#TreatYoSelf

Ladies. It's Friday. It's probably payday (holler!!!). And it's been so humid all week a decent hair day is strictly out of the question. Ok, I don't usually care about good hair days either way, but still. In the spirit of keeping things not completely house focused over here, I thought today was just as good a day as any to tell you about my latest obsession - the PopSugar Monthly Must Have Box! And what better way to do that than to call it a new "series" on my blog so I feel some level of pretend internet pressure to keep it up in future posts?

Introducing.......  Treat Yo Self!

So I figure most everyone has tried or at least heard of the monthly subscriptions like Birchbox or NatureBox that send you a little box full of goodies every month for a fee, right? I got Birchbox for a couple years because it was only $10 a month and it was fun to see what kinds of beauty products would come each time. But, eventually I had to admit to myself that I wasn't using half the stuff - I would get nail polish colors I'll never use, face products I was afraid to try on my super sensitive skin, and teeny little samples of shampoos and body oils and whatnot that I liked but would never pay full price for. So I cancelled. I also tried NatureBox once but their customer service was so awful I cancelled before my box even showed up. The PopSugar Must Have box is waaaaaaay different, and after two months, I can't rave about it enough. 

This box is a bigger investment at $40 a month, but it's a lifestyle box that comes with full size products that are ultimately worth way more than you pay for the subscription. Here's what came in my first box in May:

I pretty much won't leave the house without the water bottle, the perfume screams summer, the skinny sticks taste just like funyuns but aren't as awful for you, and the DVD is probably amazing but I have yet to learn how to use our DVD player so you'll just have to take my word for it for now. I'm honestly too big of a chicken to sleep with the mask on (what if the boogieman comes in the middle of the night?!?!?), but I have a feeling the hubs will steal this come winter when it's dark all the time and I need to turn the bedroom lights on at 7am to get ready for work. 

And here's some iPhone pictures of June:

Seriously awesome. The lotion is bordering on decadent, the ponytail holders are perfect (and look cute on your wrist), the wipes smell amazing and are in some of the best packaging I've ever seen, the fancy beach wrap/towel feels incredibly luxe and the book is perfect for a summer read. There were also BBQ potato chips in the box but, well, I ate them all.

Besides the fact that the box that comes in the mail is huge and incredibly exciting to get, when it shows up it basically feels like getting a birthday present from your best friend full of things that she hand-picked just for you because she knows you would like all of it. You can sign up for one month to try it out or several to get a bit of a savings, but I couldn't recommend this box enough. I've justified the cost by (mostly) knocking Starbucks and unnecessary crap in the dollar spot at Target out of my spending, and you should give it a shot too!

Check it out!! And, of course, Happy Friday :)

Be All There

Well folks, I am officially the worst blogger on earth lately, aren't I? Forgive me - it's been busy around these parts! The weeks since I've written have been a bit of a whirlwind, but also strangely calming in a bit of an odd way. I think that is because I have quickly decided that I was absolutely, positively made for the suburbs. My level of love for this new home of ours is inexplainable, and a huge part of that comes from the overall feeling I get when I'm here - in our yard, taking a walk with the hubby and Buddy Louie, driving home (a whopping 10 minutes!) from work. I just LOVE it. I love that when I'm in my backyard, I feel like I live in Wisconsin, but 5 minutes later I can decide I want to be back to reality and swing around the corner to Starbucks. I love that Target is just a couple miles away, but so is the absolutely gorgeous riverwalk. A friend from my last job also lives in our town and I love every time she posts a picture on instagram of something here that I haven't discovered yet - my list of things to do and see this summer is quickly coming together!

I'll have to do another walk through the house this weekend and take more photos of our progress, but honestly, it's been a bit slower than the first couple weeks here simply because I have forced myself to just BE here and not feel like I have to constantly be doing a project. Sure, there are plenty of messes still to be taken care of, plenty of boxes that are yet to be unpacked. There's nothing hanging on the walls yet, I somehow have an abundance of end tables with nowhere to go, and truth be told - there's an entire corner of our bedroom with boxes and bins I'm just flat out too lazy to go through right now. But we're settled into actually living here, and it really is great so far.

As promised, more pictures will come, but in the meantime here's a quick recap of what we've been up to around here! 

- We bought a paint sprayer for the kitchen cabinet doors. I'm not sold on it being an incredible time savings, and I think we'll still have to do one coat of paint with a brush to get in all the little crevices of the doors. We've been using the kitchen constantly sans-doors, so I'm unfortunately not in a terrible rush to finish those up.

- Dan put in an electric fence for Louie, and it is both hysterical and AWESOME. We have it on the very lowest setting that literally barely vibrates, and our poor anxious little guy is still terrified of it. I'm still not sure on how well it will work if another dog or a stranger comes by, but we'll see how it goes.

- I scored 2 West Elm bookshelves on craigslist for $45 each instead of the retail price of $350 a pop. They look perfect in the living room and I'm in the process of planning a gallery wall for above them!

- We bought a couch! An amazing gray comfy sectional couch to be exact. It delivers next week and I am giddy excited for it to arrive.

- I have half of a whitewashed brick wall in the family room... with the rest to come as soon as I find the motivation to tackle it. This project is waaaay more time-consuming than I was anticipating, but I can already tell it will be worth it in the end. My goal is to have it done before the new couch arrives, so keep your fingers crossed for me on that one.

I'm anxious to get to a point where I'm doing more fun little projects that I can post about, rather than massive undertakings like painting the kitchen cabinets. Hopefully this will come sooner than later!