Subscription box reviews

IPSY- (after this post I will try and add each box/bag monthly, but for right now I am just going to do an overall review)

So the first subscription I am going to review is Ipsy, it is only $10 + tax a month with free shipping and you get awesome products every time in a VERY cute little bag! Ipsy sends you TOP brand beauty items such as Smash Box, Urban Decay, Michael Todd, Benefit and more! Each month you get 4-5 items some are deluxe sample size and some are full size and they always come in a different cute little bag that zips up.(Kind of like a small make-up bag that is great for saving and using to put small sized gifts into for people, the patterns are always super cute!!) I am a pretty picky person especially with beauty products and I have been very pleased. I know people get stuck in a routine of buying the same thing/brand every time so this a great way to try new products you like for a very small price!!  Copy and paste this link to sign up!!( I need to figure out how to make it clickable) http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-hcjpzb8ksk2z84v Anyways, this is the cheapest subscription I have and is my favorite one to get!! For only $10 a month this bag is a MUST!! I will post some pics of recent bags!!

May's Ipsy Bag

June's Ipsy Bag

July's Ipsy Bag

                            

As you can see, the bags come with products that are great brands! I love that they are always giving out a variety of items, I have gotten nail polish, blush, lip stick, lip tint/stain from benefit, eye shadow, hair product, tinted moisturizer and more! So far I have been getting Ipsy bags for about 6 months and have not been dissapointed yet! One more thing, on Ipsy's website they have a beauty blog type thing where people can share how to use the products, and different beauty ideas, it's pretty cool!! You also get a coupon each month to buy more of the brands you received items at a discount! :)

KIWI CRATE is an arts and crafts box that comes for your kids. My kids LOVED it and look forward to getting each months and making the crafts together as a family. So far the crafts have been really unique, fun ideas that I would never naturally think to do on my own such as making your own paper, making nests out of yarn and glue, stamping paper bags with clay, a stamp and flowers and leaves and whats really cool is they give you a flyer with more fun ideas for crafts with stuff that you may have laying around the house. 

There are no words...

First of all excuse the poor picture quality, we brougt our big Canon out here so we aren't able to get th pictures off of it until we get home so I took these with my iphone of the screen of the Canon camera..ha, so sorry. I would say that I will edit them all when I get home and ad the new ones but that will probably never happen so these will have to do. 

       I have taken SOOOOO many pictures since I have been here so it was hard for me to think of a "theme", if you want to call it, of pictures to upload today. I decided to go with raw, uncut, sad , REAL pictures of what is going on EVERYDAY not only in India but all over the world. The pictures of the children along side some pigs estanding in piles of trash and sludge and human feces, yes that is where they live. Tarps for roofs, various types of unstable, unsanitary and unfathomable floors that they sleep, play and LIVE on, on a daily basis; sheets for walls, no toilets and the list goes on. What makes this particlular situation so sad is many of these families did not foolishly waste their money away on drugs and alcohol, they are not too lazy to work, they are in a "class", NO I take that back they are BELOW all casts in India. They are also called the "untouchables" and when you google Dalit this is how they are described: Not to be touched, out of reach, unobtainable, loathsome or unpleasant to the touch, a member of the class that is excluded from or considered unclean and defiling, beneath all four Hindu Castes. Due to the discrimination they face on so many levels-almost every level infact, they do not have access like others to education and medical facilities and cannot live or work where ever they please. Things are VERY rough for them and what shocks me the most is their endurance, the smiles on their faces, their love for eachother. Many people are so focused on the racisicm of the past that we forget that it is still going on today, within a society shunning their own people. Why is my typing so small now?? what on earth? 

This is an interesting page I stumbled upon when reading about them: I still am really bad with this blogging thing so yu probably are going to have to copy and paste the link, I need to take a class when I get home on how on earth to be at par with most 8 year olds on computers these days :)

 http://navsarjan.org/navsarjan/dalits/whoaredalits

Here was another quote I read on National Geographic website: "More than 160 million people in India are considered "untouchable" - people tainted by their birth into a caste system that deems thrm impure, LESS THAN HUMAN." <--------- OKAY that is what blows by mind! It all makes me absolutely ILL but Less than human!?!? Who is anybody to make such a decision? Have you seen the precious faces on these amazing Dalit people? I truly have never met such respectful, friendly, intelligent people in my life. They are eager to help you, eager to please, EXTREMELY respecful and kind and VERY intelligent, when I was working with the students we were all absolutely blown away with how brilliant these children are, many in which have had little schooling up to now. Moral of my story, if you think you got it rough, most likely someone always has it worse. I was all up in arms before we left out here because I couln't find my favorite mechanical pencil, the right shade of lip stick and if my sweet peas would die when I was gone, well you know what, I need to get over that! I need less, my kids need less, we all need less! Bada-bing bada-boom-spring I mean summer/fall cleaning donation hall when I get home-for REAL!

