Northern California Vacation Recap Part 1

Happy Monday Foxy Friends! I was going to do one recap, but realized as I was loading 438 pictures for the first 2 days...that I needed to break it down a little more than that! We drove 1242 miles in 6 days. We didn't do any long vacations this year, rather we decided to do 2 long weekends. The first one happened August 2-7. Here is the recap for the first part.

We went to visit some friends that live in the San Jose area. We decided to use that as our home base, we stayed at a Hyatt Home, which was super nice. One bedroom with a full kitchen. Pretty nice, we didn't cook, but if we had wanted to, it was a nice option to have.

The drive took us about 7 hours, or so.

A whole lot of nothing.

Stopped at In and Out for lunch, which was about 3 hours into our drive.

The kids love after lunch because they finally get to play on the electronics.

When we got there, the kids played a lot and picked up right where we left off from our trip with them last year.

Friday we decided to meet at the Montery Bay Aquarium, yep more driving, it was about a 2 hour drive from our hotel.

The kids loved it, you know visiting two top 10 aquariums in one week, isn't too shabby. 

I think my favorite was the jelly exhibit.

Oh and the Sea Otters, they were super cute to watch play.

We wanted to see them feed the otters, so we got there 30 minutes early and the kids just stood there and watched, without getting antsy.

Then when the crowds came, Baby Fox was super protective over Mini Fox, it was so dang cute.

The otters, so dang cute! We could have watched them forever, oh wait we did, or at least if felt like that, standing there.

Finally the show starts!

Those are shrimps on his belly, and he just floated around with them hanging there, which he was eating the rest.

Oh and the open sea tank, was breathe taking. It's really hard to convey how big it was.

The views outside weren't too shabby either.

I do have to say that the touch tank isn't nearly as cool as the on in Long Beach.

Montery downtown was super cute too.

I think there was a candy shop on every block. We stopped at this one and picked up the necessities.

Then we headed to Denise The Menace Park, if you haven't been, I highly suggest going if you are in the Montery area. The kids loved it and kept asking to go back!

They liked this bridge.

And this merry go round...those yellow things on it...spin as well!

Kids found this lion drinking fountain funny.

After the park, I know we did a ton on this day! We headed to dinner on the pier, it was really good, we went around and tasted all of the restaurants Clam Chowder.

But ultimately picked this one, which happened to be the first one we tasted.

I got the bread bowl, it was yummy.

Baby Fox discovered he likes calamari.

The pier was really pretty all lite up at night.

Kids knocked out before we even hit the freeway I think.

Saturday we decided to go on a small hike, somewhere else, I have no idea where we went, it was about a 45 minute drive.

It had a gorgeous view.

The kids wanted to hike up that hill.

Mr. made it up with 3 of the kids.

Then we hit up the beach, where we were totally unprepared.

But had a change of clothes in the car...so go get sandy kids!

Then we hit up Half Moon Bay for some dinner.

Girl was tired of walking, so boy picked her up and carried her. He's so strong, she's only...maybe 10-12 pounds lighter than him.

After dinner we went back to San Jose and went to this place called Cream...so dang good!

They had a do'sant sandwich, Mr. said it was excellent.

I had a cookie sandwich, also delicious. 

The kids played tag, and the adults watched, the best kind of entertainment. After the two days we had, I can't believe they were still standing.

Then they found a lady bug.

Which brings us to the end with this set of friends. We were sad to say good-bye, but are going to plan another trip to see each other soon!

Stay tuned for part 2...when we visit some more friends in San Francisco, and some family in Santa Cruz!

10 Beauty Tips and Favorites For Beginners

Last year I participated with Erin for 10th on the 10th and she's continuing it this year, click here for those posts. This month's topic is 10 favorite beauty tips! I thought I would share 5 tips for learning how to do your make up, and 5 tips for learning how to do your hair...so here we go:

*Some of the links are affiliate links and I will  either receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you click on it or if you make a purchase from one of these links, I may also receive a commission on the sale of the product. Click here for my disclosure page.

