Cara Box REVEAL

That's right friends... it is that time again... time for the CARA BOX REVEAL!!!!! As many of you know, I first participated in the Cara Box Exchange in August and had a wonderful experience!  In fact I still e-mail quite frequently with my one partner and truly feel like I have made a friend for life in her.

For those of you who don't know what the Cara Box exchange is... it was started by Kaitlyn over at Wifessionals as a way to "Make Friends...Receive Gifts...Share Encouragement". It is basically like having a pen pal like we did when we were in Elementary school, only with these e-mail pen pals we send each other gifts after getting to know one another. The exchange occurs quarterly which gives us plenty of time to know each other and to create a box that truly reflects our partners.

This time around I was paired up with Elizabeth from Army Ever After AND Elizabeth from Get Busy Living.  Funny coincidence that this time I was paired with two wonderful women named Elizabeth because well I am an Elizabeth too!  I wonder if Kaitlyn did that on purpose. This month's theme was "Fall".  Now any of you  who know me knows that this is the PERFECT theme for me because well fall is definitely my FAVORITE time of the year.  I was so excited to be able to put together a fall themed box and was equally excited to receive one!

I sent a box to Elizabeth from Get Busy Living this month and you can check out her Cara Box post here.  Elizabeth is a former teacher who is a momma to an almost 3 year old boy.  She too loves fall and most loves it for sweater weather, celebrating her wedding anniversary and pretty much all things pumpkin (a girl after my own heart).  I thoroughly enjoyed putting a box together that she would be able to enjoy herself, but also with her family.

I received a box from Elizabeth at Army Ever After.  Elizabeth is an Army wife whose hubby is stationed in Hawaii (talk about jealous!).  She loves fall just as much as I do and of course shares my love of pumpkin spice lattes.  I think it was fate that we were paired up together.  I received my box from Elizabeth the other day... after a particularly bad night at work... I swear I always seem to get packages from my Cara Box partners when I need them the most!

Elizabeth sent me a very fun box filled with all sorts of goodies.  I got some chocolates and a charm from Hawaii so I will always be reminded of my new Hawaiian friend (The hubby is excited about the chocolates... in fact when I told him he could have one he responded with "mmmmm I'll have 6 or 7")!  She also sent me some ocean scented bath salts as I absolutely LOVE the beach and now my baths can remind me of sand and salt weather and summer days relaxing lazily on the beach.  She also sent me a fall candle set (I'm not even sure I told her about my candle obsession... so she is good) that smells just like fall.  I can't wait to burn it and have my house smell like all things fall!!  I also received a pumpkin spice sugar scrub for my hands.  I am super excited to try this out because my hands take a beating at work so hopefully this will help them out some.

Overall this was another fantastic Cara Box experience.  I am so glad that I have decided to become a part of this as I have definitely made some amazing friends throughout the experience.  Can't wait until the next one!

Cara Box Reveal!!!!!

So I know I am late to the Cara Box reveal game, but this month I received my box a little late and since I received it I feel like I have had zero free time for blogging.  In fact I think my only post since I received it was a "Wordless Wednesday" post where I didn't really do much besides post some pictures from one of my bff's wedding.

So about this Cara Box.  The Cara Box Exchange was started by Kaitlyn over at Wifessionals as a way to "Make Friends... Receive Gifts...Share Encouragement" as her button for the exchange states.  My first time participating in the Exchange I was paired with Ashley from Our Mitchell Moments and Maddie from My Saturday Smiles.  All of us were newbies to the Cara Box Exchange and had no idea what to expect.  The theme for this month's box was "Seasons of Life" and we were supposed to make a box for our partners that captured the essence of who they are.

I had to send a box to Ashley and immediately upon e-mailing her I knew that we would become AMAZING friends.  Ashley was so easy to talk to and I loved hearing about her beautiful baby girl as well as all the other little things going on in her life.  We e-mailed back and forth A LOT and I really feel like I was able to create a box that was simply her... a box dedicated to her love for her family!

I received a box from Maddie who is a talented artist... you should check out her Etsy shop here... especially if you have little girls!  She has some phenomenal artwork that if I had a little girl I would totally love to put in her room.  Maddie is way more creative than I am and she definitely put together a box that will hopefully get my creative genes flowing a bit more!

My pretty bag of a box from Maddie!!

Contents of my box

My box included a little chalkboard that says "I love you because..." and some chalk so that MD and I can write messages to each other letting each other know why we love each other on any particular day.  She also gave me a journal and pen where I can write down anything related to MD & I.... so that we can remember why it is that we love each other and what it is that we are doing together.  I love that she decorated the notebook with red, white and blue ribbon as my favorite football team is the NYG.  I also got some really cute coasters that I plan on using during football season!  

Overall my first experience with the Cara Box was wonderful and I am looking forward to getting to know my new partners for the next box!