My, What A Cute Little Card You Have!

A few weeks ago I saw this post and left an innocent comment. 

Who knew that it would lead to an awesome and easy experience!?

I knew I needed a wonderful card for our 3rd wedding anniversary and so when  I was contacted to give Card Store a chance, I was excited! 

Here's what I ended up with: 

A personalized 4.75 x 4.75 inch card!

cover:

inside cover:

inside:

inside message:

back cover:

  

It was so easy and they really were quick on the shipping! 

The pictures were all mine in this case, but that's just cause i really wanted a really personalized card! They have so many other cute options too! 

Check these out: 

See! So many cute options and I've only shown you three!!! 

From what I can tell they have great selection, customization, personalized or not, colorful and beautiful cards for every occasion! Oh and stationary too! Wow! So much under one roof... or .. er um... site! 

Check them out by visiting

Cardstore.com

Pronounced Fa-yeh

Do you like Greek yogurt? 

I know I do! 

Here's how I normally eat it. I wrote about it on THIS post. 

But here's how I recently gave it a try: 

Have you tried these before? 

I will admit, that the sugar content is a bit high, but for a healthier dessert or snack these are really not that bad! 

Here's a glance at the nutritional information: 

0% Fat

2% Fat

My husband gane the 2% fat one a try and I stuck to the 0% fat ones. 

Hubs gave the yogurt rave reviews and asked for more! 

I loved both flavors, but I really liked the raspberry flavor! 

I can't wait to try any of these flavors:

AGE TOTAL 0%:

Honey

Strawberry

Cherry

Peach

Blueberry

Raspberry

Strawberry Goji

Cherry Pomegranate

Mango Guanabana

Blueberry Acai

NEW Apple Cinnamon Raisins

NEW Orange Cinnamon

NEW Passion Fruit Clementine

NEW Kiwi Papaya Passion Fruit

FAGE TOTAL 2% AND CLASSIC:

Honey

Strawberry

Cherry

Peach

Blueberry

I love that they have new flavors! I plan to try more of these awesome flavors!

What flavor would you choose?

There Had To Be A First

So... this happened! My first one! And it only took one take! 

Please excuse the strap on my tank top and the lack of wearing cute clothing! It was a quiet Sunday afternoon, and there was no fancy dressing! 

Hope you enjoyed the vlog!

If you are interested in getting an invite from Influenster, please let me know! I'm happy to pass along an invite! Just email me at busyasaHB@gmail.com! 

Have you ever tried any Mary Kay products? What did you think?

Do You Birchbox?

I have been a Birchbox subscriber for just over a year now, so i thought i would do a review post. So many people ask me if it is really useful or if it is more of a waste of money every month. If anything, Birchbox is fun! 

Here are the pros:

• I love getting new stuff every month. It has really expanded my horizons. Most of the stuff i don't buy regularly, but there is some stuff that i will probably order when i finish my sample size. 
• My wallet loves that i don't finish samples all that quickly! I have not purchased anything in the last year. 
• Though i have yet to do this, reviews can equal points. Points equal free stuff. Every 100 points = $10. I have no idea why i have not reviewed anything in the last year. I gotta make sure i do this! 
• Great customer service! The people over at Birchbox have always been great about letting you know if your next box will be late or even when it is on it's way! Last month, my box magically disappeared and they gave me points and did not charge me for the next box! Woo hoo FREE! 
• Some items are regular sized! Love this! 
• I have actually begun to use some stuff on a regular basis! Here's stuff that is straight from my make up bag! 

• I constantly have new perfume! Love that and there has only bee one that i have not really liked! 
• They are creative with their themes for each box! Love that! 

Here are the cons:

• I hate waiting for boxes to come in the mail. Being on the west coast and the fact that the boxes are shipped from the east coast, can stink! 
• I have ended up with a bag filled with stuff! Check it out!

• Some items are not preferred  For example, I got blush this month and I am not really a blush wearer! I looks pretty... but i probably won't wear it much! But again it will come in handy when i need blush! 
• Some items are kind of obscure. I am not a huge beauty buff, so some items i hold up and wonder if it is for hair or skin or who knows what?!? 
• I have saved all my empty boxes but i have yet to figure out what to do with them. I think they would make some great gift boxes, but yet again have yet to find a gift to give that will fit! So, alas, i have many empty Birchboxes! 

