High Five for Friday #34 | Donuts + A Hangout

H54F - A weekly link up, hosted by Cup of Tea, Bright on a Budget, Coffee with Caitlin & Della Devoted

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by KatieTifDella, and Caitlin! If you want to know more, read about it here!

Colleta's Kitchen Sink

This week’s featured blogger is Colletta from Colletta’s Kitchen Sink! She loves blogging about cooking, crafts and her great love of books! She basically excels at all things I WISH I could! A little jealous over here. Plus we are clearly kindred spirits because she names her Friday posts “Tea Time” 🙂 Swing over and say hi to Colletta!

Can’t wait to see what you are all up to! Our week has been quiet, but fun, while we’re still on vacation.

1. Last night’s first ever H54F Hangout was SUCH FUN! Seriously had a huge crick in my side from giggling. And we really appreciate all of you who watched live and left comments, chatted, etc. It was hard to keep track of it all, but we tried our best!!  Mark your calendar for the next one – September 24 at 9:30PM! We’ll be talking about blogging, and sharing our experiences and even a few mistakes we’ve made so far. If you’re interested in joining us for a Hangout in the future as a fellow co-host, let me know! #H54FHangout

2. Vlogust has been tricky to keep up. I was feeling like the “follow us around” videos were getting old. So I got behind in recording. BUT I decided to catch up by filming a few snippets, like a mini-haul and a peek inside my travel makeup bag…. but my favorite video so far is my rummage through old memories, including my childhood diary! It was a hoot! I’ve got a whole camera full of clips that need to be edited, so swing over to my YouTube channel now to subscribe. Because there is about to be a flurry of videos launching.

3. Last night my mom stopped off at the local apple orchard and picked up the first batch of Michigan apples for the season AND some fresh donuts. #heaven

4. This week’s weather in Michigan has been glorious!!! It may not be glorious for the locals, but for this girl who will be returning to the South Summer Weather tomorrow, I’m soaking it all in. It’s been in the 60s (at best) and breezy. It’s gotten me in the mood for Fall so quickly! We talked about this last night on the Hangout, but as soon as Labor Day leaves, I’m putting up my leaves! (and pumpkins)

5. One of our favorite activities this week has been going for a “nature walk” down the road to an empty lot on my parents’ street. It’s a wooded lot with plenty to explore. You can also walk down to the lake. There is so much to explore, especially when you go with a toddler!

Rustic lake view near Kalamazoo, MI

But Elizabeth wasn’t really cooperative when it came to taking selfies.

Selfie issues with a toddler.

So what were you up to this week? Let me know! Or better yet, link up!

Fellow bloggers – ready to join in the link up? Just write a blog post about 5 things that made this week awesome! Add your link to your blog post down below (make sure it’s your blog post, not your blog home page!). And then grab the H54F button to add to your post! And go visit at least 3 fellow link uppers AND this week’s featured blogger! It’s just the nice thing to do.

And be sure to tag your posts/pics on social media with #H54F! We really do try to make the rounds and like, comment, retweet, etc! It’s so much fun to support one another, isn’t it?

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I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

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Hang Out with us! | H54F Hangout

For our fellow bloggers and regular readers, you know I’ve been hosting the High Five for Friday linkup with Della, Caitlin and Tif for a while now! One of our goals was to make H54F a community of bloggers. One where we get to know one another, support each other as bloggers, and have fun!

We’ve talked about starting a monthly Google Hangout for a while now, and tonight is the night!

Join us TONIGHT at 9:30PM EST for our very first LIVE Google Hangout! 

Here’s how it will work.

At 9:30PM you’ll be able to watch a live stream of me, Della, Caitlin and Tif gabbing away! Since this is our first Hangout, we’re planning a little “get to know us” session.

There are quite a few ways to watch! You can watch right here, on this post!

You can also watch on Google+ or YouTube!

You don’t need a Google+ account to watch. BUT you will need one if you want to ask us questions live. But if you don’t have one, no worries! You can still watch LIVE!

If you can’t make it, don’t worry about that either! We will be recording, and it will be available to watch later, whenever you want.

We are so excited to have you join us at 9:30PM tonight! Just remember, this is our first time. It could be really entertaining, or a really big failure! But either way, it will be worth watching. HAHA!

See you tonight!

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Empties #2 | Drugstore Haircare + Skincare

Who’s ready for another Empties video? The last one was such fun. Empty videos are great for getting mini-reviews and hearing what would be repurchased.

This one focuses on just haircare and skincare, all from the drugstore (for the most part)! If you missed my drugstore makeup empties video, check that one out too!

