DesaraeV

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Free Flowers, Delivered - Bouqs

Send 1 Bouquet Get 1 Free

Bouqs

Get your free flowers

Disclosure: If you click on the link to get free flowers, I might get free flowers too.

Friday, March 27, 2015

The Finishing Touches by Hester Browne

Finishing Touches Hester Browne

The Finishing Touches

Book Author: Hester Browne

Romantic Comedy


Overall
Performance
Story

If you love Hester Browne books or just funny chic literature, then you will love The Finishing Touches. This book doesn't start off as a typical Hester Browne novel with a free-spirited women running a business. Instead, she is running a finishing school for girls. You will learn about etiquette, fashion, and have fun while reading this novel.

I hope some day soon that Hester Browne makes this book into a series.

I highly recommend The Finishing Touches by Hester Browne.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Business Review: NorthTowne Cycling and Fitness + Kalkhoff Impulse 8

Kalkhoff impulse 8 at Northtowne

Review of an Iowa Bike Shop

Cedar Rapids, IA

NorthTowne Cycling and Fitness

My Rating: 5 Stars 5 Stars

I found NorthTowne from Google Maps of all places. Des Moines electric bike selections are pathetic, so I made my search a little wider. Nearly had to order a bike from San Francisco. Shipping a bike that you can't test first is crazy, so I was extremely excited to speak to the folks at NorthTowne. I sent them an email with everything I was looking for and they gave me valuable feedback that helped narrow down my options. I then read reviews and watched videos on Electric Bike Review to follow up.

Review: Hello Fresh Meal Steak Tagliata by desaraev

Meal Delivery Service

Steak Tagliata

Healthy Recipes and all the Ingredients Delivered Weekly

My Rating: 5 Stars 5 Stars of Hello Fresh



Delirium (series) by Lauren Oliver

Delirium

Delirium

Book Author: Lauren Oliver

Delirium Trilogy

Delightful Narration + Adventurous Cautionary Tale of a Futuristic World Without Love


Overall
Performance
Story

Delirium is a story of the United States in a hypothetical future where scientists have cured love. In this world love is seen as a delirium, a mind-poison, and something to be feared. Men and women are segregated. The USA has borders reminiscent of the German Holocaust or the Berlin wall. Everyone is a prisoner. The procedure is required and at first the lead character is looking forward to it.

"The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't." Love, also known as Delirium.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Product Review: St. Ives, Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub

St. Ives, Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub, 6oz

Overall
5 stars

My little brother first introduced me to St. Ives' scrubs. He has been overseas for a number of years in areas that are not kind to on skin. So, he started using scrubs and face masks to maintain healthy skin and moisturize. One time, when he was home to visit we did face masks and he introduced me to St. Ives. 

Actually, long before the face mask story he had asked my father and I to mail him some of this stuff. Anyway one way or another, my brother introduced me to this product.

I've always enjoyed using clean and clear products to prevent acne and clear out any unwanted goop from inside my pours. I still use it, but every few days or so I also use St. Ives. I highly recommend the product as a nice scrub to remove dead skin and to clean up. I do not recommend it as a daily scrub or stand alone product, however, my brother might say differently.

I buy most of my household goods on Amazon, because I hate shopping. I have this on auto subscribe. If you are interested, you can purchase St. Ives for around $5-8 on Amazon.

Please note: At the time of this review St. Ives has never sent me free products, paid me to write a review, or given me discount codes. If I'm sent freebies or money I will disclose it in my reviews. I do however receive a few pennies if you click on the images or links provided to help you find this product and purchase it on Amazon. I only get that money if you click the links and then make a purchase. It's not a lot of money and if you like this blog, I hope that doesn't put you off simply because it helps support this bloggers writing habits.

