Marriott Marquis

I went to New York City with my aunt and my daughter this past weekend. Over the next few days, I'll be giving you reviews of the places we visited. I'm going to start out with our hotel. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis right on Times Square. This is the same hotel we stayed at the last time we visited New York City back in August 2010.

Our room was nice. We were on the 12th floor with a corner room. It was a pretty standard hotel room with two double beds. I was a little surprised to find that the room did not have a refrigerator but it wasn't a deal-breaker.

If you follow me over on Instagram, you would have seen a picture of the view from our hotel room. This was the view on Saturday morning. See the Sony screen almost in the middle of the top of the shot? If you follow those billboards straight up, that is where the New Year's Eve ball hangs. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good shot of the ball from our hotel room due to the massive amount of brightly lit billboards under it. Towards the center of the shot, next to the building roof and near all the orange construction cones, is where all of the characters wander around begging for people to pay them for pictures. (No, we didn't take pictures with any of them.) On the left-hand side of the picture, under the Bachelorette's face, is Toys R Us.

One of my favorite things about this hotel is the elevator system. All of the elevators are located in a circle in the center of the hotel. You go to a number pad and enter the floor number you wish to go to. The number pad then tells you which elevator to get on. The elevators are each given a letter. So if you push in floor 12, it might tell you to get on elevator J. It is much easier than having everyone pile into one or two elevators then having to wait for each floor, especially when you are on a higher floor.

The down part of the elevator system is the way the hotel is organized. The lobby/concierge/registration desk is located on the 8th floor. If you want to eat at the hotel's rooftop restaurant, The View, which is on the 48th floor, you have to go to the 3rd floor to get the only two elevators that go to the top. But if you want to leave the hotel, you need to go to the 1st floor. So if you have a question for the concierge before you leave the hotel, you have to take an elevator to the 8th floor to get your answer before going down to the 1st floor to go outside. And if you have dinner reservations at The View, which we did, you have to go down to the 3rd floor to go all the way up to the 48th. It's a lot of work.

With that said, I do highly recommend the hotel. If you are willing to pay for a room with the view of Times Square, the view is pretty amazing. All of the hotel staff that we encountered were extremely nice and eager to assist. And, best of all, it is right in the middle of everything you would want to do in the Times Square area. I am very likely to stay there again if we can manage another trip to New York City.

Subscription Box: Loot Crate - April 2013

We received this month's Loot Crate subscription box in the mail yesterday. My daughter always gets so excited when these show up on our doorstep. They come in a fairly plain black box with LOOT CRATE on the top in big, bold letters.

April's theme is DRAGONS. This is the cover of the booklet that comes in every box. The booklet gives a little bit of information about the month's theme and it tells you about the products you received. There is also a small button that features the month's theme in every box but it is difficult to get a good picture of it.

We like opening the figure boxes first. This month's box came with two figures. The first we opened was from Dragon Age Elder Scrolls and the figure we received was The Nord. While I am not familiar with the game, my husband has played it so he was happy we received that one out of the lot. Both the sword and the helmet are removable, though the guy looks a little weird without his helmet.

The second figure we opened was from Game of Thrones. We received Jon Snow's dire wolf, Ghost. I think he is super cute.

Next up were two 20-sided dice. The smaller one is a real die that you could use to play games while the larger one is actually a stress ball. I spent way too much time squeezing the thing. It's fun!

Then there is a Dragon Slayer dog tag necklace. I'm not sure if I'd ever wear it but it is kinda cute.

Finally, there is a bag of dragon jerky. This was made specially for Loot Crate. Now, I am a pretty big fan of jerky. However, I'm not sure if I would eat this. It is actually greenish-colored. While that is kitchy, I'm not sure I want to eat green meat. Maybe I'll make my husband try it :D

I really love Loot Crate. The monthly themes are always something we debate about in my household. As soon as they announce the month's theme, we start discussing what we think will be in the box. We usually get the main pieces (you can't have a dragon theme without Game of Thrones) but there are always surprises that keep us on our toes. We have loved all of the themes so far and we have received some awesome products from them. I can't wait to see what they have coming in the future.

