Bath & Body Works Sale

I haven't shopped at Bath & Body Works in awhile. Not because I forgot about them, or found a replacement per say, but when I shop there I tend to stock up, and things last awhile. Christmas of 2012 I got one of everything from their Winter/Christmas line. I am still using the last bits of my absolute favorite lotion, Twisted Peppermint.

A couple weeks ago I went to lunch with a friend and afterwards we saw the huge sale signs hanging in Bath & Body Works, so of course we had to go in. I ended up with a few candles, hand sanitizers, and the Dark Kiss shower gel.

Yesterday with some coupons in hand I ventured back to Bath & Body Works and they are still having huge sales going on. Secretly I hope their prices stay this low forever.

V.I.P. Tote 

$20 with $30 purchase

New & Favorite Scents $6.00

3-Wick Candles $12.00

xoxo Gwen

Outer Banks, North Carolina

Outer Banks, NC has a ton of beaches as you can see from the map. Each beach offers unique experiences. Carova is the place to go if you want to get away from it all. It has wild horses and is only accessible with a 4X4. Kill Devil Hills, the oldest official town in the Outer Banks, is the perfect spot to try hang gliding. You can also visit the Wright Brothers Memorial. Manteo, located on Roanoke Island, includes the NC Aquarium, Elizabethan Gardens, Lost Colony Drama, and the Roanoke Island Festival Park. Buxton is a small village that is perfect for fishing, kite boarding, and windsurfing. Hatteras is best known for fishing, tourism, history and its remote, pristine beaches.

Each summer my fiance and I choose to stay in Avon, NC. We stay in the Avon Motel and grab pizza at night and coffee from Uglie Mugs Coffee House in the morning. There's a private beach attached to the hotel so sunrise and sunset we're on the beach. During the day we shop, and do other touristy things like visit Hatteras and take pictures of the lighthouse. It's a great getaway for us in the small fishing town without tons of tourists.

From my July 2011 trip

July 2011 trip

xoxo Gwen

Hampton Roads Staycation

By now we've all heard of a staycation. It's a great way to save money and still have a blast during the summer. Think of it like this, you're A: Giving yourself a tour of your hometown, and B: Going to all the places that you usually skip because of work, school, volunteering, etc. So what do you actually do on a staycation? That depends on where you live.

Virginia is for Lovers

Here are some ideas:
Visit your local museums.
Hampton Roads Naval Museum
1 Waterside Drive
Norfolk VA
757-322-2987
Open Daily 10 am-5 pm
Admission: FREE

The Chrysler Museum
245 W. Olney Rd.
Norfolk VA
757-664-6200
Open Sunday noon-5 pm, Monday (closed), Tu-Sat 10 am-5 pm
Admission: FREE

Go to the beach or pool.
Virginia Beach
Sandbridge

Get your bike out and hit the trails.
Virginia Bicycling Federation

Go to a Movie (or two, or three).
Rent a movie, watch something on Netflix, or go to the movie theater.

See a show.
Little Theatre of VA Beach
Little Theatre of Norfolk

Support your local sports teams.
Tides

Go shopping, take a nap, take a hike (literally), read a book, take an exercise class, host a barbecue, go to the park and have a picnic, go camping, eat at new restaurants, and spend time with your friends.

xoxo Gwen

Updated Summer 2014 Bucket List

As we head into the second week in July I am able to cross off 2 more things on my Summer 2014 Bucket List.  See the list below (new accomplishments are bolded red). 

I still want to get back to the beach (hopefully OBX), but I did go down to the oceanfront on July 5th for a stroll on the boardwalk, some great pizza, and a fireworks show. It was a fun night. Then just this week I was able to spend some time with in the pool with two of my friends. Also a lot of fun.

Visit the Chrysler Museum   June 20, 2014

Go to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens  June 29, 2014

Go to as many festivals as I can  ~~Bayou Boogaloo (June 21, 2014)

Go to a Concert

Spend time with my Big

Shop the Farmer's Market

Stay involved with the LTVB  June 1, 10, 11, 12, 23, 2014

Visit the D'Art Center

Read (a lot)  ~~The Husband's Secret (by Liane Moriarty), Mockingjay (by Suzanne Collins), Eleanor & Park (by Rainbow Rowell), Ladies Night (by Mary Kay Andrews)

Pick fresh berries  June 22 & 28, 2014

Make smores over a fire

Craft (at least 2 things)

Go to the beach! July 5, 2014

Go swimming July 8, 2014

Go hiking

xoxo Gwen

Glow Sticks

As I attempted to dig through my hall closet for one thing or another I ran across my stash of glow sticks. I bought them at the Dollar Store a few years ago. Of course I had to open up a tube, crack them and stare at the pretty glow of neon colors. As a kid the only time I got a glow stick was on Halloween night and it was a single yellow/green glow stick hung around my neck. Boring!

Now you can purchase glow sticks at WalMart, Amazon.com, Oriental Trading and several other places. They also come in tons of colors. So why glow sticks you ask....