Happy online shopping and enjoy your clean, fresh, scrubbed skin!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

The Runaway Princess by Hester Browne

The Runaway Princess by Hester Browne

The Runaway Princess

Book Author: Hester Browne

Romantic Comedy


Overall
Performance
Story

A modern day prince charming story. Hapless princess goes through some of the craziest dating twists that only the rich might run into. It's cute and silly. The story leads you on and has you on edge laughing. I love Hester Browne. She is one of my favorite authors, which is why this book earned not only my favorite author award, but also favorite story award.

A Duck by Any Other Name

Let’s call a duck a duck, okay? By duck I mean spammer. If you spam me via email, Twitter, Facebook, direct mail or any other medium don’t be upset when I do my darnedest to block you from my community, my world, my time. I get it, spammers are people too, but you and I get to choose which people we associate with don’t we. That doesn’t mean I’m condoning being an asshole to people, but in a way I am. If you spam me I will block you. If you mass spam me and I will probably snarkily comment about it and then block you. Let’s call it my own personal primal instinct. So, when you randomly message me and 20 of your closest strangers, whom you’ve never met, and ask me to follow you on Twitter and I ask you why I should follow you if the majority of your tweets are asking other people to follow you en mass, don’t be mad at me when I directly ask you why I should follow you. It’s a valid comment, a simple question and I think it’s a fair one. What would you bring to my world when the last 20 things I see when I skim through your Twitter life appear spammy? You can respond calling me an asshole, but really who does that reflect on, me or you? I stand by my comment and I frankly don’t think I was much of an arse to this person (yes, this really happened). If you randomly found me and want to offer me something of value, like a question, a comment on my blog, actually read one of my tweets and reply to it and then ask me to follow that’s one thing, but it’s clearly another to follow 20 people and retweet their blog posts and then ask me to do follow you just because. I’m not that picky in who I follow, clearly, all I ask for is authenticity and I’ll be damned if I’ll apologize for asking someone why I should follow you. It’s not a snarky question, it’s not rude, it may be aloof but at least it’s not spammy. Happy Spamming. If you quack like a duck, act like a duck but call yourself a horse makes no difference when I say I hate ducks.

Power Life Yoga 200 Hour Teacher Training Certification Celebration

Yoga

Today we celebration the end of a path and the beginning of a new journey. 25 yogis-in-training embarked on a certification program 10 weeks ago. I'm honored to be a part of this humble group of teachers, students and friends. I've learned much, and gained many friends. I hope to share some of this wisdom with you soon but today I...

Default Values

Challenge

Choosing which values in a menu should be default. Ever go to a site that has a very small country set as the default value, a country that may not even have internet (or at best makes up .5% of online internet users)? Had the UI/UX Designer thought through the system configurations, you may have filled out that form slightly faster (it’s a convenience factor).

Solution

Most users don’t want to fill out long forms and will go to another site that will make the process easier for them if you make them fill out a ten page survey on their life history. While the default values you choose may not be right, it is better to have a value as an example that can be easily changed than to have an empty field.

Personal Branding

Branding Yourself or Company

You’re a brand. I don’t want to argue over that, I’m just going to state it as a fact. Your reputation is no different then a corporate brand’s reputation. Reputations can be tarnished, beat up, or soar to heights unimaginable just by word-of-mouth. What you do in the process of branding yourself makes all the difference, so start thinking about it, your brand I mean.

Christian Hommel: Interior Architect

Christian Hommel and I met through an exchange program. He came and visited America from Germany well over a decade ago as an exchange student. He didn't live with my family, although we did host multiple exchange students, but we became long time friends. We where much closer pen pals in my early pre-teens and some what lost touch in my college years but Facebook recently reconnected us. He and I have traveled similar paths in life over vast distances and I think his amazing young career deserves checking out!

