Review: Whimseybox (A Subscription Box)

Disclosure: I received product from Whimseybox for a review. I only review and endorse products that I enjoy and believe that my readers will, too. All opinions are my own.  This post contains affiliate links.

Let me cut to the chase: Whimseybox is awesome. It is fantastic. Here's my photographic evidence: 

First of all, the box is beautifully presented. It was all tied up in paper and a ribbon with a gorgeous card. When I unwrapped it, here's what I found:

That's right-- I got to play with clay! More precisely, I learned how to make a textured clay dish. 

Pretty, right? Who woulda thunk?

Because it was air-drying clay, it took about 24 hours for it to be usable. From start to finish, it took me around 20 minutes to create and clean up.

 The box was generous with materials, so I still had a ton of clay left over. I made an "Our First Apartment" ornament for the Christmas tree with a little bit of it. You have definitely not heard the last of projects with air dry clay! 

Did I mention that I absolutely love Whimseybox?! 

Review: PeachDish Subscription Box

Disclosure: I received product from PeachDish for a review. I only review and endorse products that I enjoy and believe that my readers will, too. All opinions are my own. 

As with most trends, my sisters originally clued me in to subscription boxes. And then, once again, they introduced me to meal subscription boxes... which made me very curious to try PeachDish when presented with the opportunity! PeachDish, a subscription box start-up from Atlanta, sends a weekly box crammed with fresh ingredients and the recipe to make a two-course dinner. The food is pre-portioned and one box feeds two people. Oh  yeah, and they also throw in a pre-made or easily made dessert item. Just my kind of people! 

Our PeachDish box arrived USPS. The contents were cooled by cold packs and surrounded by insulated packing material. After I removed the material from the top of the box, this is what it looked like:

The recipe card was on top, and I found that dinner for the night was an Italian Chicken Sausage and Sweet Potato Stew.The soup also included rosemary, black beans, and quinoa. Our side dish was a Pumpkin Seed and Persimmon Mixed Greens Salad (complete with a homemade spicy mustard and lemon dressing). I would be lying to say that I was not disappointed; take a look at PeachDish's beautiful past menu photos. You'd be disappointed too! 

Nevertheless, I was determined to make the dinner and give a go of it. After all, I'd never tried those particular flavor combinations (and I couldn't remember having ever tasted a persimmon!). I got to work-- and honestly, with everything labeled and pre-measured, there wasn't too much work. The most I had to do was strip and chop rosemary leaves (which smelled heavenly) and cut up the sweet potatoes and persimmon.  (And as for dessert, PeachDish sent a bag of mulling spices! We haven't used them yet-- I'm saving them for Christmas Eve.)

I was hesitant to dig in, but by this time, our apartment smelled pretty delicious. And I am so glad I did! The recipe was savory and surprisingly hearty (and exceedingly healthy). In fact, John reminded me at the end of dinner to save the recipe card so we could make it again later. It's definitely a keeper! And we were definitely not disappointed anymore!

PeachDish is a great way to explore different taste palettes and introduce yourself (or someone else) to dishes that you might not have tried otherwise. It was really cool to use rosemary and persimmon in my cooking-- two ingredients I hadn't previously worked with. And, I've never made a salad dressing before either! It is certainly a great gift for foodies, wanna-be chefs, those who are crazy busy but want to make homemade meals, and the curious and adventurous.

Note: I made two changes to the recipe: first, I didn't use the chicken sausage, even though I knew it would be delicious. Our post-person left the box on our doorstep without knocking or alerting me, so I had no idea how long the food had been sitting there. When I opened the separate compartment with the chicken sausage, it wasn't very cold, and I was worried about giving John and myself food poisoning. Second, I used spinach to supplement our mixed greens, since John and I like big salads.

Review: Quilty Box

Disclosure: I received product from Quilty Box for a review. I only review and endorse products that I enjoy and believe that my readers will, too. All opinions are my own. 

My mom and I share a love of fabric and craft stores. While my mom is the accomplished seamstress, I enjoy going along for the ride and helping her pick out fabrics. In the past, we've worked on quilts together (or really, she's worked on them, I've hung out in her sewing room while she was doing the heavy lifting). When I saw that there is a sewing subscription box, I had to check it out! 

