Fruit Pizza Recipe

This delicious dessert is perfect for a hot summer day. It's super easy to make and perfect for any holiday!

Prep time: 30-45 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Total time: 45- 60 minutes

What You'll Need:

• One package of sugar cookie dough and the ingredients needed according to the package (usually one egg and a stick of butter)
• 8 oz. package of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 container whipped cream
• Assorted fruits (I used strawberry and kiwi)

Instructions:

1. Prepare and bake sugar cookie dough according to instructions on the package. Instead of making cookies, press the dough onto the entire baking sheet. Remember to add aluminum foil and cooking spray!
2. To make your topping, blend cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract in medium bowl.
3. Fold whipped cream into mixture.
4. When the sugar cookie dough you baked is completely cool, you can spread the topping throughout the sugar cookie crust.
5. Dice assorted fruits and add evenly to fruit pizza.

It's as simple as that! Enjoy your delicious dessert!

Benefits of Yoga

           Yoga comes with many benefits, as you have probably already heard. I can honestly say that yoga has changed my life for the better, and I'm not exaggerating. It has become less of a hobby and more of a lifestyle. Before I get into the benefits of yoga, first we must look at what yoga is.

          It is hard to discuss an exact definition of yoga because yoga is your own personal journey. Yoga is said to unite the body, spirit, and mind. It can be physical yoga poses (Asana), meditation, or both. For me, yoga is also a way to harmonize with my inner self and nature; I usually do yoga outside. You can do yoga at home or in a class.

         With that being said, there are many types of yoga, which come with different benefits. I will do a breakdown of the different types of yoga in a later post, but for now, lets discuss why you should do yoga in general.

1. It builds strength.
2. It improves your flexibility.
3. It increases blood flow.
4. It improves your posture.
5. It drops your blood pressure.
6. It helps depression.
7. It helps you relax.
8. It boosts your immune system.
9. It increases your awareness of your body and environment.
10. It helps you sleep better.
11. It helps with migraines.
12. It improves balance.
13. It helps with stress.
14. It helps anxiety.
15. It boosts your mood.
16. It helps arthritis and back pain.
17. It improves lung capacity.
18. It helps with weight loss.
19. It helps you focus.
20. It helps with PTSD.
21. It gives you inner peace.
22. It improves brain function.
23. It helps balance blood sugar levels.

With all of the benefits,  you definitely should try yoga. Remember, you do not have to be flexible or strong to start doing yoga, so give it a try. Here is another great article that talks about the benefits of yoga.

Killer Ab Workout

This ab workout consists of  10 exercises that will get you that awesome 6-pack. Do this 2-3 times a week, and you will start to see the results in just a couple of weeks. This not only strengthens your abs, but your whole core as well. Good luck!

InboxDollars Review

Can you really make money with InboxDollars? The answer depends.

First, let me explain how this website works. You can join this website for free. I decided to join because I was looking for a way to just earn a few extra bucks online. I came across this website from a blog post, 32 Legitimate Ways to Make Money at Home, which came from The Penny Hoarder. All you need to sign up is an email and a password. You get $5 just for signing up. Here's the catch: you have to make $30 before you can receive the money you made. It says you can make money through surveys, videos, playing games, searching the web, and checking emails. I have listed the pros and cons below.

Pro #1:
It is simple and free to sign up, so you may as well try it.

Pro #2:
I kind of/sort of made money. More on that later. But you CAN make money if you put lots and lots of time into it.


Con #1:
Although it says you can earn through videos, there has not being a single video available for me to watch, and I started over a month ago.

Con #2:
Earlier I said that I kind of/sort of made money. I have only made $9.53 throughout the past month. I spent hours doing surveys, and that is all I have made; although I will probably never see that money because I have to earn $30 first.

Con #3:
It also says you get paid to read emails. By that, it really means that you get paid 25 cents to sign up for some form of insurance or other ridiculous offer.

Con #4:
You don't make a lot from surveys, even if you get to take a survey. Surveys pay more for the longer it takes to complete it. A typical 5 minute survey probably pays about 25 cents. Although that doesn't sound too shabby, I haven't qualified for many surveys. I spend about 10 minutes on a survey, just to get through it and say that I was disqualified.

Overall, I definitely would not recommend InboxDollars. However; it is free to sign up, so give it a try if you want to see for yourself. If you don't feel like wasting your time, I highly recommend to not even sign up.

