Travel Diaries- Ocean City MD + Over the Weekend

Hello! How's it going?

I wanted to start a series here on my blog called 'Travel Diaries' and share the trips that my husband and I take together.  If you follow me in Instagram or Facebook, then you've probably already seen these photos, so this might be boring. But in this blog post series I wanted to go into more detail about what we did, detail about the photos, etc. that I don't share on social media.

Last week we took a road trip down to Ocean City, MD. We wanted to go somewhere that was close enough to drive to and also by the ocean. We almost went to Virginia Beach, but Ocean City seemed to win from what I saw during my Google research.  We drove through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and a little bit of Delaware to get to our Destination in Maryland. After 12 hours in the car and a huge mishap with our hotel, we finally setteled in. I'd also like to day that Pennsylvania is one of the pretties states to that I've driven through!

We had an ocean front room which was really amazing. When we were in our room it was so nice to have our balcony door open and listen to the waves. I seriously love the Ocean and huge bodies of water like the Great Lakes of Michigan, so I really felt happy and peaceful.

Our hotel was on a boardwalk with a ton of cool shops and a nice beach. The water was super cold, and I found a huge seashell that's almost as big as my hand. There were seriously no seashells besides broken tiny pieces, so it was cool to find this one buried in the sand.

We also went to Assateague Seashore where they have wild horses. It was super cool to see the horses and the beach there was sooo prettty. It was way less crowded than the one at our hotel, and it  just looked way more pretty and natural. I found a ton of seashells here that were being washed up by the waves, it was so fun looking for them and trying to grab them before the waves took them back into the water.

I always remember if we had good food on our vacation. We honestly had the worst food in Ocean City and it was pretty disappointed. With he exception of one place! Across the street from our hotel was a little Juice and Smoothie shack, that also had a Sushi Bar and bubble tea inside. This was was sooo freaking good, we ate there twice. The first time we went I had a delicious veggie Báhn Mì sandwich (vietnamses sandwich) and some bubble tea. We went back in the morning so I could try one of their Acai Bowls, and it was seriously so good! It has granola, bananas, strawberries, and honey and I was in smoothie heaven. I even bought a shop sticker from there to put on my laptop LOL.

After three days in Maryland we drove home, we relaxed for a day, and then the next we took a drive over to Grand Rapids MI for an Anime Convention. It was super fun and they had a lot of cool stuff! It was a great way to end our vacation!

I hope you all enjoyed this Travel Diaries post, and I hope to do more of them in the future!!

 If you like the type of post, please let me know! And if you'd like to see some smaller posts like this, for some cool places here in Michigan then I will do some of those as well!

Eden's Garden Essential Oil Haul

I think one of my favorite things in life has become Essential Oils. I've done a few hauls in the past for them, and today I have another one. I've been ordering from Eden's Garden , they are super affordable, great quality, and 100% therapeutic grade!

The first three on the top are Peppermint, Tea Tree, and Lavender. These are all repeat purchases for me, and my most used oils from my collection. I literally use these three on a daily basis. The last one in this row is called Tranquility, which is a blend of Lavender, Cedarwood, Ylang Ylang, Sweet Marjoram, Chamomile, Vetiver, Sandalwood and Vanilla. It smells SO good! I'm super happy that I picked this one up. I've been using it on my Lava Bead bracelets from my Etsy Shop that hold essential oils for a personal diffuser. 

The next row is all 5 ml bottles, and the first three are Peppermint, Lavender, and Blood Orange. I own larger bottles of these 3, but I wanted mini bottles for when I set up at farmers markets and craft shows this summer for the Lava Bead bracelets that I'm selling. This way, who ever buys a bracelet can leave with some essential oils soaking in their lava beads. I thought these 3 were pretty good choices to pick from.  The last oil is another mini and it's Pachouli. I got this one to share between my self, and bring to the craft shows as well. It's not one that I would use everyday like my others, so I figured it would be good to bring with me as well.