DON'T worry folks, I will post some cute smily face children tomorrow and some happy times, I won't post sob stories every day, but this is real, I am seeing it with my own eyes, I am not exeagerating and I am going to keep spreading the word and keep it coming. We gotta make a difference people, we need to leave a beter world for our children! The ONLY thing that gives me peace in this nutso world is my man Jesus, because I worry about the world, my kids, my families health, and 8764876 other things, if I didn't have Jesus I swore I thought our plane was going to crash on th way over here and my kids would have no parents SOOOo what I say OVERRRR and overrr in my head is GOD is in charge and a verse I can't live without and my lovely mom reminds me of constantly:

Philippians 4:6-7

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

SO thats all folks! Tomorow is the last day we see our amazing children until our next excursion out here so I am going to be sad but I know Jesus will be watching over them so I will pload some fun happy picture of all the ridiculously cuteeeeeee amaiznf special kids!!!! I am falling asleep...good night! 

ps...soory for all my typos and typing errors, I am tired and on 12 hr time difference and figure that you will catch my drift ;)

This is an interesting page I stumbled upon when reading about them: I still am really bad with this blogging thing so yu probably are going to have to copy and paste the link, I need to take a class when I get home on how on earth to be at par with most 8 year olds on computers these days :)

 http://navsarjan.org/navsarjan/dalits/whoaredalits

   One of the many beggers that come to your car window and do not leave, they tap on your window, many with injured babies and very sad situations. 

There were many pigs, wild dogs, chickens, cows and who knows what else partaking in the sludge pile where the families live. They have to eat too right? Jeez louise

At one of the 40 schools built in the last 5 years by OM, these children came from the slum villiages pictured above and as you can see they are in their uniforms, proud, eager and ready to learn! I am very honored to work with such an astounding organization! Let's give some props to the parents as well, we can see the conditions they are living in and their chilren showed up to school that morning looking pretty snazzy in their cute little uniforms ;)

India

So today is about our 5th day in India, I am still adjusting to the 12 hour time difference from back home and our 36 hours of traveling so 5 days is a total guess, ha! Well, lets just say that this blog is a bit dusty and I cannot wait until I actually have time to upload everything on it I have been wanting to for months, of course my busy, non-stop life has not given me the time! Once I get back from India and my little darling starts kindergarten I think things are going to slow down so I am really going to try and put some time into it. Several companies have asked me to review their products and services and post it on my blog so that is all to come as well. Sooooo back to the wonderful world of India, and when I say wonderful I refer to the wonderful potential it has because let me tell you this is the most insane experience I have ever had in my life! I truly have never encountered such kind, loving, enthusiastic for life, doting people in my life. The town we are in, from what I have seen one cannot explain with words. The roads are absolute chaos, for example seeing a family of 5 on a motor cycle all with no helmets squeezing between a bus and 3 cars while swerving around a herd of cows is daily life. We experience this daily as we drive on our bus to the school we work at everyday teaching health and hygiene classes to the most precious children you can imagine. We all embrace ourselves as we enter the bus and dodge about 27657635 accidents on our way to school, I will upload a video of the madness because if I described it with words you wouldn't believe me. It is 2:40am right now so I am not sure how much I will write tonight as my husband and I had to stay in today because we were so sick, after about nearly 24 hours of on and off sleep my eyes popped open and I decided it was a good time to finally write. 

