Bathtub Party Day!

December 5th is Bathtub Party Day!  Get a bunch of your friends together & have a bathtub party.  This isn't meant to be erotic or anything, it's a party!  Or enjoy the party on your own w/a relaxing bath, which is what I am going to do!  I usually have a bathtub party everyday!

It's a dreary day out today.  Rain & close to 50ºF outside.  It's too warm for December being in Buffalo, NY.  I need my snow because I am anticipating a white Christmas.  Gosh how I missed those when I was in Los Angeles!

It's a possibility, due to the weather my TMJ has been acting up.  As well as allergies & asthma.  More my TMJ as I woke up today & it felt as if I had lockjaw.  I can hear my jaw cracking when I open it & I have a ton of pain all down the left side of me from my head to my back.  Mostly in my head, neck & shoulder area.  I am having tensing done today which should relieve me by tomorrow but I have found this to be temporary.  I went to a dentist, other than my primary who found my left jaw bone is larger than my right one, so it is considered a medical condition.  When I have the tensing done, I have a mouthpiece that is aligned up w/my bite to also help keep my jaw in place since I have ground down most of my molars to almost nothing.  This has helped but sometimes I still wake up because I know I am trying to grind or force my teeth to move when I am sleeping.

My head is currently pounding & it hurts to move my jaw, the migraine will be here soon so I will take meds & rest.  Have a look at my x-ray.  Can you see where the problem is?

It really has all become a big mess between what insurances are covering what & who can & cannot help me.  I have to stop writing about this because it makes me mad w/everything that I am going through.

SOOoooo... last night's bath consisted of:

• Phoenix Rising bath bomb from Lush
• Orange oatmeal soap bar that I have no clue who made it or where I got it from but I love it.
• White Citrus body wash from Bath & Body works

The spice of the bath bomb mixed well with the citrus products & these are great for a winter night.

The tree is up w/its lights, lights are up in our windows, & the wreath is on my door.  My family & I went to see A Christmas Story being preformed at the Lancaster Opera House yesterday.  My mom & I will be making sugar cookies sometime soon.  Chris made me some yummy hot cocoa this weekend & we also got candy cane lattes from Tim Hortons.

All I need now is the brisk cold & my snow that sticks!

New scent mix for the bath & my thoughts on Black Friday.

I'm going to start off on my daily bath tonight which consisted of:

• Big Blue from Lush
• Crisp Breeze soap from Brandon Essentials
• Raspberry Puree body lotion & Oceanus body splash from The Body Shop.

Lush bath bombs I can have a love/hate relationship with them because of the "extras" they can contain.  Mostly it is the ones with confetti or glitter that is not fine.  I still have some glitter infused (somehow) into the bottom of my (awful, plastic) tub.  Big Blue is awesome though because of the color it turns the water & the seaweed that floats around in the tub as I am bathing.  It reminds me of the ocean & the seaweed is slippery so it's not stuck all over me when I get out of the bath.

I'm not really sure what made me decide to use the Raspberry Puree lotion tonight but I am glad I did.  That, in combination w/the Oceanus, gives off a sweet & salty type scent & I am LOVING it!  It is getting me in the mood for another West Coast trip. (Sorry friends on the WC, don't get your hopes up because it will not be anytime soon!) :)  I think maybe other fruity smells may go well w/the ocean type scents but I am very happy I tried this combination & will probably stick with it for a while.

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I am not a big Black Friday shopper.  I do keep my eyes out for deals but the majority of stuff I want this time of year is for gifts.  Those gifts never tend to be on sale on Black Friday & I am not big into electronics, nor do I have children.  Even if I don't buy anything I still love to "window" shop, even if it's online, & I STILL end up buying more for myself.  I really like the after Christmas, or Boxing Day sales.  (I live very close to Canada.)

I really wasn't impressed w/what I have been seeing.  The Body Shop's Mistletote Bag is already sold out online but I was really disappointed in what it contained.  You can get ALL of the products individually & the bag, like last year's, is pretty hideous.  At least last year there were a ton more things in it & many that could not be purchased individually!

The Bath & Body Works Black Friday VIP Tote is the same thing except the bag is nicer.  All the sales going on between the 2 companies are things that they do at different times through year anyway so it's nothing extraordinary.  Like, last month I stocked up on B&BW buy 2 14.5 oz. candles for $20 right when they got them in, so I'm not pushing & shoving anyone for the same sale now, they have B3G3 a few times per year also.  The Body Shop's buy 3 for $30 only works out if you are getting something super expensive, & there are exclusions also.

So let's see if Cyber Monday will bring anything exciting.  Maybe not.

One thing I DID take advantage of was Me Bath!'s sale.  I noticed a few bath ice creams were already sold out, like the Sweet Peppermint (that one I REALLY wanted to try) & I really cannot afford an individual bath bomb of theirs at $9 each... sorry! So instead I end up spending almost $200 on all the sale bath bombs I have never tried before then stocked up on a few mini bath ice creams I really like. SMH at myself.  Well, they say free gift valued up to $100 w/every order over $25, & w/how much I spent I better be getting something good.  I will keep you all informed as to what it is once I get it.  If it's crap, I will complain!