The Wind Rises

Despite being released theatrically in the US way back in February, my family just got the chance to see The Wind Rises this past Saturday evening. I have to admit that I had written off being able to see it in a theater and was very surprised to see that a local art center was screening the movie. It was an extremely lucky turn of events since this coming Thursday (April 24) is the final showing before they switch to a different movie.

The Wind Rises is a fictionalized biography of airplane engineer Jiro Horikoshi. It begins with Jiro as a young boy, dreaming of soaring in the sky on a custom airplane. He is abruptly awoken when he is bombed mid-air by a huge airship above him. Undeterred, he borrows an English-language aviation magazine from a schoolteacher and, with his trusty dictionary, finds out about an Italian designer named Caproni. While reading, Jiro falls asleep and meets Caproni in a shared dream between the two enthusiasts.

The movie then skips ahead to a time when Jiro is in university. During a train ride back into Tokyo, Jiro meets a young woman, Naoko, and her maid just minutes before a huge earthquake hits. (This is the Great Kanto Earthquake that took place in 1923.) As the passengers disembark in a frenzy, the maid breaks her leg. Since Jiro is such a good guy, he carries the maid on his back through the mass of people, past the massive fires in Tokyo, and into the relative safety of Naoko's family. He leaves without even giving anyone his name so he can fight to save the books at his university from being burned to ashes.

Fast forward again to Jiro and his friend, Honjo, working at an airplane manufacturer. The two are working on a fighter design, which ends in failure. The company loses the contract and sends the two engineers to Germany to do technical research. During this time, he once again meets Caproni in a dream, where they have a philosophical conversation about the beauty of aircraft. Shortly thereafter, Jiro is promoted to chief designer for a fighter plane contract from the Navy. This also ends in failure. Jiro heads off to a summer resort in order to get his mind back on track.

While at the hotel, Jiro once again meets Naoko. As the two spend time together playing with paper airplane designs and taking walks, they fall in love. However, Naoko has tuberculosis and refuses to marry until she is well again. Jiro returns to Tokyo to once again design a fighter plane for the Navy. This time, the secret police are searching for him so he is forced out of his apartment and into the home of his supervisor, Kurokawa. Naoko, meanwhile, has holed herself up in a sanatorium in order to recover from her condition until she can no longer bear to be away from Jiro and travels to Tokyo to join him. Kurokawa refuses to let the lovers stay under his roof unmarried so they have an impromptu wedding ceremony.

The newlyweds live with Kurokawa even though Naoko's condition is deteriorating. Jiro must finish the designs on his latest creation. Despite his long workdays, they enjoy their time together.

I don't want to spoil the ending of the movie so I will end the synopsis there. Everyone in my family enjoyed the movie. I didn't expect my daughter to like it very much since she prefers movies like Kiki's Delivery Service or Ponyo or Spirited Away. This one is a little more...boring compared to the previous Miyazaki works. There is no real antagonist. No one to root for or against. It is just the story of a boy trying to make his dream come true. There are some very emotional scenes but they are handled very well. Not your typical Miyazaki fare but a good movie nonetheless.

Subscription Box: Graze

I actually received this box about a week ago. However, I wanted to take the time to have everyone in my family try the snacks before I gave an opinion. I know that I can be picky about my food. A second opinion is always helpful in these situations.

This is my first box from Graze, a healthy snack company. The plain brown box is designed very simply. The top just shows the company's URL and catchphrase "Snacking Reinvented." The bottom has the shipping label and helpfully tells you to turn the box over before opening it. This is a nice change from some other boxes.

When you open the box, you find a personalized welcome note. My daughter thought this was amazing. "Mom! It has your name on it!" It definitely makes the box feel like it was made just for you. The note tells you a little bit about the company but the best part is that there is a link where you can rate the food you receive. If there is something you don't like, you won't receive it again. But if there is something you love, you'll get more stuff just like it. There is also a code that you can give to your friends. If your friends join Graze, they get their 1st and 5th boxes for free and you get either $1 off your next box or you can donate that $1 to their charity, the graze school of farming. Finally, you'll find the appropriate nutrition information along with the expiration dates for all of the food in your box on the back of the note.

