TFSP: Valentine’s Day Spa Package Giveaway for MilSpouses!

I have to admit..I’ve been a pretty bad blogger in terms of reading up on blogs and writing blog posts. I saw a picture that caught my eye when I was reading Kara’s blog. It was a spouse box filled with goodies for $29.95 a month. I looked at some of the links AND I found my new obsession. Udderly Natural Handcrafted body products. As in everything I’ve wanted in a spa package. AND there are a ton of different flavors and scents to choose from.

Here are the following items included in this giveaway..
5oz sugar scrub
2oz bath bomb
2oz goat milk lotion
1 goat milk soap bar
1 lip balm

The winner of this giveaway will have the chance to choose any flavors and scents of all the items listed above. Not a bad way to pamper yourself if I do say so myself.

To enter the giveaway..
– You must be a military spouse at some point (veteran/wounded warrior spouses count)
– Write a active blog (2 blog posts per month)
– Live in the U.S. (giveaways only ship in the U.S.)
– Enter through this link,here
.

The winner will be contacted through email and through my social media accounts. Winner will have three days to respond to my email from the day the email was sent or another winner will be chosen. I hope you ladies enjoy! 🙂

And for those that are curious, I’m hosting this giveaway early because I want the winner to be able to use the items by Valentine’s Day. Sometimes things take a while. Have a good one 🙂

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

Hickory Cheers

For all my readers that have been following the blog for a while, you know I’m committed to giving back to the military community. I had set out to find a website that sends goodies to deployed service members in honor of my birthday next month. As I was growing up I was taught that it’s more important to give than to receive. Last year instead of receiving gifts, I had friends and family donate to TFSP fund. It was an awesome idea and assisted with funding postage for letters and cards, care packages, and my Christmas special. I found one of my childhood favorites, Hickory Farms. As a child I used to sell gift baskets out of the HF catalog. I always begged my parents for the biggest basket because their gouda and sausage is the business. I thought it would be a sophisticated gift as well as one that would hold up for shipping. I purchased the summer sausage and cheese gift box.

The box includes..
2 10oz beef sausage
10oz smoked cheddar cheese
10oz farmhouse cheddar cheese
6oz smoked gouda
2.5oz honey & pineapple mustard
2.25oz sweet hot mustard

All that deliciousness for $40. Shipping is FREE to all military addresses! Hickory Farms is dedicated to giving back to the military as well. It’s so amazing for them to do that because shipping overseas is expensive. The website has examples of how to enter military addresses of different locations like APO, FPO, AE, AP, and AA. I thought it was super helpful because I would have been super confused. I can’t wait until the recipient receives the package. I’m looking into ones that deliver birthday cakes but haven’t found a good one yet. Anyone know of any good places?

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

Baking The Blues Away

Ever since the funeral, my family has been kind of in a slump. Everyone seems a little down so I decided to utilize my #1 self-care method. You’re right, it’s baking! I had been meaning to thank the veterans at the VA for helping get into the fellowship program I recently graduated from. Nothing says thanks and happy holidays like a tin of yummy PW cinnamon rolls!

Three of the five tins

My own pan! Or my moms…I woke up the next morning and half of it was gone.

Stockings on the fireplace. Please excuse the grapefruits. My dad wouldn’t let me take them off the fireplace.

The lights my dad puts up every year.

An updated version of my Christmas tree! 🙂

And last but not least, PW mocha brownies. Deliciously sinful. I’ve been meaning to bake some more this week. I’ll be baking some cookies and bite size brownies for family.

I’m glad I got to go to the VA today and see the vets. They were super excited when they heard I was coming in. Because I usually bring goodies of course. They were excited about the cinnamon rolls and dark chocolate almond clusters. I also wrote them Christmas cards to go with the goodies. I didn’t realize it but the cards were a huge gesture to them. A lot of them made jokes about receiving only that card or just a few cards but I know some of them don’t have family. It tugged at my heart quite a bit when we were talking about that since they’re like my second family. They taught me a lot and embraced me for my weirdness. They also talk freely about any topic when I’m around when they used to censor themselves. Apparently I’ve been in the trenches with them before so they don’t mind being themselves.

That’s all for now! I’ll do a post about how I packaged the cinnamon rolls. Happy Holidays!

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

Fake or Real?

