We all have those stages in our lives where we have been extremely busy and constantly running around and working our butts off! Whether it is a busy time at work or a busy time at school, we're still giving 110% even though we felt like we were on our death bed. But when that busy time is over, we can finally take a day to relax and destress. Now if you've never worked so hard that you felt like you were dead after, you're lucky. The rest of us aren't so lucky, we need things to revive us.

It's almost like Influenster, knew that I needed a pick me up. I was lucky enough to receive the Revive Voxbox from them! For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about Influenster is a website where you can try out products for free as well as review them! Members connect their social media and can also leave product reviews on the website. But every once and a while members get to take surveys to see if they match up for a product campaign. Those product campaigns are called Voxboxes. With the product campaigns, you are assigned various social media tasks which are optional, the only requirement is to fill out the survey after! It is free to join so why not sign up?

Here are the following items that were inside the Revive Voxbox:

• BodyTech Shaker Bottle
• BodyTech Whey Tech Pro 24 Strawberries & Cream Protein Shake Powder
• PLNT by The Vitamin Shoppe Vanilla Plant Protein Powder
• The Vitamin Shoppe Next Step Fit N' Full Shake Cookies & Cream Protein Powder
• Hills Bros Colombian Medium Roast Compostable PurPod
• Kaui Coffee Garden Isle Medium Roast Compostable PurPod
• Chock Full o'Nuts Midtown Manhattan Medium Roast Compostable PurPod
• SheaMoisture Fruit Fusion Coconut Water Weightless Shampoo
• SheaMoisture Fruit Fusion Coconut Water Weightless Creme Rinse
• SnackWell's Caramel Macchiato Biscuit Thins

I received these products complimentary for testing purposes, all thoughts and opinions are my own. You have been warned!

When I'm on the go or want something quick for breakfast that will fill me up and give me enough energy for the day, my go to meal is a smoothie or shake. My shake of choice is a Slim Fast. So when I saw the variety of protein powders from the Vitamin Shoppe, I was really excited to try something new and find an alternative option for my morning shake! With the three protein powders, I also received a really cool shaker cup from BodyTech! Have I ever used one before? No. But it is still pretty cool.

The first protein powder I tried was the BodyTech Whey Tech Pro 24 Strawberries & Cream Protein Shake. This powder would have been my favorite if I had received it in a different flavor. I am not a huge artificial strawberry fan so the flavor just turned me off, but it was not that bad. It blends together very well. What really surprised me about this shake was how creamy it was, especially since you just add water! I definitely want to try another one of these protein powders in a different flavor.

The next one I tried was the PLNT by The Vitamin Shoppe Vanilla Plant Protein Powder. I love the overall idea of this protein powder, it's vegetarian/vegan friendly, non-GMO, and does not contain any common food allergens. This is literally the definition of a healthy protein supplement. The only problem with this powder, is that it does not mix well at all. I mixed it with water (like you are supposed to) and it ended up tasting chalky and powdery. Even a blender can't mix this powder, plus it has a really weird smell. Besides the chalky and powdery taste it was not that bad. I'm thinking it would have been better to mix it with some kind of milk to give it that creamy texture.

The last protein powder I tried was the The Vitamin Shoppe Next Step Fit N' Full Shake Cookies & Cream Protein Powder. I was most excited to try this one because of the flavor and it seemed the most similar compared to Slim Fast since it is a meal replacement shake. Having such high hopes for this product left me very disappointed after trying it. This powder is not the best quality. The scent is disgusting and overpowering. It smelled so bad it was hard to drink. Which is sad to say, because it tasted a lot better than it smelled. Plus it did not mix well with water, you would still get chunks of powder in your mix even when you blended it all together. Perhaps it would have been better mixed with milk, but I don't think milk would hide the terrible smell.

The day does not start until there is caffeine in my bloodstream. Without it, I'm basically a zombie. So when I saw three different types of coffee in the Revive Vox Box, to say I was excited was an understatement. What I really loved about these different kinds of coffee was that they came in a compostable pod, called a PurPod. All of these PurPods work in all Keurig machines and they are environmentally friendly.

The first pod I tried was the Hills Bros Colombian Medium Roast Compostable PurPod, overall it was pretty basic. When it was brewed, it tasted very watered down and was very weak. This was my least favorite of the three.

