Succulents Box Review & Giveaway!

 

While I might not have the greenest thumb in the world, I love picking up a new house plant from time to time. I have the perfect corner in my bathroom that gets plenty of indirect sunlight through out the day & the plants get humidity from the shower being on. I was excited when given the opportunity to work with Succulents Box on a review & giveaway. Not only do they sell a monthly subscription box that will deliver four succulents to your door each month, but they also have a large assortment of plants you can buy from their online store. If you have a plant lover in your life, one of their succulent subscription boxes would make a wonderful gift whether it is for just one month or three months, they are sure to love it. 

I was lucky enough to be sent one of their four packs of succulents, plus I was given a twenty dollar gift card to choose something from their plant selection. I was quite pleased with the selection they sent, each one looked completely different which will be fun when I put them into a new pot along side one another. I have some open space in the succulent planter I already have so two of them will be moving into it & the other two I will probably get another small planter for. I found an awesome succulent planter on amazon that I liked, that was tall enough to put a layer of rocks under the dirt while still shallow enough to keep the succulents happy. So far they've been loving it, so I am hoping the new plants will as well. The monthly subscription box & the succulent bundles they sell are a great way to find new succulents they might not have in stores near you! Take for example one of the four I received, at first I thought it had some little dead spots, then I realized that is how it is supposed to look. Looking on their website, It is either a panda plant kalanchoe or kalanchoe chocolate both of which naturally have those little brown spots near the tips. All four succulents look healthy & happy! 

Picking out something from their huge plant collection was so hard! There were so many beautiful and exiting plants to look at that it was hard to pick which I wanted. I ended up picking out a Epiphyllum anguliger fishbone cactus & a braided stump money tree. I love money trees, but depending on the time of the year here they can be hard to find, so I was happy to see that Succulents Box had more than one type on their website. The money tree was quite a bit bigger than I thought it would be when it arrived, I can't wait to see how much it grows over time! The fishbone cactus was also a bit bigger than I thought it would be. On their website it looks more condensed together & shorter so I was surprised to see it's little arms so long when it arrived. I also enjoyed that fact that all of their plants offer different styles of pots you can get them in depending on your preference. I went with just the basic growers pots, as I knew I was eventually likely to move them into a different pot, but wasn't sure what kind of pot I wanted at the moment. 

The prices on their website are pretty good! In fact the low prices may even get plant lovers in trouble, because they will want to add so many to their carts. Their plants start as low as $6.50, plus you can almost always find sales and discounts to use while shopping. During the shipment process they will add a type of paper tape around the bottom of each plant to cover the dirt which will prevent it from all spilling out during their journey. It was very simple to remove and didn't make that much of a mess, all in all I would say 90% of the dirt stayed right in the containers. Everything looked to be in pretty good shape after their trip to my doorstep, I didn't see anything that made me upset about the new plants I acquired. Between the prices & the wide selection of plants they offer, I would 100% make a purchase from them again! In fact there are about two dozen more plants I was looking at when trying to decide what I wanted to get this time around. I also like that they let you sort by a number of characteristics like "Pet friendly plants" or "best houseplants for beginners". They also offer care guides on their site for anyone who could use them. 

💚 GIVEAWAY! Stop by my Instagram page or my Tiktok page & click on my Succulents Box reel for your chance to win a $10 gift card to their website. You can enter on either platform or enter on both to double your entries. All entries will be put into one drawing & a winner will be selected once the giveaway has ended. 

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Succulents Box for the review & giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

S'moo Supplements Review & Giveaway!

 

I have an exciting review & giveaway for all of you girlies who have had issues with hormone imbalances, PCOS and anyone just looking for a good over all daily multivitamin. I am excited to share a brand called S'moo with all of you! S'moo creates a number of multivitamin capsules and powders that target different struggles like skin & hair health or PCOS management. I've been wanting to try out a good multivitamin, so when I came across this brand & was reading some of the benefits it offers I was excited to try it out. I feel very lucky to have been offered the chance to work with them on not only a review, but a giveaway as well. When looking on their website, I decided to go with the PCOS bundle. 

