Real, Not Ideal

Someone forgot to tell me it was the end of the month, so I was unprepared for this monthly post. June has flown by. I feel like I just got back from England!  So much has happened this month, and I can thank work for that. The good thing is, I’ve done so much that I had so many ideas for what to share this month! Pluuuuus, stay tuned for my big announcement at the end. I’ve been hinting for so long, and here it is! 1.        Graduation I did it! I graduated on June 13 th ! It feels so weird to have a degree and think back on the past four years. The most surreal part was actually seeing that piece of paper with my name on it. I worked so hard, and I nailed it! It’s sad to think that I will not be returning to King’s in the fall. It has been the most amazing home with the most amazing community. I don’t think I’m ever going to find a community like that again. 2.        Sephora Cream Lip Stain I am...

End of May/beginning of June was busy. I was on the go all the time, so I needed some easy things. I love breakfast, but I also really like the idea of “grab and go.” I have a couple really great breakfast idea and some smoothies because the weather is getting hot! 1.        Blueberry Muffin Smoothie In an effort to make something yummy as well as healthy when a friend came over, I made this smoothie from Iowa Girl Eats . It was so fantastic. I was slightly thrown off by the lemon zest, but that is what made this smoothie actually taste like a blueberry muffin. Again, this is purely delicious. 2.        Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothie I definitely put way too many strawberries in this, but it was not detrimental to the recipe in any way. Happy Money Saver suggests this recipe as a freeze ahead smoothie with the oats (kind of like overnight oats), but I opted out of that for convenience’s sake. It still wor...

Well, we’ve reached the final installment of my England travel series. At this point, I don’t even know what I will be writing about next week. I saved the best for last. I have wanted to go on this trip ever since I took a seminar course on the Brontës. I lucked out because an English friend of mine happened to be in England at the same time as me. We decided to meet up and do this trip together! Haworth is where the Brontës lived for most of their life. Haworth itself is picture-esque, and we grew more and more excited as we approached the parsonage.  An incredible amount of care is taken to make sure the parsonage is replicated as close to what it was when the Brontës actually lived there. They have everything down to the wallpaper. It is amazing. There were a few extremely nerdy parts of this walk through. For example, this blurry picture is their table where an E is carved in the surface. E as in Emily Brontë. As in, Emily Brontë carved this. AH! A r...

I am shmooshing (I made that word up) two trips together since one was small and one lacked pictures. We went to Conisbrough Castle on the way to York, and it was wonderful. York is, of course, my favourite place in the entire world. I can’t wait to share it with you! Conisbrough Castle One of my things on my list was to see a castle. I mean, how could you not? I love castles so much. If anyone remembers my Instagram from when I was away, you’ll remember that I kept joking about building my own. I love it. Conisbrough Castle is not a fully constructed castle anymore. It is in ruins, but it is just as beautiful. It’s on a hill, so the views from the single tower are stunning. The whole experience of the castle is done so well. They had videos that explained the different rooms in the tower. The interpretation boards had cartoons that are great for kids (and people who don’t really have an interest in the history of the castle). There are also so many nooks ...