Whenever the new year rolls around everyone has different resolutions. Whether it is to lose weight, have a healthier diet, or even try different recipes, it's always great to start the new year off by trying new things.

So when I received the Tasty Voxbox from Influenster last year, I was hesitant. There were some products I already knew I loved, but majority of those products were items I never wanted to taste or try.

For those of you that have never heard of the website Influenster, it is a website where members can leave product reviews and some lucky few get to actually test out some products for free! Members connect all their social media profiles, the more followers you have, the higher your influence. Every once and a while members get to take surveys to see if they match up for a product campaign, which are also known as Voxboxes. With the product campaigns, you get to test out some products and you are assigned optional social media tasks, the only requirement is to fill out the survey after! The best part is that, this website is 100% free! How cool is that?!

When 2017 came rolling around the corner, I decided this is the year I'm going to try new things. My first step towards this resolution was actually giving some of these products a chance.

Just to make everything completely clear, I received the following products complimentary to test and review. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

Inside the Tasty Voxbox were the following products:

Splenda Naturals Stevia Sweetener

Frank’s Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce

A Coupon For Smartmade by Smart Ones

French’s Orginal Crispy Fried Onions

A Coupon For Country Crock Buttery Spread

Yogi Tea Bags in Green Tea Blueberry Slim Life and Sweet Tangerine Positive Energy

Kashi Dark Cocoa Plant Protein Powder

Artificial sweeteners are always popular to use, especially for coffee or tea. People always pick the sugar substitute because it seems like the "healthier" option. That might be because they are low in calories. But most of the time, artificial sweeteners end up tasting a lot sweeter than actual sugar. But with the Splenda Naturals Stevia Sweetener, you get the sugar taste combined with the guilt free feeling because it is low calories, just like an artificial sweetener. But what's the difference? Well instead of using synthetic sugars, this type of Splenda sweeter uses natural and non-GMO ingredients. It has a Stevia extract which comes directly from the Stevia plant. So in short, it is like a healthy sugar alternative that tastes exactly like sugar! Sounds too good to be true right? Well us sugar lovers lucked out because it is as true as it can be!

When it comes to hot sauce, Frank’s Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce is easily the best choice. Why? Well, the original sauce is made with a premium blend of aged cayenne peppers. It adds the perfect amount of spice and heat to all of your favorite foods. It really is the perfect balance of being not too hot while having a little kick, and it can be paired with anything. In fact, their slogan is "I put that s*** on everything," and you literally can. In all honesty, Frank's Red Hot Sauce has been my go to hot sauce for years and I really do put it on everything.

Microwaveable meals are always good go to meal, especially if you really don't have time to cook a full meal. But with most microwavable meals there are always problems. Either they're not too filling or they do not taste good at all. Smart Ones is known for their healthy and great tasting meals but now they have a new and different option: Smartmade by Smart Ones. Smartmade has a range of meals that are made just like you would make at home. They use ingredients and cooking techniques like grilling or roasting, and even added some even healthier options. Now if you're a vegetarian, there are only two vegetarian options, which is why I never redeemed the coupon. However, for all of the meat lovers out there, you're in luck. A majority of the Smart Made meals include meat.

The product that really made me step out of my comfort zone was French’s Orginal Crispy Fried Onions. I had no desire to try it, but nevertheless I stuck to my resolution and tried it. And to be quite honest, I did not (and still do not) understand the point of these. It is literally a box of chopped up onion rings. Personally, I would never add chopped up onion rings as topping to my salad or on my veggie burger. I even searched Pinterest to find a use for them, and nothing sounded good. And I certainly would not eat these as a snack. But to each their own.

