Camping Photo Diary + Essentials

Hey guys! Over the weekend I went on a little trip with my boyfriend and a group of his friends!! We stayed in a cabin up in Big Bear and it was such a much needed break from work and from the interwebz. It felt so nice to not use my phone and just relax.

Now originally this was going to be two separate posts, but between work and things I needed to get done before we went on our trip, everything just got away from me. I didn't have much time to take any pictures of my bag with the exception of a few outfits (that I didn't even bring).

So below I included those pictures and some photos I took while we were up in the mountains! Now again I didn't take much pictures because we were only up there for a day and I kind of just wanted to enjoy my time without any cell service!

First things first, some of the clothes I brought with me.

Some camping trip must haves;

• Baby wipes for cleaning, wiping down tables, your body if theres no shower. 
• Sunglasses + a hat - gotta keep that face protected from the sun
• Snacks - for the car ride up there and back 
• A cooler - for in the car to hold food/water if it's going to be hot on the car ride
• First Aid Kit - my boyfriend sliced his foot open literally an hour after we got there so it's good to be prepared

Now here's all the photos I took while we were there! My boyfriend also got some cool shots of our trip so go check out the video he posted on his instagram!!

Thanks for reading! New post up on Thursday!!

Making Instant Ramen Healthier and Tastier!!!

I've got a recipe coming your way in 3...
2...
1....

Now who doesn't like ramen? Honestly? Its so good and hello instant ramen is QUICK + and hits that salt craving head on. But if you're like me then you're probably like uhh hello there's too much sodium in this and it's kinda boring... So if you want to spice up some cheap noodles then this is the recipe for you!

This is actually my favorite way to eat ramen so I'm really excited to share this with you! And obviously real authentic ramen is going to be better but this is good for when you need a quick meal at home and you don't feel like doing too much.

Ingredients:

• Bag of ramen noodles
• 1-2 green onions
• Water
• Soy Sauce
• Sesame Oil
• Pre-cooked + shredded chicken (optional)
• Spinach
• Kale

Directions: 

• So first you are going to start out by cooking the noodles like you normally would. While these are cooking, go ahead and cut the green onion. 
• When the noodles are done, pour like 3-4 drops of sesame oil in. But be careful because it's very strong. Now throw some spinach and kale in there. The amount you use is up to you. I like a lot so I'll do a few handfuls of each (and they shrink up so even that isn't enough) 
• Once they've wilted a bit put in the onions and the chicken if you're using it. Then add the seasoning mix that comes with the noodles, but DON'T use the whole packet. Only use like 1/4 of it. Stir it all together. 
• Put it in a bowl, pour some soy sauce over and enjoy! 

If you want it to be little spicy you can pour some sriracha on top as well!

Thanks for reading and let me know if you like my recipe!! 

I'M BACKKKK!!!! + summer music playlist

Hey y'all! Long time no see! It's me, Sammi. I decided take a break from blogging last summer due to me not being inspired and confused about the direction of my blog.

Over the last..year almost, I've been trying to better myself and figure out if I wanted to continue on in the blogosphere. Obviously me writing this post tells you that I have in fact decided to return! I'm really excited to get back into things and put out better content than before!!

Today's blog post is going to be very simple and pretty much a transition post for what's to come. I have here a summer playlist full of fun summer tunes, mainly new but some oldish stuff to getcha in the groove.

I hope you enjoy! I'm hopefully going to have a new post up next Thursday! Not sure what my posting is going to be like as my schedule changes every week but I will try to be as consistent as I can! Thanks for reading (and listening.. hehe)

A Week in the Woods - camping photo diary PART 2

As promised, here's the other half of camping photos!

Thanks for reading!! ♡

XO 

A Week in the Woods - camping photo diary

Hi guys! Like I mentioned before (in an instagram post) I'm going to be sharing some photos I took from my camping trip the other week. I went to Julian with my best friend and her family and we stayed at a campground up in the mountains! Let me start off my saying it was hot. It was so fricken hot. Okay now that that's out of the way, I wanna talk about some stuff we did.

