Beauty In A Box

I recently received a monthly subscription to Birchbox from my trendy and stylish sister. I had  never heard of it previously, but I guess that's par for the course for this frumpy older sister because Birchbox is wildly popular amongst the kids. In fact, my sweet sister was on the waiting list to get me in with the "cool kids". Birchbox is a monthly subscription of 7 beauty and lifestyle samples. You can purchase the full size items from their website and review the products, earning points toward future purchases. So far, I've received 2 boxes. And since I received my May box yesterday, I'll share the Birchbox experience here. Here's my box.

May's theme is Gossip Girl, which offers products inspired by New York City's most glamorous events. Like I said, I'm not hip with the shows the kids watch these days so I don't know a lot about Gossip Girl. However, I'm totally down with the fabulous beauty and lifestyle products. Here's what was in my box.

From left to right: 
Stilla sparkle waterproof liquid eye liner - Navy sparkle eye liner, no explanation needed
Color Club nail polish in disco nap - gold metallic nail polish, pretty easy to understand
Birchbox note card - it's a cute note card
Kerastase cristalliste lumiere liquide - makeup designers like to create words to make their products sound fancy. In my words, this is a serum to put on your hair to make it shiny
Dr. Jart waterfuse BB cream - This is a moisturizing tinted makeup with sfp
Kerastase cristalliste bain cristal - Again with the fancy words... this is shampoo
Kerastase cristalliste lait cristal - And this is the shampoo's fancy conditioner counterpart


I have to say, I'm much more satisfied with this box than last month's. I think April's box was more of an introductory box. Unfortunately I had received 3 of the 7 of the samples with my Sephora orders previously. But that's ok... I still got some good stuff... like this:

fresh Sugar Rosé Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15

This is some pretty stuff for the lips and it's tasty too! The sample size was generous... I've been wearing it almost every day!


I'm looking forward to see what's included in my June box. I'm undecided about continuing by subscription for future months, but I'm enjoying my makeup treat for now... thanks sis!


Peace, Love, and luminescence,
Engineeringirl

Frozen Yogurt Is The New Cupcake

Some of you may remember my obsession with cupcakes... the tasty single serving of dessert... the perfect match of cake and sugary icing... a wonderful vehicle for crazy flavor combinations. How I love them so much!

Cupcakes are still a love of mine, but I've started a new favorite dessert affair... Frozen Yogurt! I have to admit, for the longest time, I thought it was some kind of hippie dessert. I mean, really... Frozen Yogurt?! If you're going to eat the calories, why not eat something decadent like real ice cream or better yet, a cupcake. And who are all these dessert wimps eating frozen yogurt anyway? Calories, smalories... sheesh. And so I must admit my flawed thinking, because truly, frozen yogurt is the bomb.
You see, it's really Malibu Ken's fault... that California tree hugger recommended we try it one day (of course he did). So we went to the new frozen yogurt joint across from work. It's called Tutti Fruitti, and it was pretty much my gate way drug into the world of frozen yogurt. Tutti Fruitti stores are all over the place, so you should be able to find it sold all over the country. I think the first flavors I tried were chocolate and mint, and I must have topped it with something naughty like oreos. I couldn't believe how creamy and delicious it was, and frankly I was surprised at how naughty it tasted. I ended looking up the calorie count because I'm all, how can something that tastes so good be good for me? I found out that for about 4 oz of yogurt, most flavors were about 100 calories. So in fact, it was nice, not naughty... which just made it that much better.
So to sum up Tutti Fruitti, I give it a 7 overall.



Picture from http://www.tfyogurt.com/

 Moving on to my next Fro Yo (that's what the kids call it these days) experience, I tried Red Mango in the Dallas airport. BIG MISTAKE. I think I had pomegranate. It just wasn't as creamy as I expected, and it tasted... well it tasted.... healthy and watery. Red Mango is also all over the place. I wouldn't go back but hey, maybe it's your thing. Who am I to judge? (side eye, yes, I secretly judge you). I give Red Mango a 3.

Picture from http://www.redmangousa.com/

Then I tried Berrylicious, and this is when everything changed for me. Berrylicious is a locally operated joint in the area I live in. There are 2 locations, and they should really open up more... like on every block, like Starbucks. Because I could really eat it every day. At Berrylicious, they have tons of flavors all the time, and they change them out every few weeks. So far, I've tried the chocolate, cookies and cream, pistachio, mint, fresh raspberry, coconut, cheesecake, white chocolate macadamia, and fresh strawberry. This yogurt needs no toppings. It is that good. And finally, they have coupons. I give Berrylicious a 10. If you live in the Clear Lake area, you NEED to try this place.



