Going Gaga Over - Current Obsessions

My never ending list rages on!

1) Tarte LipSurgence Natural Lip Stain. I have a few of these but my favourite is Enchanted. It's a lovely berry colour that goes with just about anything. These lip stains are easy to carry, easy to apply, moisturizing and full of peppermint-y goodness.

2) The Kinect for Xbox 360. This kicks some major butt. Lots of fun games like Adventures and Dance Central will have you leaping and turning around in no time. I like that I don't have to hold a controller and there is no half ass-ing it, you get some good workouts.

3) Pinterest. Seriously if you haven't checked out Pinterest yet do it! I love LOVE it.

4) I'm totally wanting a new camera so I can have some more exciting pictures to use on the blog. Right now I'm struggling with the quality I'm getting from my little point and shoot. I don't want to go too over the top or fancy though. Currently looking at the Nikon Coolpix p500 12.1mp digital

5) Red Hair! I went through a long stretch of dying my hair all sorts of variations of red and black. I eventually switched to dark brown then grew out all the colour damage. It's probably been over a year since I last dyed my hair and even though I appreciate my natural hair colour, I am feeling the itch to dye it again. Right now I am pouring over every different shade of red trying to decide a colour. All I know is I want it to look like a natural red, I will be tinting my brows to match and it will be done at a salon.

Taaa for now!


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Back To The Grind

There is nothing like the deep internal sigh that happens when you know your vacation is over. It's saying farewell to sleeping in, relaxing and the guilt free over eating that only the holiday season can give you.

Even though my time off work this year was short, it was one of the nicest and most relaxing weeks I've had in a long time. Once the whirlwind of Christmas passed, I got to spend some much needed time at home with my fella and accomplished a lot of household projects that had been sitting on my to-do list for months. For the most part, aside from groceries and bang trims, I basically didn't leave our apartment. We even decided to spend New Years at home drinking champagne, eating pizza and watching movies. But now it's back to life back to reality. C'est la vie.

Happy New Years everyone!

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Gotta Love Awkward Encounters

So dollar stores, best things ever right? A cheap place to pick up just about anything for a buck. Pens, cups, cookware, art supplies and stocking stuffers. As long as you're not too concerned with quality it's a great place to grab it. There are of course a few things I see at the local dollerama that I wouldn't really want to buy there. One of which would be a pregnancy test.

I have no problem buying cheap no-name ziplock bags, but I don't know if I would want to leave my parenthood status update to the kind folks at the buck shop. Can you just see the relief on some poor girls face when the dollar test tells her she's not pregnant; then a couple months later she feels a kick? I shudder at the thought. I'm down for a deal, but it's definitely something I would splurge on for the best possible brand. Just about every time I walk past the tests there I think to myself: does anyone actually buy these? Apparently yes.

The other day I was happily Christmas shopping with my Mum and took a detour into the dollar store to pick up some more cookie boxes for my gifting. As I stared at the shelves I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard a quiet "excuse me". I turned to see a lady timidly nod her head and ask me if I could help her with something. She directed me over to where the pregnancy and ovulation tests were and asked me to explain the difference between the two. There I was standing in the dollar store trying to find the words to tell a stranger what the two tests did, while my mother looked on from a distance with a mildly amused face. After my awkward 'did someone just ask me this' pause, I went on to describe in deep and scientifically accurate terms what they were (the blue one tells you when you can get pregnant - the purple one tells you if you are) she thanked me and went on her way holding a purple box. All I could think was "good luck lady may the dollar store Gods be on your side".



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Going Rogue

Well hello there blog long time no see!

It seems I went AWOL on the internet for a bit. Aside from the odd Facebook update, my blog has sat dormant, my twitter is silent and the backlog on all my favourite reading links has certainly piled up. Sometime real life takes over and writers block kicks in and you take an unofficial hiatus...then forget you took one. Oops! All I can really say about it is: onward and upward my friends!


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Going Gaga Over: Current Obsessions

1) My new portable Air Conditioner is at the top of my favourites list right now. It makes my apartment habitable again.

