Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Dinner at Melting Pot



One of my favorite things to do is drive around and find different and interesting places to eat at. There's something about hopping in the car, taking a relaxing drive and finding something new, that I just LOVE. Recently I came across a restaurant called the Melting Pot, which is basically a Fondu place. My grandparents took me there when they came up to visit and then my boyfriend treated me their for a nice date. It's a special occasion kind of restaurant since it's pretty pricey. It's probably for the best, because it's practically a four coarse meal and if I ate it often I'd blow up like a balloon from all the fondu.




First of all, I loved how the place was decorated. The outside of the restaurant was decorated with beautiful and elegant flower shaped lights wrapped around the trees. We went during the day, but I imagine it would look so beautiful at night with all the lights lit up. It also had places to sit down around a fire to relax with friends. It would be a great place to go on a romantic date. (*hint* *hint* to those of you reading this who are men)





The inside was decorated with beautiful and colorful things such as walls that had bubbly water that changed colors. There were also bright bottles set up near the tables and dim lights to make the setting more romantic. Each table was also divided into little cubicles to give people more privacy. 



The first coarse of the meal is choosing a cheese dip. I chose the Wisconsin cheese, which is my favorite because it has blue cheese in it. What's really cool about this restaurant is that they prepare the food right in front of you. For the cheese dip they brought out different types of bread, veggies and apples to dip into the sauce. 






The next two courses are a salad and the meat. What's really unique about the meat is that the people dining out are the ones who have to cook and prepare the meat, not the chefs. First, you have to choose a broth that you want the meat to cook in. I usually choose the Coq Au Vin, which is a burgundy wine infused with fresh herbs, spices and mushrooms. Next each person gets to choose their own entree of meat. I usually order the classic, which comes with angus sirloin, memphis-style BBQ pork medallion, shrimp, chicken and teriyaki-marinated sirloin. The meat comes raw along with different colored broiler sticks for each person. You have to then cook the meat by stabbing it with the sticks and leaving it in the pot for a couple of minutes to cook. Each person has their own colored sticks so that they can tell which meat is theirs. The meal also comes with different sauces to dip the meat into such as curry and teriyaki glaze.



Last, but definitely not least is dessert! You get to choose your chocolate and then are given different treats to dip into the chocolate such as rice krispee treats, banana's and strawberries. I usually choose the flaming turtle, which is a combination of milk chocolate, caramel and pecans. 

Have you ever been to the melting pot? What did you think of it and which part of the meal was your favorite? (My favorite has to be dipping the apples into the cheese!)

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Influenster Uni Vox Box 2014



Recently I was selected to receive the Influenster Uni Vox Box and I am excited to share with you all what I got. I did receive this package for free, but if you want to, you could receive boxes like this for FREE too.

For those who don’t know, Influenster is a website where you can earn points for sharing your unique opinion on products and experiences. Basically you turn your social influence into sweet rewards such as the exclusive access to deals, promotions and free boxes filled with goodies. There are many different topics to talk about to fit everyone’s personal interests, but the topics I usually focus on are beauty and fashion related. By writing reviews on beauty products, taking surveys and being constantly active, I’ve earned enough points to qualify for the current box.


This is the fourth vox box that I've received. When I qualified for my first vox box, however, I was quite surprised. I had been signed up on Influenster and had been actively participating on the site for over a year and had almost given up on trying to qualify for a box. From what I’d heard from other people it had taken some only a month to earn a vox box while it had taken others much longer. This is the only part I have not liked so far about Influenster because they don’t clarify how many points you need to earn to get a vox box. So if you’re like me and have been waiting a while to earn a box, don’t give up because it’s worth the wait in the end.  And if you are not signed up on the site, what are you waiting for? Click HERE to sign up NOW




Each box has a theme. In this vox box I received five products all tailored towards things college girls use daily. And the best part is they are all full sized. Finally, a company that sends full size products instead of just samples! All together the products retail for around $25.


RedRose Real Tea Water Enhancer- $4.49

This was the item that I was most excited about. Lately, I've been trying to eat healthier and a big goal of mine has been to drink more water. This has been TOUGH for me because I hate the taste of water. I'm hoping that this Real Tea will help me to drink more water though because it flavor enhances the water. I taste tested it and I think it tastes delicious. It makes my water taste like sweet tea. Plus, It's fairly healthy as it only contains 5 calories. I'd definitely recommend trying this out if your not a fan of water. 



Broadway nails press on manicure- $5.99

I'd never tried out fake nails before because I'm not into long nails. I'm use to having short stubby nails with no white showing, which I learned today is called the lunula. Hows that for a fact of the day?! This is the third time I've received these in a vox box though, so I decided to give them a try. These fake nails are stick ons. First off I was very impressed with the packaging. All the nails came in a nail polish shaped bottle, which is cute and functional. It's a great place to store excess nails so that they don't get lost. While applying, I had a difficult time peeling the flaps off of the nails. Besides that they were very easy to stick on and matched up with each nail. Once on, they looked real and it looked like I had just gotten a fresh new manicure. They were even an ideal length as they were the average length of a nail. Then the excitement and admiration of my beautiful nails soon vanished. I could not pick anything up with these nails. If I tried to pick up a book or put a jacket on, the nails would fall off. By the end of the first day, half the nails had fallen off. Then the next day, the other half fell off in the shower. Overall, I was not impressed with the press on nails and felt like they were a dud.   




Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation- $4.99- $5.49

I was thoroughly surprised by how much I liked this foundation. I'm usually cautious of drugstore foundations as the color selection isn't big and it's hard to find the right color. This foundation is in the color 100 Ivory and is the perfect shade for my skin. This foundation claims to be matte and is suppose to not look shiny when applied to the face. This is exactly what it does. It applied so smoothly to my face and kept my skin looking healthy. It also stayed on all day long and didn't bunch or move. It felt like and looked like my own skin. It's now my new foundation love and when I run out, I'm definitely going to purchase it.  


Acroball Pen- $4.59 for 3 pack, $6.24 per 4 pack, $7.49 per 5 pack

I love school supplies and can never have too many pens. This pen is a smooth writing pen and it glides so nicely across paper. I can't wait to take it to class and use it to write notes.




NYC Expert Last Lipstick in Forever Fuchsia- $1.99

This color is very bold and is not a color I'd usually buy as it's out of my comfort zone. I tried it out though and got so many compliments throughout the day. It also lasted the whole day (around 8 hours) and didn't dry out my lips like some lipsticks do. I don't think I'd wear this everyday because it's so bright, but it will be a fun color to experiment with this summer. 


Playtex Sport Fresh Balance- $4.99

I was caught off guard a little when I saw this in the vox box. This will come in handy sooner or later though, so I can't complain.


Did you receive the Uni Vox Box? What did you think of it? 
Or 
Have you tried out any of these products before?

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Insta Life #2: February/March


Starting at top left:
1. My Chihuahua, Misty all snuggled up in her blanket on a cold snowy day.
2. My new hair! I dyed it black with bright red tips.
3. Two dozen roses from my amazing boyfriend, Christian.
4. A cutesy Valentines Day picture
5. I'm always on my hands and handstands are basically my life. I have been working on trying one handed handstands lately. 
6. My delicious chocolate fudge milkshake from Steak N Shake. 
7. The beautiful view of my campus that I shot while on my daily run. 
8. A heart collage I created to decorate my dorm room. Click here for the tutorial. 
9. Playing around with my eye makeup. I tried drawing on my bottom eyelashes. What do you think? I kind of like it! 

Follow me on Instagram @pandaraige


Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Drop it like a squat


I've mentioned in past posts that I use to be a level 9 gymnast. I've been out of gymnastics for a year now and have really missed working out. It's been hard to find time to go the the gym as I've been busy with college classes and two part time jobs. I've been feeling very motived lately though and have decided to take part in the Lorna Jane squat challenge. It's a workout I can do everyday in my dorm room and only takes a couple of minutes to complete. I've even got my roommate doing it with me, so that we can motivate each other. So far I've completed two days and I'm already sore. Uhg... At least I know it's working! And I hope by the time I'm done, I'll have a toned butt and legs!

 I heard about this challenge from an instagram account I recently came across called SARAHALICETIU. She has so many pictures of inspiring quotes, delicious looking healthy foods and fitness. I then found out she has a blog called Adorn Beauty! It's all about beauty, healthy food recipes and fitness. You all should check it out, it's so inspiring! (And let her know I sent you!)

Eating healthier and working out is so good for the body. It will make you happier and make you feel healthier and all around better about yourself. So I've decided that I want to go on a health/fitness "journey." (Yes, I'm also on a happiness journey. They both go hand in hand.) My goal throughout this is to get a toned body and put good foods into my body like fruits and veggies instead of bad processed foods like pie and pizza. My goal is also to drink more water. As I try to live a healthier lifestyle, I'll keep you all updated with posts. I'd also love if you guys could join along with me so that we can all motivate each other! I've posted the squat challenge bellow so that we can do this together. Use the hashtag #fitpanda and #adornbeauty on instagram, to share your progress, so we can, as adorn beauty said: "keep each other accountable." Doing this together will make working out and eating healthier a lot easier. We can even swap recipes and fitness routines with each other. I'm excited to see how this goes and my goal is to have a bikini ready body by summer!


Print this workout out and hang it somewhere where you will see it and be reminded to do it everyday!
Even set is as your lock screen photo on your phone if you need to.

What workouts do you like to do to stay fit?


Eye See You


Today I actually beat my alarm clock and woke up a whole hour early. This is a rare moment for me, but I hope it continues to happen. I had so much time to get ready and wasn't rushed by the fifteen minutes I usually have from turning my alarm clock off over five times. Since I had so much time, I decided not to do my usual daily eye makeup look and instead, decided to have some fun.

I wanted to do something different and a little bit crazy, but still wearable since I had work and then class. I was going for a bit of a futuristic look as I added the winged liner and put dots at the corner of each eye. I love to play around with makeup and am always adding dots and weird deigns around my eyes, which you guys will see as I post more eye makeup of the days posts! Why wear makeup if you can't have fun with it and experiment, right?!

Note: In some of the photos my lips were blue because I had excess blue eyeshadow on my brush and wondered what my lips would look like blue. It made me look goth so I wiped it off before I went out.




Makeup Products Used:

Gold Eye Shadow- Maybelline Color Tatoo in #25 Bad to the Bronze
Blue Eye Sahdow- Maybelline Color Tatoo in #40 Tenacious Teal
Eyeliner- L'oreal Lineur Intense in Black Mica
Mascara- L'oreal Telescopic in blackest black



Since I have it, I thought I'd also add in a photo of the outfit I was wearing!

Boots- Kohls
Lace Bow- Claire's
Dress- Kohls
Knee High Socks- Kohls