Travel Adventures: Summer Camp Music Festival 2018

Hot, hot and more hot. We had a blast there is no denying that but this was some extreme weather we had to deal with and I am really proud to say we made it through the other side mostly intact. The festival ran Friday-Monday but we ended up leaving Sunday night after the bands we wanted to see due to the 97 degree heat that day. Temperatures were in the high 90's the entire time and the lowest it got was around 80 at night. Saturday night was so sticky and humid that we were sweating at night. Needless to say after sleeping 11 hours last night (in my own bed) and a shower I feel human again.


Here are some really great memories from this trip.

Day 1 Friday

This was the only day it rained and it was a relief and cooled us down a bit. Plus we got to see a really awesome set by my favorites Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades up close and a rainbow! Here are some highlights!

We had the coolest camping site after much walking all over. Thank god I made Ryan get us a awesome garden wagon.

Berries and yogurt in a cone. Refreshing.

Excited to have made it to IL!

Okay I hated this beer. Way too hoppy for my taste. 

Thai bowl with a ton of veggies.

Our daily stop at the free Johhny Walker station. 

The ginger one was the best with Johnny Walker. 

People packed into the woods for camping. I loved the stuff in the trees. 

This is right before they made Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades stop playing so they jumped off the stage with their Instruments and played a set like in my face. I even got to request my favorite song by them and they gave Ryan a free beer. Weekend made already on day one. 

So frickin awesome. Hello!

Ryan went and got us $8 bloodys. We did this daily and they were worth it for the ice alone. 

Pickle!

This band was funky and fun. 

Why hello Kyle (he is from the string cheese incident). We saw a rainbow!

love this hat.

post rain views. temperature this day was low 90's.

Getting ready for the night.

A dino!

Umprey Mcgee rocked it.

yey!

Happy.

super cool light show.

 A DJ would play inside this pyramid and then people would enjoy from the outside. Super cool.

NY pizza. Late night noms. 

Huge Crowd.

Day 2 Saturday

Average temperature was mid low 90's this day with no rain. It started to get really dusty. I will say two things this festival needs to work on are the bathrooms they did not have enough or did they have enough water stations. For about 25,000 they had two stations that were not well places in the venue. We worked around it but it was a bit stressful sometimes. 

Here are some more highlights from this day. 

Hot morning but great views. 

Finding shade. The survival of heat. 

A burrito it was okay. I should not eat hot things when it is hot. 

$6 rootbeer float. Worth it. 

Moonshine Stage. Enjoyed some shade. 

Bright Lights.

This cider was huge.

Nom.

This was the best thing we ate. They had built a bread oven and this was fresh stuffed with cheese and sausage. 

The bread next to the fancy earth oven they built.

Mint tea. 

Trippy. 

How cool.  

Day 2 Saturday

This day was intense. At this point we are on day two with no rain. I think when we woke up it was already in the 80's. I showered two times in the "water station" area. Which was not really a station at all. We ate some good food this day and tried our very best to stay in the shade at all times. Even walking from set to set in the 97 degree temps was a chore. We planned on staying into Monday but the idea of sleeping another night in the 80's was not something we wanted to do. So we watched all the sets we wanted to see and headed home at like 8pm. It was worth leaving early. 

Highlights from our last day. 

These pictures are in reverse order of me taking them and honestly to lazy to fix it. 

I swear we wore shoes/sandals the whole time and washed our feet a lot. So much dust!

Our last show JJ Grey. He is amazing and wore a black suit the whole set. Somehow no one died. Not us nor him... Amazing music.

MMMM. Tacos. 

Waiting for Greensky Bluegrass in the shade with a gatorade. Protecting my face from the dust. 

Greensky blue grass is amazing. 

Keep that dust out of your lungs people!

It was fun and real summer camp!

Chicago Farmer as amazing at the start of the day. His wife makes cool necklaces out of guitar stings from famous bands. I snagged a cool one. 

HOT!

Chicago farmer was great. 

We really had a fun adventure to this festival. Each one we go to is completely different and I would not have it any other way. I love that we do this once a year and who knows were we will go next year. I can handle the heat maybe burning man?

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Grilled Bok Choy

Something about grilling vegetables it brings out the natural sweetness in them. I have been grilling up a storm this past week. I love having my grill hooked up the the gas in my house it makes grilling so easy and not having a ton of dishes after making a big meal is also a plus. I saw bok choy on some cooking show being grilled a long time ago and saw the most beautiful plant at the store the other day. It is a simple recipe but it was so worth it. I plan on making this again for sure.

What you need~
1 bok choy plant (cleaned and cut in half)
Olive oil
Seasoning ( I made a sauce of soy sauce, fish sauce, olive oil, water and harissa)

Get your grill on and warmed up to medium heat. Put the bok choy in the microwave in a microwave safe dish and turn on for 5 minutes to soften the veggies. Brush your bok chop with the oil and seasoning. Place flat side down on the grill and flip every five minutes. Mine ended up cooking for about twenty minutes till it was completely tender. The leaves will get really crisp if you do not like that remove them and serve them slightly wilted from the microwave. As they cook brush with your seasoning each time you flip. Super tasty!

Cannot wait!

Cut in half!

I mean this served with steak. Heaven!

I really love the warmer months and all the great things you can make on your grill. Try this one out.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Pico De Gallo: TBT

It is Thursday which means the perfect day to throw back to one of my classics. I tend to make this for potlucks because I make such massive batches. I just love that when you make it you really should make it ahead of time to that all the yumminess can blend together into this lovely mix of heat and salty. I always serve it with some chips and I am ready to go. I made this for work today. I cannot believe this post is from 2015!