I know I've said tons of time that I'll do more posts on essential oils, giving info about them, how I use them, my favorites etc. and I still want to do those posts, I've just been really lazy when it comes to preparing them! There's a ton of info to share!

Do you use essential oils? What ones are your favorite?

Friday Favorites | Current Lifestyle Favorites

Happy Friday! Who else is happy that Spring is here?! I definitely am, even though I don't exactly trust that it isn't done snowing yet. We did have a nice day earlier this week where it was in the 50s, but that quickly turned back into the 20s. None the less, I know warmer weather is on its way, and that definitely has me excited.

I thought I would do a Friday Favorites today and share some lifestyle things that I've been enjoying.

First though, I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who left me such sweet and encouraging comments on post earlier this week on cruelty free makeup. All of the great feedback really meant a lot to me because it was a post that I was honestly nervous out of my mind to post. I love you all for the encouragement you showed me!

Back to my lifestyle favorites. Honestly, not much has been going on in my life lately. I feel rather boring as these might not be the most exciting things that I've posted before, but hopefully some of you will get some enjoyment out of it! Even though nothing too exciting has been going on, I have been working on some projects that I'm crazy excited about. These things have been taking up a lot of my time and thoughts but other than that, here are the things that I've been into!

Favorite Recipe || One of my go to dinners is tacos. I've been making these like crazy. All it has in it is black beans, corn, rice, and salsa. I cook my beans and corn while my rice is in my rice steamer. Once they are all done, I mix everything together with salsa and taco sauce. I add guacamole to a tortilla and add in the mixture. It's so soo good and simple. Also, a lot of you asked in my last 'what I eat in a day post' if my husband eats meat or plant based with me. He does eat meat, but also eats most of the plant based meals that I make. So sometimes when I make this, he adds in taco meat as well. If you want to make this recipe and want meat also, just cook your taco meat and add it on top of the mixture, also add cheese, sour cream, lettuce, etc. as you wish! However, this is amazing as it is, and I hope you all try it out this way too!

Favorite Workout || Hubby and I have been doing P90X. We're trying to change our lifestyle and workout and eat healthy. This workout program is definitely not easy, but I'm excited to have a program to follow! I'm sore as hell as we speak (as I'm typing?) but I'm also excited to get in shape and do good for my body.

Favorite on TV || Is anyone else a Survivor fan?? I've seriously been watching this show since I was like 10 when the first season came out. I got my husband into it as well, and this new season came on tv 3 weeks ago and its sooo good!

Favorite Game || I don't think a lot of you are into games but I'm definitely a nerd at heart. We bought the new Nintendo Switch and I'm completely obsessed with the new Legend of Zelda game. It's so good and we've been anticipating this game for what feels like years! Honestly, this has been taking up a majority of my free time, I'm not going to lie.

Favorite Quote || And lastly, I'm ending this with my favorite quote. I read this the other day and it really hit home. It's something that I needed to read and keep in my mind. I don't think that I've had the best focus lately, and that has been something that has gotten me down mentally reading this quote has definitely help get my mindset right!

I hope you all enjoyed my current lifestyle favorites!

And now I have a question for YOU! For those of my blogger friends who make videos, what video editor do you use? I had some issues with iMovie the last time I tried to use it, and I will try it again, but I'm looking for some other options. I'm seriously the least tech savvy person in the world, and I get super discouraged when I try to figure out things like movie editors and can't figure them out. My husband has a nice one on his computer but it seems really complicated. I would like something easy to use. And I really need to stop using the 'I can't figure out my movie editor' excuse as to why I'm not making videos!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! Do you have any fun plans? Let's chat in the comments!

Foodie Friday | What I eat in a Day

Hello! Happy Friday!

Today I'm sharing what I eat in a day with some of my go to recipes lately. I've been on a health and fitness kick, and I've been really focused on eating healthier and taking care of my body. What you eat is so important in so many different ways, so I hope this post can give you all some inspiration if you need some new ideas, or are stating a healthy journey of your own!

