Birchbox April 2014: Rainy Days.

When I got the confirmation that my Birchbox was ready on April 04, 2014 I was excited because I thought that I was going to get my box earlier than I did last month. Boy was I ever wrong! I waited, and waited, and waited...for the WHOLE month. I thought that if I didn't get my box today, I was going to write them for sure to tell them that I was charged for a box...but I never got mine. When I saw a pink Birchbox Box in my mailbox, I smiled...but was slightly disappointed, because although I was happy to FINALLY receive it, I didn't understand why I took SO long. I hope that it doesn't continue to take so long...last month I got it on the 25th of the month...this month on the last day of the month. Not cool.

Anyways, after that small rant...here is my box! I FINALLY got it...and I hope that it holds a lot of fun stuff that I can actually use! :)

Oh, how cute...it's a light blue color this time. Fun color...well, I guess the theme would be Rainy Days...sucks that April is gone now...I hope it doesn't rain in May...at least not as much as it did this month!

Fun surprise under the greeting card thingy! A tip for a rainy day. Sure would have been nice if I got this a little sooner, then maybe I would have been able to put the tip in good use. We'll see what tip they gave to me at the end. :)

Well, here is my first glance at what is inside. Hm...I was REALLY hoping for nail polish. *sigh* What is that food thingy?! I have to say thought it smells pretty wonderful in here! Whatever is in here sure smells wonderful. :) Bummed that there is no full-size...AGAIN. Unless you count the food thingy...which I don't.

Again, I am disappointed because the rainy days of April is now done. "...April showers may bring May flowers..." well, at least I hope that there will be more flowers this May...tomorrow. Maybe it just takes forever for me to get my box because I live so far away?! Hm...sucks.

So here is a list of the goodies that I got in my box. Hey look at that!!! I think the Color Club just might be NAILPOLISH! YAY! :)

So, I am going to open the small gift box thing first. I think boxes are just so cute! :)

Oh yay! I did get nail polish! YAY! Looks like a pretty shimmery one too! :) I am going to have to paint my nails soon to try this color out! And I can always do with some eye liner...! It looks a little small, so if I like it, I might make the eye liner one that I put in my bag to bring around with me if ever I need a touch up or something.

Well, this looks like a healthy kid of snack. I'll try it...hopefully its good...looks good. :) This probably a full-size bar thingy...so I guess I can't really complain that there isn't any full-size product in this box...*rolls eyes*

So, THIS is what is making the box smell soooo good! Another little sample to carry around with me. Yay! :)

I am SUPER excited to try this little sample! The last time I got something from this brand I absolutely loved it! Plus it says that it can do a lot for my hair...so this is good. :)

Well, now onto seeing what my tip for "this" rainy month is.

Pointless. I already bought myself an umbrella EARLIER this month. But hey, "head online and shop..." doesn't sound so bad. :)

Well this little Aces card was also with the tip. Hey that's a cool idea! Will I be able to rack up that many points?! We'll see. 

Overall, I guess I'm just neutral about my box. I'm not sure what all the hype is about this box subscription...because so far I haven't been knocked off my feet with it all. But it's always fun to get something in the mail...and hey look I did get nail polish this time round! :) And I am pretty excited to use the detangler and the sample perfume smells amazing! :) 

Hopefully, I won't have to wait so long for my next box. If you would like your own subscription to the box please use this link so that I can get some Birchbox points! Thank you!

"It all comes down to the last person you think of at night. That's where your heart is."-anonymous

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Happy Birthday, Mandy!

I am so blessed to have this wonderful, big-hearted, amazing person in my life! She is one person that I can honestly say that she is beautiful inside AND out...and she will go the extra mile for you while giving you the shirt off her back and the last cookie in the jar.

Thank you for the fun time we have had together...the memories we have made so fun...and just being there for me. I love you, Mandy!

Happy birthday, Mandy!

Early Celebration.

I had SO much fun! So, my sister and I had not dressed up together in such a long...and just getting ready for this tea time with Amanda and friends was so much fun! Amanda and everyone else met up at the tea place...so my sister and I got ready at her house. Our tea appointment was at 3:pm...and my sister and I started getting ready at 12:30!