My box had four snacks. Fruity Mango Chutney with black pepper dippers, Billionaire's Shortbread, Key Lime Pie, and Mississippi BBQ Pistachios. They come individually packaged in sturdy plastic containers. The plastic wrapping tells you exactly what is in each package. All of it is see-through so you know exactly what you are about to put in your mouth.

The first snack we tried was the Fruity Mango Chutney. I knew from the beginning that this would not be my favorite. I don't like mango or pepper. But I still tried it. The pepper dippers had way too much black pepper on it for me. The mango chutney was sweet but not enough to offset the pepper-taste. My husband didn't like it much either.

Second up was the Key Lime Pie, which was actually like a trail mix sort of thing. It contains lime raisins, mini meringues, sponge pieces, and green raisins. Individually, each piece was quite tasty. When you put all of the elements into your mouth, it did taste a lot like key lime pie. Strange but yummy.

Everyone in my family loves pistachios so the Mississippi BBQ Pistachios were next on our list. Once again, they were strangely tasty. The flavoring wasn't like barbecue sauce. Instead, it was like barbecue cooked over a fire pit. The result is a smokey nutty taste. Everyone enjoyed it.

Last, but not least, Billionaires' Shortbread. This is another trail mix-type thing. The ingredients are Belgian milk chocolate, almonds, cranberries, and fudge. My family thought this was the most delicious of the bunch. While the food listing doesn't specifically state what type of fudge it is, it tastes like butterscotch. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory. It was just delicious.

I found the entire box very interesting. We didn't like every single snack but that is OK. It's good to try new things and this allows us to do that. I really like that you can vote on the food you try to make it a little more custom to your tastes. I'd really like to try another box to see what else they have.

Yacon Syrup

I received this product last week and decided to give it a try. It is yacon syrup. According to the wikipedia entry it is a "sweetening agent extracted from the tuberous roots of the yacon plant indigenous to the Andes mountains." Basically, it's a sugar substitute made from a sort of potato-type thing. It is currently very popular because it has a low calorie content and rather low sugar levels, making it ideal for diabetics. There was a study in 2009 that a daily intake of the syrup decreased body weight, waist circumference, and body mass in obese women.

There aren't a whole lot of instructions on the bottle. It boils down to "take one teaspoon three times per day." So I did a little Google research. From what I read, it may not be a great idea to start on a whole teaspoon of the stuff right away. Yacon syrup can have a bit of a laxative effect so you may want to work your way up. I started with 1/3 teaspoon and worked my way up. I haven't had any gastrointestinal problems myself. Also, it supposedly works the best if you take it 30-60 minutes before eating. If you decide to use it as a sweetener, there have been reports that the fructooligosaccharides (the sweet stuff) breaks down at temperatures over 248°F so while you can use it as a sugar substitute in your coffee or tea, you shouldn't use it for baking or cooking.

I did not cook with the syrup nor did I use it to sweeten anything. (I don't really drink coffee or tea.) I simply took a shot of the stuff 30 minutes before eating. To me, the syrup tastes like coffee. Other people have said it tastes like molasses but I don't think I've ever had molasses. Either way, it wasn't strong enough to deter me. I can't make a comment on the weight loss aspect yet because I've only been taking it for a few days. It did seem to keep me from getting the munchies after eating a meal so perhaps that is where the big weight drop comes from. In the end, it is an interesting product. I might try to use it to sweeten some tea if I have a sore throat, which is pretty much the only time I drink tea, but I don't think it'll actually replace sugar in our household.

Subscription Box: Beauty Box 5

It is time for another subscription box review! Yesterday's mail brought me the Beauty Box 5. BB5 gives you 5 beauty products. Most of them are sample sized but sometimes you get a full-sized product. In my opinion, the cost is very reasonable. If you pay monthly, it costs $12. However, if you choose the quarterly option, it is only $30. The last option is yearly, which is $99. Most women probably pay more than that per month on regular beauty products. Now you get to try new things!

When you first open the box, you are greeted with the month's informational postcard. The front of the card tells you a little bit about that month's theme. Turning the card over, the back gives you a detailed description of each product in the box. You also get a card with five codes that allow your friends to get their first and fifth boxes for free. Update: Sorry, that is a different box that I will be reviewing next week.

