Showing posts with label International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club. Show all posts

Summer Camp: IGGPPCamp 2016

Tomorrow marks the start of our third annual Summer Camp over at International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club. It's one of my favourite things about summer and I'm excited to participate in some activities, read all the forum activities, and jump into some watch-alongs and bake-alongs.


From the 18th-22nd there are tons of activities happening, new blog posts going up on the site, and forum activities to participate in. If you're looking for something fun to try this weekend, head to the camp handbook to check all the details out.


I made up a yummy s'mores-related recipe for camp and once my post goes live, I'll definitely share the recipe. I also plan on trying out the s'mores french toast recipe that will be happening on Sunday too.

xo Jen

My Life In Photos

So March was a busy, busy month for me - the Geek Girl Pen Pals birthday, Toronto ComiCon, Easter.... so many things to sew and bake for!

I ended up making a batch of chocolate mint blondies at the beginning of the month because we wanted something sweet in the house.


If you follow any IGGPPC social media you would have seen I made an Earl Grey Tea and French Vanilla Cake for the IGGPPC birthday. You can find the recipe here.


Turtles!



I'm finally seeing some hair growth (and I had the a-line fixed up and my hair is now all one length, except for normal layering) which makes me happy. I just need another 6 months of hair growth before I'm content!


Strawberries have been absolutely delicious lately. I can't stop buying them at the grocery store.


The cutest little Ewoks that Adam surprised me with for Valentine's Day.


Davids Tea has been killing it lately with flavours and designs. I pretty much want everything in their store right now.



I found the cutest cupcake liners the other day and now I'm super excited to make cupcakes. What flavour shall I make...


How has March been for you?
xo Jen

90s Favourites

This month's theme over at IGGPPC, is 'We Love The 90s". So of course it's brought up so many conversations amongst the staff and in the community about our favourite things from the 90s - television shows, music, fashion, movies. It's brought back so many memories and I'm finding myself wanting to surround myself with some of the nostalgia. Like my urge to start watching Friends on Netflix and wanting to pull out my No Doubt and Letters to Cleo albums.

I was 6-16 years old during the 90s. A lot of my childhood, middle school, and the beginning of high school happened during this time. It was an impressionable period in my life.

These are some of my favourite things from this time period.

Cartoons:

X-Men
Saturday morning was the time for cartoons. Fox played all the best shows but what stands out the most during this line up was the animated X-Men cartoon. It played at 11 a.m. and my brothers and myself were always ready to watch it.

Rugrats & Doug
The other time we watched cartoons in our house was right after school. These were the two shows that I watched everyday when I got home. To this day I have a soft spot for both of these shows and probably kept watching them a lot longer than I should have for my age.

The Powerpuff Girls
This show came out at the end of middle school for me, so I wasn't watching as many cartoons anymore. But this show won me over. And my best friend. We became Powerpuff Girls fans, bought their merchandise, and covered our lockers in stickers of the girls.


TV Shows:

Beverly Hills 90210
I was way too young to watch this show. But I watched it anyways. It was my introduction to teenager drama and how addictive this type of show could be. I wanted to be Kelly. I wanted to date Brandon. It was quite the show to watch during puberty. I actually learned a lot from it.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
This was yet another show I watched with my brothers. I remember watching it first thing in the morning before school. And then spending recess discussing the episode or acting it out.

TGIF - Boy Meets World, Family Matters, Step by Step, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch 
I spent SO many Friday nights in front of the TV watching the TGIF line up. Usually with snacks, sometimes with my cousin, and sometimes at my grandparents' apartment or trailer. It was one of my favourite things.


Music:

Backstreet Boys
Oh, BSB. They were THE boy band that I listened to during middle school. I was obsessed. They were also the first concert I ever went to.

Spice Girls
Who didn't like Spice Girls that grew up in the 90s?! I used to do the dances from their music videos with my friends. I'd belt out all their songs with my cousin. I went to the movie theatre to see Spice World. They were such a fun group to listen to during this time.

No Doubt
Tragic Kingdom was the album that changed music for me. I was obsessed with Gwen and became obsessed with Much Music (Canada's version of MTV) during this time. From there I was introduced to Bush, Smashing Pumpkins, I Mother Earth, Our Lady Peace, Bif Naked... my love for pop music was behind me and I entered high school listening to alternative music.

Fashion:

During middle school I lived in - denim overalls, scrunchies, Adidas pants (with the classic stripes down the side), and Nike tear-away pants. Once I hit high school, and now wanted to dress like the ladies in Clueless or a Spice Girl (yikes!), I found myself wearing kilts and knee high socks, Silver jeans, bell bottom jeans, jean jackets (there was quite the denim trend happening), and choker necklaces.


For more 90s nostalgia, follow along with the IGGPPC twitter @geekgirlpenpals

What are some of your favourite things about the 90s?
xo Jen

*all images courtesy of imdb*

Halloween Activities

Goodbye October, hello November! Or, goodbye Halloween, hello Christmas season! I'm just a little excited for the holiday season seeing as it's my favourite time of year. 

Before I get into the holiday season though, let me share my Halloween! It started with pumpkin carving with Adam. A yearly tradition we have. I'm very happy with how they turned out. Adam carved Kirby and I chose a Jack Skellington-type face.




Why Logan's tongue is sticking out a bit is beyond me. But it's cute.


My Halloween kitties! They were pretty interested in the pumpkins.


On Friday, IGGPPC hosted a 24 hour Halloween party so I made and shared a DIY Halloween Candy Bark recipe on the site. You can check it out here.


