The Mug Collector (or some people don't even have the people skills to be a crazy cat lady)

After this post, Andy may take away my unsupervised blogging privilege. But I just got a new mug in the mail today and had to share with the world.

For those of you who don't know, I collect mugs. I like tea, but I'm too clumsy to collect teacups, which are much more delicate than mugs. Here's my proud mama post about my mug collection.

I currently own 12 mugs. I know what you're thinking. "This picture is too small, I can't see the true glory of your mugs." I agree, which is why I'm going to do a mug-by-mug post. Starting with:

This was my first mug, given to me by my mom. My mom's birthday is in March and she's had this mug for a long time. When I came to college four years ago, she gave it to me to remind me of home. And thus the collection started.

Captain, it seems illogical that we should end up on the
mug of a such an capricious human. 

This mug was bought for me by my Andy's mom for my birthday (before she knew we were dating). It's a lovely Star Trek mug-- something I love dearly. I love Star Trek TOS (the original series), and you will probably see a lot of not very veiled references to them. Do you wanna buy this mug? I know you do.

This mug is technically Andy's. She got it on family vacation in Colorado and I stole it for my then, very small collection. She loves Colorado and wants to retire there one day. (This was decided before she even knew my name I think).

This is also Andy's mug. I got it for her one day from Toyko (the Japanese novelty store, which is not-so-surprisingly very, very novel.) They don't sell it anymore, but guess who does. 

Not many people have noticed that Timon is a Jewish caricature.

This mug was given to me by my friend Rachel for a holiday that I think was Valentine's day. But to be honest I'm not sure. Correct me if I'm wrong Rachel. What's not to love about it. You can get one like it here.

Here's mine and Andy's matching cold day mugs. Mine's the one with the green (the girly one) and Andy's is the other. We usually drink snow-cocoa (Andy doesn't like real chocolate only white chocolate) out of them.  I honestly don't know where they came from or when we got them. 

Have you taken off the parking break?

Have you disengaged the external inertial dampener?

This is my other Star Trek mug. It has the a sketch of the NCC-1701 Federation Starship Enterprise. It is also quality. My best friend, Janelle, got it for me for Christmas. And I love it. You can get the same one too.

This mug was gotten for me by Andy for Hanukkah. It's a Shakespearean insults mug and it is also my prized possession. It gave me new terrible things to call people. Some of them sound vaguely like Yiddish Curses. And I appreciate that. You can get this mug from the Unemployed Philosopher's Guild.

I honestly feel no envy for Rachel having gotten a cruise and
me only getting a mug. I think I prefer the mug. 

Rachel went on a cruise in the Bahamas recently and bought me this mug as a souvenir.

Rachel also got me this one for Christmas this year. I'm particularly fond of this one, perhaps it's because of the hypnotic interior. 

Last but not least is my brand new mug! I got this one from ModCloth. And I love it more than I can honestly say.

While I was finding the sites for these, I managed to find some more mugs. Since my birthday is soon. I decided to heavily hint about getting me these:

T'hy'la Shirts Mug

Crusader Helm Mug

Supreme Court Mug

Banned Book Mug

Great Gays Mug

Henry VIII Disappearing Wives Mug

Yiddish Proverbs Mug

Movie Mug

First Lines of Literature Mug

There's my beautiful collection. If you see any particularly amazing mugs. Let me know!

Catching Up

Between Work for me and School for her, we haven't been able to do a lot, which includes updating this blog.

Well, let me tell you a secret. I told Katie. "Hey, why don't you do a little post about our Valentine's Weekend? That would be fun."

She said of course but ah that didn't seem to go as planned. So consider this a small recount of what has happen since then until now.

Picture from our outside our hotel

 So as we always do for special occasions (Anniversary, Birthday, Valentines, etc), we went to the Norman Courtyard hotel. It isn't very expensive, it's not too far to travel but far enough that we get to leave the house, and it has a Jacuzzi. (Not only does Katie LOVE Cupcakes, but I bet she would take a jacuzzi over a year's worth of cupcakes if given the choice.)

We also like this place because the very first time we stayed there, we had a rather nice/amusing interaction with the manager. Long story short, he nearly tripped over himself the entire down time we were there to make sure that we were never offended or treated poorly because we were lesbians. It was super sweet of him and made me a lot more comfortable as I was terrified that our weekend would be ruined by judgmental people. However, everything was wonderful.

