HiBar Sampler Trios x3

My reviews:

Shampoo Bars

Pros: loved how compact the entire set was; space saver for sure! A little goes a long way! Pleasantly surprised that this indeed produces a good lather, something I was afraid of for solid shampoo. Washed off easily and didn’t leave buildup. Love that it is activated with water so no plastic container or extra water when shipping these babies. The scent was very natural and the citrus peel was apparent.

Cons: the scents were supposed to be different but I could not really tell the difference between all 3. I just noticed the volumizing one was the least citrusy. The scent was nice when smelling the product when dry but doesn’t stay or linger in hair though. Each bar was supposed to have a different function but they were too similar to me. I was looking most forward to the yellow volumizing one but didn’t see any effects. They all acted like basic hydration to me.

My review for the conditioning bars are very similar except that while they lathered well, they didn’t wash off as cleanly as I was hoping. They left a little buildup afterwards and while they did help detangle my long hair, they didn’t leave my hair with any bounce or clarifying feeling.

Cleansers

Loved that these 3 little bars contained no water, saved space and lasts a while! Each had a different function and my favorite was the exfoliating one. It had a gentle exfoliation and felt clean on my skin. All 3 had similar citrusy scents but wish they were slightly stronger and more distinct. A refreshing pink grapefruit would have cinched it for me! A little goes a long way and I just wet my face to activate the bars. My face did not feel tight after use. I recommend these!

Pillow Cube Party!

A huge thank you to @tryazon and @pillowcube for sending me sleep goodies and swag! If you are a side sleeper and forever on the search for the “cool side” of the pillow, #pillowcube has just the line of products for you! I tried out (and have completely switched) to the ice cube deluxe pillow and Daphne goes nowhere without Callie, her pillow cube cat. My ice cube pillow is a giant foam rectangle with a super cooling cover. I still use a pillow case over it just for bed decor matching sake. It is just foam and not memory foam though. The kids cube is made out of memory foam and you open it up to sleep on it. So cute.

Tried out the sleep aid supplement and while there were no side effects, it wasn’t as effective as I had hoped. It’s just a capsule and you take 1 about 30 min before you want to go to sleep. The bottle claims that it keeps you staying asleep but I woke up earlier than I wanted. I also didn’t get sleepy nor go to sleep for over an hour after I took it…guess the strength can vary. I still plan to continue to use it though. Guests enjoyed cubed food and non cube foods 😝😂. They have a variety of pillow and bedding products on their site: https://www.pillowcube.com/

Crazy Aaron’s Slime Party!

I hosted a slime party for Daphne and 7 of her gal pals with the fun package that Crazy Aaron sent me. There were all varieties of putty, slime and play dough with all types of unique properties that everyone could enjoy. For the on-theme snack, I made Starburst strawberry gelatin cubes that jiggled appropriately that the children loved. I also set up a face painting station and got all the gals fabulous. What an exciting Thursday night for everyone!  #thinkingputty #crazyaarons #tryazon #girlsnight

Splendor Game Night

Combining 2 of my favorite things: board games + gemstones, Splendor just made it into my list of tops! Thank you so much to @asmodee_usa @tryazon for giving me the chance to host this game night and introducing some new players! It was a close game but I, uh happened to dominate; I mean win gracefully 😆. Looking forward to adding this in my family’s growing repertoire of games!

I have high expectations for game pieces and Splendor absolutely delivers with its poker chip like gem tokens! They are satisfyingly solid and heavy like those clay pieces and the art is not bad. I was confused by the lack of a board at first but the less is more mechanic works!

Serving up some block-like desserts to mimic these gemstones we were trying to collect in the game! Yum and fun!

P.Lushes Pet Party!

