Friday Five Things [07/05/13]

1. For the next two Fridays, I'll be in California! That's right, it's coming up on time for B's wedding and the whole family is packing up for our big west coast extravaganza vacation. A little bit of hanging out in San Francisco for a few days, including a farmers' market and dim sum. Then the wedding is Sunday. Then Monday through the following Friday I'll be in Disneyland with mom, dad, M and W, before taking the red eye back that night. One week in California - should be an adventure, right?

2. I miss Google Reader already. I have switched over to two different systems, actually to keep a little better organized. I use Blog Lovin' to follow personal blogs I read, and I like this system because I can see who follows me on it, and it takes me to the blog's actual page to read the posts. I use The Old Reader for my more news-like stuff or bigger commercial blogs. It's okay, but it's not the same. I'll have to play around with some of the newer alternatives.

3. It's National Ice Cream Month, and I've barely had any! I'm loving some of the ideas I see my favorite recipe blogs coming up with though to celebrate (or maybe just beat that July heat). Here are some of my favorites:

• Cinnamon sugar cups from The Diva Dish
• Pioneer Woman's strawberry ice cream
• Ritz ice cream sandwiches from Joy the Baker
• Thug Kitchen's mango pineapple popsicles (nsfw)

4. I love summer television, but watching tv is even better now than it has been in years past. I love when some of my favorite blogs live tweet their reactions to shows (just wish I watched more of them live instead of on Hulu the next day!) and the recaps that people post are hilarious. I love Betches Love This reviews of Pretty Little Liars and Em&Lo's 5 Love Lessons From The Bachelorette.

5. I hope everyone had an awesome holiday yesterday! Fourth of July has always been kind of a hit or miss holiday with me. Some summers it was full of carnival games at camp and watching the fireworks from across the lake, and last year it was lonely and boring. This year I went to a baseball game with the Boy and some of his family. Our local team won, 2-6 so that was cool, and after the game they set off fireworks right on the field! Awesome.