Influenster Sugar 'n Spice Voxbox Part 4 Optic White Trio

I've mentioned before that I am part of Influenster and they had sent me a VoxBox of products to test out. I reviewed them here, here, and here.  The last products I have to write about are the Colgate Optic White series.  I received a toothbrush, toothpaste, and mouth wash to use.

I had my doubts about them.  I am a pretty dedicated coffee drinker.  I drink at least one cup a day.  And if I don't drink coffee, I drink tea.  So, to see if there was any difference, I took a before picture.

I used the system regularly for 4 weeks.  Here are the results.

I am getting amazing at showing my teeth off for the camera.  Feel free to copy these poses. They are definitely amazing!

I think they went up a shade or two.  So, if you don't drink coffee or tea, it would probably work really well for you.

The mouthwash had a weird taste to it.  It reminded me of the dentist's office.  I really didn't care for it.

I did really like the toothbrush.  I bought one for Kevin after receiving mine for free.  He likes it as well.

I probably won't buy the toothpaste and mouthwash now that mine have run out unless it's on a big sale.  While it was easy to use, I just am not that concerned about maintaining a pearly white smile and the results didn't blow my mind enough to convince me to do so.

"I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes."

Happy Mother's Day!

I worked at 6 this morning and boy, does that come fast!  My alarm went off at 4 so I could make coffee.  I laid on the couch until about 5 watching I Love Lucy.  I was pretty tired!  I finally sipped down some coffee and got ready for work.

I was actually looking forward to my run today.  It's been exactly a week since my last run and I was starting to get a little stir crazy.  The only part I was worried about was running 12 miles after working for 8 hours.  No, biggie...right?

I drank a soda on the way home to get a little extra caffeine.  I also soaked my feet in some epsom salt for about 20 minutes to soothe them a little.  I got dressed, filled my bottle with Gatorade, grabbed my phone, and took off.  It was a beautiful day for a run.

We have run 12 before and agreed to do the same route again.  I like it, because we run by the Lighthouse and have some awesome views of the Lake.

The first four miles passed pretty quickly.  I haven't talked to Becky in a week and we had a lot of catching up to do.  I felt pretty good until mile 9.  My legs started to get really tight and my feet were starting to get a bit sore.  Miles 9-11 seemed to drag on forever.

I couldn't wait to run the last mile.  There's a huge hill we get to run down before the home stretch.  The only problem with that was that a giant rock pebble got lodged in between my heel and shoe and would not move.  I was worried that I was going to be bleeding, but sucked it up and kept going.  Becky pulled ahead of me a bit and boy, was that last half mile tough!

When we were walking to cool down, I stopped to pull the rock out and I had a bloody heel. Ouchie!

It was a good run and the fastest 12 miles I've done, even with walking a few times.  Hopefully I can make my goal of a 2:30 half marathon next weekend!

I hope all of you moms had the day that you deserve!

Catch-Up

It's been a while since I've done much of anything.  What have I been up to?
I planted my garden.

From seeds...in case you were confused.
I put in cucumbers, peppers, brussel sprouts, broccoli, zucchini, and beans.  I still have to figure out where to plant the spinach and kale.

I ran...a little.  I had a 30 mile week last week, this week I'm at about...let's see...carry the one...zero.  I'm at zero.  I felt horrible on my last run. Flat out tired, nothing left to give, drained, never want to run again, horrible.  Then, I had a headache for the next 4 days.  It finally went away on Thursday after taking enough ibuprofen to make my liver bleed.

I made an awesome recipe.  I call it Mexican Lentil and Rice Casserole.  Recipe will be coming soon.

I got Netflix for the free month trial and have watched the first four seasons of Breaking Bad and am watching Psych even though I have the first four seasons of Psych.  Time really sails by.

I've been working. A lot.  I can't wait to have off in a week!

I tried to find shoes for my wedding.

I'm still looking.  My mom already told me I can't wear flip flops. *Insert eye roll here.*  I tried on super cute high heels and got a calf cramp.  It was mildly hilarious to me.  File that under "Runner Problems".
And I discovered a crazy huge callous on my left. outer, pinky toe.  All the shoes I tried on pushed right up against it.  I'll be filing that down!

I ate way too much!  I'm obsessed with these and have eaten two bags this past week.  You know what doesn't go well with excessive eating and not running?  Weight loss.  Weight loss doesn't fit in there anywhere.

I cleaned my carpet.  After our last sewer back up all over the carpet, we had to clean the basement carpet so we could put our cat's litter box back down there.  And our carpet really needed it.  My mom use to rent one every year or two to clean the carpets at home.