I was cracking up because Neal was like "What time are you two leaving...?!" And we told him that our appointment was at 3pm...and he was all like..."Then why are you getting ready SO early?!" *laughs* I remember those days where we would take forever to get dolled up to go out...and I miss it. It's a lot of fun trying to figure out what we were going to wear...our accessories, our make-up, our nails, our everything!

I will say though, Neal was a trooper through  it all since he was sick...and he helped keep DollGirl occupied while we got ready...but I didn't mind her getting ready with me. She is so much fun to have around...she is in awe with everything we do! I love her so much!

My sister braided my hair, and while she was braiding my hair, DollGirl came and gave me my iPad (which she knows she is not allowed to play with unless I am there with her...) and sat on my lap...so we took pictures together...I love how she can make faces with me! I love her SO much!

I did attempt to curl my hair...but yeah right...there is TOO much humidity here to keep the curls! *laughs* But at least I tried...and it look cute while it lasted...all the 10 minutes! *laughs* I had a friend who did her hair really cute, and so I asked her if I could copy her hair style and she said yes, so I had my sister help with the hair style that I wanted...basically braid half my hair to the other side and let my hair cascade down on one side. I think that it turned out really cute. :)

So, here is my sister and I all ready to go. I adore my sister's dress! It's so her! And her pearls are a good match! I didn't want to wear too much jewelry and I'm kind of bummed that you can see my earrings...but they matched my dress...and I wore gold bangles on my other wrists. 

My sister and I ended up going there a little bit earlier than everyone so that we can get everything ready. My sister ended up getting her a lot of tea stuff...and Amanda's favorite tea, Lady Londonderry. I got Amanda...well, I didn't get her anything! *laughs* I made her a birthday card with a coupon telling her that she can choose her very own tea cup and saucer from Tea at 1024 where we had her tea party! She had a lot of fun choosing her teacup...there were a lot of cute ones! :)

I love this tea place because you could choose your own teacup to use...and I usually get the same one...it reminds me of a princess. *laughs*

The service was amazing...and she didn't mind taking the millions of pictures that we asked of her to take of us! :) Conversation flowed very easily...and I think that we all had a wonderful, fun time. :)

I'm glad that Amanda had fun...and I'm glad that her friends came...we all had an amazing time...and I would definitely hang out with this wonderful ladies again! :) 

"Happy [Early] Birthday, Mandy! I love you!"

More tea.

It is so good to be reunited with my sister and her family. I love them so much and I can not even express how much I am glad that we are all here together. Even though I do get homesick for California, Hawaii is my home now...and with my sister (and her family) and my brother (and his amazing girlfriend!) here...it makes it easier to adjust to make this place my home. It's been nearly 3 1/2 years since I moved here...and I know that I wouldn't have lasted without my ohana. I love them.

I missed them when they were gone...but now that they are back, I feel more at ease. Look what they brought me back!

I miss Trader Joes! I super miss that store! That is one store that I took for granted when I lived there. I wish that they would bring a Trader Joe here. I have already tried the Pomegranate White Tea, and we may have a problem. I can fast see that that tea will be a top favorite of mine! It is soo yummy! My sister loves it as well! So now I know that whenever anyone asks what I would like from California...Pomegranate White Tea will definitely be on the list! Actually everything that you see in this picture will be on this list...with Jelly Beans of course! I love Jelly Beans! :) Cookie Butter is SOO yummy! And the cookies that make the Cookie Butter, Speculoos...are just as yummy! And I will NEVER say no to chocolate or coffee...so together...oh mandope! So onolicious! :)

So, my sister and I went out to find something for Amanda, since it will be her birthday on Monday...and I ended up going "tea-happy!" I love tea. Have I ever mentioned that before?! Well, yes, I love tea. :) I already knew what I want to get for Amanda...I was helping my sister find something for her...but I think that Amanda will like what we all got her. And plus...I know that she is a tea drinker...so she knows that I will buy all the tea...*laughs* and I will share with her. :)

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. My sister has planned to go out to our favorite tea place for Amanda's early birthday celebration...I can't wait. I'm going to dress up...we all are...we invited some of Amanda's friends to...so this is going to be fun.