Picture from http://www.berryliciousfrozenyogurt.com/

 
Next, Malibu Ken and I tried Orange Leaf. This is another one of those big chains, and I have to say, definitely the best out of all the big yogurt chains. I really liked their flavors, and they had alot of really different toppings.  I had the chocolate cheesecake and the white chocolate strawberry with no toppings, cause I'm a purist like that. I wished I had just filled up the entire bowl with the chocolate cheesecake after I started eating it. Malibu Ken had the coconut and some other healthy flavor... I did enjoy the coconut though. I have Orange Leaf a 7, so it's tied with Tutti Fruitti.

Picture from http://orangeleafyogurt.com/

Lastly, Malibu Ken and I tried Pinkberry. Pinkberry franchises are all over the place, but I just can't figure it out. Besides not being able to serve your own frozen yogurt or toppings, it seems to cost way more than the other places too! And the fact that it doesn't even taste that great doesn't help me figure out why Pinkberry franchises keep popping up everywhere. I ordered the chocolate swirled with the salted caramel, and I have to give it a 3.5 (slightly higher than Red Mango, but still not a good score). Malibu Ken had the plain with the cinnamon crunch topping and some shaved almonds. Apparently he felt very restricted in his topping choices because he wasn't allowed to top it him self. As a no topping kind of gal with no interest in meshing weird toppings together, I don't really get this, but I'm assuming there's some kind of judging that goes on when someone else adds your toppings.


Picture from http://www.pinkberry.com/

 So this is my synopsis of the frozen yogurt choices that are springing up everywhere. I know there are others out there... does anyone have any comments or preferences? How about toppings? Am I missing out by keeping it simple?

Hello Kitty makes me want to giggle like a Japanese school girl

Japan is pretty awesome. It's definitely at the top of my countries to visit list. I mean, think of all the things Japan has invented... Sushi, Harajuku Girls, Green Tea, Iron Chef, Origami...

I don't really know what a Harajuku girl is... but look at their outfits! How are they not awesome!? Plus Gwen Stefani likes them, soooo... you should also.

And now for the best of all Japanese inventions..... HELLO KITTY!!

I freaking love this stupid cat. I don't know why. I don't even like cats. But seriously, it's kind of an obsession. I remember when my sister and I were little, and there was a Sanrio store in our mall. We used to visit there with my grandma, and we got to choose a toy. The toy I most remember is a tiny Hello Kitty gumball machine with tiny tic tac sized gumballs in the shape of hearts. I never wanted to actually chew the gum because I didn't want it to run out... I was such a weird kid. I wonder how I even knew about Hello Kitty back then? I mean, there's no Hello Kitty cartoon or anything like that. How has it become so popular here in the US anyways? Enough with the rambling... Let me get to the point. Two weeks ago, while I was visiting Malibu Ken, low and behold I stumbled across THE HELLO KITTY STORE!

Sanrio is Japanese for Hello Kitty

And I looked at stuff...

Both of these items are from the "Nerd Collection" (at least that's what I'm calling it). I love it. There were lots of different sections in the store.

Cute overload

Then there were some weird Japanese things, like this. We thought it was an air freshener that attaches to the vents in a car.

These are the directions?? OK!!??

And there were tons of different cell phone covers, however sadly, Japanese people are anti-android, so the sales lady told me there would not be any android covers coming out in the future :(

I did end up finding 2 awesome things to purchase.


The gold and ivory luggage tag... Because there's no reason for your luggage not to be glam.

The navy lunch container with the spoon an fork included! It actually fits in that little clear section in the lid and is the cutest thing EVER.

I hope I've made you all Hello Kitty lovers just like me. And I leave you with two disturbing images that I found while googling around for Hello Kitty pictures on the interwebs.

Peace, Love, and Pigtails,
Engineeringirl

Fasten your seatbelts and grab your sickbags, I flew an airplane.