There's a pond here for fishing (it's catch and release) and the roads wind through the entire camp so you can ride bikes. I think the last time I rode a bike was the last time we went camping and that was like 5 years ago so trying to climb the hills was HARD. AKA we got off our bikes and pushed them up because we couldn't do it without our legs giving out.

We slept in tents which is always fun, except for the giant hole in the door that I had to sew, which was not fun. The first night there was full of swatting gnats away while trying to get some sleep. The nights were actually pretty cold which I wasn't expecting! We didn't put a tarp over our tent (thank goodness it didn't rain) so we could see the stars through the net which was nice. I couldn't believe how many stars there were. That's not really something you pay attention to when you live in the city since they aren't that visible anyways.
Oh! And the ants up there are like the size of a penny!! Okay I might be exaggerated a little bit there, but they really are huge. Trust me.

Overall, the trip was fun and I can't wait to go camping again!! I miss it already.

Here are some of the pictures I took. Enjoy!!

I have a lot more pictures to post but I don't want to make this suuuper long so I'll be posting the rest of the photos in another blog post that will go up later this week! 

Thanks for reading!! ♡

XO

Roadtrip Playlist

So since I'm going camping and I have a 2 1/2 hour drive ahead of me, I made a playlist that me + my friend would both like. (She actually chose half of these songs.) Perfect road trip playlist if you're into car karaoke. Enjoy!! Thanks for reading, or well listening :-)  XO

What's Going On + Mini July Favorites

Lately I've felt completely lost. I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I don't like the direction my blog is going in. I can't even think of anything to blog about. All the creativity that was in my brain just sort of.. fell out. The question is, how do I find it again? I wish I knew. Everyone goes through something like this at least once in their life. At least that's what I tell myself (ha).

I'd like to apologize for putting out half-assed work. (Even though I'm probably the only one who feels it is). It's not how I want to present myself and it's not really going to take me where I want to be.. and I don't even know where that is. I hope that I can post more stuff like this where I'm in a way talking to you guys. Less "how to's". Less posts with barely any writing. After all, the reason I started a blog was so I could write more.

Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that I'm going to try harder. I'm going to try to be a better me, but first I have to figure out how to that. I'm going on a much needed vacation next week with my friend and her family. We're going camping and we haven't been in like 5(?) years! So hopefully this break from the internet and all things social media will help me figure out where to go from here.

Now to my mini July favorites because I just HAVE to talk about these products.

First, we have the Mario Badescu spray. I talked about the rose water spray before in a previous post and I absolutely loved that one. So when this one came out and I was like, well duh!! I have to try it! After using this for a few months I actually was going to stop because I thought it was breaking me out, but I kept using it nonetheless! I haven't had any more breakouts so I think it's safe to say that this wasn't the culprit.

Next is this Maybelline foundation. It's the Fit Me matte + poreless one in the shade rich tan. I got this because I needed a summer foundation (I got really tan and was going to continue getting some color before the summer ended). This shade was too dark (and still is) but I mix it with a lighter foundation and it's perfect! I love, love, LOVE the way this sits on my skin. It doesn't cake up and it doesn't crease AT ALL. Definitely recommend.

You're probably wondering why I included my glasses in this. Well I haven't really been wearing them these past couple months and I just started again. I seriously forgot how amazing it was to see. I'm not blind by any means, but everything is so crisp and clear in these it's really incredible.

Lastly, we have these yellow slides from Forever 21. I actually had a dream I was wearing these shoes and when I walked into Forever 21 and they only had 1 pair in the whole store AND they were my size, I knew I had to get them! They were only $15 and they're yellow!!! My favorite color!! These are faux suede and since they are a light color the creases show really easily which is really the only downside to the shoe. The reviews stated that they were really uncomfortable and gave them blisters but I haven't had either of those problems and I even walked in them all day!