I also made a batch of Wilton sugar cookies in the molded Halloween tray I have. They're more of a shortbread cookie to me but they're so good! 


While handing out candy Halloween evening, I made sure to play some Animal Crossing New Leaf so I could scare people and collect candy in my town. It was fun and I absolutely love how the game incorporates holidays into town events.


How was your Halloween? 
xo Jen

Halloween Things

Halloween is around the corner and I'm getting into the Halloween mood! Between TV shows, video games, movies, and activities, Halloween is everywhere.

TV
The Walking Dead, iZombie, Scream Queens - All these shows have a horror genre theme. Watching their new episodes every week makes October feel extra spooky and a bit campy.


Video Games 
Left 4 Dead - Adam and I started Left 4 Dead recently and it's so much fun. Also, a little creepy too. At one point in a campaign, I turned my character around really quickly and found myself face to face with a zombie. Well, a scream escaped my mouth and Adam couldn't stop making fun of me. 
Movies
Scream 4, The Shining - We buy a lot of second-hand movies from the Hock Shop here. We picked up these movies and figured we'd watch them this month to fit with the Halloween theme. 

Activities
24 Hour Halloween Party - Over at IGGPPC we're hosting another Halloween party! We're in the midst of organizing activities and blog posts. I'm very excited for everything. I'll of course be planning a yummy Halloween treat for it.


Pumpkin Carving - We picked up a couple of pumpkins yesterday which means we'll be carving them soon. It's been a tradition every since we started dating and now that we have a house, it's nice to keep them out front and light them on Halloween night. 

Do you have any fun plans for Halloween or leading up to the big night? 
xo Jen

S'mores Cookie Bars

Tomorrow marks the last day of camp and it's bittersweet. IGGPPCamp has been so much fun so far and the activities have been great.

This past Saturday we had a bake-along and made S'mores Cookie Bars which turned out super yummy! I have to thank Danni for getting everything together and doing an awesome job hosting the live hangout!


S'mores Cookie Bars:
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 1/2 cups flour
1 package dark chocolate chips (you can use semi sweet or milk chocolate)
1 cups mini marshmallows
3 regular sized Hershey bars, broken (I used leftover Belgian milk chocolate)
2 packages graham crackers, broken into squares

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Cream butter and sugars together and then add in vanilla and egg.
3. In a separate bowl sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
4. Mix the dry ingredients with the butter/sugar mixture.
5. Stir in chocolate chips and marshmallows.
6. Lay out the graham crackers on the baking sheet to cover the whole pan.
7. Place balls of dough over the graham crackers.
8. Bake for 5 minutes.
9. Press Hershey’s chunks into the cookie dough. Bake for 5-7 minutes more.
10. Wait until the pan is cool to cut into squares.




I had a bit of leftover cookie dough so I decided to make some regular cookies with it and, oh man, they're so good! You can't go wrong with gooey marshmallows in a chocolate chip cookie.



Remember, a lot of the camp activities can be done at any time! So even though tomorrow is the last day of camp, you can still enjoy all the videos, DIYs, and activities. Check out the schedule here


xo Jen

IGGPPCamp

Tomorrow is the first day of IGGPPCamp - our second Summer Camp at International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club! Last Summer we put on our first Summer Camp and it was so much fun and quite the success so we decided to put it on yearly.

This year it runs August 13th-18th and there's so many great activities happening! The details can be found in the Camp Handbook here.


I'll be doing the S'mores Cookie Bars bake-along Saturday evening! No surprise right?! I'm excited for it and to eat them! But seriously, there's some super fun things planned for camp. I'm really looking forward to Comic Book Boot Camp, Blanket Fort Challenge, Camp Cocktails, the Feminism 101 video, and all the craft and photo challenges!

There were Camp Kits being sold prior to camp and let me tell you, they're so awesome and are filled with the best things. I think it represents IGGPPCamp perfectly.







So definitely swing by IGGPPC between the 13th-18th for IGGPPCamp activities and fun times!
xo Jen

Potter Week: Butterbeer Ice Cream Float

Happy birthday Harry Potter!

Since it's Potter Week I decided to try making The Domestic Geek's Butterbeer Floats and, oh man, are they ever delicious!

It's quite simple to put together:
- butterscotch ice cream
- butterscotch topping
- vanilla cream soda*
- cool whip

*Clear, vanilla cream soda is almost impossible to find in most of Canada. It's pink here! For any Canadians reading this, President's Choice, Fanta, Jones Soda, and Grace all make clear cream soda but not all stores carry these brands.


I shared my recipe directions over on the IGGPPC site for Potter Week, but they're pretty simple if you've ever had an ice cream float before.





Look at how yummy they look! Trust me when I say they tasted amazing! Now go make them for yourself!

xo Jen

meowbox Review & Giveaway


I was lucky enough to get the chance to review the June meowbox for IGGPPC. You can read my review here. They are also offering 3 MEGA meowboxes for a giveaway. So if you have cats at home, head over to the post to enter now!

The June meowbox was fantastic and both Seymore and Logan loved everything in it.

 
The Catnip Filled Loopies were definitely the favourite toy. Seymore is still playing with them and I find them soaking wet often. 



Seymore couldn't share with Logan. He had to have both at the same time. 



The Catnip Pellet Grinder is amazing and I highly recommend it if your cat loves catnip! Logan kept attacking the bottle, even while it was closed. He kept knocking it over and when I picked it up, he'd attack my hand. It definitely has a strong smell when you grind it fresh.

Look at that tongue!



Thank you meowbox for letting me review June's meowbox! And remember to head over and enter the giveaway!

xo Jen