So technically I flew the plane... Meaning, I took the wheel and pushed the pedal for like 5 seconds, 3 times. I was trying to do a "coordinated turn" but uhhhh... well... it didn't really end up being so "coordinated".
It all started with a friend of Malibu Ken's named Airplane Tony. He lives on an airport. Nope, didn't know that kind of setup existed. Sorta like, hey welcome to my house, this is the kitchen...we're putting on a new patio, oh and...don't mind the RUNWAY in my back yard. Airplane Tony ever so nicely agreed to take Malibu Ken and I up one morning.

Hey Airplane Tony!!

There's me trying to act like I know what I'm doing.

We flew all around Rosamond, where Malibu Ken and Airplane Tony live. We even did some thing called "Touch 'n Go" where Airplane Tony landed the plane on another dude's runway only for a quick second (one of them was dirt, which I was told was impressive) and then took off again. That was thrilling. One thing I have to say about the whole experience is that it was super fun and I wasn't scared at all! I must be a dare devil at the heart.

That's when I'm giving the flying thing a go... I decided flying wasn't my strong point. Sort of like killing bugs, washing my car, and mowing grass.

I think this is when we were doing "touch 'n go". Don't I look like a natural?

Weeeee!!!!

The inside was very small, but it fit me, airplane Tony & Malibu Ken very comfortably. Airplane Tony takes his kids out alot too which is sweet. If I had an airplane, I would definitely take Lola.

Thanks to Airplane Tony for taking us! And for those of you wondering what kind of plane this was, it was a Cessna 170. Has anyone else had any flying experiences? Am I the only one who wasn't scared or am I just a fool for not being terrified?

Love, Aviator Barbie

Land of The FREE

A few weeks ago, I had alluded to my 4th of July plans. Sorry for not getting to writing about them sooner.  But here we go. 
I had heard about Miller Outdoor Theater a few times but had never had a chance to check it out. After all, I only visited Hermann Park for the first time in over 5 years of living in Houston, this February. Miller Outdoor is a big outdoor theater, located in Hermann Park, in case you didn't know... and don't feel bad if you don't, cause I clearly did not. During the summer, most performances are... get ready for this... FREE!!! All types of performances happen there, including movies in the park, children's shows and performances by the Houston Symphony. For the 4th of July, the Houston Symphony was putting on a  performance, featuring patriotic music. There was even to be a special performance by astronaut and musician, Chris Hadfield.

So, you ask... How does one procure these free Miller Outdoor tickets? See here's the thing... if you want those free tickets to include a seat, you must go in person to the Miller Outdoor box office the day of the event at 10:30am. The box office is actually located at the back of the theater. 

Clearly I have mad paint skills

Parking was no problem, and we found a spot close by the theater very easily. Next, we just walked to the actual and theater from there and looked for the line of people.  Here's what we found. 

This is near the start of the line... the line wraps all the way around the building

And here were all the people in line behind us

Lola was holding my place in line while I snapped shots of the scenery

It's a park... in the middle of the city... you get the idea.

We arrived around 9:45, which was about 45 minutes before the box office started handing out tickets.  I counted about 120 people in line in front of us, cause I'm a dork like that. The idea is you get there early to hold your place in line, and then hang out in your folding camping chairs. We left our chairs in the car, since we only needed to wait 45 minutes, which ended up being fine. However if you did arrive more than about an hour in advance, then I would recommend bringing your folding chair. While our seats weren't terrific, we were glad to have picked up 2 tickets for that evening's performance. 

Yay!!! 2 FREE Tickets :)

Flash forward to that evening, and we made the brilliant decision to take the metro to the concert. We had heard while waiting in line that the parking would most likely be horrible at the park for that night. We left the house about 2 hours early and parked in midtown, near the McGowen stop. And I should mention, parking was FREE since it was a weeknight. Thankfully, the metro is idiot proof, and we were easily able to print our tickets out from the machines. And if I haven't sung the praises of the metro enough already, I should mention it was extremely clean inside the rail cars. So yeah, go Houston metro!

Once we arrived to our destination, which took about 15-20 minutes, we walked straight to our seats. And boy, it was nice to have seats.

Definitely worth standing in line for

Of course you can always bring your lawn chairs and blankets and sit on the hill... but it gets a little crowded.

We also came prepared with dinner in our REI picnic backpack. Glass is not allowed at Miller Outdoor, so juice box wine is in order. I found these guys at Kroger.

It was 2 for $10 and each was 3/4 of a bottle

Free seats, boxed wine, you tell me what could be better...