MORNING

I'm typically not hungry when I first wake up, so I like to start my day off with some tea. I've been drinking herbal tea and my favorite has been peppermint!

BREAKFAST

A little while after I'm finished with my tea, I'll start to feel hungry. I'm not the biggest breakfast person, so I like to load up on a ton of fruit. Lately I've been obsessed with mangos, kiwi, and star fruit. Eating a clean and light breakfast is a great way to start your day. Fruit helps to energize your body and stimulate your digestive track!

LUNCH

An hour or two later I like to eat something a bit more filling for lunch. You all know I love Avocado toasts and it's something that I eat almost everyday. Some other options I like to have are a big bowl of oatmeal, or some type of sandwich. The one shown here is a chickpea salad sandwich. It has a similar taste/texture of egg salad. And I also usually have more fruit with my lunch.

PRE WORKOUT

About an hour after my lunch I like to make fresh juice with my juicer. My favorite to make is orange apple juice. Fresh juice is so amazing and totally different from store bought juice. I'm usually still full from my lunch, and having homemade juice gives me lots of energy for my workout. I usually drink my juice about a half hour beforehand.

POST WORKOUT

After my workout I like to drink and smoothie with protein powder. My absolute favorite smoothie recipe is a frozen banana, 4-5 pitted dates, peanut butter, almond milk, and cinnamon. I'm currently using the Garden of Life Raw Organic protein powder in vanilla chai. On days that I don't workout, I'll usually drink my smoothie or orange juice with my lunch, and have one or the other later.

DINNER & SNACK

I always forget to take pictures of my dinners. Since it's winter (and Michigan never sees the sun) it's always dark and gloomy out and my lighting isn't the best. Some of my go to meals are stir fry, tacos, etc. I usually like to load up on veggies for dinner. In the picture on the left is stir fry with zucchini noodles, broccoli, peppers, and mushrooms. I also used the Gardein 'chicken' strips. I'm not usually into the whole fake meat products, but I thought I'd give these a try. They were surprising good, and since I consume very little animal products, it's nice to have other options. The next photo is a flat bread veggie pizza with spinach, bell peppers, banana peppers, and feta. I made this one a few weeks ago, but I'm working on removing cheese from my diet. Feta is definitely great with these mini veggie pizzas though!

I also usually eat a snack sometime at night. I've been obsessed with coconut milk yogurt and I like to  top it with granola and (more) fruit.

So these are my current go to meals right now. Basically, I eat a lot of fruit.

I hope you all enjoyed this post! Let me know what some of your go to meals are in the comments! Also, do you guys want to see more food/healthy eating posts? My tips and tricks to eating a healthy diet?  Share your thoughts with me!

Friday Favorites | Lifestyle

Happy weekend! Today I'm sharing some Friday favorites! I seem to have lots of lifestyle favorites at the moment, while I'm slacking on doing my beauty favorites for 2016. Helpfully next week I will accomplish doing it because even though I said this last week it's already almost the 3rd week in January, bere late than never? I'm going to stow promising now. Let's get into my my Friday Favorites!

Favorite Read || I'm currently reading the Fantasic Beasts and Where to Find Them screenplay. I really enjoyed The Cursed Child screenplay when I read it last summer, so I've been pretty excited about this one too.

Favorite Food || Well, this is actually a drink, but same category. Why I'm not calling this 'favorite drink', I don't really have an answer for. Anyways, my husband and I both have been super into juicing lately. I borrowed my brother in law's juicer and it makes the most amazing juice. It's definitely way better than store bought juice (and healthier!), and I was so amazed by how good and different it tastes from the store bought kind. My favorite so far is oranges and apples combined, or just oranges by themselves. I'm honestly not even a fan of orange juice, but this fresh homemade kind has definitely changed my mind.

