Good baths & good movies.

Can you believe I actually went to my local Body Shop the other day & purchased NOTHING!?  Even with the deal.  I remember the woman saying something about getting 45% off, when if I would have purchased online it would have been 50%.  Deal is over by now but I had pretty much everything in the store I wanted.  I'll see what they have after Thanksgiving.  I'll probably find better items on their online site.  I did get a chance to check out their new holiday ginger line though.  Very mild ginger smell which is nice.  I want some ginger tea now!

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I really want to start writing about some of the companies & new products I am finding through eBay, & local companies, or smaller companies.  I have been kind of all over the place lately but I'll start simple right now w/a review of a small company I found on eBay called Swanky Bath & Body.

I put in bids for bath bombs on their eBay site.  A 3 pack was listed at $5.14 but I put a max bid of $6, because that's what they sell for on their main site anyway.  I won 4, 3 packs consisting of Champagne, Margarita, Balsam Fir, & Eucalyptus & they threw in 1 extra of an Almond Biscotti.  Shipping was approximately $12, which is $1 over the price for the priority box that was used.  Their bath bombs contain kaolin clay & witch hazel, which have skin calming effects & also cocoa butter.

I was really pleased with these.  I had ordered these mostly because of the scents.  I've been on a eucalyptus kick lately, bath bombs are better for the lady parts than bubble baths are, & I was also intrigued by the other scents listed.  Some common but the others not all that common.

The eucalyptus was not overpowering which was nice.
The balsam fir I used in combination w/a rose scented body wash & the combination was amazing.
The margarita I used in combination w/Need a Margarita? body wash & finished w/a coconut lime body spray.
Last, the champagne I paired up with Philosophy's Bubbly body wash & I am sure it would go amazingly well w/any of their champagne scented washes that they seem to like to put out during the holidays.

They leave a nice froth on the top of the bath & all smell divine, leaving just enough scent on the skin.  They are not hard as a rock so they don't take forever to dissolve, but they also don't last too short of a time either.  The bath experience is not oily & I come out w/soft skin & no pruned fingers, still always use lotion after.  I am really happy with these & would definitely get them again!

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To spout off on my personal life now.  Yesterday, my friend Laurie & I went to see the new Twilight Breaking Dawn Pt. 1.  What?  It's not out yet!?  Well, last minute I got an e-mail for a pass to an early screening.  I had just seen the 3rd movie the other week on one of my movie channels & I have to say I am getting addicted.  Never read the books though now I would like to.  I remember my friend Deenok was telling me about the books years ago just before they became the "next big thing."  I always do enjoy books better because they always have much more to them than the movies.

I was joking around on Facebook that I was going to post spoilers but I'm not like that.  Very intense though & it's rated PG13.  I personally would wait until the kids are 16 to see this... or older.  Very adult!  & for all I know it actually may be tame compared to the book, from what I have heard of it.  If you are a fan though, you will not be disappointed.  Ended well to take us to into the last movie that will be coming out.  Eventually.

Where do I get these early screenings?  To be honest I have no clue how I got on the lists for these but I think it had to do w/when I lived in Los Angeles.  What was cool about living out there was you could get on lists to see movies that were still in production.  Like, I saw Radio when it was in post-production.  They took us in groups through street sets until we go to the theater & after were asked to stay in a focus group about the movie where they asked questions about it & then after we got free movie tickets!  Here it's nothing like that though.  You go, you watch for free, you leave.  They have reserved seats for press & I have seem them pick people to interview after the show at times, rarely, & not groups.  Chris & I have seen other movies through these including Watchmen, and The Hangover before they were officially in the theater.

Most likely you will need to be living close to a major metropolitan area, or a large city to take advantage of these.  So if your interested, check out sites like Gofobo or Film Metro.  If you do sign up for these & have events in your area though, they keep track of what you take & what you go to.  So don't reserve spots for everything if you are not going to go.

MIA. What's new?

Let's see if I can make this post short & simple.  I seem to not be able to do that whenever I want to.  I like to elaborate, or go into details on things.