Enjoy!

Pico De Gallo

There are few dishes in life that you make over and over again and that people routinely ask for. I may have mistakenly made this for work once and people now beg for it regularly. I find it funny that they beg for it because honestly it is so simple to make on your own. There are not a ton of secrets in this Pico. Now for those non-Spanish speakers pico de gallo is a fresh chunky salsa. That is the easiest way I can think of to describe it.

Things you will need- 

3-4 tomatoes
half of a white onion
half of a red onion
1 can of jalapenos
1 can of mild chilies
cilantro
salt
lime juice 

Here is a picture of some juicy tomatoes I bought. Pick your tomatoes based on how juicy you want the Pico to be.

I have an issue. It sucks but I cannot cut onions at all anymore. I literally start crying right away. I managed to cut up these two lovelies by myself because the hubby was running the dog. Usually I make him cut up the onions. That is what marriage is for right!?


Back to the recipe!

1. Cut up your tomatoes and onions. I like to keep my pico de gallo chunky so I do not cut anything up finely. Throw them in a big serving bowl.
2. Add the jalapeno and chili's. I use canned because I am slightly allergic to jalapenos and bad things happen to my hands if I handle fresh ones. You can totally use fresh. I would recommend subbing out the canned for 1-3 fresh peppers. You can do the same for the chilies they

are just mild green chilies.
3. Add Cilantro to taste. You can omit this if you hate cilantro. We may not be able to be friends though if you hate it....
4. Add lime to taste.
5. Add salt to taste.

When I say to taste that is the best part. You can eat some yummy pico as you go!

This is what you should end up with. It is so fresh and tasty. I like to make it the night or day before to really allow those flavors to all mix and become happy. Scoop it up with your favorite brand of chips and you have a winner at any football game or potluck.

Now you all know my secret pico de gallo recipe and you can make it for me in the future.


Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Grilled Fish

This turned out completely amazing to my delight and surprise. Ryan my husband actually told me his mom used to make fish like this on the grill. It was pretty easy to throw together and I will for sure be making this again. I am sure you could use all types of fish to do this but we used tilapia. It turned out light and fluffy.

What you need~
Tailpia
Sprinkle of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of butter (diced)
1/4 cup on onions and peppers (diced)
Aluminum foil

Ready for the grill 

Turn your grill on medium and let it heat up. Take a piece of aluminum foil and spray with non-stick spray I have an olive oil one I really love to use. Place half of your onions/peppers on the bottom of the piece of foil and then top with half of your butter. Put the fish on top of this mix. Now my fish was already seasoned with herb mix but you can season your fish with anything you want just make sure you season it. Top the fish we remaining onions/peppers and butter. Sprinkle a little bit of lemon juice on top of everything and seal up the little fish pocket. Put on your pre-heated grill for 15 minutes flipping the little packet once.

Yum!

It was light and refreshing and a big hit with us. I would love to try this with salmon soon.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Easy Skin Care

Easy and out the door is really my life moto. I have tried it all and honestly I am over the high expectations woman have of each other. You know what I am talking about ladies. We are expected to use expensive face creams and toners and other crap. I have a now easy routine and you are going to laugh when you find out what I do every morning before walking out the door. Easy I say and you all think whatever lady. Here it is the only product I use on my face.

                                Yes ladies you got that right Johnson's baby creamy oil is my life!

Let's talk about why this product is amazing shall we? It is light and not heavy at all so when I put it on my skin is refreshed and not at all oily after applying. It is gentle because they make it for babies. It smells like heaven. I am sad to say they no longer make the aloe type but you can be crazy and buy it for $50 on amazon still. I just bought the shea butter type. I little secret about this is that it also helps repel bugs like mosquitos. I promise I have tried this last summer and it worked like a charm.

So that is it that is really all I put on my skin each and every day.  Live your best life ladies and gents and do not let the media and others tell you that you need 1,000 products to make your skin happy.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily

Second Bathroom Renovation: Buying

Renovating is exhausting and at a certain point it is okay when you are in over your head and hiring some professionals. Today the plumber and electrician come to fix up the mess that is our bathroom. Right now it is sitting gutted which I thought was okay till the I found a mouse in my lunch box. For sure thinking the little guy came in through the attic and fell through the giant hole currently in the ceiling of the bathroom. Don't worry he sorta survived and I now have a catch and release mouse trap. Now let's get to the soul of this post buying things when you are renovating. I have now been to Lowe's, Menard's, Best Buy, Van Vreedes, and Home Depot. I feel like an expert on washer/dryer machines with the research I have done talking to people and reading like 1,000 of reviews. I think with this bathroom we are being far less picky and more practical which will hopefully save us time. Meaning I will not be spending like 40 hours painting a vanity. We did find a nice vanity for the space though and a top too. My tip to you is research the items you are interested in and look around before purchasing if you can. Even the same brand of washer/dryer is drastically cheaper at other locations across town. Here are some pictures of our big haul of goods the last couple days.

Light fixture: Menard's
Faucet: Menard's 

Vanity: Lowe's 

Toliet: Home Depot
Counter Top: Home Depot

This project continues and I cannot wait to show you the after renovation pictures. We will have a ton of things to do before we get to that place but we are well on our way. 

Until next time~

XoXo Emily