Saturday, March 31, 2018

Canterbury Road Co Candles

Hello, all!

You all know I love me a good candle. What I love even more are candles having to do with books. I had heard so many great things about Canterbury Road Co, which is a candle company that makes bookish candles, and I knew I just had to try them out.

Now, I will say it took me for-ev-er to actually order from them because every time I tried, their entire stock was sold out. I was scrolling through the Explore page on Instagram one night and I had seen a post about how they just restocked, and I immediately went to their Etsy shop and picked as many as I could.



Then, a few weeks later, this little package arrived at my door and I was so excited to see what all the hype was about. Before I go into the candles, I have to commend them for their shipping tactics. I was a little nervous about how they would stand up in the shipping process because a few times I've ordered candles online they've come broken, but each candle was tightly wrapped in bubble wrap and then again in tissue paper, and none even had a scratch.


I love fruity sweet scents, so I mainly stuck to those while scrolling through the candles and I ended up choosing 4 that I thought I would really like: Reading on the Porch, Queen of Badgers, The Hinterland and The Hating Game.




Reading on the Porch is a lovely blend of blackberry, peach and sweet tea. It smells exactly like how I think a big glass of Southern sweet tea would and I know it'll be great for summertime. Once I saw the Queen of Badgers one I knew I had to pick it up (Hufflepuff pride!), and it also has a hint of blackberry along with loyalty and honeysuckle. Honeysuckle is one of my favorite scents and it blends so nicely with the blackberry.





After just reading The Hazel Wood, I knew I had to pick up The Hinterland scent which is a combo of berry brambles (are you sensing a theme?), crisp air and green apples. I'm not quite sure how they did it, but it actually smells like a fall day at an apple orchard and it's wonderful. The last one I picked up was The Hating Game which is a mix of flamethrower red and strawberry shortcake. It was the latter that sold me; I absolutely love strawberry shortcake, so that was an instant yes. It doesn't smell overtly sweet, but like a nice slice of cake.


All in all, I definitely see the appeal in these candles. I got the 4oz versions, they also come in an 8oz option, and they're the perfect size for me. I've already started burning The Hinterland one and it burns evenly and the smell isn't overpowering and spreads around the room nicely. There's a few other ones I have my eye on, so I'll definitely be coming back to this shop. You can check out their Etsy shop here.








Saturday, March 24, 2018

OwlCrate March Review

Hello, all!

Before I get into this months box, I just wanted to say that I saw the Beach Boys last weekend, and holy cow do they put on a fun show. They still sounds exactly the same as they do on record, and my favorite part was about half way through the show they took a 15 minute intermission and as everyone was yelling for them to stay, they just go, "We're all in our 70s, we need to take a quick nap and then we'll be right back." It was a night full of singing and dancing with my Mama and it was just so fun.



Ok, now for the box! This months theme was Across the Galaxy and I was super pumped about this one. I've always been really into space and I love me some sci-fi, so I couldn't wait to see what kind of goodies they were going to send. So let's get to it.


The first thing I noticed upon opening the box was that something smelt delicious. Turns out it was this little baby. It's a candle made by Wick & Fable and it's inspired by The Illuminae Files. OwlCrate sent out two different scents based on the heroines of the story, I ended up getting the Hannah Donnelly scent which is sweet honeydew, and lemme tell you, it is in-credible. I almost don't want to burn it because I don't ever want to run out of it.


I love the pint sized Funko characters, I think they're so cute. I mean, just look at how adorable tiny little Taserface is.


Next up was this mug from Sasha Natasha based off the Lunar Chronicles series. I actually haven't read this series yet, although it has been on my Good Reads list for a while now. Maybe this'll finally give me the push to actually read it!


As I said before, I love space, and I also love infinity scarves so when you mix the two together it's a wonderful thing. This was designed by OwlCrate and it feels like such a high quality material and it'll be perfect for this winter weather we're currently having in Spring here in New York.


