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!

Foodie Friday | Farmers Market Haul

It's been a while since I did a 'Foodie Friday' post, and since I just went to the Farmers Market last night, I thought I'd share a little food haul of what I picked up!

These posts are something I wanted to start doing a while ago, but I always just forget. If you enjoy these let me know, and I'll try to do more!

Back to the post- do you guys go to local farmers markets? It's something I like to do in the summer time. I'd rather buy from local farmers, and know that my veggies and fruit and fresh. Plus they have super good deals!

I took a few photos around the farmers market, but we had a storm during the day yesterday so a lot of them vendors weren't there. I also felt a little wonky taking pictures of the stands so I was tying to be discrete. 

 This one stand had some beautiful sunflowers. 

There's also a park and mill pond right by the market too!

And my favorite bakery is across the street!

Now for my little grocery haul. We picked up two ears of corn, green onions, some cherries, and apricots. 

I got a ton of zucchini. They were 2 for a dollar, and they are huge compared to the tiny ones that are at the grocery store. I'm making zucchini speghetti with my zoodle spiralizer so that's why I got so many. We also bought some fresh salsa with chili lime tortilla chips. And hubby wanted some jerky. I very rarely eat meat, but ugh I love me some jerky! 

There was also some venders selling jewelry and craft stuff too. There was wines, homemade jams and breads, and everything just looked so yummy!

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! I thought it would be something different to share, and a switch up from my normal posts!

I hope you all have a great weekend! 

My Life in June

This year is officially half over. I think we can all agree that time goes by way too quickly. I'm skipping my usual Friday Favorites post today to share my monthly life update!

This June lifestyle post is going to be a little different than my usual ones. I'm not going to share random things that I did, but rather just sit and talk about what's going on in my life. This post is one that I've been looking forward to writing, because I have to much to share. But it's also one that I've been dreading because this is probably the most personal thing that I've written here on my blog. I've been reluctant because I'm really and truly sharing not only a piece of my life today, but a piece of my heart. 

First and Foremost- after a lot of thought, overthinking, discussions with my husband, worry, stress, and tears, I decided to leave my job that I've been at for 6 years. It was a very hard decision, and to be quite honest, it was a decision that I should have made probably 5 years ago. I left for many different reasons which I won't get into, but mainly and most importantly, I left because I wasn't happy and I never have been. I really hate to use the word 'never' because while that is mostly true, it's also not. I worked for a small family owned business, so all of my co workers also became like family to me, and I was like family to them. I became very close with everyone I worked with, and that was very hard to let go of and probably what has kept me there for so long. One of my best and closest friends worked with me, and that alone was enough to keep me there for as long as I was. My heart literally broke when I told my boss that I was leaving. But I also knew that this decision was for the best and that you can only move forward in life, and I couldn't do that while I was there. Leaving also came with lots and lots of tears, but also with a huge relief and weight off my chest. 

So what am I doing now? A little bit of everything, and a little bit of nothing. And I want to say nothing very loosely, I really just mean I've taken a lot of much needed time to relax and focus on myself (more on this later!). Working as much as I did left little time to do things that I wanted to do, and things that I needed to do. For 5 years I only had Sunday's off and having only one day off was very hard to keep up with errands, housework, etc. And in the last year at my job I went down to 4 days and had three days off, but frankly I didn't want to do anything on my days off. I wanted to relax because I knew I had to go to work in the next day and be stressed and unhappy.  

I've always thought of all the things I would want to do if I didn't work so much. I said I would do yoga, I'd workout more, I would have time for housework, to cook healthy meals, I'd have more time for friends and family, I could actually do things on weekends if I didn't have to work every Saturday. My desire for those things was so strong, and I couldn't have them. Now I can and it feels pretty damn amazing. Now I can do all those things. I feel free and excited. 

I've had more time for blogging and YouTube. I use to dread filming videos because they took up so much time. Now I'm actually excited to film and edit. I have so many ideas and dreams that I'm working hard to create and achieve, and I couldn't be more excited. I'm working on some things that I will hopefully be announcing next month and I can't wait to share them with you. 

