Thursday, June 30, 2016

Owlcrate June 2016: Royalty

Happy Thursday Friends! I hope your week is going well and you are looking forward to this long weekend! We are planning to spend the weekend around the house and getting more boxes unpacked.  We are finally moved out of the apartment, so this weekend will be spent relaxing and getting more boxes emptied.  If possible, my goal is to get all of the boxes empty by the 4th, but I think that may be a little aggressive.  We will see though!


Today I wanted to share with you a little bit a about what I got in my June Owlcrate! I have already started wearing some the bracelet because I love it so much! 

So here is a little video of what I got in the box! 





In the box:


So that is everything that came in the box! Isn't it so fun? I cannot wait to start reading the book and have already put it on my Goodreads TBR list.  And I have already put my coaster to good use and cannot wait to use the magnet at work.

If you are interested in trying Owlcrate, check out their site.  I believe they are still doing 10% off for new subscribers by using the code NEWMEMBER.


Up Next Month.....

Good vs. Evil! This box is going to be so cool because there will be two different boxes! I will either get a Good box or an Evil box which I am super excited about! Justin actually joked about getting a box so we could try to get one of each box.



Question of the Day: What are you reading right now?

I'd love to hear from you!


Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. Read my full disclosure policy here.





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Wednesday, June 29, 2016

What's Up Wednesday #11

Happy Wednesday Friends! Today I am linking up with Mix and Match Family, Sheaffer Told Me To and The Larson Lingo for the What's Up Wednesday Post.  What's Up Wednesday occurs on the last Wednesday of every month and it is a fun list of questions getting ready for the upcoming month!



What We're Eating this Week
Last night for dinner, Justin and I had baked chicken nuggets, baked potatoes and rolls.  It was so easy to make and so delicious.  I think next time I make them, I will trade out the egg for a healthier alternative since eggs tend to make it a bit on the fatty side.  For the baked potatoes, we just threw them in the microwave for about 10 minutes and they were ready to go! What a great meal that did not take too long to make!



What I'm Reminiscing About
We have had so many fun times at our apartment, it's kind of hard to believe we are moving.  But I am also super excited that we have finally bought a house and are starting our journey to home ownership! We will be getting sprinklers and sod sometime in July and then I think our house will finally feel like a house.  






What I'm Loving

I just started the #TIUBikiniSeries Workout Round 2 and a diet bet and it has been so awesome! I love how challenging the workouts are and I love the amount of support I have been getting from all of the ladies also participating in the challenge.  



What We've Been Up To
Honestly, we have just been unpacking and moving for the past 30 days and the last month has seemed to drag on forever.  And we are still not done with the move yet.  Thankfully, tonight should be my last ever time heading to the apartment to clean/get stuff out.  It was a good home to us for 3.5 years, but I am ready for the next journey!


What I'm Dreading
Not too much actually! Life is feeling pretty good right now.


What I'm Working On
Some of my girlfriends have asked me to knit them these super adorable ponchos so I have been working on those ponchos! I cannot wait to see how the first one turns out! The pattern itself is simple enough, but I also feel like I am getting challenged a little bit as some of the stitches are a little more complicated that I was originally expecting.  I also will be knitting a baby blanket for my cousin since her baby shower is next month!



What I'm Looking Forward To
I'm looking forward to my trip to Traverse City with Kim next month! It is going to be so fun to just get away for a long weekend with some girls and do things like wine tours, Sleeping Bear Dunes and bon fires.  I cannot wait!



What I'm Watching/Reading

Back in May, I went on the SMASH Retreat and one of the things they suggested to keep the girls connected was to read the book For the Love by Jen Hatmaker.  We are having our first get together next week, so I will be spending some time this weekend reading my chapters and getting ready for our get together.


I am also in the process of listening to the last 5th Wave Book: The Last Star.  The book was released on May 24th and the plan was to buy the book, but my commute is so much longer now and Justin wanted to read the book too, so we downloaded it and have been listening to it together. 



What I'm Listening To
Lots and lots of Audible right now!


What I'm Wearing
I have been SO addicted to LuLaRoe lately! My best friend started selling it and I cannot get enough.  Right now I am loving their Nicole dress and the Leggings and I find myself shopping for them all the time.  I think the leggings I am most excited about is my Captain America leggings that I am planning to wear for the Infinity Gauntlet challenge in November! 



What I'm Doing this Weekend
With it being the holiday weekend, we are planning to just enjoy the long weekend.  Since we have not had a chance to really unpack the house, we will be spending time getting things put together, cleaned, organized and just generally put together.  I am also hoping that we can make our way to Ikea/Target at some point to get some organization stuff for my future craft room!

Take a look at some of my inspiration ideas on Pinterest!