I have not yet placed my Lush order.  I will most likely do it this weekend when I am feeling a bit better.  No Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals being I am placing the order from their UK site.  Lush NA is having a Golden Ticket game where if you get a gift you get a game code that could win you one of many things.  Then their Black Friday deal was this...

Get a FREE $10 e-gift card

Free Ground Shipping when you spend $100* Free Air Shipping when you spend $120**

& the fact they released 15 new products, which were already available on the UK site months ago.  How unexciting.  & they want you to spend a LOT to get this also.  I could have spent $5 at Me Bath! & still had free shipping.

So there are both praises & complaints in this post.

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I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving (for my friends stateside).  I slept most of the day & was extremely crabby because I've been fighting off migraines since yesterday.

Then everything I planned to shop for online today ended up not working out.  Like, as an example, a friend of mine wanted T3 hot rollers, which had been $85 on the QVC website for as long as I can remember since I started keeping my eyes on the best deal.  Then magically today they ended up being $90 on their site.  She decided she didn't want them anyway so I had to figure out something else to get her. & then I got in a spat w/my dad because I had to work today so I asked him to see if he could find a Black Friday deal on something specific for my boyfriend.  He said he would & then later in the day when I talked to him he told me he saw something he was going to get but is holding off.  Well then if he wasn't going to get it today, if there was no deal, there's no point in him getting it for me.  I can get it myself!  Then he sends me an e-mail w/a link of what he wants to get but it's available online only & since it's MY gift to MY boyfriend there, again, is no point in him ordering it.

Oh how I HATE this time of year also!

Rewards programs - It's SO worth it.

Points programs.  The 3 best are probably through Sephora, Ulta, & The Body Shop.

I'll start w/The Body Shop's Love Your Body program because this one you do pay for.  It's SO worth it though because the $10 you put into it, you get back on any purchase you make in your birth month!  You also get an additional 10% off any purchase & many times when they are having sales or promotions, they do not absorb the 10% into the discount they are already giving, but add it on additionally.  So say a sale is 20% off, the LYB will make it 30% off.  Many times they will also have special dates where LYB members can get 20%+ if using their card also.  So if something is already 20% off, you end up w/40% off.  I forgot specifically how the "points" & "qualifying purchases" work but I know you get a good chunk of change worth of $ off a product on the 4th, also the 8th point.  Plus on the 8th point they will renew your membership for FREE.  This is SO worth it.

Sephora has the Beauty Insider or V.I.B. (Very Important Beauty Insider) program.  You have to start off as a regular Beauty Insider account, which is absolutely free, but in order to qualify for the V.I.B. you have to spend $350 over the course of a year & get upgraded the next year.  These are SO worth it because for every $1 you spend you get a point, the points do not expire, & so you can hold onto them for different levels of point "perks."  These perks are usually for deluxe sample sized products at the 100 point mark, or full size products if you wait for the 500 point mark.  I just got an e-mail for the 500 point perk they are now giving away a really cute Dior charm bracelet w/Addict to Life.  I'll be honest, I usually get a lot of stuff through Ulta now because their overall prices are cheaper, they have more coupons, & I can find more stuff there in an overall beauty trip, but there are a lot of products where the prices are set the same between the 2 companies.  But I can always find a ton of promo codes for deluxe samples when placing an order w/them, plus you can pick 3 extra samples when ordering online, & a free program to get points to eventually get free products... it's SO worth it.

Ulta also has its own rewards programs.  2 actually.  Ultamate rewards & The Club at Ulta rewards.  I really have no clue what the difference is as it seems one in the same & the fact that the Ultamate rewards doesn't go into detail about what's so different about it.  I know The Club at Ulta will send you a reward certificates when eligible, & special offers through mail & when shopping in their store.  It almost seems better.  This is SO worth it because, again, it's free!  Now I have had some trouble with Ulta though.  My online account keeps getting deleted for some reason, maybe because I shop in their stores instead of online.  I have to keep re-entering my card number & it never shows me what my point balance is when I do.  It really has been a frustration w/them.  But, it has given me some really good deals in store.  Like Sephora, deluxe samples, BOGO items.  It still is SO worth it.

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I took a bath tonight w/a Lush bath ballistic.  Had no idea what it was.  To save on packing when I get my huge UK orders they usually don't individually wrap them so I have to guess what's what.  Usually isn't a difficult game to play.  I took it out of my stash & it looked like a Dragon's Egg but after I put it in the water I was pleasantly surprised by the spicy scent, light glitter, & amazing oils that filled my tub.  I do know it is not in their line of products for this holiday.  So sad because I would have stocked up on this one!

In addition I used Almond Fudge Milkshake as shampoo & body wash from Philosophy, and some Brazil Nut body butter from The Body Shop.

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I really started my holiday shopping months ago.  I kind of do it year round if I see things I like.  I am not a crazy shopper on Black Friday & will, most likely, be disappointed in the deals that I find online on Cyber Monday, just like last year. (It was quite sad.)

Something to maybe check out though, The Body Shop has a bag that will be available in stores on the 25th, but online on the 24th.  Last year it was filled with a TON of products & Jolly Orange items, which I love!  This year they say it's an 8 piece exclusive set, valued at $120.  Last year you had to buy other products & spend so much then pay, if I remember correctly, $25 to get the bag but it was SO worth it.  Those details have not yet been released.  This I am excited for!