A huge thank you to @tryazon @p.lushespets @spinmaster for sending us such wonderful stuffies! Daphne and her friends were FLOORED when the giant box was opened and these gorgeous birthstone plushies were revealed. They all went gaga when I told them they could each pick one to keep! It was fun watching everyone consult the lid of the box to determine the month, gemstone and name of each plushie. We had snacks and berry lemonade galore to keep the party going! These kindergartners had a blast this Sunday! My daughter won’t leave the house without her favorite one—December.
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#tryazon #thatplushlife #plushespet #fashion #plushofinstagram #ootd#spinmaster #playdate #girlfriends

Bestway Airbeds for the Holidays Party

I am not a superstitious person and I don’t usually believe in karma, no matter how much I want to. However, there must have been some mysterious force on my side to ensure that I host a round II for Bestway air mattresses from Tryazon. I was robbed of the 3 air mattresses and 2 electric pumps Bestway sent me to test (years ago) during my contentious move and separation in August of this year. I hope he is actually putting them to good use and letting our daughter enjoy them.

Anyways…this round II of Bestway’s reveal of their new line of airbeds is just spectacular and trumps the initial. I received 1 queen size and 1 twin size air mattresses with headboards and built in pumps. Best part about the pump is that they are not battery operated but plug in. The inflation part took only minutes! The design and material ensured maximum comfort. Every guest gave a 5 star review. The headboard was even able to support leaning against for bedtime reading without a pillow! Deflation was easy too with just a turn of the dial downwards. Guests told me these are on par with real beds and were so surprised by the look and feel of the quality. All good surprises! I highly recommend these for overnight guests at your house or packing for an Airbnb, cabin!

Gabby’s Dollhouse Kitchen Playset

We are so thankful to @tryazon and @spinmaster for giving us the amazing opportunity to test out this Cook with Cakey Kitchen playset straight out of Gabby’s Dollhouse! My 5-year old daughter is a HUGE fan of the Netflix series Gabby’s Dollhouse so being able to interact with these pieces IRL just made her day!

This playset is BIG at over 3-feet high! The best part (coming from a parent’s perspective) is that the whole thing was easy to put together. I had a friend over to help me set this up and we legit had a blast without any of it being frustrating. I’m glad I had this all set up before my daughter saw it because her reaction was pure gold. The words out of her mouth were literally “this is MEOWmazing.”

Most of the kitchen pieces are satisfyingly cat-shaped and the color palette is vibrant and true to the show’s aesthetic. Just wish there were a few more cardboard foldable pieces to create even more meal options but overall, it is more than enough. The flat pieces are cleverly double sided.

Celebrations in Cleveland

I made this fun little craft back during Halloween to incorporate some corn into our lives ;). The Tiffany blue one is mommy, the white one is daddy and the combined striped one is Daphne. Let’s hear it for interracial families!

This was a particularly delicious brunch I made with the following:

-Fried cheese blintz topped with raspberry syrup

-Maple breakfast sausages sauteed with baby portabella mushrooms, baby spinach and scallions

-Fried egg over medium hard with a drizzle of soy and maple syrup glaze

I did it! I finally made from scratch a restaurant favorite–braised pork belly! We bought these perfectly juicy strips of pork belly from CAM and then I braised turnips and greens with it after searing them in a brown sugar/Chinese 5-spice mix. This went so well with the jasmine rice I steamed…mmmm!

An original poem by my biddyboo.

Enjoying fresh fall views in this home for the first time.

I put together a neat little charcuterie lunch on a slow weekend afternoon.

A girls’ outing with brunch at First Watch. I remember back in college days when First Watch wasn’t so overpriced and pretentious! Yep, that is ONE tiny sausage that you get for $15! Ay dios mio.

Anyone looking in my Amazon browsing history would see that I’m a crazy candle person and I would be willing to buy very unnecessary candle accessories. Then I had a crafty idea–why not take some of the matches I already have to store in an empty fragranced diffuser oil bottle to mimic the fancy ones I saw on Amazon?! Worked out, I would say!

She wanted me to hang this up in our “gallery” in the basement so badly but those dang pieces of rice went EVERYWHERE. I snapped this photo so we would always remember this work but good riddance, it’s in the trash now ;).

She had a different piece of art that was full of pieces of Cheerios that Pangur Ban did her best to lick. This one is hung up high where kitty can’t get to it, haha.

