Uppercase Box - August

It's that time of the month again for my favorite book mail! Although it saddens me to say that this will be the last time I get to see this package waiting for me on our doorstep. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my Uppercase Box subscription due to financial issues (ugh!) so this will be my last unboxing post until further notice. I plan on subscribing again in the future I am just unsure of when! Now, let's get into what was included in August's box!



The book this month was a signed copy of Everything All At Once by Katrina Leno! Included with matching Post-it notes! I read the summary on Goodreads a few months back so I was familiar with this book upon receiving it.



The summary for Everything All At Once as follows:
Lottie Reeves has always struggled with anxiety, and when her beloved Aunt Helen dies, Lottie begins to fear that her own unexpected death might be waiting around every corner. Aunt Helen wasn’t a typical aunt. She was the author of the best–selling Alvin Hatter series, about siblings who discover the elixir of immortality. Her writing inspired a generation of readers. In her will, she leaves one last writing project—just for Lottie. It’s a series of letters, each containing mysterious instructions designed to push Lottie out of her comfort zone. Soon, Lottie’s trying some writing of her own, leaping off cliffs, and even falling for a boy she’s only just met. Then the letters reveal an extraordinary secret about the inspiration for the Alvin Hatter series. Lottie finds herself faced with an impossible choice, one that will force her to confront her greatest fear once and for all.

This sounds like a sweet "coming of age" contemporary about a girl facing her fears and learning about herself. These types of stories are always ones I'm drawn too. Not only are they interesting to read about how characters surpass life changing events but it can also help you or someone you know get through a similar situation. Sometimes books are the reason we overcome. We fall in love with these characters and hold them so close to our hearts that we think about how they would react if a real life event that is happening to us, happens to them. Since anxiety is a big part of my life and I have a hard time facing my fears I'm looking forward to reading this to see how Lottie takes her Aunts advice!

The bookish items this month were a "Bibliophile" stainless steel bracelet, a set of 5 bookmarks inspired by The Golden Compass, and as I already mentioned Post-it notes! I really love the Bibliophile bracelet. A Bibliophile is a person who loves or collects books, so you know that's definitely me! The bracelet is a little big for me though so I'll probably only be able to use it for photo ops as I don't want to lose it while wearing it out. I'm always in need of a good bookmark too, usually I just use whatever receipt is closest to me so I know these will come in handy. Also included were matching Post-It notes based off the cover of Everything All At Once. Being the big note taker that I am I know I can use these sticky notes to jot down some of my favorite quotes or moments while reading.



So that's it for August's box! Like I said, I'm sad to have had to cancel after subscribing for almost 2 full years. The thrill of finding out what book and items were included will be something I'll miss until I'm able to resubscribe. For now, I'll just stalk the Uppercase Box hashtag on Instagram while admiring all the contents. Definitely check out Uppercase Box if you have not already! The plan that I was receiving every month was the Expert Plan, which included a signed book and 2-3 bookish items. There are other ones so you will be able to subscribe to the plan that best suits you! As always, thanks for reading! I plan on getting my reviews up for some of my Uppercase Box books fairly soon (including ones from last year) so please stay tuned until then and take care!

Top 5 *50% Off* Thrifting Finds

As I mentioned in my Thrifting Tips post, every week Goodwill has a "color of the week" sale. The 4 colors that rotate are red, yellow, green and blue. After 3 weeks certain colored items are marked down to help sell and make way for new merchandise. That means these items have been sitting in Goodwill for over 3 weeks just waiting to be found... 3 weeks!! That may not seem like a long time but with avid thrift shoppers like Zachary and I who constantly look for the best deals, it can be hard to find that must have item at 50% off. However, once and a while I get lucky so here are my Top 5 50% off Thrifting Finds found at Goodwill!



5. Wall-e Blu-ray movie - Originally $6, bought for $3. Zach and I are huge Blu-ray collectors, we own over 200+ Blu-rays and most are courtesy of thrifting. Many of our movies are Disney because...DISNEY, need I say more? $3-5 for Blu-rays are our happy number, which means we don't normally like spending any more than that unless it's a new release we absolutely must have. Most Goodwill's price Blu-rays $5 or less but sometimes they get greedy. We've seen them priced at $15 before while the same movie is at Walmart for $5! So when I saw Wall-e priced at $6 my heart sank a little. Do I spend the extra $1 over "happy price" or just walk away? Well, I decided to walk away and every time I walked into that GW for the next 3 weeks Wall-e stared me in the face. Once it was priced down I grabbed it before anyone else could!



4. Black booties - Originally $15, bought for $7.50. Scored these super cute brand new booties at a Goodwill that was closing down! This deal is actually an exception to the weekly 50% off because this was found when the entire store was on sale! As a promotion to try and sell merchandise before their move to a new store built up the street, my local GW had everything discounted at 50% off! Pickings were slim so I was pretty excited to get these in my size!



3. Harry Potter tank top - Originally $4, bought for $2. Hufflepuff pride here! Anything HP draws my attention regardless of what it is, so this tank top immediately caught my eye and once I saw it was marked down I went right to the checkout! Layer it with a cardigan, leggings and sneakers and I have a new thrifting Fall outfit!



2. Holding up the Universe by Jennifer Niven ARC - Originally $1, bought for 50 cents. This book by Jennifer Niven was released in October 2016 but I actually found this ARC (Advance Reader's Copy) in July of 2016! So it was a special surprise to have this book before release date! I didn't end up reading it until June of this year though. Jennifer Niven is a favorite author of mine, her book All the Bright Places was one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. It's a definite must read so I recommend both of these books to anyone who loves YA contemporaries!



1. 3 Batman statues - Originally $113, bought for $53.50. So this find is for Zach and since we found these Batman related items all at once I am counting it as one. Now when we go thrifting we have our usual weekly spots but there are quite a few stores about 1 hour away from us, in each direction, so once in a while we'll pick a different town to go and take the drive. This was our 2nd time at this particular Goodwill and it was a Sunday, a new week, therefore a new 50% off tag color. Almost immediately upon walking in we both notice these huge Batman statues above the glass case. Zach was on a Batman statue kick at the time so he was bouncing off the walls with excitement... and then we realized the color of the week matched the price stickers on these statues! Total they were supposed to run us $113 but with 50% off (PLUS the additional 5% off since we spent more than $20 and used our GW membership perks) he only paid about $53.50! After some research we found that one of these statues alone sells for over $70! Now he can add these 3 to his collection for a great price! It was definitely worth it and we were so excited we chose that Sunday to go because these statues wouldn't have been there for much longer!

So that concludes my Top 5 50% off Thrifting Finds! Please follow my blog to stay updated with my posts as I'll be sharing my all time favorite Top 5 Thrifting Finds very soon! Thanks for reading, take care and happy hunting!