Five for Friday

Hello and welcome to my Five for Friday! I am linking up with Cup of Tea , Della Devoted , and Bright on a Budget!

1. My brother's birthday was yesterday. I had kind of a crappy day at work and didn't end up getting home until around 4, so we didn't have much time to do anything. My mom and sister did take him to a French bakery yesterday morning, per his request. I did make his birthday cake on Wednesday though. He wanted a chocolate cake, so I made that with an Oreo cream filling. 

While it may not look super exciting, (I couldn't come up with any ideas on how to decorate it.) it sure tasted good! 

2. We went downtown for my brother's birthday dinner last night and we parked right by the capitol building. We haven't been by the capitol building in quite a while (we drive by it all the time, just never go right by it.) So I had to get a picture.

3. I had washed my bed sheets yesterday, and when I went to go remake my bed I had a hard time figuring out what way the fitted sheet went. AND THEN I FOUND THIS MAGIC TAG:

WHY IS THIS NOT ON EVERY FITTED SHEET?

Seriously. SO helpful! (They're these sheets. It wasn't linking directly to the white for some reason.)

4. Netflix just released the trailer for the Little Prince movie. I am pretty excited about it! It's such a wonderful book and I can't wait to see the movie!

5. I didn't get a Wednesday post up, but I did post a review of Wonderland - A Coloring Book! Be sure to check that out!

Hope you have a great weekend! Do any of you have any fun plans?

Wonderland - A Coloring Book by Amily Shen Review

 Alice in Wonderland was always one of my favorite movies as a kid. I was never really into princesses or things like that; I always liked stories that were about exploring and adventures.  

I was very interested when I came across this copy of Wonderland - A Coloring Book by Amily Shen on Blogging For Books!

First off, I was surprised at how well made the book is. The cover you see in the above pictures is a thick dust jacket, and then there is a pretty laminated cover underneath.

The pages are made of nice quality paper, perfect for coloring and not having to worry if your colored pencils or whatever you are coloring with will show through on the next page. 

Each picture is beautifully done and very detailed. If I had to say one negative thing about this book, it would be that some of the pages are a little too detailed! It's a little difficult to get your colored pencil sharp enough to be able to color some of the tiny little places.

This book isn't just a coloring book, it also has a story inspired by the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland running throughout the book.

Overall, I was very pleased with this book and I will definitely be spending some time coloring it's beautiful pages!

I received this book from Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review.

Five for Friday

Hello and welcome to my Five for Friday! I am linking up with Cup of Tea , Della Devoted , and Bright on a Budget!

1. Our local World Market is moving, so I stopped in a picked up a few things this past week. Everything in the store was 10% off, which isn't really that great of a deal, but I had been wanting to go there for a while anyways, so regardless, I still saved a little bit of money. One of the things I bought was this cute little bird canister! I don't know why, but I really like little things with birds on them. (Cute birds, not freaky ones with murder in their eyes. You know which one's I'm talking about ;) )

2. I finally got the rest of my sister's senior pictures done earlier this week! It was really hard finding a time that worked because the light was always wrong. We finally went the other evening and the lighting was perfect! I even got to try out the 50mm lens I got for Christmas and hadn't used yet. 

For the record, I was pretty pleased with the pictures using the 50mm, I think I'm going to have to go out and play around with it some more!

3. You know how sometimes something simple can make life so much easier? I work at a desk, but I am standing and moving around all day long and my desk was really low (the desk top was just below my waist, so it's very awkward and hard on my neck looking down at a computer all the time) I had a nice surprise when I got to work yesterday because my boss finally raised the desk up a few inches! Now it's just above waist-height and so much easier on my neck! It's the small things in life, people! ;)

4. Have you ever had a Dutch Baby Pancake? If not, you NEED to try one!!! It's so buttery and doughy and delicious! We ate ours with fresh strawberries. The great thing about this is you can really eat it with anything! Chocolate, maple syrup, fresh fruit, whatever sounds good! It was so easy and extremely tasty! I used the recipe from from this cookbook. There's a lot of other recipes out there, and they're all pretty much the same, just different ratios. I think you will be pleased no matter what recipe you use, you just need to make one!

5. Earlier this week I shared a Currently post and the April Target Beauty Box review! Check those out if you missed them!

Have a great weekend!

Currently

Watching - I've been watching Disappeared lately. I was so glad when that show started up again! I just find that show so interesting. But besides that, nothing too new or exciting. Everything we were watching either has ended or will be ending. America's Got Talent will be starting at the end of the month, so we'll be watching that.