HAIRCARE
TRESemme Fresh Start Volumizing Dry Shampoo
Dove Refresh + Care Invigorating Dry Shampoo
Garnier Fructis Volume Extend Instant Bodifier Dry Shampoo
Garnier Fructis De-Constructed Texture Tease Dry Touch Finish Spray
L’Oreal Boost It High Lift Creation Spray
L’Oreal Boost It Volume Inject Mousse
Aveda Phomollient Styling Foam
Aveda Pure Abundance Style Prep
Big Sexy Hair Powder Play
Pssssssst! Instant Dry Shampoo

SKINCARE
Up&Up Refining Serum Daily Moisturizer
Burt’s Bees Intense Hydration Eye Cream
Up&Up Sensitive Skin Facial Moisturizer
Garnier Nourishing Cleansing Oil
Neutrogena Deep Moisture Night Cream
Philosophy Hope in a Jar
Burt’s Bees Facial Cleansing Towlettes with White Tea Extract
EOS Hand Cream
CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion

FYI – none of the links are affiliate links. I’m just not that cool.

Have you tried any of these? Any favorites? Any other ones I should try? Let me know!

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Fresh Tomato Pesto | A Recipe from the Archives

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I’m sharing another Cup of Tea recipe favorite from the archives! If you make this, you’ll want to eat this tomato pesto on everything, not just on pasta.

This.

This recipe.

This recipe is delicious.

I’ve been making this pesto for years. I actually prefer this tomato-based pesto more than the traditional basil and pine nut version.

And bonus? You can actually make this pesto faster than it takes to cook your pasta!

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I love cherry tomatoes, and this recipe is a quick way to use up a bunch if you’ve had some sitting around for a while. OR, if you’re like me, you bought a big giant container of it at Costco because your eyes were bigger than your stomach, and you just can’t eat them all.

Yep. I do that all the time.

You can read the original post for the full recipe, and then whip up a batch of this delicious tomato pesto for dinner tonight!

Need more ideas for dinner?
Follow my Pinterest board – it’s where I save all of my dinner ideas!

Follow Katie | Cup of Tea Blog's board Good Eats | Dinner on Pinterest.

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High Five for Friday #33 | Vacation Update

H54F - A weekly link up, hosted by Cup of Tea, Bright on a Budget, Coffee with Caitlin & Della Devoted

Welcome to High Five for Friday – hosted by KatieTifDella, and Caitlin! If you want to know more, read about it here!

We’re finalizing plans for our LIVE Google Hangout on Thursday, August 27, at 9:30PM EST! It will be super easy to join! Just prior to the Hangout going live, we’ll be sending out a link to watch the live stream. You’ll be able to find that link here, on our blogs, but we’ll also be sure to tweet, FB, etc it out! Then you’ll be able to join me, Caitlin, Della & Tif LIVE! You don’t need a Google+ account to watch! We can’t wait to give this a whirl.

Just bear in mind that this is our first time doing this, and it may be rough. 😉

This week’s featured blogger is Mariah from Faith & Fashion! Mariah has been a regular H54F linker and I’m SURE you’ve all met her at least once 🙂 So excited to feature her! I always enjoy her fashion posts – she has a talent for finding amazing, adorable deals! And the bonus pics of her sweet little girl Lucy are just the icing on the cake. Go over and say hi!

So I’m currently on vacation right now! Hi from Kalamazoo, Michigan!

I haven’t been up to much, other than hanging out with my family and watching Elizabeth explore some new areas. But here are some favorite pics from the week so far!

Highlights so far from our 2 week vacation in Michigan!

And if you have been missing Vlogust over on my YouTube Channel, now’s the time to catch up! I’ve been filming little snippets each day. My favorite activity we’ve done so far was visit the Calhoun County Fair, which I vlogged! Such fun!

But enough about all of that. If you haven’t seen this, you just need to. (Special thanks to Jaelan at Making Mrs. M for reminding me this was out!)

Hope you’ve had an amazing week, wherever you are! I’m trying to keep up with all of you while I am away! But we will all see you next Thursday at 9:30PM EST! 🙂 Can’t wait!

So what were you up to this week? Let me know! Or better yet, link up!

Fellow bloggers – ready to join in the link up? Just write a blog post about 5 things that made this week awesome! Add your link to your blog post down below (make sure it’s your blog post, not your blog home page!). And then grab the H54F button to add to your post! And go visit at least 3 fellow link uppers AND this week’s featured blogger! It’s just the nice thing to do.

And be sure to tag your posts/pics on social media with #H54F! We really do try to make the rounds and like, comment, retweet, etc! It’s so much fun to support one another, isn’t it?

 Follow me: Instagram | YouTube | TwitterFacebook | Google+ | BlogLovin’ | Pinterest

I’m also linking up with Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre5 on Friday & Diary of a Real Housewife

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