Something New: XC Skiing

This is my second year in Vermont and I don’t do any winter anything, unless you count starting the car while my fiancé shovel it out. Given that winters here are long and I can get a little listless, I wanted to give skiing a go.

I want to first mention that I work at a college and have been fortunate to try a lot of things for free, including: beet canning, bread making, and sausage making.

Various Workshops

When I found out about the opportunity to learn how to cross country ski, naturally I just had to! It was a bit challenging and I fell 3 or 4 times, but once I got the hang of it, so worth it! I found that the step and glide technique was harder to learn but easier to get the hang of, and double poling was more exhilarating and slightly easier to learn but harder to balance and keep up with. Overall, I had a great time and plan to do it again next week. Not sure if I’ll ever get around to any other types of skiing or snowboarding, but I am considering it.

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The only advice I really have are to bundle up, wear gloves, ear warmers or a hat that covers your ears, and just have fun with it. I stayed in the back of the group so I could practice the techniques we learned, but that was my personal preference.

Have you ever went cross country skiing? Do you have any tips? Please share!

Grasie Mercedes X Foster Grant

I have entered a lot of contests and giveaways in my twenty something years. And I mean A LOT. I’m not entirely sure why, because I never, and I mean NEVER win. However, when Grasie Mercedes hosted a giveaway for 8 pairs of Foster Grant sunnies on her blog, I just had to try my luck so I entered and prayed that I’d win.

I had wanted to start a blog for a while now and after reading the Darling Magazine post, Why You Should Start a Blog, Part I on their website, I started to believe that I actually should. I bargained that if I won the contest, then I would.

Well, obviously, I won…

Foster Grant Sunnies

Do you own any Foster Grants? What is your favorite style? Share in the comments!

A Week Plus: Yellow Blazer

I scored this Banana Republic blazer on Poshmark and although I absolutely adore it, I wish I wore it more often.

After doing a few Instagram photo challenges, I thought about some different ways I could style outfits around my beloved yellow blazer. Using Pinterest for inspiration (because, well, who doesn’t?), I came up with just over a week’s worth of outfits.

Yellow Blazer Outfits

Yellow Blazer Outfits

Want your own yellow blazer? Try this!

This was a lot of fun, and I’m sure I’ll be doing this again! Have something that you’re not entirely sure how to wear? Tell me what it is, and if I have something similar, I’d totally be up for styling it!

Twenty Something Birchbox Sample Wins

I promise that my posts won’t always be about Birchbox or even products, but I wanted to share some (twenty something, well twenty one to be exact) of the samples I’ve received, tried, and hearted. Some of them I loved so much that I purchased the full sized version from the Birchbox Shop.

Birchbox Samples
(Above brands in no particular order: Chap Stick, Evologie, Juicy Couture, Dr. Lipp, Fekkai, Ahmad Tea, Color Club, Evologie, Ruffian, Coola, Stila, Benefit Cosmetics, DDF, LAQA & Co., Whish, Vasanti, Beauty Protection, Juice Beauty, Supergoop!, and Cargo)

Find Me Some Finds

If you’ve never heard of Birchbox, you should check them out, but Birchbox can pretty much be summed up as being a monthly box of awesome (well really, four or five awesomes for only ten bucks).

I have been a Birchbox subscriber for a little over a year and have no intention of canceling my subscription. And no, they are not paying me to say any of this. Month after month, I anxiously await getting my Birchbox in the mail and trying out the samples that are tailored to me.

Thanks to the Birchbox app, you can now track your box and get a sneak peek of what’s inside. If you have Birchbox or are even just considering signing up for it, I cannot stress enough that you should really write reviews for the products you’ve sampled. Each review gets you points and points add up and can be redeemed for full sized purchases.

Every once in a while, Birchbox offers special limited edition boxes with themes like home, snow day, precious metals, etc. After surveying subscribers on what they’d like to see, Birchbox recently launched a finds themed box. Now, I personally like finds because they are typically things you can find and buy from your local drugstore. For $18 you get $55 worth of products.

Birchbox Finds
(Included: Bioré Self Heating One Minute Mask 4 Pack, Covergirl Bombshell Shine Shadow by LastBlast, Covergirl Bombshell Volume by LashBlast Mascara, John Frieda Frizz Ease Nourishing Oil Elixir, Nivea Kiss of Care & Color, Rimmel London Stay Glossy 3D Lipgloss, and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure)

Do you subscribe to Birchbox? Did you purchase the Limited Edition: Birchbox Finds box? Share you thoughts, I’d love to hear what you think! Think I should review the products in the Limited Edition: Birchbox Finds box?  Let me know!