The next pod I tried was the Kaui Coffee Garden Isle Medium Roast Compostable PurPod, and it was very good! It smelled so good and tasted great. It has such a strong flavor that one sip will wake you up instantly.

When I saw the Chock Full o'Nuts Midtown Manhattan Medium Roast Compostable PurPod, I already knew I was going to love it. I've had the regular Chock Full o'Nuts ground coffee, so I expected the Keurig version to be just as great and I was right. Just like the regular ground coffee it was strong and great tasting and by far the best coffee sample.

Whenever I feel worn out or exhausted the best thing to do to relax is to take a hot and steamy shower. Something about the warm water is just so soothing. Plus nothing is more relaxing then washing your worn out and dirty hair. I'm a big fan of trying new shampoos and conditioners so I was very excited to see some SheaMoisture shampoo and conditioner in the Revive Voxbox. I have always seen SheaMoisture products while shopping and I've been wanting to try it, but the opportunity never arose until now.

I'm not very picky when it comes to shampoos but the SheaMoisture Fruit Fusion Coconut Water Weightless Shampoo did not impress me one bit. The only thing I liked about this shampoo was its scent, but the scent does not carry over to your hair. Other than that, it did not do much for my hair. You need to use a lot of the shampoo for it to get a little sudsy, it felt like I was just putting water in my hair. Plus you have to use a lot of shampoo for it to make your hair feel clean and even that does not work because your hair ends up feeling rough and greasy after you use it.

Now when it comes to conditioners, I'm very picky. I did not have high hopes for the SheaMoisture Fruit Fusion Coconut Water Weightless Creme Rinse but I was pleasantly surprised. This conditioner had the complete opposite affect compared to the shampoo. The conditioner did not smell as good as the shampoo but it made my hair smell really good. What I really did love about this conditioner was how creamy it was, then again it is technically a creme rinse so that's not really that surprising. What was really surprising was that with this conditioner a little goes a long way. With most conditioners you need to use a generous amount in order for your hair to feel soft, but with the SheaMoisture conditioner you only need to spread a thin layer throughout your hair. And voila, you have soft hair! However if your hair gets tangled really easily, this conditioner does not do much for that. But other than that it is great!

Sometimes when you're running low on energy and just need a quick little fix, some sugar always does the trick. Whether it's candy or a cookie sometimes a little bit of sugar will give you that extra kick.

The last item I received in the Revive Voxbox was the SnackWell's Caramel Macchiato Biscuit Thins. I love Snackwell's cookies, the vanilla creme sandwich cookies have been one of my favorites ever since I was a kid. Although I am not a big caramel fan, these cookies were not too bad. They are very sweet, so they pair well with a nice cup of coffee. Plus, these cookies are actually made with real coffee, so that explains why they smell so good! They literally smelled just like a caramel macchiato. If you are a huge caramel lover, you will adore these cookies. If you're not a big caramel fan they have other flavors you can try, like Dark Chocolate Mocha and French Vanilla Latte. Personally, I'm dying to try out the French Vanilla Latte cookies!

And there you have it, that was everything inside Influnester's Revive Voxbox. Thanks to this Voxbox, I feel alive once again and not so worn out! If you liked what you saw in this Voxbox come join me on Influenster! If you're interested feel free to use my referral link! It's a really fun website plus it's FREE!

Until next time.

Trying to live a healthy/eco friendly lifestyle can be challenging and extremely expensive. But thanks to Influenster, a website where you can try out products for free and review them, I got a little taste of this lifestyle. If you would like to join me on Influenster, click HERE for my referral link.

This healthy and eco friendly box of goodies from Influenster was called the Sprout Voxbox. I am not too sure why I qualified for this box, but I sure am happy I did! When I first saw that I was receiving this box, I was a little perplexed. What did different brands of shampoo/conditioner, chips, protein powder, snack bar, and laundry detergent, have in common? Then it clicked, they were all eco-friendly and healthy products!

Inside my Sprout Voxbox I received the following products:

• Clairol Hair Food Honey Apricot Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner
• Eatsmart Three Bean Spicy Black Bean Tortilla Chips
• Ecos Hypoallergenic Magnolia and Lily Laundry Detergent
• Orgain Organic Vanilla Bean Protein Powder
• Curate Dark and Tempting Balsamic Fig and Hazelnut Bar

When I saw the Clairol Hair Food Honey Apricot Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner in the Sprout Voxbox, I was extremely excited. I had heard a lot of good things about Hair Food products, and it was on my list of hair products to try. Now that I've tried it, I now see and understand all the hype. First off, the shampoo smells amazing! I really loved the honey apricot scent, however the conditioner did not have as rich as a smell as the shampoo did. With the shampoo, a little amount goes a long way. It will get all sudsy and feel amazing in your hair, but sadly the conditioner did not have the same effect. With my hair type, I always end up needing to use more conditioner than shampoo in order to get soft brilliant hair. Both the shampoo and conditioner will feel amazing and give you softer and shinier hair.

