Happy Monday! It’s officially countdown time until the end of school we have a little under two weeks left. I have so many mixed emotions about this. Kinda sad that this might be Michael’s last year having his summer free. Sports camp and possibly working and having a social life. I can imagine his summer is going to start to get really busy going forward.
The weather has been wacky in Connecticut. For instance, it was around 80’degrees. However, it was breezy. I know I shouldn’t complain because it’s better than snow...
Last week I tried a yummy homemade jerk chicken recipe. I’m going to try and recreate the recipe and actually take note of the seasoning measurements and not seasoning to taste. The family loved the recipe. I actually made it in the crockpot. The chicken was so tender and flavorful. Per the family. It was nice to create something different and not the same ole same meals. Plus, I love that I was able to create the meal in the crockpot, in the oven or even on the grill. If you don’t own a crockpot. I highly suggest investing in one. It’s such a life saver, especially during the warmer months. Also, I would like to get back into freezer cooking. Freezer cooking used to really come in handy when I would already have the meat marinaded in advance and all I would have to do is thaw it out and put it in the oven, grill or crockpot. As you can see, so many mixed emotions and a lot to add to my to-do list.

Anywho, how was your weekend?

Menu Plan 

Summer is my favorite season. Every year I look forward to it especially with really harsh winters most years. One of the things I love most about summertime is traveling. Getting up and going on a whim. We have so many beautiful states nearby like New York, New Hampshire, Maine, and Cape Cod to name a few. I love waking up on a whim and just going. I'm often asked what are some of my favorite travel must-haves and today I'll be sharing 6 Items that I can't leave the house without during my summer travel adventures.



Stationary/ Reading Material
Whether you're on the passenger side or taking a flight or train. Don't forget to bring some reading material with you. I always suggest bringing back up. I know you may have a ton on your e-reader or even phone. Disconnect from your phone and bring a physical copy of a magazine and/or book with you. Also, I love bringing two pens and two notebooks. An extra pen because let's face it. Pens stop working at any point even if they're new. One of the notebooks is for my “to do's” and thoughts. I feel like I get my best ideas while traveling. The other notebook is to document the journey, I like to consider it my travel journal.

Water Bottle
I know they may sound a little weird, however, having a quality water bottle is really essential for when traveling. I'm obsessed with my Nalgene water bottles. They have a really cool closer just in case you or the kiddos drop them. I've had them for years and love them. I have one specifically for home and two I'll travel with if needed. It's so convenient when you have your travel bag ready and you can just get in the car and go!


Weekend Bag
If you don't own a weekend bag. Invest in one now! A good quality weekend bag really comes in handy. You can use it for your overhead bag during flights and you can also use it for your travels for a weekend or even overnight stays. As prior stated, I like to keep my bag packed and ready when it's time to go. The only thing I have to worry about refilling prior to leaving is my water bottle and I'll typically attach the bottle to the bag prior to heading out so I won't forget it. I purchased the weekend bag pictured at Target and I've had it for a few years now.

Charger/Portable Charger
Yes, we all know to carry a charger cord and a backup. What about a portable charger? One of the life lessons I've learned is to always, always carry a portable charger with you. One of the worse feelings in the world is to look down at your phone and it's about to die when you want to take a photo. Trust me, this has happened to me one too many occasions and I finally invested in the perfect portable charger last year. Earlier this year I visited New York and forgot my wall charger at home. I had my charger cord with me and I didn't have to interrupt my schedule to stop at a store. My portable charger lasted me my entire visit and I didn't even have to worry about charging it at night.

Blanket Scarf
One of the items that I try not to forget and I typically will leave an extra one in my travel bag and the car is a blanket scarf. I've learned that blanket scarves really come in handy. I can't tell you how many times we stopped during our travels at a beach that we've stumbled upon or a beautiful park to have an on the whim picnic and my blanket scarf really came in handy. Let's not forget about those cold summer nights. Especially living in New England. Blanket scarves are perfect and they have so many amazing uses.



