AMBERGALLTRAVELS

Momma’s 55th Bday!

I cannot even tell you how excited I am. My mom means so much to me and I have big big plans to celebrate. Okay, their not super huge because I am a high school student on a budget, but I did spend around $100 overall.

First things first I had to clean up the house a little bit. We’ve been so busy dealing with COVID-19, school, and work that we hadn’t really had a chance to organizing things. Now I didn’t clean the whole house, but I cleaned the main areas where people would be visiting and the closest bathroom for use. I would share pictures, but I don’t think anyone really wants to see clutter.

Next, I chose a theme full of vibrant colors that my mom loves. That mainly consists of burgundy, light pink, gold, and a little bit of white. She really loves burgundy so that was the main color to base off of.

I spent at least $20 on balloons to create a balloon arch. I also got these giant HAPPY BIRTHDAY balloons that hung on strings.

(My momma in her little dress posing with the balloons)

I forgot to take a picture of the full balloon arch, but you can basically see what colors I used. Burgundy, light pink, and gold dotted regular balloons, along with very small pink balloons. I was very appreciative to have the help of my boyfriend, his mom, and his sister. They blew up balloons while I used a tremendous amount of masking tape.

Next we laid out the flowers, table cloth, plates, cups, silverware, drinks, snacks, and a little boombox for music. That supplies was around $30 that I got from the dollar store. I also had the help of my grandparents who graciously set up the snacks. The strawberries were perfectly ripe, and my grandma loved the hummus and pita chips.

For the main meal I decided to go with pizza. I mean who doesn’t like pizza, it’s the iconic party food. My mom also happens to love eggplant, so my boyfriend’s mom sauteed them in a small pan with olive oil. After that my boyfriend put sauce on pre-made pizza dough. It was some sort of Brooklyn pizza crust that looked pretty fancy at Safeway. After that he put cheese on one and eggplant with cheese on the other. I don’t have any pictures of it but it was very yummy.

Oh my word, I forgot to mention my boyfriend’s mom created this absolutely huge and beautiful cake that also matched the color theme. Best cake I’ve tasted in a long long time, boy that was yummy. I had to clear more space in the fridge, and thankfully it was able to fit.

We set up everything prior to when my mom and sister got home. My sister had her volleyball practice and some other volleyball thing that was so late it was 8:30 when they finally arrived! Nevertheless my mom was beyond ecstatic, and totally shocked at what I had put together. I also bought her an around $20 cute mom dress for her, and I was happy because she looked so good ahhh!

She loved the pizza, and was glad that I remembered eggplant was her favorite. I also asked my boyfriend’s mom to get my mom her favorite bottle of wine (Menage e Trois). I think it’s a mix of three different wines from France. They sell it at Safeway for about $7 so it is pretty cheap.

I also got her three different gifts, sees candies chocolates, a fluffy blanket, and a spa package that has little hand soaps and lotions. I also don’t have any pictures of that, but she was very grateful and overjoyed.

Well, that’s my story for today. I apologize it’s been awhile since I’ve written anything, I promise to be more on top of it.

Chow! – Amber :3

5 Things To Do While Sheltering In Place

Okay, we’re all bored at home right? Well I actually figured out some things to do. I don’t know about you but I’ve been so tired of sleeping and literally doing nothing. So here’s a list of five things I’ve compiled you can do at home.

1. At Home Workout

Since barely any gyms are open you can start by doing an at home workout. Even if you don’t have a yoga mat, you can still look up yoga exercises on youtube and follow the tutorial. Here is a link to one of my favorite yoga video.

Besides yoga there’s also other options too, such as Pilates, use of therabands, dumbbells, and other equipment. Here’s a couple links.

Of course you don’t have any equipment that’s totally alright. You can still workout at home, and gain results. Here’s also another favorite video of mine.

It’s actually a lot easier to workout at home then it looks. It’s harder to get started honestly, but once you do it’ll be easier to continue. Working out also releases endorphins in your brain, which can cause you to be naturally happier. So if your depressed about being at stuck home, then this is a healthy option for you.