My absolute favorite item in the Sprout Voxbox was the Eatsmart Three Bean Spicy Black Bean Tortilla Chips. Not only are these chips a delicious snack they are also a guilt free tortilla chip. One serving contains 14g of whole grains and 2g of fiber, plus they are gluten-free and made with non-GMO ingredients. These chips are great to snack on alone, especially if you want something crunchy with a spicy kick. Or if you want to indulge, pair these chips with salsa, guacamole or even a queso dip. Honestly I want to buy another bag of these chips so I can make some guilt free nachos. These chips are great for all the health conscious eaters out there who want or need something spicy in their life.

You know you are officially becoming a real adult when you get excited about getting a new kind of laundry detergent... Because I was so excited to see the Ecos Hypoallergenic Magnolia and Lily Laundry Detergent in my Sprout Voxbox. The magnolia and lily scent smells really good, and it makes your clothes smell very fresh and clean. The sample was enough for one of my giant loads and what I really loved about this detergent is that a little goes a long way. Once the entire sample was poured into the washing machine the water got all sudsy. Most of the liquid detergents I generally use do not get as sudsy and tend to be watered down. This one did not! It cleaned my clothes a lot better than my normal detergent. Plus I love how the Ecos detergent came with built in fabric softener, my clothes were super soft when they came out of the wash.

Every once and a while, I like to make a shake or smoothie for a quick and filling breakfast. So getting to try the Orgain Organic Vanilla Bean Protein Powder was a great opportunity, especially since I have never tried protein powder before. Since I have never had a protein shake, I was not quite sure what to expect. I used the vanilla bean flavored powder to make a shake, and I paired it some whole milk and ice and blended it. Overall, it tasted okay. It was not a strong vanilla taste but it was not bad at all. I would get little chunks of powder in every occasional sip, but that was probably my fault for not blending it very well. What I really loved about this protein powder is that it is made from organic plant protein, so it is vegetarian and vegan friendly. It is also dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and non-GMO. If I try this powder again, I think I would want to try the chocolate flavor next.

And the last item in the Sprout Voxbox was the Curate Dark and Tempting Balsamic Fig and Hazelnut Bar. Honestly, I was not a huge fan of this snack/granola bar. This flavor has too much going on. The combination of the balsamic vinegar, mission figs, hazelnuts, sunflower kernels, quinoa, almond butter, whole oats, brown sugar and orange is overwhelming. The taste is odd and it is very dry. This flavor is the perfect bar to eat while you're on a diet because it will suppress your appetite. However, I really love the idea behind the Curate brand, they're made with real food ingredients to create a filling and healthy snack. This flavor was not a big success for me, but maybe one of their other flavors will be a lot tamer for my tastebuds.

There you have it, those were all the products in my Sprout Voxbox. Thank you Influenster for the opportunity to try out some of these goodies! Influnester sent me these items free of charge to test and provide feedback, and all of these opinions are my own honest feedback. I was somewhat heathy and more eco savvy for one day. Who knows maybe this is the start of a lifestyle change?!

Until next time.

This is my 100th blog post here on Hey Kaitlin Mary, no big deal. But today I'm going to share something a little personal, dieting. When it comes to my diet and weight, I can get a little sensitive, but I don't think I'm the only one out there who feels that way.

I've probably been dieting since middle school. I was always the chubby kid, so losing weight has always been on my mind, even as a child. And to this day, I'm still trying to lose weight. But I have much healthier habits now compared to when I was younger. I've focused more on a healthy lifestyle rather than losing weight quickly. Because shouldn't a healthy lifestyle and weight loss go hand in had? Or is that just me? But I digress.

So when I was chosen to test out the SlimFast VoxBox from Influenster, I was excited. For those of you who do not know about Influenster, it is a website where you review products and can actually test out products for free based on your social media influence. It's a fun place to look for new products and share your experience.