DollGirl loves sitting up on the kitchen bar with me...and I love how Ginger joins us now too. :)

I am so glad that my sister and everyone is home. It kind of sucks though because Neal and DollGirl are sick...I think Neal has it worse though...so hopefully he gets better soon. I tried to give him tea, but really doesn't like tea...and DollGirl ACTS fine...but trust me, since I got here yesterday...I have been changing some VERY special diapers of hers! *laughs*

But it's so good to see them again. I love my family!

"Sometimes the strongest people are the ones who love beyond all faults, cry behind closed doors, and fight battles that nobody knows about."-anonymous

Reunited.

Yay! They are back...and they even brought back someone who I missed a lot! They brought Ginger back with them! :) My sister and her family are back...I am reunited with my DollGirl!

As I am typing this, Ginger is looking at me, wanting to come up on the couch and snuggle next to me...but my sister said that she isn't allowed on the couch. Wait.

Oh okay, I just moved to the ground and now she is next to me. I missed having a dog in my life. Don't get me wrong, I still love Ciccio so much...but now there are two of them...and they have each other. :) I was so excited to see my family again.

DollGirl doesn't use "regular" blocks...NOPE she uses daddy's soda pop cans! I love how Ginger is good with DollGirl. She is pretty patient with her...so that's good. DollGirl is at that stage where she pokes everything, so we are trying to teach her to not poke Ginger...or take things from her when she is eating. But they get along really well together. :)

Oh, this girl, how I miss her. I think that she will have super long hair like me. Look at her...she was born with a LOT of hair...and it just keeps growing and growing! Looks pretty straight too. She loves playing with my hair...

...and she loves playing with Ginger. At the moment...I am content. :)

"To be in your children's memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today."--Anonymous

Stand in the Rain.

I was tired of looking at ugly nails...so I took the time to make my nails pretty again. :) It's been raining a lot lately...and although there was no thunder or lightning...I miss it. I decided to make some lightning on my nails. I used the same technique that I use when I do galaxy nails...

I absolutely love how they turned out! I really love the nail polish pen! It really made the lightning easy to do...and I love it! :)

"Stand in the rain, stand your ground, stand up when it's all crashing down."-SuperChick

HBD, M.

HBD, M.

Pineapple.

I love it when people take the time to make others smile. I try my best to do that. I mean, a small act of kindness is all it can take to make someone smile. :) So, I mention to one of my parents that I love pineapple...so look what she brought me!

It smells soooo yummy and YES I already opened it and it was sooo sweet. I will be adding it to my smoothies thats for sure! Thank God for wonderful parents! :)

"Make each day your masterpiece."-anonymous

Easter Nails.

Well, it was about time I redid my nails again! In honor of Easter, I did my nails as Easter Eggs! Bella chose the colors again and I decided to use the nail polish pen that my friend Jackie gave me for Christmas!

OoOoO! I think that I have a new favorite pen! *laughs* It was so easy to use the pen...and a lot fast than a brush, but I think that I won't use it as much...but it sure did speed things up! *laughs*

"It is easier to build up a child than it is to repair an adult...choose your words wisely."-anonymous

How Sweet.

This week was pretty draining. A long week...not necessarily a "bad" week...just a long, tiring week. I'm so glad that it's Friday...that's for sure. And with my sister not being here...I'll stay home...and work for Passion Roots.

But LOOK what I found when I was pau with work and was walking to my car!

Someone left flowers on my windshield! I wish I knew who did it so that I can thank them! But that was really sweet...we all know that flowers make me happy! So to the sweet, thoughtful person who left these on my windshield, THANK YOU! You made me smile. :)

"Someone you haven't even met yet is wondering what it'd be like to know someone like you."-anonymous

Sibling Day.

How sad is it that I didn't even know that sibling day existed! But now that I do...I can do something about it! :) 

I am a middle child. And I wouldn't change it ever. I have an amazing, talented older sister and smart, hard-working baby brother...and I am SO blessed to have them in my life.

I love you, Ate ko! I love you Ading ko!

Happy birthday, Sister!

When I was still in the Philippines, I made this for my sister. And I found it when I was looking for pictures to honor my sister's birthday! She is not here at the moment, so I think that it's appropriate for the situation. :)

I remember this day as if it were yesterday! It was taking during a wedding of our cousin more than 5 years ago! I remember because I had come home for a summer and I remember telling my sister that I didn't have anything to wear for the wedding...and my amazing, talented sister MADE THE DRESS THAT I WORE! And I loved it! She also made the dress that she wore. Like I said, she is amazing AND talented! :) (Whoa, look how TINY my bag was!)