Oh I know... FIREWORKS!! After the show, we made our way back to the rail station (which dropped us off right in front of Miller Outdoor BTW), and that's when the fireworks started. From the metro station to our car and then to home only took about 45 min... Easy peasy. 

Cheesy reach around camera shot in front of fireworks... I know.

Overall, I'd say it was a great experience, and I would definitely do it again. Going in, I had a bunch of questions and many of people had given me some advice about parking etc, so in an effort to pass along my lessons learned, here is a list of all my findings.

• DO go early and stand in line to get your free tickets for seats. I estimate arriving to stand in line about 9:30am. 
• DO enjoy Hermann Park after you get your tickets. The park is beautiful and there are lots of things to do and see. Heck, you already woke up early to get there, and you have a parking spot... might as well enjoy it.
• DO use the Houston Metro for transportation to the performance. It's a cheap and super easy way to get there. It's $5 for 2 people round trip... your sanity is worth it.
• DO bring your own food to the performance. I did notice there was food for sale and yeah, I get that purchasing it supports the Miller Outdoor, but I just wasn't that enthusiastic about spending a small fortune on funnel cakes and frozen lemon ices. 
• DO bring juice box wine to the event. Wine in a box makes everything more fun. 
• DO bring a towel to lay over your chair. Remember folks, summers in Houston are balls hot.

Has anyone out there tried Miller Outdoor or another outdoor performance? Got any recommendations? 

Cupcakes and Champagne

I visited Crave Cupcakes, located in the Rice Village, a couple months ago and love it! Over the 4th of July weekend,  I was up in Houston, and I wanted to visit a cupcake bakery... More on what I was doing over the 4th soon. I still have quite a few cupcake shops to cross off the list! However, there weren't many cupcake bakeries open on the 4th of July. After calling around to ALL OF THEM, I found that only Crave was open. They've got some smart folks over there at Crave. So, we headed over there to pick up some new flavors. We brought them home and enjoyed them with some mimosas.

I ordered lemon (on the right) and Malibu Ken ordered hummingbird (on the left)

I was excited to try some of the daily specialties off of "Monday's" menu. I thought my lemon cupcake was delicious. It wasn't too tart and it tasted really fresh and creamy. Malibu Ken's hummingbird cupcake was fantastic. I actually liked it better than mine... shhhhh. For those of you who are unfamiliar with hummingbird cake, it is a cinamon cake with bananas, pineapple and pecans. Yummy!

Our cupcakes went great with our mimosas, which Malibu Ken has perfected. He says his secret is half champagne and half orange juice. I like Florida's Natural, original style with no pulp.

A perfect way to spend the afternoon

Cheers, Engineeringirl

Hold on folks, it's about to get earthy crunchy around here.

I'm in love with Groupon. They have good deals on doing cool stuff around town. Cool stuff and deals.... That's pretty much how I roll.
I like nature. Experiencing nature is nice. Like from an air conditioned car. Also, I like art. I can totally dig painting stuff, like nice birds and flowers.... in my air conditioned house, while enjoying a glass of wine. Note to my readers: do not get your wine and your watercolor water confused. Just sayin'.
I bet you're wondering where this rambling is going, so I'm going to tell you. I got a Groupon for Artist Boat.  Groupon + Art + Nature = does it get any better? I'll tell you what is better... doing said trip with Malibu Ken who loves him some earthy crunchy kayaking adventures. I have to admit, floating down the ocean in a kayak, painting some pictures sounded like romantical times, but what do I know? I don't explore the wilderness often, or ever. Okay, my idea of the wilderness is the ravine that runs behind Jaime and Charlie's house. There are snakes and bats back there people!
Fast forward a few months to May when Malibu Ken and I tried to use our Artist Boat Groupon purchase. Luckily we had a "dry run" as I like to call it, since the kayaking adventure was canceled minutes before we arrived due to high winds. While Malibu Ken had correctly chosen appropriate kayaking attire to wear, I had decided that I would wear my Cole Haan mary jane walking shoes and jean shorts. Thankfully the instructor noted my outfit, and while complimenting me on my adorable footwear, suggested I might invest in some water shoes for next time. So, I put on my hippie hat, and I picked these up last weekend.

The foot with the painted red toenails is mine. That's Malibu Ken's foot in the merman shoe.