John came up with the perfect birthday cake for me. Strawberries, white cake with crunchy toasted almonds on the edge! It had a jammy layer inside as well!

My dear friend Ashley all the way from WI got me these gorgeous lilies on the day of my bday! To get a fresh bouquet delivered right to your door on a cold, blustery day was just da bomb. #feelingloved

Hubby cooked porkchops perfectly and seasoned these green beans well! So garlicky and flavorful! Porkchops are tricky and one of the meats that I don’t always excel at cooking.

I had a wedding to go to in November so I needed a show stopping mani, of course. Daphne brilliantly came up with the idea of doing a rainbow mani, so I went with it! This is one of my fave looks now!

My bestie CAME THROUGH this year with this fancy schmancy candle that not only has the cool factor of having a ring inside but legitimately is one of the best quality candles I’ve ever lit. It’s coconut soy wax and the Java Plum scent is so fragranced that my entire room lingers with it even when it’s not lit!

After hours and days of patiently burning this candle, I extracted this adorable ring from it! Another amazing part about this candle is that it asks for your ring size! No more wondering, Diamond Candles! I used to get size 8, 9, 10 but nah! This size 5 is perfect for me and surprisingly delicate and elegant. While it’s not the $100,000 value ring, I appreciate how cute it is! Also, nice magenta mani, right?

This was DA BOMB dessert at the rehearsal dinner restaurant in New Jersey. It’s a mini apple crumble tart with a sour cherry compote and whipped cream on top. It was warm and crumbly and not overly sweet. SO good.

For once, I was pretty proud of my makeup for the wedding! Does my eyeshadow not match the exact shade of dress perfectly?! Thanks, Too Faced white chocolate bar palette! My hair is … but I just don’t have the patience to mess with a curling iron anymore…

So I finally can name the first I like so much when it’s expertly prepared like this: turbot. I’ve only known the Chinese name for it–guihua yu–osmanthus fish, oooohh so romantic. But no, TURBOT sounds an android accessory, lol. My mom steams the fish and then separately heats up oil, parsley, garlic, cilantro, thin strips of ginger, lemon soy sauce, Chinese cooking sherry, strips of shallot, red onion and BAM, drizzles the mixture right on the fish with a dramatic SIZZLE SIZZLE. It’s performance art, y’all! It’s so fragrant and yummy that my picky little Daphne requests many pieces!

Picture of me and my now *brother, Muffy. After an emergency trip to the vet in August, it was revealed to all finally that Muffy is a male cat. We should have never listened to that “specialist” at the shelter who convinced us that Muffy was a girl…

Um, how gorgeous and delicate is this vegetable bowl right herrr? Snagged it at the Twinsburg Goodwill for TWO BUCKS. My mashed potatoes or veggie dishes will look smashing in this!

I love when Mimiboo inserts herself into Daphne’s nighttime routine. My two boos look snug as bugs.

My friend Michelle be whipping up miracles for me when I come by for dinner! Trying this recipe for the first time, no less, she managed to create linguini and shell-on clams in a delectable cream sauce! It went so well with the rose wine mixed with strawberry seltzer!

Harvesting the little sprouts that grew from our terrarium kit! Yum!

I was one of the lucky first 500 people to request this collectible perfume sampler set from Korean brand Elorea. I highly recommend this–each scent was unique and pretty memorable! They are all unisex and good for the home too! Fire might be my fave.

Michelle’s mother MADE this for me as a Christmas gift. She really has magic with her sewing skills! Michelle told me she even made her own wedding dress! I’m touched and impressed with this personalized gift. It’s hanging up in our great room now as a one of a kind piece of art!

Check out these fun people shaped blocks we discovered at the Cleveland Botanical Garden!

I’ve always wanted a white tree and here it is! Can’t wait to spend our first Christmas in Cleveland in this house! Merry Christmas to all!

Life in CLE

Mmmhhmmm that’s right, ya girl right here be making her own dang frosting from scratch. The recipe is such a liar and said it would be fine overnight…why did I ever listen to that horrid piece of advice? I made homemade buttercream frosting with honeydew flavoring. For Daphne’s family birthday party, I had the hubby bake some box mix lemon cupcakes and then topped it with some fun edible icing trucks! They were a big hit even though the frosting was unable to squeeze outta them DIY tube :(. Also, why did I use so little frosting? I was trippin’.

