Friday Favorites

Happy Friday everyone! I can't believe how fast summer is going by! I have a little over a month before I have to go back to school. Ugh! I don't even want to think about it. On a brighter note, my birthday was last Monday! I'm finally 16! In this post I will actually be showing you some of my favorite birthday gifts. So without further ado, here are my Friday Favorites of this week!

1. Fitbit Alta + Pura Vida Bracelet

2. Camelbak Water Bottle

3. Agent 18 Phone Case

4. Black Backpack 

4. Pineapple Beach Bag

(similar)

5. Monogram Keychain

Birthday Recap

I'm finally 16! I can't believe it! My 16th birthday is a birthday I will never forget.

One of my birthday presents was concert tickets to see Twenty One Pilots with my best friend. Our parents surprised us with the tickets in the beginning of June for the concert which was in the middle of the month. Both of our birthdays are in July, so the tickets and concert were an early birthday present. It was the best concert ever!

On my actual birthday I got my driver's license! I was so nervous I was going to fail at the parking, but somehow I passed with only hitting one cone! At least it was a cone and not a car! After I got my license we went to the beach. I expected the water to be freezing, but it was really warm. My sister and I stayed in the water forever!

The rest of my birthday consisted of a nacho bar, cake and ice cream, and presents! You will definitely see some of my gifts in upcoming blog posts.  

Thanks for reading!

5 Ways To Stay Active This Summer

Not all of us have time to go to the gym, so I've rounded up 5 ways to stay active without going to the gym. All of these activities can be done at your house or around town.

Run

Go for a run! Running is a great cardio workout, helps relieve stress, improves your health, and much more! Since I run cross country for my high school, I run all the time. I usually run 6 out of 7 days. It's always good to take a day off to rest your body. If you are new to running, start off walking then start running towards the end of your walk. Keep up with this routine everyday, and make your walking time shorter and running time longer.

Swim
We all swim in the summer, so why not make it a workout? When you're at a pool do a couple of laps. If you're at the beach swim to a sandbar or somewhere else close by. Just doing these little things while swimming will give you a good workout!

Bike
Take a bike ride around your town or neighborhood. You can go with a group of friends or with your family to make the bike ride more fun. You don't have to bike like a professional to get a good workout in, just bike at a medium pace for more than a mile.

Play Sports
You don't have to be apart of a team to play sports. All you have to do is get together with a group of friends and organize a game of basketball or another sport you like to play. Playing sports are a great way to stay active while having fun!

Pokemon GO
Yes, I did put an game app as a way to stay active this summer! I recently started playing it with my friends and let me tell you, it's a workout! We walked all around the park looking for Pokemon for hours! I never thought I would walk that much playing a game on my phone. Don't worry if you have no idea what Pokemon is because when I started I knew nothing about it and still know nothing about it, but I still have so much fun doing it! I would definitely recommend playing this game to stay active this summer.

Links I Love

1. I really want a new water bottle, but I can't decide between this one or this one.

2. I get my license soon, and I really want this Vera Bradley Zip Id Card Case to put on my lanyard.

3. I love stock pictures for my blog, and free stock pictures are so much better!

4. I am defiantly going to try this nutella ice cream recipe!

5. Rompers are my favorite! I really want this one that Daily Dose of Charm wrote a post on.  

6. Cherry season is here in Michigan! I made a pie following this awesome recipe!

7. I also made a really good blueberry and strawberry spinach salad.

8. I recently made a Pinterest account for this blog, so come and check it out!

Blueberry and Strawberry Spinach Salad

Nothing beats a fresh salad on summer's day. I've just recently started liking fruit in my salad. Before the idea of fruit in my salad sounded disgusting! I just didn't like the idea of strawberries with lettuce or blueberries with dressing. Once I tried a salad with fruit, I realized how wrong I was! Fruit just makes the salad 10x better and fresher, so today I will be showing you my Blueberry and Strawberry Spinach Salad.

For this salad you will need strawberries, blueberries, pecans, spinach, and dressing of choice. I used a strawberry vinaigrette, but any other dressing would taste good.

I first added spinach to a big salad bowl. Then I added the strawberries, blueberries, and pecans. All of the strawberries were cut into slices because a whole strawberry is to big to put in the salad. Mix everything together, and add the dressing. Then your all done! Enjoy! 

                                                             

Week Recap: Vacation + 4th of July!

This past week was our annual trip up north (northern Michigan). Every year we stay in the same resort, and have so much fun! Our trip consisted of biking, swimming, shopping , fireworks, and so much more!

The first day we went on a 10 mile bike ride around the Sleeping Bear Dunes. The bike trail was so beautiful! It was fairly easy other then a couple of big hills. My legs hurt so bad going up those hills! After the really long bike ride, we decided to go shopping. We went shopping at a cute beach town called Glen Arbor. Glen Arbor has a ton of cute little beach stores, and a Cherry Republic store!

For those who don't know, Cherry Republic is a store/restaurant/winery that sells all things cherry! You can buy cherry pop, cherry candy, cherry jam, etc. What's really cool about the Cherry Republic is that you can only find it in Michigan. All of their products and design of their stores center around the theme of northern Michigan(lakes, farms, woods, etc.)

My favorite part of going to the Cherry Republic is trying all of their samples. They always have a whole bunch of food out to sample, you could have a whole meal there! I also love their soda pop.  My favorite one is the Cherry Root Beer. They have so many choices to choose from!

On our trip we also went to Traverse City. The Cherry Festival was actually going on while we were there, so we walked around that for a little bit. After the festival we walked around all of the cute shops.

                           

                                                   

 For lunch we went to eat at some food trucks. The Little Fleet is a bar with food trucks right in front of it. They are all parked in this outdoor area right in front of the open bar. There were about eight different food trucks to choose from. I got a pork taco from the truck Roaming Harvest (it was delicious), but all the other truck's foods looked equally as good. I would defiantly recommend going there if you are ever in Traverse City!

For the rest of the trip we stayed at our resort. We biked, swam, played tennis, watched fireworks, played golf, and relaxed. It was so much fun! I can't wait to go next year!

Summer Travel Essentials

Every year around the 4th of July, my family and I head up north for a week-long vacation. The hardest part is figuring out what to pack, so I decided to make a list of summer travel essentials.

Headphones and Chargers- Both of these are a must! I always make sure I bring my headphones when traveling on long car or plane rides, it makes time go by faster. I also always bring chargers for electronics. It would stink to have your phone die in the middle of the trip!

Toiletries- I always bring my Vera Bradley toiletry bag on all of my vacations. I fill it with everything I need for the entire trip including shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrush, etc.

Sunscreen- If your going somewhere warm and sunny, then sunscreen is a big essential. You don't want to get burnt on your vacation!

Sunglasses- Just like sunscreen, sunglasses are essential if you are going somewhere warm and sunny. My sunglasses that I always bring are from Target.

Hat- A hat is great to have if you ever forget your sunglasses or just don't feel like wearing them. My hat is from Vineyard Vines, and is perfect for keeping the sun out of my eyes!