Gluten Free Party Survival Guide



It's summer time which means there will be BBQs, graduations, and pool parties all the time. While it can be difficult to attend parties as a gluten free eater, you can make it easier and enjoyable!

Talk To The Host
This is the most important thing to do before attending a party. Find out what type of foods they will be offering or if it is a catered event. If the party is taking place at a restaurant, look up gluten free options before you go. If you see nothing you can it from the preselected menu, order one of the gluten free options you found. If the host is making the food and there is nothing you can eat, offer to bring something! Make sure it's a main or side dish item, you don't want to be eating dessert the whole time. If for some reason you not allowed to bring a dish make sure you eat before going to the party.

Bring Your Own Pretzels, Crackers, Or Chips
I always bring a small bag of Snyder's Gluten Free Pretzels with me so I can eat dips! Its better to be safe then sorry when it comes to eating things other people bring. If they served regular pretzels or do not remember if they brought corn chips, you have your own option!

Watch Out For The Alcohol
While I'm not actually old enough to drink, my parents always talk about what I will and will not be able to have. My Mom has actually ordered a few gluten free beers to see how she likes them. If you want to drink beer, you have to bring you own! Unless the host is gluten free themselves, they are not going to have it. Make sure you check the ingredients for mixed drinks as well, you never know where someone might sneak gluten in.

Make sure you enjoy yourself at parties. Don't spend the whole time freaking out about the food. If your worried, eat before hand or only eat the dish you made. Relax and have some fun!

Gluten Free Adventures: My Favorite Snack

     So, I talk a lot about eating gluten free out of the house. I've decided that I'm going to start talking about snacks and meals that I eat at home as well! 

     Pretzels and hummus have been my favorite snack for a long long time, even before I went gluten free. Let's just say I have never been impressed with the gluten free pretzel options... They have always been overly crunchy and just don't taste right... Did I mention that none of them have salt? It's seeds sprinkled over the top. Give me the dang salt!

     Then one day, I saw snyders had started making gluten free pretzels! Yaaaaaay! They are so much better then the other pretzel options and even come in three flavors. The buffalo wing flavor is my favorite! 

     If you haven't tried these little babies yet, what are you doing? Bring the pretzels back into your life! Now I just have to wait for gluten free soft pretzels... If someone could get on that I would be forever greatful! 

Bath and Body Semi Annual Sale

Its that time of year again... Semi annual sale time. Yes, yes I did go crazy. Let's get started.

I think I'm just going to talk about body products in this post and do home products in the next. It would be very very long otherwise.

What to start with... There's so much! Let's go with uh hand soap. I love these hand soaps in my house and and $3.00 a pop I got quite a few. If I talked about all of these scents individually we would be here forever... Let's keep it short and sweet.

- Mango Paradise: This reminds me of tropical lifesavers.

- Sea Island Cotton: Plain and simple, but my Mom loves it so of course I picked one up.

- Lemon Chiffon Tart: I was a little cautious about this because I don't like food scents, but this is all lemon.

- Sweet Clementine: Keeping in the citrus family, this is orange and delicous.

- White Citrus: Oh hey look, more citrus. This is pretty a standard fresh and clean scent.

- Caribbean Escape: This is the perfect mix of coconuts and island flowers.

- Aloha Orchid: Floral, floral, floral, oh and did I mention flowers.

Holy soap... I'm going to be smelling fine for the rest of my life.  

I'm loving this coconut scent. It's a great blend of coconut, orange, and flowers. Don't worry, it won't remind you of sunscreen. 

I've never seen this scent before, but I love it. It is very floral with a combination of violet blooms, lily, and sandalwood. Much less tropical and fruity then all my other scents.

Tokyo Lotus & Apple Blossom. All I can say here is apple, apple, apple. I'm surprisingly okay with smelling like a big piece of fruit.

This is easily my favorite scent! It seriously smells like a tropical fruit salad. I would eat but I don't think it's allowed... What's wrong with smelling like a pineapple during summer? Nothing my friends.

Stay tuned for part two... Home scents.

Drugstore Dash!

I went to Walgreen for wrapping paper and well I came out with a few other things... I can't resist the orange clearance tags! 

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure

These little babies were only $1.99! They're normally like eight dollars so I had to grab them.

I really like these polishes so it was a great deal! 

         Royal Blush & Hi Ho Silver

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails

This is technically a nail hardener, but I love using it as a top coat. It makes my nails super shiny and protects them from chipping! 

Vitasurge Growth Gel Treatment

I have always thought my nails were short so I decided to see if one of the products would work! There are a ton of them so I picked the one that promised the fastest results. I will post about it again in 5 days as a review! 