I think that sums up my experience. Over the last month I have scheduled and rescheduled this post! I was really trying to determine if i was going to continue to subscribe to Birchbox. I got my March box (shown below) and I am still torn, though i do love getting real mail in the mail. I feel like maybe i could try something else, or i could continue and then do some reviews to work my way up to some free products! Hmm .... so much to ponder on this great hump day! 

Do you subscribe to a beauty box of sorts? If so, do share! I would love to hear about one that you love! 

Before i sign off for the day... don't forget to enter the giveaway going on over at Meg's blog! 

Feeling Lighter

I have mentioned a couple times that I am back on a diet. And yes, this means that i gained a bunch back! Well, I am switching things up and this time instead of doing Lindora (like i have done for the better part of the last 7 years), my hubby and i heard about the Carb Cycling Solution! I thought i would give you a quick run down of what the diet entails, plus at some point i can share my meal planning forms that i have created! 

Here's the low down: 

-You alternate between a high carb day and a low carb day!

-Eat within the first 30 minutes of being awake! And then eat 4 more meals every three hours after your breakfast. 

-Breakfast is always high carb, no matter what day! 

There's so many more details, but you can read the book for that! 

Choose to Lose by Chris Powell

(BTW - there is a TON of info in the comments section on this book on Amazon!)

My take on this whole diet thus far? 

Here are some notes to give you my opintion:

Facts:

-I have lost 11.6 lbs. 

-My husband has lost about 10 lbs. 

-I have felt hungry in the late evenings. 

-My clothes are fitting better!

-Cheat days are relaxing!

-I feel as though i can now have carbs, good ones of course! 

-One month on this diet and still chugging along!

{via}

Pros: 

-Weight loss! 

-Great tasting food! 

-Gets easier to plan after a couple weeks. 

-Lots of options

-Can vary between different types of foods such as Mexican style and Italian. 

-Prior to this diet i hadn't had pasta in months. 

-Veggies! I love bell peppers and mushrooms! On this diet there is no limit to the amount of veggies! 

-A new way to think about food groups!

-Costco can really help with items that we seem to just go through every week! Almond milk, salsa, veggies and fruit are some of those items on our Costco list every week! 

-The 100 calorie portion list in the book is helpful!

{via}

Cons:

-Feeling tired at times

-In order to work with my school day, I have to be up at 5 am so i can keep the "eat every three hours" schedule.

-Food prep can take a while. 

-Menu planning can take some time as well. 

-I often want more fruit, but understand that it is listed as a carb! 

-I wish there were more details about specific foods. For example, i wish there were more clearly outlined guidelines about calorie limitations for certain foods. 

-It can be a bit expensive at first.

-If hubs wakes up after me, we do not get to eat together to follow our schedule. This has not been a huge problem for us, but still could be for a family who likes to sit and eat a meal together. 

-The book gives a great 100 calorie list, but it can be difficult to determine the correct portions. 

-The list of approved foods and the 100 calorie list could be combined better. (look out for a Freebie of this sometime soon!)

-More recipes needed! (I will probably be posting a few of my recipes too!) 

-Spices- these seem a bit limited! I personally have not followed the rules on the spices front! I just feel that spices should not be limited to what is on the list. 

{via}

I think that's a pretty good run down! When we are done with the carb cycling and weight loss portion of the diet, we will increase our food a bit and then see if maintenance is better than the whole low carb thing that i had done before! 

Have any of you tried to do this carb cycling thing before? 

Love & WAR!

For the record, Blogger and an iPad do not mix! This is the second time i am writing this post! 

So, here we go! Today I am gonna review a study guide that we finished in the Life Group that my husband and i co-lead for young married couples. We read Love and War by John and Stasi Edredge. 

Let me begin with what I did not like!

The bad:

Let me begin by saying that this study guide was maybe meant for couples that had been married longer. Our group is made up of couples that have been married less than 5 years. Just out of easiness, I will be using bullets for this portion of my review.

