Ipsy October Glam Bag Review

Hi ya'll! So finally, I have uploaded my Ipsy Glam Bag Review for October's glam bag. I am not that great at video editing or even taking videos so bare with me over the next few posts while you watch my horrendous editing and camera skills! There is a weird background noise which I am not sure where it came from and I can't edit it out without turning my voice down- sorry guys!

Image source: www.ipsy.com

So what is ipsy? It's a monthly subscription service where you pay $10/mo to receive "deluxe samples" and full sized beauty products that are selected based on your profile quiz. When I signed up for ipsy I wanted to try new and exciting type products so I chose more "edgy" type things that I liked during the quiz, but as you can see in my video some stuff I am not thrilled about.  I did figure out though if you review stuff as not liking it, it *can* help when they select your items for the next month. I think with all these "personalized" beauty services it a hit or miss type deal.


I am fully aware the new November glam bags are about to be sent out but better late than never right?

Anyway this post is short and sweet because you have (over) ten minutes of listening to me babble on below. 

Thank you for reading/watching- and a comment below!

P.S. If you want to try ipsy out here's my link: Ipsy

That time I neglected my blog...

So yeah, it's been three months since I last posted and I totally neglected this space. I keep making grand promises with nothing to back it up- and it's not like I don't actually do stuff like create videos, picture tutorials, etc. but I just don't ever actually follow through. 

I would say I am going to try harder, but alas my track record proves otherwise. So, what I am going to say is- I am going to put reminders on my phone to post. That way I can at least feel a pang of guilt when I ignore the alarm and go back to doing what I was already doing (just kidding). 

I really want a successful blog but in order to be successful, I probably should post more than once every couple of months. I mean you don't see Pioneer Woman or The Bloggess only posting once in a blue moon. Let us be real here- I probably will never equate to their following but a girl can dream. 

Anyway enough of my three paragraphs of me whining and making excuses as to why I am not here. Lets do a quick recap of what is going on with me ('cause it's all about meeee):

• I am two classes away from starting student teaching in the spring which means in May 2015- I graduate college with my bachelor's in Interdisciplinary Studies! 
• I turn 30 this month!?
• I recently started the 30 day ab challenge- I am on day 3- not that you could actually see my abs for all the fat but one day..
• I am obsessed with all things PUMPKIN as of late :)
• I figured out I really need to make "me" time and by "me" time I mean make time to post on this damn blog that I harp about all the time!
• My 5 year old is a force to be reckoned with.. Sometimes he has the attitude of a 13 year old girl,who just started getting periods!

So yeah that's a few little tidbits. I do have a vlog review of my October ipsy which I hopefully will get around to uploading tomorrow. 

Any that is all for now :)

Review on Gwynnie Bee

Hey Ya'll! I will quickly cut to the chase- below is my review for the service I used through Gwynnie Bee. First off let me say I was not contacted by them for this review- this is of my own choosing so I am being 100% unbiased and honest here :) 

From www.gwynniebee.com

What is Gwynnie Bee?  
Gwynnie Bee is a sight that's like Netflix for plus sized (size 10 and up) clothes. Basically you pay a fee a month from $35 for one item out at a time, $59 for two items out at a time, and $79 for three items out at a time. There are other higher priced and more item plans but these three are the ones offered through the trial program. 

This means if you go with one item, you wear it and return it within the week or two they will send another one out. So you can get several pieces a month (in theory) even if you do the bare minimum of $35. 

After your done with them item you ship it back in the provided bags- FREE :) 

There are skirts, shirts, dresses, pants, jackets, and shorts too to choose from. You "closet" the items you want in your size and "based on availability" will ship the items. During my trial period there was not a way to prioritize the items but you can email them to say what item you want the most. 

I have a bad habit of buying dresses and only wearing them once or twice then they sit in my closet. I try to find bargains but I know of at least three dresses in my closet that I've worn less than 3 times and paid $75, $55, and $40 for them. That's a big waste of money. So when I wanted a dress for my five year anniversary dinner I thought I would try this service out and if it was going great I would continue to subscribe to get a dress for that occasion. 

My experience:

One of the dresses I got from Gwynnie Bee

Gwynnie Bee has a 30 day free trail where you can sign up for any of the three subscriptions I listed above. I went with three items out at a time. They do charge the amount as a temporary charge that falls off of your credit card in roughly 5 days or so (I didn't pay attention and I used my bank debit card so I freaked out a little). 

So I signed up and put roughly 12 items in my closet. You have minimums to closet to ensure there is enough for them to ship from. I mainly put dresses in my closet as that was my biggest want. 

