Julep Maven Cupid's Mystery Box #2

My second Cupid's Mystery Box arrived yesterday.  Shipments to Canada seem to take forever... my box was held up at customs for the longest time.  I received 4 nail polishes in my box:  Niecy, Molly, Lynn, Rose & a lipgloss in Camelia.  When I ordered the box I was hoping to get some Valentine-ish colours so when these arrived, I was quite glad as these were also colours that I don't have in my polish collection.

The code for the free nail polish was a lovely surprise.  I had skipped their March Maven box - mostly because there was a bunch of really bright pastels that are just not for me.  However out of the 8 new colours, there was one that I was kind of eyeing.  so with the free polish code, I was able to order that colour tonight.  Yah!   Can't wait to wear this pastel mint green opalescent shimmer for spring.

Anytime you purchase a mystery box, there is always a chance that you will get products that you do not like.  Guess I lucked out this time.  Of the two boxes that I received, I was pretty happy with both.  None of the colours were duplicates & I definitely got value for my money.  Considering that each Julep polish retails for $14 each.  My box's retail value was $70 for the 5 polishes alone.  And the lip gloss retails for $18.  So the grand total was $88.  I paid $19.99 to get it shipped to me.  Pretty sweet deal eh?

Did you get a Cupid's mystery box - what did you get?


Julep Nail Colour is “4-free” and does not contain formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, toluene, or DBP. They are based out of Seatle, Washington. I like that their polish is highly pigmented & they have a HUGE colour selection. I discovered their polish over my Christmas 2012 holidays when I signed up for their Julep Maven program.
Each month Julep introduces 8-10 brand new colours & as a Maven I get to preview them first. For $19.99/month I get 2 brand new colours/polishes + 1 product delivered to me (shipping is free as a Maven & there's no tax).

Interested in joining? Just fill out the quiz to discover your "style profile" & to pick your first box. The first box is free & you can skip any month you want. Please use my referral link:http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/96303/ and the promotional code: "FreeMaven"

A week in the mountains!

Recently my husband and I took a mini trip to the mountains... we stayed at the Jasper Park Lodge  - with the Groupon Getaway deal that I purchased in December.  If you ever get a chance to stay at the Park Lodge, I would totally recommend it.  The hotel is a bit dated, but the service is top notch & the views are spectacular.  We stayed in a Fairmont room in the main lodge and had a huge balcony/deck outside (lots of room for my daughter to run around in?) - btw, morning coffee on the patio deck before the rest of the family awoke was superb!

Why did we go?  In lieu of purchasing gifts/celebrating our birthdays - my husband's in December, mine is in January & our daughter's in February... I thought it would be nice to go away for a week.  Luckily my husband agreed & I began planning for this trip last December... btw, I LOVE the mountains!  Below is a picture of my daughter & I at Athabasca Falls, AB.

Got to say that we felt spoiled by the hotel.  We arrived at 4pm, which was check in time.  Our room wasn't quite ready for us (it was family day long weekend) so the front desk comped us a couple of beverages from their lounge... I ordered a paralyser & my husband had one of their malt beers... let me tell you, after a long road trip those beverages tasted so good!

Also since we're staying in the main lodge, we had valet parking & the bell person helped us with our luggage... something that I'm not quite used to.  It totally felt odd that I didn't have to lug up all our bags... this is the view from our room:

Sorry for the bad quality pic - it was taken from my cell phone.  But gorgeous view huh?  Travelling with a two year old isn't the easiest.  We were pretty much on her schedule... right down to the afternoon naps & being in bed at 9pm... sigh.  But the fun part was that we spent lots of time in that outdoor pool!  So cool to be outside in a warm pool when everyone walking around has winter coats on.  This is a picture of my husband and our daughter.

As mentioned earlier we were there during the family day long weekend (or President's day for those of you  Americans) the hotel put on a Madagascar themed weekend with loads of activities - all geared towards kids!  Imagine our surprise.  They brought in a bouncy house, had activities for the little ones, face painting, nightly movies with popcorn, professional photography to take family pictures, plus the best part was that all of their staff wore safari gear (front desk) & goofy wigs for their "afternoon of wigging out" ~ my daughter loved it!  This was the family picture that we were given to commemorate our stay:

Overall it was a much needed break from our regular lives - We all returned more relaxed & ready to resume our daily routines again.