• Many of the questions were worded oddly and had to be reworded in order to be applicable to a younger crowd. The wording was even awkward, i think, for an older crowd. 
• I feel that the themes presented were not as clear cut as they should have been. The titles did not really give a quick give away on what the theme of the chapter would be. 
• The topics were not always relevant to younger couples. This was frustrating at times for my husband and I as well as our co-leaders. We had to grasp at what to talk about!
• The study was not as Biblically based as I would have liked. Rather it was based on the authors' perspective of a Christian marriage. I would have liked more Biblical relevance overall. 
• The DVD - it was often corny! There were two segments to each session. The first segment was always the authors talking and repeating whatever had been read in the study guide. Certain key points were highlighted and reviewed. The authors were also in a number of scenarios - in a canoe, in the dining room, in the bedroom, etc. The second segment was like listening in on a small group of couples. I felt this is where they could have made it more applicable to younger couples by having a younger couple be a part of the group. But alas, they did not. 

So while there was so much to say on the bad side, there is still a little bit to say on the good side of things! Have i mentioned that i did not like this study much? Maybe I am being overly critical, but i think a book that is geared towards married couples should span a larger group of people. 

The Good:

One thing i liked was that i did learn a couple things:

1. I learned that so often when our spouse does something that we perceive as uncaring, we can come to quick conclusions that are not usually positive. For example my husband may do something that is careless, but in my head i might think "if he really cared about me he wouldn't do that." These negative thoughts are called "agreements" by the authors. I think having an awareness of these "agreements" is truly half the battle. It has changed some of the ways i think about how i treat my husband and how i perceive how he is treating me. 
2. I feel that this book has helped me as a leader of a Life Group. It really challenged me and my husband to come up with relevant topics for younger couples. We had to think outside the box a bit and this challenged us to even pull together and work as a team. Though thsi was not always easy, i think it helped both of us to be better leaders. We also learned about one another quite a bit. 

 I think that covers most of it! Though i feel that this study guide was not the greatest for our group, it may be better for other groups! If you are a part of a married couples group and wish to do a study on marriage I recommend that you wait a while to do this one. However, whatever study you do in a married couples group I HIGHLY RECOMMEND doing a couple activities in conjunction with your study! The first activity would be to make a Newlywed Game! this was a ton of fun and it truly brought us together! It was a blast! The other activity that left us all feeling blessed was to have a panel of couples that we could ask questions of at our church. I think that we had something like 90 years of marital experience between all our panelists and boy was it WONDERFUL! I left having learned many things! 

While i do not recommend this study guide, I do recommend John Eldredge's other books. Wild at Heart and Captivating (written by both John and Stasi Eldredge) are both great books that deal with gender roles in relationships and in the church. These are both books that i enjoyed and learned from! 

Are any of you a part of a small group, life group, prayer group or otherwise? What have you studied? What would you recommend? 

About the Bees

Alright this review is LONG over due! 

Let me begin by saying that I have icky allergies and my interest in local bees products began a long time ago. I read/heard somewhere that local honey can help out with allergies because the bees gather pollen in the area and the more you consume, the more it can help you to build a tolerance to that same pollen that might be what you are breathing. The trick is to find the local honey. 

Well, about a year and a half ago a friend and I went to an indie crafts fair called "Patchwork" (here's the link if you live in the LA/Orange County area. Basically, this is a fair with a bunch of local artisans. Most items are handmade or semi-handmade. So, when i saw the honey at the "Backyard Bees" booth i was enticed. I then began talking to the kind woman behind he counter and found out the hives are all local hives in the cities of Orange, Tustin, or Santa Ana. This hit the jackpot for me. I bought the honey and think it has been great! However, I don't consume it enough to have it really affect my allergies. Thank goodness for Claritin! 

I have also fallen in love with their night creams, body balm, and lip dew. I really like the prairie grass scent and have come to like the citrus one as well. I love the product and typically use the lip dew on most days. I enjoy the refreshing scents and how all the products feel so natural. My one complaint is that there isn't more to buy! I think i have one of everything and it takes me a while to get through it all. 

Anyway, if you want to learn more about their story, you can click here. But if not you can just visit their website or visit (for you Orange County Folk) visit the Whole Foods Market at The District Shopping Center. They now sell their honey! How awesome!