I must say I was a little nervous about coming out here, I really did not know what to expect. Would the children like us, would they be friendly, does this culture hate Americans along with a lot of the world? I am a pretty shy person so the though of flying to another country to work with others that not only do I not know, but they do not speak my language and there was just a lot of initial anxiety I had about what the outcome may be. Well, let me tell you, as we entered the school you would of thought we were celebrities. The children were BEYOND ecstatic to see us, to touch our hand, to get a photo with us. I could not get enough of it, I wanted to take each child home with me. The innocence in these children's eyes as they looked at us wearing their school uniforms, many of them wrinkled and disheveled, missing a sock, a hole in their shoe, it made me love them even more. One girl ran up to me to shake my hand and than started jumping up and down because she was so excited, she covered her mouth with her two little hands because she could not contain her excitement as she ran and told her friend about touching my hand. I still am trying to find out why they are so excited to see us haha, but as excited as they are to see us everyday my team and I are just as excited to see them. It is an honor and a privilege to come out here and work with these amazing children, most who have had extremely rough lives, many living in the slums of India, no running water, no toilets and a tarp as their roof and cardboard as floors to cover the mud and feces. What amazes me the most is I truly have never seen such happy, positive, respectful and eager to learn children in my life. They do not take things for granted, being able to go to a school with only bars as windows, a chalk board and desks, with no books, no school supplies, no soap is a luxury to them and I love the pure gratefulness and eagerness that lies in these children that I feel the majority of the children in privileged parts of the world have lost. These children do not expect anything, you should of seen the looks on their faces when we pulled out a sheet of stickers and a little stick of glitter glue. I am SO happy that I was able to come out here and meet these precious people, they are amazing and they are teaching me things that I am so grateful to learn.  I have so many cute stories to tell but my eyes are slowly closing so I will try and write more tomorrow, we still have about 9 days left so I will have lots more to tell! I just wanted to let you all know that we arrived safely and to tell you what a special time we are having out here and I cannot wait to go into detail about it all when I am not so tired! Good night all and God bless :)

Back Surgery Day #10 4-14-13

So I have been wanting to write for a while and as much time I have had on my hands I just havent seemed to find the time to do this. This has been such a crazy experience for me that I want to make sure I remember as much as possible. As we go through things, it seems like we will never forget the feelings, emotions and trials we may be going through at the time. However, as soon as life gets up and running again we quickly forget everything. That is why I wish I journaled on a regular basis because it is much too easy to forget such important and life changing monents, thoughts and realizations. So I am really going to try and make a daily post of what I am feeling. I am going to start by recapping the last few weeks and than start from here day by day.

Before the surgery I was not nervous AT ALL, almost unrealistically. I did not get nervous until they put the mask on me to put me under and tears started streaming down my face and I started raying as fast as I could. They have to go over with you the chances of you not waking up. Of course the chance is ridiculously slim but I thought I was going to die, I really did. So I prayed that I wouldn't die, I prayed for my family, my kids and everything I could squueze in that minute until bam, I was out like a light. The surgery took four hours and I vaguely remeber being in the recovery room. I was then wheeled up into my room in which I stayed for 4 days and apparently when my husband walked in I repeatedly asked him the same question for about 30 minutes until my first recollection after the surgery of my husband saying "Jessica, this is the tenth time you have asked me this question!" haha So, the hospital stay was nice, the hospital I was at was the new Palomar Hospital and you feel like you are staying at a luxury hotel, it is SO nice! The had me pretty comfortable as far as pain goes, and to be honest I don't really know what the heck I did in those four days because I didn't open one of the four books I brought, couldn't really sleep (which I thought is what you do for days after a major surgery?) and did not really watch TV. I guess I just sat there and thought. I did have a lot of visitors which was nice. Soooo all was nice and grand until my 2nd night there when I started having a REA:LY bad reaction to the pain medication I was on and a supposed "hangover" of the anesthesia?

(I will finish later..my A.D.D. has taken me elsewhere)

My first post!!!

Okay so I have been thinking about blogging for a little while now but when I visit these blogs with a million followers and a million sponsors it is rather intimidating! I have been putting it off simply because of the fear of failing, but I got over that and thought I would give it a try!  As I said in my intro I have some craziness coming up in my life, some good and some scary! I received a call this morning that mu insurance approved my spinal fusion and that they want to schedule this in the nest few weeks!! Spinal fusion? YES SPINAL FUSION and I am only 28!! ahhh On a happier more exciting note my husband and I turned in our applications this weekend at our church for a missions trip to India in July/August that I am realllllllly excited about! My life is absolutely chaotic! I call it beautiful chaos. That is my way of trying to stay positive and keep from having a meltdown at any moment in time! haha..seriously though. I have a VERY busy life, a lot going on, two VERY busy, high energy kids and a ton of friends and family that never leave me with a dull moment. So I have to try and stay upbeat about it all! Speaking of busy, I have a VERY busy mind. I never stop thinking, over analyzing, critiquing, observing and everything else in between. It is exhausting and I think that typing some of it out and getting it out of my crazy head will be extremely therapeutic! I have a lot to say and I am hoping that someone out there may be interested in the craziness that comes out of my mouth! :)