Graphic Designer Tools from Color Theory to a Preview of the New Photoshop

Design Tool Recommendations

I just couldn’t help but share this with you. As a designer, color can make all the difference in the world. It effects readability, feeling and can compliment spaces. Think of how blue in all its coolness and depth makes you feel, light, calm, connected. While red is known to make you hungry, angry, in movies it’s used to relate to death coming up in a scene, and is used in presidential ties to show strength and power. The image below is from the Floating Frog. Even if you’re not a designer, this will catch you up on color theory. If you’ve ever seen a color wheel, you know it’s like a designer’s cheat sheet to selecting colors. Another great tool is Kuler.

Listening on Twitter

Communication is Important

As Chris Brogan likes to say, “you have two ears and one mouth,” so use them in proportion. The following article has a few tips on how to listen on Twitter: http://www.twitip.com/listening-on-twitter/

I’d like to add that using Twitter search or a tool like Radian 6 you can readily track your name, company and sentiment. Consider using this to track happy and angry costumers so that you can respond in real-time accordingly.

How are you listening? What metrics are you considering?

Public Speaking

Presenting

Desarae Veit is a consultant and speaker. Her company Agency Couture, LLC. helps businesses and social causes raise their visibility and generate leads through smarter marketing, branding, web design and social media. In addition, Desarae provides online etiquette training, keynote presentations and workshops to business owners, job seekers and ladder climbers on the process of leveraging personal branding online and offline.

Personal Branding

Being Your Own Brand

You're a brand. I don't want to argue over that, I'm just going to state it as a fact. Your reputation is no different then a corporate brand's reputation. Reputations can be tarnished, beat up, or soar to heights unimaginable just by word-of-mouth. What you do in the process of branding yourself makes all the difference, so start thinking about it, your brand I mean.

Trouble Editing Styles in Google Chrome > Elements?

Styles

I did too and this page may help: https://developers.google.com/chrome-developer-tools/docs/elements-styles I’m not sure what I did but all of a sudden I couldn’t edit existing styles. What fixed it? CTRL + SHIFT + C. I’ve read other posts where people have done other things and broke it as well but this did the trick for me and I couldn’t find it noted anywhere else so just throwing the tip out there.

GREAT SASS setup information or (SCSS)

SASSY CSS Pre-Processor Review and Tips

Checkout this blog for a great tutorial. It walks you through setup step by step. http://blog.assortedgarbage.com/2012/03/using-dreamweaver-with-sass-and-less/

Monday, March 23, 2015

Honeymoon Hotel by Hester Browne

Honeymoon Hotel by Hester Browne

Honeymoon Hotel

Book Author: Hester Browne

Romantic Comedy


Overall
Performance
Story

This book reminds me of the 2001 movie of Jennifer Lopez as The Wedding Planner. It's a light hearted novel of love, marriage, and silly fun. Like most of Hester Browne's novels, this book is love-able chic literature.

I first fell in love with Hester's books with the Little Lady Agency series. The characters and story plot are very similar. Both books involve strong, independent, silly women who fall in love with men who need to grow up.

I recommend this book if you are looking for an easy-read to pass the time.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Swept Off Her Feet by Hester Browne

Swept Off Her Feet by Hester Browne

Swept Off Her Feet

Book Author: Hester Browne

Romantic Comedy


Overall
Performance
Story

Swept Off Her Feet is a quick read. This book is full of quippy honest humor. The book is engaging and quirky, a typical fun Hester Browne love-struck comedy.

I first fell in love with Hester's books after reading the Little Lady Agency series. All of her books are fun, easy to read, and hilarious. If you are looking for a happily-ever-after tale, this is the book for you.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Happy Birthday Dad! @gveit

Greg and Desarae

Happy Birthday to the Best Guy I Know

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday dear Dad.

A happy happy birthday to you!

Love you a lot! You're a great father and I'm very lucky to have you as my father.

xox

Love,

Your little girl

Little Lady Big Apple by Hester Browne

Little Lady Big Apple

Little Lady Big Apple

Book Author: Hester Browne

Romantic Comedy


Overall
Performance
Story

Little Lady Big Apple is the second installment of the Little Lady Agency series. The love-able protagonist, Melissa, travels with her boyfriend and they are confronted by a number of obstacles. Jonathan forces the lead to leave her business, the business she loves, and goes from a fan-favorite to a hard to love character, and back to love-able in the span of a few pages.