100 Things to do this Summer

1. Star gaze
2. Swim with dolphins
3. Build a sand castle
4. Get in shape
5. Catch fireflies
6. Do photography shoots
7. Camp
8. Go to Creeper trails
9. Hike as many places as possible
10. Ride bikes
11. Make homemade lemonade
12. Paint a canvas
13. Go on a road trip
14. Make S'mores
15. Have a picnic
16. Play frisbee
17. Play tennis
18. Learn to skateboard
19. Walk on a glass bridge
20. Go to a concert
21. Have a water balloon fight
22. Use a slip n' slide
23. Go to a drive in movie
24. Go fishing
25. Ride a horse
26. Watch the sun come up from the top of a mountain
27. Play in sprinklers
28. Play on a trampoline
29. Make a tire swing
30. Go exploring
31. Fly kites
32. Go to the zoo
33. Go to a museum
34. Go roller skating
35. Plant flowers
36. Read lots of books
37. Play golf
38. Get a snow cone
39. Draw with sidewalk chalk
40. Have family game night
41. Have a dance party
42. Explore new recipes
43. Have a movie day
44. Play hide and seek
45. Go to an amusement park
46. Go to a water park
47. Practice yoga daily
48. Make popsicles
49. Have a bonfire
50. Sell old clothes
51. Have a barbecue
52. Make jewelry
53. Wade in river
54. Run a 5k
55. Go to the Poke Sallet Festival
56. Make my own shirt
57. Change my hair
58. Watch for bears
59. Do some wood work
60. Make an outdoor fort
61. Buy from a local farmer's market
62. Do something nice for a stranger
63. Vlog
64. Learn to play an instrument
65. Do crafts
66. Skip rocks
67. Go kayaking
68. Make a scrapbook
69. Ride a Ferris wheel
70. Go swimming
71. Collect sea shells
72. Start a journal
73. Go to the lake
74. Use fireworks
75. Make homemade pizza
76. Drive go karts
77. Walk around an outlet shopping center
78. Watch Disney movies
79. Go to the movies
80. Blow bubbles
81. Full out date night
82. Go out for dessert
83. Make homemade ice cream
84. Eat sushi
85. Pull an all nighter
86. Eat a funnel cake
87. Go to the library
88. Have a sleepover
89. Have a spa day
90. Play video games
91. Finger paint
92. Go to a flea market
93. Go bowling
94. Go to a historic site
95. Lay in a hammock
96. Watch a meteor shower
97. Go bird watching
98. Play paintball
99. Complete a puzzle
100. Play board games

How I lost Weight

I haven't always been the healthiest. I love Little Debbie cakes. I have always loved anything packed with sugar. I always drank pop. My story started about 3 years ago. In high school, where I was a cheerleader, I weighed my heaviest at about 145 pounds. I'm 5'6. I didn't cheer my senior year of high school, which was when I started trying to lose weight. I started drinking more water. I started doing little workouts for that "summer body." I started going walking. I restricted my calories and counted every single thing I ate. I think I usually allowed myself about 1600 calories a day. The weight came off pretty quickly. I ended up weighing around 127, but that didn't last long. After a week, I started gaining the weight right back. I got sick of counting calories. I got sick of trying to prepare healthy food. The only thing I kept doing was drink water, so I did keep a few pounds off, but overall, I wasn't healthy. I did take some spells where I'd eat healthy and workout for a few weeks at a time, but then I'd go back to being unhealthy for months.

A couple of months ago, I finally figured it out. Want to know my secret?

I didn't want to lose weight for the summer body, although that was definitely a bonus. I wanted to lose weight because I wanted to be healthy. I wanted to be strong. I wanted to stray away from somewhat preventable diseases like diabetes and heart disease. I wanted to be the best me I could be.

Since then I've been going strong with my longest healthy streak ever. Yes, there are times I don't eat healthy. I don't quit eating healthy food just because I eat bad for a few days. If you think about it, that doesn't even make sense. It's like slashing three other tires because you got one flat. Research what you're putting in your body. See if it's good or bad. Don't just cut out food that will make you lose weight; cut out food that is unhealthy in general like a lot of processed food. I eat GMO free food. I try to eat natural food such as fruit and vegetables. That doesn't mean I don't eat birthday cake, brownies, or anything else that's unhealthy. If you don't allow yourself to eat what you crave every now and again, you'll burn yourself out.

I really struggle with eating because I'm bored. One way that I have lost weight is through the following quote: "If you aren't hungry enough to eat an apple or something healthy, you aren't hungry." This hits home because I will crave chocolate so much that it makes me hungry, but if I just give it about 20 minutes and think of that quote, the hunger will go away.

Another way I have lost weight is running. I used to hate running. I'd always walk the whole time because I couldn't run for more than 30 seconds. One day I pushed myself, and I didn't stop when my legs and lungs started burning. I didn't stop when I got out of breath. I kept pushing for a couple more minutes, and after that it got easier. I ran for a whole mile for the first time in forever! It may have been a slow run, but that's okay because it was an accomplishment. Since then, I've ran the whole time and my time keeps getting faster and faster.

I have kept 20 pounds off since I started actually being healthy. In my opinion, being healthy is not only about food. I stopped tanning. I stopped doing anything that was harmful to my body. 

In order to lose weight, you have to WANT to be healthy overall, not just for that summer body.