Foodie Pen Pals: June

Yay it’s my second time participating in the foodie pen pals created by the awesome Lindsay over at Lean Green Bean! I haven’t participated in last month but this month it’s back on! This month my foodie pen pal was Mary from Where’s The Zoom blog . I told Mary I wanted something healthier and that I try to watch my sugar intake and that I’m health and wellness obsessed individual. This was enough for Mary to get what to buy me, she was right on with all of her purchases and I freaking love the box!

No worries, you were right on point with all of the goodies and I have never tried any of the products you got me before so it was perfect! Such an awesome surprise, very pleasant 🙂 Here are the contents of the foodie package:

Marvelous in my Monday #2

Hello everyone! We’ve had such gorgeous hot weather over in Chicago. It’s marvelous. It’s my favorite type of weather, I love warmth and I was outside a lot. I can only handle it a little at a time though but it was marvelous to be able to go outside to the park and read while soaking up some sun rays. Such a wonderful feeling.

I found a pretty interesting book that I’ve been reading recently, “The Whole World” by Emily Winslow. I’ve been sucked in and I can’t stop reading. It’s very interesting, it’s about two American female college students over in Cambridge and a boy. The three get really close, two of them get into a situation that got pretty intimate, however the girl freaked out and got sick right in front of the guy and ran away from him in embarrassment. Then the guy goes missing and no one knows where he is and what happened. There is a lot of complexity and twists and turns, but not too many to make the read exhausting. It’s a great happy medium of suspense and curiosity. I recommend it. I’m only halfway done but so far so good. I’m still anxiously awaiting my turn in line for Fifty Shades of Grey at my library. Ahh!

Then I also received two packages today, which was marvelous because I freaking LOVE getting packages 🙂 It makes me happy. One of the things I got was an all-natural superfood 30 day weight management system called iChoice. I got a good deal on this system on Groupon so I decided to give it a try. I researched the heck out of it and it doesn’t sound harmful. It’s all about getting all the nutrients your body needs. It’s not a weight LOSS program, it’s a weight management program, which sounds better. Plus it’s stimulant-free. I don’t deal well with stimulants (I drink decaf..) so this sounded like a good deal. We’ll see how it goes and how I like it.

June is a huge month for summer festivals in Chicago. I went to my first festival of the year yesterday. It was the Old Town Art Fair and it was fun looking at all of the marvelous art as well as watching the Beatles’ cover band play (and they were SO good! They even looked like The Beatles!) After the fair, my roommate and I went to Big Bowl and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the restaurant is all about being organic, all-natural, and sustainable. I had no idea! Plus they had a delicious $6 seasonal sangria! The seasonal fruit of the day were strawberries.. mmmm!

Oh yeah, make sure you follow me on Instagram if you use one 🙂 @xokammie

Oh and keep the Nimble/QuickieChick giveaway entries coming! The giveaway ends in 3 days!!

KLUTCHclub Box Review

I recently received a sample KLUTCHclub box that they had for the month of April, which they titled “Spring clean your body.” In this box, I’ve received a bunch of fun stuff. But before we get into the contents, let’s introduce KLUTCHclub:

“KLUTCHclub is committed to bringing their customers the best health, wellness, and fitness products and services right to their door. Every month you subscribe, you’ll receive a hand-picked selection of exciting products from new and trusted brands that will help you lead a healthy and balanced life, in a convenient way.” 

