The 8th Wonder of the World, Beautiful Niagara, Ontario
This Week Has Been Chill AF
We’ve had great food, heaps of naps, swam in the lake, daily boat rides, relaxed, and caught up on work. It’s amazing what a week away will do for your health, hair, skin, creativity. Still have a few more days then back to the city by Tuesday. Our weekend guests bailed so it’s just the two of us enjoying the cottage to ourselves.
I’ve got an interview on Zoomer Radio Tuesday morning then my first aerial yoga class. Here’s to a few more days of paradise! ☀️ ILY Canada! ??
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5 Books to Read This Summer & The New RECO App
When I was a kid my summers were spent playing outside or at the library. Each year mum had us join the Summer Reading Club where we would read a bunch of books, play with the other kids, talk about books, and at the end of the summer, a Teddy Bear Picnic. ??? I have such fond memories of reading but over the last few years I hadn’t read many book, this year I set a goal to read more.
A couple months ago I got an ereader a couple months ago and since then I’ve read 10 books. More than I’ve read in five years! Here’s my top 5 summer reads that will leave you wanting more. Download the new RECO app from Chapters Indigo and read reviews of all the books I’ve recently read. Reco is about inspiring your friends to read great books more often, so on that note, here’s my fav five I’ve read recently.
5 Books to Read This Summer
This list is a mix of light summer reading and suspense drama. I like to switch it up! I love books that take me on an adventure and leave me thinking about the characters when I’m going about my day. Safe to say I loved each one!
- She’s Not There by Joy Fielding – This is my most recent read. Darling daughter Samantha (2) is kidnapped from their hotel room in Mexico while Caroline Shipley and her husband are celebrating their 10 year anniversary. This book is a suspenseful thriller and has a few twists as the story unfolds. I couldn’t wait to finish this one, was left wondering what would happen next every single time I put it down.
- You by Carolyn Kepnes – I was sent a copy of this from Simon & Shuster and it was SO GOOD. A twisted tale of love and murder with Joe and Beck. I loved the modern language and social media references. I had a few WTF moments, some laughs, and the rest of the time I was biting my lip with suspense while turning the page. Follow this up with Hidden Bodies by same author, amazing book that was a little more creepy. I read them in the wrong order but they were both great.
- The Girls by Emma Cline – I read this because it was on all the summer reading lists and it lives up to the hype. Evie Boyd is only a teenager when she meets Suzanne and starts hanging around the cult like crew of misfits in a rundown compound. It’s the summer of 1969 and a seemingly sweet girl starts her summer all innocent and by the end there’s sex, drugs, and murder mystery she can’t seem to escape.
- Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler – If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant you’ll instantly connect with this book. Tess moves to NYC with big dreams and wide eyes for a new more exciting life. After getting a job as a ‘backwaiter’ she begins to experience food, wine, partying, and all kinds of of experiences that shape her life. There’s a bit of romance, a love triangle, and no shortage of ups and downs.
- Dark Places by Gillian Flynn – This is the story of Libby Day who was only seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice” of Kinnakee, Kansas.” There’s a cult following of the murder and Libby discovers the Kill Club, who hopes to find evidence that will clear her brother Ben from the murder conviction. It’s a dark twisted thriller that’s incredibly well written. This book has been made into a movie w/ Charlize Theron but I’ve not seen it, reviews are meh! Same author as Gone Girl which, if you haven’t read, i’ll reco you do that too.
Runners up to this list include Sweetbitter by Stepahie Danler, The Nest by Cynthia D’aprix Sweeney, Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave, and Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple.
The RECO App
This app is designed to give you recommendations from people you know an allows you to follow authors and other influencers on book choices. The app is easy to use and nicely designed, simple interface FTW. Reco is the first stand-alone digital experience from Indigo since they founded Kobo in 2009
Things to note:
Connect & Share: Share your fav books easily, write quick recos, make lists peole can follow
Discover: Find great books based on your interest, subscribe to curated lists from experts, personalization reminds me of Apple Music a bit with the topic selections,
Capture: Keep track of books you wanna read or have finished, make purchases from Indigo and Kobo in Canada, and iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo in the US and internationally.
Discuss: Discuss great books w/ your friends, connect w/ people who have common interests
Reco is available in Canada and the USA on any iOS device (iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad) from the Apple Store. Download it here. Read my recos on the app here.
Read anything great lately? Love to know your recos in the app.