Katie's New Dress (Another Valentine Present)

This stay was no different. We ate at Salt Grass Steakhouse, which was my treat, and then came back to enjoy a nice rose petal decorated jacuzzi, her treat. (I decorated the jacuzzi myself.) The funny part of it was that I had went into the bathroom to get ready to settle in and watch TV on a huge soft bed for the night, and when I returned, Katie was fast asleep. Mind you this was 8:00 pm. I couldn't believe it! But I was comforted by the fact that she was so relaxed and at ease that she could just go off to sleep. 

Target haul

As much as I like Valentine's Day, I LOVE the sales after. We got the above chocolates for only $9.95 when they were regularly $19.95. I don't like chocolate but Katie has taken to these very quickly. We also picked up this really nifty body massage thing which became hot when you bent the little metal disc inside. It was only $1.95 and felt heavenly. I believe there was also a whoopie pie mix purchased. (This is what I get for waiting to post this, I forgot the price.)

Oscars, Chocolate, and WAR decorating

 We watched the Oscars because Katie enjoys watching award shows and I was purely there for Aaron Tveit (and the various musical numbers).

I sat through horrific secondhand embarrassment for you, Aaron.

I would say that is all that we have done since Valentine's Day, but that would be lying. We do have a new addiction.

GAME OF THRONES!

After numerous sparkling reviews from co-workers and friends (and seeing the first season at a discount), we leaped at the chance to check this series out. I mean it is a combination of two of our favorite things. Her love of Medieval anything and my love of all things bloody/depressing (they usually go hand in hand).

To say we are hooked would be an understatement. We finished the first season very quickly which meant we spend several hours after that discussing and fangirling our favorite characters. It just so happened that this weekend, we found the second season at an extremely reasonable price. Monday, we had a snow day (with no snow, Oh Oklahoma weather) so we are now half way through the second season.

So sorry your life is so depressing, Jon. :(

I highly recommend the series. I told Katie that I haven't enjoyed and felt so many emotions toward so many characters since The Lord of the Rings. Really, really good stuff.

About Us

Andy noted that we should probably mention who we are. This seemed like a legitimate idea to me. And so this post was borne into the world. Through many minutes of typing and much more editing.

Andy and I are two girls who currently live in Oklahoma. Andy grew up in a very small town in Oklahoma that is best not to mention. It's big ticket attractions are things like: Big Foot BBQ Shop (in the next town over), a Civil War Encampment (Not even a battle ground, they just had a slumber party -Andy). All kidding aside, it was a very small town where the most adorable person in the history of the world was born and later kidnapped and sequestered by yours truly.

Andy went on to study Psychology, then International Area Studies, but later changed it to History-- which is a good thing, because IAS students can be a bit-- intense. The worst you can get with a History student is sobbing over dead people. She received her Bachelor's degree in 2010, and plans to go on for a Master's in Museum Studies. She likes to study War (mostly WWI & WWII, but she also really likes Korea and Vietnam, but we don't talk about those because then it just involves clutching copies of Tim O'Brien books and tears).

Crying like so.

 She also loves musicals (mostly older musicals. She really likes Top Hat, go watch it. Pretty much any film that falls under 'Old Hollywood' though is her favorite). I'm constantly in competition with Ginger Rogers.

THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO COMPETE WITH?!

Other interests include: saying "OH MY GOD KATIE HOW DID YOU HURT YOURSELF DOING THAT?", winning every single game of Risk, writing with me, being a complete hopeless romantic, and there are other things that probably aren't as integral to you knowing/understanding her personality.

I, Katie, grew up until the age of 9 in a small town not unlike Andy's. At 9, my mom and step-dad moved to Oklahoma. There's nothing really exciting about my home town. But I did grow up for the first few years of my life in a primarily Jewish community with my family. After moving to Oklahoma there were surprisingly fewer Jews (I didn't think there could be less than a few families worth).

This would've helped with my upbringing.

Unlike Andy, I came to school and knew exactly what I wanted to study-- English Education. What could be more perfect than talking to children all day about books and things? I can't think of anything. I'm currently in my forth year of education. I've completed 2 of 3 student observation periods and in exactly a year-- I will be interning at a middle or high school.

It'll be nowhere near this idylic.

That's more likely.