In my family, our go to butter alternative is the Country Crock Buttery Spread. So when I saw the coupon for a free tub of Country Crock, I was stoked. When it comes to butter alternatives finding one that tastes just as good as butter but has fewer calories can be difficult to find. Country Crock's original buttery spread is made with real ingredients like a blend of oils, water and a pinch of salt. They also have at least 70% less saturated fat and 60% fewer calories compared to butter. Country Crock's buttery spread is a delicious alternative that can be used for just about anything! In fact, along with the coupon, Country Crock provided a cookie recipe. The Make It Yours Cookie Recipe is also on their website.

When it comes to tea, you either love it or you hate it. Personally, I strongly dislike most flavors. However, when I saw the Yogi Tea Bags in the Tasty Voxbox, I figured I'll give them a try, especially since the flavors I received were very intriguing. The two flavors I received were: Green Tea Blueberry Slim Life and Sweet Tangerine Positive Energy. The Green Tea Blueberry Slim Life tea, by far, was the superior sample. When you first take a sip of the tea it does not taste very strong, instead you get a subtle sweetness thanks to the blueberry flavor. But as you let the tea sit and absorb into the water it gets stronger by the second. The same goes with the Sweet Tangerine Positive Energy tea, it takes a bit to fully absorb into the water. But once it does, the taste is strong and any tea lover will enjoy it. The tangerine flavor is unique, but it gives the tea a sweet and fruity flavor. On the actually tea bags, they have compliments and encouragements on them! How sweet is that?

When you're a vegetarian or vegan, getting enough protein is always a main concern. Finding an alternative protein can be difficult, especially if you want something that tastes great. Most people go for a protein bar or shake, but most of the time those are not the tastiest. So when I saw the Kashi Dark Cocoa Plant Protein Powder in the box, I was hesitant to try it. I'm not a huge fan of protein shakes, but figured why not give it a try. Even though I'm not a big protein shake fan, Kashi's powder was actually pretty good! It contains 21g of plant protein, all while not containing any GMOs, be gluten free, and also be vegan friendly. This is a product that actually is really good for you. Mix this powder with your favorite kind of milk (or milk substitute) and maybe even add some other ingredients to have a filling meal while you're on the go. Or if you really want to get creative, add some powder to your favorite pancake mix and have some protein filled pancakes! Now that's really delicious.

Even though I was hesitant to try some of these snacks, I have to admit that Influenster was right, they were pretty tasty. Here's to the New Year and trying new things! Speaking of trying new things, join me on Influenster today! It's free, why not sign up and get one of these awesome boxes for yourself?

Until next time.

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.

Hot chocolate, it's the perfect beverage to have on a chilly day. What could possibly be better than snuggling on the couch with a fuzzy blanket and sharing a cup of hot chocolate with your significant other. Talk about winter goals, am I right?

So today, I'm not going to share anything necessarily Christmas related. This is because today is Hanukkah. So to all those celebrating today, Happy Hanukkah!

Instead, I'm going to share my favorite hot chocolate recipe: NUTELLA HOT CHOCOLATE! How magical does that sound?! The answer is very, very magical.

And the best thing about this recipe? You only need three ingredients. Well two, but three if you want to be fancy. All you need is: milk, nutella, and whipped cream. Obviously you don't need the whipped cream, but it makes it look super cute and taste extra yummy.

First, turn on the stove and grab a pot (duh). Then pour one cup of milk into your pot and let the milk heat up. There's no specific amount of time for heating it up. Just make sure your milk doesn't boil and make your milk as hot as you want. For example, I don't like scalding hot chocolate, so mine is never too hot. Plus who likes a burnt tongue? No one!

Next you'll want to add the nutella! Now I did two tablespoons, and it came out a nice dark brown color and it was super sweet. But sometimes I'll just do two spoonfuls and it's a little bit lighter in color and taste. I say, add as much or as little as you want! Make it as sweet as possible or go light on the sweetness. Follow your gut and tastebuds!

Once you add however much nutella as you want, mix it around until it is nice and frothy. Sometimes you'll have a little nutella residue but is that really such a bad thing? When your hot chocolate is all done, pour it into your mug or cup. Make sure you turn off the stove, because burning down your house during the holidays would be a major bummer. And then if you want, add some whipped cream on top! It adds a little extra sweetness and adds some extra cuteness to it too!

