Friday, November 29, 2013

Monthly Favourites



Garage Burnout Cuff Tee - Love this t-shirt. I have it in grey and white (which doesn't seem to be available anymore). It is so soft and comfortable and quite flattering although it doesn't look it in the picture. I would pick one up in every color if they came in all the colors! 

Chubby Stick Intense Moisturizing Lip Color Balm - I have this one in 03 Mightiest Maraschino Classic Red. I got it using my points at Sephora. It is the only shade of red or any bright color that I actually love and it well... moisturizes your lip as well. Oh and it doesn't end up on your teeth either ;)

Ponytail Holder Hat - Mine is actually from Lululemon but it doesn't seem to be available anymore which is weird because I got it like not even a month ago. Anyway, I found the one in the picture for you because regardless of where it is from, I think that all girls should have one of these!

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder - This one has mixed reviews on the website. It is not a highlighter. What you do is swipe it over the areas that light most hits - so across your forehead, cheekbones and along your nose. When the light hits it, it creates this nice glow with a subtle shimmer. It is really pretty when you have it on although some people say they don't notice it. You won't notice it when applying it but you will in pictures and stuff so I guess it is up to your discretion if you want to spend the money on it.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Throwback Thursday

Sorry about the lack of updates. I totally suck lately. Tomorrow the monthly favourites is going up so at least you can look forward to that!

April 2008

Driving with my learners! lol


Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Weekly Recap

This actually should have been posted yesterday but I got up, went to work, came home, went out to watch Catching Fire (which was amaze balls) and then came home and went to sleep lol. Now I'm squeezing this post in before I go for my run and back to work! 

The week was pretty jam packed. This is all that went on:

I made this pretty print for my vanity. The frame is from Ikea. My vanity has come together for the most part. I just need to get some drawer organizers for it and then I will do the big reveal :)


I also prepared for my first job with my new business which I haven't officially launched yet... lol 
 

Here is my bag full of all of my supplies that I need :)
 

And I got to help out my brother's neighbour moving some big horses. You can't ride these horses. That is how big they are. It was also really cold. So I borrowed this hat and was the epitome of "Canadian" for the American friends who were shooting a movie on the farm as well. 
 


I had to take a picture of this and send it to Brandyn (who is a "sparky" so they are called). It came with the caption of "check this thing out"


I also went to a couple parties over the weekend, one of them being a pub night fundraiser for my brother's soccer team. This is the best part of the whole post and the news made my entire month (maybe even year....)........

I won tickets to the Leafs game!


Yep. That is right. I won! I have never been to a game in Toronto. The last one I went to was in Vancouver before the first strike happened in 2004.... I am so excited to just be apart of fellow fans and like the tickets say... the "passion that unites us all" Wooo

Friday, November 22, 2013

6 Months

As of Sunday we are down to 6 months until the wedding! By this point I was supposed to:
  •  Buy the gown
  • Determine the menu
  • Book cake baker
  • Book ceremony musicians
  • Book transportation
  • Get all bridesmaids dresses ordered

The list looks longer but it was actually really short because most of it was done already. I bought the gown back in 2011...lol and the menu was determined when I booked the hall. Same goes for the ceremony music. The bridesmaid dresses were bought in September and Shay picked up her dress the end of October. 

As for the cake and transportation, that got done as well! I don't have a post about the cake because if I were to post something, I would just be giving it away but I will say that it was a fairly easy process. I basically knew what I wanted. I did a lot of research to find out what was affordable and all that business so when I went in, I basically just showed them a picture and it was ordered. They let me fully customize it too. I picked out the ribbon I wanted from their bucket of ribbons and I am able to add to the order later if I need to (like if more people than I originally expected come) so that is good! 

As for the transportation, you can read about that post here. We also bought Brandyn's wedding band which wasn't on the list!

The next deadline is January 24th, 2014 (oh now we are in the same year).
  • Rent or buy Brandyn's tux
  • Print invitations
  • Reserve any rental equipment
  • Get some more of the decor stuff done.
  • Book hotel blocks. 

When we rent Brandyn's suit, we are also going to get it on file which suit all the groomsmen are wearing as well so they can go out and get it. Someone like my brother I want to hold off until closer to the wedding because he is almost 14 and growing like a weed! 

I'd like to get the invitations printed and start addressing them. They need to be sent out by the end of February. It is crazy that we are almost at the point to be doing the invitations. It makes it so much more real.

As for the rental equipment, I don't know if I will actually need any and I just plan to check off a little bit more of the decorations that I can do and that way when it comes closer to I really just have centerpieces to do. 