Maybelline Color Tattoo

These are easily my favorite drugstore makeup items! They are so easy to use and last much longer then regular shadow. They were half off so I grabbed the last one they had in Audacious Asphalt! 

Gluten Free Adventures: Qdoba

I am absolutely in LOVE with Qdoba! It's one of the very few fast food places I can actually eat at. There's only so many times you can order a hamburger with no bun...

While there are a few limitations, gluten free eaters can find a lot of options here! One of my favorite things to eat is a Naked Burrito with pork, brown rice, black beans, fajita vegetables, medium salsa, and cheese. It's so yummy! 

Regular burritos are off limits, they only have flour tortillas. At least they have an option that you don't feel awkward ordering! 

If your not up for a naked Burrito, you could also go for the tortilla soup, Mexican gumbo, or any of the options with a soft corn tortilla!

June Birchbox Review

It's that time of the month! Yay Birchbox! I feel like I just got my May box but hey, I'm not going to complain! I am loving this months box, it's full of skin and hair care products which are my favorite. 

Vasanti BrightenUp! 

As I have said before I am a sucker for exfoliating cleanser. I like this product but I still need to use an acne cleanser! It has a very thick gritty texture, which I personally really like. I'm not sure about the smell... It's certainly not bad, but reminds me of household cleaner! It's strange but a good strange.

Gilchrist & Soames Body Lotion

I think this lotion is... Interesting! It's very moisturizing, but not thick at all. So, if your not crazy about thick lotions you may like this. As for the scent, it's very natural. It definitely had a scent but it is not overpowering.

L'eau de Mare Hydrating Shampoo & Conditioner

So, I have not used this shampoo or conditioner yet. I really like how Birchbox sends a combination of the two! I just bought my Mane N Tail Shampoo and want to stick with that for a while! This is the perfect size for travel, so I will probably save it for a trip!

Folle de joie Perfume

I'm glad I don't have to pronounce this because I guarantee I would get it wrong!  This perfume smells good, although I feel like it's not a scent that younger girls would like! It's not overpoweringly floral or fruity. It's also make me feel fancy... 

Coola Mineral Sunscreen

Ah yes, another sunscreen. I feel like I'm going to be getting these for the next few months. This is a little bit different then your regular sunscreen, it's a BB cream and its matte. I am so excited for a matte face sunscreen! It's really important to protect you face from the sun, but I hate how greasy and shiny other products are!

Does Mane N Tail actually help with hair growth?

I have somewhat long hair, it measures about 9 inches below my chin. However, I have been trying to grow long locks for quite some time! I recently had to chop of three inches of dead ends thanks to an ombré dye and I am seriously missing the length! 

I have been taking Biotin for about a year and I definitely think it helps with fall out, but not so much with growth. I am determined to grow out my hair to the length I want! I'm going to see if Mane N Tail can help me with this.

After reading and viewing several blog posts and videos I have decided to give it a try! I mean why not when you get a giant container of product for $6...

If your not familiar with Mane N Tail it's actually a product for horses! That makes sense with the name doesn't it... If your on the hunt for your own make sure you check the pet section at walmart or Walgreens! Walmart does not place it in their hair care section but walgreens does.

I have only washed my hair with it once, so I obviously will not be seeing an results just yet. However I have to say that my hair felt crazy clean after using it! I will report back results in about a month!

Whats In My Travel Makeup Bag?

Alright my friends, I'm back! My family went on a short three day vacation and when we came back we had no internet... No internet no posts... But, all is well! We had a charter guy here for 2 hours and we are finally back up and running! Seeing that I just got back from a vacation, I thought I would share what makeup I brought along!





Foundation
I start off the Instant Age Rewind Primer from Maybelline. After that I use the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Darkspot Eraser for my under eyes. Then I use a small amount of Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream (Yes I love Maybelline) with m beauty blender sponge. After that I finish up with my bareMinerals!



Eye shadow
I always bring my Naked Basics Palate with me on trips! It's small, compact, and can create a variety of looks. I also bring my other favorite eye shadow product. I am so obsessed the Maybelline Color Tattoos. I have so many of these but ended up only bringing Bad to the Bronze and Pomegranate Punk. These are great when I'm in a hurry, I just apply a little to my eye and I'm good to go.



Lip Product
I brought along two tinted lip balms, Just Bitten Gothic and Jordana Candied Coral.






Blush, Brushes,  & Mascara
BareMinerals Exhilarate is my favorite blush and its small packaging, so its great to travel with! For mascara, I brought the Voluminous Million Lashes. I also brought along my bareMinerals Brushes and three eye shadow brushes from ecotools.