I thought the idea is great. It is similar to NatureBox with its subscription-based monthly box shipping, except this one focuses on the whole genre of health, wellness, AND fitness. In this box (April) I received 9 products:

• Kristin McGee’s Power Yoga DVD (Funny, I’ve actually been looking for a new yoga video to add to my collection, so that’s a good thought. I tried it that same night and wasn’t a huge fan- I’m sure someone who doesn’t actually do much yoga would like it, but I prefer a more calming yoga session)
• $25 gift card to Yoga Hyde online yoga clothing store
• Hydrive, a new naturally-flavored energy drink mix with zero calories. (unfortunately, I was unable to try this one because I can’t have so much caffeine)
• Zico, a wonderful pure premium coconut water (I love using coconut water as it’s been said that it does a better job at hydrating the body and replenishing the body’s electrolytes than water. And it’s MUCH healthier than Gatorade. Pssst, perfect for a hangover)
• Tea Forte, three samples of various flavored green teas including cherry marzipan, honey yuzu, and cucumber mint. (You guys already know how obsessed I am with tea, right?)
• KIND bar all natural nut delights bar (I love energy bars)
• Enjoy Life Foods’ No Nuts! Seed and Fruit Mix
• Enjoy Life Foods’ Plentils chips in garlic & parmesan flavor (these were really good! They tasted like regular potato chips. Delicious flavor. Hard to believe the whole package was only 100 calories)
• Barlean’s Organic Oils liquid Omega-3 oil (My favorite Fish Oil company, this oil actually tastes good too! I’ve never used it in a liquid form but I’m always open to trying stuff in new ways)
• Shea Terra Organics’ Rose Hip Black Soap deep pore facial cleanser

Quite an awesome variety of products if you ask me. For less than $18 a month(per box, depending on how many months subscription you purchase, price goes down the more months you buy) you can receive over $50 worth of samples and products right to your door. Convenience at its finest. Not only are all of the products featured of high quality, they are also relevant to the health, wellness, and fitness genre and can be seen as a nice reward for all of the hard work we put in for our bodies. Reward ourselves with more doing good for the body! 🙂

You are welcome to like KLUTCHclub on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

April Foodie Pen Pals Reveal

So this month was my first time participating in the Foodie Pen Pals program created by Lindsey at the Lean Green Bean blog! I have to say it was a lot of fun. When I received my package I felt like a little kid on Christmas! “What, oh what, could it be?!” I love being surprised. I like the feeling of anticipation and then being pleasantly surprised. Especially when the object of focus is food! Mmm.

Deanna from Teaspoon of Spice did the job perfectly well! She left me super happy after getting this package. I was going to try so many different things! She also included a nice note inside with a breakdown of what was to be found in the package.

First, I was happy that she included some local stuff. She visited Lancaster County in Pennsylvania and got me some goodies from the local Dutch farms. Those items included deliciously tart dried apples (surprisingly I have never had dried apples before – they were so good!), local honey (we all know I am obsessed with honey), and large hard pretzels.

Then, she included some things from Trader Joe’s that she really likes. Trader Joe’s is my favorite grocery store so I was totally into it. She also managed to include all of the stuff I have NOT tried yet: organic dark chocolate with almonds (SO DELICIOUS!), thai lime & chili cashews (nice and spicy), and whole wheat cous cous.

Deanna did a great job and I definitely had a great time noshing on these delicious snacks. As you might have noticed I even used  the apples in my vegan Bran Apple Muffins recipe.

Thanks again to Deanna from Teaspoon of Spice. Foodie Pen Pals is a lot of fun. Since I am moving in the beginning of May, I will not be participating in May’s program, but keep posted for June! I most definitely will be participating again come June.

Want to participate in Foodie Pen Pals for May? If so, click here to find out more info and sign up!

NatureBox snacks are here!

Today, I came home from class to something awesome in my mailbox: NatureBox is here! I’m pretty excited. Every time I get something in my mailbox that is not from my health insurance or junk mail, I get super excited. I’m like a little kid on Christmas. What, oh what could it be? I knew Naturebox delivers healthy snacks but there are just so many possible things that could be in there. The anticipation was killing me. Not really, but I was hungry and this was proving to be a perfect time to get some snacking done.

The box and the inside is so pretty.

The contents: Peppery Pistachios, Smokey Pumpkin Seeds, Dried Pears, Cranberry Jubilee, and Zingy Currants.