Where have I been?  What have I been up to?  October is a busy month with the 1st 1/2 full of birthday get together & celebrations.  Also I am still battling complications with my health.  So, I know I am not dying (yet) and it's nothing serious enough that they can pick up on any of their normal tests but it's bad enough to keep me out of work at times, from seeing friends & doing daily activities at times.  They can treat it, but we don't know the cause.  So, I am sick of being over medicated & am now going to see a pulmonologist at the end of the month because my doctors feel this is the next step.

2 of my major problems are asthma and migraines.  The mystery of the asthma is why is my allergist is always telling me that my breathing tests are coming back above normal, yet I feel like I still cannot breathe & I ended up in the hospital in August with symptoms that could have been either (a) a heart attack, (b) collapsed lung, (c) or a blood clot & it was none of those.  Something came up on the blood test that concerned them which made them do a CT scan but that came back clear also. So I was put on prednisone & lortabs then released.

Last weekend I started getting the same feeling in the left side of my chest that put me in the hospital in August.  Every now & then I can still feel it lingering & it has not progressed to the severity in which it had previously but I am being very careful about it.  I have upped my asthma steroid medication & keeping my activities at a slow pace.  Tried heating pad & epsom salt baths but because it's more internal those didn't work all that well.  This caused a doctor appointment on Monday, decision on the new specialist, fasting blood labs today which resulted in an awful migraine for most of the day.  Now I have a sore throat that's bugging me.  Unrelated.

Overall, I am doing better.  After work though I pretty much come home, sleep, wake up, get online & e-mail, try to work on mail or chores, have my bath, then fall asleep again until Chris comes home & we have dinner.  Then I fall asleep again.  So I have been very fatigued.  I am working on tapering off another medication so it may be a result of that.

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Another thing about me is that I work for GEICO in the customer service department.  I really love my job.  I love it when I can find people savings, when I make people happy, when I connect with people.  I have licenses in, I think, 8 states now. (I have a folder full of them!)  I mostly handle the New England states.  PLEASE do not ask me about car insurance on here!  This is not what this blog is for.  Call your local company.  I am sure they are great.  Or if you are insured with us call any of our agents & they will be happy to help.

So we do a lot of charitable things within the company for local & world wide organizations.  I recently donated to a local animal shelter through our company & now we are making up baskets for a raffle that will have the money donated to the United Way.  You can only imagine why I would be posting about it here!  Because it is going to be filled with bathing goodness!

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See?  I am already writing too much & I am very sleep, not feeling all too well, & must make a Betty trip to Rochester tomorrow to see Brown & Deenok for a meeting of the minds & to also celebrate the Libra's of our group.

So tonight's bath consisted of milk & honey bubble bath & Philosophy's Pink Cotton Confection, which reminds me exactly of Aquolina's Pink Sugar.  Philosophy is coming out with their winter items now.  I am getting excited looking at their site!

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Want to try Bath & Body Works new 2 oz. Be Enchanted lotion for FREE?  Print this coupon or show it on your phone in stores, or use code FBF114231 online.  Good only October 14-16, 2011.

Free Bath & Body Works lotion!

Bath & Body Works is giving away a free bottle of their Charmed Life 2 oz. lotion w/this coupon.  Sorry this is so late as tomorrow is the last day it is good to use!  Valid in USA only.  Online or in stores.

If you "like" them on facebook they usually post stuff like this all the time.  Usually the problem is they post things that can only be used for one day so I can't take advantage of them.  Boo.  Like I really need anything else!  You'll agree when I post pics of my stash!

I was able to scope out some of their new fall scents.  Chris, my manpanion (I'll explain later) really likes the Marshmallow Fireside & we both really liked the Cinnamon Sugared Donut! YUM!  There were a lot of lovely smells to be had but I was good & resisted temptation.  Even though I was tempted I also didn't buy from the 50% off table which had some nice summer products that are going away.  Picked up my free lotion & then went to Yankee Candle to sniff candles there! *Which, BTW their tarts & samplers are all $1 & tomorrow is the last day!  Also, I was good & didn't buy anything.  I just bought some stuff there last week!

More later!