 I have also completed a minor in Russian Language, Literature and Culture. My interests include: Old English works of poetry (i.e. Beowulf), teaching, T.S. Eliot, Holocaust and Jewish Studies in Literature. I also love musicals, but I'm more of a modern musical gal. With love of things like Chicago, Victor/Victoria and Fiddler on the Roof. After finishing my Bachelor's (Fall 2014), I may or may not go on to receive a Master's.

Andy and I met in her senior year and my sophomore year. We hit it right off. Lot's of fun was had. And now we date and live together. And that's our story.

Julep Maven Box February 2013

I recently decided to give a new subscription box a try. I found a code that could get me my first box for $.01 (with shipping it was $4.00). I figured-- why the hell not? (If you want the same deal, type in JULEPVIP in the "code" box during checkout).

It's called a Julep Maven box. It's a subscription box that sends you 3 full-sized nail related items every month for $19.99. And I'm gonna tell you all about it, gurl.

"But if they send me things willy-nilly, how do I know they'll send me something I like?"

Because they have you fill out a "fun quiz" (I don't know about the fun part). It puts you in one of several categories: Modern Beauty, Boho Glam, Bombshell, Classic with a Twist, It Girl, and (retired) American Beauty.

You may well think I got bombshell because of the name of this blog, but a panda bear isn't a bear either. (Andy told me to inform you that this means I'm a little upset that I didn't get bombshell.)

I got Classic with a Twist.

You can change it, but I feel like that's cheating a bit.

So it came the other day, but I wanted to try the polish before I reviewed it.

It comes in a really small box so it'll probably fit in your mailbox.

Inside you get to see the trove of wonders:

Or, you know, more wrapping

Opening that up you see you get an assortment of things. I got 2 tubes of nail polish, 1 tube of cuticle oil, a sample of "The Best Pedi Creme Ever!" (punctuation and joy not mine), and two info cards. We'll start with the info cards and Pedicure Creme.

Here we've got my warm welcome from the crew at Julep. It explained everything i said up there, but also with one other important detail (for once this isn't sarcasm). Julep donates money from each purchase to different organizations that serve women through their "Powered by Girlfriends" program. These organizations are geared toward helping to empower women and young girls. If this isn't a good reason to become a Maven, I don't know what is.

Aside from that, we've got my sample of "The Best Pedi Creme Ever!". It's meant to exfoliate and hydrate your feet. Once I've tried it for a night or two, which is it's guarantee "noticeable results in one to two uses" (I'll hold you to it, Julep), I'll edit this to say whether it's worth $22 for a 2 oz bottle. (That makes this .07 sample worth approximately $.77, if you care to know.)

EDIT: This stuff is legit, one use of this and Andy's feet felt like tiny baby bottom. And they were still soft in the morning.

The card on the right describes what my style profile is (which is based of my personal style... which I would assume I would know, but you know it's nice to know they've thought these things out).

The card of the left tells me some of the extra benefits of being a Maven. Here they are:

• You can get 20% off of everything they sell in their store.
• You get free shipping on anything you buy from the store.
• You can save up "Jules" (see, it's funny because it's a unit of energy measurement) which you can use to get free stuff. Ways to do this include: signing up, referring, each box you get, buying things from the store.

It also tells me the day they start shipping their boxes (27th). 

This leaves one more card of info:

This card tells me thing the other cards already told me. The new info I receive from this card is... um... the price of the box? Generic description of what I get in the box? 

All sarcasm aside, the reason this card is included is because you can send your friends your own box if you've just decided you don't want it that month. If you don't want it that month and have no friends, you can cancel it for just that month. If you don't ever want it again, regardless if whether you have friends or not, you can cancel it any time you want no strings attached. 

On to the actual products, because I am very aware that this is super boring so far.

This is a container of their polish in Meryl. (Full Price $14.00/ Maven Price $11.20) It's a cool grey color (one I personally call Timber Wolf [growlll], whether or not that's correct-- I don't care). It went on a bit transparent at first shot, but the second coat was definitely thick enough. the second coat was also slow to dry, so I wouldn't try it out if you're planning on doing laundry soon (like me). 

This is another container of their polish in Barbara. ($14.00/ $11.20) It's purple sparkles (which Andy was thrilled with. If you look at her thumb [just the thumb] it's covered in purple sparkles). These two colors go really well together as well, so they're clearly going for a palette each time. 

This is their Essential Cuticle Oil. ($18.00/$14.40) This may be a placebo effect, but my hands actually do feel more moisturized and less dry around the cuticles having used this. Regardless, for anyone with weak nails and rough cuticle beds-- this is supposed to do the trick. 