Bonus: What is your favorite 4th of July tradition/recipe?
My favorite tradition around 4th of July is going Up North with my family, but it looks like we will be just hanging out around here this year for the second year in a row.  That's okay though! Maybe we will have a pool party at my in-laws or something.  


Previous What's Up Wednesday Posts:
I'd love to hear from you!
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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

June Book Review


Happy Tuesday Friends! I hope your week got off to a great start and you have exciting things planned for this week.  

For 2016, I have decided that it is important for me to take the time to read books... I know, I know, I say this every year, but this year I promise will be different! 

The goal is to each month, read a random assortment of books and share a few thoughts about the book (but not too much as I don't want to spoil the fun for anyone).  I love reading and I love sharing books with you guys.

Plus, this is a great opportunity for you all to share some of your awesome reads with me! 

If you want to follow/friend me on Goodreads, click here.

And you can keep track all year long by clicking 2016 Books at the top of my blog.  I will keep a running list of books right there for you.

Okay, time for the books I've read // currently reading in June!


The first book I finished in June was The Heir.  I have to say that I was not too happy with the book at first.  The main character, Eadlyn, was getting on my nerves, but I loved hearing about her parents and hearing about how things had changed over the past twenty years or so.  You also find out that Eadlyn is going to have a selection of her own and the book had a very strong feeling of The Bachelorette and I loved it since I have been watching that every week in June.  I know that I was not the only one that struggled with Eadlyn, but I promise that she will grow on you and you will be rooting for her by the end of the book.  




The second book I read this month is The Crown.  The final book in the Selection Series, The Crown took me on a roller coaster ride from beginning to end.  By this point, I had fallen in love with Eadlyn and was rooting for her to succeed in every area she needed to see success.  I will say this, there are a lot of things that happen in the end of the book that you would never expect to happen.

If you are interested in purchasing these books, check them out on Amazon by clicking the images below!



Well that is all for my books for June! 

To check out the other books I have read this year, check out my 2016 Books tab at the top of my page or check out my reading list on Goodreads! If you have a Goodreads account, make sure to add me because I am always on the hunt for a good book recommendation.

Question of the Day: What good books are you currently reading? 


I'd love to hear from you!
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Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. Read my full disclosure policy here.
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Monday, June 27, 2016

Weekend Highs & Lows #34

Hello everyone!I hope you had a wonderful weekend filled with fun and exciting adventures  If you want more information about the party, please check out this post.



Happy Monday friends! I am so sorry I disappeared for a week.  I had so many things I had to get done last week that the time just got away from me! I'm hopping back onto the train this week. 


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Highs:

This weekend was fun! On Friday night we ended up having a night at home because Justin had a pretty bad migraine.  I ended up sitting and catching on my T.V. which was great!

Saturday we went to the apartment to get more stuff out of the apartment so we can finally get completely moved out.  Saturday evening I went to my cousin's gender reveal party.  It was so much fun to see them find out what they were having - it's a boy!





I am so excited for them and cannot wait to meet their little one in November! Congratulations you two!

Sunday morning we went Strawberry Picking for the 5th year in a row with Justin's family.  I love this tradition so much! It was so nice out with warm weather and a nice breeze.  We spent a few hours picking out some strawberries for ourselves.  The berries were so ripe they were great to just eat at the strawberry patch.  



Janelle, Jimi and I grabbed some cherries while the kids were looking at the farm animals.  It is so fun to see the kids with the animals and see them so excited about all of the things happening at the barn.  I grabbed this picture while we were waiting for a ride back to the barn.  J.P. is just so sweet to his sister.  


I cannot wait to make some delicious recipes with the fresh strawberries we picked! 


Lows:

My hip has been killing me and it made Sunday a bit difficult to get through.  Thankfully I will have the time to get to the chiropractor today.

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Friday, June 17, 2016

Friday Favorites #10

Happy Friday Friends!
It's FRIDAY, and that means I am participating in a fun linky party! Every week I will be sharing a few of my favorite things from the past week.  The goal is to share random things, but I may end up doing some themed ones along the way.

I'm linking up today with Andrea, Erika and Narci for Friday Favorites!

For this series, I am going to post my favorite inspirational photos once a month! I have been needing inspiration lately and wanted to share with you all on a regular basis.  


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This particular picture caught my eye because of how beautiful the watercolors were, then when I read the quote I knew I had to grab it for myself.  It is a firm reminder that no matter how awful life can get or how terrible things can seem, there is always good somewhere in this world.  All you have to do is take a step back and look around.  Chances are you will be surprised at how much good there actually is around you. 



