Summer Favorites

 I can't believe summer is coming to an end! It seemed so short, but I'm ready for fall. I've decided to start a new series where I will share my favorites with you after each season. So here are some of my favorites from this summer:

 Favorite Book: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Favorite Movie: The 5th Wave (yea I know, I saw this movie really late)

Favorite Shoes: Adidas Superstars

Favorite Songs: "Heathens" by Twenty One Pilots, "I'm Not Famous" by AJR,

"Capsize" by Frenship, "White Flag" by Joseph (and much much more!)

Favorite Dinner: Greek Chicken Gyros

Favorite Dessert: Buckeye Brownies

Favorite Pool Essential: Pineapple Pool Float

Favorite Summer Drink: Blueberry Lemonade

Favorite Keychain: Lilly Inspired Keychain


What are your summer favorites?

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.

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!

A Quick Guide to Saugatuck, MI

My family and I recently went to Saugatuck, MI for a day.  It's right on the coast of Lake Michigan. The Kalamazoo river and lake are also located in Saugatuck, so there are many places to swim and relax next to the water! If you want to visit a cute, small beach town, Saugatuck is the right place for you! Here is everything you need to know to make the most of your visit.

What to do

There is so much you can do in this small town including:

Dune Rides

Saugatuck Dune Rides  should be the first thing you do in Saugatuck. The dune rides take you through Saugatuck's sand dunes and woods. It's like a amusement park ride and history lesson in one! The tour guides are funny and full of knowledge of the town and the sand dunes. This will defiantly be the highlight of your trip! 

Paddle Board and Kayak 

With Lake Michigan, Kalamazoo River, and Kalamazoo Lake, there are many places to paddle board and kayak. If you don't have your own paddle board or kayak, there are many places where you can rent one.  

Beaches

Go to the beach! Oval Beach is the perfect beach to spend your day on. It is ranked one of the top five beaches in the country by MTV, so this is a must-see beach!

Where to Eat

There are a lot of restaurants in Saugatuck to choose from. We decided to eat at Wally's Bar and Grill for lunch. I had the tuna salad, and it was so good! They also had a lot of burgers that sound equally as good as the tuna salad. I would definitely recommend eating there.

After lunch we wanted some frozen yogurt so we decided to head over to Notties Frozen Yogurt. They had a lot of flavors to choose from. It was really hard to decide, but I ended up choosing salted caramel (it was so good)! They also had so many different toppings to put on your frozen yogurt to make it 10x better! If you aren't in the frozen yogurt mood, Saugatuck has a lot of ice cream shops to choose from.

Where to Shop 

There are so many places to shop in Saugatuck. A lot of the stores are cute boutiques that help add to the small town/beach vibe. Most of the stores are on Butler Street, but you will also find them scattered all around the town.

Beach Essentials

Summer is my favorite season of them all. I love the hot days, longer nights, hanging out with friends, and, of course,  going swimming! To get into the summer spirit, I've rounded up the perfect beach and pool essentials for the perfect summer day!

1. Inflatable Swan | 2. Giant Pineapple Pool Float | 3. Inflatable Moby Dick | 4. Ice Pop Pool Float | 5. Giant Strawberry Donut Pool Float | 6. Flamingo Pool Float | 7. Bagel Pool Float | 

8.  Inflatable Toucan | 9. Ice Cream Sandwich Pool Float  | 10. Inflatable Pizza Slice | 

11. Watermelon Pool Float | 12. Inflatable Ice Cream | 13. Unicorn Pool Float | 

14. Fruit Slice Pool Float | 15. Inflatable Tootsie Roll

Pool floats are essential for the perfect pool/beach party.  These are probably the cutest pool floats I've ever seen. I want to buy them all! My favorite one would have to be the pineapple pool float!

1. Crochet Overlay Cover-Up Sundress | 2. Kate Spade New York Swimsuit | 

3. Striped Beach Tote | 4. Sunglasses | 5. Beach Sounds Speaker & Radio | 

6. Sandals | 7. Floppy Hat | 8. Cooler Tote | 9. Headphones | 10. Sunscreen |

11. Kate Spade Water Bottle  | 12. Towel | 13. Beach Umbrella 

Summer Bucket List

I cant believe it! Summer is finally here! Every year in the beginning of summer, my sister and I like to make a summer bucket list. I've never completed my summer bucket list, but this year I'm determined to! Here is my 2016 summer bucket list!

1. Make homemade ice cream or frozen yogurt

2. Go on a road trip with friends

3. Watch the sunset

4. Watch fireworks

5. Go kayaking

6. Go paddle boarding

7.  Have a Harry Potter movie marathon

8. Make root beer floats

9. Sleep on the trampoline

10. Tie Dye

11. Have a paint fight

12. Learn how to play the piano

13. Get an acai bowl

14. Get my driver's license

15. Go tubing

16. DIY photo booth

17. Make blueberry lemonade

18. Stargaze

19. Have a backyard movie

20. Make homemade salsa

21. Let go of a floating lantern

22. DIY paint shoes

23. Make a pie

24. Make macaroons

25. Have a snow cone

26. DIY spa day

27. Try spaghetti tacos 

28. Go on a  zipline

29. Ride an alpine slide

30. Have a photoshoot with friends