And of course the one that I get bugged about the most: the hotel block. Sorry to everybody who has been wanting to know for so long but the hotels told me not to bug them about it until January! So I will have that done by the end of that month lol 

That was one long winded post! I will check back with this in January :) 

 

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Christmas Decorating

I like to respect Remembrance Day but the day after, it is totally fair game. On Tuesday, November 12th. We decorated for the holidays!




Yes there is presents under our tree. There are even more now. While we were doing this, we set the camera up and actually made a video (don't worry I sped up the time). So if you would like to see how Christmas decorating goes in our household, you can just press play! Psst.... There is a lot of shenanigans to do with the cats. They pretty much made the entire video.


And here are the pictures you see me taking in the video. Gizmo is hilarious... but I'm not bias or anything. 



Oh Gizmo...

Monday, November 18, 2013

Weekly Update

This is basically what the week consisted of in pictures:

Sitting in the locker room at work with a makeshift dinner because I stayed longer than my actual shift to help out. (Hot dog, cinnamon bun and a pepsi. Cost me all of $1.57)


Working out/being a walking ad for Under Armour. Nike Running informed me that I have been active 4 weeks in a row. This is definitely an achievement for me (besides organized sports I never stick to a workout routine for longer than a few weeks).
 

My view while I waited for the bus every day that I had to take it. Not a bad one and of course it hardly ever rains here so it is completely amaze.


And a random selfie in my uniform. That is all I wear lately. It is actually quite comfortable!


Well there is my week. We also set up our Christmas stuff and I have a post about that coming up this week. You can also look forward to another love list and of course the "6 Months away" update for the wedding! 

I'm also starting this new thing as of today. At the end of every weekly update, I'm posting a random fact about me. You know.. things you may not know :) I've been told by a few people that they don't really know much about me. Here is the first one:

I am 100% Portuguese backround. My Dad was born in Sao Miguel, Portugal (which is part of the Azores) and my Mom's parents and oldest brother were born there too. 



This means I can get my citizenship anytime I want. Which also means that once I have it, I can go live and work anywhere in the European Union:



 Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. Anyway. That is all :) Make sure to check back this week because I have our Christmas decorating post going up with a special video we made ; )

Friday, November 15, 2013

Organizing: Manual Binder

I've seen this cool way to store your manuals floating around Pinterest. Basically you just put them in paper sheet protectors and then put them in a binder. I tried this but what I found was that things with thicker manuals didn't fit and things would just fall out. So I took it a step up.

I got these slide lock binder pouches. They can hold up to 100 pages of paper so they have a lot of room in them. Not only do they fit normal sized papers but they also fit bulky things too including large manuals folded up! And nothing will fall out because it zips close :)


These tabs sit on the top and they stick on anything you put it on. The pouches are too big to put normal dividers so these work great!


Here are all the manuals for the kitchen appliances section. I put them in different pouches with like brands in the same pouch.


 I recommend a very pretty large binder depending on how many manuals there are. If there were any cords or extra plugs or anything, I put them in with the manual as well.




Thursday, November 14, 2013

Throwback Thursday

March 2008

I don't know if I had mentioned this before but Brandyn and I had met about 3 months before this time. When I see these pictures I think just think wow we have known each other for a long time! lol






Oh look... I was doing the duck lips before it was cool. How hipster of me ; )

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Blog Love: The Sweetist Digs

Coming back with another chapter of my blog love, or blog reel as other bloggers like to call it...


Gemma's blog is all about doing projects around her house. What is great is that she has a bungalow but still makes it her work for her and her little family. She also has her own Etsy store and for those local to Ottawa, a decor rental company specializing in vintage stuff. I wish it was closer to me!

Here is a little snapshot of one of her latest posts (plus her neat blog design)



Monday, November 11, 2013

Weekly Recap

Happy Movember! 


One of my neighbours has this on her door and I found it so cute so I had to take a picture! Why didn't I think of this?! 

I still can't believe it is already November. Christmas has snuck up on me big time. This weekend I went full swing into Christmas shopping. I got almost everyone on our list done plus a few holiday decor items *insert wide eyed smiley face here.* The decorations are going up tomorrow which I am so excited for!
 
 Target has an amazingly cute selection of holiday stuff.... PS :)

As for this week, it has been crazy busy. I took a couple extra shifts at work for some people (and regretted every minute of it because it was crazy busy at work as well lol.) 

Last week basically consisted of this:

Getting the apartment ready for my posts touring the apartment (which you can read here, here, here, here and here

Squeezing my runs. One day I didn't have time so instead of taking the bus I just ran to work. It was zero degrees outside and super windy and I looked like this....