I’m sitting here wondering WHAT DO I READ NEXT?!
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The Boxed Water #ReTree Project & Brands That Give Back
It doesn’t seem that long ago I was at WayHome North of Barrie. It was a lot more Coachella-ish this year with the huge ferris wheel. Aside from going to the festival, I spent a bunch of time in the lake at the cottage because it was SO HOT. I kept hydrated with Boxed Water and paired that with my TOMS sunnies & shoes for comfort & style, all while doing a bit of good for the world. ? ?
I love when brands adopt a business model that gives back to an organization or cause. If you read my recent post on Skincare Stuff You’ll Find in My Summer Bag you’ll know that Boxed Water donates 2 trees for each mention of #ReTree on social.
This summer alone, Boxed Water has planted 250,000 trees with the help of people like us. Their goal is to plant 1 million!
How is Boxed Water helping the environment?
- – 74% of packaging is made from trees, a renewable resource
- – They ship boxes flat to their filler, lowering our carbon footprint
- – They use a thin foil barrier for freshness and HDPE for the waterproof liner and cap
- – The entire carton is recyclable and 100% BPA free
- – Trees used in their boxes come from well-managed forests
- – As a member of 1% For The Planet, Boxed Water commits at least one percent of their total sales annually to reforestation
The Biz Model of Giving Back
I’ve gotten a few compliments on these shoes and glasses (above) and would you believe they’re TOMS? They’ve moved on from those canvas shoes we were all wearing a couple years ago to more fashion forward items that adopt their one-for-one model. It started with shoes and now the company provide glasses & sight surgery through eyewear, improved access to water, and more.
TOMS paved the way for the buy-one give one model, inspiring others along the way. Canadian company Mealshare provides one meal for each meal sold and to date has given 832,321 meals across Canada. Another great company I’ve written about a few times is Me To We and their beautiful artisan jewellery and products, see here.
The Boxed Water motto is to ‘inspire a better tomorrow by rethinking packaged water today‘. Join in the Re#Tree campaign in Canada, pick up some Boxed Water at Loblaws or Sobeys.
ALSO, if you’re looking for a CUTE DIY with the boxes, try repurposing one as a planter. ? ? ? I’ve got a little tiny tree in one of mine. ? Check out this great post by Kaylee on The Blondielocks.
Here’s to making the world a bit better 🙂 Stay hydrated out there!
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Being Your Own Boss Has Its Perks – Cottage Workation!
This week we are working form the cottage.☀️?✌? I find I’m really productive up here. It’s a nice mix of working hard, writing, and taking breaks, snacks, and naps.
I usually spend the day writing and doing blog biz things then after 2pm, I go down to the dock, float in the lake, or read on my Kobo. I’m about to finish She’s Not There by Joy Fielding today. ?? ? This will be my 10th book since April, summer goals ✔️!!!
Today is Sean’s 40th birthday! I know, he looks so young, what a babe! I baked a layered red velvet cake yesterday for later and we opened presents this morning. We’ve got some friends joining us end of the week to celebrate together.
If you’re following my Snapchat you’ll have seen these photos and the MASSIVE WATERMELON I got the other day. It’s seriously the biggest one I’ve EVER SEEN. I might cut into it this afternoon. ???
In other news, SEAN GOT ME A CLAWFOOT TUB. I’m in love with it. It’s SO BIG. It’s not set up yet but it will be eventually. I’ve dreamed of having one of these and I’m absolutely over the moon. I sat in it, inside the garage for about 20 minutes yesterday, with no water. It’s MASSIVE!
Sending you sunshine from cottage country, here’s to a great week!
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Simple Summer Hosting Hacks for Outdoor Dining
Last weekend at the cottage Emily helped me put together lunch for the fam. It was so fun to do this together, she’s 8 now and a great little helper! She was also quite stoked to help with the blog. ?
Scroll down for a few ‘hacks’ we can up with using stuff you just might find around the house, the kitchen, or the garage. It was all pretty simple and not too expensive, BUT when we put it together, it looked great! I guess that’s why they’re called HACKS.
On the Menu
We made mini sushi-style BLT wraps, a hot dog bar, and mini bacon grilled cheese using products from Butterball Canada we picked up at Loblaws.
Simple Summer Hosting Hacks for Outdoor Dining
- Make an outdoor table using an old door.
- Use wrapping paper to decorate the table. Makes for easy cleanup!