This book will make you laugh, smile, and pull your heart around with ink. I love the British accent throughout the book and silly use of 'arse' throughout. I highly recommend this book for a light-hearted read.

Author: Abbi Glines

Author: Abbi Glines

About Abbi Glines

Erotica & Young Adult Fiction Author

Born Birmingham, Alabama, The United States

Gender female

Genre Young Adult, Romance

Abbi Glines is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, and Existence series.

"“Everyone always says that love was enough. It wasn't. Not when your soul has been shattered.” "

-- Abbi Glines, Fallen Too Far

Kiro's Emily (Book 10 of Rosemary Beach Series) by Abbi Glines

BOOK REVIEW: Kiro's Emily

Book 10, Novella, Rosemary Beach Series

Book Author: Abbi Glines

"Innocence Meets Hard Core Musicians"


Overall
Performance
Story

Recommended Age: Adult, Young Adult

Characters: Musician

Book Type: Audio, Novella

This book is a lot like the Notebook in some ways. A bit rushed at the end, full of cutesy romance and innocent quips.

The ending, for me, was unexpected. I found this book delightful. It's a bad boy meets good girl romance. At the beginning of the story Emily, the main character, is off on an adventure with her risque cousin. Her cousin is sleeping her way to and through a band that they are following around the country. Emily refuses to follow the status quo and sleep around, but somehow strikes up an unusual friendship along the way that leads to romance. Tragedy strikes towards the end, but in some ways works out as an epic love tale. The book has some pretty heart wrenching moments, and other moments where you wonder why anyone would act so foolishly.

I recommend this book as a romantic read, but gave it only four stars because it could have had more depth and the ending seemed rushed.

Friday, March 20, 2015

About Book Review Rating and Awards

Best of Rating and Stars

What are the Stars?

Books may be rated 1-5 stars. 1 star being the lowest possible rating and 5 stars being the highest. Books that have not been read do not have a rating.

Every book review may have an overall rating, a performance rating, and a story rating. The overall rating takes into account both the story and performance. The Performance rates the narrator, if the book was reviewed as an audible book. The story rating is for the book overall.

Books are not graded by spelling or grammatical errors, although poor performance or books that are hard to read may factor in layout. If something stands out, this will generally be mentioned in the review.

Products only have an overall score. Additional ratings may be added later for product and business reviews.

The Starts look like this:

Overall
Performance
Story

At any time, you can click on the stars to see a list of books, products, or businesses with a similar rating.

Author: Alyson Noël

Alyson Noël

About Alyson Noël

Best Selling Author

Born Orange County, The United States

Gender female

Genre Young Adult, Children's, Paranormal

Influences: Judy Blume -- JD Salinger -- Life

Alyson Noël is the #1 New York Times best selling, award-winning, author of 21 novels.

Books by Alyson

  • FAKING 19

  • ART GEEKS AND PROM QUEENS

  • LAGUNA COVE

  • FLY ME TO THE MOON, KISS & BLOG

  • SAVING ZOË

  • CRUEL SUMMER

  • FOREVER SUMMER (a LAGUNA COVE/CRUEL SUMMER 2-in-1)

  • KEEPING SECRETS (a SAVING ZOË/FAKING 19 2-in-1)

  • the IMMORTALS series: EVERMORE, BLUE MOON, SHADOWLAND, DARK FLAME, NIGHT STAR, EVERLASTING, the IMMORTALS spin-off

  • RILEY BLOOM series: RADIANCE, SHIMMER, DREAMLAND, WHISPER

  • THE SOUL SEEKERS series: FATED, ECHO, MYSTIC, HORIZON; with short stories appearing in the anthologies FIRST KISS (THEN TELL), KISSES FROM HELL, & DEAR BULLY.

