hannuhunt

 New adventures are always amazing. They are worth the clothes covered in burrs and other unknown creatures of nature. They are worth the the bugs and the constant tripping. It's wonderful to explore nature; where urban society hasn't yet laid his hands. The trees, the grass and the smell of damp wood and feeling of the cool breeze. On this adventure we got to explore places we have never been before to get a few last adventures in before the shortened fall season comes to a close. I wanted to see the trees of orange and yellow hidden in each picture.

We took our adventure to a place we had never ventured to before, which is how life should be. Risks. Whether they are something as small as walking into an unknown forest, or something as big as jumping out of a plane (with a parachute, of course!) I can't wait to take risks as I grow up and become more independent. I want to take road trips and travel to the mountains. Set up a tent and camp under the milky way. Hike to the top of mountains. (And of course experience nature's rural plumbing!)

So into the woods we go, to see new things and have new experiences. That's what life should be. Capture moments, don't let them slip by, you'll regret it in the end.

In the recent months I have greatly enjoyed painting and drawing, and just being creative overall. But what I enjoy more than just being artsy, it being artsy outside. It is so nice to sit outside, surrounded by nature and just relax. The air is so fresh, and it's wonderful just being one with nature. I lay out my blanket, bring out all my art supplies and grab a friend. I paint whatever comes to mind or doodle a little bit. Take some photos or make a little video, it's all fun. And don't forget a snack! I highly recommend cucumber, banana, raspberries and a little baby bell cheese.

My recent picnic included a fun 10 minute photo shoot of my friend. I couldn't waste the beautiful day or the flowers surrounding my backyard. It's easy to make a little background with the wooden deck. it makes more rustic, and more professional.

It was all a lot of fun and just very relaxing. If you're ever feeling stressed or bored just take a break, you don't even have to paint or draw, just get outside and enjoy nature.

Took another adventure in the city, or pretty close, that is. We took a nice trip to go visit my cousin and her kids in Lincoln Park. It was a beautiful neighbor hood right near Armitage Avenue, which has many cute shops and places to eat that I did not enter. I passed Glazed and Infused, but regretfully did not go in.

A cute taco place called Bordega that I saw but did not enter

We spent a few hours with my cousin and when it was time for lunch we left. Sadly we left Armitage Avenue behind and headed for Damen Avenue. It was not a successful adventure. Being Monday, almost all the shops and places to eat were closed, even Hot Chocolate Chicago. Monday seems to be Damen Avenue's Sunday. So we ended up leaving the area with empty stomachs.

After our failed attempts of finding a cute cafe and headed home, yet our adventure was not over yet. We stopped on the way home at a nice Italian restaurant called, Nonna Silvia's Trattoria and Pizzeria. Sitting down with the menu my eyes immediately found margarita pizza, so I knew what I was ordering right away. We started the meal with bread, olive oil and Parmesan cheese, just like any other Italian would.

Nonna Silvia's Trattoria and Pizzeria

Cannolis

I definitely enjoyed my pizza, seeing as as I ate all of it except for one slice. And even though I was stuffed by the end, we still ordered a few cannolis to go. So while our adventures did not go as planned, we still got to enjoy the day.

A few houses in Lincoln Park

Now, many people may not know this, but I have a great love for music. I'm one of those people who has no musical talent whatsoever. I can't sing, I can't read music, I can't play an instrument and I definitely can't dance to a beat. So instead I have a fabulous talent of memorizing songs and lip-syncing like it's nobody's business. I always need music in the car, especially on road trips, so it's no surprise that my playlists always have 300 songs or more. I constantly make new playlists as I discover new music, and they grow as I rediscover old music that I love. (And whoever understands my song reference in the title of the post - I love you, you're my new bff).

And if you were to ask what kind of music I like, I would not be able to answer that with just one reply. I listen to everything. Alternative, Pop, Indie, Country, Rock, Dance/Electronic, the occasional rap, because honestly that's the one type of music I have a very low tolerance for, half the time rap is just stupid, inappropriate lyrics that, quite frankly, disgust me. And really, no offence to people who do enjoy rap, I mean you do you, it's not my place to judge, we all have our own opinions and this just happens to be mine. I even have a love for all Disney music, and the Wicked soundtrack.

