Recommendations

 I've been compiling a mental list of things lately that I LOVE and would recommend to anyone.  So here it is.  Randomness at it's best.

1.  Mandolin.  This is an app that I have VERY little experience with, but what experience I HAVE had with it, I've absolutely loved.  So, a few weeks ago, my favorite band of all time (Of Monsters and Men) put on FOUR live concerts in Iceland celebrating the 10 year anniversary of their very first album.  Before they performed the first of four concerts, they announced that these concerts would be available on the Mandolin app to view (for purchase of course).  At first I was a bit hesitant, because I have never used this app before and wasn't sure what to expect.  So I made an account, signed in, and purchased 'access' for their four live concerts.  There were options to only purchase one or two or whatever, but I knew I wanted to see all of them.  So I bought them.  And it has been AMAZING.  Basically, OMAM (Of Monsters and Men) performed these 4 concerts in Iceland, and like two weeks later, they were available for viewing on Mandolin.  But not all at once.  So for the past 3 Wednesdays, I have enjoyed these concerts greatly.  The final one is on the 22nd of this month.  The great part is that I can watch it Wednesday night, and then it's available for replay the next day until midnight.

The first two concerts I watched twice.  The third concert I watched 3 times.  And then at midnight it's gone.  :(. Boo.  But it's AMAZING.  Fantastic quality.  I probably will only ever use it for OMAM because I am not a big 'music' person.  But being able to watch them perform their first album (plus more) with different concerts has been amazing.  I would highly recommend it if you love a band and want to see their concert but can't be there physically.  They aren't available indefinitely, it's a set date, and then like the 24 hours after that you can replay it.  But it is still totally worth it.  

Although I did tell my husband that if they ever do this again, I'm flying to Iceland to see them in person again ha ha.  (I'm serious).

It's so funny because their songs are all in English but they speak Icelandic in between.  :). 

2.  Wyze.  I believe they were a kick-starter company that hubs supported a few years ago, and now they have grown by leaps and bounds.  Anyways, we have MULTIPLE products from them and I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan.  For example....they have a cordless vacuum that I choose over my Dyson cordless vacuum all the time.  And the Dyson is like twice the cost.  I LOVE the Wyze vacuum.  Our video-doorbell is Wyze.  We have Wyze 'smart' plugs for all of our lamps.  And, probably my most favorite thing is my noise-cancelling headphones which hubs got me.  They are amazing.  Especially for watching the OMAM concerts.  The great part about all of these things is that they are affordable.  I will never buy a Dyson vacuum again.  I think the Wyze cordless vacuum is $149?  Maybe?  The Dyson is like $250?  I will never again by a Dyson.  Anyways...they make great products.  So if you're in the market...just check them out.  They also tie-in with Alexa, so all of our Wyze products are connected to our Alexa app so we can talk to Alexa and tell her to turn on our outside string lights (that are Wyze) and she'll turn them on.  Technology is amazing!

3.  Mint Mobile.  This is our mobile provider.  We don't have Verizon or Sprint or anything.  Well, I take that back. We do have T-Mobile for mine and my mother-in-law's iPads each month...I think we pay $40?  But for all of our phones and everything else...we use Mint Mobile.  It's Ryan Reynolds company.  I'm not kidding.  It's amazing.  And super affordable.  I guess they use multiple 'towers'.  Like it uses Sprint and T-Mobile towers, kind of whatever is available in your area.  We've been using them for years.

What's super funny is that every now and then we'll get random voice mails and actual mail from Ryan Reynolds (he is hilarious).  Our most recent piece of mail was like a 10" cutout of him standing on a platform with a note that said to use him as a replacement for the popular 'elf on a shelf' that is everywhere this time of year.  Ha ha.  Anyways. If you're in the market for a new cell phone provider, check them out. Totally worth it.

