What You May Have Missed:

• These Are the Moments of My Life 2013
• Top 10 Posts of 2013
• Christmas 2013 Remix
• 10 Books to Read in 2014
• Facials For the New Year

Happy New Year’s Eve everyone! The holiday season goes fast but I can still hardly believe it’s already New Year’s Eve. I’ve been reading everyone’s goals and recaps of 2013 and it’s so inspiring. I’ve never been a “New Year’s goals” type of person because for me, setting goals means hard work. If I set a goal, I really want to accomplish it and take it very seriously. Hence, why I rarely set goals, ha ha.

Anyway, Lindsay at Cotter Crunch gave me a good idea. Since I don’t have any specific goals laid out, I should choose a word. Her word last year was “nurture.” Immediately I thought of the word “calm” — meaning peaceful. I have a tendency to get overly excited when things go badly, letting anxiety get the best of me. I am overly emotional and need to just BREATHE. So I’m choosing the word “calm” for 2014. If I can remember that word and focus on it, I can make small steps toward living a more peaceful, less anxiety-filled life.

Christmas Break Remix: Hung out with two of my best friends from high school, Britney & Megan! (That’s Henry in the green!)

I left for Christmas vacation on December 21st, which meant I actually missed the delivery of some excellent gifts sent from some of my favorite companies. I just had to share the awesome tidbits that appeared in my mailbox when I arrived home yesterday!

Bestowed Boxes

I reviewed Bestowed earlier this year and it’s definitely a great deal. It seems like “boxes” of random things each month has become a popular trend. The cool thing is, each company has a little bit of a different niche. Bestowed offers a selection of full-size healthy, nutritious foods and supplements. It’s an easy way to try samples of products you might never have known you loved before! It’s only $19.99/month and includes coupons! This month:

• Keenwah Ginger Peanut Quinoa Clusters
• KIND Dark Chocolate Chili Almond Bars
• Pacific Natural Foods Simply Stock
• Saffron Road Red Thai Curry
• Simply Organic Mediterranean Herb Greek Yogurt
• Snikiddy Baked Cheddar Cheese Fries

Here’s it is in the flesh:

Next up is another kind of box — this one specifically for runners and endurance athletes! I was gifted this box, which I had never heard of until I got it, and well, what can I say? Another winner!

Kona Kase

It was about time there was a box just for us endurance junkies! I was immediately hooked because I have a weird obsession with the letter ‘k’ — don’t ask. I liked the look of the box (red!) and was excited when I opened it up to find some great stuff. Kona is only $15/month and includes 8 new products to try every time. That is a steal if you ask me. Here’s what I got in my box:

• Mint Fusion Energems
• Nature’s Bakery Fig Bar
• Smarty Pants Gummies (2)
• Caveman Paleo Cookie (tried it, delish!)
• Hazelnut Mocha Mazamabar
• Health Warrior Banana Nut Chia Bar
• Chocolate Power Gel

So I was well stocked on the healthy goodies when I got home! But…I had yet another surprise waiting for me! Last month, I was contacted by someone at People Magazine asking if they could send me a surprise in the mail. Well, I’m an avid reader of People and was delighted to be contacted by them. I had no idea what they were sending but I certainly didn’t expected what I got. Here was what arrived:

People Magazine Great Ideas

Apparently, People has new-ish site called Great Ideas that is devoted to more bloggy types of things like recipes, crafts, fitness, health and family. I had no idea it existed but am certainly glad to find out! When I opened the box, I was excited to find:

• Four customized wine glasses with “The Sweet Life” and @ErickaAndersen engraved
• A customized iPhone case with @ErickaAndersen engraved
• A chocolate bar personalized with the People “Great Ideas” Logo
• $20gift card to Global Giving (awesome!)
• A bottle of Paperboy Red Wine (the first fully recyclable wine!)

Take a look:

I’m going to have a blast choosing what to spend the $20 at Global Giving on — right up my ally. It felt like Christmas all over again opening these packages today. I feel so privileged that people are interested in sharing their products on The Sweet Life. I do have one more product to share with you today.

Reebok Skyscape Runaround Shoe

I received these shoes earlier this month and have been living in them. They are really comfortable, lightweight, sporty shoes. Since my favorite outfit is yoga pants or cute sweat pants, these go wonderfully.

Running errands, lounging, grabbing the mail, whatever, these are easy to slip on and feel a bit slipper-like. They come in three colors though I got the pink ones. They are simple but foundational for when you don’t want to put on clunky tennis shoes but flip flops just won’t cut it.

Whew! Well, I hope you found something in today’s post that caught your eye or interested you. I really think the boxes are a steal if you are the healthy or sporty type. Why NOT? It’s so hard to know what’s good and this gives you options without having to take a stab in the dark.

I’m also going to be spending some time on that People Great Ideas site in the future. Looks like they are cooking up some good stuff over there and I’m thrilled to be in on it!

Don’t forget to:

• Catch up with me on Instagram @Ericka81
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