Favorite on YouTube || I'm getting back into my fitness routine and have started working out again. I've been loving watching What's in my Gym and Yoga bag videos on YouTube. It's kind of addicting and my nosey-ness comes out like it does when I watch What's in my Purse videos. I don't know why but I've found them to be my source of entertainment on YouTube recently. I especially have loved the Yoga videos, and have enjoyed watching Yoga Essentials videos too. Maybe I'll do my own video someday!

Favorite on Netflix || I've finally gotten around to watching the new Gilmore Girls revival and since it's one of my favorite shows, I'm definitely enjoying it. When it first came on Netflix, I was in the middle of another series and I don't like stopping during a series so that's why it took me so long to watch it. I'm thinking about watching Shameless next, has anyone of you watched it?

Favorite Quote || I saw this the other day and loved it. It's short and cute, and is a reflection of my thoughts right now.

What are you current lifestyle favorites? Share them with me in the comments!

Hello 2017!

Hello lovelies! I hope everyone had a great New Years, and an amazing start to 2017.

Every year that I've been blogging I've done a 'good bye, hello' post for the year that has passed, and to welcome the year that's starting. I feel like I should continue that tradition and give you a peak into my life a bit and what's in store for me in 2017.

I'll start by saying that I was not sad to see 2016 go. 2016 felt very off for me, from the very beginning of the year. Something wasn't quite right and it wasn't something I could pin point. 2016 was good and bad in both subtle ways. Nothing disterious happened, it just felt off. That's all. Speaking of good things- my husband and I bought land to build a home on. My best friend had her baby that I absolutely adore. I was able to do on vacation to California where I had an amazing time. I left a piece of my heart there and I long to return.

And I quit my job that I was at for 6 years. This was something that was definitely a life changer. I was unhappy there, so I put my happiness first and left. But quitting my job didn't bring me the happiness that I thought it would. It was a very hard adjustment from having an income of my own to not. I love my husband to death for being able to support us and my decision, but it was still hard. Going from being able to shop all the time and buy whatever I want was hard on me mentally and emotionally. I was super unhappy for a while and fell into a huge rut. However, now I see it all as a blessing. I have learned SO much from that experience. I learned want vs need. I learned to appreciate what I have. And most importantly, I learned that I don't need things in my life to create happiness. It's a nice and refreshing feeling to think if a certain thing is going to bring value into your life, or create a temporary happiness and clutter. Needless to say, declutter will be a big part of my 2017.

I'm starting off 2017 in bed, with a cold, but I'm not going to let that be a bad start to my new year. I have SO many things and goal planned for this year. Ones that I do not intend to, and flat out refuse to fail at. This is the most motivated that I've felt in a long time, and this incredible feeling is almost enough to bring me to tears of joy. 2017 is going to be absolutely amazing and I cannot wait.

I am still planning to do my top 16 of 2016 best of beauty products, and also a video on the books I read in 2016. I'm a little behind because I've been sick all week, so hopefully I'm not too late to the game on my Years end posts/videos that I usually do.

I also have a ton of things planned for my YouTube channel, where I'll make a video or blog post explaining what I intend to do. I also have other plans that I'm keeping a secret for now, but you'll find out what they are soon. Hopefully you all will stick with me through the journey!

Here's to having an amazing 2017, and I wish for the best year to all of my blog friends!

Fall Night Routine

Happy Friday everyone! What are your plans with weekend? 

For today's lifestyle Friday post, I'm sharing my night time routine. Everything I'm sharing is basically how my night goes almost everynight, and I have to admit that it's also not super exciting. This is everything I do to get ready for bed, etc. 

Snack

I'm usually hungry at night time since I usually don't eat anything until between noon and 2. What I snack on usually varies, but here is some toast with sunbutter and a banana on top and sprinkled with chia seeds. This is also one of my favorite breakfasts, and it's super good with peanut butter too but lately I've been loving sunbutter. 