Here is the inside of the box I received. Due to the way it was packaged, you can't see all five products in this shot. But there are definitely five products there. Let's go through them one by one.

First up, Blum Naturals All-Purpose Cleansing Wipes in Citrus Scent. The bottle contains 30 wipes with a grapefruit smell. I adore citrus scents so I think this will get a lot of use. If all goes well with it, I would buy the full-sized version for the house.

Next up is the bh cosmetics California Collection eyeshadow palette. The palette has three shades: Hollywood is a deep purple color, San Francisco is a bronzey sort of color, and Malibu is a yellowish gold. These are some awful pictures of the shades but I couldn't get both the purple and the bronze to show up without making the gold look garish. In reality, all three are very nice colors. I would most likely wear San Francisco the most but my favorite color-wise is Hollywood.

The next two products go together so I'll talk about them at the same time. One is NickAK New York Hydro Lipstick in the Gypsy Begonia shade. I love this color. It's like a deep berry color. I really can't wait to try this one out! With it came a Bonne Bell lip definer. Unfortunately, this came with the pencil tip broken off. So I can't tell you much about the shade. It seems to match the lipstick but I can't be positive.

Finally, there is a 3-day Natural Glow moisturizer by Jergens. I believe this is supposed to be similar to spray-on tanners. I've never used fake tan products before. This appears to be a sample sized product so I'm not sure how much coverage you would actually get from it. You might be able to cover your face and your arms but it definitely will not cover your entire body. I doubt that I will personally try this one out but maybe I can find someone to try it for me.

And that is it! I am quite happy with what I received in this month's box. Out of the 5 products, I will definitely use at least three of them. I have two more boxes left in my subscription package so I hope this is a trend that will continue!

Pittsburgh Soda Pop

Back in February, I told you that we bought a SodaStream. We still have the appliance and we still use it very often. While it seems that a lot of people hate the SodaStream flavors, we really love the sugar cane cola one. There are actually two versions of SodaStream cola - one is labelled "Cane Sugar" and one is not. I'm not sure if that is the only difference but you can definitely tell by the taste alone. Since we are always looking for things to try, I bought six sample bottles from Pittsburgh Soda Pop. The flavors I chose were: Steel City Cola, Black Cherry, Down in the Valley Dew, Orange Cream, Sourball Orange, and Suzie Q's Q-cumber. We haven't tried all six yet but I think we've tried enough to make a decision on this group.

Before we get down to the nitty gritty of the review, you should know the price of the product. The sample bottles each make 1 liter of soda. If you have a SodaStream, that equals one bottle. You can buy three sample bottles for $6.00. The regular sized bottles make about 4 liters of soda and they cost $6.00 each. (Except for the root beer flavors. They are $7.00.) In comparison, the SodaStream cane sugar cola makes approximately 6 liters of soda and costs about $10. Of course, the big difference is that the PSP syrups have to be shipped to you (shipping for me cost about $6.00) where you can buy SodaStream flavors in many stores.

Overall, both my husband and I listed the flavors as "OK." My daughter liked the Orange Cream flavor, but she also likes anything that tastes like creamcicles. The Steel City Cola is probably our least favorite flavor. I'm not sure how to put my finger on exactly what is "wrong" with it. I think that maybe it isn't sweet enough for our tastes. The Black Cherry flavor was for me. While the taste is growing on me, I much prefer the Black Cherry flavor from the local Reading Draft Soda. (I will have to look into getting Reading Draft in syrup form.) The only two flavors we haven't tried are the Q-cucumber and Sourball Orange. Unfortunately, my husband screwed up making the Sourball Orange soda and forgot to carbonate the water first so we won't be able to taste that one properly.

In the end, I would drink these again if a glass was handed to me but I am unlikely to purchase these flavors for my family. After adding in shipping, the price is a bit too steep for regular use and the flavors aren't quite as satisfying as the SodaStream syrups.

Paper Towns

Paper Towns is John Green's third novel. It tells the story of Quentin Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spiegelman. Quentin and Margo have been neighbors for their entire lives. When they were children, they came upon a dead body in the park. The story flashes forward to their senior high school year. Quentin, called "Q" by his friends, is in her geeky clique while Margo, generally referred to by her entire name, is the queen of the school. As such, their friendship had fallen to the wayside long ago.

