it out soon. L'Oreal Infallible Pro-Last Lipcolor On the other hand, I couldn't wait to try out the Pro-Last Lipcolor. This lip product is really a 2-in-1 with the lip color on one end and a moisturizing balm on the other end. I picked the Timeless Rose which is a rose color with a little bit of sparkles. I have used similar colored lip glosses, so I knew this would work for me and it did! To use the product, apply the color to your lips and let it dry for a 2-3 minutes. Then take the balm (white side) and apply it right over the lip color. I loved how the color applied on my lips and it didn't take long to dry. However, my lips felt pretty tacky and d