It's been a while...

As the title says, it's been a while. What have I been up to during this time?

I took my first ever trip to New York City. It was an almost 5 hour bus ride on the bus my fiancé was driving. Luckily I had the nice front single seat and my iPad to keep me sane.

When we got out of the subway, the sheer size of the buildings was overwhelming. Coming from nice little NH, there is nothing that even compares to the size. Even Boston looks small!

 It was a very busy day, and of course the first place I wanted to go was the local Vespa dealer in Soho, as they sold the brand of jacket I would really like to purchase (Corazzo). We then headed to Grand Central Station as we both have a fascination with transportation. WOW, what an amazingly huge and beautiful place.

After that we went for a carriage ride through Central Park, well a corner of Central Park, I never realized the sheer size of that place! It was beautiful though. Very unexpected for the center of a huge city.

After a visit to FAO Schwarz, we headed to Times Square. Wow. It is like an entirely different place/atmosphere than anywhere else we had been that day. There were screens that took up entire sides of buildings. The masses of people was insane.

Of course, I had to pick the silly chain restaurant for dinner, but OMG, it was one of the most delicious dinners ever. The whole atmosphere in Red Lobster was not at all like the ones that are stand alones elsewhere in the country. This was upscale dining.

In the dark, Times Square was even more amazing. All the signs and lights and billboards added a whole new dimension.

 Besides being completely exhausting, it was an excellent trip. We are going back in 2 weeks to explore a different section of the city!

The next weekend was part of Laconia Motorcycle Week. Me, being a little odd, decided to take my Vespa up there. It was a long ride, but I was actually a lot more comfortable and less sore after riding the Vespa than I was after riding my motorcycle after the same amount of time. The sustained 55mph speed limit was a bit taxing on me, so next time we will take an easier route. It will take longer, but thats ok, I love that silly little red scooter!

So here's to more fun adventures over the summer.

Follow up Influenster Vox Box: Sally Hansen Salon Effects`

It's been about a week with the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish strips I received from Influenster. They lasted surprisingly well with very minimal chipping. I have soft nails, so there was some cracking, but it wasn't very noticeable up close. I was also pleasantly surprised with how easily they were removed with acetone nail polish remover. They came off clean and did not leave any color residue like regular polish does. 

I will be purchasing these again, and would definitely recommend them to anyone not wanting to spend the money or time to go to a nail salon.  :-)

Influenster VoxBox Review #1: Sally Hansen Salon Effects

It is a hot summer day here in NH, and while most people are out enjoying the sunshine and heat this holiday weekend, I am better suited for staying in the nice cool AC. So what better thing to do than to work on my VoxBox reviews?!

I tried the Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips. The pic does not show the color I used, but you get the idea! In the future, I will take a pic of the actual product.

But anyways, I had been wanting to try these for a while but couldn't justify the price ($8-$10). Lucky for me, when my Influenster VoxBox arrived, I had a set inside.

At first it seemed like a lot of work, you have to shape and buff your nails (they include a multi use mini nail file and cuticle stick). Then, one of the most important steps, is to wipe down your nails with polish remover to remove oils and residue from the buffing. This made perfect sense  to me after restoring a car. I don't really have much for nails as I am a bit of a nail biter :-\ so the process was quick and easy for me. The directions included are very clear and simple to follow.

I have to say, I am very pleased with the results! There is no dry time and no mess other than the assorted bits of paper and plastic film used to protect the strips in the box. See the results for yourself!

I apologize for my hideous hands, for being only 27, I have the hands of someone much older. Yuck. But anyways, back to topic. As you can see they are a nice fit. Overall, I did feel like they took longer to apply than traditional nail polish, however, factor in the dry time and I was ready to go a lot sooner. 

Now, to see if they last, especially as I am not a "girly" girl....

I still have plenty more items to review, and I will update on these the next time...

Influenster

In my hours and hours of perusing the internet, and more specifically Pinterest, I stumbled upon a site called Influenster. You sign up for it and complete survey-like questionnaires about as many aspects of your life as you want. I did that. Then kinda forgot about the site until I got an email in my inbox saying that I had been chosen to receive a VoxBox. What is a VoxBox you may ask? Well it is a delightful box mailed to your residence chock full of goodies!! When it came, I just let it sit  on the table for a day, thinking that it will be useless stuff I don't want or use, much less something I want to blog about. But, then I decided to open it and was pleasantly surprised. I had received a nice shipment of goodies.