"Rules should always be bent, if not broken. It's the only way to have any fun."

--ALYSON NOËL, Evermore

Diary: Spring is finally Here

Happy St. Patricks

St. Patricks
 

Warm Weather!!!

I couldn't be happier to see the sun. Warm weather finally arrived this March. I'm writing this on Tuesday, March 17th. Sunday was my first day getting out. I went for a nice long bike ride. The next day I felt the burn. The sun got to me. The bike burned out my muscles. Still, I couldn't be happier that the weather is turning.

Happy St. Patricks. Hope it was fun for you! I missed all the green beer this year.

Book Update

Currently going through books faster than I can make hot cakes, that is to say, I'm not a very good cook and I really like books. Writing reviews however, is time consuming, but I have a slew of them on the way!

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Bike Garter Product Review

Bike Garter

Bike Garter

Like wearing a dress, but need to bike somewhere. No girl want to show off her undergarments on the go, so checkout the bike garter.

Sold on Amazon and Eleanor's NYC by Bird Industries.

Comes in 6 colors, hand dyed, and three sizes.

Purchase

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Book Review: Cursed (The Watchers Trilogy) by S.J. West

Book Review Cursed by S.J. West Blessed by S.J. West Book Two of the Watchers Trilogy - In the sequel to Crused, Lilly Raye Nightengale discoveres why lucifer has been protecting her from malevolent forces bent on destroying her. She also comes face to face with the person who orchestrated the various near death experiences throughout her life and comes closer to learning the truth about why her death is so important to them.

Cursed

"Blessed and Love Struck by This Mysterious Series"

S.J. West
Overall
Performance
Story

By S.J. West Cursed (Watchers Trilogy) epitomizes everything I love in a book or series. It offers romance, humor, and mystery. Author S.J. West doesn't spell out every detail in the series or answer all your questions up front, she lures you in with one mystery after another and leaves you yearning for answers, mystery, and a few more moments with her lovely characters. 

The Watchers Chronicles is blessed, pun intended, with not just one handsome lead male character, but three. The book includes a damsel in chronic distress, and her witty southern side-kick best friend. 

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: BANG (The Black Lotus Series Book 1) by E.K. Blair

Book Review Bang Ek Blair Bang by E.K. Blair the Black Lotus Series

Bang

The Black Lotus Series

E.K. Blair
Overall
Performance
Story

It all begins and ends with a bang.

E.K. Blair is a New York Times Best Selling Author, Bang (Black Lotus #1) (The Black Lotus Series), is the first book I've read by her. Bang is heart wrenching. I finished the first book in this series in one day and am now traumatized waiting for the second and third to be released. 

Last week (Feb 27, 2015) while interviewing indie author Nicole Collet, she recommended Bang and a few other books for me to read. This is the first book in her long list of recommendations that I dove into, head first. I nearly cracked my head and heart open with this book (diving head first). 

Monday, March 16, 2015

Book Review: Cinder (Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer

Cinder Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

My New Favorite Chronicle

Overall
Performance
Story

“Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.” 

“I'm sure I'll feel much more grateful when I find a guy who thinks complex wiring in a girl is a turn-on.” ― Marissa MeyerCinder

"Science Fiction Meets Cinderella + All Your Other Favorite Fairy Tales"

The Lunar Chronicles starts off with a book called Cinder. This is a futuristic dystopian view of Cinderella in reverse. A young girl who loses everything in the worst ways possible only to discover things she never knew about herself and make lots of new friends against impossible odds on a mission to save two worlds. 

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Books: Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

Book Review Mein Kampf Mein Kampf

Mein Kampf

Mein Kampf is an autobiographical manifesto by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, in which he outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 192 5 and Volume 2 in 1926. Someone recently recommended I read Mein Kampf. I have not read it. I did however, study propaganda in relation to art, design, and advertising in college and remember discussing this book (maybe I did read it then, if so it would have been over a decade ago).

