Influenster Sunshine Voxbox

It's been a while ... but I've been given the opportunity to test and review these products for influenster.

New Recipe!

Just posted 2 new recipes at Kimmi: Top Chef in the Making

Go check it out :)

Sunday Social

1. Favorite breakfast food

If I'm out and it's on the menu, Eggs Benedict or French Toast. If I'm home and in the mood, Pancakes. If I'm not in the mood, some kind of cereal lol

2. Best way to spend a free day

Running some errands if I have to, but most of all, catching up on rest, reading and my many TV shows. 

3. Airline ticket to anywhere in the world....where would you go and why?

Australia! :D I would really love to meet my bff & her little baby boy <3 My second choice would be to Texas so I can see a Dallas game live in their stadium

4. You can only leave the house with one thing...what is it?

If it's a fire or other emergency, my fuzzy babies. <3 If it's just any ordinary day, my fully loaded purse. ;)

5. How do you take your coffee?

From Dunkin, Caramel & Cream (unless I'm in the mood for Pumpkin or Peppermint Mocha). At home, it's already flavored, so just cream/milk :) 

Reveal: Julep's Cupid's Mystery Box - Pedi Box

This Cupid's Mystery Box is packed with $75 of pedi-themed polish and product, including a bottle of Aphrodite - Classic with a Twist, a rose with silver metallic microglitter.

We’ve packed three Mystery Boxes full of love this month! In addition to Aphrodite, Pedi Lover, we have Venus, Mani Lover, and Lindy, Makeup Lover. Can’t decide? Grab them all — you’ll get different polish and products in each box.

I wasn't interested in either of the "mani" box polishes (Venus or Lindy), so I went with a "pedi" box with the lovely Aphrodite polish.

Reveal: Julep's February 2014 Maven Box

I was quite intrigued by the eye shadow they had as part of the Maven box for the month. I chose the Classic with a Twist box option with the nude color for the eye shadow.

Sunday Social

1. What are your favorite things to do on a lazy day?

Pretty much nothing. I'm 100% lazy on lazy days due to my work week being so hectic some weeks; there is no downtime besides when it's bedtime. I might catch up on my shows I've missed during the week (mainly due to them being on the same time as another show I watch), read, watch random shows on TV with the parents and pretty much just chill. Since my lazy days are usually on the weekends, I still have a couple chores to do like the dishes and laundry.

2. What is your TV guilty pleasure?

I love Pretty Little Liars. It's focused towards the teens and young adults, but I just need my weekly dose of suspense and drama. Love it! And some Fridays, my Mom and I watch Say Yes to the Dress. 

3. What is your favorite road trip music?

Pretty much what we own in the house. We also have Sirius/XM, which is either on Lithium, Octane, 70's on 7, 90's on 9 or Classic Vinyl. 

4. What are your favorite magazines or books to read by the pool or laying around?

All my magazines are cooking based. Food Network, Cooks Illustrated, Cooking Club & Cuisine at home. 

5. What is your favorite snack?

Cheez-its, pretzel sticks & popcorn :)

Influenster Badge Prizes

As an Influenster, you take surveys, try out and review products, and then they review all the work you've put into your badge. I qualified and received my Colgate Slimsoft Box (reviewed here) and I worked hard to be one of the top badge holders. I was picked as one of the lucky winners to receive a years supply of Slim Soft toothbrushes (4 total) and two different Colgate toothpastes! I certainly loved the new toothbrush and I'm always looking for new toothpastes to try. Thank you Influenster for choosing me to win this box!

As for the Ponds BB Facial makeup cleansing facecloths, it was just a badge by itself, no reviews or product testing. But again, I was chosen as a winner by being in the a top badge holder!

So I tested it out. I loved the feeling it left my skin afterwards. And with having sensitive skin, it didn't break me out! So that's a huge plus for me. I don't wear a ton of makeup. If anything, it's usually just eyeliner or shadow. So to show you how well it worked:

Excuse the quickness of my eye shadow work, this was just a quick showing of how it worked. Without a lot of rubbing and scrubbing, it seemed to take all of the make up off. I also rubbed it around my cheeks and forehead, and it left my skin feeling clean and refreshed. The packaging is a resealable bag with 30 wipes. They come out of the bag with a lot of moisture, ready to go.