And there you have it! Nutella hot chocolate, something so delicious and so simple at the same time! Who would have thought? Hope you enjoy it! Until tomorrow.

Here is yesterday's vlog for the Day 13 challenge: what's inside my fridge. Watch my video to see what yummy stuff is inside my fridge!

Thanks for watching! Until next time!

Food, it's an important part of our daily lives. Food helps keep us alive and gives us the energy we need to do all the things we need to do. Obviously there's food that's good for you and food that's not so good for you. It taste delicious but after a while it won't make you feel good. Everyone has their own taste and their own favorite kinds of food.

Food can bring people together. People go out on dates to restaurants, grab lunch and catch up with old friends, and I bet you remember those family dinners growing up. Food is such an important part of our culture. Think about all those food blogs out there and all those people who Instagram their food. So for today's challenge here are some of my favorite foods:

Salad I know it's an odd choice but I really like them. They're healthy and after eating one I feel good! It doesn't leave me feeling gross and icky after eating one. Plus salads can be so versatile! There's a bunch of different kinds of lettuce and dressing, and you can add all sorts of vegetables.

Cupcakes Yes I like to indulge with a cupcake every once and a while. I love to bake cupcakes and eat them. Or I love to go to Sprinkles and get a cupcake. Nothing is better than the Sprinkles sundae, a cupcake with ice cream in the middle. Now I don't eat cupcakes all the time, but you know you've got to treat yourself now and then.

Pasta As an Italian, I love pasta. Spaghetti, penne, fettuccine, gnocchi, etc. You get the idea. I don't discriminate when it comes to my pasta! Pasta is so versatile, there so many kinds of noodles and they can also be paired with all different kinds of sauces! I'm mainly a red sauce fan, but I don't mind a pesto or white sauce every once and a while.

Cookies! Call me the cookie monster because I love COOKIES. Chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia nut and sugar cookies are my favorites. But I'm never afraid to try a new kind of cookie. I love to bake cookies too, and you'll find me baking them when I'm craving something sweet.

Grilled Cheese Yes I am a child, I love grilled cheese. Nothing is better than cheese and bread put it together and you've got magic. It's such a simple meal that just tastes so good.

French Fries I love french fries probably just as much as the cookie monster loves cookies, maybe more. I love french fries. All of the french fries in the world. It's not the healthiest thing to love to eat, but I definitely want to try to make a healthy version of them.

Avocado Does that count? It should because I love avocado. I love to have it in my salad, on my sandwiches, in my quesadillas, etc. Basically if I can add avocado to it, it will be there. And yes I know it's extra.

Pretzels My favorite snack of all time! Whenever I go to a baseball game, I'll always get a salted pretzel with a side of cheese. But when I go to Disneyland, I get this special pretzel filled with jalapeño cheese. It is the most amazing thing of all time. And I love it. And growing up I loved Wetzel's Pretzels, and I get tempted every time I go to the mall.

Burritos The greatest creation of all time. They're so filling and filled with yummy goodness. I love a simple burrito like a bean and cheese, and I love a complex burrito like a vegetarian one from Chipotle filled so much my tortilla rips. I even enjoy breakfast burritos on occasion! Whoever thought of filling a tortilla with beans, rice, cheese and etc, is a genius.

Mozzarella Sticks I can't think of anything more delicious than fried cheese. Sure it's not the healthiest but it's so good. It's definitely a guilty pleasure of mine, it's something I'll get every once and a while.

I know with my favorite foods, they're all not the healthiest option out there. But that's okay, because I don't eat all these things all the time. And that's how it should be. If you ate something daily, odds are after a certain amount of time you wouldn't want to eat it anymore. Favorite foods are something you don't get so often so when you do get to eat them it makes them more enjoyable. Until next time.