Wishing - I had some sort of fun summer plans. I keep getting asked what I have planned for the summer and I literally  have nothing planned. Not even any ideas of anything! 

It kind of stinks where we live because we are 5 hours away from the next closest city, so it's a long ways to get anywhere.

Needing - To go out and retake my sister's senior pictures. I took some a while back, but there's a few shots I want to redo. The plan is to get it done later today!

Reading - Stars Over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner. It's not quite what I thought it was when I first checked it out, but so far it's not too bad. I've been having a hard time finding new books to read because all of my favorite authors either don't have any new books coming out, or don't have anything coming out for a while.

Let me know if you've read anything good lately!

Working on - Getting a few blog posts done. I've got a few fun posts coming up soon!

Thinking about - That it's already almost the end of May and that it's been almost an entire year since we went to Europe! How did that happen? I can't believe how fast this year seems to be going by. Are we really almost halfway through the year already?

What have you been up to lately?

April Target Beauty Box

Maybelline Dream Velvet Foundation: This didn't work for me at all. First off, this is the darkest ivory I've ever seen! I have fair skin, and this was too dark for me. It also had a yellowish undertone which wasn't very flattering. And once it started to dry it looked flakey. 

That doesn't look creepy at all.

Laneige Water Bank Soothing Mask: Well, I've never tried a mask like this before, and let me tell you, it sure looked kind of strange! I didn't look as creepy as the person in the above picture, but I definitely didn't want anyone to see me with it on! It feels very slimy and was a bit tricky to get on because it kept flopping around, but once it was on it felt very cool (as in temperature wise haha!). It would probably feel very nice on a hot summer night! It was hydrating, my skin felt nice, and the mask had a pleasant scent to it. Not sure I would actually go out and buy another one of these masks, but it was great for a one time use.

Pantene AIRspray Hair Spray: I had actually been searching for an alcohol free hairspray, so when I heard Pantene had some, I really wanted to try it! Right before I got this one in the Target beauty box, I had purchased the same kind, but with level 3 hold. I did not like the scent on the 3,  it has a strong perfumey smell. I figured this one would smell the same, but it actually has a light, almost fruity scent. WAY better than the 3! 

It does spray kind of weird. Almost like it's too thick or something? Not a light, fine mist like other hair sprays. I really like that it is alcohol free, since most hair sprays dry my hair out a lot, this one didn't! It seems to hold curl pretty well and doesn't leave my hair feeling stiff at all. I do live in a dry climate though, I don't think this would hold up well in a more humid climate.

Hawaiian Tropic Island Sport SPF 30 Lotion: I haven't tried this yet because it hasn't been too hot around here yet. I am pretty familiar with the Hawaiian Tropic brand though, it is one my mom usually bought and it is one of the few sun screen brands that actually works for me. I obviously can't say yet how well this specific one works though. I'm interested in trying it next time I'm around the pool or something! It does have a nice scent and doesn't have that typical sun screen smell.

COVERGIRL Colorlicious Lipstick: It's not my favorite color, definitely not something I would pick out on my own, but not too bad either. It is very smooth and creamy, which is nice. It wasn't drying on my lips like some other lip sticks can be. I also like that it is more of a matte color, not shimmery or glittery. I would definitely check out the other colors!

Marlowe No. 022 Body Butter: I really liked that this lotion was natural and didn't have a bunch of crap in it. It rubbed in really well and wasn't at all greasy. It's so hard to find good lotion that isn't really greasy! I liked the packaging too. It has a nice look and tells you everything you need to know about the product in one place without looking cluttered. 

CeraVe Healing Ointment: I usually avoid products that contain petroleum. I mean, you wouldn't rub gasoline on yourself, so why is it okay in beauty products? But, beside that point, I did try this with an open mind and didn't really care for it. Despite the fact the container says it has a non-greasy feeling, I thought it felt greasy and it didn't rub in very well. It didn't smell at all, which was a plus. 

Honestly though, if you truly wanted a product like this, I think you would be better off with just Vaseline. Price-wise, this is kind of expensive ($15.00 for 5oz.) and it really wasn't any better than any other less expensive option out there.

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes: I thought these wipes worked pretty well. I used them to remove my makeup and they were fine. They didn't leave my skin feeling sticky or dry or anything. The wipes themselves are thick and very soft. 

Overall, April's beauty box was pretty good! I actually liked most of the products! 

Have you tried any of these products? What did you think?