Hooray, my November Birchbox finally arrived! Actually, it arrived last week, I just didn’t have time to go through it until today. I signed up for Birchbox (referral link) last month, at probably the WORST POSSIBLE TIME, right after the 10th of the month, which is when they ship the boxes out. That meant I had to wait until this month to receive my first one. It was rough, but I made it. For those of you who haven’t heard of Birchbox, it’s a sort of subscription service where you pay $10/month and get a little box filled with high-end samples of products that you might not get access to normally. Some of the selections in the past have been pretty great, and this month wasn’t too shabby, either. Here’s the list:

• Avène Cleanance Soap-Free Facial Gel Cleanser
  “A European skincare star that uses thermal spring water to soothe and soften skin.”
• Mineralogie Ultimate Cream Concealer
  “Made with finely ground minerals, this spot concealer hides under-eye circles and blemishes with zero cake-age.”
• Thymes Eucalyptus body lotion (plus a sample of their Kimono Rose body lotion)
  “Put this one on your wish list: skin-saving botanicals and shea butter combine in a luxurious lotion.”
• Zoya nail polish in Noel
  “This shimmery denim shade from Zoya’s holiday 2011 collection fits just right – just like your favorite blue jeans.”
• Two Paper Dolls Ampersand coasters
  “Our favorite letterpress studio adds a hip, playful touch to everything they do, from notecards to coasters.”

Are any of you Birchbox subscribers? What did you get?

Who has two thumbs and needs a goddamned party? THIS GUY. I’m feeling incredibly burned out from school, and our next break where we don’t have any is the week of Thanksgiving. I’m not one for celebrating oppression of native peoples or the practical extermination of a population, but I can get behind FOOD. So I’m going to have a few of my friends over for some festivities to keep us away from the shopping centers on the day after Turkey Day. And because the people who will be joining us on this day are vegetarian/vegan, planning a feast for the group gets even easier!

APPETIZERS

• Spiced nuts
• Cheese straws
• Spicy sweet potato wedges
• Caramelized onion and goat cheese cornbread

MAIN COURSE

• Brown sugar glazed Brussels sprouts
• Chipotle sweet potato gratin
• Parmesan smashed potatoes
• Cream biscuits
• Some herb-infused homemade butter (sage? rosemary?)
• Roasted vegetable gravy
• Field Roast “Celebration Roast”

DESSERT

• Pumpkin Cream Pie (seen above)
• Silky Smooth Pumpkin Pie
• Apple pie cookies

We’ll probably end up with some cranberry sauce out of a can (Kevin’s favorite) and some bagged stuffing (also Kevin’s favorite). WOW. That’s a lot of food! I hope my friends show up hungry! I should probably start stocking up on leftovers containers now. And maybe I should start doing my research on how to make things ahead/simultaneously. Yeah.

I decided to do a video where I talk about my makeup haul from this post, to give an update on the things I’ve been using and how I like them. Wheee!

Holy crap, you guys. Was I talking about shoes lately? I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT THE SHOES! Today I followed a post on SFGirlByBay, one that featured some deliciously witchy/pilgrim-y shoes, and I went temporarily blind. BLIND. BECAUSE OF THE SHOES. My blindness-causers, let me show you them.

These shoes are from Chie Mihara’s line, a Japanese designer based in Spain, I think? I love them.

So, what is this collection teaching me? Well, for one thing, I need some gorgeous shoes. And for another? I need some charcoal grey tights. And some ribbed grey tights. Good goddamn.

Something chunky, clunky, maybe with buckles? Something I can tuck jeans into, if I’m feeling saucy. Definitely something cute. Not knee-high, since my calves are too fat for that. Maybe about mid-calf? Grey, if possible!

Out of these, I’m kind of leaning toward the Nine Wests. They’re all so pretty, though! What do you think? Any others I should look at? I should probably find some of these in a store and try them on before committing to anything.

Hey, look at that! You’ve got to give it to me for exhaustively cataloging my music taste for most of the last 6 years (and into the future, of course). I like it when things are orderly, at least online. You can see in the menu bar above, I’ve added “Monthly Mix Tapes” as an item, with a drop-down menu featuring all of the ones I’ve compiled over the years. On many of the mix tape pages, you can even have access to the embedded playlists as I’ve uploaded them to 8tracks. Yay! Eventually, I’ll have them all updated. Stay tuned!

I’ve been kind of obsessed with a few songs lately. Wanna listen?

Speaking of music, I think it’s probably a good time to move my Monthly Mix Tapes over here from my Livejournal. I’ll probably put them in their own little section. Whee!

Did I ever tell you about that time that our friend Forrest took us up in his private plane to fly over Iowa City and Coralville? It was pretty righteous, as far as things like that go. It was also three years ago, and this has been sitting in my WordPress drafts since then. Oops. Wanna see?

I was feeling particularly snarly on Monday, overworked/overwhelmed/pissed about my lost social life/pissed about my lack of private time, so Kevin decided to be the best guy ever, take a night off from the neverending garage project, and drag my sullen ass out to the Macbride Raptor Center to dip my toes into some nature. I’m so thankful that he did.

(Looking through these photos is particularly helping me today, since I decided to try a new foundation that is currently blotchy and flaking off of my skin, making me feel like a troll. Sigh.)

Really need to be doing more of this right now. I feel like the 14 months straight of work+nursing school is finally catching up with me, and it’s tossing me over the edge into an abyss of stress and overwhelmedness. I’m kind of a snarly mess right now. I need to start practicing those relaxation techniques that I had to learn in the first semester of my program.

Napping in a quiet house, bookended by kitties, definitely helps me relax. I should do more of that.