So basically I've finally put my happiness first when I left my job. It was a first step that I've needed to take for so long. I've been really focused on achieving happiness and working on myself. I've felt this need and will to truly be happy, find inner piece, and work on self love. My heart literally aches with need for those things. I know everyone is always on a journey to find themselves, but my journey has never felt so real. I'm really working on finding things that are important and make me happy. I'm someone who overthinks everything, has anxiety, constantly worries, gets upset too easily over stupid things, and I'm very hard on myself, and I'm just trying to let go of all that. Let go of negative things and be more positive, and truly appreciate all life has to offer. With all that being said, I've also been working on disconnecting from my phone and social media more, especially when I'm spending time with others. When I'm with someone, I don't want to be checking my Instagram and facebook, I don't want to be texting other people. I truly want to focus on who I'm with, even and especially if I'm just spending some time with my husband at home. Also, when I'm by myself I'm trying to disconnect as well so I can focus on the things I'm doing and I how I'm feeling when I'm focusing on myself. Sometimes I just don't want to be bothered and I enjoy my alone time. I don't want to be caught up in the world and other people's lives and drama, and those who bring that to me. I just want to be, and let things be. I've always been someone who enjoys being alone, but I've never fully embraced it. I've realized how important it is to be happy and do what you love, and I honesty couldn't thank my husband enough for helping this be possible for me. 

This post is ridiculously long, but I honesty put a lot of emotion and honestly into this. I've let my heart and emotion out. I'm someone who rarely tells anyone how I truly feel, which is something else I'm working on. I'm learning to embrace my feelings, whether they are good, bad, or ugly. So I really wanted to say thank you to anyone who took time out of their day to read this. And if you've read the whole thing, big props and a big thank you! 

I'm excited and motivated for the future. And like I mentioned earlier, I have a ton of things planned that I'm working on and I will hopefully be sharing them with you very soon! July, I'm coming for you. 

Friday Favorites | Hello June!

Hello! Today I'm doing another Friday Favorites post, and it's the first one of June! I feel super refreshed that it's a new month for some reason. We've had really nice weather lately, and summer is almost here!

I'm going to share some more lifestyle favorites again this week, like I have been for the past two weeks!

Favorite Recipe App || I use to be super into finding new recipes on Pinterest, until I found the Yummly app! It has so many great recipes, and what is awesome about this app is that is lets you customize your diet preferences (ingredient likes and dislikes, vegan, vegetarian, what kind of dishes you like, etc.). It also has an option to add the ingredients of the recipe to a grocery list, and then it makes a grocery list for you! 

Favorite Snack || Staying on the topic of food for a minute, my favorite snack had been these sunbutter cups from free2b. Sunbutter is similar to peanut or almond butter but made with sunflower seeds and no nuts. It's SO good paired with chocolate! These come in dark chocolate and lik chocolate, both are super good but I like the milk chocolate best!

Favorite YouTube Video || I'm a huge fan on Kayln Nicholson on YouTube, and I've been watching her for years. She recently did a video called 5 Ways to get Fit for Summer without a Gym She had some awesome tips in the video that I can't wait to try out. Her channel is just awesome in general, so check it out if you haven't already!

Favorite Accessory || One of my best friends Stephanie made me a beautiful beaded necklace. She was wearing one that she made for herself, and I loved it so much so she made me my own that is similar. It's awesome and looks so great casual or even with a simple black dress! I totally think she should make a ton and sell them on Etsy! 

Favorite Discovery || Has anyone heard of the website called MochiThings ?? I was introduced to this also by my friend Stephanie, after she got this super cute planner from them that came with this leather case/wallet. I totally want one now! They have so many cute things! 

I hope you all enjoyed my Friday Favorites post! I might do a Foodie Friday next week to switch things up a bit, but I'm not 100% sure yet! I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

I'm linking up with Lauren from Style Elixir and Amanda from Meet @ the Barre !

Kindness.

I had a totally different post planned for today. Then I had a spark of inspiration and my heart really felt the need to write this post instead. 

I'm going to talk about kindness. 

