Friday, June 30, 2017

Five for Friday

Hello and welcome to my Five for Friday! I am linking up with Cup of Tea Bright on a BudgetDella Devotedand BYBMG!

1. My brother recently got back from a trip to Europe, and he brough back a bunch of fun gifts! 
Belgian chocolates.
Vintage poster | Postcards | Berry scented candle (it smells so good! | and cookies for the family. The Lu ones are my favorite! Those you can buy in the US. They have a handy product locator on their website if you want to buy them! The Pim's are kind of like a little cake, with a layer of jam, and then covered in chocolate. SO good!

2. Are you doing anything for the Fourth of July? I'm planing on barbecuing, but that is probably it. Last year we went downtown and watched fireworks, but the park downtown where they usually host fireworks has had flooding issues, so the fireworks got moved to the fairgrounds, which is out of the way for us and no one wants to drive up there. So no fireworks watching for us! 

3. I made a chicken pot pie for dinner last night and it turned out so good! I don't make chicken pot pie very often because it takes forever to make and never turns out quite how I want it. I came across this recipe, and decided to try it. I even used her crust recipe too and it was all very good! I did forget to add the peas to it (if you read the recipe you'll probably understand why!) and I did add some mushrooms, but otherwise very good! The crust was very flakey too. Definitely recommend if you have the time! 
4. Now that I'm getting so many makeup samples from Ipsy and occasionally the Target beauty box, my makeup stash was getting to be such a mess. I was holding out on organizing until I could get to Ikea, but I don't know when that will be happening. I just couldn't take the mess anymore! 

I stopped by Walmart and picked up one of these small drawer organizers and it has definitely helped at getting all of my stuff organized! All of the organizers I have seen have it so your eyeshadows and powders are standing up, but it seems like any loose powder is going to get all over the place, so I just wanted a way to lay all of that stuff flat. So the little drawers definitely help! Maybe not the prettiest option, but definitely useful!

5. I found some organic heavy cream for a really good price at Fred Meyer, and I decided to make some ice cream with one carton, and caramel sauce with the other! I made caramel sauce once quite a few years ago and everyone liked it (I'm not really a fan of caramel, but the rest of my family loves it.) so I figured I would try it again! (I used this recipe) It turned out pretty good! Although the recipe wasn't very helpful, I couldn't remember if you are supposed to stir the sugar and water part or not, and I did a little bit (you aren't supposed to.) But I did remember to warm the cream. 

So, if you try making caramel, do not stir the sugar and water, and heat the cream, then pour slowly into the sugar and water while whisking quickly!
Hope you have a great weekend!
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Friday, June 16, 2017

Five for Friday

Hello and welcome to my Five for Friday! I am linking up with Cup of Tea Bright on a BudgetDella Devotedand BYBMG!

1. We got back from visiting my grandparents in Washington last week. It was way too short of a trip! We really only had three full days there, plus two days of driving. We did get to see my aunt and cousins one day which was really nice!

It's a 10 hour drive one way (but ended up being 12 going there and coming back.) It's pretty much one of the longest, most boring drives ever. And there really is nothing to look at.

We did get a little sneak peek at Mt. Hood though!
2. It was nice at first when we were leaving my grandparents house, because all the mountains were out! We saw Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt Hood! And we also stopped by Multnomah falls. It's just right off of the freeway, so we just stopped, took a few pictures and got back on our way!
3. My grandparents love to feed the birds and I couldn't believe how many gold finches there were! All day long there were just tons of them!
4. Summer is most definitely not my favorite season. In fact, it's probably my least favorite season! (I hate hot weather.) But one thing I do enjoy is fresh berries! Costco has had the best organic strawberries lately. I just can't get enough of them! So if I have to pick one thing I do enjoy about summer, it would be fresh berries!
5. In case you missed it, I shared a review of my May Ipsy glam bag!