So let's get to the review portion! We all know that sometimes it can be a pain getting proper diagnosis's and help from doctors and things get missed, they won't listen or sometimes it seems like they just don't care. When I was a teen, I had gone to see a doctor about some issues I was having and after bloodwork was told I had a hormone imbalance, but aside from the doctor trying out birth control to balance things out they never offered any more of an inquiry into how to balance things out & that I would eventually balance out as I got older. There was a time when I was prescribed iron pills for low iron & after I gave birth to my daughter I had to have a magnesium drip because it was too low so I know sometimes my vitamin levels are off. I've never been told I actually have PCOS or any other similar issue aside from the hormone imbalance, but I struggle with a lot of the same issues so I figured I would try it out this supplement bundle and see how things went. With so many different products out there, it can be difficult to find products that work for your needs and sometimes hard to find products that actually work. 

I wasn't sure what to expect, or if I'd actually notice a different. Let me say, I am both impressed & surprised! I didn't realize just how much I needed something like this. I've been using these supplements daily for about three weeks now & I feel so much better. My energy levels have increased, even in the mornings after I first get up I don't feel as groggy as I used to. I feel like I might have been holding onto more water weight than I had realized, and have noticed this helping get rid of it. I didn't really think of weighing myself before using the supplements since I didn't think I'd see much of a difference the first few weeks. By the second week of using this I honestly felt slightly crazy, because not only was I more energized but I could swear that one of my trouble areas seemed smaller. It wasn't until a unprompted comment from a loved one asking if I felt like I had lost anything as they noticed a slight difference too that I decided to jump on the dreaded scale so that I could track progress. I had checked again after Thanksgiving and was surprised to see that four pounds had disappeared in a week. The only real difference I had made was taking the supplements & going back to cutting out unneeded bread products. I think if I combine taking these supplements & starting back on doing yoga or a fitness routine that I will finally start to have progress! I've done workout routines before while watching my diet too and didn't see much results even after weeks so I think it was an added, holy cow moment using S'moo and feeling a difference already. I overall just feel better! 

Taste wise it isn't too bad! I mix my daily scoops into a small smoothie in the morning, sometimes I make a more tropical smoothie using juice and other times I'll use milk, bananas and strawberries instead. I do find milk is the best to mix it with, but it isn't too bad with the more fruity juices too. They sell an unflavored powder or you can get a flavored bottle to go with smoothies, mix into yogurt, etc. A bottle has about a months worth in it if you are using a full scoop everyday, they often have sales on their website & if you subscribe to have it delivered monthly instead of buying one month at a time you will get a discount that way as well. 

🤩 GIVEAWAY 🤩

One lucky winner is going to receive two S'moo products of their choice! Single items only, sorry bundles are not included. 

This is open US Residents only! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! 

This giveaway ends on 12/27/24

Giveaway entry question: Leave me a blog comment letting me know another product from their website that you would love. (Link is the purple)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

👉 It is easiest if you log onto Rafflecopter using the Name/Email Address option. 

👉 Sometimes the comment widget is a brat, the easiest option to leave a comment on this post is with the Name/URL option. (You only need to fill in the name part) 

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by S'moo for the review & giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

December Beauty & The Book Giveaway!

 

December has arrived & the holiday spirit has arrived with it! It has been wonderful seeing a bunch of our neighbors putting up their holiday lights & you can bet our yard is fully decked out. It also means it is time for a new Beauty & The Book Giveaway to be put up! If you haven't been to my blog before, Welcome ❤ every month I host a "Beauty & The Book" Giveaway that combines my love of both. I usually pick out one or two books, then add in makeup + skincare goodies plus I usually like to include some other fun things as well. Some months there isn't really a theme & other month's I like diving into random themes depending on what I decide to buy for that month's bundle. Last month the giveaway was Harry Potter themed & this month I debated back and forth between just a Disney theme or a Stitchmas theme. As you can see Disney won that debate! So I've gone out and picked up several cute and fun Disney themed products and then added in some other makeup goodies for one lucky winner to enjoy. 

Sometime within the next week I will also be posting a second Disney themed giveaway which will be hosted on my Instagram + TikTok page, so keep an eye out for that as well if you love Disney. As mentioned above I went back & forth between a Disney theme or Stitchmas theme so you may notice there is only one Stitch themed items in this month's bundle, why? I decided that I will be doing a Stichmas in January which will include several great Stitch collectables and blue themed makeup products. 

