September 2017 MunchPak Review

I received a free MunchPak to review, but all opinions are my own.
When I first started blogging, I shared that I had purchased a MunchPak subscription for Chris as a Christmas present in 2013 when MunchPak first started. We loved trying out new and popular snacks from around the world every month, so when Julian from MunchPak offered to send us one to review, I was eager to see what MunchPaks are like these days! Plus, my pregnant self can never say no to snacks! Here is what was in our MunchPak:

Tayto Salt & Vinegar Chips from Ireland: These are from a family-owned company from Northern Ireland. I usually like salt and vinegar chips, so I’m eager to try these out!

Kiwi Carbonated Soft Drink from Japan: This is more of a product for Chris because he likes unique soda flavors, but he is excited to try it!

Zoozle Musss from Poland: These are cola-flavored candy with a fizzy filling! I like cola-flavored gummies, so these will also be fun to try!

Caramel Heaven Wafer with Caramel Filling from Poland: These remind me a bit of stroopwafels from The Netherlands, though they are quite a bit thicker.

Chillz Spicy Potato Sticks from Pakistan: I love potato sticks, so these won’t last long in our house!

Fini Sour Tornadoes with Sour Filling from Spain: This is the only product I’m not sure I’m willing to try, but I know lots of people who would be interested!

Original Goralki Nugatowe from Poland: Wow, we got a lot of products from Poland in this box. These are chocolate-coated crispy wafers with nougat cream filling, which sound super tasty!

Nutella B-Ready from Poland: This is Nutella inside a wafer, so basically it’s a taste of heaven.

Blazpberry Red & Blue Raspberry Candy Belts from The Netherlands: These look like your standard sour belts, which are always fun!

Gerrit’s Sour Blockheads from the United States: These look like Sour Patch Kids!

Draze Marynarz from Poland: These are a tasty cream-flavored hard candy.

Hill Biscuits Custard Creams from England: I love having tea with biscuits, so I’m definitely excited about these!

My box came with 12 total snacks to try, and I thought it had a great variety of snacks and countries. I thought it was interesting that quite a few of the snacks came from Poland, but they all look delicious, so I don’t mind. All of the boxes are random, so if you purchased a box in September, you wouldn’t necessarily get what I got! You can also customize the box based on your preferences for an additional fee. The price of the MunchPak varies depending on how many snacks you want (you can pick 5+, 10+, and 20+) and how often you want to receive the snacks.

If you are interested in trying it out, you can use my code SIBERIANAMERICAN for $3 off any time within the next year. To get the $3 off automatically applied to your order, go to https://munchpak.com/siberianamerican.

Have you ever tried out a snack subscription box?

Our Elephant-Themed Baby Shower

Hey, friends! I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. We managed to go shopping and take advantage of the sales. We got the last piece of furniture we wanted for the nursery (a glider) and bought our travel system since it was around $100 off!

Speaking of our nursery, several of you have asked if we have picked out a nursery theme, and we are doing blue and gray with elephants. Our friends figured that out from our registry, and they threw us the cutest elephant-themed baby shower last month! We’re all crazy about brunch, so it was held at this great brunch place in Dallas called The Woolworth, followed by more fun at a friend’s place who lives nearby. All the details were great, but my very favorite was the host of the shower made the cutest diaper cake of an elephant riding a motorcycle. I’m so thankful for our sweet friends, who hosted such a fun party for us!

The two lovely hosts!

She also made "cupcakes" at of onesies and socks! So cute. 

Rice Krispie treats made in the shape of elephants! 

Such a delicious cake!

So excited to start this parenthood adventure with my favorite person!

Reading the sweet poem where our friends told us they put their money together and bought us a crib!

My Life in Threes

Woah, this might have been the fastest week ever. I’m almost thankful Chris has to work tomorrow because I have several big projects I’d like to finish soon. Anyways, I’ve loved reading the “three things” blog posts from everyone, so I thought I would do one of my own!

