Visiting Berkeley Plantation

Back in October we took a trip out to Berkeley Plantation. The plantation was built in 1726 and has quite an interesting history! The first Thanksgiving was here (a whole year before the pilgrims.) and focused completely on prayer instead of food.

The plantation is also home to several presidents: William Henry Harrison, the 9th president, and his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, who was the 23rd president.

Taps was written here, the area was also one of the first shipyards in the new world, and it's also home of the first whiskey distillery.

You can read more about the plantation's history here.

Pictures weren't allowed inside the plantation house, so the following pictures are all of the grounds. The tour of the house was interesting and our tour guide was friendly and did a good job talking about the house and the grounds. 

We also found out while on the tour that a movie was being filmed nearby, and the grounds of the plantation were being used for the cast and crew. And I believe some of the movie was being filmed at the plantation as well. 

Two of the guys who were working on the movie were on the tour with us and they were really interesting. We ran into them later and talked to them again. We could have talked to them for quite a while as the one guy (the other one didn't really talk) was just full of information about the area, history, and the movie they were making. 

Anyways, back to the pictures! The sun was just starting to go down which made for some interesting lighting. You'll notice some lens flare (which looks like rays or dots of light.) in several of the pictures. I think it looks kind of neat!

October Ipsy Glam Bag Review

YENSA Tone Up Primer: This primer surprised me. I don't know why but I was expecting to not really like this. I guess because I had never heard of the brand before? (Poor excuse really, but just being honest!) But I ended up liking it! It's quite tinted (a darkish tan color like the bronzer packaging in the below image.) but it blends and covers well. It evened out my skin and did a great job at reducing the appearance of pores. 

I probably wouldn't go out and purchase this on my own, but it was a great sample to receive.

THEBALM COSMETICS Take Home the Bronze in Oliver: This bronzer is okay. The color is pretty light and not very shimmery or anything. It's just okay. Nothing spectacular or anything but it's something I'll use up.

MAKE UP FOR EVER Ultra HD Liquid Foundation in R230: I liked this foundation. It was just the right color for me; which I was a bit surprised about! It is a somewhat light foundation coverage-wise, which is okay for me. I don't usually like anything too heavy or too light, just enough to kind of even out redness which this did.

APHRODITE Olive Oil Deep Cleansing Face Mask: This mask didn't have the greatest smell. And it did feel pretty oily when applying to my skin and after I washed it off. I really just didn't care for this. I didn't notice any difference in my skin after using it, but it didn't make me break out or anything either. I really just didn't like the oily feeling it left. I mean, okay, it's an olive oil mask, but I don't want to feel like I literally just put olive oil on my face, you know?

SUGAR COSMETICS It's A-Pout Time! Vivid Lipstick in Better Call Salmon: I thought this color was pretty. It's not too bright but it's not too dark either. It's just a nice color and one I can see myself using often.

I was a bit behind in posting this review as it took me a while to try out each of these products. Overall though this was a pretty decent bag with the face mask being the only item I didn't really like.

Have you tried any of these products?

Five for Friday

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

1. Last Friday we went and picked up a Christmas tree. We went to a tree farm to cut down our own tree. It's been a while since we've been able to do that (it's just not the same going to a tree lot!). It took us forever to get there because Apple Maps took us on the most ridiculous route on all of these back roads. Like the we're-going-to-be-murdered-out-here-in-hicksville kind of back roads.

Anyways, we arrived safely and were able to get a tree! The place was pretty busy and it was really cold! None of us dressed warm enough, so we tried to be quick about picking a tree! 

And then when we left we just followed everyone else and there was a way quicker route that took us probably a third of the time to get back to the freeway. So we are SO DONE with Apple Maps!

2. We ended up celebrating Thanksgiving on Saturday so my brother could come down. He had to work Wednesday and Friday, so he wasn't able to be here for Thanksgiving, so it just worked out better that way. 

We had a nice Thanksgiving. All of the food was very good! I brined the turkey again and it turned out so good. It was very flakey and tender. Even though someone way overcooked it. (not naming names but it wasn't me. ;) ). 

After eating we did some shopping and came back to eat pie!

3. We had to go out to Virginia Beach on Monday (if you saw my Instagram story you saw why.) but anyways, it was my first time out there and it was nice to see the beach! It rained all morning and was really windy so we didn't stay too long. We walked along the beach (and right into the wind!) for a little bit before turning back. 

4. Thought I would share that Amazon has three months of Kindle Unlimited for only $0.99! I've never used Kindle Unlimited before, but three months for only $0.99 is a pretty good deal! I already have a long list of books to try!

(And if the first link there doesn't work, try this one: Kindle Unlimited deal. I was trying to find a link that wasn't using someone else's promo code, but it won't let me view the link since I already purchased it.)

5. And because this is too funny not to share, here is a squirrel story for you!

My sister was up in the third floor/attic room playing a video game when she heard noise over by the window. Glancing over she sees this:

My sister, of course, started taking a bunch of pictures! The squirrel hung around for a little while before eventually falling all the way down. My sister said once he hit the ground he took off running (probably embarrassed haha). 

I really just can't believe that happened and every time we think about it we laugh because it's just so ridiculous!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Five for Friday

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

Since it's been a couple of week since I've done one of these, so I'm going to do a bit of catching up!

1. On Halloween we didn't do anything, but I did make some cupcakes! The pumpkin patch ones didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, but they all tasted good!

2. I placed a Sephora order a little while back and they had an offer where you could get a bag full of a bunch of samples and I got this one! I always wait to place Sephora orders for when they're offering good free stuff and this was definitely a great one! I already use the Caudalie Vinosource Moisturizing Sorbet and really like it, so I was happy to be able to get a travel sized one. And I've tried the Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray and was surprised at how good it works!

3. We voted last week. I think this was my first time voting on voting day. When we lived in Washington you can only vote by absentee, and in Idaho we always did early voting, so it was really odd having to wait in a long line! I think it ended up being about an hour and a half. It was really surprising to see just how many people showed up to vote!

And afterwards Sugar Shack was giving away free house doughnuts if you wore your I Voted sticker, so we had to stop by for that! I got an Oreo doughnut, which was delicious!

4. I've gotten some ridiculous packaging from Amazon before, but this order my mom received was by far the craziest! I'm not sure what the point was in sending such a massive box for two small things!

5. In case you missed it I shared a book review, and then on Wednesday I share about our day trip up to Washington DC!

Hope you have a great weekend!