It takes roughly 2-3 business days for them to prepare shipment of the items when you first sign up and subsequently when you return items as well. 

My first shipment I had was for Easter weekend- I was super excited when the boxes came :) 
Then I opened the box and the dress I was dreaming of wearing had a hole in the back from being stretched too tight previously and the other dress was missing a belt. 

I contacted Gwynie Bee through their email about my disappointment. They quickly responded and apologized. They ended up extended my subscription by a week and upgraded me to an additional item out at a time for two weeks. 

There were several instances when something was wrong with the item like a stain, tear or missing belt. All of the times the customer rep either extended the trial period a week or gave me an additional item for a week. 

My original date for my subscription to end was May 5. After the extensions my last day on my trial ended up being June 9. As you can see there were many mishaps. During what ended up being a two month trial, I ended up with 17 items total having been sent to my house. Now to be honest, there were a few items when I got and tried on I immediately bagged them up and shipped them right back the same day.  But 8 weeks 17 items equals roughly 2 items a week but again this was using the 3 items out at a time. 

That being said- would it be worth it?
Yes if you want to have a good rotation of clothes. For me personally not really unless one day they actually have where you can prioritize your items. Well and since becoming a stay at home mom not really either, I mean I wear athletic shorts and tank tops majority of the time (when I actually get out of my sleep clothes- because right now it's 12:30 pm and I am wearing sleep clothes still haha). I liked that I could easily return things quickly and how I can rotate through clothes quickly. 

I would say try it and see how you like it as I didn't have any problems canceling my subscription. That alone makes it a great thing because that is one thing that annoys me when you sign up for trials is when you have to pull teeth to get them to actually cancel. 

Thanks for reading ya'll! 

I am ALIVE!

Hey ya'll! 
It's been over a month- I swear I haven't forgotten about my whopping TWO repeat readers (which are probably my mom and husband).. 

Anyway I am here, as the summer is winding down, I have so much to tell ya'll about. Over the next few days (I swear!!), I will be posting here's a preview of what to expect-

Key West Reviews on site seeing, adventures, restaurants and KEY LIME FREAKIN' PIE! 

My Favorite Brownie How-To Recipe! 

My IPSY July un-boxing VLOG (yes, you read that right! You get to see my gorgeous face ;) ) 

My Gwynnie Bee Review (like redbox for Plus sized clothes!)

My craft how-to's or how don'ts that completely fail! :) 

Plus more! 

SeaWorld San Antonio's All Day Dining

The Turd Monkeys near SeaWorld San Antonio's entrance :) 

Hey ya'll, it's been awhile! Today I wanted to quickly share my experience with the All Day Dining wristband at SeaWorld San Antonio. My family and I have participated in this deal a few times over the last few years and I always see posts in forums on if it's worth it or not. 

Let's break down the pricing really quick- it's $29.99 for adults and $16.99 for children. So with tax for my family of four, the total was just around $100. Sounds expensive BUT let's look at a few facts here. 

With the wristband there are several places that participate in the all day dining, I think there were around 6 or so? When you go to the dining place you get the entree, one side and one drink. This includes the children's meals as well. Let me give you a scenario, at the Shamu Smokehouse. Entrees here (and many other participating locations) include a meat item, fries and roll. So you still get another side like fresh strawberries, grapes, cakes, cookies, cobbler, etc. plus a fountain drink, sweet/unsweet tea, lemonade or bottled water.

Really quickly the average entree at any participating restaurant location is $9-$10 (before TAX). The side items are all $3.99 and bottled water or fountain drinks are $2.50-$3.00. So one meal for one adult averages around $17 or so. 

Children's meals are $6.50-$8.00 and include drinks. So plus the $3.99 side item, a total of $10-$12. 

So estimated total for my family of four if I didn't have the wristbands- $58!

And this is without any drinks throughout the day whatsoever. I see people without wristbands buying meals like this all the time. So to me it is way cheaper after just two meals and limitless bottles of water throughout the day. This past weekend when we were there, we drank over fifteen bottles of water between the four of us.

I will admit a few things here though, if we didn't purchase the wrist bands, we wouldn't get the additional sides and we would probably be using refillable water bottles. It would still be over $30 for a simple meal for the four of us and we go to SeaWorld from 9:00 am to at least 7:00 pm or later (especially during the summer night shows). 

I find it totally worth it, and some people complain about the lines and wasting time but if you go during earlier times 11 am for lunch there are very little lines on a SATURDAY during the summer! And if you hit up the restaurants near where a show is going on they tend to be less busy as well. 