🎄 What's In This Month's Bundle? 🎄

💚 Hardcover of Artemis Fowl (A Disney published book) 
💚 Princess Jasmine face mask
💚 Alice In Wonderland lip gloss x2
💚 Colorpop Bambi themed eyeliners
💚 Maleficent lip gloss
💚 Nightmare Before Christmas Bath salts + Bath bomb
💚 Makeup Revolution eyeshadow palette
💚 Le Mercerie eyeshadow palette
💚 L.A Colors Mascara
💚 Wet 'N Wild Lipstick
💚 L.A Colors purple liquid eyeshadow
💚 Pink & Purple Nail polish
💚 Ioni false eyelashes
💚 Pirates of the Caribbean dog funko pop
💚 Minnie Mouse ears
💚 Beast Bookbag 
💚 Stitch car air freshener 
💚 Nightmare Before Christmas wood holiday décor tag
💚 Nightmare Before Christmas pin
💚 Time Variance Authority Sticker 
💚 Nightmare Before Christmas socks
💚 Minnie & Mickey mini decals 
 

This is open Worldwide! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the winner notification! This giveaway is hosted by ME.

This giveaway ends on 01/10/2025

Giveaway entry question: Leave a comment answering at least one of these questions.

Which item in this bundle are you most excited about?

Who is your favorite Disney Character?

Tell me one thing on your holiday wishlist this year. 

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

👉 It is easiest if you log onto Rafflecopter using the Name/Email Address option. 

👉 Sometimes the comment widget is a brat, the easiest option to leave a comment on this post is with the Name/URL option. (You only need to fill in the name part) 

You can complete as many entries as you want, there are several one-time activities and daily activities that can earn you more entries into the giveaway. Be sure to keep an eye on my site & social media pages for more giveaways headed your way. 

Pratt Brothers Christmas at Rawhide!

 

It is a little bit cheesy, but during the holidays I love Hallmark holiday movies & I absolutely love Christmas lights. So, I always thought it would be wonderful to live in a town that goes all out for Christmas with holiday lights & festivities. Most cities put up some lights but don't really go crazy, but visiting the Pratt Brothers Christmas at Rawhide in Arizona will make you feel like you are in a holiday movie Christmas town. This event is located at 5700 W North Loop Rd Chandler, Arizona 85226, parking is included in admission. 

This event is hosted at Rawhide which is a small old western town theme park in Arizona. When the Pratt Brothers take over for the holiday season it turns into a sparkling Christmas gem featuring over six million Christmas lights, a magical train ride through thousands of lights, visits with Santa, an area where it snows & more. This was our first year visiting the event & we had a fantastic time! Tickets are $35 for general admission or $80 for VIP tickets. On your way into the event don't forget to grab a map near the front entrance! Because it not only shows you where to go but all of the show times will be listed on the flyer as well so you can plan out your night. Expect to spend anywhere from three to four hours here if you take your time doing everything.

We arrived shortly before the gates opened & there was already a pretty decent size line formed to get into the event. We weren't sure how long it would take to get in, but they had everything set up & running pretty smoothly so it didn't take long before we were headed into the event. Upon entering you will see that every house down main street is covered from top to bottom in Christmas lights! And if that wasn't enough lights there are also lights strung from one side of the street to the other, plus several photo opportunities like a giant ornament or a huge stage coach which are also completely covered in lights. 

What's included in general admission? You will be able to ride on the train as many times as you wish, watch the Gingerbread light show as many times as you want, visit Santa, write letters to Santa, play in a 'Snowfall' and more. We stopped at pretty much everything aside from visiting Santa as my kids are a bit older, and we didn't do the Smore's kit area because it cost extra and we weren't really hungry at the time. If you arrive to the park right when they open, I suggest heading either to see Santa first as the line can get pretty long quickly or heading to the back left near the Gingerbread light show to hop on the train before a line starts. We went on the train twice, each one was pretty much back to back. We took turns being on the right side vs the left side because the light displays you drive through have a ton to look at it is easiest to concentrate on looking at one side at a time so you don't miss anything. I think they did a fabulous job with each different themed area of the train ride from Peppermint fields to going back in time with Dinosaurs, even adults will love this train ride. I've been on several different train rides at different holiday events here in Arizona & I would have to say that the Pratt Brothers train ride is hands down the best when it comes to the length of the ride & how much there is to see on the ride. 

The Christmas themed western stunt show was cute, it gave you a chance to sit down and watch a tale about Santa visiting the town of Rawhide. I'd say the show last about twenty to twenty five minutes in total & is scheduled so you won't miss any other big shows like the parade down main street. At 8pm there is a parade down main street which features several pretty whimsical vehicles to look at such as a giant gingerbread house that drives by or a car that reminded us of a wonkamobile. Shortly after the parade ends is one of the Gingerbread house shows so you can watch them back to back. The show is spectacular, there are a ton of lights and even pyro bursts during the show. 

