Ashley Bridget Journey Bracelet Review

What I bought and why

I bought this Ashley Bridget Journey bracelet as a Christmas present for my mother. It showed up on my Facebook newsfeed as a suggested post. Those usually annoy me and I ignore them whenever possible. However, this was something that I thought my mother would love and it involved a coupon code! I"m a sucker for a coupon code! The only thing better than a coupon code is a coupon code with free shipping. I really need to work on my online shopping addiction.

The process

The ordering process was very simple. I was able to pay with PayPal which just made my day. I love PayPal! I ordered it on May 10th and I had it in my mailbox on May 20th. It could have been there earlier, but I didn't check my mail on the 19th. It came in a plastic envelope. I didn't take a picture of the envelope.

Inside the envelope

The bracelet came in a cute little drawstring mesh bag. 

The bracelet is 6" from end to end not including the clasp and the extension chain. The clasp and the extension chain give it about another 1-3/4" in length. 

It fit on my big wrist. 

Here is the clasp with the extension chain. You've got quite a bit of space there so if you have a small wrist, you can just put the claps on a different ring. 

My Overall Thoughts

The regular price for this is $48.00. I would never pay $48.00 for this bracelet. I had a 60% off coupon so it was $19.00 plus shipping. For some reason, I don't remember having to pay for shipping, but it was on my invoice. I was expecting the rope to be a bit thicker and I was expecting a different type of clasp situation. While I appreciate the versatility of having this type of clasp, it just seems so fragile and it's really difficult to put on. I couldn't put it on by myself. My husband had a hard time putting it on me. Neither of us has a lot of experience with jewelry, so we're not the best people to judge on that regard. I'm not sure how the ropes are stuck inside of those end pieces, but it just feels very fragile like if it snagged on something, the ropes might pull out. I know my mother will love it, and I'm glad I bought it, but I really would never pay full price for this thing. I've never heard of Ashley Bridget, so maybe I'm just out of the loop and the name is worth the money. I don't think the product is worth the money unless you get a 60% off coupon like I did. Even then, I'm questioning if I would have bought this at a store with a $25.00 price tag. (What I paid with shipping)

nomorerack.com - Genuine Amethyst & Diamond Accent Turtle Pendant in Sterling Silver

Today, I got the turtle necklace that I bought from nomorerack.com on March 2nd. It's another gift for a teenage girl. The picture above is what they had on the website. The necklace came in a padded envelope via the post office. The necklace was inside of a small zipper back that you can see below. The envelope also contained a cardboard jewelry box with a cotton square inside. The box is cute. It's very shimmery and has hearts on it. You can see it below. 

The chain that came with the necklace, is much nicer than the one in the picture above. I have no idea if the amethyst is real. I haven't brought it anywhere to have it appraised. It's cute, and it was inexpensive, so I don't care if it's real. It doesn't feel chintzy, but it's not so heavy that it would be uncomfortable to wear all day. The chain isn't long enough for my large neck though so I wouldn't be wearing it all day. If you don't like the chain it comes with, it would be easy to put a different chain on it. The hole for the chain is under the turtles head, and it's large enough that a bigger chain could go through.

I only paid $20.00 for this necklace. I bought it in the same transaction as an emerald ring. I had $15.00 in credits to use towards a $30.00 purchase. It seems like they send me an email about once a month if I don't buy anything. I'm buying Christmas presents early. 

nomorerack.com is a website where you can get really inexpensive stuff. They have a ton of different things. So far, all I've purchased was jewelry and flash chargers for cell phones. If you do searches on nomorerack.com, you'll find a lot of people complaining about them, but this is my 13th order. Every order has come on time. I've received the items that I ordered, and they were quality products. I haven't had anything appraised, so I can't vouch for the advertisements of certain gems being labeled as genuine, but I've been happy with each item that I've gotten. I don't agree with the values listed on the website, but I think jewelry is a frivolous waste of money. I just buy the stuff for gifts for people who actually like jewelry. 

nomorerack.com - 1 Carat Emerald Ring

So I've mentioned that I have an addiction to online shopping. This past week, I went a little crazy. I got this ring from nomorerack.com. I bought it on Sunday, and it was in the mail today. It could have been there yesterday, but I didn't check the mail. The ring came wrapped up in plastic instead of a mesh bag with a drawstring. 

Here is the mesh bag that it came in. 

This is the ring inside of the plastic bag that it was wrapped in. 

This is the ring on my pinky finger. It's a gift for a 16 year old girl with a size 7 ring finger. The picture doesn't show off just how much the ring catches the light. The stone actually looks much greener in person too. There are fake diamonds on either side of the fake emerald. There are also little shiny chips along the band to the left and right of the bigger stones. It also had clear and blue options to pick from. 

They sell the ring for $15.00, but they say that it's worth $129.00. I don't know that I would agree with $129.00, but I'm happy with the purchase and I think the recipient of the gift will be happy with it as well. I've purchased several other rings from nomorerack.com and have been satisfied with them all. 