- Organize your napkins or cutlery with Washi Tape. There are HEAPS of colours/prints!
- Freeze lemons to use in cocktails. ??? No need to water down those drinks with ice!
- Use a muffin baking tray for condiments.
- Raid the dollar store for plastic plates and stack them. These same items were more $$$ at houseware stores.
- Baking cups inside little mason jars for sauces. Heaps of colours in these making mason jars even cuter.
- Put skewers in watermelon for easy snacking. I put them in the freezer so they were MAD CHILL. ☃️
If you loved this post LMK! Was fun putting it together. It was my first time trying turkey bacon which is 50% less fat than using bacon from pork. Found that it cooked a bit faster and made our meal a *little* healthier. The following day we used some leftovers to make cracked pepper maple bacon that I’ll share in another post soon!
* post sponsored by Butterball Canada but Emily and I totally did this all ourselves!
Fam Ting @ Cabana Pool Bar + Au Revoir Automobile!
Hung out w/ some of the coolest cats around yesterday at Cabana. Untitled & Co. hosted the fam and brought their own DJ. IT WAS HOT. ???
View out there is so nice. ☀️⛵️? If you’ve never been, Cabana used to be The Docks nightclub, it’s now transformed into a daytime club environment. ?? I prefer the weekday crowd, it gets realllllly crowded on the weekend.
My Chevrole Cruze Platinum was picked up shortly after this. I really liked driving it. Was great on gas, had a sunroof, and the tan leather interior gave it a luxurious feel.
When I drove home this week for a meeting I cruised the highway singing the top of my lungs to XM radio and iTunes. I love having a car! I’m yet to own my very own vehicle but I really do enjoy the freedom it gives.
Here’s to a GREAT weekend. 10 days at the cottage STARTING NOW. ☀️✌?️?
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Christmas in July is Fun
I love the holidays and yes I know they are months away BUT that doesn’t mean we can’t think about decorating or throw fake snow in a 360 camera rig. ???? I went to holiday events for Hudson Bay, Sears, and Canadian Tire recently and they were all quite lovely.
The Sears preview at Story’s Building smelled like Christmas when you walked in and had live music from Kat’s band Lady be Good. They had a holiday house setup with different rooms filled with all the housewares from Debby Travis, new clothes in the Jessica line, and a kids room filled with toys and clothes. I took at seat at the art station for kids and left a pretty pink holiday drawing. There was a lot of nice stuff especially the housewares, its been a loooong time since I checked out a Sears and this was a nice nostalgia
Having holiday fun at the @Searsholiday house! Made a lil'card in the kids room ?? #SearsFalliday pic.twitter.com/M2EnC0xYLn
— CASiE STEWART (@casiestewart) July 19, 2016
The HBC preview was at Arcadian Court and little less interactive but there was heaps of stuff I’ve added to my wishlist. HBC has some great stuff coming for the holidays and late September they’ll have toys in store. There’s a whole collection of new items added to the traditions HBC stripes including puffer jackets and jammies. I was really feeling the Wrap Me paper you can have customized at HBC on Queen Street with your own images.
As soon as I walked into Canadian Tire’s Christmas in July I could smell all the trees and it was lit. As in there were heaps of lights, y’know. We always get a real tree so it was kinda cool to compare real and fake trees. Some of the artificial ones smell real, crazy. They had a 360 camera rig (The Big Freeze) setup and since it was not my first time in this thing I knew exactly what to do. Grabbed some snow and threw it into the air as the circle of cameras snapped and VOILA!
The setup here was pretty neat, also different room setups, the living room was bright and casual and the tablescape for dinner was filled with rose gold. So into this trend for the holidays! My one true love here was the tree dress, it wold be heavy but amazing AF to wear! ??
All this really has me thinking I’d love to have a Christmas in July part at the cottage next year.
In other news, Michaels AND Dollerama have Halloween stuff.
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Long Weekend! Make It Count ☀️?????
In Muskoka for the weekend. ☀️???? The weather is so nice. We came up today instead of last night because it was a long week! Finished Stranger Things on Netflix, great show. ? I hate that empty feeling when you’ve binged something good and then it’s over. ?
We’re at PIE right now waiting for pizza. ????? There’s a couple locations in Barrie, this is the first in Muskoka. The pizza is SO GOOD. We order a coulple then take some home each time. Cold pizza is my fav breakfast. ?
