Niagara Falls! (Flash Back Friday: Summer 2011)

Hey there!


This post is a little different from what I've been doing; and normally I wouldn't really do a throw back or flash back or whatever you want to call it kind of post, but I am seriously longing for a get away or some sort of vacation right now... Unfortunately, we probably won't be going on any kind of holiday this year... That my friends, definitely sucks and makes me kind of sad... SO I decided to recall one of the best Summers EVER! and write a post about one of my all time favourite places to be! 2011 was a very memorable and completely EPIC Summer! We did so much and I got to spend time with my family back home and see one of my cousins get married. In June we spent a week in California; and we went to the Oakland Zoo, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, (one of my most favourite childhood places) the movies, shopping, up to Sacramento for my cousins wedding and we just hung out with friends and family. It was so much fun! Then in July we had our annual Canada Day party/get together at Lakeshore with our friends and like always it was a blast. (I think we also might have gone to Dave and Busters and some other places in the mix) Finally the Epic finale to our amazing Summer, in August we went to Niagara Falls for four days and I just can't get enough of that place! It's so beautiful and peaceful and I could just sit by the falls all day and just watch the water fall. [Did I mention how much I LOVE the water?!] If you are anywhere close to Niagara Falls Ontario, I HIGHLY recommend you go and have a visit! It is truly beyond words, and there is just so much to see and do on the Canadian side! Plus we have a spectacular view of both the American and Horse Shoe Falls and at night time they illuminate the falls in a rainbow of colours and I just love it. Also on I believe Fridays and Saturdays they have fireworks at 10 pm! If you are looking for fun things to do besides looking at the water, I suggest you take a stroll down Clifton Hill! There are numerous amounts of things to do and see, and not just for kids either. They have a huge arcade, tons of various types of shops, a Dave and Busters, two or three mini golf courses, a bowling alley, night clubs, bars, restaurants, wax museums and the Sky Wheel. There are also casinos, the Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe and the Skylon Tower. (just to name a few places) Just writing all these things out is making me imagine it in my head and now I really want to go! [ha ha] There are many different hotels, motels and inns to choose from, so it's definitely a small vacation that can fit in almost any budget. If for some reason you don't feel like staying more than a day; there are plenty of paid parking places, so you can just pay for the day and park your car. (Niagara Falls/ Clifton Hill and that whole area is better if you walk it rather than drive... My hubby and I only drive to the falls and then we hardly use our car unless we need some groceries or something that isn't really within walking distance) I didn't put down everything there is to do there, simply because there is SO much to do and this would end up being a long book instead a blog post. [not even exaggerating...] Which is one of the reasons we like to go for a few days at a time, I don't always have a solid plan of what we are going to do when we go, but I do have an idea of the things we want to do and when we get there we usually map out the things we want to do most. Since we only have about 4 days, I like to cram as much fun into our mini vacation as I possibly can! We end up tired and sore at the end of the day from so much walking, but its absolutely worth it! I'm feeling all nostalgic and sad at the same time, because I really want to go! Who knows? This Summer is just starting and plans could change! 

That's all for now!

Where is your favourite place to go and have a mini vacation?

(sorry if that was a lot of photos, it's really only a small snip it of the five to six hundred photos I took during our stay!)

xoxoxo

Summer Essentials! My Go To Accessories! (Part 5)

Hey there!


Welcome to part 5 of my Summer Essentials Series! This is all about my favourite "go to" accessories for the Spring/Summer! During the Fall and Winter I don't usually wear many accessories, because it gets quite cold here and I'm usually always wearing a winter coat, so accessories are kind of a flop since no one really sees them... To be honest, until this last August I was never really an accessory kind of girl.. I would wear the random pair of earrings here and maybe a bracelet there and sometimes a necklace but not often. I also didn't really own much of the above mentioned items. I've been collecting here and there for nearly a year now, so my collection is pretty decent. I love bracelets and bangles, I'd say they are my favourite thing to wear hands down. I love to layer them and mix and match different styles together to compliment whatever outfit I'm wearing. If there was one type of accessory I own but hardly if ever wear, it would be rings... I'm not really sure why, I just don't really wear them... I like rings and would love to get some nice statement or cocktail type rings, but I don't know if I would actually wear them... Most of these things I got from places like Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, Hot Topic etc. (all of which are very affordable, so big plus there!)


So here's a small list of accessories I like to wear on a regular/semi-regular basis:

• Stud Earrings
• Dangling or long Earrings
• Long Necklaces
• Bracelets and Bangles
• Sunglasses
• Hair Ties, Clips, Bobbi Pins etc. 
• A Clutch or Swing-pack type purse (I usually don't like to carry a big purse around with me, because we are out and about doing things and a big purse can get in the way, especially if we are at theme parks or fairs or what have you)

That was kind of a shorter post; but I thought a simple list and some photos would be more effective or efficient than explaining everything, since I feel like most of these accessories are pretty self-explanatory. Besides, who doesn't love pictures? (ha ha)

 [P.S. Can you tell I like stars?? LOL]

Those are my go to accessories for the Summer! What are your go to accessories or favourite type of accessories to wear??

xoxoxo

Movie Date With My Hubby!