2. Trying New Recipes

Now I absolutely love to cook, it’s one of my favorite things. If you don’t love to cook that’s fine keep scrolling. But if you do, here are some easy, fun recipes to try.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/easy-impressive

The only thing I dislike about cooking is the cleanup afterwards. I mean let’s be honest, who wants to do dishes? But that is what I like about these recipes, is that there’s not much cleaner which makes them even more fun.

3. Clean!

My family in general is super busy, so we don’t have much time to keep our house clean. Being quarantined is actually a good opportunity for early spring cleaning. If you don’t know where to start and the closet will explode if you open it, here are a couple tips.

Start with 10 things. I can be something as simple as doing a dish or picking up a singular shirt of the floor, anything super simple.

Go from High to Low. Start from the top of the shelves all the way down to vacuuming the floor. This is another way that makes cleaning easier.

Make sure you have the right cleaning supplies. That can make a huge difference. If there’s a lot of grime and the cleaner your using isn’t working, maybe it’s time to invest in some new cleaning supplies.

Image result for cleaning supplies free photos

I hope that at least some of these tips are helpful. They’ve helped me keep my room clean so my mom doesn’t yell at me lol.

4. Family Bonding.

I fight all the time with my family, and sometimes we need a better understanding of each other. This is why some good family bonding activities can help out a lot.

Family Game Night! This is really easy and fun. There’s so many games you can play whether it’s a digital game or a classic board game. Here’s a few examples.

–Wii Sports. This is a great way for family bonding to happen. You can battle each other or you can play on the same team. There’s different games on there like Wii bowling, archery, basketball, table tennis, gold, and so much more.

–Classic board games. This is something non-digital your family can do. There’s games such as uno, life, sorry, trouble, scrabble, risk, chess, apples to apples, and so much more.

Family game night is a great activity families can do once a month, week, or whenever. It brings everyone together, and is overall beneficial.

5. Download Movies and Shows.

Everyone is super busy nowadays, but with quarantine we have a lot of time on our hands. This is a great way to catch up on favorite shows or fun movies. There’s so many programs out there, and different sites to watch on.

Netflix! Along with being super popular and providing many shows and movies, there is a price

–Basic, $8.99 per month. Netflix’s basic plan allows one screen to be able to watch at a time.

–Standard, $12.99 per month. The Netflix standard allows for two people to watch at the same time.

–Premium, $15.99 per month. Premium allows four people to watch at the same time.

Amazon Prime. This is another platform in which you can watch an allotted amount of programs.

– Costs about $99 a year, which is around $8.25 a month

Hulu. Last but not least, Hulu is known for it’s excellent list of movies.

– Costs about $95.88 a year which is around $7.99 a month.

Alright so I know this isn’t exactly a travel blog, I am currently sheltering in place. Once this whole coronavirus thing is over, there will be plenty travel blogs to come.

Stay safe! – Amber 🙂

Calaveras Big Trees State Park Day Trip

This was a fun day trip I took in 2019 when I was 15 years old. It depends on what time of year you go, when I arrived it was excruciatingly hot. The timing was also in the middle of the summer.

I was with my sister, and dad for this trip. We decided to take the North Grove Trail to visit some giant trees. I made sure to pack extra water because boy it was hot!

First things first. When we embarked the trail, there was this ginormous tree stump you could stand on top of. It had to be more than 50 feet around the circumference.

Here’s a couple pictures of the trees we saw.

The path was very nicely paved, so you don’t have to wear hiking shoes or anything. My dad wore his sandals, and I just wore a pair of vans because their in style or whatever. Some of the path was made of wood, and some just a dirt road.

About half an hour in, we came across these huge tree roots. Some you could walk inside, and others you could pose by. It’s recommended that you don’t climb to preserve the trees.

Further into the hike, there was a split tree you could walk through. This picture is a good example of how the path was sometimes a dirt road, and wood depending on which part your at.

Here’s me walking through the inside of a tree

We also approached a tree that was walkable from the inside. Here’s a few pics:

So that was basically our whole day trip. This is my first blog post and I know I need to get better at writing. Honestly if you got this far I appreciate it. I’m going to do my best to get more information next trip. Okay bye!