Birchbox - January 2013

Today I am hosting a little party for some of my friends. We'll do our nails and eat good snacks and cocktails. This is my idea of a perfect party. I hope I remember to take pictures.

On Monday I received my January Birchbox. They also sent me an email this week and apparently this was my 9th Birchbox- time flies. (I got 20% off in their store to celebrate.) Each box is hit or miss- I've gotten a few things in my that I really love, some things I'll never use. But for $10 a month I'm always satisfied with them just because it is so fun to have a small well wrapped packed to open each month.

So here's this month's goodies:

This month's box - theme "Best Year Ever"

Left: DDF Acne Control treatment. I tried this on one blemish the other night. I couldn't tell if it made a difference yet. I like the idea of blending and Acne treatment with Witch Hazel to sooth. 

Right: Embryolisse: Lait Creme Concentre 24 Hour Miracle Cream- I put this on yesterday morning. Birchbox has really hyped this stuff up but so far it just seems like thick face lotion to me. I'll continue to use it and keep you posted. 

La Fresh Waterproof Makeup Remover Cloth- This was the "Beauty Extra". I'm not a fan of only getting one cloth, it makes me hesitant to use it incase I need it for another day! 

Aeire Shimmer Fragrance- I was surprised to see an Aerie (as in American Eagle's body line) product in my box. The perfume sample came wrapped in shiny material. Other than that the actual perfume is not shimmery. (That's probably a good thing.) 

To be honest, I keep all of my little perfume samples from Birchbox in a small cup in my bathroom. They are more of a decoration since I don't use perfume very often. 

theBalm cosmetics, Hot Mama- A "two-in-one blush and highlighter". I've put it on twice this week. I'm trying to get myself used to wearing blush again after not using it for so long. We'll see how I like it! I received their Mary-Lou Manizer a few boxes ago and I tried to use it but it was a failure. I think I like this little sample a bit more. 

A good box, but I don't think any of these items will become part of my favorites collection. Perhaps I'll share some of my all time favorite Birchbox Samples in an upcoming post. I should buy a few of them full sized before my 20% of coupon expires next week! 

What did you receive in your Birchbox this month? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading,

A brunchtastic weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and didn't have too much trouble getting back into the swing of things this Monday.

A highlight of my weekend was Saturday, when I went to a friend's house to have a delicious brunch with her and all of her friends. The menu included a delicious ricotta frittata, homefries, arugula salad, mimosas, and fresh bacon.

Here's my plate before eating:

To finish the brunch we also had Cinnamon-Sugar Pull Apart Bread. Click the link for the full recipe. Here are a few pictures of different parts of the bread making process:

spreading the cinnamon sugar mixture onto the dough. 

cutting the dough into strips to place in the pan. 

the finished product!

Let me tell you, that was some really good bread! I could go for some right now.  

One downfall of the weekend- I didn't have enough time to paint my nails. I have bare nails for the first time in months. But today I received my January Birchbox (what a great way to start the week). so I'll be sure to share what I received in an upcoming post. Thanks for reading! 

Presto, Pesto!

I received a food processor for Christmas and was really excited. The first thing I decided to whip up (or chop up, rather) was pesto! I saved a few pesto recipes on Pinterest and wound up using this one by Martha Steward. The only change I made was I used two cloves of garlic instead of the suggested 4. I also used pine nuts, not walnuts. It turned out great! And be warned: it makes a ton of pesto.

Next time I'm thinking of using half Arugula, half basil. Do you do anything differently in your pesto recipe? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time, 

Home Made Pop-tarts

On Sunday morning I decided to try to make home made pop-tarts. I copied two different recipes that I saw on Pinterest- and took the easier steps from both recipes. These are the easiest thing on earth to make and they taste great. (Although I'm not sure they're any healthier for you than store bought.) 

Here's how to make them.

Ingredients:

• Your favorite fruit jam or preserves 
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• pre-made pie dough 
• parchment paper
• cookie sheet

Preheat the over to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Roll out the pie dough flat and cut into equal sized rectangular pieces. You could also use a large cookie cutter in the shape of a circle, heart, etc. I just hand cut. Have an even number of rectangles: one for the top and bottom of the pop-tart. 

Place a dollop or two of jam on half of the dough rectangles. Place the other piece of dough on top of each one. 

Press a fork to the corners of each pop-tart to seal in the jam. 

Brush butter over the top of each tart, and poke several fork holes into the top for ventilation. 

Cook the tarts for 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

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This upcoming weekend is looking pretty free, so hopefully I'll have time to whip up a few more meals or crafts! 

Thanks for reading, 

New Years Eve Nails

Happy 2013 everyone! My name is Julia.

My New Year's Resolution this year was to start a beauty/food/crafting/fashion blog. I actively blog for work and NY Creative Interns, and I also have a personal blog of my own. But every morning with my cereal and coffee I love reading fashion, crafting and beauty blogs that I've found on the web via pinterest and other websites. I figured why not try? This will also give me excuse to spend more of my free time being semi-productive: trying new recipes, crafts, and beauty products.

To start, let's talk about New Year's Eve. New Year's is actually my very least favorite holiday of the whole year- but I was able to have a nice night. I saw old friends from high school and then finished the night watching the actual movie "New Year's Eve" with my family and boyfriend.

For the night I did my nails with OPI 'Lincoln Park After Dark' and had an accent nail on each hand with a coat of China Glaze 'Fairy Dust'.

Looking forward to the next post! Until next time,