Sippin' Saturday - The Sugar Factory

Last weekend my roommates and I took a weekend trip to Las Vegas. It was a ton of fun - we got a lot done in just under two days! I'll probably post about it on my travel blog Jet Set Annette. But for today, I'm going to share with you a couple of amazing milkshakes we got at The Sugar Factory, which is located in Planet Hollywood.

Their milkshakes are a-ma-zing! They do cost around $9, which is a bit steep for a milkshake, but if you're in the Las Vegas area, I definitely recommend checking it out! I'm going to rate the three we tried from least-favorite to most-favorite. Keep in mind the least-favorite was still pretty darn good!

The Fluffer Nutter
This milkshake is made of combinations of chocolate, peanut butter, and marshmallow. It's amazing but very rich. Think uber-Reese's, with marshmallows added in!

The Chocolate Cookie Jar

This one tastes like an Oreo milkshake, but more flavorful. It's not as rich as the Fluffer Nutter (but still intensely delicious). Sorry about the half-finished milkshake in the picture - I couldn't get my roommates to wait for my milkshake to be finished before theirs was almost finished. :P

The Barbie

This one was my favorite. It's a strawberry and marshmallow-fluff milkshake with pink rock candy on top. It was soooo good, plus it wasn't too rich that you couldn't finish it. I forgot to mention earlier, these milkshakes still have chunks of goodies in them, and they're served with a giant straw. So this one has chunks of strawberries that just add to the deliciousness. (I don't have a picture of this one, because it was too delicious to wait for a picture.)

Sippin' Saturday - Cups and Crepes

Welcome to Sippin' Saturday, where I review new drinks I've tried. :)

Last Saturday my roommate, my sister, and I went to a local place called "Cups and Crepes", which sells coffee and crepes. The food was amazing, but the service was lackluster. Here are two of the drinks they serve (and they serve much more than this - we didn't even venture near the dozens of flavor Italian sodas they make).

Monkey Mocha Latte

Chocolate and banana! This tastes like you melted "Chunky Monkey" ice cream into coffee. A combination  I haven't seen before, but it was soo good. :)

Hazelnut Frappe

This was also amazing. An offering we really wish was available elsewhere, so we could get it more often. My non-coffee loving friend liked the flavor, but it was still too "coffee" for her. Personally, I would love to try a hazelnut mocha... a "Nutella" coffee.

Look at these! Aren't they gorgeous? They were yummy too.

Any recommendations for beverage (or crepe) places I could visit in the Phoenix area? What's your favorite coffee shop and/or beverage?

Spanish/English Word Buddies

As you may have noticed from some of my prior posts, I love learning languages. Aside from my native language (English), Spanish is the one I've spent the most time learning. I think it's a beautiful and practical language and I'm always striving to improve my fluency. Over the years, I've used lots of mental tricks to try and remember the language, and one of which is below.

I have listed a word in Spanish, what it means, and then an English word that is related to it (usually by a Latin root word). For example, the word Mar, which means "sea" in Spanish, is related to the word Marina in English. If you've ever been near a body of water, "sea" or not, you've probably heard of the word Marina, which is a designated area for boaters to dock their boats. And now you've made a connection and are more likely to remember the Spanish word Mar.

Not all of these "buddies" will work for every person. For example, if you don't know what a Monstrance is, you it probably won't help you remember the word Mostrar. Unless of course you take time to look it up, in which case the hunt for knowledge may help you anyways. :)