For as long as I’ve been grown enough to know the difference, I’ve always heard people argue about a fake or a real Christmas tree. Some people like the fake kind better while others are vice versa. This year I decided to get a fake tree at Target. I was actually looking at some cards because I have a huge list to send to and I caved. I began inching towards the trees and admiring each one. At first I was just looking but then I found a 6ft tree for $25. It was a pretty sweet deal considering they were selling 3ft fake trees for the same price. Anyway, I got some ornaments and two strings of garland for the tree. I went with a gold theme so the ornaments are gold and silver and the garland is the same colors. In the mist of my excitement, I forgot to get the star. Who does that?! I always thought it was the most important part of the tree. I also needed some new lights because the ones my dad bought forever ago are different colors. My sister laughed at me when I told her she needs to get the star and some lights.

This is the tree half way done. I still need to put on more ornaments, lights, and the star. More pictures to come when I do that!

I graduated from my fellowship program today! I’m officially certified as a mental health rehabilitation specialist. It was pretty awesome. One of my fellow classmates has his own baking business and he made cupcakes for our graduation. There were three flavors, oreo, vanilla, and red velvet. The oreo one was legit and the red velvet was also delicious. I’ve never been a vanilla cupcake lover so that one never wows me.

I can’t wait to see what’s next. My internship is over. I graduated my fellowship program. Next up, is job hunting. I’m still waiting on getting a call back for an interview I went to. Hopefully they’ll call me soon. I get super anxious about that kind of stuff. It’ll be really weird not going to class anymore. I felt like my classmates and I really bonded over the last 12 weeks. It was a hell of a ride. I’m glad we’re done but it’s bittersweet. I’ll miss all the residents I had the pleasure of getting to know. I’m looking forward to quality family time this holiday season. I’m going to try my best to go visit Christmas Tree Lane up in Altadena. I always say I’ll go every year but I end up not going. I want to see the decorations this year.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

The Fail Sweetly Project: 2nd Annual Christmas Special

Hey all! So after a few months of hiatus with the giveaways for TFSP…I’ve come back for an awesome Christmas Special. Last year’s theme was Target. Everything I gave away was from that store. This year’s theme is kitchen. You know, cause I write a food blog and all that. There are three items in this years special. Military spouses get ready! 🙂

Here are the rules:
1. You must be a military spouse (doesn’t have to be active = you can be married to a veteran)
2. You must have an active blog with at least 2 blog posts per month
3. You must live in the U.S. as giveaways only ship within the U.S.

The three giveaways end at 12AM December 8th. One winner will be chosen from each giveaway category. I will post the winners on here as well as email them. You have THREE days to respond or else I will chose another winner.

#1: Georgia Peach Mason Jar Beverage Dispenser
Enter the Mason Jar Dispenser Giveaway

#2: Crock-Pot Programmable Cook and Carry Oval Slow Cooker
Enter the CROCK-POT Slow Cooker Giveaway

#3: 18 Piece Set Wilton Holiday Metal Cookie Cutters
Enter the 18pc Cookie Cutter Set Giveaway

Happy Holidays to all! 🙂 I’m excited to see how this year’s giveaway plays out. Good luck everyone.

Picture courtesy of Google.com.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

Hallovember anyone?

Am I the only person who watches Halloween movies in November? For some reason, it’s Halloween in November, Thanksgiving in November, and Christmas every month. But..I’ve been addicted to two movies. I love Hocus Pocus. It’s my all time favorite Halloween movie. I also love it because Sean Murray who plays Timothy McGee on NCIS is in the movie. He was just a kid back then. Old school movies are the best ones! 🙂

I’m also hopping on the Halloweentown wagon. It’s taken second place in my favorite Halloween movies selection. I’m a huge sucker for Disney movies.

This is the first year that I actually decorated for Halloween and it was at my internship. I got to bake sugar cookies and decorate them. It’s been a great experience so far. Even though we’re almost half way into November, it doesn’t feel like November. I’ve started my fall to do list by making caramel apples and pumpkin cream cheese muffins. I’ll be making apple pie and some cinnamon pull apart bread. I can’t wait till Christmas! 🙂

An early happy veteran’s day to all the vets out there. Thank you for being so amazing. I hope you have stuffed bellies tomorrow and spend time with your brothers and sisters.

