Wednesday, August 10, 2016

My Experience at Teavana

Only a few times a year, my mom and I will go to the mall and spend the day walking around. We do a little shopping usually, but not much as retail prices in the mall are so high. One store we like to go into is Teavana because they usually have about five or six tea samples to try, and they always have cute teapot displays.

The last time we were in there, I believe it was around Christmas, we made the mistake of talking to an employee. We had a little bit of extra money and were interested in buying some tea. After telling the sales person that we wanted two ounces of a tea, he filled a bag with just over two ounces, much closer to three. Then, the talking began. Instead of ringing us up, the employee continued to badger us about all of the teas on display, and wafting them all towards us.

Eventually he had us suckered into buying two other teas, two ounces of each, and proceeded to put almost three ounces into those as well. Let me tell you, if you've never shopped there, these ounces aren't cheap. This man was obviously so determined to sell us as much as possible, and my mother and I were being so tortured, that I actually started to laugh uncontrollably at one point, which earned a glare from the salesman. He then asked me if I was interested in what he was showing, and I made another mistake in telling him that I like spice teas, not floral.

After perhaps ten minutes of showing us teas with spice, my mother excused herself and whispered "follow me" to me. We all but ran from the store and didn't stop until we reached Forever 21 on the other side of the mall, laughing all the way.

This whole process took perhaps half an hour, maybe more as time has no meaning in Teavana.

When we got home, we looked up reviews on Teavana and saw that many people had similiar experiences that we had. They fill the bags with more tea than you ask for, and their employees are encouraged to adapt agressive sales techniques. Needless to say, we will not be returning.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

My Experience Sugar Waxing


After watching Jazzybum's video on Sugar Waxing, I decided to try it. I was excited for this because it is an all-natural alternative to waxing your legs, and I already had all of the ingredients on hand. After giving it a try, I have one things to say...

Don't do this! Ever!

Never!

It was a nightmare to make!

It was a nightmare to do!

It was a nightmare to clean!

I have never done traditionally waxing, so I don't really have anything to compare this too. However, this experience has turned me off of waxing for life. Firstly, I had much trouble cooking it. I was unsure of how long it was supposed to cook and how "brown" it was supposed to be. After cooking it several times, I worked with it and tried to wax my legs for a long while. I ended up having to reheat it several times, and eventually gave up when it essentially turned to stone in the pan.

The clean up process: To clean the tools and pan that I used, I had to use boiling water to melt the concrete mess I had created. After several repeats of that, it took lots and lots of scraping.

Did it remove any hair? - A few patches on ONE leg...

Was it worth the trauma? - Absolutely not.

This, of course, is nothing against Jazzybum! She has a totally awesome channel, and I suggest you check out some of her videos because she is quite funny.

P.S. I can say with certainty that the plastic tray she used to cool the mixture is in the garbage.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Book Burrow's Grand Opening!


I am super excited to announce the opening of Book Burrow! Book Burrow is an Etsy shop that I have been working on all summer, and I am so glad to finally be able to share it with the world.

Things that will be sold in Book Burrow are wallets, handbags, shoes, book safes, etc. These will feature pages from some of my favorite books, such as, Harry Potter, Divergent, Susan Branch, Neal Shusterman novels, Maggie Stiefvater novels, and more!

Book Burrow Shop

Book Burrow Instagram