I do not have a lot of useful information to convey on this book. I'm open to starting a discussion on this book if anyone else is interested, then I will read it and reopen this review at that time. I'm disinclined to read this, even the reviews are a little disturbing (scroll down to book description or Amazon.com Review).

Friday, March 13, 2015

Book Review: For the Love of the Duke by Christi Caldwell

Book Review For the Love of the Duke by Christi Caldwell

Woodsworth and Byron in the Heart of a Duke

Overall
Performance
Story

For the Love of the Duke is a historical fiction novel set sometime in the 17th to 19th century when the Thames River of London would freeze over. During this time winters where significantly colder in London than they are now. This time was known as the Little Ice Age. To celebrate Christmastide, what the book and that period fondly referred to as the winter or Christmas season, merry goers would brave the chill air with a little cup of alcohol to enjoy the Frost Fairs. At the time the River Thames would freeze over and they would walk an elephant across to prove it was solid. Then peddlers would set up tents of trinkets and goodies to sell, this would have seemed a lot like any other festival combined with a farmers market.

The first recorded frost fair was in 1608. The most celebrated frost fair occurred in the winter of 1683–84 and was described by John Evelyn

Coaches plied from Westminster to the Temple, and from several other stairs too and fro, as in the streets; sleds, sliding with skeetes, a bull-baiting, horse and coach races, puppet plays and interludes, cooks, tipling and other lewd places, so that it seemed to be a bacchanalian triumph, or carnival on the water.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Home Automation Product Review: First Alert PIR725 Motion Sensing Light Socket



First Alert PIR725 

Motion Sensing Light Socket



This is one of the first light switch or bulb products I purchased to help automate my home's lighting. Like my previous review of the Ivation Night Light, I would recommend you set up a home automation system for around $300 instead of buying this product. It works well enough and allows you to use cheap light bulbs instead of the expensive home automation bulbs, but home automation bulbs last forever and if you move you could just replace them with cheap bulbs.

The First Alert Motion Sensing Light Socket just screws into your light socket, the same way you screw in a bulb. Before you put the socket in, I prefer to screw the bulb into First Alert but the choice is yours. Either way make sure you turn the light switch off prior to screwing in your bulb or First Alert Motion Sensor.

The PIR725 and most First Alert products are not Z-wave or Zigbee compatible. So if you have a home automation system and purchase this product, you will not be able to control your lights with your remotes, phone, or computer. This also means if you have a home automation system you will not be able to see when your lights are on or track electricity usage. The upside of this product is that it stands alone and is cheaper than an automation system. Anytime you walk past it your lights will turn on, so it uses a small amount of electricity at all times because the light switch is always on. I have two of these sensors. They cost about $39.99 + shipping (if you are not an Amazon Prime member). I would happily sell the first person to comment on this blog post my two sensors for $70 with free shipping. You can also contact me on Twitter @DesaraeV.

Please note: At the time of this review, First Alert has never sent me free products, discounts, or money to write a review. I do receive a few pennies anytime you click on one of my pictures or links and purchase products on Amazon, but if you like my blog consider it a small contribution to help me continue my writing habits. If you are interested in purchases this product on Amazon, Click here. 