They also have a "Snowfall" area which has a few dozen snow frosted Christmas trees, at certain times through out the night it will snow in that area. Instead of using shaved ice it is a bubble mixture that is shot out of hoses from the roof, however it does look similar to a snow fall. It was a fun experience and made for some cute photos and many laughs. I also liked looking at the large miniature Christmas village they had set up, it reminded me of the one my great grandmother used to put up when I was a child. 

Writing postcards to Santa was fun, the little work shop area they had set up looked fantastic and was well organized. I also loved that one of the buildings wasn't just a normal Christmas house, instead it was a "Scary" Christmas house which was decorated with purple and green lights and inside were festive Halloween decorations. Browsing the shops was fun at well! Overall we all had a great time at this event & I would 100% visit it again next year.  

If you want to see more from this event stop by my Instagram page to watch a reel where I highlight more details from this event. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

Disclaimer-  Pratt Brothers Christmas provided this experience to us for the review + giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Pioneer Winter Wonderland Review! (+ Giveaway)

 

This year there is a brand-new Christmas destination! If you are in Arizona & are looking for fun holiday events to take your family to, you should hop in the car and drive out to visit Pioneer Winter Wonderland. It is located in North Phoenix along the I17 just before Anthem. Their address is 3901 W. Pioneer Rd Phoenix, AZ 85086. The Arizona Pioneer Living History Museum has turned into a winter wonderland to celebrate the holiday season & it has a ton to offer families! 

There are two different ticket options for this event, you can purchase general admission which is $25 per adult & $20 per child or if you are planning on buying food + drinks at the event anyways then it may be a better option to try for the VIP option which is $125 per person & I will go over everything included in both packaged. Parking is included with either ticket option, plus they have a fresh Christmas tree lot in the yard if you want to buy a tree after your adventure. 

Even if you were to enter the park with just the general admission there is still a lot to do in the park. If you arrive before 6PM there is a small parade down the main street which is their opening ceremony. It was fun seeing all of the characters go by, but hands down the Grinch had the best ride into town. Following that general admission also includes a photo with Santa, story time with Mrs. Clause where children ten and under will get a free hot chocolate and cookie), you can write a letter to Santa, roll around in a human sized ornament ball, see a cowboy performance, watch one of the live acts they have each night, there are holiday lights along the paths & trees to look at, a "selfie with an Elfie" area that has several different photo opportunities set up. Along with all of that you can pan for gold, visit Santa's workshop, visit the Grinch for photos and check out their pioneer buildings decorated for the holidays. 

There are also other areas that are not included with general admission & will cost a little extra. You can hop on a holiday train to be taken through a light show, the light show was set up & sponsored by World of Illumination. It is set up just like one of their holiday drive throughs that you can visit in your car except you are on a train & along the way you'll make a pit stop where an elf will hand out candy canes. A little further back from the train you'll find a horse drawn carriage ride which will take you on a trek through a patch of desert where you'll see a small lighted forest of trees, see a gingerbread house and if you are lucky see a Yeti! Both rides are $10 per person, the train does have a family pack where you can get five people on for the price of four. Across from the train is a small winter carnival which has carnival games & a few rides, the prices vary. I am unsure how much the carnival games were as we didn't play any, however I do know that my husband paid $9 for one of the carnival rides so it was $3 for both our children & himself to get on. 

One of their partners this year is Funbox which is a giant bounce house, so they have a bounce house location set up on the property. It is $10 per child to explore & jump. This is more of a bounce city than a bounce house, it is huge. One of our favorite spots was located right up front, they have a small Christmas escape room set up that is $5 per person. It is a short escape room set inside of a living room decorated for the holidays, you will need to solve puzzles to open several different chests to get pieces to use to escape the room. After exiting the room, you will enter a secondary room that has forty decorated Christmas trees, you will be given a scavenger hunt sheet to find six hidden ornaments among the trees. Food + drink wise, there are food trucks in the back, a cowboy BBQ area, and a few pop-up spots with things for purchase. 