Quilty Box is a monthly, themed sewing subscription box. Every month, they send subscribers an array of sewing and quilting supplies. I had the pleasure to review the November, geometry themed box (which also happened to be Quilty Box's first-ever box!). 

And they weren't kidding on their website-- when you get your box is is chock-full of amazing items! Take a look inside my box! 

Perhaps weirdly enough, my favorite item in the box were these neat gripper clips. In fact, I used them in a Christmas decoration (that I'll be sharing with you soon) for our kitchen. They are exceptionally useful for crafts.

The colors of items in the box coordinated with each other-- the fabrics, zippers, and floss all work together, so I definitely could use them all in a project. Or not. That's the beauty of this box. There are are a lot of bits and pieces that work together or could work in separate projects too.

There was a neat trio of patterns included. (I haven't opened it yet-- I'm waiting to share this with my mom so that we can have fun looking together!)

Then, there was the huge cut of fabric in the box. The cut had both a wall hanging for a 2014 calendar and a faux-quilted cosmetics bag. Love the colors!

And I would be remiss if I didn't also include these cute little guys. They're magnets!

This is a fantastic array of items and was such fun to look through and enjoy. It's like a trip through a sewing store-- but without the wait to get 1/4 yard of fabric cut. I'm excited to use each item! (I'll have to follow-up post when I do!)

Something heartwarming and important to note: Quilty Box donates 5-10% of their subscription box sales to Quilts for Kids, an organization that creates and gives handmade patchwork quilts to comfort children who have life-threatening illnesses or who are survivors of abuse.

Still on the hunt for Christmas presents (or just want to treat yourself)? Until December 31, Quilty Box has an exclusive code for Jo, My Gosh! readers! Use GOSH5 to get $5 off your first box!

Review: Fair Ivy Subscription Box

Disclosure: I received product from Fair Ivy for a review. I only review and endorse products that I enjoy and believe that my readers will, too. All opinions are my own. 

I am a sucker for pretty things. So, when given the opportunity to review Fair Ivy, a subscription box that provides a gift box every month, there was no way I was going to say no.  Essentially, Fair Ivy is a courier for women's gifts. You choose the woman (you can always choose yourself!), and Fair Ivy sends a monthly surprise package to them. All of the gifts are hand-crafted by US artists, which is pretty cool too. I had a blast checking out the beautiful items from previous months-- chocolates, bracelets, handmade soaps... You name it, they've sent it and it is beautiful. 

But let's check out my box. My Fair Ivy package came in a bubble mailer. Inside was this: 

I unwrapped the green box and found more cute packaging!

After unwrapping that package, I found these beautiful handmade earrings. I literally squealed-- they are cute, simple, and perfect for me. I've been trying, within the last year, to cull my closet and jewelry case so that I'm classy and timeless instead of trendy. These fit in so well! (And honestly, they're exactly something I would pick out for myself.)

I've already worn these babies to work, the mall, and around the house. They dress up jeans and a t-shirt and make me feel a little prettier in my work polo.

I decided to wear these to John's command's Christmas party! Just a little bit of understated glamour-- these fit the bill!

It is always fun to be on the receiving end of a unique gift. If you're looking for a Christmas gift for a sister, mother, best friend, cousin (or yourself), start the search with Fair Ivy. Fair Ivy is offering the code HAPPYHOLIDAYS for $5 off any purchase for Jo, My Gosh! readers-- so be sure to head over there!

Review: The Tender Soldier by Vanessa M. Gezari

Disclaimer: I was contacted by Simon and Schuster  to review The Tender Soldier. I was compensated with a product for this review.All opinions and observations are mine. 

Operation Enduring Freedom began when I was a sophomore in high school. We debated it in Model U.N., talked about it in history, and knew of people who deployed with the National Guard and Reserves; however, as the war dragged on, I became less and less engaged with it, as did many other Americans. To be quite honest, even when John deployed to Afghanistan last year, I kept my distance from the news. When I was contacted by Simon and Schuster to reviewThe Tender Soldier: A True Story of War and Sacrifice , I was not sure that I wanted to. Unlike Three Cups of Tea or Kite Runner,  this book seemed like it would hit just a little closer to home.

