Healthy Eating FTW! My Food Prep Favs from Amazon

I love making things, cooking, baking. Have been eating a bit healthier after a few changes in the diet/exercise category back in January. I generally feel healthier, happier, and that my life is better since. I don’t really blog about food much because it’s a time I like to put my phone down. I find it relaxing. I usually put on music or a show and take my time creating things to eat. I have, however, been using some badass kitchen appliances I’ve bought over the last year and they’ve helped with the food prep and healthy eating. I always read reviews before buying appliances, from places like All Great Appliances, because they can be pricey so I don’t want to make any rash decisions I might regret later down the line. They’ve helped me find some real treasures that made food prep so much easier.I love making a bunch of things on Sunday afternoon, I’ve even started planning them. We’ve been at the cottage the last few days and the weather is amazing. I’ve got the windows open, music on, and I’m putting things in the oven and prepping food, while typing away on this week’s work. When I look out the window the leaves are falling every few seconds and catching sunshine on the way down. Instant Pot: Last year for Christmas I got Sean (well, us!)an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker and I use it so much. I love that little thing. It’s great for cooking a bunch of chicken breast, rice, stew, chilli. I even made up a risotto recipe. I’m planning to get more adventurous and try some new stuff this winter. Spiralizer: I’m obsessed! I would love to get an electric one but I have read some bad reviews so I haven’t ordered one…

View Post

No Dress Rehearsal, This Is Our Life

I’m at the Drake Commissary to do some writing on a new project, biked here in the sunshine, feeling it warm on my face. As I was walking to the door I checked my phone and saw that Gord Downie has passed away. Sad, I was hoping a miracle would keep him alive,but we all knew it was coming. Listening to Tragically Hip over the summer has been a tradition as long as I can remember, driving up to Grand Bend or Wasaga Beach in the 90’s, summers in college, missing home while at Uni in Australia, and all the time at the cottage. Thank you Gord Downie and the Hip for so many memories and being the most Canadian, Canada loving band of all time. You will be missed. ?❤️ Years ago The Hip played Bridle Bash at my friend Lorne’s house for a few hundred people in the backyard. We were so close to the stage and everyone sang along and danced into the wee hours of the night. Another summer a bunch of us went to see The Hip for Canada Day at Burls Creek. We had a whole gang at the cottage and it was so much fun. I remember dancing around in the field with Carly and everyone singing at the top of our lungs. Sean has no beard here. Two summer’s ago Mark & Sean set up a huge screen on the dock and we watched the last Hip Concert on CBC from the lake. So many great memories over the years. I’ll think of the great times and celebrate his life whenever I listen to the Hip. Sending sunshine in your general direction,  

View Post

“Dreaming is Free. You can’t be stingy with your dream you have to go big. “

The other day I watched Franca on Netflix. It’s a documentary about Franca Sozzani, former Editor in Chief of Italian Vogue, who died at 66. She was cutting edge and groundbreaking. I won’t spoil it with too much detail but it’s an inspiring film. I wrote this quite down as I watched it and it stuck with me. When I was in high school I printed out a Shakespeare quote, attached it to a magnet and stuck it on the fridge. I still have that magnet on our fridge today: “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.” William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure This quote stuck with me because it’s easy to give up on your dreams, it’s easy to do something everyone has done before, easy to get a regular job, or not step out of your comfort zone. HOWEVER, when you do that, that’s WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENS. By fearing to attempt, you lose the good you might win by trying. By not trying, you give up on yourself before you even start.  I’ve always done things my own way. A lot of the time it made it harder, took a bit longer, but it’s given me so much joy. I didn’t go right into a ‘regular’ 9-5 job, get married, have kids, like so many of my old friends but that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted a life less ordinary.  Yesterday was a hard day for me reading the ‘me too’ posts from almost every single female friend in my timeline. I was overwhelmed with anger and sadness, I took a 2hr nap in the afternoon. BUT THAT WILL NOT STOP ME. We are resilient and we can do this. I found my inspiration today and I’m…

View Post

Me too.