Sunday Social

 1. 4 Favorite bands you loved in high school: 

* Three Days Grace

* Blink 182

* Papa Roach

* Breaking Benjamin

2. 4 go to meals you’d love to learn to cook or can cook really well:

* Lasagana

* Soup?

* Tuna Cassrole

* Baked Chicken

3. 4 necessities to your daily life:

* My family & cats

* My friends

* My iPhone

* My TV shows

4. 4 makeup necessities you must have if you could only have 4 on:

* Chapstick/lip gloss

* Eye Shadow

* Nail Polish

* Lotion

Yea, I don't care too much for makeup

5. 4 favorite apps on your phone or iPad:

* Hay Day

* Tapped out

* Instagram

* Dunkin Donuts

Sunday Social

It's been awhile! 

1. Top 3 favorite kinds of food

* Pizza (with pineapples & olives)

* Pickles

* Tacos

2. First 3 things you do in the morning

* Brush my hair

* Fight for time in the bathroom

* Check my e-mails

3. Last 3 things you do at night

* Charge my phone

* Read or play some Wii

* Get snugly and ready for bed

4. 3 TV shows you NEVER miss

I definitely have more than 3 that I watch on a weekly basis & I always catch up (or try to) within a day. But my 4 current obsessions:

* The Blacklist

* Pretty Little Liars

* Sleepy Hollow

* American Horror Story: Coven

5. 3 places you want to visit

* Australia

* Texas (mainly to see the Cowboys Stadium)

* Paris

6. 3 people you can always count on

* My Momma

* My Granny

* My bffs <3

New Recipe!

Just posted 2 new recipes at Kimmi: Top Chef in the Making

Go check it out :)

Sunday Social

 1. What is your favorite holiday season tradition?

My tradition is usually the schedule we have for Christmas. We open presents here, then we start cooking for our meal (usually around 1-2pm), eat with immediate family on Mom's/my side, then around 6-7 we head out to Rob's family for a celebration there.

2. Do you have a certain holiday movie you watch more than others? If so what is it?

All year round ... Nightmare Before Christmas.

3. Show us your favorite decoration or pinterest decoration you wish you could have.

 We don't decorate much, but we do have a tree! But I couldn't pick one favorite ornament. So we have my Oriole birds, Dallas Quarterbacks, Garfield with Pooky, Disney Princesses, Jack Skellington & Cupcakes!

4. What is your favorite holiday song?

Winter Wonderland & Sleigh Ride

5. What is your favorite holiday dessert?

(Homemade) Pumpkin Pie!

6. What is on your wish list this year?

* Game of Throne books

* Pretty Little Liars Season 3 on DVD

* Scandal Season 2 on DVD

* Mario Party Island 3DS game

Sunday Social

1. What is the wallpaper on your cell phone?

Wallpaper from Cuptakes iPhone App

2. What do you keep beside your bed?

My room is small, so at the bottom of my bed is my desk. I'm also close to the wall, so there's just enough room to open the drawers in the base of my bed. So by me would always be my computer, my cell phone and other randomness I have on my desk.

3. What is your least favorite chore?

Dishes!! They pile up out of nowhere and when I don't feel like doing them, I end up washing dishes for a good 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the load and how many parts I have to wash them in. We do not have a dishwasher, and I don't like them anyway. I prefer to do the dishes by hand though; make sure they're 100% clean. (I'm a walking contradiction haha)

4. If you could eliminate one thing from your daily routine, what would it be?

My hair routine. I wish I could just snap my fingers and have it washed, blown-dry, styled and frizz free. My hair is super thick and takes forever to dry and no matter what I do, it's always so frizzy. Even when I take the extra 40 minutes to use a straightener!

5. What do you do to vent anger?

I rant about it to someone or just talk to myself (when no one is around) to get the anger out. Sometimes I have an angry cry tied into a nap or scream into a pillow. Anyway to release the anger without going off on someone is what I usually try to do. 

6. What is your favorite holiday of the year and why?

Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yummy good, good times with the family, football & presents ;)

Sunday Social

1. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Vanilla or Strawberry. It's a close call. Unless I go to Coldstone; then it's Cake batter!

