The universe of subscription boxes

I have been following the hype for a while now and decided that it's time to join in on the fun!
First thing I had to do, was to find the right box for me.
It sounds easier than it is, considering the amount of boxes out there.

Sure, I knew about the obvious once, like olia box, ipsy box, birchbox, popsugar, bark box...
But honestly I had not the smallest clue. On my hunt I found www.subscriptionboxes.com. This website has its viewer rate different boxes and that's were I found out "There is a whole subscription box universe out there!!"


You can get a subscription for almost anything:

• Art
• Beauty
• Clothing
• College life
• Fitness
• Food
• Jewelry
• Lifestyle
• Pets
• Travel
• Wedding 
• and many more...

I knew I wanted to learn more about make up and so it was easy for my to choose at least the category: Beauty. Now I had again a ton of choices I felt. I checked out some of the reviews of my favorite youtubers and finally eleventhgorgeous' monthly unboxing videos of the ipsy and birchbox helped me decide.

I would highly recommend to check out box reviews on youtube. You can get a feel of what it is and if it will be worth the money for you.


 
So, I am gonna give it a try and have subscribed to...

picture by http://www.crazyshenanigans.com/2013/10/glam-bags.html

My first bag is supposed to arrive mid April and I hope I can get an "unboxing" post out :)

xoxoxo Gracie

Silverleaf Resorts

We went to Silverleaf Resorts in the Starved Rock area to attend a presentation. At a bridal expo a couple weeks ago we got talked into attending it in exchange for a free trip. Who would have said NO to a free trip, right!?

So we left in the morning. It was about an hour drive and it was gorgeous outside. Chilly but so nice to see the sun and having the tinsyest feeling of this years spring season.

Silverleaf Resort, a little bit hidden, turned out to be a really nice place to spend some time.
 They have mini golf, golf, horse back riding, an indoor swimming pool, picnic areas and a new indoor water park that will open this summer.

The main goal of this presentation was to get us to sign up for a life long time share. Even though we decided not to buy or sign anything at that event before hand, we did consider that amazing deal they offered us.

After some consideration and 5 minutes alone DH and I decided it was not the right time to get this time share. Maybe next time, since a time share like that would benefit us!

Excited to be done and to receive the free trip we made our way to the "gift center".
You might be treated like royalty in the beginning but once you are done, without buying a time share you get to wait 45 minutes till your up. The wait wasn't to bad though. We got to see Finding Nemo, which I haven't seen yet. 

Once it was our turn to receive the gift it went by super quickly. The gifter filled out his charts and made sure that we are the right people and handed us our 5 (!) gifts.

We got in exchange:
- our $40 deposit back
- a day-pass for that day at the resort
- a $100 Restaurant.com gift card
- a weekend trip
- a scatch off ticket which turned into a vacation getaway

We were blown away. We did know about the weekend trip, which was already so worth spending a day and listening to the sales pitch. But all the other things were just the icing on the cake.

I'm so excited to go on those trips and bring back awesome pictures from a great time.

xoxoxo Gracie 

Bachelor party #throughback

Tonight is the bachelor party for the upcoming wedding. Groomsmen and friends are bringing some liquid gifts and will party all night. I'm sure it will get pretty wild ;-)

And why not? I had a blast at my bachelorette party last November.

My SIL planned on just taking me out for a couple of drinks. This "spontaneous" idea turned into a whole event that also my FMIL and my aunts and future-cousin attended.

We went to a cozy little bar across the street for karaoke night. Oh, how I love karaoke. It was so much fun! Having yummy drinks, singing, laughing. It was a great time!! My absolute favorites are: Don't stop believing (Journey), Marry you (Bruno Mars), everything by the Backstreet Boys, Survive (Gloria Gaynor).... and so on....

 

Tiara and a sash, both in pink ♥ and ready to get this party started!

My dear SIL and I :-*

Wishing the guys a fun, great night tonight and a not too bad hangover!

Lasst es richtig krachen!! ;-)

xoxoxo Gracie

Dress shopping

Who doesn't know that feeling:
There is an important event coming up, you need to look great and you know there is nothing in your closet to wear.

The #1 war plan that comes to mind is SHOPPING.
So you head out to the store and find absolutely nothing. Why? I don't understand it.
Other times you just go for fun and find so many incredible pieces, but you know there wont be any occasions coming up to wear them.

It's like a "Teufelskreis" (doom loop)

So on that particular Saturday I went shopping with my SIL for an upcoming wedding. Upcoming meaning: two weeks away. Argh!! The first store we went into was so crowded, we immediately started to hid the racks. She in her size, I'm in mine. In the end we managed to snatch 4 dresses each to try on.

Why is it that the first dress you pull the best one is? I'm not sure, but it did fit very well. SIL found also something she liked and added a cute little bow belt to it.

I'm super excited to get all dolled up and go to a beautiful wedding, espescially since I already have shoes and hair figured out. ;)
I really hope it will warm up a little bit more than just the 55 degrees they call for :/  

xoxoxo Gracie

Bridal Expo March 2014

Dear Husband and I went to our very first bridal expo this past month to get some inspiration for our big wedding in white, meet vendors, get free goodies ;) and have a chance of winning one of the many prices they have.
It was pretty much like a zoo! Arrived on time, we had to realize what a crazy busy day was ahead of us. After standing in line for about 1 hour we finally were able to start the fun.
Right at the entrance they gave us a bag with a bridal magazine and little pamphlets of different vendors, like:

- Reception venues

- Florists

- Transportation service

- Candy Bar

- Caterer

- Photographer and videographer
- Bachelor/Bachelorette parties

- Ministers

- DJs

- Bridal and Groom stores

- and many more

I went ahead and set up an appointment to check out some Bridesmaid dresses with my sister-in-law in about 2 weeks. That's going to be so much fun! :D

Passing tables, getting congratulations, receiving information and signing up for a chance to win. It was pretty exhausting and after 3 hours we were done and ready to leave.

I would recommend to anyone to go see a bridal expo, it definitely gets you in wedding mood!

My goodies ;)   

As my first post...

...I just wanted to introduce myself to all of you.

Hi ;-) My name is Gracie and I'm 25 years old. I was born in Poland, raised in Germany, moved to the US in 2013 and been living here ever since.

I love my husband, shopping, fashion, reading, movies, make up, baking, organization and traveling.

My blog will be based on all the things I like to do. So hopefully there will be something for each and everyone of you.

Thanks for stopping by & hopefully see you very soon!

xoxoxo Gracie