Giveaway!

I just posted a poll regarding my first giveaway over at my new blog, A Little Cup of Random. Please hop on over there and take the poll so I can start planning my first blog giveaway.

Also, if you haven’t deleted this site from your account and readers yet, please do so, and follow me over at my new home, www.littlecupofrandom.com.

See you there!

Feel-Good Friday 7/5/13

Today I have a few feel-good things to talk about.

~ All this recent polish changing has resulted in my nail polishing skills getting a lot better. My latest manicure actually looks like it could have been done in a salon. Well, a salon with a nail tech who needs to work on their cuticle maintenance, but still, the polish job looks pretty darn good. 😉

~ Speaking of polish, Bondi New York finally announced that they will be doing their own monthly “nail mail” subscription box beginning in August.  I’ve included all of the details in a separate post so click here if you want more info, or just go directly to the sign up page to put your name on the list to get the details on the first box.  I’ve already signed up because it sounds like it’s going to be a really good sub!

Photo Credit: Bondi New York

~ A friend of mine that I see almost every day during the regular school year, but haven’t seen all summer is back in town, and we are getting together tomorrow to catch up. I’m really looking forward to it!

~ I’ve been growing my hair out to donate to Locks of Love, but want to be sure I’ll still have plenty of length when I finally get it cut. I actually measured my hair yesterday, and I only need about 4 more inches before I’ll be ready to cut it off and send it in.  That should only take me another 3 or so months, so I’m happy that I will be able to help a child with cancer get a hair piece AND that I will finally be rid of my crazy long hair!

Photo Credit: Locks of Love

~ I know I’ve posted a lot this week about my on-going argument with WordPress.com about my referral posts. I thought the matter was resolved after the discussion I had with WP Support on Wednesday, but it apparently wasn’t per the additional email I received today. I’m sick of dealing with the issue so I’ve found a web hosting company I can live with, and I’m migrating this weekend. I’ll be sure to make this site point to that one so y’all can find me.  I’m feeling really good about this decision!

~ Goodies Co., ipsy Glam Bag and Birchbox all billed this week, and the last two will supposedly be shipping out next week. I’m super excited!!!

~ And finally, this showed up in my mailbox today:

Surprise!

You may be thinking, “So what. It’s another subscription box.”  Well, it IS just another subscription box, but not one that I currently subscribe to.  I actually posted about the reason why I was dropping my GlossyBox subscription back in my first Random Monday post so I won’t go into the whole thing again here.  Just suffice it to say that I had some issues with the way GB handled an issue with their June box, and I cancelled because I wasn’t happy with the way it all went down.

Anyway, given that I knew I cancelled, I was completely shocked when Roger told me my GlossyBox had arrived.  I immediately double-checked to be sure my account was inactive, and it was.  I also checked to be sure that I had received my refund for June’s box, and I did.  So I called GlossyBox Customer Support to find out what was going on.  They basically told me that they had completely messed up, and sent me a June box by mistake even though they do indeed show that my account has been cancelled, and my payment refunded.  I offered to mail the box back to them, but they told me to just go ahead, keep it, and enjoy it, and that they hoped it would help me decide to re-subscribe to their service.

SO, this means that I now have a surprise box to review.  I’ve already opened it, taken pics and tried out a few of the products.  I’ll reserve my opinions for my actual review which won’t be up until some time next week.  I will admit that I was feeling kind of yucky today so this was definitely a nice pick me up.  Surprise boxes full of goodies are ALWAYS nice to receive.

Do YOU have anything you’re feeling good about this Friday? If so, share your comments below.  Blog at you later!

Random Monday (the First!)

“It’s just another Manic Monday.
Wish it was Sunday.
Cause that’s my fun day.
My “I don’t have to run day.”
It’s just another Manic Monday.”

Gotta thank The Bangles for this particular catchy tune because truer words were never spoken, especially about today. I’d go into all the horrors, but I’m trying to block them from my memory.

Anyway, here’s my first, official Random Monday! It’s something my bloggy friend, Deb, over at Not Inadequate does every week, and I finally get to participate now that I have a blog! I’m pretty much over the moon about this occurrence even though I wish my day was taking a hike out of the solar system on the tail of a comet.

(Just a note: Deb over at Not Inadequate is hilarious. If you are looking for someone who is a wise-cracking, craft-making, freezer-cooking, home-schooling mom, definitely check out her blog. Soon!)

So, without further ado, here’s my randomness, ready to roll!

