Graze Box Review

As I wandered tumblr a few weeks ago, I saw some posts mentioning graze.com. They are a company who delivers a box of healthy snacks each week. They stress being environmentally conscious, as well, with 100% recyclable packaging. Their package also fits in my super tiny mailbox, which is better than most of the subscription boxes I receive. You can also review snacks you've received or blacklist/trash snacks you don't want.  Before I received my first box, I went through their whole list of snacks and only removed one I don't want to try, Rock the Casbah, which has dates in it, which I hate.

Graze isn't currently open for the public, but is available with a referral code. With a referral code I found on tumblr, my first box was free. They also note that your 5th box will be free. The box is $5 a week, delivered to your door. If you are interested in a referral code, leave a comment on this post, and I'll send it to you via e-mail. The code gets you a free first box, and me either $1 off my next box or a $1 donation to the graze school of farming.

One important thing to note is, if you have a nut allergy, graze is not for you. Their FAQ page tells us: "We can't guarantee that our products are free from traces of nuts and sesame ingredients since everything is prepared in the graze kitchen. So if you suffer from a nut allergy, you will not be able to graze."

So how did the graze box look? What snacks did I get? Did I like them? Read ahead to find out!

Front of box

 Note the plastic strips -they did an excellent job of keeping the box closed in the mail.  And, though the box feels rather thin, it held up well to shipping.

Back of box

 I love the note that says "turn me over before you open (or you'll make a mess).  The top right has a printed FDA notice/declaration, while the bottom has a quick description of the box.

Inside of box

I think the printing on the inside of the box is beautiful.  The top has what I believe is a date, and under the snack pacs is a grass print and a napkin.  They also include nutrition facts.

Can I also say how much I love the whimsy of the illustrations on the snack pacs?

Here are the snacks I received this week:

Herby bread basket: I love the basil baguettes and garlic croutons, but there was something overly sweet about the oregano rice crackers.

 Florentine: Love this whole snack, but I wish the chocolate pieces were smaller.

 Chilli & lime pistachios: MMMMMM I love pistachios, and these are no different.

Tutti frutti: Eh. I'm not huge on dried fruit. It's a textural issue for me. The cherry raisins and regular raisins are great. The blueberry cranberries and pineapple are just OK for me.

Overall, this is a subscription I will definitely be keeping with.  I love the variety of snacks available, and I love that I can trash things I don't like.  The little snack pacs will be perfect for me to toss in my desk at school for when I'm hungry.

Pin Win: "It's My Special Day" Plate

Sometimes, your year throws some curve balls.  I completely intended to be an active blogger this year, but my caseload is a little heavy, and I would rather take a break than be overwhelmed and inconsistent.  Married life is also great, but hectic.  We bought a house in September, are trying to get pregnant, and recently had our basement flood.

With being so busy, I tend to get overly stressed and incredibly anxiety-ridden.  I've been struggling all year with keeping calm and on task, especially after stressful weeks.  I've tried all sorts of different things - pedicures, reading, baths, chiropractor, asking husband for backrubs - yet nothing had helped.  Then I thought back.  One of the things that best relieved my wedding planning stress was making my wedding party gifts (which reminds me - I never finished posting those!  I was pretty darn proud of the results) at the pottery painting place in town, Artful Designs.  I decided earlier on in the week to go there on Thursday or Friday night.  Well....the house flooded Wednesday, so Thursday was out to meet with the people drying out our basement.  So I headed to Artful Designs last night to paint.  But first, I had to consult Pinterest for some painting inspiration.  I happened upon the following plate design:


I decided it would be perfect for some stress relief.  My friends Meghann and Alex had a beautiful baby girl late last year, and I think that each child deserves some kind of special day plate, mug, cup, or bowl.  Off I went to Artful Designs to paint my plate.  Instead of the plain paint like they used in the original pin, I used the speckled paint.  I just love the look of it.  I used what I think was called Lime Lizard for the rim, Blizzard Blue for the background, and a speckled yellow for the star.  I then used bright kiwi for the spots and a dimensional paint for the writing and outlining.  I like how it looks before firing, and I will update this post at the end of the week, once it's done firing.  I also like that it's bright, festive colors, but not pink and purple.  I guess because I was so resistant to girly colors when I was little, that I always push that on gifts for little girls that I make or buy.

My plate, before firing

My plate, after firing

You might notice that this post's title begins with "Pin Win" - it's because I love the blog Pinstrosity, and when I saw that they were holding a contest, I decided that I would look around for some pins to try.