Hygiene Essentials
If you've been following my blog or me on social media for a while, you know I do not travel without my Summer's Eve® Feminine Cleansing Cloths and Wash, It's perfect for On-the-go Freshness. Especially, during the summer months. It's so nice to freshen up during a long road trip or even after a flight. It honestly instantly changes my mood. Upon arriving at my destination. I immediately take a shower with Summer Eve® Wash. When traveling I stick to what I know and what my body loves. I grew up seeing my mom always use Summer Eve® products and naturally once I was old enough. I included them in my daily routine. My latest favorite is the new Blissful Escape™ scent. It really smells magical and leaves me refreshed and oh so clean. It's really like escaping to a vacation while you're in the shower. Yes, moms thank me later!



I purchased my Summer’s Eve® Blissful Escape™ at my local Target. You can currently save 20% with Cartwheel through June 30, 2018, HERE!






Do you have any summer travel essentials?

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As you guys know, I am really into taking the minimalist approach when it comes to purchasing and bringing items into our home. It always doesn’t go as planned but is definitely my approach when he comes to those items and I have recently started to learn more about the zero waste lifestyle challenge. I know that some people go into challenges and they actually turn into lifestyle changes. I know this personally happened to me when I went on my diet last spring. It eventually turned into a lifestyle change. I'm hoping to decrease the amount of my daily waste while learning in the process. The last couple of days I've learned the dos and don'ts. Lately, I've been paying a lot of attention to the number of items that I personally purchase and bring into our home and the amount of waste that they cause.

One of the things that I would like to stop using, hopefully at some point is plastic wrap. Another item that I’m hoping that easily transition to is more glass products/metal products instead of plastic. I also plan on transitioning to using metal straws and/or glass straws versus plastic straws and or paper straws. I actually love and use paper straws on a daily basis.
I’m definitely taking baby steps when it comes to this journey because it is a learning curve for me. I definitely use a ton of paper towels and unfortunately, I'm the self-proclaimed paper tower queen. I wash my hands a lot so I’m trying to learn how to grab a hand towel instead of a paper towel.
I've been working on my paper towel usage for a couple of months now. This is prior to being introduced to the zero waste lifestyle.

I’m proud of myself for really decreasing the amount slowly but surely. I also would like at some point to make the wax cloth wrappers that I’ve been seeing a lot on Pinterest. Hopefully, I'll be able to make these sooner rather than later.

I would like to place a quick disclaimer. This is something that I don't plan on changing overnight. However, changing my lifestyle over time. If I'm gifted something that doesn't meet the "Zero Waste Lifestyle" standards. I'm still going to use it. I don't plan on throwing away anything. Trust me, when I mean I'm taking baby steps, I'm taking baby steps. I have a lot to learn, and I don't know it all...

One of the first steps that I would like to take is starting a compost. I've talked about this for years and I'm so excited to actually invest in compost or trying to DIY one. This would be perfect for my garden as well.

Anywho, have you heard of the Zero Waste Lifestyle? 

One of my favorite things gift which is a DIY project is a bath salt. I love how super easy they are to make and a lot of times you pretty much have all of the ingredients in your home without having to leave out of your home. What I also love about this quick and simple DIY is that it’s perfect for any time of the year and pretty much anyone. I love to change the bath salts them around and various dried flowers. My lavender bath salt is the number one recipe that my family/friends rave about. I love that I don’t have to worry about them expiring, they have a really good shelf life. Why not give someone you love the opportunity to pamper themselves with this amazing bath salt. Lavender has to be one of my favorites scents its something that the Mister loves as well. Lavender has so many amazing health benefits. I just love seeing the lavender floating in my tub. It's just so relaxing and it really gives the perfect touch.
If you follow me on social media. Once a week I have an at-home spa day where I put together all of my favorite things. I have my little Mommy beverage whether it’s a glass of wine or my sassy spa water or even tea.  Whatever I feel like having that week as well as my favorite snacks. It's pretty much my all-inclusive spa day at home. Why give that same experience to my friends and family.