If you click this link, you will get $10 off your first purchase. I think you get free shipping for your first order too. I bought a lot of stuff for Christmas back in October and November. They send an email once a day and you get free shipping on everything for 3 hours. They also sent me a lot of credits prior to Christmas. I got a ring for free with the credits. They advertised the ring at $32.00, but valued it at  $289.99. I don't think it was worth $289.99, but it was a nice ring. After I went through my Christmas shopping spree, I stopped buying stuff from them because I didn't need any gifts. At the end of January, they sent me an email with $15.00 in credits that could be used towards a $30.00 purchase. I can't give up a good sale, so I bought a ring. I didn't buy anything else, and at the end of February, they sent me another $15.00 credit towards a $30.00 purchase. I used those credits to get this ring and a necklace, so I basically got this ring for free. I love free!!!

If you're interested in this ring, you can find it here, but be sure to get your $10 credit first. 

Graze.com Box 3

This is my third box from Graze.com. I'm happy that I managed to get through this box and get this review up before the next box arrived. It's in the mail now, but I'm not sure what day it will be here. You can read about my 1st and 2nd boxes by clicking here. Just a recap, Graze.com is an online company that ships healthy snacks to your house once a week. They cost $6.00 per box and that includes shipping. You can find out more about them by visiting their website. They are invitation only though, but you can use my invite code if you need one. It's JAIMIE49P.

Here is the environmentally friendly box.

Here is the inside of the box. This is my third box and the third different image inside the box.

This is the Tropical Sundae. It includes dried mango, pineapple and bananas. I'm not a fan of dried bananas, but the pineapple and mango were good. It was a good snack size and a good mix of the ingredients. I marked this as Trash mainly so I could try new things. If they were only okay for me, I'm not interested in getting them again until I've tried them all. 

This is the Jelly Doughnut. It contains sponge pieces, raspberry strings, almond slices and raspberry infused cranberries. I marked this one as Love. The raspberry strings were soooo yummy! The sponge pieces and cranberries were yummy as well. I thought that there were way too many almond slivers though. They are pretty thin and they just sort of sink down to the bottom when you're reaching in for the other stuff. Then you end up with just a bunch of almond slivers. I recently discovered that I don't hate almonds, but I'm not in love with them either. It was still worth eating this though. I am afraid to see how much sugar was in there though since the raspberry strings were super sweet.

Here is the Honeycomb Crunch. It had milk chocoloate honeycombs, almonds and raisins. I liked this one, but will probably mark it as Trash just so I can try some new things. I wasn't in love with the chocolate honeycombs. I wasn't expecting them to be so crunchy, but I've never had a honeycomb before. There was a good mix of ingredients, and it was a good snack size. 

The last one in this box was actually the first one that I ate. It's called Brooklyn Bites. I have no idea where these names come from. Anyway, it had poppyseed pretzels, cheese cashews and roasted pumpkin seeds. The pumpkin seeds were a bit odd looking for me since they were green. I've never seen green pumpkin seeds. I also thought that I didn't like pumpkin seeds, but these were good. The pretzels and cashews were good as well. I thought that it had an over abundance of seeds compared to the other ingredients. The seeds just sat in the bottom as I picked up the other stuff so I was left with a bunch of seeds in the end. I did like this one, but I'm going to mark it as trash since I'm trying to get away from processed foods, and those pretzels are processed. The cashews seemed a little soft for me and the lack of salt on the pretzels was a bit weird for me. 

Here is he nutritional information for the above stuff. They flip side of this talks about the company and has the invitation code reminding you that if you can convince your friends and family to buy a box, they'll get the first and fifth free and you'll get $1.00 off a box. The $1.00 off doesn't stack though so if you get two friends to join the program, you'll get $1.00 off each of two boxes instead of $2.00 off of one box. This way, you'll never get a free box and to use up all of your credits, you'll have to keep buying boxes. Not the best referral program out there, but they don't have to offer a program at all really. 

After my third box, I'm still excited to get my next box which should be here any day now! I will keep you posted about what comes in that one. I hope more flapjacks!

Graze.com Snack Boxes 1 & 2

I've mentioned a couple of times that I have an online shopping addition. Here is my first post about something that I bought online. Graze.com is a website that ships a weekly or bi-weekly snack box directly to your home. The snacks are what I would consider earthy-crunchy. They are primarily nuts, seeds and dried fruit. They have interesting names like Jelly Doughnut, Hot Cross Yum and Scandanavian Forest. They have 94 different snacks available. However, you can't order specific snacks. You can mark off Trash, Try, Like and Love. If you trash it, they aren't supposed to send you that product again.

You get to pick between a low calorie box and a regular box. For my first box I chose the low calorie, but I then discovered that you can't get the flapjacks with the low calorie box, so I switched to the regular box. I had read a review of the flapjacks and really wanted to try them. The box with the pictures below is the regular box, but the descriptions at the bottom without pictures is for the low calorie box that I got first.

