A Few of My Favorite Things

I realized recently that I do a lot of reviews right when I get my subscription boxes, but don't update you all with whether I even like the items or not!  A lot of times my first impressions are totally different than when I have the chance to use an item for awhile.  Today, I'm going to give you the top 5 items I've received in my sub boxes.  Next week, I'll do a post on which items I gave a fair chance to, but still ended up disliking.

This is not a comprehensive list, and I'll definitely do more of them in the future.  Discovering new things is always fun, and discovering new things that make me feel beautiful and pampered?  It's pretty much my most favorite thing EVER.

Here's my current top 5:

Love Club Box Review January 2013

Oh, the weather outside is frightful... But my Love Club Box is making this Saturday delightful!  This is the most "indie" of my subs, and it's "a delivery service providing an assortment of accessories, beauty products, paper goods, & unique items from a handful of our favorite businesses each month."*  Heather (the owner) recently announced that this subscription service will be ending in June, but I'm happy to review the remaining boxes til the very end!

I love all things indie and unknown, and this sub is great for introducing me to small business owners and little online shops.  Also, there are rarely "sneak peeks" for Love Club, so it's truly a surprise when I open the box!  Here's what I got this month:

Plain on the outside... Awesome on the inside!

Happy New Year! The Inaugural Post

Happy New Year! And a happy new blog!

Welcome to the Whimsical Adventures of a Magical Mom.  Hi, I'm Leigh.  Wife, mother to two awesome little boys, and ruler of my own little kingdom.  Yeah, normally I'd be co-ruling with the king.  But he's away right now for his job, so it's my job to be the Evil Queen benevolent monarch. Our oldest boy, whom I'll call Knight, is a dream child. Polite, curious, sweet, and already a ladies' man in his kindergarten class, he is Mommy's helper.  Although he did totally thrash me at Candy Land this morning, and I'm not sure if I'm over it yet.  And then, we have Dragon.  My youngest.  He's.... wild.  Boisterous.  Non-verbal.  Seriously, he's three, and has yet to say a complete sentence.  We noticed his speech wasn't developing properly when he turned two, and we took him to a private speech therapist for a year.  She did an amazing job working with him, and now we have him in our local elementary school's preschool, with speech and cognitive therapy a few times a week.  I'm starting to see a lot of improvement lately, thank goodness.  He does a LOT better in a peer group, and heaven bless his teachers, who are willing to deal with over a dozen rambunctious preschoolers every day.  So, that's us!  We live in a quaint little town a few hours from the East Coast, and just bought our first house this summer.  Yay!

I'm sure you're all happy for the introduction, but now you're thinking "What is this blog all about?"  Well, several things.  We live far away from extended family, so this is a great way for them to stay updated on how we're doing without ridiculously long Facebook statuses.  Hi, family! Love you all!  Seriously, I have the greatest family.  And let's just say I won the in-law lottery.  They're quite fabulous.  So, family updates will be a big part of this.  I will also post about my artsy-craftsy projects.  Pinterest is a little (ha!) obsession of mine, and I'd love to be able to share my accomplishments, once again, without blowing up my Facebook newsfeed with "look what I can do!"

And lastly, I will be posting about my most recent hobby... subscription boxes!  What are subscription boxes, you ask? Oh, you didn't ask? Well sit down, cause I'm gonna tell you anyway!  For a small price, usually about $10-15 a month, companies like Ipsy, Birchbox, Beauty Army, Love Club Box, Goodies, and Citrus Lane (my current subs) send you a box each month filled with the most amazing stuff!  There are many categories, I currently have beauty, lifestyle, food, and kids' boxes.  I will post reviews on what I got in each box, and give a little explanation about what each company is about.  I am not paid for these reviews, nor do I receive the boxes for free unless otherwise noted.  (Sorry, but the little lawyer that lives in my head told me I should put in a disclaimer.)  I may have referral links that give me rewards if you sign up through my site, but I will always have those noted.

I hope all of you are having a very Happy New Year, and that 2013 brings you lots of blessings and joy.  Please enjoy my new adventures in blogging, pictures and other extra stuff are coming soon.  After all... Ancora Imparo!*

*Latin for: "I am still learning"