And of course, I admired my cat.  He is just so darn cute!

Hope you're having a great Friday!

Mish-Mash Monday

Last night I was asleep by 11.  This morning I woke up before my alarm.  It was still dark and I wondered what time it was.  I didn't have a watch on and went to find my glasses.  Once I found them, put them on and found a clock, I saw that it was 2:45 a.m.  I thought that it was around 6 or so!

Good idea, Zooey. Good idea.

I knew I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep in bed between Kevin's loud breathing and my cat's bed-hogging, I decided to just go lay on the couch.  I turned the T.V. on I Love Lucy and fell asleep until I heard the Golden Girls on around 7.

Chillin'

I had off today, so I laid around most of the morning, drank some coffee, crocheted, and made a list of some things I needed at the grocery store.  I finally headed out at about noon.

A couple of hours later, I went for a walk with Melissa and her posse (aka her 3 children).  It was so nice out!  It was a bit windy by the lake, which is where she lives, but the way back was better since the wind was behind us.  We ended up walking almost 3 miles.

The bottom of my foot was still sore this morning, but I popped a couple of ibuprofen and iced it for about half an hour before I went walking. It wasn't sore during or after either.  Now though, it is a bit sore to walk on.  I wish I knew what the deal was, but I just have to hope that with ice and rest it will get better.  Too bad it won't get too much rest since I literally run around for 8 hours at work.  I will have to assess it after my run tomorrow.  I may have to take some time off from running.

Happy Monday!

Yeah, I'm Famous

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I've mentioned that I read books by Joanne Fluke.  They are murder mysteries and the main character owns a cookie shop.  The books are filled with recipes.  They aren't just cookie recipes, but also main meals, breads, cakes, etc.  I've made several different ones and they have all been excellent.

If readers make a recipe, they can submit a photo of it along with where or why they made that certain recipe and they will put the picture up on their website.

I had submitted my Butterscotch Bonanza Bars recipe.  I just got an email from the webmaster that my picture is up!  I was so excited!  Maybe, too excited.  I'm a dork that way.

The pictures of the recipes are here.  The picture I submitted was this one.

So if you want my autograph, I will totally understand!

Happy Monday!

Easy Breezy

Today was my long run.  I'm on week 8 of Hal's Intermediate Half Plan, so my long run today was for 10 miles.  Yeah, I call him Hal.  We're cool like that.

The weather was pretty nice.  Not too windy and not too cold.  And the sun was out off and on.

Becky and I ran a reverse route than what we have done before.  This resulted in having to run up some pretty big hills.

Oh, Ryan

The first hill was right away.  I asked Becky if we could walk.  If Gosling were waiting for me at the top, I probably would have kept going.  Almost to the top we hear someone say, "Why are you guys walking?"  We turn and see Becky's boyfriend driving by.  Too bad we didn't keep running.  We would have looked pretty hard core.

The second hill we had to climb was right by the lake.  Halfway up I asked if we could walk again.  We were still in the first 3 miles and I was being lazy.

10 miles done!

The rest of the run went well. Neither of us were really in a hurry and were able to keep a comfortable pace.  We walked a couple of times to take some shot blocks/GUs.

We didn't start listening to music until about 3 miles left.  We put in our headphones and ran home.  We really sped up at the end and it felt good.

After I got home and took my shoes off, I noticed a really strong pain on the bottom of my foot.  It's on the heel, but right before the arch, so towards the middle.  I remembered that I had noticed it this morning, but didn't think anything about it.  Now, I can barely walk!  I have to hobble around in my slippers.  I have no idea what happened especially since I haven't ran since Thursday.  I'm going to try some ice and hope for the best.

Happy Running!

Waking Up to Sunshine

It's been a long and emotional week for many following the Boston Marathon bombing and the explosions in Texas.

I, like many, was glued to the T.V. yesterday as soon as I got home from work.  The wave of relief and sadness that washed over me when they finally had the second bomber in custody was overwhelming.  Hopefully justice will prevail and this will help bring closure to the many victims.  

It's been hard to think about anything else and blogging seemed pointless.    What could I say that hadn't already been said more eloquently by someone else?

The past week has been dreary, cold, windy, rainy, AND snowy.  This morning I woke up to beautiful sunshine and birds chirping.  It puts me in a better mood and makes me a bit more optimistic and happy.

Here's a couple of adorable pictures that always make me smile.

Source couldn't be found anymore, but I saw it on Pinterest (where else?)

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May your weekend be filled with smiles and sunshine!