Three Favorite Foods
*Crab legs
*Cheesecake Factory Red Velvet Cheesecake
*Sushi

Three Things I Don’t Want to Give Up
*Reading
*Going on adventures/traveling
*My photos

Three Favorite Cocktails
*Rum and Coke
*Peach Bellini
*Wine (yes, I know that’s not a cocktail)

Three Favorite Simple Pleasures in Life
*Reading while it’s raining outside
*All the blankets all the time
*Going on a walk with Chris and Skyler

Three Things Always in My Car
*Water
*Sunglasses
*Sun shade

Three Things I Always Have with Me
*My purse
*LipSense glossy gloss
*Wallet

Three Most Recent Places I Traveled To
*Maine
*Colorado
*Smoky Mountains

Three Most Often Used Makeup Products
*Eyeliner
*LipSense
*Thebalm Nude’tude Palette

Three Things That Make Me Cry
*Can I say everything? Seriously, the third trimester is #allthefeels

Three Things That Make Me Laugh
*Skyler-she is always doing something silly
*Animal videos
*Friends and family

Three Places I Want to Visit in the US
*Oregon
*Washington, DC
*Charleston

Three Places I Want to Visit Outside the US
*Ireland/Cliffs of Moher
*Australia
*Bora Bora

Three Places I Want to Return
*Turks and Caicos
*Alaska
*Germany

Three Blessings in My Life
*My amazing husband
*Our sweet baby boy on the way
*Family and friends

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Let’s Have A Coffee Date (Vol. 8)

Hey, friends! I wanted to have another Maine post ready for today, but we’ve been focusing on supporting the many, many friends we have in the Houston area as much as we can. For those who have asked, we are nowhere near the devastation (we’re talking over 250 miles away), but many of our friends from college are from the area, and quite a few of my high school friends also moved to Houston, so we’ve been talking to them and trying to help from a distance. I thought I would do a quick post of life updates and work on travel posts this weekend when Chris is working!

My best friend’s bachelorette party was this weekend! I picked the Omni Dallas as the location, and it was the perfect place for it! The view of the skyline from the pool deck was just stunning, especially at sunset. One of my favorite parts of the party was an “Only in Dallas” food tour! I liked it so much that I will be writing a post about it soon.

I am now officially at less than two months from my due date! I’m definitely uncomfortable and have a lot of trouble sleeping, but overall, I’m doing really well. Our temperatures dropped a lot this weekend, so I’ve been taking advantage of that and going on several walks. We get to see our baby boy on an ultrasound on Friday, and I’m super excited because it’s the first time we’ve seen him since our gender ultrasound.

I’ve been on another reading roll after quite the lull in July. It has a lot to do with my lack of sleep, but it’s been so nice to read more recently, and I’m excited to share my latest reads with y’all soon!

With everything going on lately, I totally missed the fact that college football starts this week, and the NFL will start soon too. I’m only participating in one fantasy football league this year since I will have a newborn soon, but I’m still super excited for the best time of the year.

This time of year (the summer to fall transition) makes me want to buy all the clothes, so I'm pretty thankful I don't know what my size will be after pregnancy, so I can save money! I did buy some more flowy dresses to get me through the next few months, though.

Now it's your turn! What's going on in your life?

Cheers to Three Years of Blogging!

Today is the three-year anniversary of my first blog post for The Siberian American. I remember buying the domain for three years and wondering if I would actually still be committed when it was time to renew. Here I am three years later, still in love with blogging, and I definitely renewed that domain a month ago!

Even though I’ve had to cut back on posting during pregnancy, I am always thankful for this wonderful community. I’ve met and connected with so many great people, and I am grateful for all of you. My goal is to ramp up posting again in September and to keep it up when our little man arrives.

It’s so crazy how many life changes this blog has seen in just three years: when I first started writing, Chris was still in medical school, and we had no idea where Match would send us. Now we’re back in Dallas after a year in Chicago and already in the third year of residency with a baby on the way! So, cheers to three years! I am so grateful we are on this journey together, and I can’t wait to share more of our adventures with y’all!