Birchbox is the coolest. I started purchasing a box from them three years ago. Birchbox is a company that, once a month, sends you a box normally with five or six samples of beauty products, ranging from nail polish, shampoo/conditioner, to even samples of snacks! While I may not love everything I get from them, it is still so much fun to get a box full of surprises in the mail each month :)

You can purchase the full-sized products right from their website; and with each $10 purchase, you earn 10 points. 10 points = $10 that you can use on any product. Due to some late shipments and whatnot, I ended up having a total of 300 points, so I decided to do some shopping. I wanted something kinda quirky and something that smelled good. Here's what I got:

Those cute tins are tea bag tins :) They're made by Ahmad, and they come with 60 black tea bags. I don't necessarily like black tea (I'm a decaf green tea drinker), so I haven't tried the tea yet, but I sure do love the containers :) Tim and I would love to visit London some day; but for now, we at least have a bit of London in our home :). You can get it here.

The Votivo candle scent is Pink Mimosa. I had seen this about a year ago at one of our downtown shops and loved the smell because, honestly and weirdly enough, it smelled like me! They say it smells like strawberries, mimosa, and rum…I don't know what that says about me haha, but it sure smells good! Actually, I normally smell like that because of my favorite perfume, SJP NYC (Sara Jessica Parker). The perfume's website says:

• Top notes- Italian bergamot, white osmanthus, wild red strawberries
• Mid notes- Honeysuckle, red rose demascenia, mimosa
• Base notes- Sandalwood, vanilla, rum, creamy musks

How the heck can you smell like that many things?! All I know is I smell good when I wear it. And my house smells good when I burn this candle. You can get the candle here. Check out their other candles too-I might have to purchase some other ones in the future! Doesn't their "Speakeasy" sound great? It has a spicy blend of chai, clove, and cinnamon layered over a woodsy base. That just sounds like the perfect fall candle to me. For now though, seeing as it's almost summer, I should probably get in a summery mood and use my Pink Mimosa candle :).

P.S. All these thoughts are my own, I wasn't paid to advertise for them. I just think they're an awesome company. Although, Birchbox, I will purchase more of your products and talk about them on here if you do pay me to advertise for you :)

"Fink", for $500 please, Alex.

I was doing a bit of research on Tim's last name the other day, mainly because I don't think my first name really goes with it, so I wanted to feel some sort of connection as it is going to be my last name in four months. My name will be Emily Fink. Just sounds a bit weird. Maybe it's just me. Anyway, after I looked up the meaning of Fink, I feel a bit better about changing my name :)

Fink is actually a "nickname for a lively and cheerful person"….Ummmmm……that describes me!!!

Or maybe I'm just plain weird…

It's Germanic word also means "finch"; and hey, finches are cute little birds :)

Have you ever looked up your last name before? Any interested meanings?

Honey, I'm hungry.

A few weeks ago, Tim and I went to a wedding. We got there about 5 minutes late, due to some last minute looking for clothes for Tim to wear that at least slightly matched mine…I think he now knows that when I say we should go to the store to find him a specific colored shirt, he's going to do it :). We clashed so bad haha. I was pretty upset about it actually, because not only did I buy a dress specifically for this wedding, but we've never really had the opportunity to dress up so nicely for something before, and I really wanted to get a picture of us. You can't do that when you don't match. Well, you can, but I didn't really want to :)

Anyway, we get to the wedding, and practically everyone is wearing jeans. Great. I sure was glad I didn't wear my heels. Tim changed his super nice shirt into a plaid shirt, making us clash even more; but at that point, I was long past caring about if we matched or not. I figured if he was comfortable, that was the most important thing.

The ceremony was great, about 1/2 hour long. I took some pictures, and Tim and I really enjoyed it, especially with it being an outside wedding.

The reception was at the same place, so everyone went inside while the bride, groom, and bridal party got their photos taken. Fast forward 2 hours later, and Tim and I were extremely hungry. The DJ had just said they hadn't heard anything from the bride and groom yet, and Tim and I were getting antsy. Now, Tim and I didn't know anyone at this wedding besides the bride and groom, and neither of us are great  conversationalists, so we were sitting at a table by ourselves, eating the mints and chocolates from our favor boxes.

Then Tim suggested something scandalous…"Hey, you know what I could go for? A burger." "That sounds amazing, but we can't leave! We're at a wedding!" We went back and forth for about 15 minutes: "We can't leave! They already paid for our meal!" "I know, but it's been 2 hours." "True, and I am really hungry. And a burger sounds AWESOME!" So, and I feel slightly bad about this, we left…

And went on a date for some burgers. And had a blast! It was so much fun pretending we had dressed up just for our date (which I plan to do more often), and the burgers were spectacular. I do feel bad for leaving the reception early, but at the same time, it was already 6:30pm, so assuming dinner was served by 7pm, then there's cake, first dance, everyone dance…etc., and then we're getting home at 11pm or after. And Tim and I are lame. We are very much homebodies, and I honestly normally fall asleep around 9:30pm. No, I am not a child or an elderly person. Just a sleepy 25-year-old.

