We made it. We're here. Half way through the year. It's gone by quickly, but also not so quickly. But we're halfway to 2017, and I'm glad we've gotten this far!

June 23: I snapped this picture during a walk on the Greenbelt after work. I love swampy type areas. They're just so appealing to me.

June 24: On the way back to my car after the gym on Friday, I saw a series of these arrows on the ground. Curiosity got the best of me, and I had to follow them. Ends up, they were the route for a short bike race on campus.

June 25: Andre and I hit up Buffalo Wild Wings, and geez, Louise, this double bacon cheeseburger was good!

June 26: I did some Sunday baking. This banana chocolate chip bread is so good! I've been eating it for breakfast all week! (PS. The recipe can be found here.)

June 27: We had an orientation on this day, and my newer colleague (since March) did her first presentation. I was so proud of her! She did great.

June 28: We had a faculty/staff ice cream social on campus. It's good enough to get out of the office for a little while, but then give us free ice cream? I am totally in!

June 29: I felt properly adorable on this day. (I got this dress at Old Navy for like 12 bucks!)

How was your week?

The banana chocolate chip bread from Starbucks used to be my favorite. I was obsessed with it, and then they took it away from me. *sobs* But I found a blueberry banana bread (see that recipe here) and twerked the recipe to make my very own banana chocolate chip bread! I like to think this recipe is healthier, you know, besides the chocolate.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas
1 heaping cup chocolate chips plus 1 handful

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven 350 degrees. Grease and flour the loaf pan and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon). Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, olive oil, apple sauce, vanilla extract, and eggs. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, completely mash the bananas using a fork. (If the bananas are not quiet ripe, squeeze them gently before peeling to soften them.)
5. Stir the bananas into the large bowl with the mixture made in step 3.
6. Add the one cup of chocolate and stir.
7. Lastly, add the dry mixture until all ingredients are fully combined.
8. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan, slightly shake to even out the mixture.
9. Evenly distribute a handful of chocolate chips on top and place pan in the oven.
10. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a knife comes out of the center of the loaf clean.
11. Let cool for 15 minutes and enjoy!

So, as you all probably know at the point, my birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I decided that I wanted to go camping, because I'd never been and we had the opportunity to rent a camping package for free. Originally, we had planned to go to Jekyll Island, because hey, it's the middle of summer and I wanted to go to the beach. We had called and made reservations, but the day before, the weather in Jekyll was set to be really bad, so we cancelled our reservations, and headed up to Helen, which was way closer.  We stayed in Unicoi State Park for the night, and truly the night was totally comical. I knew I didn't want to stay somewhere primitive, so we chose a close walk-in spot. Come to find out, there are black bears active in the area, so I may have freaked out just a little. We walked around a little and made ooey gooey birthday s'mores at a campfire. It was really so awesome (even though it was around 100 degrees outside). So, we climbed into the ten around 9:00 pm, when it was pitch black and we just couldn't even see in front of us. We laid in the tent for a couple hours watching Bob's Burgers on Andre's phone, then it took me around four hours to actually fall asleep. Every noise I heard, I was 100% sure was a bear. Andre was out beside me and I was terrified. I finally fell asleep and at 3:30 in the morning, we awoke to the bottom falling out of the sky! We hadn't placed the rain canopy over the two-piece, lightweight tent. We got up and ran to the car, where we sat until the rain stopped (Still pitch black outside). By the time we got back to the tent, everything inside was soaked. We threw the canopy on top (luckily, because it started raining again). I had a comforter in my trunk, so we threw that down on top of our wet sleeping bags and sleeping pads. At this point, we were wet and cold, so we never actually went back to sleep. 








In the morning, we grabbed some local homemade breakfast at a restaurant on the outskirts of Helen. It was really yummy, and inexpensive. I also got an iced coffee from Jumpin' Goat. The coffee was good, but they only had half-n-half (no milk) and stevia (not sweet-n-low), so I was a little disappointed there. We also hiked up the Anna Ruby Falls (not to be confused with Ruby Falls). The hike was half a mile, but straight up a mountain. We literally stopped three of four times on the way up, but it was beautiful and worth it!












Seriously, y'all. I had so much fun camping for my birthday! We ran into a few issues, but overall, it was a good time! (PS. We probably won't go tent camping again. If we do camping, it will probably be in a yurt.)

I made a goal to start journaling again (see 101 in 1001 list).



I tried out the Brain Freeze Journal by Potter to start back out in a physical journal. The journal looks like a neapolitan ice cream sandwich. The journal was too cute to pass up on, but I wasn't biggest fan once I got it. The journal itself is about four inches by seven inches, and about one and half inches thick. It's a pretty tiny journal. I like a smaller-sized notebook, but I'm thinking more of a DVD-case sized notebook.
Anyways, because it's thicker, it's slightly more difficult to write in. If you're writing in the middle of the journal, the pages lie flat because the spine is only the binded pages, but not a solid spine, which is pretty cool. But if you're closer to front or back and you try to write on one page, the opposite flips back towards your hand. Does that even make sense?
The pages are cute, because you've got the chocolate (brown) lines up on the top half of the page, the strawberry (pink) lines on the bottom of the page, and the center of the page is vanilla (white). I liked the lines on the page, because I could write on the lines and draw or doodle on the blank spaces.


I'm not sure I'll fill this journal up, because it's so small, but it is still so cute!








I received this journal from Blogging for Books for review.

I've lived in Georgia my entire life, in a small college city close to the Alabama state line. In these 26 years, I've had some fun adventures, but still have more to go. I've compiled a list (not at all comprehensive, and I would love your suggestions) of some of the best things to do in the state. These places range from the North Georgia mountains, to the southeastern coast and the barrier islands. I've placed a (*) by the things I've done, but (obviously) I'd love to visit them all before I kick the bucket.






Which of these have you done? Which are you hoping to do?

What else would you add to this list?

Hi guys! You may have noticed I skipped my weekly photo post last week, and I'm sure you missed me. BUT it was my birthday and we took a camping trip Thursday and Friday. (Don't worry. I'll tell you about next week!) So, here are two weeks worth of photos. Enjoy!

June 9: Leaving work, I just couldn't resist snapping this picture. How gorgeous is the sky?

June 10: I took a day off work, because why not? We checked out the new $5 box that Sonic has. I always forget how much I love that place, but geez, it was so good!

June 11: I woke up super early this day and volunteered at the local Tour de Cure registration tent. The bike ride raises money and awareness for diabetes. I'm actually looking to start a team for the walk in November. (Team name ideas, anyone?)

June 12: Spent some time with the family and this cute little guy learned how to fly his plane/glider.

June 13: MAIL. Got Me Before You in the mail, so I can read the book before I see the movie. I haven't actually started it yet.

June 14: More mail! This time from Influenster. I'll be testing out and reviewing these products soon.

June 15: I got some awesome gifts from some awesome people at work for my birthday. I felt so spoiled!

June 16: Andre and I went camping at Unicoi State Park and made ooey gooey birthday s'mores!

June 17: We hiked up to Anna Ruby Falls. It was a rough climb, but so worth it!

June 18: We had a birthday dinner with the family (complete with cake, of course!).

June 19: We celebrated dad for Father's Day with a cookout, and you guessed it, more cake! I wish my other sissy could have been there.

June 20: A coworker treated me to Moe's for lunch! I have some pretty awesome friends. :)

June 21: I got my summer beauty box from Walmart. I haven't received one in a while, so it was a nice surprise.

June 22: I discovered a new part of the Greenbelt while taking a walk after work. It was soooo hot, but I felt so relaxed!