Hey there! 

So my hubby and I went to the theatre at Yorkdale Mall, and we decided to see Monsters University! I loved it! We are big kids at heart, so we still love to go see all the Disney/Pixar movies. We really can't wait to see Despicable Me 2 (unfortunately it isn't out until tomorrow and our next movie is going to be World War Z) We haven't been to the movies in a long time (the last movie we saw was The Dark Knight Rises) until last week, we went and saw The Purge.. I don't recommend it, it wasn't very good.... We like to go on Tuesdays, because its half the price per ticket and since I'm a Scene member I get an extra 10% off tickets and concession items (drinks, candy, popcorn etc.) so we got our tickets, 2 drinks and a regular popcorn all for the price of 2 regular priced movie tickets! (what a steal!) Today I actually cashed in my Scene Points, so we got a free ticket which made the deal that much better! (Scene Points are points you collect by using your Scene Membership Card when you purchase tickets and concession items and its free to join, plus it only costs 1,000 points to get a free movie ticket, which adds up pretty quickly.. Last time we went to the movies I got like 500 points) Any who, If you liked Monsters Inc. you're going to really enjoy Monsters University! I'm not going to go into detail about the movie, because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but it's a prequel to Monsters Inc. and it's about Mike and Sully during their University days and how they met and how they eventually become Scarers for Monsters Inc. There was an inspiring message that I took away from the movie and it was: no matter what anyone tells you and no matter how much they try to bring you down or tell you that you can't, don't ever give up on your dreams, because if you put your whole heart into it and never give up despite the negativity good things will happen and dreams can and do come true. Also you can be whatever or who ever you want to be, there is no mold or standard that dictates who you are and what you can become and you should never live your life by someone else's standards. Do what makes you happy and what inspires you. It was a really good movie and I can't wait for it to come out on DVD/ Blu Ray... So that was our Date Night! It's a lot of fun to do date nights no matter how long you've been with someone, I really recommend it. Sometimes we get so caught up in life that we start to take for granted what we have and how much our significant other means to us, so it's nice to take time for each other and reconnect.

 I did kind of an outfit of the night, but I for the life of me couldn't get a decent full length photo of my outfit lol (I think I should invest in a door mirror) it's nothing too special or fancy: just a leopard print button down top, (from Old Navy) a white cami, (from Sirens) and some dark blue skinnies... (also from Old Navy) I wore simple accessories: black star stud earrings (from Hot Topic) and a gold owl with a black and white chevron print on the belly (from Forever 21) and I took my large Coach wristlet (from the Coach store at the mall) And ofcourse I didn't get a picture of my shoes.... (because I'm so on it like that HA HA) but they were cute nude flats with a buckle on the toe (from Charlotte Russe) [I added a photo of the shoes; it wasn't taken recently, but they are the shoes I wore last night...]

That's all for now!

Have you seen any good movies lately??

xoxoxo

Summer Essentails! All about lips! (Part 4 end)

Hey there!



Welcome back to my Summer Essentials Series! This is the final installment to the Part 4 of my make up essentials. Today is all about my Favourite lip glosses and lipsticks to wear during the Spring and Summer!
 The first make up product I ever wore was lipstick. When I was maybe seven or eight, my Granny used to let my sister and I pick out lipsticks she had and we got to carry them around in our purses and wear them. She had so many pretty colours and in a range of different hues. As I got older I stopped wearing lipsticks and leaned more towards lip gloss, I'd say maybe in the last year or two I made myself get back into wearing lipstick. I definitely have more lip gloss than lipstick in my collection, but I do love them both!


Today I picked out eight lipsticks that I like to switch between and nine lip glosses that I use regularly. I like to layer lipstick and lip gloss together these days, and it's rare for me to wear lipstick alone. I will wear just gloss if I'm lazy or don't feel like lipstick. Let's jump into it!


 First we'll go with lipstick. I'll go in order from which I swatched them. I have three from Wet N' Wild (can you tell that I love this brand yet?? LOL) The colours I use are: 525 D Retro Pink (This is a super bright GORGEOUS fuchsia pink colour) 502 A Dark Pink Frost (This one has a gold shimmer to it and it's not that dark of a lipstick, it's more of a Mauve-y Pink shade) and finally 510 A Light Beige Frost (Not quite sure why this is called beige, since it's not beige at all... It's like a dark coral colour and has gold shimmer in it.) These are all really pretty shades and they are super affordable! Next are two N.Y.C. lipsticks, I'm not sure how much I love N.Y.C. for anything other than their nail polish; but these are fairly decent lip products and again are really affordable. I'm using the colours: 419 English Rose (A super pretty rose pink and this isn't a frosty lipstick, so no glitter) and 413 Rose Gold (This one is a lighter rose pink and has gold shimmer in it) I have one Cover Girl lipstick (that I'm using currently) and it is 390 Sweetheart. (This is a beautiful light pink) Next is an E.L.F. lipstick from their Studio line and it's 6701 Nicely Nude (A pretty pink-y nude colour with some gold in it) I have Natural Nymph; but I feel like that's waaaaaay too nude for my lips, this one is a good nude for me, it adds a hint of colour to my natural lip colour. Last is a Revlon lipstick in 002 Icy Nude and this one is a very light brown nude colour, I like to pop a nude gloss over this one and it looks really pretty. (I go for more pinks and browns/neutrals than the more bold colours... I should probably try to move out of my comfort zone, but it's hard LOL)