Hope you have a great weekend!
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Monday, June 12, 2017

May Ipsy Glam Bag Review

Adesse New York Organic Infused Gel Effect Nail Lacquer in Surfer Girl: I liked the color okay, but it goes on really streaky and I had to use three coats before it stopped looking bad. The formula is very runny. I used it on my toes and I'm glad I didn't waste the time using it on my fingernails because I don't think it would have looked very good. After the three coats it looked fine, but it's more trouble then I like to go to to paint my nails.
Mellow Cosmetics Creamy Matte Lipstick in Nude: The color is very close to my natural lip color and almost unnoticeable on me. But I'm not saying that's bad! I didn't mind the color. I don't know that I would go so far as to call it moisturizing, but it wasn't particularly drying either.
Urban Decay Afterglow in Sin: I don't use highlighter, so I don't really have a use for this. I have fair skin and this kind of just blended in with my skin and was faintly shimmery. I've tried other highlighters that just looked too white, but this shade was okay. 
IT Cosmetics Superhero Elastic Stretch Volumizing Mascara in Black: I am super picky about mascara, especially when it comes to the wands. Overall I would say this is okay. On a scale of 1-5 I'd probably put this at a 3. It did seem to make my lashes look a little fuller, but it seemed like once it dried my lashes kind of drooped a bit, like the formula was too heavy. I also didn't care for the brush. It was kind of wide and bushy. I prefer one with a tapered end which makes it easier to get into the inside corner of the eye, this brush was straight and flat on the end, which held a glob of mascara. The formula itself is not gloopy and it did not flake off either. So overall it's an okay product.
Jelly Pong Pong Supercharged Super Intense Eyeshadow Duo in Electric: To be honest I wasn't thrilled when I saw I was going to be getting this in my glam bag. These were way too shimmery and glittery for me and I didn't really care for the colors.
Overall this was just an okay glam bag. Nothing really jumped out at me as being a really great product. 

Have you tried any of these products? What did you think of them?
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Friday, June 2, 2017

Five for Friday

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

I guess it has been a little while since I've done a Five for Friday. Or blogged at all for that matter! I just really have not had much to talk about lately. Which kind of stinks, I do like blogging, but I guess that is just the way life is sometimes. 

1. We didn't really do anything over Memorial Day weekend. My brother's birthday was Friday, so we celebrated by eating out three times that day. haha! We went to a local French bakery for croissants for breakfast, Panera for lunch, and Flying Pie pizza for dinner. My brother requested a chocolate cake, so I made that!
2. The June Target Beauty box was released earlier this week, and they also had a box for men! I picked up the womens' box, and my brother ordered the mens' box.
3. I made some granola a couple of days ago and it turned out SO good! I have a hard time finding things to eat for breakfast. I just usually am not hungry in the morning. I'll have a cup of coffee and then I usually have a protein shake later, but that gets kind of old every single day. The protein shake. Not the coffee. Coffee never gets old. ;)

Anyways, I combined a few different recipes and came up with some maple & brown sugar granola. I added some toasted pecans to it later, and I also would like to add in some toasted almonds, but I didn't have any at the time. The granola is pretty soft and so good! I don't usually like granola since it's typically so hard (last time I made some, my jaw hurt for two days it was so chewy and crunchy) but I am just so pleased with how this turned out! I'll be sharing the recipe soon!
4. There is a canal that runs through one of the neighborhoods we walk through, and there have been so many little families of ducks lately! They are pretty fun to watch. Usually we see them swimming around, but these guys apparently needed a break!
5. Everyone had been raving about Halo Top, so when I spotted it on sale at Fred Meyer, I thought I would give it a try! I really wasn't sure what to expect flavor wise, I had heard a few people say it has kind of a funny taste, but I thought it was really good! There wasn't very much cookie dough in it, so that was disappointing, but otherwise the flavor was pretty good!
Hope you have a great weekend!
Also, I can't believe it is June already!