I finished 2 of the samples I received and I’m excited to tell you about them.

I received:

A full size Stila eyeliner::  They sent me the color “peacock”.  How perfect is that?!  I love love love the color and the timing of this was perfect as I had just run out of black. The card included said, “It’s time to put the black eyeliner down.  This colorful pigment makes eyes stand out and stays put for hours.”  I really really like this liner.  The color is great with my eye color and it’s a nice change from black.  It does stay put for hours, but on my watery eyes, doesn’t last ALL day.  But it lasts long enough I think.

A sample size Larabar in Cherry Pie::  I was already a huge fan of Larabar products so this was a definite win for me.  Also great timing as it was a perfect snack during my Daniel Fast because the ingredients are just dates, unsweetened cherries and cashews.  I’d never had this flavor before so it was nice to try it and I would definitely purchase these in the future.

Miracle Skin Transformer Treat & Conceal::  I was definitely in the market for another concealer too.  Birchbox really nailed it for me this month didn’t they!  I had a pretty big bump pop up on my face mid December and I never messed with it, but for some reason still have a red spot where the bump once was.  So I was able to test this out on that spot.  It covers pretty well and I really liked how smooth it went on.  I didn’t try it under my eyes as that’s not a problem spot for me.  But I do use it on the red spots in the creases of my nose and it covers well there.  Would probably repurchase this.

FIX Malibu Immaculate Complexion Advance Antioxidant Serum {above right}::  Wow, that’s a mouth full.  But that’s ok because this product is a definite winner!  And it smells amazing!  After using up my sample I definitely noticed my skin was smoother, softer, and the color even seemed to be more uniform.  I definitely would repurchase this and actually almost did, but I’m still concerned with the price.  It’s $125 for 1.69 oz and it just wasn’t in the budget right now.  But when it is, I’ll be buying it.  I loved it that much.

Clark’s Botanicals Smoothing Marine Creme {above left}::  This is a nice lightweight moisturizer.  I liked the smell of it too, which can be a deal breaker for me.  I can’t really tell you if I noticed anything different in my skin from using this because the serum did such a  great job of smoothing things out.  I don’t think I would repurchase this, but I enjoyed the sample.

Four winners out of 5 is pretty good I think!  If you haven’t signed up for Birchbox I definitely recommend it.  I have discovered some great products thanks to the monthly samples.  And considering I got a full size eyeliner, the $10 I spent more than paid for itself this month

Have you tried Birchbox yet?  If so what did you get this month?

EDITED TO ADD::  So Birchbox has gotten so popular it seems that there is now a waiting list.  But never fear, I do know of ladies who waited and are now “in”.  It might take a few weeks, but it’s worth it!  Go ahead and get on the list now before word spreads even more about Birchbox and it’s awesomeness

Here’s the outfit.  Go check out the post at All Things Chic for the deets and to see other stylish ladies.

January 22 – Sitting in traffic on the way to church. Wore all black and fushia lipstick. Fun!

January 23 – 10 tornadoes ripped through Birmingham. This is part of the damage to my mom’s property.

January 24 – Smiley toast {Rayna’s dinner}

January 25 – New mani, Anne by Julep

January 26 – Chiffon in January?  When it’s 69* out, yes.

January 27 – OOTD wearing the infamous cowl as a shawl.

January 28 – OOTD, all black\white and denim with fushia lip.  I’m obsessed. Clearly.

Past weeks {that I post dated} Week 2 & Week 3

So I think from now on I’ll record my scarf videos at home on my better quality camera, ha.

Here’s another way to get the “waterfall” look to your scarf.  This also mimics the way a European scarf looks from yesterday’s vid.  Enjoy

Enjoy

Come back tomorrow…I’ve got another scarf video to share {the Waterfall Style…. REVAMPED!}

But then I remembered April 27, 2011 and decided all precautions needed to be taken.

We’d already put the kids to bed and were starting to head to bed ourselves when I started to worry….”What if the weather gets bad and we don’t wake up in time to get the kids to a safe place?”  So we brought them into our room around 11pm and went to sleep.

About 3am Jonathan woke up to the sounds of sirens and asked me if I heard them.  I didn’t at first, but then started to hear them louder and louder.  Jonathan turned on the TV and we watched James Spann and his team deliver the weather coverage.  It was in fact heading our way and it was just a matter of time.

I tried calling my mom when they started mentioning her city on the news.  I couldn’t get her and soon our phones stopped working.  I got in one last tweet before it went out:  “Tornado reported less than 10 miles from here.  We are in our safe place.”

About 4am we all piled in the closet, the kids with bicycle helmets on and covered with blankets.  Our power went out and we closed the door to the closet and prayed.  “Lord, protect us and our loved ones!”

All I could think was if we did get hit, if the roof flew off or we got picked up, all I could do to protect the kids was to lay on top of them and hope for the best.  We heard the rain coming in sideways hitting the windows hard.  After a few minutes it got really quiet.  We waited a bit more and Jonathan said it had to of passed by now.  As soon as he stepped out of the closet, the power flicked back on.  We didn’t get hit!

But what about my parents?  They were in the direct line of the storm and my phone wouldn’t dial out.  Jonathan immediately offered to drive over and check on them.  I made note of the time, 4:42am, so that I would know when I needed to be worried.  He should be back no later than 5:15am.

When he finally got back he said he couldn’t get to their house because the roads were covered with trees, but he had talked to my stepdad and my parents were ok.  However, they did have some damage…down trees and broken windows.  I felt at peace enough to try and get at least another hour of sleep before the sun rose and I would try my mom on the phone again then.

A few hours later I still wasn’t able to make calls.  I had no idea how bad her neighborhood was.  I don’t think anyone could have prepared me for it.  It’s so hard to imagine what the damage must look like until you see it in person.