2) Shark Week on Discovery Channel. Every year I get a little bit more excited for this jawesome week. This year I made t-shirts. No big deal, I'm just a nerd.

3) Tarte Lights Camera Splashes Mascara. This is my new go-to item. It's Waterproof so I can't sweat it off and my face doesn't react to it. Plus my lashes look great.

4) Bronzers/Self Tanners. I don't know why but my legs no longer seem to retain any sort of tan. So I have to fake it. Right now bronzer is where it's at.

5) Swimming. My parents pool, a lake, a river, an ocean...it doesn't matter where I just want to swim.

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Gorging Ourselves

This past weekend The Boy and I took an outing to Taste of the Danforth. Every year Greektown shuts down the street to cars and opens up booths filled with stomach satisfying food. There's usually a mini carnival as well for the little kids. But for the big kids the good eats is where it's at.

(Roasted corn on the cob)

We started off with a really good pulled pork poutine, however in a haze of hungry appreciation I did not stop to take a picture until we had already moved on to the corn on the cob. The corn is cook in it's husk which gets pulled back before the vendor dips it into warm butter and hands it over. You can then proceed to a side table that is filled with spice shakers so you can season your corn to your hearts content.

(Chicken Souvlaki on a Pita)

I think it's illegal to go to Taste of the Danforth and not eat souvlaki.

(Loukoumades/Greek Honey Balls)

So these little fried balls of dough may not look special in this picture, but man are they delicious. For only a few bucks I got 12 of them still warm and sprinkled with fragrant cinnamon. I also picked up some rather large pieces of Baklava (my Mum would disown me if I hadn't brought her some) at the same time. My mouth waters just thinking about biting into these tasty morsels. Can somebody please bring me a few dozen more?

In a health conscious move, we stopped off to get some watermelon to help wash down some of the more greasy food. Unfortunately we then washed the watermelon down with ice cream. Sometimes you just have to let your taste buds lead you.

And now I think I hear the gym calling.


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Growing Up

I have survived another year and came out the other side in one piece despite my best clumsy efforts. I'm floating around in my late 20's and I find that it is a weird, but nice age. It feels like not so long ago everyone was working on school work and partying; now everyone is in career mode and my Facebook feed is filled with weddings and babies. Sometimes (like when I find myself staring down rude high schoolers who refuse to wait in line for the bus and thinking of ways to yell at them) I feel old. Then I take a trip to the zoo and I feel like a kid again.

I really wanted a nice, low key birthday this year that involved being outside all day with friends. I think it is impossible to ever outgrow the Zoo. I don't know if it's the nostalgia from childhood or just the cute animals but it holds a certain sway over my heart. Though I do miss being small enough to go on the pony rides.

One thing is for certain: I take A LOT of pictures at the zoo. I don't have a fancy camera, just a basic point and shoot, but I can never resist having hundreds of pictures of animals. They do the most amazing and interesting things that keep me captivated for hours. I am a kid in a candy store at this place! Or well..a big kid at the zoo, but you get my point.

My main concern for the day was having as much fun as possible. Second to that was the all important goal of no tan lines. I really wanted to wear a pair of comfortable shorts and a flowy strapless top, but I couldn't find one that would fit me. Being a dress girl I don't usually wear shorts, but I didn't want to worry about dresses flying up or my legs rubbing together (not all of us have tiny stick legs!). So instead I donned leggings with a strapless dress that allowed me to run around and be silly, while maintaining at least a small amount of girlish dignity.

I really appreciated all my friends who came out and put up with my overtly perky self and a very long day trekking around. Especially the boys who were my pack mules for the day and lugged two backpacks full of food and supplies. I don't really do anything half way and I steadfastly refuse to buy overpriced sub par food. Also I am a sucker for picnics. I had packed my picnic backpack full of cold bbq chicken, assorted veggies, kielbasa, cold salad rolls w hoison sauce, pita bread, brie, grapes, watermelon, pretzels and cookie bars. We were well fed.

Please note when bribing people to get up early and spend all day with you, a backpack or two full of food goes a long way. As do breakfast sandwiches.



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