Overall, the price on this box is $46/$36.80. Either way you save money. And I definitely did, since I only paid $4 dollars for this first box. 

If you'd like to give Julep a shot, here's a referral link. If you mosey on over there and say "oh, yeah that's right, Katie can get free stuff if I mention her as I buy this box" include this number during your sign up process: 9021705.

-Katie

Valentine's Day 2013

Katie and her Valentine

I will always be a hopeless romantic, and sometimes it is a curse. Flowers, poems, you name it, and I will try and do it. And then force myself to top it the next year.

However, since we are planning a complete Valentine's Weekend, I pulled back a little this year.

So she got:

 

Cupcakes!

 I can not tell you how many times we went to Gigi's Cupcakes last year.  Katie has a huge weakness for any sort of cupcake. So when we were shopping last weekend, I had her pick out whatever mix she wanted. At the time, I was so overcome by the mass selection of heart shaped things that I could put on the cupcakes, I didn't even think about frosting. Clearly, those yummy looking cupcakes already have frosting on them says the Funfetti box so why should I even think about picking some up?

 

Finished product

Well, because your cupcakes will look sad without it, my friends. So I had to make a homemade glaze as I attempted to make light fluffy icing but I failed horrifically at it.

Cupcake Glaze:
1 cup regular sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 stick of butter
Microwave until completely melted

So while I was working hard on trying to figure out what in the world I was going to do with my sad little cupcakes without frosting, Katie was happy watching: 

 

Say Yes to the Dress (and my decorating)

As you can see by my poster, I am not exactly the *~Girly~* type. So most of the time, Hulu is playing  Hell's Kitchen or I am re-watching Top Shot on Netflix. But it was Valentine's Day so we watched Say Yes to The Dress. (Which caused Katie to download 2 wedding apps on her new Ipad.) I think she is trying to hint at something.

But yes, after a nice take out dinner and the cupcakes were done, we opened presents.

Card and Coupon Book

 Her is my card and present for Katie. It is a Snow White themed card as she loves Disney and is a princess in her own right. Also, I bought her a Datevitation book. Which I got at a discount from Groupon (it is a fantastic site). Datevitation is a great place. You can pick from a whole number of categories like Adrenaline, Artistic, Dining In, and all sorts of other types including an ~adults only~ section. Anyway, you can pick boy/girl, girl/girl, and boy/boy as your couple to be featured in the book.

It works like a coupon book. Her very first one is 'Control over the remote for a week'. Whenever she wants to control the remote for a week, all she has to do is pull it out, hand it to me and I watch dresses/wedding/etc shows for a week. She loved it.

Poem

 I gave her a poem because, it's just what I do. I am, however, horrific at writing anything that even tries to resemble a poem so I mixed her favorite poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot, and one of my favorite poems, Rise, Lovers by Rumi.

SNOOPY!

 And then what I got! Snoopy! He is extremely soft. I have a minor obsession with Snoopy because of the connection with The Red Baron and how many military units used Snoopy in their patches during the Vietnam War.

Favorite Valentine Ever

Also, this cute little devil is from 1945 so there was no way, I could resist giving it to Katie.

It was a really nice Valentine's Day (minus lack of frosting). However, what we are both extremely excited about is this weekend. A stay at a Marriot hotel with a jazzuci room, a wonderful dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse, and then a little shopping spree is what we have in store.

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day as well!

Ipsy "Glam Bag" Review for February 2013

It's mid-month and that means one thing and one thing only. My "Glam Bag" from Ipsy comes in.

For those of you who may not know, Ipsy is one of many subscription bags/boxes that you can receive and I suggest everyone checks them out. This is my second Glam Bag so far and I'm going to let you know all about them.

Ipsy works like this:

Every month you pay 10 dollars and you receive a bag in the mail of 4-5 makeup products. Every month, the  money you spend on the bag will be at least doubled. One of the best thing about ipsy is, although everyone receives "the same thing", each person fills out a profile and it helps ipsy send you makeup that fits your skin tone. Also, while you mostly receive sample sizes-- you also get discounts during the month on the products you like-- which can end up very profitable.

Glam bag arrives in a pretty pink bag every month:

My face and my ipsy bag.

 Once you open it up, you see a makeup carrying case (you get one each month, in varying levels of adorable-- I'm not very worried about what they look like. I'm more worried about capacity and usefulness, but hey sometimes that's a deal breaker for people).