Relax 

I've become a morning shower person when I want to wash my hair, but I can't go to bed without feeling clean so I like I hop in the bath tub. Twice a week I like to do a face mask. 

Skin care

After my bath, I finish up with my skin care routine. I cleanse with my Cetephil gentle skin cleanser, then tone with my witch hazel, and use my Derma e night cream. I've been trying out the lavender scent of the which hazel I always buy and so far I don't like it as much as the Rose one.

Another relaxing thing for me is to turn on my diffuser and use lavender or peppermint (sometimes I mix them!). I also use these oils everynight on my body too. If I have a headache (most nights), I'll use peppermint to soothe my headache. And I use lavender everynight right before I go to sleep. 

Reading 

I've been making time to read everynight for the past month so or. Usually this happens when I take a bath because I like to sit any relax. I still haven't sat down and invested time to binge on a good book like I want to, but I make sure to at least read a chapter everynight. I'm currently reading Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, which is one of my all time favorite young adult books.

Lastly, after I'm in bed I watch some youtube and Netflix for a while until I fall asleep. Right now I'm re watching 90210 , its my all time favorite show! 

I hope you all enjoyed my less than exciting night routine! I might do an updated morning routine in a few weeks, since my morning routine has definitely changed since my last one that I did a post on last spring! 

Do you have a night routine? Share it with me in the comments! 

Decorating for Fall

Hello! I got super into the Fall mood this week and brought out all my fall decorations and candles. I thought I would take some photos around my house of the decorations I put put and share them for a Lifestyle Friday post. I have some DIY decorations for Fall I was to make, so I'll definitely do posts on those as I do them!

Most of my decor in my house has a 'forest-y' vibe to it and I have tons of bird and owls out all year, so they go perfect with my Fall decorations. 

On top of one of my many book selfs, I put out a Fall candle and a cute scarecrow that I found a few years ago on the dollar section of target. 

On my coffee table I have a cute wicker pumpkin (also from the dollar section of target), with two candles. In the background I threw my plaid blanket scarf over the couch to make it look cozy. 

In in dining room, the wall behind my table has these box selves on each side, with a set of birch tree canva paintings in the middle. For Fall I add in a cute ceramic pumpkin and black cat on each side of the biggest shelves. Everything else you see stays the same all year. On the bottom shelves o have two LED candles that have sticks in the wax, which is very Fall appropriate too. 

In the corner of my dining room, theses too canvas are ones that my niece painted for me and my sister in law put a quote on, which was a wedding gift when we got married. And then there is a wooden vase with some sticks, etc. These are up all year too but I love how the paintings have Fall colors. 

On my dining room table I just have this tray with some candles and an empty candle jar that I decorated with washie tape. I usually fill this with candy corn near Halloween time. 

On my island in my kitchen I have a glass tray, which is definitely more summery, but it seriously is the perfect size to set candles on so I leave it up all year. I just have three of my B&BW fall candles from last year on it. 

OK so here is my windowsill above my sink. This was super hard to get a picture of because my camera didn't want to cooperate with the brightness outside. On one side I have a candle from B&BW from a few years ago, some cute Halloween salt and pepper shakers, and a cute rock that says Happy Fall on it (from Michaels). On the other side I have a Fall ceramic with a scarecrow, a cute owl and pumpkin salt and pepper shaker, and a bird. 

The bird is actually a whistle that you put water in and when you blow into it, it makes a bird calling noise. My cats go crazy over it. 

My mom bought me this super cute kitchen towel this week, and on obsessed. I love how it says 'Happy Pumpkin Spice Latte Season'!! 

I actually hand painted all three of these ceramics! It was a pain in the ass LOL. 

And lastly, I have this cute Fall sign that you can hang up, and I have it hanging from a hook on this self that I have by my front door.

So this is all for my Fall decorations. I realize I'm not the best at taking photos, but I don't have the best lighting in my house (also, this lazy girl uses her phone camera for everything). I hope you enjoyed seeing a peak of what my house looks like in Fall!

