Sunday, March 19, 2017

Melting Basket 89


Before I tell you about the ones I liked from the last basket, I do want to give a review of TBG Blueberry Lavender Sugar Cake. One of the sample cakes threw strong in my bedroom. The blueberries never came across as too sweet or artificial. They smelled like fresh blueberries in syrup layered over a lavender and vanilla cream cake. The lavender was subtle and lightly sugared. I would repurchase it for sure. Other wax tarts I would repurchase as well include: RG Posh Pristine Peach, TBG Breaking Violet, Marie Antoinette's Boudoir, Raspberry Hearts, Sweet Green, Guava Berry Gelato, Satin Suzie Lemon & Rosemary, ST Bella's Blood, CFTKR Bamboo Type and Cashmere Forest, and LSC Patchouli Honey. 

Rosegirls- Peppermint Coconut Mallow
Rosegirls- Save the Drama for your Mama
Rosegirls- Mango Sorbet, Raspberry Sauce, Marshmallow Smoothie <3 gift
Rosegirls- Mango Sorbet, Strawberry Shortcake, Vanilla Crunch Donuts <3 gift
Sniff My Tarts- Pink Peppermint
Sniff My Tarts- Blueberry Noel/Vanilla Bean Noel/Marshmallow Noel
Sniff My Tarts- Dragon's Blood/Cinnamon Sticks/Butterbrickle
FuturePrimitive- Sylph

Let me know if you have any review requests! The more the merrier. :-)


My daughters and I celebrated my sister Lindsey's birthday at the Florida Aquarium yesterday. I find watching the undulations of sea life to be quite soothing. Plus the rippling reflections of the water fascinate me. 


The girls looked forward to sting ray petting the most. Scarlette, being so short limbed, had to wait for (what felt like to her) eons before she came within finger tip reach of one to stroke. We weren't in a hurry so we lingered quite a while at the sting ray touch tank. 


The jelly fish were my personal favorite. 


The aquarium butts right up to Tampa Bay and where Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise lines arrive and depart. It was cool to the let the girls see the huge ships up close.


We closed out our celebrations over some amazing food at Datz: funnel cake French fries, pankcakes with strawberries and cream, jalapeno and bacon mac bites, sweet and salty house made ships and chair tea lattes with smoked Gouda and bacon burgers. As fantastic as the nosh was, the company was even better. I treasure my friendships with my sisters and count myself thankful to be a part of their lives. 

Spring Break has officially started. We are not really traveling anywhere but we do have some fun things planned. Savanna has a friend staying over tonight and a hang out Wednesday where a friend will be coming over, that same day Scarlette is getting picked up by her best friend's mom and her friend too, of course, for an outing. I want to fit in a beach day somewhere. Saturday I plan on driving up to Jacksonville with my friend, Tricia, and my sister, Darby, to meet one of my favorite authors, Maggie Stiefvater, at a book festival. 

Are you Spring Breaking it? What are you melting? Do you enjoy aquariums? Tell me how you are doing. 

10 comments:

  1. No spring break here, although I do only work 8hrs today instead of 12.

    What did you think of the Lemon & Rosemary tart? I'm bummed now that I didn't pay more attention to mine since that's the one I tried for so long to find. Oh well, I will just have to order more.

    ~Deb

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hopefully your 8 hour day was easy on you and your tootsies.

      I liked it a lot! I would totally buy it. It was sweet and clean but not too tart or artificial. The rosemary was soft.

      Delete
  2. Oooh TBG's Blueberry Lavender sounds delectable. If I weren't on an unofficial wax ban and spending money on other hobbies I would be buying from TBG right now.

    Could I get a review on RG Save the Drama for your Mama, SMT Blueberry Noel blend <3, and FP's Slyph?

    That must have been quite the experience to pet a ray! I've always been drawn to ocean life. Growing up, my favorite "animal" was always a Great White Shark. At one point in college I had to make a choice between pursuing marine biology and living half of my life at sea exploring and researching marine life, and continuing with computer engineering for the sake of my relationship with Michael. I grew up DREAMING of the marine biologist's life, but when push came to shove I found that I valued my relationship with Michael and our future together more than that. He's that special to me <3

    Tangent aside, it sounds like an amazing outing! No Spring Breaking it over here, unless you count finally planning out the logistics of our Hamster Mansion Expansions. Michael's in the middle of an exercise, which means he's working 12+ hour days for three and a half weeks and has restrictions on where he can go and what he can do, but around my birthday we're hoping for a trip to Ikea to buy some of the things we need for said mansion expansions. Eeeeek! So excited.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Blueberry Lavender Cake was really nice! It was my first time melting it. I will be looking for it again for sure. Spending money on other hobbies is fun! Is it planner or crafting?

      Sure! I will get on those scents just for you.

      Petting sting rays is great fun. Great White sharks scare me a little. So primitive and reactionary. But I can understand respecting them. Very cool creatures. I tinkered with the idea of being a Marine Biologist and took the class in high school but I knew I probably wouldn't stick with it. I love that you picked Michael over a different dream. <3 You guys are a wonderful match. And I am sure he feels the same way about you.

      Hamster mansion!! How cool! Will you show us when it is complete? How are the little fuzzy butts doing? Are you still pet sitting like a fiend? Hoping his exercise goes well. It sounds exhausting. Birthday IKEA trip! Woot! I am chomping at the bit to go to IKEA soon too. I am in the market for succulents.