One night, Margo randomly shows up at Quentin's window dressed as a ninja. She convinces him to sneak out and the two go on a bit of a revenge rampage. The next day, Margo doesn't show up to school. Three days later, she is declared missing. Quentin and his friends, Ben and Radar, spend the end of their senior year following the clues that Margo left behind.

I have found that I love Green's style of writing. Maybe it's because I am rather nerdy myself, but I find myself relating to his main characters a little too well. Quentin is a strongly loyal friend and he often thinks too much for his own good. Margo Roth Spiegelman is the popular girl who puts on a fake facade so people don't understand who she really is. As a result, people end up thinking that she is quirky and unusual. The two make an interesting friendship and I do kinda wish there was more of it in the book.

It took me awhile to read Paper Towns. Not because it wasn't interesting but because it doesn't quite match up to The Fault in Our Stars. (Sidenote: I feel like I should have read TFiOS last. It is so good that it sort of ruins other books.) Once I really got into Q's journey to find Margo, I was hooked. The discoveries that Quentin makes about himself and his friends are awesome. There aren't very many people that get to really understand their friends the way that Q does. And I liked that the three of them stick together, even when they don't like each other very much.

In the end, I did enjoy the book. I was a little disappointed in the ending but the ending did make sense. Maybe I've watched too many romantic comedies where...well, you know how those usually end. I don't want to spoil Paper Towns for you. Much like the rest of John Green's books, I do recommend that you read it. Especially if you like solving puzzles. It will force you to see things in a slightly different light.

Review: Crest Chocolate Toothpaste

My daughter chose to purchase Crest's Mint Chocolate toothpaste when her regular fruit-flavored toothpaste ran out. We were skeptical about a chocolate toothpaste but we gave it a try.

Be Adventurous! The toothpaste itself is tinted green and contains tiny brown flecks. Considering the toothpaste ended up tasting like mint chocolate chip ice cream, I am assuming those brown flecks are the chocolate part. I was really quite surprised at how tasty the toothpaste was. Admittedly, it was strange brushing with mint chocolate chip flavored paste as opposed to peppermint or even cinnamon. However, once you get over the weirdness, it is rather awesome.

I'm not sure why society has decided that toothpaste must be minty (even the cinnamon flavors can be difficult to find sometimes) but this was a very welcome change. Children's toothpastes tend to be fruit or bubblegum flavored. There's no reason that adults can't have the same indulgence in their hygiene routine. After all, there is some mintiness there. It's just swirled with chocolate goodness. I'm looking forward to trying the other two flavors in the line - Lime Spearmint and Vanilla Mint. I can only hope those are as good as the mint chocolate one.

Small World 2

For Valentine's Day, my husband bought all of us copies of Small World 2 on Steam. We own the board version of the game but we never had a chance to play it. Either there aren't enough of us to play a good game or other players don't understand the rules. The digital version doesn't have these issues. Not only can you play against the computer, there is also a very short instructional video to easily explain the rules. An ideal fix for a mundane problem. The game itself is pretty cool. Every player picks a race with a modifier. You try to conquer as much land as you can before running out of armies. Then you can put your race into decline and pick a new one. Most of the time, you can only have one active race and one race in decline. The person with the most points after 10 rounds wins.

I am not all that great at this game. My daughter has won almost every game we've played together. Yet I still find the game a lot of fun. Since both the races and the modifiers are shuffled separately, you rarely get the same combination between games. One race may be super powerful one game and really weak the next. Also, it takes a bit of practice to figure out when you should put your race into decline and pick a new one. While you do still get points from the declined race's land, they are easily defeated by your opponents, giving them the points instead. But the game wouldn't be as fun if you didn't get to beat up your opponent's armies!

For those of you that love playing board games but don't have the ability to physically play the game, the digital version is perfect. If your friends have copies of the game, you can play online or locally. If you are having a party and want to play, you can play the Pass N Play option, which allows up to 5 opponents play on a single device. It is available in the Apple Store, on Google Play, and on Steam. Or you can just play by yourself with up to 4 AI opponents. (This is my favorite since my daughter massacres me every time we play.) This is definitely a good game to add to your collection.