Spanish Word	What it means	English word buddy
Mar	Sea	Marina
Sol	Sun	Solar
Tierra	Earth	Extra-terrestrial Terra-cotta pot Terrain
Mostrar	To show	Monstrance (Maybe this is only helpful if you're Catholic and already know what a monstrance is. :P)
Bailar	To dance	Ballerina
Arbol	Tree	Arbor Day
Ratón	Mouse (both the animal and the computeraccesory)	Rat
Cuerpo	Body	Corporal (As in Corporal Works of Mercy, providing for the physical needs of others [food, water, clothes, etc.]) Corporate (A group acting as one body)
Luna	Moon	Lunar Lunatic (Person affected by the moon's changes)
Contar	To tell	Recount (To recount a tale after a long journey, perhaps)
Brazo	Arm	Embrace (Where you wrap your arms around someone :D:D)
Mano	Hand	Manufacture(To make by hand) Manacles (hand cuffs) Manicure Manual (by hand)
Escribir	To write/desk	Scribe Inscribe Script
Mal	Bad	Malignant Malfunction Malice
Bien	Good	Benevolent Benefit Benefactor Benign
Carne	Meat	Carnivore (someone who eats meat)
Camisa	Shirt	Camisole
Collar	Necklace	Collar (although not jewelry, it does go around ones neck)
Realizar	To perform	Realize (As in, to realize ones dreams)
Campo	Field	Campus
Enfermedad	Sickness	Infirmary
Media	Half	Medium
Pájaro	Bird	Parrot
Cien	Hundred	Century (One hundred years) Cent (One hundredth of a dollar) Percent (Of one hundred) Centimeter (One hundredth of a meter)
Mil	Thousand	Millennium(One Thousand years) Millimeter(One Thousandth of a meter) Millipede (A bug with "one thousand" legs)
Ocho	Eight	Octopus Octo-mom Octuplets
Vida	Life	Vital (Essential to life) Revive (Bring back to life)
Muerto	Death	Mortuary Morbid (Relating to death) Immortal (Cannot die) Mortified (Scared to death)
Ano	Year	Annual Anniversary
Con	With	Connect Contiguous
Grande	Large	Grand
Amigo	Friend	Amnesty Amicable Amity
Dormir	To sleep	Dorm (Where college students sleep)

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but I had fun making it. What words/word buddies did I miss? Have any of you ever done this, either with Spanish or another language?

Reading Wednesday: Batter Up by Robyn Neely

If you couldn't guess by my last book review, I'm going through a phase where I enjoy reading sweets-based romance. Here's another adorable one.

This book follows a woman who lives an ordinary life as a baker in a quaint small town. There's nothing super unique about her, except for one thing: she can cast a spell (in cake batter, of course) that shows the name of a man's true love. Every week she hosts "Batter Up" night at her bakery, and never fails to draw a local crowd. Then comes along an attractive news reporter who wants to "break" the story of her spell and ruin the life she's made so far.

This book was a fun, predictable romance with a magical sweet-tooth twist.

Songs for August 2016

It's a little bit late, but here are thirty songs for August! A mix of thirty-one random, but awesome songs that I've either discovered or re-discovered recently. Enjoy!

I can't guarantee that all of the songs are "clean", especially since not all of them are in English...

My favorite song is on the 20th, since it's my birthday. :D

August 2016    Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Any songs I should know about and maybe add to September's music calendar?

Olympic Party!

So we did have a party for the Olympic opening ceremony and it was a ton of fun! Here's what we served:

Savory set of Olympic rings

Sweet set of olympic rings

Pao de queijo

The Teddy olympics!

Swimming

Beach volleyball

Rowing

The spread!

The Olympic Torch cocktail

Do you do anything special for the Olympics? I'd love to hear about it!

Reading Wednesday: Corporate Husband by Beverly Farr

Lately I've been going through a kick where I love super-predictable, definitely-a-chick-lit romance novels. And today I'm going to share with you my latest read, a book called Corporate Husband by Beverly Farr. It's the first in her "Love and Chocolate" series, and falls into the genre of "marriage of convenience" romance.

The book centers around a woman named Louis who is the CEO of a chocolate company. She fears that the company will fall apart after the death of the founder, her grandfather, if she doesn't inherit a large portion of the shares. Unfortunately, her grandfather is sexist and although she excels at CEO, she doesn't stand much of a chance of inheriting without a guy by her side. Enter Justin, a fellow chocolate company employee, who agrees to marry her until her grandfather passes away and she inherits the company.

This book was, although predictable, incredibly adorable and just what I wanted to read. If you're in the mood for a warm and fuzzy chick-lit romance, with a touch of chocolate, I would recommend this book. :)