5 Beginning Make Up Tips

Practice:

You aren't going to learn make up in one day. Practice, practice, practice. You can't expect to know how to do something when you're trying to go out. That is way too much pressure to try and accomplish that, and most likely you'll get frustrated and give up. I used to practice while the kids were taking a bath. You know that time when they have been washed and they are playing in the water. I would practice different techniques, like how to do a winged liner...I can't tell you how many times I tried and retried that, I would ask the kids, how does this look? Yep I was taking make up advice from my then 3 and 6 year old.

Watch Tutorials:


Watch YouTube videos. I watched a LOT of YouTube videos...heck I still do to try and find new techniques.  I find girls that have my eye shape (monolids), because what looks good on a hooded eye, does not necessarily look good on a Monolid, case in point...halo eye shadow, it looks ridiculous on me. I attempted a cut crease type look here...but wasn't super successful, but heck I tried! Jen was the first YouTuber that I watched that made me feel like I could do it, her winged liner is a good one.

Find What You Like:

You're not going to like everything. Just because Sally with 4 million followers likes it, doesn't mean that it will work for you. Try to experiment with different products and decide what is best for you. What sort of formula you need, for oily, dry, combo skin...whatever it is, find what looks good on YOU! Which leads us to the next tip.

Products:

Try not to get caught up in the high end products and what other people are using. You need to find out what works for you. When I first started out, I was trying the drug store products (not that there is anything wrong with it), before I committed to any high end products. That way you know what color palettes you like, so when you go to buy high end you know what your looking for. Find out what foundation you might like. After you get comfortable using the less expensive stuff slowly start to expand. You don't need the end all make up collections month one...it takes most people years to build up their collection.

Related: 5 Favorite Make Up Products

Fake Eyelashes:

I get asked this question a lot. It goes back to tip #4, I practiced a lot. But I really started out using super cheap eyelashes, that way if I messed them up, it wasn't a big deal. I bought them at the Japaenese $1.50 store called Daiso. They have pretty good eyelashes and you don't feel bad for wasting them. I would apply them, wear them around the house, then the next day start over. They do feel a bit strange when you first put them on, so you do sort of need to practice wearing them when you don't have anything special to do.

I also use the cheaper ones because the bands that attach the eyelashes are thick, so it's easier to place them on your eyes. The thin invisible bands like Ardell has, is slightly harder to figure out how to use, but is more comfortable and natural to wear.

Related: How I do My make up

5 Beginning Hair Tips/Favorites

Shampoo/Conditioner/Dry Shampoo:

I don't even know how I discovered this, but it really matters the combination of shampoo/conditioner you use, with what dry shampoo you use. I realized that when I used certain shampoo/conditioner combos with certain dry shampoos I couldn't go as long without washing my hair. So you're going to have to try different products out. Sephora has a bunch of travel size products you can buy, so you're not having to shell out a lot of money. This one is my favorite, and this is a close second.

Related: My favorite hair products and how to use dry shampoo

Best Hair Tool:

Use good bobby pins! The difference between a drug store one and a beauty supply one is night and day different. I didn't believe it at first, but seriously, I can't tell you how much it helps to have a good bobby pin.

Related: How to correctly use a bobby pin

Assisting Products:

Texturizing and dry wax are going to be your best friend. Texturizing spray is used for giving your very clean hair a little more grip so you can do your hair. It also is really good for giving your thin hair some volume and lift. It's amazing, I don't know how I went this long without using it.

Dry wax is used for smooth down those fly aways. They also have a gel version, which I use sometimes for braids, when you have a ton of fly aways in your braids, but the spray wax smoothes out your hair. I typically do this when I am done with a hair style and there are those few fly aways making it look a little more messy than I would like.

Curling Wand:

I use to use a traditional curling iron, which I loved and curled well, but my hair wouldn't hold my curls at all, it was hit or miss if I would have curls 3 hours later. As soon as I switched to a curling wand, life changing! I couldn't believe the difference. Now my curls last pretty much until I wash my hair next. They loosen a bit, but it's still curls and that's what counts right?