Daphne got to test out a Sadie doll from Far Out Toys and it included a fun immersive set of accessories. It came with a real face mask for the human and doll! As well as a tiny bath bomb that fizzles out to reveal a makeup brush for the doll! It was all super cute and surprisingly fun for her.

I was about to leave Target and saw these babies being set out to usher in the era of pumpkin spice and wow…they looked just about perfect. I bought a 4 pack and by the middle of the next day, all 4 were demolished in my household. They tasted just like they looked–perfect. The inside even had a little cream filling as if there wasn’t enough on top…I’m not complaining though!

Found this at CAM! It totally tasted just like the candy but carbonated! Delicious and not overly cloying. It was actually refreshing too.

I went to an expensive-ass candy shop at Put In Bay and couldn’t resist getting this gummy cheesecake mostly for Daphne but also for myself to try! Daphne is a sucker for all things gummy. It didn’t taste very cheesecake like but it was definitely fun to eat the “slices” individually. To me, it was overly artificial and powdery.

My mani matched my OOTD!

I packed this kickass picnic lunch for a trip to Garfield Heights Park as part of the Cleveland Metroparks system. It was bomb–both the hike and the lunch.

Bento box lunch contents:

-Salisbury steak strips with the gravy sauce at the bottom

-baby spinach and arugala

-Chinese bamboo shoot strips in mild red chili oil

-radish, sweet corn kernals, carrot pieces in a medley of olive oil, Italian herbs, fresh garlic pieces and sea salt

-mozzarella balls in seasonings

-jasmine rice

On a cold night, I busted out Daphne and my old tradition of a fancy bath bomb in my big tub. This one had a mochi cat toy inside! It only turned the water to a weak pink and didn’t have a strong scent though.

Cuddles with my niece cat, MeeMaw.

Showing off her sweet body art!

Caught the neighborhood ice cream truck and bought watermelon whirl and cotton candy bars! Only put me out $3 whereas the one in Pittsburgh was $12 for 2–isn’t that criminal?

Getting into Halloween spirit in our Chagrin Falls downtown!

I was so relieved that the horse drawn carriage ride was included with the price of our $30 admission. Patterson Fruit Farm family fest might have been fun but wow, did it cost about $80 for the day. The deep fried apple rings were delish. I feel like I could easily make them though.

Beauty, Treats, Pretties

Modeling a Sally Hansen pinkish purple opal shade alternating with a Sally Hansen brilliant white on top of a book that took me forever to finish but was worth it (kind of…): The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. It is a Hamlet retelling set in rural Wisconsin specialized dog breeding farm with Hamlet as a mute boy.

Ahhh…I loved this book and the cover is phosphorescent! My mani might be a bit basic but the book definitely is not! Highly recommend this highly entertaining and interesting read!

Bought some rambutans from CAM Chinese grocery store. They were ripe, sweet and BOMB!

My mom’s gorgeous peony bouquet from her garden.

Japanese seafood pancake with shredded dried fish flakes, Japanese mayo, Japanese cheese, eel sauce (?) all on an eggy crepe!

First lunch restaurant date in 2 years! Ann Arbor’s yummy Tonkatsu ramen place was just the ticket!

Ordered my one and only cocktail for the wedding night–a Tom Collins ‘cuz I’m apparently a gin girl.

Hubby made mini pies in 2 fillings–cherry from a can and fresh peaches with a dash of cinnamon.

Bought a sunflower for $1 from the Solon farmer’s market. The pollen got errrywhere but the flower stayed perked up for more than a week!

Spotted across the street in our neighbor’s grounds…Manny, the sasquatch!

Mimiboo, finding her ideal place to rest. Her request? Only Sonatinas by Clementi… 😉

We visited the main Cleveland Public Library downtown and it was spectacularly impressive. They have a special exhibits room with rare artifacts. I loved their tiny books selection.