The pictures below are from my second box. I didn't take any pictures of the first box, but I will give a review of the snacks that came in it anyway. The first picture is the box that it comes in. It's made of a very thin cardboard. It's all recycleable. There is a note on the backside that says to flip it over before you open it or you'll make a mess. It's amusing packaging with very little plastic. There are two plastic strips that hold the box closed. The individual snacks are wrapped in plastic though.

The next picture is the inside of the box. The inside picture is not always the same.

It comes with a nutritional sheet with all of the snacks in your box. The other side of the nutritional sheet has your invite code so you can convince your friends to get a box. 

The Trail Mix contained hazelnuts, peanuts (with the skins), cranberries and jumbo raisins. I'm not sure what was jumbo about the raisins though. I like the raisins and cranberries. I even liked the hazelnuts, but I'm not a fan of peanuts with skins. There was an odd earthy taste to this mix. It was a good size for a snack, but I did Trash this one on my list. I just didn't like the earthy taste, and I'm not sure what it came from. 

The Fruit & Seed Flapjack was like a granola bar. It has rolled oats, mixed seeds and dried fruit. I really liked this one. It was a good snack size. It's smaller than your average granola bar, but it was filling. It had a buttery flavor to the outside. The texture was good. It had a sweetness to it, but it wasn't over powering. I don't understand why it's called a flapjack though since I thought those were pancakes, but whatever, it tasted good. I marked this as Love.  

I gave the Jalapeno Fiesta to my husband since I don't like spicy. This contained jalapeno peanuts, salsa almonds and roasted seeds. He liked it. He's a man of few words, so I couldn't get more out of him than that. I marked this as Trash only because I don't like spicy, and my husband isn't a big snacker. 

I also gave the Fruity Mango Chutney to my husband since I don't like dip type stuff. This one has the mango dip and black pepper dippers. I actually went through and marked all of the dips as Trash, but I might have missed the change deadline since I still got this. He did not like this one. He's again, a man of few words, so I wasn't able to get the reason. I asked what he thought of the chutney and the dippers separately, but he didn't like either one. I marked this as Trash.

My first box contained:

Hot Cross Yum: It contained sponge pieces, cinnamon honey almonds and orange infused raisins. I really liked this snack. It was a good size for a snack. I discovered that I don't hate almonds. I thought I hated almonds, but I don't! The raisins were very yummy as well. I also discovered sponge pieces. I don't know what the heck a sponge piece is, but it was yummy! I marked this as Love. 

The British Barbecue: It contained rosemary crostini, mini basil breadsticks, fiery seeds and smoked almonds. I almost gave this one to my husband because it just didn't look like something I would eat. However, he didn't eat it right away so I snagged it. Once again, I actually liked the almonds. The breadsticks and crostini were okay as well. Once I finished with all of that, I was left with the fiery seeds. I missed the word fiery while reading the description. They really were fiery. I bit into one and tossed the rest. Way too hot for me. If you like hot, these will be great for you. However, I thought that there was an over abundance of seeds compared to the rest of the ingredients. I marked this as Trash.

Scandanavian Forest: It contained blueberries, lignonberries, cherry infused raisins and dried apples. I am not a fan of dried apples, but as long as I had some of the other berries in the mix, it was good. I really liked the blueberries, lignonberries and cherry infused raisins. I don't think I've ever eaten a lignonberry. I don't even think I have ever heard of them. I like them though! I marked this as Trash only because I'm not a fan of the apple and I wanted to try different things. It was a good snack size. Once I've tried more things, I'll change this to like since I really did like the rest of the berries.

Black Pepper Pistachios: It contained pistachios and black pepper. I gave this one to my husband for two reasons. I didn't think I would like it because of the black pepper and because popping pistachios out of their shells is just too much effort for me to put into a snack. He liked them, but gave no other information. It was a good snack size for him. He actually took more than one sitting to finish it. I marked it as Trash since I don't like spicy. 

I love that there is so much variety in each box. I also love the names of the snacks. The boxes are $6.00 each and that includes shipping. So it's $1.25 per snack, which sounds expensive, but it's really not that bad considering what you get out of them. They're healthy snacks that give you a chance to try something new. It also gives you a little present in the mail once a week! I love presents in the mail. I'm not sure how long I will continue to get these boxes. I'm hoping to eventually experience enough new things in order to figure out what I like. Once I get a good handle on what I like, I'll go to a place like Trader Joe's and buy some of my own ingredients to make similar snacks. I just don't have the time for that right now. This little adventure was one of my babysteps towards healthier eating. My snacks used to be sugary things like poptarts, but then I babystepped to thinks like Belvita Breakfast Cookies and FiberOne bars. Now I'm babystepping to less processed foods and trying nuts and berries.

I found this place through Facebook, but they are invitation only. It's not hard to find an invite though. If you need one, go to www.graze.com and use.JAIMIE49P. You'll get the first and fifth boxes free, and I'll get $1.00 off of a box. My third box review will be up shortly. I took so long to do the first Graze.com review because I was waiting on my husband to try the Mango Chutney.