Category: Product Reviews

My Thoughts on Citrus Lane

So Tuesday evening Citrus Lane posted on their Facebook page that they were going to be offering a Groupon deal for new subscribers to enjoy three months of their surprise boxes for just $35 (usual price $75).

Being a marketing kinda girl, I thought this was a great idea for them to get the word out to people who are on the fence about trying out their subscription. However, when I clicked on the update to check out the 60ish comments posted by their followers, I saw a bunch of complaints.

Basically, their followers were using the forum to complain about the boxes and also complain that current subscribers weren’t getting a special deal.* Which is totally FINE that they wanted to voice their complaints, I’m just not sure if this was the appropriate place to do so. Each month the company sends out a customer survey to get feedback on the boxes. THAT is the appropriate place for people to comment. Also, Citrus Lane seems to respond quickly to both emails and tweets. This is MY personal experience in dealing with a billing issue that was fixed within 24 hours.

On the status post, in addition to the complaints were worried comments from people who were now not sure whether they should try out the subscription at all (based on the bad comments). So I wanted to speak for a moment about MY experience with Citrus Lane for anyone out there thinking about taking advantage of the Groupon offer.

I have been a subscriber of Citrus Lane since March 2012, when my son was one month old. While I feel that the subscription service is totally worth it, obviously others do not feel quite as happy about the company.

My suggestion to you is to make up your own mind.

I think a lot of it has to do with people’s expectations when they sign up for the subscription. If your goal is to get a monthly treat and be surprised with fun products that you most likely wouldn’t have purchased for yourself, you will probably love Citrus Lane. If you’re going to compare your boxes to others that people received for different age ranges or be angry about a particular product that you might not necessarily care for, you might want to skip the deal.

Feel free to check out my previous box reviews to see if the Citrus Lane subscription boxes sound like something you would like:

I did not post a review of the April box because I wasn’t really thrilled with it… until I actually started using the products and decided that I really liked them. I also did not post a review of the September box – not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because I was super busy and didn’t have time to post.

I have been wanting to post my review of the October box, because I really loved its contents – however both my son and I have been sick so I haven’t been able to do a fun photo shoot with the products. I do hope that we are both feeling better soon so I can post that review. And well, it would be nice to NOT feel like I’ve been run over by a snot truck…

Anyways, back to my point. If you are interested in paying the small commitment of $35 to try out three months of surprise gifts, go for it. You can always cancel once the time is up! Click here to access the Groupon offer (good for 10/24/12).

Here’s my typical disclosure: I was not rewarded by Citrus Lane for reviewing their boxes on my blog. I review the boxes, because I feel like other mom’s would be interested in seeing what they’ll get if they sign up for the monthly service. However, if you missed out on the Groupon offer and would like to try out the subscription — by using my special link I will receive credits on my account. You can also benefit by using the code SPRINGFUN which will take 10% off the cost of your subscription.

If you do decide to try out Citrus Lane for the very first time, stop back by my blog and let me know what you think!

*Even though the post states that they will be releasing a special deal for current subscribers soon.

Me and My GPS: In a Fight to the Death

My GPS hates me.

No, it’s totally true. The stupid thing hates me and I’m starting to hate him back. And yes, it’s obviously a boy GPS. Even when we’re totally lost the stupid thing won’t own up to it – it just stalls and says “recalculating” over and over again, even though he totally KNEW where we were a second ago!

Can you tell I’m a little riled up over this? And you would be too if you went through the things that I did with the little buttwipe.

Here are my top 3 reasons why I think my GPS is trying to kill me and/or cause my life to be very inconvenient:

#1. I drive into Baltimore City and Washington, DC quite often. Like most large cities, they each have some really ritzy areas and some…um, not so great areas. Like really NOT GREAT areas. In Baltimore those areas have flashing blue lights that are our classy way of telling you to turn around and get the heck out of the area because shiznet is going DOWN! Yeah, well my stupid GPS will take me on a route though the ghetto EVERY SINGLE TIME! If there is an easy way to get from point A to point B, I somehow end up taking a detour through an area where I might get my stupid lost butt kicked. Or carjacked. Or worse.

Oh what’s that little green alert thingie indicating that there is no traffic? LOOK AT THIS… it’s TRAFFIC!!!

#2. I paid extra money to have a snazzy traffic alert thingie for my GPS. Since I drive on pretty much all the terrible roads in the area, I thought it would be great to get a ‘heads up’ on backups so that I can avoid them. It DOES sound great, right? And I’m sure it would be fabulous if the stupid traffic alert actually WORKED! Half the time it’s totally ignoring the fact that I’m sitting in a 10 mile backup. The other half the time it will alert me to traffic…after I’ve already been sitting in it. Um thanks, Mr. GPS, that’s so helpful for you to add 50 minutes to my commute time on your screen. That is obviously what I want to happen, rather than you do your JOB and find me an alternative route.