So now that we've gone over what is included in the general admission & what cost extra let's talk about the VIP tickets. They will include everything that the general admission does plus you will receive a light up engraved VIP lanyard, a light up bracelet, your choice of either the train or carriage ride, a coupon for 30% off the gift shop plus access to the VIP lounge area where you will be able to select one of three dinner options & you have a drink voucher you can use at either the lounge or out front for a hot chocolate. The VIP lounge also has some yard games set up to play while you wait for your dinner. I also loved how they decorated it, it felt like an ice den. 

I really enjoyed the selfie area, it was fun having the different statues & cut outs to take photos with. There is plenty of space around each one to take a group photo, or just photos of the kids. Ever since I was a kid, I loved seeing Christmas light displays, so I loved seeing all of the trees & buildings they decorated. The letters to Santa area was adorable & is always fun to do even if you are older. There was a decent amount of people at the event however it wasn't overly packed so the only spot we really had to wait in line for was the train ride. While waiting in line some characters may come by to keep everyone entertained, while we were in line a contortionist put on a performance & when we walked by a little later in the day a trio of singers was singing Christmas carols. If this sounds like an experience you & your children would enjoy, I suggest checking it out. 

GIVEAWAY ALERT! Head over to my Instagram page ( <-- Clickable Link) to enter to win a family four pack of general admission tickets to Pioneer Winter Wonderland. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

Disclaimer-  Pioneer Winter Wonderland provided this experience to us for the review + giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Game Show Battle Rooms - Scottsdale!

Game Show Battle Rooms now has a second location in Arizona located over in Scottsdale near the 101 & Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. The new location is located at 15040 N. Northsight Blvd Suite 102 Scottsdale,AZ 85260. You'll experience a brand new location, but the same games you know and love. If you love game shows & have thought to yourself "I wonder what it's like to be on a game show" or "Wow! I'd really love to be on a game show one day", then this is the spot for you! Game Show Battle room puts you into the action and makes you feel like you are on a live game show minus a bunch of cameras in your face or studio audience. You can of course be filming your own session here if you want to have every moment captured! I know we always catch some great moments to remember when we are here. 

The last time we visited the Chandler location we did the Classic Show down challenge, so this time around we decided to go with the Prime Time Show down.   The Prime Time Show down features survey battles, match up wars & Time rush games. The Survey Battles is just like on Family Feud, you'll be presented with a question & will need to guess the top four answers. You can work together as a team to determine what might be on the board & I can tell you that the answers aren't always what you think they will be. There was a question or two that left everyone a bit stumped just because there were so many things that could fill in the blank. 

During Match up wars, one person from each team will go up & sit in chairs in the middle of the room. They will be given a word or phrase which contains a blank spot they will need to fill in, they will do so by writing their answer down on a white board. While they are writing their own answers down, the rest of their teams will be writing down what they think that person will put. Then after the answers are revealed each team will win a point for everyone who matched the answer. This spot is great for a adventure with just the adults or if can be kid friendly as well! Every game played will have different quiz answers and puzzles so it is easy to ask for a more child friendly game vs some of the more adult themed questions. Every parent has a different level of comfort so whether you ask for that or not is completely up to you! My kids are eleven and fifteen, they've both heard cursing plenty of times so we don't mind them hearing them. Our game show hosts did ask before hand if it was alright to have questions that could get naughty, for example one of the questions was "Holy ___" which depending on who was up could have been Holy Cow, Holy Moley, and even Holy Shit which of course was what everyone put aside from our friend who put "Holy Diver" after the Dio song. Each time a team wins a round of Match up wars you get to place either a "X" or "O" on a giant Tic-Tac-Toe board & the team who completes three in a row first wins. 

Last but not least you'll compete in the Time Rush Games. If you've ever watched Minute to Win It, the games played during this are similar & based of skills rather than knowing the answer to a question. There will be games such as tossing bean bags, shooting darts, or flipping buckets to gain points and take your team to victory. We stayed on the same teams we had the first time around so that we could keep the rivalry going, this time around team X Force won! The Iron Maidens came in a close second though. 

Each game show slot last for one hour & is $39.95 per person. Before you start your show time, there are non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks available for purchase at the front. As soon as your game show session is over, you'll be ready to come back for another! It is a complete blast, you'll be sure to laugh so hard you might cry, and your group will be talking about it for weeks afterward. Our game show hosts have been amazing at both locations, I think they all do a fantastic job at making sure you & your group are not only comfortable, but having a great time as well. 

If you pop over to my Instagram page, you can find a reel with some footage from our game together! 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

Disclaimer-  Game Show Battle Rooms provided this experience to us for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.