The Tender Soldier is both the objective and heart-wrenching chronicle of the key players of the Human Terrain System, a project meant to probe and help American military personnel grasp a deeper understanding of Afghan culture. Their goal is to study and analyze Afghan culture so that military personnel can competently, knowledgeably, and strategically communicate and interact with Afghan leaders and citizens. It is obvious that Gezari's purpose is to give us a holistic portrait of this daring undertaking. She is neither nostalgic or harsh, but fair in her assessment and descriptions of the events and people involved.

I'm a sucker for great writing, and Gezari did not disappoint. The author walks a fine line of being meticulous and journalistic in her research and prose and crafting an engaging story. At times stark, at other times descriptive, the prose is always perfect for the moment. While nonfiction-- especially that about the military-- can be tedious and laden with acronyms and jargon for the sake of sounding official, The Tender Soldier does not cross the line of hubris. Instead, I found myself as deeply interested in the intricacies of the Human Terrain System and the political jostling to create it as I was in the lively and engaging profiles of the team members and detailed descriptions of the country and culture of Afghanistan.

While a sobering look at the failures of our presence in Afghanistan, it is also uplifting. Throughout the duration of the book, the members of the Human Terrain System are deeply committed both to sociology and their work in the field. They are optimists and hold tightly to the belief that,cultural understanding and study is an important pillar of military strategy.  This alone makes The Tender Soldier a very worthwhile read.

Got the bug to read The Tender Soldier? Simon and Schuster is giving away a copy to one of my lucky bookworms! Enter below!

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Review: Cardstore

Disclaimer: I was contacted by the folks at Cardstore to try their service. I was compensated with a product for this review.All opinions and observations are mine. 

Cardstore is an online shop that sells unique greeting cards at an affordable price. The best thing, in my opinion is that there are so many card options to choose from. The topics are wide-ranging, unlike some brick-and-mortar card stores. All of the cards can be customized with text, and many of them can be with photos.

Since my youngest sister, Becky, is heading back to college and will need a little sunshine in her mailbox from time to time, I decided to order a card for her. Cardstore has the ability to send the card for you (as well as schedule cards and remind you about important dates like birthdays and anniversaries), but I didn't utilize this service since I wanted to wait to send it to her a bit later

I really enjoyed browsing the cards-- they're inventive and well designed! After looking, and looking, and looking for that perfect card, I came across the "Encouragement Cards" section. I finally settled on "You're the Sumo" because 1) how cute is that panda!? and 2) how cute is that panda!?  After customizing the inside text with some witty repartee that will (hopefully) make Becky laugh, I had the card shipped to my home address. (Did I mention they'll also print your return address on the envelope, which is awesome since we just moved here and I have no address labels!)

It's always a leap of faith to order something online and not be able to touch or see it. And that leap of faith is always a little bit harder when you're buying something to give to someone else. However, when I received the card, I was very happy with it's quality. It was definitely a card that I would have no problem sending to anyone, and consequently, a service that I would consider using again!

Eye Spy...

I'm just going to put it out there: I wore awesome black eyeglasses way before hipsters discovered it. I was wearing them around the time of Whose Line is it Anyway? That's right. In high school, my style icon was Drew Carey.

That generally went the way of the dodo bird when I hit college and went for sleek, frameless glasses. I love the way I look in those, but I've been secretly harboring my love for my Drew Careys too. So, I was excited when GlassesUSA.com contacted me to review their products (and I was even more excited when I saw that they had the exact kind of glasses I used to wear in high school). 

I'll admit it: I was very nervous about ordering prescription glasses from the internet since, for me, they're not just a fashion item-- I really do need them to see. However, it really was super easy, once I had gotten my prescription from my eye doctor. A few clicks and I was ready to go!

The hardest thing was trying to decide which pair would look best on me. (They do have a widget that helps you "try" on glasses virtually.) I'm not sure if what I chose looks the best on me, but I do love the design by itself. The glasses were shipped very quickly, and I actually cannot tell a difference between the quality of the glasses I bought online and those that I would normally buy from a brick-and-mortar store.All glasses come with a hard case, cleaning cloth, and a card verifying the prescription you ordered (if you ordered prescription glasses).

