Hiking

My brother's birthday was last weekend and since he took the day off, he wanted to go for a hike. 

We drove up into the hills and hiked for a couple of hours. The sun was out at first which made it feel pretty hot, then the clouds came in and it cooled down and felt much better! Of course the sun was out during the first part of our hike, which is all uphill! 

Anyways, we had a nice time hiking and it was nice to see the hills all green and nice looking. During the summer the grass dies and then everything is just brown and ugly. 

We even saw a weird looking lizard. And lots of cows. There is a gate you go through on the trail and then there are cows grazing all around. It's kind of creepy walking along and having cows staring at you! 

April Ipsy Glam Bag Review

LABORATOIRES FILORGA Meso-Mask Smoothing Radiance Mask: I liked this mask. The formula was a bit different than other masks I have used as it was kind of creamy feeling, but it was not drying or anything. It left my skin feeling really soft and smooth and my face just felt really nice after using it.

PURLISSE BEAUTY Coconut Oil + Coffee Sugar Body Scrub: I really liked this! I have made my own sugar scrubs in the past and like them, so this was nice to get. It's super moisturizing and leaves my skin feeling really soft and smooth. My only complaint is that the sample wasn't big enough!

NYX PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP Soft Matte Lip Cream in Stockholm: I did not like the color of this. It was way too brown looking and just really ugly. Definitely a disappointment.

MANNA KADAR COSMETICS Eye Candy Priming Shadow Stick in S’more: The color of this was a bit dark for my liking, and it doesn't have very good staying power. It smears and creases and is easy to just wipe off. It just really doesn't last long at all. 

STEVE LAURANT BEAUTY Blush in Rosé All Day: I received this in Rosé All Day: I liked this blush. The pink shade was just right for me as it has a cool undertone. I was afraid it was going to be a really bold pink, but it's easy to apply subtly or do more of a bolder blush if that is something you like. Overall I liked it. 

Overall this was a pretty nice bag. I really liked 3/5 products, with the eyeshadow stick being my least liked. I did like the other colors available in the lip cream, but unfortunately I ended up with the worst color. Overall not a bad bag.

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!

1. So last Saturday was my brother's graduation. The ceremony was good although I missed getting a picture of my brother being handed his diploma. They were ushering everyone through the line so quickly that by the time they read his name he had already grabbed his diploma and gone! And since everyone is dressed the same it was really hard to tell who was who!

Anyways, we met up with a few of his friends afterwards and we took a bunch of pictures before we went out for a nice lunch.

2. My brother decided the day before graduation that he wanted to have a barbecue on graduation day. So I had to run to the store and pick up some things. But the cake I made turned out SO good! (I used this recipe.)

3. Now this weekend we get to see my sister graduate! She's getting her AA and graduating with a double major in political science and criminal justice. She's also graduating summa cum laude! She's worked really hard and is happy to finally be done with the seemingly endless homework!

4. I found these Red Vines while at the grocery store yesterday and they are so good! They use all natural ingredients (like actual sugar and radish juice for the dye) and they taste like the regular Red Vines! 

5. In case you missed it, earlier this week I shared about our day in Washington DC! You can see part 1 here and Part 2 here!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Washington DC Part 2

Click here for part 1

After visiting the WWII memorial we started walking along the reflecting pool towards the Lincoln memorial.

As we neared the reflecting pool we noticed a bunch of large pictures displayed all around. We learned that they were part of an exhibit in collaboration with the Holocaust museum (read image below.)

The exhibit was very interesting. Unfortunately on the day we were there the weather was windy and rainy and quite a few of the pictures had blown over. 

Every image had a bit of information about the person who was photographed. Some had nothing, some had very short descriptions, and others had long lists of all they had been through. It was incredibly moving to see the images and read what these people had gone through. 

The Lincoln memorial was pretty crowded (the inside area was), so we just walked up the steps, took a few pictures and then headed over to the Korean war memorial.

It started raining pretty good at this point and we were not really dressed for rain. We had rain coats, but none of us wore shoes that were appropriate for the weather. We had brought an umbrella with us in our suitcase, but of course we had forgotten to bring it with us this day!

The rain started to let up as we left the Korean war memorial, so we started walking over to the White House. But as we reached the White House the rain started coming down pretty hard. 

We were a bit surprised at the fact you couldn't get very close to the White House anymore. When we visited 10 years ago you could walk right up to the fence, but now there were two different barriers which put you about 10 feet away from the fence itself.

We quickly took our pictures before hurrying into a nearby gift shop to get out of the rain. 

After spending some time in the gift shop, we decided to go find someplace to eat lunch. There was a Pret nearby so we just decided to eat there.

After a late lunch we just wandered around a bit as we made our way along Pennsylvania Avenue. 

We made sure to stop by Paul bakery, a place we enjoyed when we were in France, for some French treats before going over to the Air & Space museum.

The museum was pretty crowded and we kind of just wandered through the exhibits without spending too much time there.

The last thing we did was visit the Capitol building. When we visited 10 years ago we never did make it up here, so it was neat to finally see it up close. 

There were a few people in the front of the Capitol taking pictures, but we walked around the backside and there was no one there. So if you are visiting the Capitol, make sure you walk to the back as well!

It was getting late, as well as cold and windy by the time we finished with our pictures at the Capitol. We ended up just deciding to go eat dinner.

We went to Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill, which, despite having good review, was extremely disappointing. Definitely do not recommend eating there! 

Anyways, we had a fun day in DC and even though we walked a lot (12 miles!) and saw a lot, there is still SO much more to see and do!

Have you ever visited Washington DC?