#3. Speaking of his sense of direction, I really think a GPS should be intuitive and LEARN from its owner which routes are preferred. I know that it’s a better idea to go on 97 then 140 because you skip a ton of traffic lights, but my GPS doesn’t know this (why DOESN’T he know about traffic lights anyways?). It would be nice if he could learn the way I like to go so that it can be included in all future directions. Of course, I wouldn’t have to choose my own route if that darn thing didn’t pick the slowest route every time! I swear it’s like I somehow checked the option for “slowest route with traffic” because that’s the one he always instructs me to follow.

My Awesome Idea
Here’s where I share an idea that’s going to blow your mind – so listen up Garmin, Magellan, TomTom and whatever else GPS maker is trolling the web. Sometimes I find my own route by using Google Maps before I leave on my trip (because it would be silly to trust an expensive device I purchased just for the task of leading me…), so why can’t I somehow upload the route that I WANT to take so that I’m not overriding his stupid directions at every turn? It kind of defeats the purpose of a GPS if I’m still struggling with looking back and forth between the road and my printed directions. Make this happen people! And send me a free unit to test, because this was totally MY idea.

I swear my last GPS wasn’t this stupid or suicidal. That girl – her name was Bridget and she had an English accent – may have gotten confused every so often but it was more endearing (oh Bridget, you silly little thing) than offensive. This little craphole (no, he doesn’t have a name because he doesn’t deserve one) better watch his back, because he may end up experiencing what it’s like to fly…into traffic on the Beltway.

Reviewing Zamzee: Will it Help Me Be More Active?

I’m going to be honest with you guys. My Get in Shape, Girl workout isn’t going so well. I can blame it on all the random traveling I’ve done lately (vacation = excuse to eat whatever the heck I want), but it really just comes down to the fact that I’m lazy and prefer food that is bad for me.

Meet my Zamzee dude — so dapper in orange!

I mean, that’s pretty much everyone’s issue, right?

So I was looking for ways to bribe myself into thinking exercise is fun. Which as you can imagine is pretty hard to do when you work full-time and have a 6 month old.* However, when I was at BlogHer 2012 I found this cute little guy.

He is the spokes-dude(?) for Zamzee. I hadn’t ever heard of Zamzee before that day but I was given the opportunity to try it out for free. So I figured, why not?

Zamzee is an activity meter that you clip to yourself, much like a pedometer. However, instead of just counting your steps, the meter measures the intensity of your activity. The Zamzee is designed for kids, with the goal of enticing them to get more physically active. There is even a website specially designed for kids and tweens that helps track their progress and has fun activity-based games.

Obviously, I’m not a kid anymore but I decided to give it a try. And honestly, I thought this little meter was pretty cool. Instead of getting obsessive over steps walked and calories burned, it was actually kind of fun to do activities and see how many Pointz I accumulated (yes, they’re called Pointz… which is what the cool kids are into these days. Or is it, kidz and dayz?). You can just plug the meter into your computer and the Pointz get uploaded into your account. Super easy! And I like earning Pointz – it’s kind of like earning a gold star!

This is what a zamzee looks like, mine is black. (Source: zamzee.com)

I wore the Zamzee to my Stroller Strides class last week and tried to push it** extra hard to earn some additional points. I’ve also been wearing the meter to work each day, which is awesome because it gives me a reason to get off my butt. After I’ve been sitting at the computer for a couple hours I click on the website and pick a challenge. Typically for a challenge, I’ll get out of my office for 5 minutes and just do a quick loop around my building. Sometimes, I close my door and bust a move to earn Pointz. And yes, I totally did this last week.

Zamzee is currently in beta, with about 5,000 users and is expected to launch in the Fall. However, the beta program is currently open to the public and you can purchase a meter for $29.95 plus shipping (there is no monthly cost).

Why buy one when I can give you one for free? That’s right I have a brand new meter to give away to my awesome readers!

I’ve never done a giveaway on my blog before, so this is pretty fun stuff. In fact, I’m almost drunk with power. MooHAHA***

So here’s what you have to do to enter the contest: Leave me a comment on this blog post or on the Pocketful of Joules Facebook page that includes the word “Zamzee” somewhere in the text. I will print out the names of everyone who enters and randomly pick a winner. Let’s do one entry per person, per platform – so you are welcome to enter both on my blog AND my Facebook page. The giveaway closes at noon on September 6, 2012. So get your comments in!

 * Excuses, excuses! Do you see what I’m dealing with here??!!

** Push it REAL GOOD… now that song is in my head!

*** That’s my drunk with power laugh. Duh. It’s like in that episode of Friends where I think Ross was doing an evil laugh – there was some sort of blackout and he did his laugh and the lights came back on and Rachel was kissing someone. I can’t find the clip on youtube, but I’m pretty sure it happened in reality and not in my head.

Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this post, but I was given a free Zamzee to review. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own and I would never write about or review something unless I actually liked it!

9/6 Update: This contest is now closed. The winner, according to the Random Numbers Generator at random.org is…. Just Keep Swimming! She can now be one of the cool kids with her very own Zamzee!

Related articles