Now for the gloss! Like I said before I have nine glosses and I tend to switch them out almost everyday (If of course I'm wearing make up) We'll start with the dark nudes and work our way to the dark pinks. First up is a Wet N' Wild Mega Slicks lip gloss in the shade 568 Bronze Berry and like it`s name sake this is a bronze-y nude colour. It matches my Icy Nude lipstick quite well, as does the next gloss and it is an E.L.F. Mineral Lip Gloss in the shade Au Naturale. This is a lighter bronze nude and it falls more on the gold side than the brown side, but it still pairs up quite nicely with the Icy Nude lipstick. The next gloss is one I received in my May Ipsy Glam Bag and I would say is currently my new favourite! It`s from Juice Beauty, this gloss is organic, and it smells like lemon cake! (so yummy!)  It`s a very sheer and shimmery nude gloss in the shade Champagne. This looks great with anything because it`s so sheer, it just adds the glossy effect with a hint of shimmer. The last two nudes are similar in colour, the only difference (besides the brand) is that one has shimmer and the other does not. The shimmey one is from Wet N`Wild and is from the Mega Slicks line, this is in the shade 563 B Sun Glaze (these last two nude glosses are on the bright pink-y nude side) The other gloss is from Essence it`s the XXXL Shine gloss and is in the shade 19 Nude Candy (again bright pink-y nude, this has no shimmer but it`s super glossy and it smells like candy!! I LOVE ESSENCE!! So affordable, great quality and a good selection!) The next gloss is still a little on the nude side, but it`s definitely more pink than nude. It is also from Essence (the XXXL Shine gloss) and is in the shade Nude Kiss, This gloss has some gold shimmer in it. The next two are definitely pink colours and are from E.L.F. they are in the colours: Inspire (a bright watermelon pink) and Dream (a frosty rose pink with gold shimmer) And finally I have a gloss from Victoria`s Secret from their Beauty Rush line. It`s a Colorshine Gloss in the colour Wonder Melon (and it smells like Watermelon Jolly Ranchers!!) This is the darkest of the pink glosses, but its super sheer and also has gold shimmer in it.

That`s all for the make up portion of my Summer Essential Series!

Hopefully I didn`t bore you all too much!

What is you favourite lipstick or gloss??

xoxoxo 

Happy Canada Day!!

Hello everyone!!

Today (well when you read this it will be, but I'm writing this a day in advance..) is July 1st or for us here in the Great White North it's Canada Day! This is the equivalent of the Fourth of July back home in the U.S. There's always so much to do and to see here in Toronto; but ever since I moved here back in 2007, we (my hubby and our friends) have sort of made our own tradition. We all like to get together for a BBQ at Lakeshore every year (or just about every year) and we have tons of good food, great conversation, and of course fireworks! It's always an awesome time, and it's a way for all of us to get together and hang out. (we don't get to see everyone very often, because unfortunately life gets really busy sometimes..) We go in the late afternoon/early evening; usually someone is already there to claim our favourite spot since it can get quite packed. We set up the BBQ and get the food going so we can eat before it gets dark. Then the guys usually go off and find some wood to make a fire. (we have a nice fire pit at our spot) we set up the chairs and light the fire and wait for night to fall. Around 9 or 10 we break out the fireworks (which my hubby and I supply, because my hubby is a pyromaniac.. not really but he likes the fireworks ha ha) We like to sit out on the rocks and shoot our fireworks out over Lake Ontario and its just the perfect backdrop for the show, with Downtown Toronto in the background... We end the night by sitting around the fire and just having random conversations. In general Lakeshore is one of my all time favourite places in this city to be; I come from the Bay Area, (Northern California) so I'm used to always being near the water and if I'm ever feeling homesick I can come here and feel a little closer to home. Plus I love the water and I'm practically a fish HA HA HA! Any ways! A lot of found memories have been made over the years and I can't wait to make some more this Canada Day! 

Please ignore the time stamp on these 2 photos.. This was from Canada Day 2007

Canada Day 2010

Canada Day 2011

I look like a mess lol P.S. I'm naturally a Blonde, but around September of 2011
 I coloured my hair for the first time!

My hubby the grill master

They wanted to use this as fire wood!!
We just ended up using it to sit on ha ha

Our crazy friend Andrew jumping over the fire!

Canada Day 2012

I think we missed Canada Day 2008 & 2009 because my hubby was working the holiday.. So there was no BBQ those years....BOO! 

That's it for now!

What is your country's big holiday?

Where do you like to celebrate?

xoxoxo