Here's a little story first, and this part isn't normally something I would share, and I'm going to keep it short, but it's something I feel like I should share first before getting into the kindness part. 

The other day I felt a little discouraged and beat down by life. It was something that in a sense I couldn't really change, and I felt a little stuck. Ok that wasn't much of a 'story', but that give you a little jist of how I was feeling. 

Fast forward a few- I was okay, content, and made peace. But what really helped me and made me feel better was some kindness that I was shown from others. I didn't tell anyone about why I was upset besides my husband, so seeing these acts of kindness from others towards me, when they didn't even know that I needed it, just really touched my heart. It's easy to be kind to others when you know they need kindness, but to just show kindness to someone just because is really something special. 

I had three different situations where other showed kindness to me, and they just did things to touch my heart and my heart is really swelling with joy. I'm close to tears by how touched I am.

I'm going to share one of the things today, basically because it's just something so simple. And the best part is that they didn't even know how kind they were being to me. One of my friends simply just texted me to tell me that she missed me and that we need to get together soon. She didn't even even realized how much that touched my heart , and I told her how much it did. Mainly because I kind get kind of anti social, and I forget to text or call my friends or family members. It's something that I need to work on. I dont do it on purpose, it just happens. 

So basically what I'm trying to say is that something as simple as a text message from a friend saying they miss you can really brighten someone's day. I know that it did for me.

Kindness is always something that we can chose over anger. Sometimes it might not be easy when we are upset at something, but everyone deserves to have kindness in their life. 

I'm sorry if this was sappy, but sometimes when I feel an emotion so strong as I do right now I just feel the need to write about it. This is something that I would have normally written in my journal and kept to myself, but my heart felt really compelled to share this today. 

My Life in February

Hello! Happy March 1st everyone!

Even with the extra day in February, it went by super fast. I'm sure everyone can agree with me on that! Also- Happy Leap Year!

This is my second monthly life post of the year, and my question to you guys is if you actually like these post and enjoy reading them? I don't want to keep doing these if you guys would rather see more makeup/beauty posts instead. Just curious :)

February really wasn't super exciting other than some good news I'll talk about later in the post. We did get a snow storm last week and got like 16 inches of snow. That was not fun, but I did get to miss a day of work because of it!

My niece (5) and nephew (2) had their birthday party last month. Their birthdays are only two days apart so it's nice to be able to do one party for them since they are still little. My niece always wants barbies now, so that's super easy and fun for me!

My best friend also had her baby shower last month! Super fun and cute. The theme was bees and I loved that. Super excited to meet this little one next month!

I've basically been doing a whole lot of nothing and playing a whole lot of world of Warcraft. I made an Instagram for my screen shots of the game and I'm having so much fun with it. I like to take pretty screenshots of the scenery. I know, I am a dork. 

With being sick at the and of last month and beginning of this one (me and hubby both!) I slightly lost my motivation to workout and do yoga. Hopefully that will change and I'll stop being lazy this month. We just went grocery shopping and got a ton of yummy healthy food so I was kind of thinking of doing some what I eat in a day videos again to help with my motivation. 

Exciting news 

My husband and I bought a piece of property! We've been talking about moving for a year or so, and we knew we wanted some land out in the country. We are in a subdivision right now, which is fine, but we'd like more privacy and not so many association rules. We decided to buy property because we didn't find what we were looking for so next year we are going to start building a house. We want to pay the property off first before we build so I'm super excited. It's out in the woods and a little over 3.5 acres, which isn't huge but since it's all woods and no houses next to us, it's perfect. Also something kind of cool and random, we closed yesterday on Leap Day and four years ago on the last Leap Day we closed on our currently house we live in! I thought that was cool and it must be good luck! 

Also I'm sure you all have experienced or heard about m the mess with google+ comments! I've finally, after a few hours of figuring out how to disable Google comments and install disqus, have made the switch! I'm pretty sure I've lost all of my google comments in the process, but that's okay because I don't want to have to worry about it anymore! I'm also sorry if you left me and comment and I was unable to respond before it got deleted! Also, what blog platform do you guys use? I'm horrible with tech stuff so I'm not sure if I want to switch but I'm just irritated with everything. My blog actually got deleted last week due to a 'mistake in bloggers automated system that I was marked for violating terms'...wtf. I was able to get it back fast but still. 