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

The Fail Sweetly Project: Participating in the 2/7 holiday project

Picture courtesy of Google.com
Hi all! I’m so glad to be blogging today. The last two weeks has been a fight with the weather and my immune system. I lost the fight yesterday when I woke up with a fever, sore throat, and all kinds of icky stuff. I was pissed I missed class and I can’t do much this weekend. Then I logged onto Facebook and saw that Tracie Brookshire is putting together a 2/7 project (2nd battalion, 7th marines) for the marines overseas. I got to do some holiday card writing which is awesome.

These are the three different kinds of cards I’ll be sending. I’m currently on the hunt for some new Christmas cards. If anyone knows of a cheap place, holler my way! 🙂

The weather is finally starting to cool down. It rained last night and this morning. It’s pretty cloudy outside right now but not too dark. I cleaned out my closet this morning in an effort to be productive (I slept all day yesterday). It turns out I only have three pairs of thick jeans that I still fit into. So I hopped onto the ThredUp site and got myself an awesome deal of 6 pairs of jeans for less than $40 with free shipping. Now I need to look into getting some motorcycle boots. I don’t know what it is with motorcycle boots and leather jackets but I’m addicted to both.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

Update

I haven’t blogged for almost a month and I’m kind of missing it. I’m in the process of getting funds to spruce up my blog a bit. This layout is too plain for my eyes. Anyway, I feel like the past month has been filled with moments connected to the quote above. I’ve been doing school and my internship. Both have been amazing learning opportunities for me. I learn about myself and my personal limitations as well as about others. I will definitely be more prepared for the work field after this internship.

One of the hardest things for me to digest is that sometimes you can’t save everyone. People who want to help others automatically start problem solving instead of listening. Is that what the other person really wants? I’m still working on understanding others and respecting their choices even when I don’t agree with them or I find them harmful. I’ve been caught up in a lot of things that people do that I don’t agree with but that’s life. I’ve also been reading that a lot of veterans are committing suicide on my Facebook feed. Every time I read it, it’s like my heart cringes and I can feel it twist like a sponge. Serving vets has always been a huge passion of mine and I can’t stand not doing anything. I’m not sure what I can do if I don’t know the individual. I just feel like I have to do something. This shouldn’t be happening. The veterans I have in my life are some of the best people I’ve ever known. I’m sure it’s the same for others as well.

On a lighter note, I do penpal writing with one of the Gold Star mom’s that I originally wrote to for Operation Bright. Denise, if you read this, you are the sweetest lady! 🙂 I wrote to her that I like to bake and all that stuff. She recently sent me a letter with a cookbook attached. I was so touched, I really didn’t know what to say. Her letter brought tears to my eyes. It brings me such comfort knowing that I could make her day better with a simple letter. I can’t say I know what it’s like to send my son off to war and have him KIA. I admire her so much for her strength and her passion for supporting other marines. It’s people like her that make my project worth doing.


This is currently my happy place.

First and third pictures courtesy of Google.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

FSP: Operation Bright – Airmen at Offutt AFB

I’m taking a break from my Catalina Island posts and writing about my baking project with my best friend. One of my best friends from college married an airmen and moved to Nebraska. She asked me to visit her and at first I was a bit hesitate because we’re both SoCal girls. You can totally tell just by looking at us. It was a fun visit. I actually miss Nebraska (Yes Kara, you got me. It really wasn’t that bad lol). Both of us are bakers so I knew we would definitely do some baking. Before I went to visit her we talked about possibly doing a baking project for the airmen there. We ended up baking mini pumpkin cream cheese muffins, mini banana chocolate chip muffins, white chocolate blueberry cookies, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. We packed them into gallon size ziploc bags or plastic boxes and sent them to work with her hubby. Hopefully that brought a smile to the faces of all the airmen.

One of my friends once told me I was biased against other branches of the military because the big bro is a marine. As you can see, that’s not true. I love all branches. AND I bake for all branches. Actually…I bake for anyone who wants to eat. I think we did a pretty awesome job if I do say so myself. I didn’t get a picture of the banana muffins because I was either too tired or too busy mixing away. We went on base and went to the PX. Since I’ve never been in one it was a bit awkward. There were people just staring but I just assumed they were as curious about me as I was of them. Definitely a different atmosphere then Pendleton where everyone keeps staring. They did have some really good sales. And I made away like a bandit. I got a new sweater that says Offutt Air Force Base. I think my USMC sweater will be fighting for closet space.