Seeing almost every single woman on Facebook posting this as their status makes me feel sad and angry. I’m upset. I have let so many things slide and just shake them off like it’s no big deal. IT’S A FUCKING BIG DEAL. I think back to how many times in my life a dude has said something inappropriate to me, made me feel like I was less than him, over-sexualized a non-sexy situation, made me feel shame, or flat out assaulted me. Up until last year, I had lived with pretty huge boobs my whole life. I was approved by OHIP for a Breast reduction that changed my life. Aside from the physical pain of huge boobs, I hated/hid them because of the negative attention I would get from men. It made me feel disgusting. I was ‘blessed’ with a chest before I started grade 7. The next two years were really hard. Going through puberty, trying to figure out things with boys, get good grades, and fit in. There was a group of boys in my grade 7-8 school who really made it their entertainment to torment a few of us. Tom, Nathan, Dan were notorious for unzipping the front of our shirts (zipper shirts were in style it was the 90s).  That boy gang had no shame, they would walk home with us and tell us we had to flash them our boobs in the forest or they’d have Monique beat us up. We didn’t know any better. We wanted to be cool and liked. I remember a specific incident where this guy Aaron had just gotten a cast removed on his leg and he was known for throwing water on you if we wore a white shirt. Why or how they thought this was ok beyond me. I…

View Post

IF YOU GOT IT HAUNT IT!? Haunted Houses + Halloween Things ?

I had a very Halloween weekend and it was so much FUN! ????⚰️ On Friday I went to Screemers at Exhibition Place with my sister. We put on zombie makeup, all black, and had a few spooky cocktails. There wasn’t really anyone else in costume so everyone thought we worked there. ? We took heaps of photos with randoms and spent a good part of the night scaring people. Seriously so fun. It was hilarious. We almost laughed our heads right off. Screemers has 7 haunted houses and most are inside. They’re super scary. We didn’t do them all bc were too scared tbh. You can have drinks at the Vampire Lounge, there’s food onsite, and you can smoke outside.  I highly recommend paying the extra $12 for front of the line access. Screemers hooked up with passes and it made the night more fun because we didn’t have to wait! Screemers is $32.95 and +$12 for front of the line access. There is metered parking onsite. ?? On Saturday Lauren and I went to Canada’s Wonderland for Halloween Haunt. The entire park is lit up for Halloween with hundreds of staff in costume creeping around corners and popping out all scary. I was super nervous going because the park is huge and the so are the haunted houses. There’s a lot of ground to cover.  A bunch of the rides are open so aside from scary people everywhere, the’s roaring rollercoasters soaring past your head. If you are not into being scared you can get a No Boo necklace and workers and creepy people won’t try to give you a fright. There was haunted house experience called Blackout where it is literally pitch black and you have to walk through not knowing if someone is going to jump out at any minute or where you are going.…

View Post

Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come

I wore tights today for the first time this year. And a hat. I’m glad that berets are back in style because I have a few and love wearing them. It must be that French feeling you get when you wear one. Fall fashion is my favourite in that you can wear something cute with a light jacket and never be too cold. I don’t even mind the winter, light layers are the key. ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing’ – source is unclear on this one Over the past couple months I’ve been beefing up my wardrobe with essentials for fall and a few arrived today! In exchange for sharing my favs, Romwe and I have a deal where they send me clothes. Honestly, what a dream! My three latest picks arrived today and I’m wearing the pink rose jacket in these photos. I picked this wild all-over print shirt because it will look great over a bathing suit in summer and under a sweater in the winter. The olive green sweater was on my wishlist and it matches my eyes so, it’s perfect. The cropped rose jacket is light enough to wear under a warmer jacket in winter. Other items on my winter Romwe wishlist are this yellow mustard jacket and all the stuff below. The prices are good and there’s no extra shipping costs. I’m kinda of obsessed with embroidered things, light pink, and dark green right now. Wishlist JavaScript is currently disabled in this browser. Reactivate it to view this content.  

View Post