2. What is your favorite smell?

Anything Pumpkin or Vanilla. Lavender always is great scent for when you're feeling sick and just want to relax. Although, I do love Baked Apple Pie from Scentsy.

3. What is your favorite TV commercial? (Past or present)

Oh jeez. This is a tough one. My favorites at the moment are the AT&T commercials with the kids. They're just so cute!

4. What is your favorite day of the week?

Saturday & Sunday. Mainly Saturday because I can sleep in, do nothing and not have to worry about waking up and go to work the next day. But I love Sunday's for Football!

5. What is your favorite way to waste time?

Sleep! And watch TV and completely veg out.

6. What is your favorite article of clothing?

PJ pants/comfy pants. I live in them unless I have to go out and do something. As soon as I get home from work and we don't have plans to go out ... I just hop in my pjs!

A Day Late: Sunday Social; Thankful edition

A day late; but I didn't want to pass on this week's question: Next Week we would love for you to just share what you are Thankful for this year :) It can be a list, a word, anything you want :) As I'm thankful for these things everyday, I never actually say I am.

* My immediate family: They keep me anchored. We're a small family of 4, but I would want us to be any different. I love my Momma, Rob (who is my step-father & loves me as if I were his own) and my Granny. The other part of my family would be my (Great) Aunt and Godmother. We see them at least once a month for holidays or birthdays.

* My fuzzy babies: Mono and Tawny are my heart. Always there and ready for snuggles and welcomes me home with meow's and purrs. Even though most of the time, they're thankful for me to come home and feed them everyday!

* My past family members: Always in my heart; I'm thankful for the memories I have of my family members in heaven. Especially my Pop-Pop & Mom-Mom. Being with me just about every day in my childhood, the little baggies I would get for going to church (always had something healthy and not so healthy; like an apple with marshmallows!!) and cooking some yummy, delicious food either just for dinner or the holidays. Visiting my Aunt & Uncle in Florida for a week was always a vacation to look forward to (mainly because we went to Disney or Universal the first part of our trip).

* My extended family: My family has grown since Rob joined our family. He has a huge family with several aunts, uncles, cousins. I miss our holidays with Grandmom and Pop; but I'm glad they were both able to make it to the wedding. <3

* My job: I finally have a real full-time job with benefits; as an Office Assistant at the Baltimore City Employees' Retirement System. It's been a long time coming, as I've been unemployed from any job (all part-time) since 2009. As well as turning 26, I was going to lose my benefits from my Mom in December. I'm just reaching the end of my 6-month probation, which means my vacation days move over for me to use haha I can't wait to see where else my job will take me!

* My co-workers: My job would be boring if I didn't have the co-workers I have currently. You're able to ask them questions without having them bite your head off, picking your mood up when you're down or stressed about work and having a good day at work while working. I couldn't ask for a better bunch of people to see everyday!

* My best friends: No girl is complete without a best friend, and I'm lucky to have two. My Sister from another time period (and bff) is Jess lives in Australia and has the most adorable baby boy; Blake, my nephew. His Auntie Kimmi loves him to pieces and one day, I hope to meet them. My bestie, Nancy, lives a good 30 minutes away and I don't see her as much as I would like. She has two Chihuahua's; Maddox and Winston. I can't wait until our next girls day; they had to be on hold since I couldn't take off of work for 6 months.

* My house & car: I'm overly grateful to have had a roof over my head my entire life. We lived at my Granny's house as a family until our house was built; I am older than our house. I still live with my parents, which makes me even more thankful to have such a close relationship with my Mom. I also love my car; it's a lovely car that gets me from here to there and always gets me back home safely.

There are more things I'm thankful for. Some are material things and others just things that I would take for granted at times and forget how lucky I am to have them. Thanksgiving is a day of thanks, but I'm thankful year round that I have the life I do and am able to wake up everyday to go out and make new memories day by day.

I hope everyone has a safe and homey Thanksgiving, full of love, family, good food and of course, football. <3

Reveal: Julep's Diamond Mystery Box

The Diamond Mystery Box boasts the best value yet. Each box is packed with $120+ worth of gorgeous nail colors and must-have beauty products, including two new diamond glitter top coats.