  
Loving the socks over the leggings right? Me too. I was seriously warm though. Only thing that wasn't were my hands and the backpack was extremely annoying (I had to hold it while running which killed my momentum big time) so now some gloves and a Camelback have been added to my Christmas list.

I also booked the cake and ordered the topper for it. I won't be doing an individual post about it because I am not revealing what it looks like but I will be doing a post later this month because we will be 6 months from the wedding! Andd I finally finished the thank you cards for the shower!

Lastly, I set up my dressing table. It is not completely done yet but I will be doing a post on what has been done soon. 

Friday, November 08, 2013

1 Month In: The Living Room

So last but not least: the living room. Here is the before:



The day these pictures were taken I was there to have the cable and internet installed. I was also really sick so that is why there is a blanket and Gatorade on the floor lol. Anyway. Here is the place now:

The view from the hallway. The bookcase is not even near done. I haven't organized it or anything really. I have just thrown stuff in there as you can see.


Here both cats have made an appearance. This is where Kitty hangs out 24/7 basically. The bins beside the media console are empty and are going into storage at some point in time... lol



The living room is set up into sections. On the left with the bookshelf will be my office area. The middle is the TV area obviously and then Brandyn's computer on this side.


And the empty wall that will soon be my office area. Those bins in the corner are full bins (childhood stuff) and are going into storage as well. The carpet is still rolled up because i just haven't put it down yet.
 

As you can see, not much at all has been done with the living room. It took forever to unpack mainly because we didn't have bookshelf so I was just unpacking things from one box to put in another. I got fed up and went and got the bookshelf I wanted. 

What we still need to do in this area:
  • Bring those items to storage 
  • Get some throw pillows for the couch
  • Add some art above the couch
  • Finish my office space
  • Look for a rug that fits the room better (also another part of the reason I haven't put it down)
  • Get a new couch cover (the cover ripped in the move but a new cover doesn't cost that much)
  • Get a coffee table

That is basically in order of importance as well! lol
 
And that, my friends, is our apartment as it stands right now! You will see it again very soon though because on Tuesday we will be decorating for the holidays and the Christmas music IS coming on despite Brandyn's protests :)

Thursday, November 07, 2013

1 Month In: The Kitchen and Dining

Moving along to the kitchen and dining room portion of the apartment...

Before:

Now:





The kitchen is slowly becoming organized. It is one of the rooms that takes the most work to organize so it definitely doesn't happen over night. I've implemented a few things here and there. Using your vertical space is one of the best ways to maximize on space in your cupboards so I got this shelf for my plates and as you can see a few of my soup bowls and mugs fit right in there as well. This one is from Target.


This is the little coffee corner. I grabbed one of these hangers from Home Outfitters. It just hooks on to the bottom of the cabinet. Mugs are easy to reach and the sugar is right there as well. 


Pots are one of the most annoying things. Especially the lids. I have this little shelf built into my cupboard so that makes it easier. I also got this lid organizer from Target. It is a life saver. As soon as I saw it, I grabbed it, no questions asked. Eventually I would like to install one of those pull out things (see here) for the pots and pans. They are kind of expensive so it may be a while before that makes its way into here.


For the kitchen, I still need to:
  • Finish organizing everything
  • Get some art
  • Get a new microwave**

**The story behind the microwave: It is huge and it is heavy. There is no working plug on that side of the counter so not only does it take up a ton of space over there, it also needs to be moved every time we want to use it. Not convenient at all. We can't get around the moving it part but what we can do is get a smaller one. Can't wait for that day!

Now for the dining room!

Before:


And now:

The garbage is in the dining room because that is the only place we can put it lol. I also have that little island there with the mixer on top. That is my "baking station." The baskets underneath hold all my baking stuff. Pans, measuring cups and all that. I got them from Walmart (and the island thing from Ikea). It is actually a perfect spot because if I need more counter space or am baking, I can just wheel the island forward and place it in front of the kitchen doorway!


Say hello to the maroon blinds that came with the apartment.... moving on. The basket in the back holds blankets and wedding stuff. We got that at Target for a steal because the price was labelled wrong. I personally don't think it was worth $70 anyway....


And here is a closer look at my baskets. You can see I have 2 small ones at the top. I originally wanted wire baskets but I couldn't find any that were the size I wanted so this had to do.

Here is what I have left to do in the dining room: 
  • Get the art I talked about in a previous post
  • Do some DIY magic to the island (it probably won't be done until the spring because it involves warm weather to let paint dry)
  • Replace the temporary fold up chairs with real (and by real I mean nice) dining room chairs