Sippin' Saturday - Watermelon Agua Fresca at Tune Up Cafe

Before we left Santa Fe, New Mexico, my friend and I stopped at a place called the Tune Up Cafe. The food was great, and so was my beverage - watermelon agua fresca! I'm not sure how to describe agua fresca. In general, it's lighter than juice, but stronger than fruit-infused water. Since it was watermelon flavored, this one was pretty much watermelon juice. It was soooo good and very refreshing. I'm going to have to find a recipe for this some time.

Reading Wednesday - Be Still Coloring Book

As you may have noticed, adult coloring books have been a recent trend. So of course I bought a couple to try out - coloring really is relaxing. My favorite so far is "Be Still and Know that I am God Coloring Book". The cover says it is "coloring therapy with Scripture verses from Psalms".

The coloring pages are beautiful! The pages are one sided and are on pretty thick paper, so you can easily tear them out (they're preforated too!) and hang them up somewhere. They're even pretty enough to frame. The thicker pages means you can also color in marker without having to worry that it's going to bleed through to the other page.

Here are a couple of pages that I've done. I want to say the one with the bible verse is probably more indicative of the pages you see in the rest of the book, but there are some repeating pattern pages too (but not too many).

Do you have a favorite coloring book? Let me know!

Funky Friday - Diamond Flower Friendship Bracelet

I have another friendship bracelet for you! This one is much simpler than last week's.You still want to have mastered the basics before you attempt this one, but all-in-all, it's a quick make. I made the bracelet using this pattern.

 What friendship bracelet pattern do you think I should try next?

Tasty Tuesday - Japanese Treats

My friend bought a bunch of those make-it-yourself Japanese candy kits. So a couple of friends and I tried them out. Here's how it went:

All of the kits (we only made a couple - they take a decent amount of time!)

Krissy with the kits

Our finished "donuts", before we added frosting and sprinkles.

After frosting and sprinkles

Our sushi "candies"

Although it was sort of fun to figure out which powder goes where and with which scoop and how much water, etc., in the end the treats were... sort of disgusting. Fun to make with friends but definitely make sure you have something to get the taste out of your mouth in the end.

Have you ever tried making these Japanese candy kits? How'd they turn out for you?

Sippin' Saturday - Dutch Bros. Italian Sodas

Did you know that Dutch Bros. makes italian sodas? Neither did I until a coworker mentioned it to me. So of course I had to try! Pictured below is a strawberry soda with whipped cream (which makes a huge difference). It was amazing! Super sweet and very strawberries-and-cream. I haven't been adventurous enough to try any of their other many, many flavours, but I'm going to have to branch out soon. Another perk is that they are (at least to my knowledge) caffeine free.

Do you have any recommendations of drink combinations I should try at Dutch Bros?

Funky Friday - Complex Rainbow Zig-Zag Friendship Bracelet

It's been a while since I've made a friendship bracelet, but I find them to be a lot of fun! This particular friendship bracelet was made with the pattern located here. It's a pretty complex one to do, but it's a lot of fun if you understand the basic mechanics of friendship bracelet making.

The first steps are by far the hardest!

 The finished product!

What's your favorite friendship bracelet pattern?

Sipping Saturday - Starbucks Cold Buster

It's cold season - ew. A couple of week ago I caught a cold and, curious, googled around to see if there was a drink perfect for this situation. Turns out there is. On Starbuck's hidden menu is something called the "cold buster". According to starbuckssecretmenu.net, this drink is made with steamed lemonade, jade citrus mint tea, peach tranquility tea, honey, and peppermint.

Pros: This definitely works to clear your sinuses. The mint especially helps clear thing up, and the tea is soothing for a sore throat.

Con: The steamed lemonade made this drink a bit sour, so I couldn't finish it. Mint and lemon are also a weird combination. Perhaps just getting the teas would be better next time.

From the outside, it looks pretty much like any other Starbucks drink.

But look how pretty the tea bags are!

Have you ever tried something off of the Starbucks secret menu? Or, do you have a better Starbucks drink to bust a cold? I'd love to hear about it!