4.  Neutrogena Hydro Boost.  Okay I know this is not groundbreaking.  But I have problem skin and always have, and my dermatologist here has recommend Neutrogena Hydro Boost products since I've moved here in the land of no rain/no humidity and my skin is doing great in this incredibly dry climate.  So it's pretty much all I buy, with the exception of this for my 'after-shower' lotion:

https://www.amazon.com/OGX-Creamy-Coconut-Miracle-Moisture/dp/B01MCTTDJS

Not sure if that link will work and I'm too lazy to check, but it's the OGX Coconut lotion.  I get it at Target.  Along with all of the Neutrogena Hydro Boost products.  They are amazing.  Hubs uses them too.  It actually simplifies things greatly by sticking to just one brand.

5. Essence Mascara.  This is like an Amazon cult-favorite.  I didn't believe it until I tried it.  I'm a fan of Benefit products (foundation and mascara and brow products) but after seeing incredible reviews of this $5 mascara on Amazon, I thought I would give it a try.  And I will NEVER again pay $20+ for Benefit mascara at Ulta.  I am a huge fan.  

https://www.amazon.com/essence-Princess-Effect-Mascara-Cruelty/dp/B00T0C9XRK/ref=sr_1_2?crid=15AGGY50AEAOQ&keywords=essence+mascara&qid=1639711870&s=beauty&sprefix=essence+mascar%2Cbeauty%2C127&sr=1-2

I'm still fan of the Benefit foundation and their brow stuff, but I'm never buying their mascara again after using this $5 from Amazon.

6.  Wild Basin.  If you are in to spiked sparkling water, this one is the best.  I've tried them all.  It beats White Claw and Truly and all of the other brands....no contest.  The flavors are unique and actually have quite a bit of taste (for sparkling water).  I believe they are all 100 calories.

That's all I can think of for now.  :)

Hi

Wow.  May 7th was the last time I blogged.  Oops.  I'm not even going to pretend that I have a good reason for the big pause, just life in general I guess.  I've been going through a lot both physically and mentally.  It's been rough, but it's getting better.  :).  Probably won't go into a lot of it, but that's okay.

I finally feel that after 19 months of working from home (how is that possible??), I have my groove down.  Well, I had it down quite a while ago, but I haven't blogged in forever.  Anyways.  It's finally feeling 'normal'.  And I LOVE IT.  I really do.  I feel completely blessed to work for a company that supports their employees 100% and has a fantastic flexibility and so much mental/emotional/work-life support.

I'm working from home full-time.  Hubs is working from home 3 days per week.  He goes into his office here in town 2 days per week.  Occasionally he will go to his Santa Fe office, but for now, he only has to go to this office here in town.  Which is only 2 miles from our house which is awesome.

On the 3 days that we are home together, our work spaces vary.  Most of the time he works downstairs in our sunroom (his choice) and I work upstairs in our joint office.  But sometimes it's the opposite.  It all depends on what meetings we have going on that day.  Like today we both worked upstairs in our joint office for a few hours.  If he has an on-camera meeting, I will grab my laptop and head downstairs.  And vise-versa.  We've made it work.  Thankfully, neither of us has a lot of meetings, let alone 'on-camera' meetings.

I still have a lot to work on as far as my general routine goes, but it's pretty good right now.

I'm still reading a lot, but have obviously failed at updating my reads here.  I'm on Goodreads though!  So all (well, most all) of my reads are tracked there.  I'd like to say I'll go back to the monthly reads blog, but that probably won't happen.  I think it's more likely that if I read a fantastic 5-star book that I will mention it here.  Maybe ha ha.  I have a lofty reading goal for next year, mostly to get my TBR down.  It's too humiliating to mention how many books I have on my shelves to be read.  Yikes.

We haven't traveled at all, mostly because I am paranoid about Covid still.  And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.  I see the horrific numbers and am just still super cautious.  We still have strict mask mandates here.  We are going to Arizona next month (a whopping whole state away) and I'm even a little paranoid about that.  But we really need a get away.  We haven't been anywhere just the two of us since December of 2019.  It's time!!!

Let's see...that's probably all for now.