*Extra Bits* 

-I had videos planned for this week by my storage on my Mac is full. I need to fix it somehow, because I delete every video on it after its uploaded to YouTube and I don't really know what the issue is. It was enough to say screw it and not upload this week, and I'll bother with it later!

-I only blogged once last week! I just wasn't in to mood and felt uninspired. I think I'm going to go back to my Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule for now. Videos will be up Monday's or Wednesday's, and Friday's will be a lifestyle post. 

-Speaking of Lifestyle posts, I really enjoy doing Friday Favorites, but haven't had much to share lately (because all I do is sleep and play World of Warcraft, literally). I might do them once a month instead, or every other week. 

-And what kind of lifestyle posts do you want to see? I'll do more house things, I'm planning a visit to an apple orchard soon so you'll see that. And I have a Fall reading list post planned. Any other ideas? 

Now that this post is probably way too long, thanks for reading! I hope you all have a great weekend! 

Do you decorate for Fall? Let me know in the comments! 

Friday Favorites | Lifestyle

Happy Friday!

Today I'm sharing my Friday lifestyle favorites. Next week I'm going to test out a new blog schedule. I've been (trying) to post Monday-Friday with Tuesday's and Thursday's being video days. My schedule has been a little wonky since I got back from vacation and I've skipped a few days of blogging. It seems like Thursday's have low activity on my blog and YouTube, so I think I'll be uploading my videos on Mondays and Wednesday's instead, and saving my blog posts for Tuesday's, Thursday's (maybe), and Friday's. I want to keep Friday's for Friday favorites or Foodie Friday posts, but I might skip Thursday's. Let me know what you think!

Speaking of Thursdays- I posted a makeup tutorial yesterday, check it out here if you haven't already!

This week didn't have much going on for me, but it did fly by like always. Let's get into my favorites! 

Favorite Food || I have been obsessed with this new Mediterrian restaurant that opened up by my house a few months ago. We've gone a few times and I can't get enough of it. They bring you this amazing and fresh baked pita bread with hommus and this garlic cream sauce. I always order the falafel plate and a side of rice. They also have fresh juice ans smoothies too! So good! 

Favorite Purchase || I found these super cute Fall and Halloween salt and pepper shakers, and they were only $1 each!! I bought them to set out on my window sill in my kitchen for next month-November, but I doubt I'll actually use them for their purpose LOL! Is anyone else excited for Fall? I'll be sad to see summer go, but Fall is my favorite season and September and October are my favorite months. I love Fall decorations too!

Favorite on Netflix || Did anyone else use to watch Degrassi when they were younger? I loved that show so I was excited when Netflix came out with their own orginal series continuing the show with new characters. I'm watching season 2 right now. I don't think it's as good as the original series (seems a bit cheesy/Disney channel ish?) but I'm still enjoying it! I binged watched season 2 last night LOL. 

Favorite Creation || Everytime we go on vacation I made a sort of picture frame collage with photos, postcards, and little things from our vacation. I thought I'd share the ones I made from our California trip! We did so many things and went to so many places, it took me 5 pictures frames! Here's 4 of them that I made, the 5th one isn't as exciting or creative as these so I didn't take a photo of it. 

Favorite 'Me Time'/Personal || I made it a goal this year to start journaling as a way to get down my thoughts as a stress reliever, and also to just jot down memories so I can go back and read them later. I was doing super good at the beginning of the year and then kind of stopped. I was kind of mad that I stopped, but then I decided I didn't want to feel pressured to write in it either. Anyways- I started using my journal again because I wanted to write stuff down from our vacation so I could read it later and remember how wonderful it was! 

What are some of your lifestyle favorites this month? Let me know in the comments!

I'm linking up with
Amanda from Meet @ the Barre
Lauren from Style Elixir
Heather from Life in Leggings