      Delete
    2. Don't mind the other response. I didn't realize I was logged into my video game profile when I commented. LOL!

      It's more crafting than planning. While some of the stuff I got could be used for planning related items, that's not the sole purpose of the purchases. In Michael's words, I've been nesting and I feel an intense draw towards lots of crafty items like the Hanji projects, knitting/crocheting, and various DIY projects.

      I will definitely show the finished hamster mansions! Knowing me, I'll also show the making-of process as well. :) They're such amazing little fuzz balls. I've tamed them to the point where brand new people can handle them without them showing any signs of distress. That's such an immense step over how they behaved when they first joined us!
      Yup, we're still pet sitting like crazy! We're in the middle of watching an adorable lab mix for 7 weeks. She's such a lovebug. It's a combination of heartbreaking, cute, and funny to watch how indecisive she can be about who to spend time with when Michael and I are in separate rooms.

      Yellow dust season in Korea kills any and all succulents I've tried keeping. It's such a bummer, because I love how much life they bring wherever I put them. I'm settling for heartier plants like snake plants, bamboo, and cacti until we get back to the States.

      Delete
    3. Karma Stones?! Love it! LOL! I feel like I just got a secret glimpse into your alter ego. >.<

      Nesting... awwww... knitting is a nesting thing I would love to get into.

      How cool that your little fellas are getting used to people and loving. That is huge. I bet they are happy as lil clams. Labs are sweet. Sometimes goofy but so sweet.

      Yellow dust? That sounds horrid. I hear snake plants are great for indoor plants, you reminded me I want to try and grow some in the house and bedroom.

      Delete
  3. Hey, I recognize that writing! I'd love to know what you think about my blends - I think one's more successful than the other, but I'll leave that up to you to decide. :)

    The aquarium looks like so much fun! Glad you had a lovely day, hopefully one of many.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, lady! Thank you for the gifts! I am excited to melt them. I will be more than happy to review them!

      It was fun. The weather was perfect and time with my mom and sisters doesn't happen often.

      Delete
    2. Blueberry Lavender Sugar Cake *Swoons* Can we make this edible please? That ALMOST reminds me of the chocolate lavender creme brulee that me and my husband shared on our honeymoon. Any-who, Would you mind doing a review on the Blueberry Noel/Vanilla Bean Noel/Marshmallow Noel and the Peppermint Coconut? They both sound wonderful! I cannot seem to get enough peppermint as of late and I have really been craving blueberry which I currently have nothing in my stash that is blueberry right now.

      I have always had a thing for sea life. Aquariums are amazing and magical. I agree on the Jellyfish as they are also my favorite. Now stingrays.. nope. Just a big nope. On our cruise we got to swim with the stingrays.(This was not my idea to do this) I assumed we would be in a enclosed area of the ocean or pool...wrong-o! We were taken by boat several miles out to the middle of the ocean in Cozumel and told to hop out. For a person of taller height this would be fine as the water came around my husbands neck with him standing on his tip toes. Well for me that would mean for sure right over my head. What does this mean? They made me wear a life vest. What was fun about the life vest? It was one you had to manually blow up with your mouth.. oh yeah that's right.. yuck. (Of course I didn't put my mouth on it, no way):P So my husband finally gets me to get out in the water with him, the water is pretty brutal so I am hanging on to him for dear life while the handler of these giant creatures is doing a showing. This involves picking them up (yes they actually would seem to like this, they would come up to his arms and rest within them letting him pick them up), placing them half way on peoples shoulders for pictures, letting you pet them ect. Well when it came my turn the guy kept trying to put it on me and I just wasn't having it all the while several other sting rays are swimming freely all around us, the water is just pounding into us, my life vest is just completely deflated and at this point I'm almost sitting on my husbands shoulders I'm wanting out of the water so bad. lol All of that just to say, yes I have felt a sting ray, they feel very strange especially on the bottom but I will never want to go through that again unless in an aquarium the way you guys got to do it.

      Delete
    3. Chocolate lavender creme brulee?!?!?! I am dying. That sounds like heaven. What a perfectly romantic dessert. I find I love scents like blueberry and watermelon too from certain vendors but I never really have much on hand to melt. And then I go through my mints and lavenders so fast that I never have enough of THOSE on hand. I end up with way too much fall/Christmas that sits and carries over to the next season that takes up room in my wax drawers.

      I love sea life too. It is so calming and beautiful.

      WHOA! That sounds semi-panic inducing for sure. I have seen some footage of the sting rays being put on people's shoulders and stuff and it is crazy. I think Steve Irwin dying from the sting ray kind of put a damper on me even wanting to do an excursion like that. The girls love sting rays but I think they would be a little freaked out about that. At Sea World or the aquarium I am all cool about the rays but when we go to the beach they are everywhere and they hid in the sand so well we are constantly doing the stingray shuffle so we don't get stung. We can see them swimming in flocks along the shore sometimes. Once, about a year ago, my sister Heather forgot to shuffle and sure enough got stung by a barb in her foot and she said it hurt like hell. She sent us a pic on her phone and it looked grizzly. Big puncture wound and dark and bloody... bloody awful. But it did teach the girls to be extra careful. We are planning on a cruise next summer with the girls in the Caribbean and I know we will do some type of snorkling/swimming experience in the ocean but hopefully nothing uber risky.

      Delete