Anyways- thank you all for reading! I'm looking forward to march and hope find that spring is coming soon! What was the highlight of your February? Let me know in the comments!!

The Little Things #6

Hello! I hope you all had a good week. I'm happy that it's almost the weekend (I work Saturdays so Friday doesn't count for me!). 

I know I did a foodish/restaurant post for my last 'little things' but today I have another one. I wanted to share my favorite bakery that my husband and I go to frequently. 

There's something special about going to one of your favorite places, especially if they have delicious coffee and pastries. 

There really isn't much exciting things in the town I live in. It's small, most of the restaurants and stores are chain ones, etc. It's starting to get built up (slowly), but Crust Bakery is a little gem and I'm always so happy to have places like this close to me. I always feel like we have to drive 30-45 minutes to go anywhere special or unique. 

This picture is from Crust's website, I didn't take it myself! I just wanted to show its cuteness!

They have a huge variety of baked goods, breads, pies, etc. and they also have breakfast and lunch sandwiches, bagels, quiche, soups, and the best lattes. They also ship their baked goods throughout Michigan and to other states as well, but this is their only location. 

The inside is small, but cozy. I love the brick walls, and each table and chair is different from one another. 

It's me and my husbands favorite place to go together. Everything is so delicious. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the inside and the bakery display! Next time I go I will so I care share some more pictures in my next monthly update post! 

Do you have a favorite place like this that you love to go to? 

Extra bits 

-Today is my nephews birthday! The little man is turning 2!

-Sunday is my nieces birthday and she will be 5. She was a Valentine's Day baby. Their birthday party won't be until next weekend, but I'm sure there will be pictures on my Instagram. 

-I was sick last week, and I'm starting to feel better but it's lingering! Thank you for all your well wishes! Now hubby is sick. It's never ending!

-I kind of want to change the title to this series. I like 'the little things' but I don't know. I feel like some of the stuff I'm sharing or wanting to share might not fit anymore. 

The Little Things #5

One of my favorite things to do is go out for a good breakfast. I love going to a bakery for a coffee and a bagel, or a diner with friends. 

However, getting up in time for breakfast on weekends is usually a no no for me. By the time I get around and we go out I usually just want lunch food instead. I'm not a tradition egg, bacon, hashbrown eater for breakfast but once in a while when I do still want breakfast at noon or 1pm I love to indulge in a good waffle or some crepes. 

Last Sunday my husband and I went for breakfast with a few of our friends. It's a fun way to start the day by visiting with others, drinking delicious caramel mochas (I had 2, oops!!), and eating some yummy breakfast. 

I ordered crepes with cherry toppings, and they had a cream cheese/custard filling. This plus the caramel mochas were very rich and I couldn't even finish eating them lol!! They did made some great left overs though! 

Sometimes little things in life are as simple and enjoying ourselves with friends and a good breakfast. This is something that I wish happened more often than it does, but it's always special anyway. 

What's a little thing that made you happy this week? 

The Little Things # 4

Does anyone else get really happy when they are reading a good book? I'm a huge bookworm, so to me finding a good book is like a little slice of heaven. Especially when it's really good and all you want to do is read, and read, and not put the book down. 

I'm currently reading The Traitor's Wife by Allison Pataki. I got into reading Historical Fiction books last year after reading the Tea Rose series. The Traitor's Wife was recommended to me by the same person who recommended me to read The Tea Rose, so I was excited to start this one. 

I'm only 100 pages in, but I'm so excited to see this story progress, and I do not want to put it down. And sometimes when I hear Historical Fiction, I automatically assume it will be boring but this book is definitely not! 

So this week, reading this book is my little thing that is making me happy.

I'm planning on making a video on all of the books I read in 2016 next week. Making book related videos is always something that I've wanted to do on YouTube (even before I wanted to film makeup ones!). I might also do monthly recap videos of what I read for the month. I'm not sure if you guys would be interested in those videos or not but if you are, they will be up on my channel in the near future!