So now I am compiling a rather short playlist to share with you all, to introduce new music to you and show what I'm into at the moment...

1. Coming Down - Halsey (HALSEY IS MY FAVORITE PERSON/ARTIST RIGHT NOW I LOVE HER)
2. Drive - Halsey (I mean it, I love her. Her voice is just amazing)
3. New Americana - Halsey (That's it. For now.)
4. Wicked Ones - DOROTHY
5. Little Vessels - The Lighthouse and The Whaler
6. 0 To 100 - Drake (Pretty much the only rap song I like right now)
7. Lush Life - Zara Larsson (She has a really incredible voice)
8. Crystals - Of Monsters and Men (I'm really into them at the moment)
9. Honey - Magic Man
10. Wolves without Teeth - Of Monsters and Men
11. All You Need is Love - The Beatles
12. Endtapes - The Joy Formidable
13. Anna Sun - WALK THE MOON
14. One For The Road - Arctic Monkeys (Did you figure it out yet?)
15. Great Summer - Vance Joy (The Paper Towns soundtrack is really great, check it out, and the movie was just as great)
16. Search Party - Sam Bruno
17. Hold Back the River - James Bay (He has the voice of an Angel, that's all I need to say)
18. Let it Go - James Bay
19. Can't Feel My Face - The Weeknd
20. Incomplete - James Bay
21. You - The 1975 (One of my favorite bands, and forever one of my favorite songs)
22. So far (it's alright) - The 1975
23. Wild Ones - Bahari
24. The Hills - The Weeknd
25. Of The Night - Bastille
26. American Kids - Kenny Chesney
27. Hinnom - Bon Iver
28. Crash and Burn - Thomas Rhett
29. Raise 'Em Up - Keith Urban ft. Eric Church
30. Renegades - X Ambassadors
31. Adore - Jasmine Thompson
32. Is There Somewhere - Halsey
33. Empty Gold - Halsey
34. Hold Me Down - Halsey
35. Carry You Home - Zara Larsson
36. Words as Weapons - Birdy
37. Wonderland - Taylor Swift
38. Florida Kilos - Lana Del Rey (My favorite Lana song)
39. Smile - Mikky Ekko (I love his voice alot)
40. Kids - Mikky Ekko
41. Polaroid - Imagine Dragons (Their newest album was golden)
42. Never Be - 5sos
43. Trouble - Halsey
44. Summer - Imagine Dragons
45. Vagabond - Misterwives
46. Pity Party - Melanie Martinez
47. Mess is Mine - Vance Joy
48. Falling - HAIM
49. Which Witch - Florence and the Machines
50. Nina - Ed Sheeran
51. Cigarette Daydreams - Cage the Eephant
52. Burning Doves - Mikky Ekko
53. Famous - Charli XCX
54. Firestone - Kygo
55. Fairly Local - Twenty One Pilots
56. Soldier On - The Temper Trap
57. Skin - Zola Jesus
58. Lost It To Trying - Son Lux
59. Wolf - Marika Hackman
60. The John Wayne - Little Green Cars

Woo, it's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry for my disappearance, therefore lack of posts. Well I'm back! For the time being that is. So the other day I took a trip to Chicago, which happened to be a wonderfully nice day. The weather was so nice, I almost wished I had worn my new Zara jeans. (Which is besides the topic, but they are super cute, and super comfortable.)

My mother and I started off the day walking to The Art Institute of Chicago, because as of late I have been obsessed with art, mostly watercolors. It was so relaxing, walking through the different art styles and amazing pieces. We started with Impressionism, and made our way through Modern American art, Modern art, Photography, and Modern European Art.

Renoir's painting 'Seascape'

Modern Art Sculpture

In the Impressionism, some of my favorites were landscapes by Renoir and Monet, especially ones with water. I really have a thing for paintings with water, they're just so calming and beautiful. When it comes to the modern art it's just really fun to think about what you're seeing, getting really in depth with it.