We had a great night; and for breakfast the next morning, I decided to go all out and made us some homemade waffles and syrup, bacon, and orange juice. This is the recipe I used, and it is pure heaven. The recipe calls for 1/4 - 1 cup butter. I used the minimum, and it still tastes awesome. You MUST put  fruit on the waffles too-it adds a hint more of sweetness, and it's SO GOOD! I used fresh strawberries and slightly frozen blueberries. Mix it up. Add whatever you want, and I promise it will taste amazing.

My lesson from this? Make sure to do something you wouldn't normally do to make your life more interesting haha. I wouldn't say our days are laid out per say; however, we do the same routine A LOT. Changing it up and doing something different made our lives exciting, and it was just plain fun! 

My brother just got his license on Monday. How is he that old??? This photo is from this winter (I'm dreaming of a….slightly cooler temperature…?) when he was my date to see "Catching Fire", which is a very good movie by the way. I saw it twice in theatre because I'm that much of a nerd, and I also now own it.

Speaking of our theatre, I live in an historic little city. Our theatre was built in 1938 and was, at that time, "ultra-modern with the finest projection and speakers". Maybe back then, but they ended up closing down in 2005 because it was just plain crappy and no one went to movies. Fast forward to 2011, when a group of volunteers decided to restore the theatre. All by donation, the theatre finally reopened it's doors on December 7, 2014, just in time for "Catching Fire". They not only have cheap ticket prices, but also cheap popcorn, drinks, and snacks! AND it's run purely by volunteers. Crazy. They're not completely done remodeling it, but they at least have two theatre rooms open, which definitely helps them make money :)

All the pictures in this post are from one I was supposed to have done in December, but I figured, why not do it now since I was too lazy to back then?

This is from Tim's birthday (December 18). We went out to Applebee's for dinner and watched "The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug", which was good, but Tim and I liked the first movie better.

This picture is so awkward, what with his hand placement haha 

Can you tell he hates getting his picture taken? 

I got their chicken with mac & cheese and breadsticks. Very yummy.

A couple of weeks later, our Applebee's burnt down. They're in the process of rebuilding and are reopening this summer, so Tim and I will be able to use the gift card I got about two years ago when I left my previous job (not because they were so happy to get rid of me, but because it was around Christmas, and they were nice). 

Bye bye blonde...

 Two weeks ago, I did the unthinkable….I dyed my hair brown. About seven years ago, for the first time, I dyed my hair brown. Back then I had used a permanent dye, so once every month, I was dying my hair. After about three/four years, I was so sick of having to dye my hair. Annnnndddddd, it was also almost black from dying it so much. I found a hair stylist who took my hair into her own hands (haha); and over the course of three years, she got my hair back to my natural color, dirty blonde. 

It took me a couple years before I liked my natural hair color again. I've never really been in love with it, but it sure was nice to not have to dye it all the time.

So why the heck did I dye it again???

Because of this guy:

erikamariephotography

Tim loves me as a brunette. Don't get me wrong--he loves me no matter what, but I know he loves my hair brown (I feel prettier as a brunette too, honestly). He didn't even ask me to dye my hair again; but with our wedding coming up, I wanted to look my best in his eyes. His opinion is really the only opinion that matters, right (besides my sister's :D)??? So I did it.

It's now been two weeks….and my roots are showing. Here we go again. Apparently I should have started with a lighter brown dye haha. Oh well. It's demi-permanent, so hopefully it'll fade a bit?

I have the best mom in the world.

So every time her birthday comes around, I try to make sure she knows she's loved (so does the rest of my family :D).

My sister and I for the past couple of years have made dinner, and this year was no exception. We had delicious chili and honey cornmeal muffins that my sister made; and for dessert, my mom asked for chocolate cheesecake:

 Have I ever mentioned the joy I get by baking for other people? I swear, one day, I will either work in or own a bakery.

 Have I also ever mentioned that my nephew is absolutely adorable???

 Have I also ever mentioned that my sister and I are very much alike??? We bought the exact same card for my mom, at separate times, at completely separate stores haha!

My mom just got back from a trip to Texas with a few of her siblings to celebrate one of her sister's 50th wedding anniversaries. I talked to her a few days ago, and she said her stomach hurt from laughing so much. I'm SO glad she got the opportunity to go. I don't think her and my dad have been apart for more than a couple nights in probably 20 years!