The total of my glasses (frames and lenses)-- with prescription and shipping-- came to $45. I think that's pretty impressive by any metric. If you want to buy glasses on a budget, check out GlassesUSA.com. They feature a lot of different Sales & Coupons that can help reduce the price and get you the best possible price. And, since you're a reader of my blog, you can use this special discount coupon to take 10% off: Blog10.

And don't forget-- we only have a little under two days left of our Freakin' Awesome March Giveaway! Make sure you enter to win over $80+ in prizes!

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Disclaimer: GlassesUSA.com provided me with a gift certificate so that I could buy glasses to review for this post. All opinions--both positive or otherwise-- are completely mine. I only review, refer, and suggest products that I believe in and that I would use.

Are You in School?

It sounds so lame, but when I was in college, buying textbooks online was almost unheard of. I remember talking to my sister about buying off Amazon. She thought it was a great idea. I was skeptical at best. And renting textbooks from a brick-and-mortar store? No one did that. (Geez, I feel like I need to put in my dentures and yell at some kids to get off my lawn.)

If you're in school and you're looking for an affordable alternative, CampusBookRentals.com maybe be just the thing for you. Book rentals are cheaper than buying and reselling (although if you've bought books and want to rent them, CampusBookRentals.com has a program for you, too). You can use the books as you would your own-- highlight, write in them, fall asleep on them in the library. Shipping is free both ways, and the company has been vetted and lauded by outlets like the New York Times. In addition, CampusBookRentals.com has partnered with Operation Smile to provide free surgery for children with facial deformities. If you like supporting businesses who support social causes, you may have found your business for your books! 

Now, enter the February group giveaway! You do NOT want to miss out on $60 worth of prizes!

 

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Disclaimer: While this is a sponsored post, the opinions are mine entirely. I have been compensated for this post by CampusBookRentals.com 

Before the Power Goes Out!

As I write this, fat raindrops are pinging off the windows, the dryer's doing the last load of laundry before the storm, and a bowl of (finished) icing and pretzels are on the floor next to me. Hurricane Sandy is slowly churning its way toward Maryland and the rest of the Mid-Atlantic States, work on Monday has been cancelled since Sunday, and I am furiously typing out this blog post and another before the power fizzles out.

This weekend, I trekked up to my beloved alma mater to see the IneligiBowl between the greatest university in the world and... Ohio State. While we didn't win the game, I tailgated with my family, saw my sister perform with the marching band, and got to drink in the excitement and spirit surrounding the contest. I'm sure everyone feels the same way about their college, but there is something so special about Penn State that makes going back rejuvenating.

And talking about marching band and football, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the first mobile game to be based on a collegiate marching band. (Spoiler alert: It's free and awesome.)

In Fight on State, a new iPod and iPhone game app, you are the drum major of the best marching band in the country-- nay, the world: The Penn State Blue Band! As you run down the field during pregame towards your iconic, and much anticipated, flip, you must avoid charging football players. Collect notes to gain speed and force as you M-Rob the players out of the way.

The game is completely free to download and play. In addition to playing the game, you can listen to Penn State's fight songs (as recorded by the Blue Band) and learn the lyrics. If you love the game, there is an option to donate to Penn State's THON-- the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. Regardless of your collegiate loyalties, get a free glimpse into another college tradition and download Fight On State from the iTunes App Store today!

Full disclosure: My youngest sister was involved in developing the concept and marketing, so of course, I'm a wee bit biased. I will mention that Max Besong, the designer, artist, and developer of the game is not in any way related to me. Even if I had no familial ties to the project, I would be so excited about this game. I am a band geek. I love all things marching band, and that includes this game.

If you've been keeping track: I've been promising a post about a pumpkin pie nut mix recipe for the last week. If we have power later this morning, it'll be up! I've been holding off to try to get a better picture of the final product, but I'm just going to go with what I've got. Get excited, because this recipe is easy and delicious! And it's coming your way pending Sandy's wrath.

If you're in the hurricane's path, be safe. If you're not close to Sandy, please keep the rest of us in your prayers.