 Here's this months bag. Nice simple and shiny black. Nice size. Could probably hold most of my lipstick (most, I have a lot of lipstick). Every month has a different theme-- this theme was "Red Carpet Ready" (the themes rarely have anything to do with the items you receive).

I value this bag at about $8.
(I feel this is a fair estimate because a good bag of this size is $14 dollars or more, small though it may be.)

Let's get to the good part! What's inside of it?

This here is "pixi Flawless & Poreless: Pore minimizing face primer" it's the .5 oz size. Good news for those of us with sensitive skin, it has not irritated my skin in the last 10 minutes I've had it on. It's also oil free, hydrating, hypoallergenic and for all skin types (the bottle tells me). It's supposed to be in translucent (the only color sold). I'm a mid-range pale, white girl. It doesn't stick out on me (not that I'm sure it matters-- since you cover it with foundation). That being said-- I can't speak for someone of darker skin tones-- it does come out looking fairly creamy.

Also, it smells like cake-batter to me. I asked Andy what it smelled like and she said it smelt weird "like old paper" and I had her smell my other hand (to compare) and she replied "ah... no that's just you". So I think it smells like cake-batter (but that just be my "weird old paper" aroma).

A 1 oz bottle is $29.00 (both at Target and Pixi website), I feel justified in halving that (to match .5 oz) and valuing this at: $14.50.

This is POP Beauty's "Smokey Lash Kapow!!!" in No. 1 Smokey Black (only color). This bottle is .17 oz.

From looking at it, it looks like it doesn't clump much and it's super dark. Having tried it on, (I have dark eyelashes as it is) it doesn't really have much effect. There are better mascara's out there (but for someone with super fine, super light eyelashes--this would probably be great).

I found a package of this size, 2 for 10.00. I value this at: $5.00.

Also it has a ridiculous name, which is really it's own reward.

My bag also came with a pack of four of Lash Card's "Mascara Shields". 

These have apparently been all over the place in fashion magazines. Apparently Glamour did a whole thing about them. They seem handy enough, for someone like me that struggles just managing to hold the wand and not obstruct my view of the lashes, these may or may not come in handy. But I also struggle with not getting the mascara all over my eye when putting it on (this makes me sound completely incompetent like those people on infomercials). I promise I can and do put makeup on to a successful effect. That being said- I can see how these come in handy. 

Doing the math (one package is 10 cards at $7), I value this at: $ 2.80.

This is MicaBeauty's gel liner in black (they have five other colors). Gel liner has always intimidated me (see above section on my clumsiness with things near my eyes). But so did liquid liner until I found just the right way to apply it. This would require a liner brush (something some people don't have or know how to use), but it's also great for when you're trying to do twenties style make up (trust me on this-- makes the best heavy twenties eyelid). And this is high quality mineral makeup. 

The bottle you can buy online is $35.00. It comes with a (rather low quality, but effective) brush. and has maybe (can't be sure) double the amount. I would say this bottle is worth at least: $15.00.

This is Coastal Scents "Glitz & Glamour" Eye Shadow Sample Set.  There are four colors here: Candelight, Gunmetal (which Andy appreciates, I'm sure), Incognito, and Ashen. While you may not be able to see the colors clearly here, this is a dark neutral palette (grays, silvers, blacks). Which is nice-- anyone can use it (though they do send it to you based on your palette needs-- so there was one with yellows and things). Always good to know what you're getting into before you buy a big version of it. Is the eye shadow poorly made? does it stick for next to no time? are the colors vibrant?-- these sorts of things are things you want to know before you invest in a $10-20 palette that you hate. 

This is a "create your own palette" creation. Each color is $2, I'm not going to include the price of the actual palette holder (which is $4, if you care). 4 colors at $2 a piece. I value this at $8. 

Like I said before, you get discounts from the brands included in the bags (varying). But when you think about the fact that 20% off the Pixi primer is 6 dollars-- that's a pretty good deal. Not to mention you don't necessarily have to buy what you received in the bag. If you hate Pixi's primer, but love their eye shadow-- you can use it on that instead. 

Overall, this ipsy bag adds up to at least $53. And that's without including the savings you can get from the discounts included with the subscription. At ten dollars, this is a pretty good deal. I've seen bags worth a lot more. 

Also, it's always nice to get your ipsy bag as a little mid-month surprise to perk you up. 

If you would like join Ipsy and get your monthly bag, you can go here. 

--Katie