My brother was able to get a call in to me and said my mom was pretty shook up.  They were trapped inside the neighborhood and several businesses at the end of her street were demolished and the main road there was shut down too.

I tried driving over around lunch time with no luck.  Too many blocked roads.  When Jonathan got home 2 hours later, we tried again.  We were able to go in the back way and park at the opposite end of her street in someone’s driveway and walk to her house.  There were still too many trees in the road to drive down it.  The closer I got to her house, the more upset I got.  And when I finally walked into her yard, I was in tears.  Nothing looked the same.  The treeline was gone.  Her roof had holes in it and windows were broken.  But by the grace of God not a single tree fell on her house and they were ok.  I hugged her tight.  They had damage, but it was minor compared to some of her neighbors.

neighbor’s house, no roof and bedroom ripped off the side

roof and siding destroyed.  mine and Rayna’s shadows

demolished. piece of roofing from the school behind their street.

this neighbor’s house shifted off the foundation into the back yard below

Looking from Mom’s front porch, this is why I couldn’t get into the neighborhood. Trees everywhere.

the tree in front fell forward exposing the massive root ball…it pulled the sidewalk up and stairs forward away from the stoop

these stairs used to be flush with the stoop

the front yard

this metal roofing was everywhere

Amazingly there were no injuries to anyone on her street.  My parents were so blessed.  Yes they have damage, no water, no power and no gas.  But they still have their lives and their home.  It won’t need to be completely rebuilt, it’s salvageable.

Other neighborhoods were hit all around ours as well.  It’s amazing we came out unscathed.  So far I’ve only heard of two confirmed deaths and we know people connected to both of them.  It’s so tragic, but I think so many people {myself included} learned a lesson after April 27, 2011.  Never underestimate the power of these tornadoes.  Take cover because they don’t come to play, they come to destroy.

Not a full week into my fast my sister came in for a visit and to help me go through Dad’s things.  As her visit approached I started to get really nervous about fasting while she was here.  I didn’t want her to feel like she had to eat the foods I was cooking and I knew she’d want to go out once or twice.  I prayed about it and really felt ok to break the fast for one of the three meals I’d eat each day while she was with us.  Two of the meals each day, as well as snacks, stayed DF friendly.

While Tanna was here, things were non-stop.  We immediately got to work cleaning out Dad’s dresser and closet.  After two days went by I started to really get nervous we would run out of time.  He didn’t have a ton of stuff, but there were lots of little things to go through.  Pins, police and security badges, photos, a scrapbook full of newspaper clippings from his time as a police man, my grandmother’s 7th grade report card from 1914 and a photo of her from when she was about 6 or 7, a century old.  Really neat finds.  Also, my dad saved a lot of stuff he shouldn’t have..like old mail so there was shredding to do too.  Once we went through everything and divided it all up, we got photos together to scan onto a disk so copies could be made. Fortunately we got it all done.

In our downtime in the evenings, we knitted.  She taught me how to purl and gave me the pattern for a ribbed cowl using the knit and purl stitches.  I didn’t think I’d finish it before she left, but I did!  I liked her needles and thick yarn so much, I went and bought some of my own so I could make another cowl.  Here’s the first one I made…

worn with my peacock pin handmade by me and my Jewelmint ring.  polish is Moxie by Zoya.

I made another one this weekend, I literally just finished sewing the ends together on it an hour ago.  I haven’t taken photos of it yet so I’ll share that with you later.

The other thing I mentioned I had coming up was the Supermarket Tour.  I did that on Saturday morning with two girls from my Bunco group.  I’m glad my first one was with people I knew and it turns out two was a good number of people to have on my first tour.  It was a lot of fun and I got feedback from both of them that they enjoyed their time with me and learned a lot so that was encouraging.  I may schedule another one for February and we’ll see where this goes.

Also I finally had some time this weekend to take some photos of my January Birchbox samples, Julep Maven polishes and record two new scarf videos so be looking for those this week.

Hope you all have been well!  Thanks to those of you who checked up on me and have prayed for me!

January 15 – Going through my Dad’s things, found a pin from a job my mom had before I was born.

January 16 – My sister and I did our nails together, so fun. I went with Moxie by Zoya.

January 17 – Wearing the cowl I knit while my sister was visiting. Added my handmade peacock clip, of course

January 18 – Knitting again…smaller needles and thinner yarn but same pattern as the blue cowl.

January 19 – My hair hasn’t been this long in a really long time. I have a tiny ponytail! haha

January 20 – Tried a new recipe…Apple Cinnamon Hot Cereal.

January 21 – Knitting again!  I had to take a break from the small needles {they’re so intense to me!} and started another cowl with the big needles.

]]> http://xoxotrina.com/2012/01/2012-week-3/feed/ 4 http://xoxotrina.com/2012/01/2012-week-2/ http://xoxotrina.com/2012/01/2012-week-2/#comments Sun, 15 Jan 2012 12:00:51 +0000 Trina http://xoxotrina.com/?p=3836 Continue reading →]]> I’m not starting the year out great with my new photo project.  So I’m playing catch up today {and I’m post-dating these so don’t get confused }.

Also I decided I preferred a collage better than the slideshow.

January 8 – My first pair of earrings from Bauble Bar

January 9 – National Champions!  Roll Tide

January 10 – New mani, Kelly by Zoya

January 11 – Snuggling with Bubba {my nickname for Xander than I never intended to call him, but just can’t help myself.}

January 12 – The revamped waterfall style way to wear a scarf.

January 13 – Discovered a photo of my Dad’s mom from when she was very young. This photo is over 100 years old.

January 14 – Xander eats ribs for the first time!  And loves them.  He’s a true Southern boy now

Enjoy!

I get a lot of people asking where I got the cowl.  Kodi made it.