Related: 2 ways to curl your hair

Patience:

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was learning something totally new to you. Be patient and keep practicing! Seriously I took a year to learn make up, and another year to learn how to do my hair. You're not going to learn it all. Each month assess what you would like to learn, and then learn that one thing that month. Once you get that down, move onto the next thing. Don't try to learn it all at once, it's too overwhelming. When I was learning make up, I really wanted to learn the cat eye, so I learned that first, then I wanted to tackle fake eyelashes, so I did that. When I was learning how to do my hair, I learned how to braid really well and do different kinds of braids. There were some hair styles that took me several months to learn!

Related topic: 5 things I learned from my year long hair challenge

 If you want to join in the fun, here are the topics.

Linking up here

Rompers Are My Favorite

Hi Foxy Friends! Sorry, I don't have my stuff together enough to have a fashion post for you today. Just getting back from driving 1200 miles in the last 5 days...I was too pooped to put something together. But didn't want you to miss out on link up!

I will show you my current favorite rompers...I'm wearing them on repeat during these hot summer days...although going to the bathroom in a romper is always awkward.

An InLinkz Link-up

TBB Asks - August Edition + Announcement!

Hello Foxy Friends! I'm not going to make you wait till the end of this post to tell you our announcement...it's too exciting not to share! As The Blended Blog continues to grow and evolve, sometimes it's necessary to make changes and one of those changes is that we've added two new members! Introducing KellyAnn from This Blonde Shopping Bag and Vanessa from X-tremely V.  If you don't follow these ladies you should, head on over to The Blended Blog to find out a little more about them.  Okay let's get this party started.

1. Favorite birthday party as a child? Hmmm...I remember once going to a community pool and having my birthday party there, it was a small group of kids (can't even remember who), and we had so much fun. So I guess that one, since that is the only birthday party I can remember as s kid...as a young adult, for my 17th birthday my parents surprised me at band camp and took myself and all of my friends out to lunch, that was fun.

2. Do you like to entertain? Yes! I love it, the reason we bought a house with a pool, so we could throw parties and have all of the kids want to hang out at our house...mostly so I can keep an eye on Baby and Mini Fox. Some of the parties I've thrown, you can find here. My favorites are when I threw Baby Fox a Super Hero Party (mostly I think the cake I made turned out awesome, I took a ton of pictures of that), and when I threw my sister her Fiesta Party for her 40th, I really like making backgrounds for the kids themed party. This under the sea one was pretty awesome.



3.  What kind of parties are your favorite? Fun ones? haha...I like a mix of both, when it's an adult only party so we don't have to worry about what the kids are going to eat or what's going to entertain them. But then, I love going to kids parties and seeing how much fun the kids are having together.

4.  Big or Small Parties? I like to attend small parties, with people I know, so you can really get to talk to people, but when i throw parties they are big. Mr. and my philosophy, invite everyone so no one feels left out. At least we try to follow that philosophy.

5.  Favorite thing to do at Parties? Eat the good food, assuming it's no pizza from a kids party, haha! Also the time I get to catch up with friends, cause sometimes that's the only time I get to see them.

6.  Party food favorite? Hmmm...chips and dip...salsa, onion dip, guacamole, I don't discriminate.

7.  Favorite flavor of birthday cake? Hmmm...I guess if I have to pick it's chocolate with chocolate frosting (butter cream, not fondant, blah). But I do like making fun cakes for the kids for their birthdays.



8.  Balloons? Yep, all the way! They just make everything fun. Have you tried getting a balloon drop? The kids love it and it's so stinkin' fun!

*Some of the links are affiliate links and I will  either receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you click on it or if you make a purchase from one of these links, I may also receive a commission on the sale of the product. Click here for my disclosure page.



9.  Best Party Song? Not sure...I am horrible at songs...but one that does get my college friends and I on the dance floor every single time....Baby Got Back...haha.

10.  Do you like to Dance? Yep! Although I don't do it a lot and I'm terrible at it. Give me a few drinks and I'm good to go!

Head on over to The Blended Blog to link up your answers! I can't wait to see what everyone writes.