Put them in balloons for a night time display

Add them to water bottles for bowling or to line your driveway

Crack 'em and dance

Party patio decor

Jazz up displays

Add fun to place settings

Add them to the pool for your midnight swim

Perfect for photo fun

xoxo Gwen

Ice Cream Cones

When I happen to have spare time I search for inspiration. I often find myself clicking on image after image and pinning it to my Summertime board on Pinterest. I'm so excited summer is here and so far I am loving the warm weather and sunshine. While ice cream cones have yet to make it to my board they are all over Pinterest! Today after working for 5 hours and then heading straight to class for another 2 hours I left school and headed straight to Cold Stone Creamery. I ended up with the coffee lovers in a chocolate dipped waffle cone. Surprisingly I did not enjoy the cone as much as I thought I would, but goodness me the ice cream was divine!

I didn't get a picture of my ice cream waffle cone I was too busy shoveling it in my mouth. Instead take a look at some images I found on Pinterest.

 

 

Don't these images just scream Summer?!

Don't leave just yet, it gets better. Kathy Strahs over at Panini Happy shares a recipe on how to make ice cream cones on a panini press. Or you can head to Design Love Fest and find out how to make your own beautiful and delicate waffle cones.

Via

And if you don't have the patience to be in the kitchen just stop by your favorite shop selling this sweet treat. It's sure to brighten your whole afternoon (or morning, or evening for that matter).

xoxo Gwen

Fun Non-Alcoholic Drinks

Summertime calls for beach days, lazy days spent reading in a hammock and fun times with friends and family. To spice things up offer some simple and easy non-alcoholic "cocktails". I recently spotted a recipe shared by Ashton on Something Swanky and it looks so good! The drink is called My Three Sons and has just 3 ingredients (orange juice, apple juice and strawberry sherbet). Click the link and head over to view the full recipe (as easy as it is) and check out two more drinks perfect for summertime.

Via

Photo Credit

xoxo Gwen

Scatter Brain

This week has been a doozey! Finals week really got to me this year. I know I set my expectations for myself excessively high, but there's no changing it and I work hard to roll with the punches and power through the tough days. Yesterday was a complete disaster, and it all started with Tuesday classes, finals, ASL enrichment program, shopping for Mother's Day, going to rehearsal with Daniel, and getting home after 11:30 at night. Then the following day I worked bright and early, lost my favorite sunglasses, melted the coffee scoop, attempted to use lotion as nail polish remover (it does not work - in case you're wondering), and generally stressed out waiting to hear back from my math professor about yet another question I had on the take home portion of the final. I crashed hard last night.  This morning I had the in-class portion of my math final to complete and I know I made a couple of stupid mistakes. Of course, as always, I didn't think about them until it was too late to change the answers or rework them, but such is life I suppose.  Grades should be posted soon and I will be anxiously awaiting grades for the 4 classes I took this semester. It's been a tough road.

I decided to continue with my studies this summer, but I am only taking 2 classes. I do not plan to be nailed down in a classroom, in the library, at my computer, etc. the majority of this summer. I want to be able to actually enjoy my summer for a change. I have just 11 days until the summer semester starts and I work 3 of those days, so not a lot of time to do anything too exciting, but I do plan to relax and recharge the best I can.  At the end of my summer classes I think I get a full 2 weeks off. At least I hope that's how it works. I'd like to go home and see my parents. We'll see what happens.

via Pinterest

xoxo Gwen

Virginia Zoological Park

On Wednesday I took a break from all the hustle and bustle of school, homework, meetings, and work and went to the zoo.  As a college student (with ID) I get in free and I love animals and the sun was shining so off to the zoo I went.
I think I got more pictures of flowers than anything else.  I was so happy to see flowers actually blooming after that terribly long winter we had.

Peacocks

Other Animals

Guinea Fowl

Turtles

Giraffe & his friend

Bongos

Water Birds

Snake

Overall it was a great day to be in the sunshine enjoying the animals.  There were still quite a few animals not on display. The Barnyard animals got an extended vacation due to renovations.  Hopefully I'll be able to make at least one more trip to the zoo this season and see some of the animals I missed on this visit.

xoxo Gwen

Northwest River Park

I've been so stressed lately with a go, go, go schedule I haven't had time to enjoy the few nice weather days we've had.  This past weekend I made it a point to put school and the bazillion papers I have to write on the back burner, and have a day with my fiance on an adventure.  Saturday we went to Northwest River Park on the very southern side of Chesapeake.  The weather was great, the hiking was fun and we managed to track down one of the many geocaches in the park.  We plan to go back and do more, but Saturday was all about sunshine and enjoying nature.  We're hoping to head back this summer for a camping trip too.  At the very least I want to go back and hike the rest of the trails.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you need a break I definitely recommend nature.  If you take the time and look you'll find the most beautiful things, and have a lot of fun.  I plan to schedule more weekends like this now that the weather has finally warmed up!

If you're interested here is the information on Northwest River Park:
1733 Indian Creek Rd.
Chesapeake VA 23322
phone 757-421-7151
Park is open 9 a.m. until sunset

I also found this YouTube video on the park's website.

xoxo Gwen