– I had the pleasure of taking a nap yesterday while Roger went off to see yet another superhero movie (Man of Steel.) I was a bit cold when he came to kiss me good-bye, and I asked if he could grab me a blanket. As he wafted it in the air to spread it over the bed, it flew a little higher than anticipated, and hit the ceiling fan. I guess it must have wrapped around a blade because it sheered off the arm, which went tumbling end over end, and came to final rest about 2 inches from my nose in between our pillows. (No, it didn’t hit me, but it DID come a little close for comfort.)

Now, this particular fan was left in the house by a previous owner, and has to be AT LEAST from 1983. Roger tried to find replacement arms at the hardware store that would work in a pinch, but the spacing was off so we have to find a new fan for the bedroom. I’m not upset that we have to get a new fan, but I am upset that it will probably be a couple of weeks before we can get it hung, and I have this to look at in the meantime.

My missing fan

– This week is finals week for the first term of the Summer semester. I’m only taking two classes right now (plus an Internship, which is an entirely different post,) so I only have 1 final, plus some sort of final practicum in one of my event classes. What’s killing me is the enormous group project I’m also working on for the event class as well as the enormous project I’m working on for my internship. This much stuff going on in one week during the summer should not be allowed.

– Did you hear about all the GLOSSYBOX drama with the June “American Beauty” box that was supposed to have a full size, special edition Bondi New York nail polish? Well apparently, someone in the sandbox can’t play nice (between GLOSSYBOX, Dallas Shaw and Bondi) so Bondi decided to pull out. Bondi’s owner is a class act, and released a PR statement on Friday so people wouldn’t be disappointed with them when they got their box without the polish, but GLOSSYBOX didn’t bother to inform us subscribers until this morning.

One of the reasons I finally pulled the trigger on ordering GLOSSYBOX this month is because I wanted one of those awesome polishes. They are impossible to find around here, and I knew I’d be getting one so I signed up despite my misgivings over increasingly large numbers of posts regarding delays, shrinking sample sizes and unsatisfactory customer service. After I found out that my box would not come bearing a Bondi, I just decided to call GLOSSYBOX and cancel my order. Their customer service rep was very nice, and took care of it immediately. I’m not saying I won’t try them at some point in the future, but it’s not going to be this month. Instead, I think I’ll just keep an eye on how they recover from this particular PR nightmare, and also see if they can get their act together with shipping delays, contents, etc. If not, there are definitely some other options waiting in the wings.

The only good news in all of this is that Bondi’s president has said that they will be packaging these limited edition colors in their regular bottles for release in July, and the Bondi NY Facebook page has been posting some interesting questions that make me think the wind might be blowing in the direction of a Bondi subscription box service in the near future. This makes me super happy as I love their colors, the fact they are a 5-free polish so good for me and the environment, and they donate a ton of money to charitable organizations. I definitely see myself ordering directly from their site in the future, and can also see myself subbing to any box they decide to sell.

– So, yes, I live in Florida, and yes, the state is a peninsula surrounded on three sides by water. Does that mean, however Mother Nature, that you must use all of this water around us to be the bearer of all the daily, horrible thunderstorms we’ve been having the past three weeks? Also, I know we as humans do awful things to your world, but do you have to keep crashing air masses together right over the portion of the state I live in so that random, terrible thunderstorms literally form out of nowhere each afternoon/evening, and dump water on us without any advance warning?

I know we whine at you that we need the rain when you don’t send it, but must you send all of it at once? My hair has been a massive frizzball, and has looked like I’ve been rubbing balloons on it for three weeks, and the entire state is starting to smell more than a little moldy. Plus, the air is so filled with water that I can get a drink by inhaling. Can we be done now for a little bit? Please?

– Roger and I DVR the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown because I love music, and it’s one of the only places to reliably see new videos of popular songs. The last three or four weeks has featured Robin Thicke’s new song, “Blurred Lines” featuring Pharrell and TI. The video for this song is so horrible that we fast forward through it the minute it comes on. Unfortunately, the song is unbearably catchy, and has been circling around in my head for DAYS. I’m about to go ride It’s a Small World just to catch a new ear worm.

Also, while I have no idea who Pharrell and TI are, Robin Thicke is unmistakable. Not because of his voice or singing style, but because he looks SO MUCH like his dad, Alan Thicke, from Growing Pains fame. The likeness never used to bother me, but I think he’s looking more like his dad the older he gets, and that’s just too creepy, especially when he’s trying to look all broody and sexy in his videos. Instead, he just looks like a lecher drooling over the scantily clad models in the video. Blech!

– And finally…

– Julep is having their first ever warehouse sale with some amazing prices like individual colors for $3.00, and duos for $6.00. It’s one day only so definitely go check it out. They are giving a free Julep v-neck t-shirt with every $75 purchase as well so you’ll be able to score fashion for your nails AND body. Check it out here!

Thanks for roaming the random road with me. Blog at you later!