I was chosen to participate in the SlimFast VoxBox It's Your Thing, in the mail I received a little guideline about the SlimFast Diet and four products from SlimFast to test and review. So all the products included in this blog post, I received for free for testing purposes. The four products include: SlimFast Advanced Nutrition Meal Replacement Shake Vanilla Cream, SlimFast Advanced Nutrition Meal Replacement Bar Dark Chocolate Sea Salt, SlimFast Advanced Nutrition 100 Calorie Snack Baked Crisps Sour Cream and Onion, and SlimFast Advanced Nutrition 100 Calorie Snack Drizzled Crisps Cinnamon Bun Sugar.

The SlimFast Advanced Nutrition Plan is a simple diet plan and there are three steps:

• You replace two meals a day with a SlimFast meal replacement shake or bar.
• Eat one healthy meal (around 500 calories.)
• Enjoy three 100 calorie snacks or fruit or vegetables.

If you follow this plan you would be consuming around 1200 calories a day, which is the ideal number if you want to lose weight. Overall, I like the idea of 1200 calories a day. It is a good and healthy number, my stomach however disagrees. It can be tough and tricky, but if we want to shed those excess pounds we need to make it work.

So let's start off with the SlimFast meal replacement shakes. My SlimFast Advanced Nutrition Meal Replacement Shake Vanilla Cream was 180 calories and it was also high in protein and low in sugar. However, when I drank the vanilla shake all I could taste was sweetness and I have no idea where it came from. It was a little too sweet for my taste. The shake contains soy and lactose but it is gluten free, in case you wondering. It also said it had a four hour hunger control but for me, it only kept me full for two hours. This was one of the pre-made shakes they bottle up and sell, but personally I like the SlimFast powder that you mix in the blender. I've been drinking those for years and they're great for breakfast, I used to have them all the time before school. They're not as sweet as the prepackaged ones, and honestly I think they taste a lot better. Plus you can choose what kind of milk you want and how much powder you want, so you determine how many calories you have there.

The meal replacement bar is very similar to a granola bar. My SlimFast Advanced Nutrition Meal Replacement Bar Dark Chocolate Sea Salt was 190 calories and it was high in protein. It also contained soy and nuts. Overall the bar was delicious and not too sweet. Would I like eating a granola bar as a meal? Not really, but those bars were delicious... So I guess I'd have another.

So that's all of the the meal replacements, let's take a look at those snacks. The SlimFast Advanced Nutrition 100 Calorie Snack Baked Crisps Sour Cream and Onion were high in protein and fiber, and were also gluten free. They had a fluffy and puffy taste to them, and they certainly do not taste like chips. But for a diet snack, it can be a great chip alternative. It definitely tasted like a diet chip, and it takes some getting used to.

But for a sweet snack the SlimFast Advanced Nutrition 100 Calorie Snack Drizzled Crisps Cinnamon Bun Sugar did just the trick. They are high in protein and fiber and contain wheat, milk and soy. I'm not sure how to describe these snacks, it's not a chip and it's not a cookie, I guess you could say it's something in between. It's a sweet snack with frosting on top and it's pretty good and very filling for a snack.

Overall, the SlimFast It's Your Thing VoxBox from Influenster was a great box to receive! It was my first VoxBox to sample for free and I am very appreciative of it. I love SlimFast, and I've been a fan of their shake powder for a long time. So it was nice to try out some of their other products! I really enjoyed the meal replacement bar and the sweet 100 calorie crisps. I think their idea of a diet is a great idea that could work for some people.

However, I don't know if it would work for me long term. I'd get really sick of having the shakes and the meal replacement bars daily. And I don't know what it was, but something about this food left me feeling hungry all day. All I could think about was when it was time to eat next, which is a terrible feeling when you're trying to lose weight. But my hunger was rewarded, for the week I tried the SlimFast diet plan I lost two pounds!

Will I continue the SlimFast diet plan? Not necessarily. However, I will take their idea of a diet plan and make it my own. Instead of having a shake or bar for two meals, I'll find something around the same amount of calories for that part, and stick with the one 500 calorie healthy meal. When it comes to a healthy diet, it's all about balance, and that's what I'm trying to do. And hopefully it will continue to work!

For all my fellow dieters out there, good luck! I hope you all find a plan that works well for you. Happy weight loss and happy diets.

Until next time.

PS) I'm also required to post this:

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.