Sunday Social

1. Name 4 jobs you’ve had in your life.

1. Office Manager/Manager on Duty at Pinland Bowling lanes

2. Sales Rep at Bath & Body works

3. Test Monitor at Baltimore City DHR

4. Office Assistant II at Baltimore City ERS (current!)

2. Name 4 movies you would watch over and over.

1. Nightmare before Christmas

2. Harry Potter (any)

3. Star Wars (any)

4. Indiana Jones (1-3 only)

3. Name 4 places you have lived.

1. My Granny's house

2. My house

Both in Dundalk, a block apart. I'm very home-y ;)

4. Name 4 of your favorite foods.

1. Pizza with pineapples and olives

2. Pickles

3. Tacos

4. Ham

5. Name 4 things you always carry with you.

1. Cell phone

2. Wallet/License

3. Keys

4. Lip Balm/Lip Gloss

6. Name 4 places you have been on vacation.

1. Las Vegas (where my parents just came back from!)

2. Williamsburg, VA (for Busch Gardens - we usually stay for a couple of days at the Kingsmill Resort)

3. Orlando, FL (For Disney mostly, but sometimes we hit Universal/Island of Adventure)

4. Sarasota, Fl (when we used to visit my Aunt & Uncle when they were still around; usually the 2nd week of our FL adventure)

The top 3 are our usual vacationing spots. I don't count the weekend/day trips as a vacation-vacation.

Never Ever Ever Tuesday

Giving this a go ...

Never Ever Ever ...

... Will I be used to Winter weather

... Will I look forward to snow

... Will I not be a nail polish addict

I can't think of anymore at the moment ... I feel like I'm doing this wrong! haha I'll give it a try again next week :) 

Sunday Social

Thanksgiving edition!

1. Favorite Thanksgiving Memory?

Watching Football with my Pop :) And eating his yummy and delicious food. 

2. Favorite Thanksgiving Food?

STUFFING!!!!! And Cranberry Sauce :)

3. What is a Thanksgiving Tradition you and your family have?

We're pretty traditional. We go to either my Aunt's or my Granny's house, someone cooks the food (and it's usually the same: turkey, stuffing, veggies, cranberry sauce, potatoes), and then 1/2 of the family would venture off to watch some football. I'm usually ready for the 4pm game of Dallas vs whoever they play :)

4. Show us a favorite Thanksgiving picture (or 5) from years past

Getting this football :)

Granny and her pumpkin pie with a LOT of whipped cream!

5. What are you most looking forward to about this Thanksgiving?

Yummy food, Cowboys football & having our family of 6 get together again

New Recipe!

Just posted 3 new recipes at Kimmi: Top Chef in the Making

Go check it out :)

Sunday Social

1. What is currently on your wish list?

Not much to be honest. I wouldn't mind an iPad to play a couple app games I play easier than it is on my phone. But I do want an iPod Nano; so I can have a playlist at work without using up all the space on my phone. :x

2. Share a new iPhone, droid, iPad app that you have recently discovered that we all need.

It's not recent. But I love the HayDay game. So addicting!

3. What is a new fall tv show that you have added to your dvr?

I don't have a dvr, but my new favorite shows this fall are: Sleepy Hallow (Fox; Mondays @ 9pm), The Black List (NBC; Mondays @ 10pm) & Masterchef Junior (Fox; Fridays @ 8pm but this week is the finale!) I love my TV shows!

4. Share your social media links so we can follow you. (Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, etc) Tell us which is your favorite and why.

Instagram & Twitter are my most used; so I suppose those would be my favorites. I love being able to see pictures my friends post and then to be able to keep up with all my shows (news, updates, premieres) and my friends. They're easy to access on my phone and easy to catch up.

5. What is a tv show, movie, or song that you could watch or listen to over and over and never get tired of?

TV Show: Bones, Dexter, Burn Notice, NCIS, Any cooking show (Top Chef, Chopped, Hell's Kitchen etc), Pretty Little Liars

Movie: Nightmare before Christmas, House on Haunted Hill, Anything Disney/Pixar

Song: Any song by Papa Roach, Skillet, Breaking Benjamin or Three Days Grace (the older stuff with Adam though)