I can imagine that this is one of the reasons that they love receiving the bath salts as a gift because you're telling them to relax. You're telling them that they really do deserve some self-care.


As you guys know. I’m all about self-care. I honestly believe that you cannot take care of anyone else until you take you're of yourself first. As a mom, at times it’s really hard to take time for yourself. However, it's so worth it! I noticed that after my spa days that I just feel so refreshed. Especially having my spa days on Sunday. It's like I'm ready to tackle the new week.



What I also love about personalizing my gifts is the labels. There is nothing more than giving someone a personalized gift with a personalized label that really reflects how much the gift was made with love for them. My friends and family always rave about how it adds such a nice touch. I love keeping a stock of varies labels on hand when I create homemade gifts for my family. Whether I'm making party favor or personalized gift. I like to have my labels ready. I love ordering my labels from StickerYou. They have a wide variety of stickers from health, beauty labels, corporate and kids labels, to pretty much anything you could think of creating labels for. You can also order free samples I love that they offer templates and you can also create custom labels too. I created the labels for the bath salts using one of their templates. The process took under 5 minutes, and my order arrived super fast.

 

DIY Lavender Bath Salts Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups Epsom salt
• 1/2 cup of dried lavender 
• 2 tbsp of almond oil
• 10-15 drops Lavender essential oil 

Directions

1. In a medium-sized glass mixing bowl, add Epsom salt, almond oil and mix well. 
2. Add lavender essential oils and mix again.
3. Add dried lavender and mix well. 
4. Store in an airtight glass container.

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If you're thinking about creating more DIY products or adding labels to your business or pretty much anything in your home. My friends at StickerYou is giving away a $50 in products!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had an amazing weekend. My weekend was pretty amazing. Last week I was able to spend some time in my garden. I finally planted some of my tomato plants. It honestly felt good to spend some time in my garden. The sun rises around 5 am and the sunsets around 7 pm. How cool is that?! Especially having such a harsh winter. It’s nice to really take in the full day. I love this time of year. Being able to be outside more.
Also, it’s also officially the start of the countdown of the end of the school year for the kiddos. Michael will be completing his first year of high school. Looking forward to writing a post to hopefully inspire other moms with the experience of getting through the first year of high school.
It’s also the start of our summer bucket list. I can’t wait to share with you guys some of the frugal summer fun ideas I have for the family. Anywho, I’m sharing what’s on our menu plan this week.

How was your weekend?

Recipe

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As you all know. I love to travel. I especially love to travel solo. I’m often asked by people why, I travel solo, how I travel solo, Do I get bored? Today I’m sharing Three of my top reason why you should travel solo and why you should too.

3 Reasons Why You Should Travel Solo

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Have you ever booked a trip with your besties and it starts off with about 6-10 of you ladies and by the time the day of the trip comes it’s maybe 3? A lot of times people book group trips because they want to be around like-minded individuals while on vacation. I think that’s one of the most frustrating things about a group trip when you get a text message stating that “x” can no longer make it. Let’s not mention if you’re stuck with the bill of paying for the people who are no longer attending. Because no one had anything in writing. Honestly, I’m not saying to never make plans for a group trip. I’m just stating don’t cancel your plans because others are unable to make it. When you travel solo, you never have to worry about anyone canceling plans on you.

Itinerary 

Let’s face it. When you travel with others, you never have to worry about having someone to take your pictures. One of the downsides to this is not being able to visit all of those Instagram perfect locations because you’re accommodating everyone else needs. (which is only fear). However, this is your trip too and one of the downsides of group travel is that it’s not just about your needs. One of the best parts about solo travel is that you can do what you want when you want. Don’t feel like going on the guided tour. Fine! You can change up your itinerary to your little heart's content.

Time

It really gives you time to learn yourself. I know that might sound weird but you do. You learn how driven you are, patient, adventurous. You just learn so much about yourself. You have all the time in the world when you travel solo. If you feel like spending all day at the beach you can. You're on your own time and you can do what you want.

Have you tried traveling solo?