Best Tools for Facebook and Twitter

Social Media Tools

Their are many tools that you can use to track communication with followers, find new friends, and build relationships. If you have already put together personas and know what kind of customers you are looking to connect to you may want to try tools like:

Techrigy Radian6 To track keywords related to your business and find people relevant to your industry or already talking about your company. You can find tools for tracking keywords by looking into SEO. A few starters are:

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Business Diary: Experience Summary of DesaraeV

Diary

Senior Web Developer specializing in user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. Desarae is responsible for solving complex design and development problems while connecting clients’ to their target audience. It is her job to oversee design, development, and strategic direction for projects or campaigns. She has over 14 years of marketing and brand promotion experience; and 10+ years of design and development experience working for clients like Best Buy, Lawry's, P.B.Loco, Premier Mounts, Proctor and Gamble, National Geographic, 3M, Disney, Vogue, The Occasions Group, and Express Handymen.
A graduate of Iowa State University with a major in Art and Design and a minor in Military Science, Desarae's greatest asset is her enthusiasm to work and a love for working with advertising, design, new media and affiliates with a broad range of media, marketing, design and selling experience that has given her the opportunity to wear many hats, while developing presentation and collaborative skills.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: Listening Is an Act of Love by Dave Isay

Book Review Listening is an Act of Love by Dave Isay Listening is An Act of Love Dave Isay

"Fantastic makes me want to be involved"

Overall
Performance
Story

Would you listen to Listening Is an Act of Love again? Why?

This is touching. I loved hearing other people's life stories. You laugh and could cry with this book. It's short and I just want to hear more. It's fantastic.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The in love couple where great but there was an old man from a war that was touching also. How fabulous if our parents or great great grandparents had left us audio. It would leave you wanting more.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Beauty Product Review: Schick Intuition Plus Renewing Moisture Razor Refill - Pomegranate

Schick Intuition Plus

The Schick Intuition Plus is another item on my Amazon Subscribe list. You will need a Schick Intuition Razon to use the razon refills. They are not compatible with any other razors I've seen.

In my opinion, the Schick Intuition Razor is in a category of its own. You do not need any gels, goops, extra soap, or lathering cream with this product because the razor is surrounded by a soap bar that lathers on it's own while you are shaving.

Before I discovered Schick, I was a big big fan of Venus Razors because they move so well it is hard to knick yourself. Schick is by no means knick proof, but unless the soap bar is low and I am pressing the razor really hard to my skin it is rare that I will knick myself or draw blood.

The defining factor for this razor, other than it's crazy expensive (unless you shop at Costco or Amazon subscribe), is that it always gives you a nice close and smooth shave. The best shave I've ever had is from the Schick Intuition Plus Razors. My legs feel smooth and soft. The soap has a light scent, but you can get one of the plain old naturals products if you're picky about smells. If you are interested in purchasing this product on Amazon, click here.

Please note: At the time when I wrote this review, Schick has never sent me free products or paid me to write a review. I do receive a few pennies if you buy the product on Amazon by clicking on one of my links or the images, but it's a few pennies and if you like my blog why not support it by shopping via my links? 

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Book Review: Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart

Book Review Wicked Plants

Entertaining and Educational Botany

Learn All About the History of Poisonous Plants


Overall
Performance
Story

Wicked Plants is an educational book about poisonous and insidious plants. It's written more like the story or life of a plant, how it's been mis-used, and as a cautionary tale. The audio version is interesting but fast passed and hard to take notes. I have a large garden and am always afraid I will run into something and not know it's side effect on myself or my puppy.

Highly recommend this book for any gardener, horticulturist, botanist, essential oils fanatic, or just someone curious about poisonous plants.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: An Unlikely Duchess by Nadine Millard Narrated By Beverley A. Crick

Book Review An Unlikely Dutchess by Nadine Millard Beverley A Crick

"Irish Scoundrel Vs. Handsome British Duke"

Overall
Performance
Story

This historical romance starts off with a twist when two best friends make plans to wed their future children. Little did the two men know what twists and turns fate would make for their future children. In a lot of ways this story plays by the typical historical love story template, but luckily it has a deeper plot than most of these types of books.

An Unlikely Duchess has a few antagonists plotting against the happiness of the main characters. Overall this is a happy story with light hearted characters who are at the whimsy of their hearts and notions. The story makes 18th century London society sound like child's play. It's an enjoyable book to pass the time with very little reference to day-to-day life.