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As I entered into my "mid" (or is it late?) twenties, I started to really reflect back on my life.  Am I where I wanted to be? Have I accomplished everything that i wanted to accomplish? The answer to those questions is: No I have not.  However, I have come a long way and look forward to seeing what the rest of my twenties brings.  Life is such an amazing adventure and I cannot wait to see what my life brings.  I am sure I will not disappoint myself.



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When I originally grabbed this pin, I was grabbing it with the intent to remind myself of how much I have changed over the past year.  However, the last month I have realized that this also can apply to the next year.  With us finally buying a home, I feel like there are so many things that will happen over the next year and I am so excited to see what the next year brings!  



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I love this one! When I am having a particularly difficult day, I try to remind myself that no matter how frustrating things are, they are happening for a reason.  While difficult to do, I try to take a step back and see the good in the situation and look to see how I can change from this experience.



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This one jut made me giggle, but it is so true nonetheless.  I am going to have a lot of times in the next 5-6 months where I will need to remind myself that I just need to believe in me for 5 minutes.  It is amazing how much even 5 minutes can make such a huge difference in self-confidence.



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For more Inspirational Quotes and pictures, check out my Inspiration Board on Pinterest!



Well that is all for today! I hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with wonderful adventures! I'll be back Monday with a Weekend Recap!


Question of the Day: What is your favorite thing of this week? 
I'd love to hear from you!

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Thursday, June 16, 2016

Hope Water Project 5k Recap

Happy Thursday Friends! I hope your week has been going well so far and you getting excited for this weekend! Sorry I've been all over the place the last week! I've been trying to get everything moved an unpacked for the house and I feel like this process will be never ending!

 Today I wanted to share with you about the Hope Water Project 5k.  If you can remember, in January I ran a 1/2 Marathon with Hope Water Project.  After that race, I decided I would do the Detroit International 1/2 Marathon with Hope Water Project as well! 

About Hope Water Project 
Water is life…and hundreds of millions of people around the world are suffering today because they do not have access to clean water. Hope Water Project is committed to providing clean water by partnering with communities and drilling deep water wells in some of the world’s neediest areas. Our current project is to provide 1,000 new water wells for the Pokot tribe in northwestern Kenya.

 Part of the training is to participate in the Hope Water Project 5k.  On June 4th - the day before we moved - I got out my running gear and made my way to a local business to participate in the Hope Water Project 5k with Andy and Christina.

Because Christina was recovering from a serious illness and I hadn't run in a while, we decided to take it easy and walk the 5k.  I was glad to have walked it because my body was just tired from everything we had to do to get ready for the big move.

The weather was a beautiful 70 degrees and sunny so we had the perfect combination of warmth and brightness - making this a great race.

After the race, we took a few group pictures, then made our way to the Half Day Cafe.  I had half of  a breakfast sandwich and it was delicious!


Well that is all from this race! Next month we have the Insane Inflatable 5k!


To check out the other runs I've done in 2016, go to my 2016 Races Page!


Question of the Day: What is your favorite fun run that you've ran?


I'd love to hear from you!

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Monday, June 13, 2016

Weekend Highs & Lows #33

Hello everyone!I hope you had a wonderful weekend filled with fun and exciting adventures  If you want more information about the party, please check out this post.



Before I begin today's post, I wanted to share with everyone how heartbroken I am about the tragedy in in Orlando.  My heart is broken over such an unnecessary act of violence.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.  My heart goes out to you, Orlando.



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Highs:

This weekend was actually rather uneventful around our house.  In the wake of the chaos of moving, we decided to take our weekend a little slower to make sure that we were rested enough for work this week.

On Friday night, we had Nick and Kevin over for dinner and it was fun to just get time with them playing games on the Wii U.  We ended up playing Super Smash Bros for a while and I can honestly say I have not laughed that hard in a long time.  I am hoping we can get some more game time in soon!

Saturday was very quiet for us as we just spent the day unpacking and going through boxes in our garage.  It was over 90 degrees here in Michigan so it really did not make any sense for us to be trying to clean out our apartment in that heat.



On Sunday, Justin and I made our way to Best Buy and Target to get a few items for the house.  A little piece of advice: if you need to use your credit card quickly but owe money, pay it in cash at the store; otherwise, you could get stuck with a hold on your credit card.   What a hassle! But we have decided to just laugh it off and move forward.


After Best Buy, we made our way to Target for a few things and ended up spending way too much money.  I am exited to say that we got some awesome bedside tables (well tables we're using as bedside tables) and lamps!

Sunday afternoon Sarah and Caroline came over to hang out for a few hours.  It was great to hang out with some friends enjoying a nice glass of wine and catching up.  I love having my friends over and can't wait to do it as often as possible!



Lows:

I did not get nearly as much cleaning and unpacking done as I would have liked, but I am okay with that as we are still making forward progress.

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