Do you have a favorite book? What's something little that made you happy this week? 

The Little Things #3

Hello! I hope you all had a great Christmas if you celebrated! 

I'm going to keep it simple today and do another 'it's the little things' post, and I'll be back next week with some makeup related things!

If any of you have pets, then you know how dearly we love them. I'm an animal person which I've mentioned countless times. I have two kitties and I love it when they want to cuddle, which is usually only when I'm in my bed or strangely enough, when I'm sitting at my computer desk. They like to crawl all over me and my desk when I'm trying to play my games, stepping on my key board, and swatting at my screen!

Some how, she got up on the top part of my desk *inserts weird emoji face*. 

I think I've shared most of these pictures on my Instagram, but I really just wanted too share my kitties on my blog, because cuddling with them is definitely a little everyday thing that makes me happy. 

What's a little thing that made you happy this week? 

The Little Things #2

Hello! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!

I wanted to thank you all for your sweet comments on last weeks 'The Little Things' post! This is a new blog series that I'm hoping to do once a week (Fridays!) where I share something that made me happy. This series is inspiring by the quote 'it's the litte things in life that make us happy / it's the little things that make life wonderful' etc.  I'm pretty sure all of you who commented on that post mentioned that it was a great post idea so if any of you want to join me, then please do so!!

So yesterday was Thanksgiving. I love holidays because I get to spend time with my family. But I get particularly excited to see my niece and nephew. I don't see them as much as I like to/should so I always get excited when I know I'm going to see them. 

My niece is 4 and my nephew is one. Both have birthdays in February so they will be 5 and 2. I haven't seen them since end of August or early September, so I've been really looking forward to seeing them! 

My nephew is starting to talk so it's super cute. My niece was building something out of Legos here. Not sure what though LOL!

This cutie has informed me she wants Barbies and ponies (my little pony) for Christmas!

So for my 'Its the Little Things' post this week it's spending time with these little ones. They grow up so fast and time goes by way too quickly, so the years of them being little are precious. My niece started preschool this year and I'm just amazed that she's already in school!

What was something that made you happy this week?

The Little Things..

Hello! Today I'm starting a new blog series that I'm hoping to do once a week.  This probably won't be makeup or beauty related, but I like to share bits from my personal life with you all so I'm really excited about this!

We've all heard the saying "It's the little things in life..." that make us happy, that make things wonderful, etc. but how many times have we actually sat down and appreciated them?

So I'm starting this series because I'm trying to not take things for granted, and to also notice 'the little things' that make me happy and that I enjoy. So once a week (I hope!) I'm going to share something little with you guys that made me happy.  In a world that has so much negative and bad things going on, I think it's important to focus on the positive things!

So today I'm going to talk to you about breakfast. Yes, I said breakfast. But particularly breakfast from Panera Bread. 

I've never been a huge breakfast person. I actually dread breakfast sometimes. But a little thing that makes me happy is going to Panera in the morning and getting an egg soufflé and a latte. 

I'm not a huge egg person but I could devour 50 of these things. These are little heavens in a cup that's way more calories than I'd like to admit, also not the healthiest breakfast choice. But to me they are worth the splurge. So freaking delicious. I go to Panera at least once a week and get one for breakfast before work. It's slightly embarrassing when someone who works there comes into your work and says 'hey you come into my work like everyday!!' *inserts blank faced emoji here*. Why yes, I would come in everyday and eat a soufflé if it was socially acceptable. 

I also get excited for holiday drink cups. The ones at Panera are super cute and that is also another little thing that makes me happy!! Also please excuse the fact that these photos were taken in my car lol!!

So what kind of things can you expect from me in this post series? Literally anything and everything. It will be anything from a book I read, a quote that I liked, food things like I showed today, something someone said to me, pictures of my cats doing something cute, etc. I think a few of my blog friends use to do similar posts like this, but if anyone wants to join me in this post series please do so!

I've been kind of uninspired lately so I'm really excited that I've found some inspiration!

What is something that made YOU happy this week?