Galena Getaway 3|21|2015

This past weekend my boyfriend Austin and I took up a trip up to Galena, Illinois for a little overnight get away. We rented some mountain bikes from Fever River Outfitters (for only $12 per bike for 2 hours), went to dinner and shopped a little. It was such a fun little trip for our first time going away together and I cannot wait to take more adventures together.

Seattle, Washington Aug. 2014

This past summer I had an opportunity to go to Seattle to adventure and shadow a doctor at a hospital (I'm going into nursing). I wrote down some things for a couple days and I'm pretty much only posting them so I can delete the files from my computer. But here are some journal entries and pictures from my trip!

Friday August 8, 2014     9:35pm

Seattle - Day 1

My day started by waking up at 4am to get ready to leave for the airport. I arrived a little after 6am, which gave me plenty of time to not be able to find my way around O’hare.

My entire flight went really smooth and pretty quick! The only downside was that my plane didn't have lunch food so I was starving by the time I got off of the plane. Flying over the mountains was definitely one of the most amazing things that Ive ever seen. I got an awesome view of Mt. Rainer and just some other mountains as well! It was absolutely breath taking, I definitely have never seen mountains like that!

My flight landed just before 11am today. It was about 70 degrees and sunny as can be!

Tracy and Quinn picked me up from the airport and straight from there we headed downtown to take a Duck Land and Water Tour! About 10 minutes into our tour we ended up getting into a car accident. No one was hurt but we all had to get off the duck and onto a new one. From then on the tour was amazing. We got to see just about every part of the city and then onto lake Union (I’m pretty sure thats what lake it was). There are so many house boats! You literally have your house and it floats. Some of them even have basements. The prices are ridiculous though, a 230 square foot house is about $1,200 per month! Thats the size of the duck boat. After the tour we walked over to Seattle Center where Quinn played in a huge fountain. We also got a snack, I got a salted bagel from the stoned baked bagel place. Then we went over to the Seattle Science Center and did a lot of hands off stuff which was really neat. I also rode this bike that was hoisted in the air! It was nuts, but Im sure glad I did it. After all of that we deiced to head back to their house to unwind and I ended up taking a nap before dinner.

It feels weird being here today. I don’t know if that is because Im simply tired or I don’t like the city. I don’t want myself to not let myself absorb everything I possibly can because I already feel like I am because its so far away form home. I’m going to try my best to get some sleep tonight and let myself fall more into the city tomorrow.

Let’s hope my phone doesn’t die on me early tomorrow so I can take some more pictures!

Seattle Day 2 

Saturday August 9, 2014

Even though Im witting this on day 3 were going to pretend its day 2. (10:35pm)

Today was the first whole day in Seattle.

For brunch we went to the Alki Cafe which is right across from the Alki beach. So of course after brunch we went over to the beach for a little bit. The tide was super low so most of the beach that should've been sand was actually rock. The sand was almost a gray color which is weird when comparing it to Florida but the parts that I touched were still super soft. Aaron, Quinn and I decided to kick off our shoes and walk out to the sand bar. Although the water only came up about half way up my shin, it was only maybe MAYBE 60 degrees, so cold. But it was still fun!

After the beach we were going to try to take a water taxi over to the city but we missed it so we ended up driving over. Once we got there, we parked and went down to Pike Place Market. It was so so neat. It had a bunch of small little vendors selling really unique things. There was also a very large fresh flower display that you could order fresh bouquets of flowers. They were all gorgeous. The main attraction of Pike Place is to go the fish mart part of it where when someone orders a fish they throw it around, it wasn't as fun as its made out to be ha not that many people order fish. Then we walked down to the ever so famous gum wall (yes I added my gum). It was soooo gross but so neat at the same time. I’ve never seen so much chewed gum in one place before! After the gum wall we went down to the pier and just walked down and back. 

That was pretty much the whole day. When we got home I babysat Quinn so Tracy and Aaron could go to a friends wedding!

Seattle Day 3

Sunday August 10, 2014 10:47pm

Today has been such a long, exciting day! It started pretty early around 6:30am. We drove about an hour or so north to take a whale watching tour! Definitely one of the coolest things that I’ve ever done! We took a boat and went up into Canada (about 3 hours north) until we actually saw some whales. There were probably about 7-10 orca! They were teenager whales and one adult female. They hung out for quite awhile and pretty close to all of the boats. None of them actually completely jumped out of the water but they did get up enough for us to see most of their body. Then we rode 3 hours back to the harbor. I actually got sun burned…no one expects to get sunburned in Seattle. It is not always raining. The weather up here has actually been completely perfect. After we got home from whale watching (about 6pm) Aaron and I headed back downtown to get to a Seattle Sounders soccer game! It was such a good game even though the refs kinda sucked, but they still one 2-0 and are backed to be ranked #1 in the nation! It was very exciting!

Tomorrow Im going on the campus tour and then downtown to explore by myself! All day though I’ve been comparing Seattle to Champaign and Im not really sure why.