Do I even need to reiterate how much I love Star Wars? I was so excited to see what they included from everyone's favorite space opera, and this hand painted bookmark from Lexy Olivia did not disappoint.


This actually wasn't an actual item in this months box, it was just an ad for Nerdy Post, but I just thought it was too cool not to include. It's a quote from Red Rising and it was one of my favorites from that book.


Now for the book! This month they included Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston. This story follows an orphan named Ana and her android BFF on an epic adventure through space. Ana is searching for the coordinates of a lost ship that could help save her android, who has been glitching more than usual. Of course, things don't go as planned and they get tangled up with an enemy, which causes them both to become fugitives on the run. What they stumble upon in a hidden corner of the universe will change their futures forever.

Once I heard the theme for this month, I knew it had to be this story. I had heard a bunch about this book and how it's supposed to be a re-imaging of Anastasia only in space, and how there's some Firefly-esque vibes, which I am completely here for. I also really love the dyed pages that was exclusive to OwlCrate. I just think dyed pages on books are so pretty and that purple is beautiful, so I can't wait to dive into this one. Has anyone read this yet? If so, lemme know what you thought!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!



Saturday, March 10, 2018

How To Stop Time Review

Hello, all!

I had seen a ton of hype around How To Stop Time by Matt Haig, so I knew I just had to pick it up, and I'm so glad that I did.



The story centers around Tom Hazard, who may look like an ordinary 41-year old, but thanks to a rare medical condition, he's well over 400-years old. Tom has literally lived through history-- doing everything from performing with Shakespeare to having drinks with F. Scott Fitzgerald. Now, after centuries of living, he's ready to settle down in an ordinary life, but he finds that might not be as easy as he thinks.

With the help of Hendrich, the shady leader of The Albatross Society (or Albas) which is a group that helps keep people like Tom safe, Tom moves back to London to become a high school history teacher. Throughout his life, Tom has always tried to fly under the radar, but he finds that a bit hard when a captivating French teacher seems to be fascinated by finding out why he seems so familiar. Things get a bit tricky for Tom since the number one rule the Albas have is that one must never fall in love.

As painful memories of Tom's past rush in and the erratic behavior of Hendrich threaten to derail his new life and romance, it seems the one thing Tom can't have might be the only thing that can save him. Tom must decided whether he wants to stay stuck in the past, or begin to live in the present.

I loved this book. I thought the story was great and it blended the past with the present so nicely. The pacing was just right and it didn't feel slow or sluggish at any part. Normally, when you have a story based around someone who's lived for centuries, it's almost always a vampire or something along those lines, so it was refreshing that it was just a normal guy who just so happened to have this weird disease. If you're a fan of history or just want a quick fun read, I definitely recommend this one!

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Funko Pop Haul

Hello, all!

I love collecting toys and action figures of all the fandoms that I love, and one of my favorites is the Pop figures from Funko. I think they're so adorable and really good bang for your buck. They come in almost any character you can think of, so there's definitely one for everyone. These are just a few of the ones I've picked up recently:


Next to Kitty Pryde, Storm is probably my favorite X-Man. And my favorite design of Storm is her 80s punk look from Chris Claremont and Paul Smith, so I just had to pick this baby up. It goes so well with my 90s animated series Storm action figure too.


Technically, this isn't a Pop it's a Wobbler but I just thought it was so cool. It came in my Marvel Collector Corps box and it's pretty perfect with all the Black Panther hype right now (which I've still yet to see and I'm so bummed!)


I was so happy when I found out Funko was starting to make Sailor Moon Pops. I have a bunch of different Sailor Moon figures, but I knew I needed to add these to my collection as well. Sailor Mars and Sailor Pluto are my favorite Scouts, I already have Mars, so it was a no brainer picking this one up as well.


It's no secret how much I love MST3K, so when I was strolling through a toy store and saw these babies for half off, I couldn't grab them quick enough. And yes, I did sing the Robot Roll Call as I was unboxing them, aaaand pretty much anytime I look at them.

Hope everyone's having a lovely weekend!