The kayak instructor also recommended wearing shorts that were a bit more light weight, instead of jean shorts. Look people, I'm a nature girl in training... Give me a break! So with those 2 outfit modifications, a lunch packed in Ziploc bags, sunscreen, and my watercolor brushes, I was ready.

Yup. I was ready. But I'll tell you what I wasn't ready for... Wading into the Galveston Ocean prior to getting in our kayak. Nope, wasn't ready for that. Our instructor advised us to get ourselves wet before starting the kayak trip since it was very hot that day. While I can completely understand the logic behind this request, I hadn't fully mentally prepared myself for this experience. So, what did I do? I wadded into the dirty water bay and got myself wet, including my hair. 'Cause that's what real nature girls do.

Wet hair. Workout gloves. That's how we do.

Malibu Ken in his element. He paddled the entire time so I could take little rest breaks... now that's a good boyfriend.

Overall I would definitely recommend Artist Boat to anyone looking to have adventurous times in Galveston. And now that I am the proud owner of water shoes, I will be on the outlook for other kayak Groupons around town.
So friends, share you kayak experiences! Any recommendations for kayak rentals around Houston?

XOXO
Granola girl

Hey There Cupcake!!

There's a new girl in town, and her name is... CUPCAKE!

I'm obsessed with this sign. I once considered making one myself to frame in my house. But I settled for the classic Keep Calm, Carry On (more on that project soon)


Cupcake shops are everywhere... sort of like leggings and Martha Stewart .... seriously people, this chick has her hands in EVERYTHING. And really, when I can dress my dog in this?



Glam and punk at the same time. I can't even stand it.

Why even try to fight it?

You too can buy a fluffy "lamby toy" for your dog... I totally did... oh and it makes snoring sounds too

But back to cupcakes being all the rage... I think it's amazeballs. First of all, they are small, so eating one isn't going to bust the calorie bank. Next, they are delicious. And most importantly, they are cute. 
Houston has finally caught on the craze, and several shops have opened up around town. It is my self assigned task to try as many as possible and notify you, my followers (there are now 8 of you) of the results of my findings on this cupcake investigation.
First we have Crave, located in the Rice Village.


Don't you want to go in? I did.



This is the inside of the store. I had a mini panic attack trying to pick just one... so I picked 2.

 

I want to smash this in my face and lick the icing off each one.

 I chose dark chocolate (the chocolate one with sprinkles in the back left corner) and chocolate coconut (the one right in front of that one in the second to last row). Malibu Ken with his California ways chose carrot. It was a darn good cupcake, and I think if I had it over to do again, only choosing one, I'd pick the dark chocolate. However, while visiting the website, I see they have chocolate peanut butter, and I will be trying that in the future, as that combination makes me very happy. And if you're wondering about the carrot cupcake, it did not appear to have cream cheese icing. Judge how you will... I'm just sayin'. And one last important piece of information, one cupcake was $3.25.

I did visit the almighty kingdom of Sprinkles. These people are unbelievable. It's said they are the very first cupcake only bakery ever in the entire universe. They started out in LA and got popular with the celebrities. They have driven that cupcake train all the way to the bank, opening up 10 locations across the country. Coming soon to a city near you are more Sprinkles locations, from Paris to Nashville. Last weekend was my first time in a Sprinkles.



The inside of the bakery.



A close up of the cupcakes. There were many choices and the bakery uses the dots to distinguish the flavors.



I had mocha and Malibu Ken had Cinnamon Sugar



Lola had the doggie cupcake. I'm telling you these people are cupcake geniuses!

 While the icing was the best part of the cupcake. Let me just make this clear, it was fabulous. However, I personally thought the cake part was a little crummy. Malibu Ken thought his cupcake was rad. Each cupcake was $3.50, 25 cents more than Crave. The dog cupcake was $2.50. I know, I know, I spent $2.50 on a tiny cupcake for a dog... well.... she's my dog and she's cute! Look at this face and tell me you wouldn't do the same.



I deserve kisses and cupcakes!

I still have much more cupcake investigations to do. On the list is:

Sugarbaby's Cupcake Boutique
Celebrity Cupcakes
Treat!  Cupcakes
Crumbs Bake Shop

Comment and let me know what you thought of Sprinkles and Crave, if there are any other varieties I should try and if there are other cupcake bakeries I need to investigate!

Sugar Kisses, Lauren