The next two days I was there I was so busy and so tired by the time that I got back that I didnt write. But the next two days I went and visited the University and then was at the hospital shadowing. In my first journal entry I said that I wasn't really feeling the city. By the end of the second day I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Seattle. It is by far my favorite city and I cannot wait to hopefully live there one day. If you're ever considering taking a trip there, definitely do it!

Bioelements Skin Care Routine

Trying to keep my face clear and hydrated over the winter months is always hard. My mom is a licensed esthetician and these are the products that she recommended to me! I have combination skin that tends to lean more towards being oily. I wash my face at night with the spotless cleanser (in the morning I use the clean and clear morning burst face wash), then spray my face with the equalizer (toner) and then use beyond hydration for my moisturizer. 

The spotless cleanser I have noticed will dry me out too much if I use it twice a day, so that is why I use a much gentler cleanser in the morning. 

The equalizer will help close your pores and balance out your skin. 

Although the beyond hydration seems like it would add too much moisture, it is for oily skin so it will help keep you dry. 

Below I linked these items on the Bioelements website, however if you have access to a beauty supply story (such as Salon Centric), they are much cheaper there!

Spotless Cleanser --> http://www.bioelements.com/spotless-cleanser--products-50.php?page_id=93#.VOK_bFPF84Q

Equalizer --> http://www.bioelements.com/equalizer-products-6.php?page_id=144#.VOK9ZlPF84Q

Beyond Hydration --> http://www.bioelements.com/beyond-hydration-products-15.php?page_id=109#.VOK_h1PF84Q

Winter Outfit Of The Day

This was my outfit from a couple weekends ago when I went bridesmaid dress shopping for my sisters wedding! I absolutely love this outfit and got so many compliments on it, so I figured I would tell you guys where it's all from!

Brown Combat boots - target

skinny jeans - american eagle

black and white stripped shirt - old navy

military jacket - maurices

scarf - amazon

30 Day Full Body Challenge

As most of you have probably seen, 30 day challenges are a popular thing on Pinterest. Well I wanted one that would challenge my whole body and not just one part, so I created my own! I made up this one. Pretty much every body part is challenged. Today is day 1 for me, join me in the challenge!

	BURPEES	CRUNCHES	SQUATS	JUMPING JACKS	PLANK	LUNGES	PUSH UPS
Day 1	5	20	50	50	20 SEC	20	5
Day 2	10	25	55	55	20 SEC	25	5
Day 3	15	30	60	60	30 SEC	30	6
Day 4	20	35	REST	REST	40 SEC	35	6
Day 5	REST	REST	70	70	40 SEC	40	7
Day 6	20	40	75	75	45 SEC	45	7
Day 7	25	45	80	80	45 SEC	50	10
Day 8	30	50	REST	85	50 SEC	REST	10
Day 9	35	55	100	90	50 SEC	55	10
Day 10	REST	REST	105	95	60 SEC	60	15
Day 11	35	60	110	REST	60 SEC	65	15
Day 12	40	65	REST	105	60 SEC	70	15
Day 13	45	70	130	110	65 SEC	75	REST
Day 14	50	75	135	115	65 SEC	80	18
Day 15	REST	REST	140	120	70 SEC	85	18
Day 16	50	80	REST	125	75 SEC	REST	20
Day 17	55	85	150	130	75 SEC	90	20
Day 18	60	90	155	REST	75 SEC	95	20
Day 19	65	95	160	140	80 SEC	100	25
Day 20	REST	REST	REST	145	85 SEC	105	25
Day 21	65	100	180	150	85 SEC	110	30
Day 22	70	105	185	155	90 SEC	115	REST
Day 23	75	110	190	160	95 SEC	120	30
Day 24	80	115	REST	165	95 SEC	REST	35
Day 25	REST	REST	220	REST	100 SEC	125	35
Day 26	80	120	225	175	105 SEC	130	40
Day 27	85	125	230	180	105 SEC	135	40
Day 28	90	130	REST	185	110 SEC	140	45
Day 29	95	135	240	190	115 SEC	145	45
Day 30	100	REST	250	195	120 SEC	150	50

Foam Glow 5k Run!

Tonight my friend and I ran in the Foam Glow 5k in Chicago! It was so fun! If you are familiar with the color run or any run like that, this one is vary similar except instead of the powder paint it is all foam, obviously. The race also is a night because the foam is glow in the dark! Before the race there is a sound stage with DJs and the same after the race, the after party is a lot more fun. If you're interested in running check out their website: http://www.foamglow.com. They still have some dates left for this year! If you would rather run the powder paint version (or both, I did the powder version last month) here is a link to their other website: http://www.blacklightrun.com. Both of these runs are great for beginners and welcome walkers! There are also quite a few kids, so bring them along too!

My Authentic Canvas Lo Pro Vans came in today! I got them in the shade olivine/true white!