Happy birthday, Ate Ko! I love you. Through out the years this girl right here has been there for me. Yes, when we were younger we weren't the "best of friends"...but because of all those arguments that we had, we are now stronger right now. I love her to the moon and back...and she is the best. She is MY sister. 

"Happy Birthday, Ate Faith. I love you!"

AHHH! OMG!!

So, I came back to the windward side with a sad heart because I know that my sister and her family is on the plane on the way to California. I wish I could go with them...but this is good...I want DollGirl to get to know her family in the California. I'll always have them in my life...and I am so blessed that I was able to grow with them, and so I know that no distance or time can break the bond that I have with my family there...so, now it's DollGirl's turn to make memories with them.

But I couldn't go straight home, I had went to the studio to help Ed organize the studio...speaking of which, I need to take pictures of the place...it's starting to look really, really nice! Ed did an amazing job! But as you can imagine I was tired after a long, emotionally draining weekend...and I wanted to take a shower before I go to sleep...but guess what I found in my shower?!

A CENTIPEDE! 

Now don't get me wrong...I'm not deathly afraid of centipedes or anything...nothing like I am with spiders...but it is a shock to see one...and I can feel myself starting to fear them! But I can not! But their legs! Ahhh! I nearly had a heart failure when I saw this little...no HUMONGOUS creature walking around in my bathtub! AHHHHH!!!!

I ran upstairs and got Amanda...good thing she was still awake! We got some bug spray and ran back down stairs to spray the thing...but as we were staring at it...it was going down my drain! How was it fitting through the tiny holes that I had in my drain...and I didn't want it to go down...because it was getting away! Ahhhh!!!!

So I sprayed that sucker...hoping that it will kill it soon! Then I turned on my water to drown the thing. A few minutes later we come back to find IT FLOATING IN MY TUB!! Oh my goodness....another near heart failure! It had drowned.

It took awhile to get my nerves up to take a shower in my shower...I couldn't stop looking at my drain in case another one came up. Oh goodness...what a day! *laughs*

"Let it be known to everyone who knows you that you're happy because you choose to be."-Abraham Hicks

Fun Day.

Today was fun. It's been awhile since we been to the beach...and today we went to Manana Beach...and sucks so bad that I didn't get a picture because the water was beautiful! I was too busy playing in the water...oh how I love that water! :) I wonder what it would be like if I really were a mermaid! I guess I'll never know! But I can always imagine!

Well, this is the last weekend that I'll see my sister and her family for awhile. Even Tracy and Kaleo...and so I'm trying to make the most of it. It's good that we went to the beach today because I'm not sure that they will be able to get to the beach in California...but I know that Tracy and Kaleo will be able to go to the beach in Japan...Kaleo has to swim in his Strong Man race after all!

Yesterday night, Tracy threw a small birthday dinner for my sister since we all won't be together for her birthday. I love when Tracy cooks...she is an amazing cook! She made her tostado's...YUMMY! I don't think that I spelled that right! But trust me, it was yummy. *laughs* Jeremy and Amanda also came over...so it was good to have all of us together. I hope we have more Friday night dinners... I miss those.

Every morning that I am here...this little DollGirl loves to look at my itouch! After giving me her "two toys"...she goes for my itouch...I have to sleep with sound...and so I have an app for a sound machine on it...so she is mesmerized by it, I guess. :)

Then we snuggle together and make faces. Exactly like this every morning that I sleep here. I can get used to this. Sometimes I just want to sleep in during my weekends...but she changes my mind every time. How can you have a bad day after this?!

So, today before we went to the beach was a bit chilly so my sister asked me to dress DollGirl up. She usually runs around the house in only her diaper...and sometimes some "bibidies"...(underwear)...and if I know that we won't go anywhere for awhile, I let her choose what to wear...look what she chose!! She is SOOO silly! Those are long socks that she wanted to wear! *laughs*

AND she is stepping on my water bottle! *laughs*

Today was a fun day. I can't wait until we can do a day like this again. Life is ALWAYS better at the beach! *laughs*

"And at the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy, and your eyes sparkling."-Shanti