Saw this sweet Corvette outside. Sean has one from 1982 sitting in our garage. ? This weekend I’m driving a new Cruze from Chevrolet Canada, it’s sweet!
I borrowed a tent from Mountain Equipment Co-op and Emily and I put it together with no sweat. ?☀️?? The last time I put up a tent I think I was her age. Things have gotten easier since then!
Tonight we’re having fireworks and a fire. ??
PIZZA IS HERE, OK BYE. ❤️?
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Skincare Stuff You’ll Find in My Summer Bag
Summer, yay! ?? Hard to believe it’s almost the of July! ?? Have no fear, there’s still plenty of time to soak up the sunshine, read books in the hammock, and have delicious snacks on the dock.
As you know I spend most weekends at the cottage over the summer, this list of skincare stuff isn’t super fancy but it’s a combo of things I was sent to try out (then replaced with my own money) or products I stock up on so there’s one at home and the cottage. I love all things skincare and there are so many other products I want to try. If you’re as passionate about skincare as me, you could become a social marketer. If you don’t know what this is or you’d like to learn more, click here.
This post is sponsored by Boxed Water, is a socially conscious packaged-water company re-thinking the way water is sold, shipped and consumed. For every photo posted of Boxed Water with#ReTree on social, they’ll plant two trees. ?? I love the little box, so cute.
Ok, here we go!
Summer Skincare Stuff I Love
1. WATER – Drink heaps of it. Your skin will thank you. ? Drinking water has some fantastic benefits, it can make your skin look really bright. The Neostrata Enlighten Ultra Brightening Cleanser is a creamy foaming cleanser that also brightens the skin if your skin often looks a little dull. Boxed Water is triple filtered for purity using reverse osmosis, carbon filtration and UV systems and filled in both Michigan & Utah. The entire carton is recyclable and 100% BPA free with 1% of all sales going to reforestation. ? ? ? You can find it at Loblaws or Sobeys in Canada. ?? Keep your skin and immune system healthy by drinking filtered water on the go. Did you know that you can now find and buy water bottles that have their very own filter system already in it? Sites such as Water Filter Way have reviewed some of the best bottles on the market, so be sure to check them out here – (https://waterfilterway.com/best-filtered-water-bottle-reviews/). At least this way you are able to have constant access to clean water so this should give you no excuses.
2. WIPES – Do not leave home without them. Found these ones Yes To. Coconut ones at Shoppers and they’ve got coconut water and kukui nut (from Hawaii) to hydrate your skin. Perfect for removing makeup, wiping hands on long car rides, or god forbid you have to take a wee on your nature hike.
3. SELF-TANNER – I love the sun and having a tan but I don’t wanna have old wrinkly bacon-like skin. I was sent Vita Liberata earlier this year and I absolutely love this stuff. It goes on easy with a mitt, is not streaky, and best of all is not smelly! I order online from Sephora.
4. NIGHT CREAM – No matter how tired you are PUT IT ON EACH NIGHT. I started using this Nivea Q10 Plus Anti-Wrinkle Night Care a couple months ago and it’s super hydrating. I’ll take all the no-wrinkle things I can get at this point. It was sent to test out but I picked up a refill from Shoppers.
5. SUNNIES – The skin around your eyes is super sensitive, you don’t wanna be squinting or having those UVA + UVB rays attacking your eyes. Keep your face looking young and get huge glasses that cover your face.
6. Dermalogica Age Smart Primer Spf 30 – This primer is tinted and perfect for summer when you need coverage but don’t wanna wear a lot of makeup. I’ve been doing stuff with Dermalogica for a few years now and this is a product I always like to get my hands on. [More Dermalogica posts]
7. SUN BLOCK – This Clearly Sheer from Coppertone is new this year and it’s quite nice. There’s a smaller one in a spray bottle that’s perfect for your purse. ALWAYS wear sun block, OK? ?
8. AFTER SUN CARE – I’ve been using this Hawaiian Tropic Silk aloe lotion for years. It’s a saviour if you’ve had a long day in the sun or someone gets a sun burn. lather it on, like slip-slap-slop it all over your tender skin. once it dries, re-apply. You’ll avoid getting read and burnty. ?
This has motivated me to think about other lists I can make… LMK if there’s anything you’d like to know my thoughts on!
Here’s to a wonderful long weekend and LOTS OF SUNSHINE! ?? ? ??
