Sunday, September 21, 2014

Arianna Huffington Quarterly Box Review #ARI01

Yay, it's here! The first Arianna Huffington curated Quartery Co box has arrived! Arianna Huffington is the President and Editior-in-Chief of Huffington Post. She is a very influential and powerful woman today. As an avid reader of the Huffington Post, I was definitely intrigued and excited when I heard that she was going to curate a box for Quarterly Co.

For her first box, she curates towards one of her mother's favorite sayings of life: “Don’t Miss the Moment.” Here is what my box entailed:
"There are very few worldly signals reminding us to slow down, push the world away, unplug and recharge."
Thrive by Arianna Huffington hardcover w/ post-it notes full of annotations. I love that this is annotated by her. I'm looking forward to reading this. Retails $26
Perpetual Shade custom sleep luxury eye mask: 100% silk fabric and filled with 100% lambs wool. I'm not one to wear eye masks but this sure is a fancy one! I'll likely be swapping this. Retails $69
Braun Travel Alarm Clock: I haven't had a physical alarm clock since high school. I wouldn't be able to get through life in a timely manner if it wasn't for the alarm on my cell phone. It's actually a good idea for me to have one of these now that my iphone is on its death bed and I'm in limbo on my next phone. Received in grey. Retails $35.
Aveda Stress-Fix Concentrate: Roller ball filled with stress releasing essential oils of lavender, lavandin and clary sage to be used on your pulse points. I love anything with lavender and immediately swiped this on my wrists! Retails $24 each and received 2!
Headspace: one-month access pass to the meditation app (which is actually free to download for iphone)
Mother's Little Helper by David's Tea: Caffeine free and made with chamomile, peppermint, and lemongrass to provide tranquility. I've recently started getting into different teas so I'm excited to try this! I grew up on black tea only so trying teas with different flavors is new to me. Retails $7.50 each and received 2!

This box was originally $50 a box, but later was increased to $100 due to the contents. I purchased mine at the lower price and Quarterly Co. continued to honor the price after the increase. This box's contents totaled $193, twice the price of its cost!


Quarterly Co. provides curated packages from people you care about. You pick a cultural icon curator, they pick out unique items, and you receive cool handpicked stuff with a personal note.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Keeping Resolutions Update #6

Here's another great update on my resolution. I hit the 50% completion mark!
Almost there!

Monday, September 1, 2014

Goodbye to Long Locks

Another thing off my summer bucket list completed. Last weekend, after a long awaited appointment, I finally did it. I chopped off my hair!
I said goodbye to my long hair and decided to go big with a makeover! Summer may be coming to a close, but I still went short and light anyway. I've never done something so drastic and never have I colored my hair. I will admit that I had quite the anxiety attack up till the sound of the second snip of the scissors on my ponytail. After the ponytail was gone, I left my look into the hands to my great hairdresser and closed my eyes and let her do as she pleased. My only requests was to not go shorter than my shoulders. I also showed her some mid length inspirations that I had with ombre and balayagel colorings. I was shocked and extremely delighted to see what she did!
It's been a week and I'm still super obsessed with it! This hair honeymoon phase will not be over for a good while.

With that much length taken off in one big swoop, I did the only thing logical. I donated it. I spent quite some time doing my research and came across many organizations that ask for hair donations. Here's my quick summary and two sense on each:
  • Locks of Love - 10 inches minimum. Donates and sells hair to children primarily with a medical condition called Alopecia Areata. 
  • Pantene Beautiful Lengths - 8 inches minimum. Donates hair to women with cancer.
  • Children with Hair Loss - 8 inches minimum. Donates hair to children with hair loss.
  • Wigs for Kids - 12 inches minimum. Donates hair to children with hair loss.
  • Wigs 4 Kids - 10 inches minimum. Donates hair to children with hair loss.
Originally, I had planned to donate to Locks of Love (again) thinking the hair becomes free wigs for kids with cancer. This is the one organization I think almost everybody knows about. If you ask anyone about hair donations, the one thing they all consistently say is "Locks of Love gives to kids with cancer." I found out that not only was it not really free for most, it also didn't go to kids with cancer necessarily.  After reading this article on Locks of Love, I started to research all the organization for hair donations. Many indecisive thoughts later, I decided to donate my 12 inches to Pantene. The idea started to resonate with me more on donating my hair this time to another adult. I was happy with my decision and happy to finally have made up my mind.
Off to a better place...

If you're considering to make a hair donation, do your research and choose the organization that's right for you.

Keeping Resolutions Update #5

I did it! I biked my way out of New Mexico! I gave myself a short term goal to get back on track with my resolution of biking the distance of Route 66 by getting through the longest state before September. Happy to say that I got those miles completed in the nick of time. In August alone, I biked 359.5 miles.
At 1202 miles, I'm almost half way through. Still have some catching up to do, but at least cutting my gap to less than 20%. If I keep this up, which I sure as hell will be trying, I'll be able to get through a state each month in time to complete my goal by the end of the year.