It included:

• Sheer Cover Duo Concealer
• Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Body Wash
• Chapstick lip SHIELD 365
• Sally Hansen Salon Effects Polish strips
• Bath and Body Works Fine Fragrance Mist
• SOYJOY bar
• Dr Scholls for Her ball of foot massaging gel 

My initial impressions are:

• Concealer...eh, I don't wear makeup, so I need to figure out what to do with it so I can try it! But I would like to try it as my face is icky. 
• Body Wash....I like Aveeno. I hope it will help my dry skin. Nothing seems to help me. 
• Chapstick....absolutely perfect for my scooter bag! My lips are dry anyways, and the sun protection is a major plus. 
• Nail polish. I will never turn down free nail polish! Now, to find the time to figure out who to apply it. 
• Body mist....what a very nice scent! Sweet Pea. It is one of the scents I like! 
• SOYJOY bar. I have had them in the past and they were decent. Unfortunately they sent me blueberry and I don;t like blueberry flavored stuff. My fiancé quite enjoyed it though, and wants to buy more for a healthy snack/meal.
• Insoles....they are made for high heels, but as I don't wear those, I will try them in some flats instead. 

I will write a more complete review after I have chance to try the products! (Plus this is kinda part of the deal of them sending me free stuff, lol) If I want more free stuff I have to be an active member! Oh well, I'll take it!

The anticipation....

The wait is killing me. I, like most people, like instant gratification. If I do something, I want the results to be instantaneous. The website should load as soon as I click the link, I buy something, it should be in my possession immediately. It is just how society is, and for once, I fit into the norms.

I have been spending a disgusting amount of time on Modern Vespa, researching and learning more about Vespas and scootering in  general. The more time I spend on there, the more I get excited for my Vespa. The dealer is waiting on parts, and I know I need to be patient, obviously I want it fixed, and fixed correctly, but the wait is torture. Regardless the weather has been too wet or too chilly to ride, that right now the scooter is nice and warm and happy in the climate controlled dealership, I still want to have it. I keep picturing myself riding around, enjoying my new toy. And I want that happiness, these days I am pretty miserable.

Hopefully in the next week I will be united with my scooter, and the fun times that it promises.

Blargh

I basically had today off. Worked from 6:00am to 7:45am. It was semi decent out, windy and cool, but sunny. I have plenty of things that I could do around the house. I have a immense stash of craft supplies and all the inspiration I could ever need on Pinterest. Obviously I have a boatload, or maybe a Titanic load of time to kill, especially this week.  But no, instead I have crawled the internet, researching Vespas, puttering around on Facebook and Pinterest, all while watching mindless TV. I have plenty of DVR to catch up on in the living room, shows that i enjoy and follow. Instead I am laying in bed, watching my latest addictions of Animal Cops and the Discovery Health channel. Speaking of which, the show "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant" scares the ever living shit out of me. Damn, I have a wedding to plan and make stuff for, what more motivation could I need?

I wish I knew how to get motivated, because I have wasted this entire day when I could have done something other than just laying here. I eat in lunch on the bed, I eat dinner in the bed, I lay on the bed. It is now hard for me to eat sitting up, I like to lay down on my side and eat. It's a wonder I am not 500lbs! Luckily I am not snacking all day. I just have no energy. Everyone has told me if I just suck it up and get moving, the energy will come. Well, it's easy to tell someone that, it is much harder to be the one who has to actually act on it. My joints hurt, but as I'm told, they will feel better if I use them. Yeah, some may feel better, but others don't. We have had crazy rain yesterday, and laying here on a laptop is definitely not ergonomically friendly. I am not even sure an electric cattle prod would get me up and moving. Nothing seems to make me want to move.

On a happier note, I am really hoping to get a Vespa. This Vespa in particular. It a 2004 ET4 150. I am selling my motorcycle because it is just too much to handle (see the previous paragraph), and I never ride it. The scooter is a heck of a lot easier to deal with and just over half the weight of the bike. I am really hoping to get a call saying it's all set to go, but I am very worried there will be some sort of a problem that will prevent me from getting the bike. :-\ Good things don't work out like I expect them to, so I am just laying here, waiting for the disappointment.

Exhaustion

I like sleep, a lot. Actually I love sleep. Lately, it is all I want to do. When I wake up in the morning, I can't wait until bedtime, so I can go to sleep. I don't know why I like sleep so much, it doesn't make me feel better. I am completely exhausted all the time. It's not right.

I sleep all night. If I don't have to go to work I often sleep 10-12 hours. I wake up tired. If I sleep 8-10 hours, I wake up tired. I don't really snore, I do toss and turn. I am a heavy sleeper. We like to joke a bomb could go off and I would sleep through it. The fiancé goes to work early in the morning (between 2am to 3:45am) and I sleep right through it almost every night.

I never used to nap, now it seems I nap all the time, any chance I get. Anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours. They rarely help me feel better, usually I just get dizzy and crappy feeling. I am drowsy when I shouldn't be. My caffeine addiction is getting worse because I am trying to combat this constant tiredness. The caffeine doesn't really help much anymore. The drowsiness is a very persistent enemy. There seems to be nothing that can make it go away or prevent it.

Ugh. It is very frustrating.