Five for Friday

Hello! I am linking up with Della Devoted, Coffee With Caitlin, Cup of Tea and Bright on a Budget for another edition of Five for Friday!

1. I don't drink pop very often, but I discovered this cherry Pepsi at the store the other day. I was happy to see it was made with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup! It tastes pretty good! I also thought it was kinda weird that my nails sorta matched the can. Haha. What are the chances of that?

2. I figured out some of my carry-on items for my trip to Europe. After our trip I will have to do a post about what I packed.

3. We also picked up our European money. Doesn't it look so much prettier than American money? Although some of the newer bills are starting to look neat.

4. I finished the Duolingo French a while ago. I learned a lot although the program is very frustrating. I'm glad my brother is going to be home soon so he can teach me! I would really like to maybe someday be able to speak it somewhat fluently! I wish I had started learning it when I was younger, it would've been so much easier! So if you're a parent, make your kid learn a foreign language when they're young!

5. I really like this hand cream from Trader Joe's. It's SO dry here and I hate having dry hands! I've tried tons of lotions over the years and this is the only one I have found that actually will absorb into your skin fairly quickly. It's pretty inexpensive and isn't full of a lot of crap like most lotions are.

Have a great weekend!

Favorites

So, I know favorites posts are pretty popular and since I've never done one before, I thought I would give it a shot! 

I don't think it'll be a  monthly feature or anything (since I don't buy new things very often.) but it's definitely something I will do again!

Anyways, here are a few things I have been really liking lately!

-This vanilla ice cream candle from Ikea. It smells just like vanilla ice cream and it's great! 

-This lilac colored nail polish. I think it's a great color for spring and summer! It goes on smoothly and is pretty inexpensive.

-The Tonight Dough ice cream. It's just so good!

-This app called Rain Rain. It has all kinds of rain and nature type sounds. Rain, rain on a window, heavy rain, ocean waves, thunderstorms, wind. It's nice to listen to when you just want some background noise! And it's free!

-These cookies. I never buy cookies, but these are an exception! They're so good! They come in dark chocolate and milk chocolate. I've had both and I prefer the dark chocolate. World Market has them as well as Fred Meyer (Kroger or Fry's depending on where you live.) They're in the international section. 

What items/products are you enjoying lately?

Chocolate, raspberry and peanut butter protein shake

I am not much of a breakfast eater. I don't care what anyone says, I just don't like to eat much in the morning. I don't really care for eggs, so it is hard to find something to eat for breakfast that has protein. 

I like smoothies/protein shakes, and this is the one I have been making a lot lately!

Chocolate and raspberry is good. 
Chocolate and peanut butter is good.
Peanut butter and raspberry is good.

So why not put it all together?

I don't really measure everything, but basically I just use:

-1 cup soy milk (or any type of milk you like)

-About 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

-1 scoop vanilla protein powder*

-1 heaping tablespoon of peanut butter

-2 handfuls of spinach

-About 1/2 cup frozen raspberries

*you could use chocolate protein powder and omit the chocolate syrup if you would like.

Blend until smooth.

Enjoy!

Five for Friday

Hello! I am linking up with Della Devoted, Coffee With Caitlin, Cup of Tea and Bright on a Budget for another edition of Five for Friday!

1. I pulled out my camera equipment to try to figure out what to bring on our upcoming trip to Europe. I hope I have enough memory cards! ;)

2. So I made some pancakes and topped them with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. They were SO good! I think one of my favorite things about summer is all of the fresh berries!

3. Ikea. I think that is definitely one of my favorite stores! I always find something I need there. We stopped at the store in Renton and here are the things I picked up!

4. So, since I got new picture frames, I had to put them to good use!

5. After we went to Ikea, we stopped at Panera for dinner. I was really happy to learn that they're opening one not too far from where I live! Anyways, we all enjoyed our meals. I've been maybe 6 or 7 times and I haven't had a meal I didn't like. It's definitely a favorite for us!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Flowers

My grandparents have an awesome garden. My grandpa grows all kinds of vegetables and my grandma has flowers all around the house.

I had forgotten how much I liked (and missed seeing!) rhododendrons! They're so pretty and my grandma had them in a bunch of different colors. They also had a snowball tree, which was really pretty!

Washington

We drove over to my grandparents house over Memorial day weekend. We hadn't seen them since last summer, and we had been trying to get over there to visit for a while. But then with everything that happened with my dad, it just didn't happen. It was so nice to finally go over and see them!

We left on Thursday, and it took us almost 10 hours (yes, 10 long hours!) to get there! Fortunately the weather was nice.

Friday afternoon, my mom, sister and I drove over to my mom's cousin's house. My mom hadn't seen her for years and Hannah and I had never met her, although we have been facebook friends for years. It was so great to finally meet in person! I really enjoyed chatting and hearing all of the stories she had to tell! (If you haven't figured it out already, I love hearing stories!)

Every Memorial day, my grandparents go around and leave flowers on the graves of family members and friends who have passed away. So on Saturday, they took my mom, Hannah and I with them. It was interesting hearing all of the stories and learning some family history. 

My grandpa was driving and took us all over the area. He showed us where he grew up, where my great grandma went to school, and even the house my grandparents lived in after they were first married. It was pretty interesting seeing all of those things!

Hearing all about the family got me thinking about my grandparents. So then I started thinking about pictures and I realized I had never seen any pictures from when my grandparents were first married. So once we were back at their house my grandma brought out some old photo albums filled with old pictures! 

It was so cool seeing all of my grandpa's school photos growing up, pictures of my grandma as a little girl, as well as pictures of my great aunts and uncles.

My grandma is on the right and her sister Ellen is on the left.

My grandma is on the left, her sister Ellen is on the right, and their dad is in the middle.

I was very excited to learn some family history, hear all of the stories, and see all of the pictures! 

We spent the remaining few days at my grandparents spending a lot of time talking. Which is always good! 

On Monday afternoon, we headed up to Seattle because we wanted to stop by Ikea before heading home. We picked up a few things, went to Panera for dinner, and then spent the night in a hotel before heading home the next morning.

The weather wasn't too bad until we got near Idaho where there were severe thunderstorms and heavy rain. It was raining so hard you almost couldn't see the road! It was pretty crazy. 

We had a fun time and hope to go back over to visit sometime again this summer.

Five for Friday

Hello! I am linking up with Della Devoted, Coffee With Caitlin, Cup of Tea and Bright on a Budget for another edition of Five for Friday!

1. I bought some water color paints a few weeks ago and decided to try them out. I always like the way water color paintings look, so I thought it would be fun to give it a try! 

2. America's Got Talent started this past week. Did you watch it?  We've been watching it for quite a few years. I think it's interesting to see all the different acts! I just hope they don't show too many stupid acts this year!

3. I spent last night doing some blogging, eating ice cream and watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2. I'd say that's a good way to end the day!

4. I found this recipe for croissants on Pinterest and I really want to try to make them. It doesn't look as hard as I thought it would. Just time consuming. I bet homemade croissants would be SO good!

5. Summer has definitely arrived here! It's supposed to get into the 90's this weekend! I am SO not looking forward to that! I am definitely a Washington girl. Anything over like, 75 is hot for me! I would never survive in the south, where you have the heat and humidity!

Hope you have a great weekend!