After purchasing a print of 'Starry Night' by Van Gogh, we proceeded to make our way to lunch, which was a place we had gone before called Howells and Hood. It's a nice restaurant on Michigan Avenue, with the cutest outdoor area to eat at. Because of the beautiful day we sat outside and took our time to decide what to eat. My mom decided on fish tacos, while I, being the lover of meat (sorry, vegetarians, I can't help it), ordered steak tacos.

Some delicious banana doughnuts

We waited for our food to arrive, checking our phones and chit-chatting. Then our tacos arrived and they looked delicious. Because of my aversion to beans and their strange texture, I substituted them with fries. With soft shells, steak, cabbage and cotija cheese, I dug into my tacos, cabbage falling out in the process. By the end of the meal I finished all three tacos and my fries, good job, Hannah! Despite the slight feeling of being full I couldn't pass up dessert. While deciding what we were going to eat my mom noticed banana doughnuts on the dessert menu, so naturally I just had to get them.

They proceeded to take away our finished meals and bring out the doughnuts. And, my God, I couldn't wait to eat them. They were small and circular, coated in a layer of sugar. To the side were three condiments, a nutella sauce, a white cream, and maple like syrup. Choosing two doughnuts I plopped them onto my plate and drizzled the chocolaty sauce onto them, They were warm and sweet and just downright amazing. We each had three and with our stomachs completely full we payed and left.

After lunch we made our way down Michigan Avenue, towards the Water Tower. On our way we ducked into a new candy place called Dylan's Candy Bar, just to have a look around, nothing seemed appealing due to my overly stuffed stomach. We also stopped at Zara and Nike along to way, purchasing a few things and continued on to Topshop by The Water Tower Place. Obviously we headed straight to the sale section, and we managed to find a few cute tops. After Topshop, we walked to Sprinkles to get some of their delicious cupcakes. Sprinkles are my favorite, nothing else compares. We got a triple cinnamon, a black and white, a marshmallow, a banana and two peanut butter chip cupcakes. And we couldn't forget the dark, so we got a Sprinkles doggy treat for Marley.

We walked around the block onto N Rush Street and then to E Oak Street, and that street just happens to have every single nice store from Loubiton and Hermes, Prada and Tory Burch. We came back around, me crying as I passed the Chanel store, which I probably wouldn't have been allowed in since I can't even afford the tissue paper they wrap the bags in. We headed into Bloomingdale's to rest our feet and also purchase a wallet from Kate Spade that my sister wanted. And for the first time in my life, I was asked, "Sparkling Water, or still?" Best day ever.

It was time to make our way back to the train station. On our way back we stopped at H&M where I finally purchased a pair of Boyfriend jeans! Yay! I was delighted walking back, but then my feet started to hurt, but we we were too close to call a cab at that point, so we struggled, with aching feet, the rest of the way. To conclude my wonderful day, we rested, in comfortable silence, on the ride home. It was one of the best days of summer so far!

I purchased my cactus and succulent about a month and a half ago and the first thing I did was research how to take care of them, since I have never taken care of my own plants before. I figured I'd make some easy direction and tips that anyone with a cactus and succulent can follow.

• Light - For many species brightly lit areas with lots of sunlight are perfect, but not somewhere with full midday sun. Full midnight sun can actually burn your plant. I like to keep mine by the window in the kitchen in the afternoon when the sun's not too hot, sometime between 3-6, and in the morning I keep them by the window in my room when the sun's not very intense.
• Water - During warmer months (the growing phase) they should be watered once a week, possibly wait until the soil is completely dry and soak the plant for a few minutes. When the weather is colder, they need much less water, going weeks in between watering sessions.
• Pot - It's best to have pot with a drainage hole at the bottom, so you don't drown your plant, if it's not possible for you to have one, just be extra careful when watering.
• Re-Potting - Try to pot once a year, when the plant starts to look uncomfortable transfer in to a new, or bigger pot.

Now, I'm not usually a fan of coffee, save for a frappechino or a peppermint mocha, but this was amazingly good. It's pretty simple and fast.