If I get the chance to go back I think I’ll be doing a cooking project next. Enchiladas? haha 🙂 Toodles!

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

Catalina Island Part 1

I just got back from my mini vacay to Catalina Island and it was awesome! I took a ton of pictures (a ton being more than 200). I suppose that’s not too much in photographer terms. The views were breathtaking! I’ll definitely have to save up and go back. Love, love, love! Every vacay starts off with stiff drinks right? 😀

This is the Avalon iced tea at Bluewater Avalon. It has passionfruit rum, vodka, gin, tequila, and a hint of lemon iced tea. Holy cow…I was a bit tipsy after drinking this. I could only do half because the flavor of the rum was too strong for my taste.

Here’s a timeline for you to follow..
8/27 – waited FIVE hours at the Catalina Express terminal to board the ferry. Hurricane Maria caused some crazy surges so the two ferries before mine couldn’t dock. Our ferry got cancelled and pushed back to 2pm. Finally at 2pm we boarded and checked into our hotel (The Pavilion Hotel – their service is excellent!). We went to dinner at Bluewater Avalon and because of my intoxication, we went back to our room to chill for awhile. Catalina kind of has a dead scene at night unless you want to go bar hopping. We went and got some ice cream at Lloyd’s and walked along the green pier and sat by the fire pit. We called it a night after that.

8/28 – got tickets to the Avalon Scenic Drive and the East End Adventure (highly recommended) because the water activities weren’t running (Hurricane Maria). The Avalon Scenic Drive was alright. I got to take pictures of Descanso Beach and Avalon Bay. Our driver was kind of a sarcastic know it all so it was eh. We ate lunch at Eric’s on the pier. After that we boarded the East End Adventure in a hummer. It was freakin awesome! It’s pretty much like the real life Indiana Jones ride from Disneyland. Real bumpy so not recommended for people who have neck/back problems or are preggo. We went back to the hotel to wash up and headed down to complimentary wine and cheese hour. After that we went back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. We had dinner at Avalon Grille and gelato from a Mediterranean cafe two doors down from our hotel. We called it a night after eating gelato along the beach.

8/29 – got tickets to mini golf and the Glass Bottom Boat Voyage. Mini golf was hilarious. We were so impatient that I ended up with a score of 102 and my sister got 87. The card said we should get around 51. Oops! 🙂 After mini golf we packed and left our bags with the front desk. We boarded the Glass Bottom Boat tour and it was HORRIBLE. I’m known to get nausea and such but it was really horrible. The boat just kept rocking back and forth and gave me a headache. I still managed to see some fish and take some pictures but I wouldn’t recommend it. Not unless you want to rock back and forth. After that we grabbed salads at the Mediterranean cafe and chilled in the hotel patio area. Then we boarded the ferry and came home.

NOW…onto the pictures! I named this post Part 1 because I have SOOOO many pictures to share.

The fishies swimming during the Glass Bottom Boat tour. The water was real merky so we didn’t see a lot. It’s definitely not worth $15. Trust me.

Miniature golf was awesome. We aren’t meant for golf apparently so we should take up tennis.

Picture of Catalina houses/hotels and Avalon Bay. I took this picture during the East End Adventure. Cindy (our guide) was so awesome. She used to sing on a cruise ship in Hawaii. I love her, she has the cheesiest jokes.

California lovin with the palm trees right in front of our hotel room.

Vanilla and salted caramel gelato! The salted caramel was excellent. The vanilla one got to be too sweet after a bit. The cafe is super cute. They even serve sushi there.

THE HUMMER!! 🙂 I love this hummer. It was such an awesome ride. I got to see a bison, a fox, deers, and take beautiful scenic pictures.

Sign in Tour Plaza of the Avalon Scenic Drive.

View of the front of our hotel from the second floor.

Avalon Bay! The water reminds me of Bora Bora (not that I’ve been there or anything).

Shrimp and fish tacos that my sister got for lunch from Eric’s on the greenish/turquoise pier.



Scenic pictures taken on the East End Adventure. The EEA drives to the east of the island while most tours go to the west. The last picture is Moonstone Cove. It’s gorgeous in person. I fell in love right away.

This picture was taken at our half way stop. We got to get out, stretch our legs, and take some photos. It’s so beautiful. I really don’t know how to put it into words.

PLEASE DO NOT TAKE MY PICTURES AND POST THEM WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. THANKS!

Fail Sweetly,
Justina