Holiday Haul 2013

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Christmas has come and gone. Even the Christmas tree know finds itself on the curb waiting to be picked up. All the presents have been given, the wrapping unwrapped, and the gifts enjoyed and incorporated. So, sit back, relax and see the Holiday Haul for 2013:

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Xbox 360 Controller: A controller for a last generation console?! Yes! This one comes with that little dongle you need to use the thing on a PC. Microsoft doesn’t just sell the dongle… Amazon and Ebay are full of weird ripoffs that don’t work so well so this went on Santa’s list! Now I can play Rogue Legacy and Gunpoint with a controller as intended!

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Elder Sign: Unseen Forces, Columbia longsleeve workout shirt, Citadels, Lucky Tiger Face Scrub, and Feetures Elite Running socks: Unseen Forces is the first expansion to Elder Sign, a Lovecraft themed dice rolling game. Elder Sign is a lot of fun. Think Arkham Horror but not going to take you several hours. Looking forward to trying this. It’s been a cold winter and my winter workout gear is sorely lacking so the technical shirt and socks will mean I’m not washing clothes twice a week and/or wearing dirty ones. Citadel is quick card game where players vie to build the best city from a deck of cards. Lucky Tiger is a great brand for “Masculine” hygiene and skincare products, now I can take care of my delicate skin and still feel like a MAN!

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A Gaming Life and Twilight Imperium: This book has been on my list since it came out. My sister noticed it languishing there and picked it up for me. I really don’t have any idea what it is about, besides videogames, I look forward to finding out. Oh, boy! Twilight Imperium… I really wasn’t expecting this! I added it as an afterthought to putting on Rex, Eclipse, and Race for the Galaxy. I don’t know if I have the time or the faithful friends to sit down and do this game justice!

2013-12-25 09.42.16Power Grid and an Everlane Dopp Kit: Another game that has been on the “to buy” list for awhile. I kept putting it off and now it’s here. I’ve been told this is the game you should play when you want to play Monopoly. I think that’s because this is like Monopoly but good? I’m looking forward to finding out. I have a weekender bag from Everlane and I love it. It’s sturdy, stylish, can go carry-on and can easily hold two or three days worth of clothes. I didn’t have a toiletry bag to go with it though until now.

2013-12-25 09.41.56There’s all the “Stuff” I got, except for some stocking stuffers, gift cards, and cash. What these pictures don’t show is my family who joined us up here in Northern California this year to share the holiday! Thanks to them and D for making this holiday, and this year, an amazing one. 2014 has a some big shoes to fill…

I hope your holiday was just as wonderful as ours!

Opening my First Birchbox

Birchbox for December 2012

During this Thanksgiving D started watching re-runs of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. I had watched the show when it first came out over a decade ago and had enjoyed the show for its mix of fashion, interior re-decorating, and reality television surrealism. Looking at it as a person in my thirties though I noticed how much they focused on skincare. I then looked in the mirror and noticed that I had not been taking care of my skin. I don’t know if I had ever spent more than a minute in my entire life thinking about my skin. It was beginning to show. Most prevalent were the dark marks under my eyes. So, I started looking for skincare products.

What a minefield I had entered. Weird names, absurd claims, and no where clear answers to well-defined problems. I don’t know what I had expected. Something more like a hardware store, I suppose. Looking for a screwdriver? Aisle 6. Looking for nails? Aisle 3. Looking for eye cream? Aisle 7. Instead I got aisle after aisle of odd shaped jars and tubes full of all sorts of creams, saturated with all sorts of chemicals. What I needed was clarity and all I was finding was more confusion. I was going to need some help…

D recommend Birchbox, it’s a subscription service that sends samples of beauty, grooming, and lifestyle products to subscribers every month. With this, hopefully, I’d be able to find some skincare and grooming products that worked for me. And maybe I could get rid of these dark bags under my eyes.

I signed up at the end of November and this last weekend my first box came!

The contents

The Contents

 

Tall Drink Body Hydrator by Guythority

Face Scrub, Face Moisturizer, and Lip Balm by Lucky Tiger

Shave Oil by Toro

Wool Knit Tie by the Knottery

I’m really liking the Lucky Tiger line of products but the Toro shaving oil is terrible.  I don’t know what to do about the tie, maybe I’ll wear it to my next job interview. I don’t know if any of these boxes will have an eye cream, but at least now when I go to buy some sort of grooming product I won’t be doing it completely in the dark!

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