Another tip- if you get to SeaWorld by 9-9:30, I would just pay for regular parking as this early in the day you will still be able to park pretty close, we always are able to park right next to the blue triangles where preferred parking starts. 

On a completely unrelated note- we are less than a week away from our vacation to the Florida Keys! Yay! 

If you are reading this blog please leave a comment- even if it's just a hello or I hate your blog, you suck at writing ;) 

Disclaimer : I am in no way affiliated with SeaWorld San Antonio, these are my opinions and I did NOT receive any of these items free or at a discounted price. I paid full price for them.  

Family Vacation

This time of year it's all about family and vacation. My family consists of me, The Husband and two boys, whom my husband refers to as "Turd Monkeys"..no idea where that came from. Anyway The boys are ages 5 and almost 9 (going on 18 some days). We have been saving up for awhile now and trying to decide where to go for vacation. We were thinking about the wonderful world of Mickey Mouse and friends but decided we would rather spend several days on the beach and not completely break the bank. 

Last year, we went to Arizona for 10 days, including 2 days of straight driving. We went with my dad and brother- let me just say 10 days with that much testosterone is probably 2-4 days too many :) Anyway we had a great time, went to the Grand Canyon, two zoos, and a few museums. 

Here we are at the Grand Canyon- My brother, The Husband (and his ridiculous hat), the "Turd Monkeys" and of course myself in all my scared sh*tless glory. 

Let me just say really quickly, I am afraid of heights. I was there for the picture and wanted to get up as quickly as possible, forget saving my children I wanted to get off that rock ASAP. My hands were sweating the whole nine yards. 

That being said, we are leaving for the Florida Keys in two weeks for a 6 day vacation- where we plan on Parasailing. Yes, you read that correctly. After my whole fear of heights, I promised the turd monkeys I would parasail with them. What can I say? I am a sucker for little boys with long eyelashes (both Turd Monkeys inherited this trait from The Husband) and pretty pretty pleases. 

I will blog about our vacation and hopefully- I will also VLOG about it as well. Yes- I said VLOG you will get to see me in all my chubby (curvy?) glory :)

The point? Yes, I know you probably read these blogs and say what is the freaking point to this, Carrie? What is it? Oh yes, it was to tell you I'm going on vacation and I will review restaurants, locations, and hotels we are staying at. Along with other random info on what activities the turd monkey's enjoyed, what they hated (let's be realistic, kids aren't going to be 100% happy on vacation- at least one disaster is bound to happen), and what I liked and didn't like and how much The Husband annoyed me ;) 

Thanks for reading ya'll! 

P.S. Like TJUKD on Facebook!

Hey Ya'll- My first How To Post!

Hey Ya'll! It seems like it has been forever since I've been on here! I was blogging daily with my green smoothie experience then I kinda stopped blogging for a week or two and posted a quick update but that's it. So I'm back :) I know ya'll all missed me- even though no one ever comments- I lurk on lots of blogs too so no worries! 

So today's blog is my first how to post! 

How To: Cut a Pineapple! 
I know you're thinking- um, I know how to cut a pineapple- boring! But I was taught this way to cut a pineapple through a high end restaurant I worked at. Why cut it this way versus just chopping off the skin quickly? 1) You save more pineapple "meat" this way and 2) It looks kinda pretty once it's all done with. I cut it like this even when I am freezing it for my GREEN smoothies :) 

So as you can see 1-3, this is a rather simple concept, lay the pineapple down and cut the top and end off.. like you didn't already know that- but hey ya'll, I gotta be through.

After all that fun, you start "shaving" off the skin. As you can see in the images, I am barely getting the skin off and it will leave the little "eyes" but trust me it will be okay here in a little bit :) 

After all is said and done, you should end up with something that looks like this- assuming your pineapple isn't missing part of itself. Please excuse the image- the only picture I took of the darn thing during this step was this one- thanks to The Husband talking to me.. husbands.. yeah.. anyway

Next you're going to take a paring knife (I even demonstrate the knife in the first picture), and make a small angled cut on each side of the eye and then remove it. Now some people cut these out by entire rows, this to me wastes pineapple in between so I prefer to do the eyes one and a time like shown- again I know time consuming but if you want to just whack that the thing and skip this all together- be my guest, I just have serious pineapple lossage issues :) 

This is what you should end up with- depending on the depth of your original cuts and removal of the eyes. 

 Here I cut the pineapple in half then at an angled cut, cut out the core of the pineapple. 

The finished product- all sliced up and ready to eat or freeze! 

See that wasn't so bad was it? Try it once and trust me it might not be the easiest but it does look pretty and you end up with much more pineapple "meat". 

Thanks for reading ya'll!