Birthday Haul!

Hey!


I'm sorry that I've taken/will be taking a little vacay but it was my birthday on Sunday and my sister is down visiting and it doesn't leave much extra time to blog.

In the mean time, I did take some pictures of some presents that I either got to pick out myself, was surprised with and just bought for myself! Some of my absolute favourites include Impassionate and Candy Yum Yum lipsticks from MAC, their matching pro-longwear lip liner,  and an eye shadow palate from Tarte. So much fun!

haul!

Impassioned

Candy Yum Yum

Candy on top

from benefit

swatches didn't show up well

Tarte Palate!

gorgeous!

Beauty Marked, Black Tied, Omega, Rice Paper

Turkish Delight

If you have any questions about any of the products, ask away. I will be filming on Monday and may answer your questions there!

Cheers,
Sara x0

Slow Cooker

 I am using my slow cooker almost every day. It is so easy and makes such delicious meals. I have one from Hamilton Beach that has a probe setting and it cooks until your meat reaches your desired internal temperature, then it automatically switches to a 'keep warm' setting. So brilliant!

I make ham, roast, pulled pork, chilli, stew, and all kinds of chicken recipes in this bad boy. Two of my favs are:

1) Beef Shoulder Roast- pour in two tablespoons of a pre-made alfredo sauce with a package of onion soup mix with a quarter cup of water. This makes a beautiful gravy. I cut up and add one full onion. Next I make a rub out of Montreal Steak Spice, ground black pepper, and chilli powder. Rub this into the meat generously, then add the steak to your slow cooker. Insert probe and took to internal temperature of 180 degrees (F). Part way through I like to add in any veggies that I would like cooked like red bell peppers

I served my roast with the cooked red bell pepper, onion and carrots from the slow cooker as well as some rice with salsa. 

2) BBQ Chicken Breasts- combine half a cup of ketchup, a quarter cup of brown sugar and a quarter cup of water. Add any spices you fancy (I like to add an epicure dip mix in 3 onion). Stir together and add with your cuts of boneless skinless chicken breasts (any cut of chicken works great) to the slow cooker. Select probe option and cook until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees (F). Drain excess water once done and add your BBQ mixture again. 

I served my chicken with roasted broccoli, carrots onions and a faked garlic mashed potatoes (cauliflower instead of potatoes).

Cheers, 

Sara x0

Cute Idea to Hide Clutter

Why in the world are there so many remotes these days? It all seems a little excessive and confusing to me. My fiancé is very particular about each remote, so I don't see us getting one of those universal ones any time soon.

How do you handle all of your remotes? Do you have them all on display, only the one or two essential ones on display? Do you have one of those over the couch arm pockets for them?

On a recent trip to Homesense I found this beautiful mirrored glass box from Steven and Chris and fell in love. I pictured it on our coffee table, and quickly realized it would be perfect for storing our electronic devices! We have the Wii remotes and our TV/Cable/Blue-Ray remotes all neatly tucked away in this pretty gem. 

I love it, what do you think?

Home Décor DIY

Hello,
I just wanted to share a recent DIY home décor project that I've completed. My living room walls were completely bare for way too long (over a year!). I had such a hard time committing to something. I had a few ideas of what I wanted to do with the space, when I finally got so fed up that I decided something was easily better than nothing. 

My fiancé Alan and I were walking around Home Depot when we saw floating shelves for less than $20. This was one of my ideas and finally I committed to it. We picked up the largest and smallest shelves and went right to work positioning them on the wall around our flat screen.

After the quick and easy installation, I felt uncomfortable with how bare the other side of the wall looked. We went to Fabricville and looked through the bin of discounted scrap fabrics and found lovely material for very cheap! We went ahead and purchased any white frames that were on sale and framed the fabric and hung up opposite to the floating shelves. The best part is that we hung up these frames using Command velcro picture hanging strips (yay less holes in the wall!). What was great was that I was able to switch around the pictures to find the best combo that I liked and if I hated it altogether, there were no holes left behind! 

What do you think? I think my condo is looking a little more like a home :) You can see my bunny Hooch's cage in the bottom right- I will eventually be getting her a cabinet to sit on top of instead of the floor where I can hide her food and toys.

Cheers, Sara x0

Too Faced Pretty Rebel Essentials Kit

 I owned one Too Faced product before and that was their Lash Injection mascara a number of years ago, and I hated it. The tubes just weren't as easy as they said it would be to wash off and I found it difficult of build. This unfortunately turned me off from the company altogether.

Recently, I picked up their Pretty Rebel Essentials kit because I thought it would be a good sampling of products from the brand for a decent price. The kit includes an eye shadow quad, waterproof eyeliner, lip gloss, bronzer/blush duo and that same Lash Injection mascara. All of this was only $55 at Made You Blush, a local make-up store in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

I have to say, for the most part, I love this kit. I use the Chocolate Soleil bronzer (which smells amazing!) and Papa Don't Peach blush just about everyday. The gloss is a bit sticky for my taste, but it smells like bananas which means I can't put it down. The eye shadow quad is a perfect combo allowing for simple every day looks to dramatic night looks. The colour 'Girly' is an exciting red-brown with shots of iridescent green throughout. The eyeliner is definitely waterproof, however make sure you let that bad boy set for a good few minutes because it is super creamy and smudge-able!

blush, bronzer, eyeliner (ignore other swatches)

eye shadows in Dainty, Charming, Ringleader and Girly

And lastly, that mascara that I was not thrilled to try again, I fell in love with! I don't know if they changed their formula or if I just needed more practice with this type of mascara but I am crazy about this Lash Injection mascara. It gives great length with one coat, and it totally build-able and gives decent volume. I've even had make-up freaks ask me if I was wearing falsies with just this mascara on!

All in all, I am really impressed with Too Faced and plan on trying out some more of their products, any recommendations?

If you would like to purchase this kit, you can find it online here for only $45!!
http://www.beauty.com/too-faced-pretty-rebel-essentials/qxp493665

Cheers,
Sara

Check out my video on this post HERE

Wedding Planning Fun

The most fun things about planning my wedding so far have been looking at bouquets and centre piece inspiration. Pinterest is such an addictive but great tool when it comes to wedding time. I need to watch myself before I waste half the day on there, but I must say I've gotten most of my ideas for flowers and decoration from Pinterest. 

What is your favourite part of wedding planning?

The theme that Alan and I are going for is Fireworks. Why? Not because we are big Katy Perry fans, but because we met at the Natal day (Nova Scotia's civil holiday) firework show. My friend organized a boat cruise for a bunch of her friends were we had Jello shots and dirty hooker (banana bols and red sour puss) shots- so fun! I didn't know many people there, but I did meet this guy named Alan. I told him that my favourite fireworks were the Beyoncé ones- you know, the ones that look like her hair in the movie Goldfinger. 

Anyway! There is a lot more to that story that I will save for a later date. Stemming from fireworks I came up with colourful and sparkly! Look at my bouquet inspiration below to see what I mean by colourful- not like rainbow colourful, but like tropical...maybe? 

 I plan on incorporating colourful in the décor with a pom pom banner like this honeycomb one below, I'm thinking on stringing this below the head table:

Now, the fun part is the amount of glitter that I've been purchasing over the past couples months. My vision for the centre pieces is an eclectic mix of candle holders and vases all made over into glittery wonders topped with some fresh flowers. Hard to imagine? Take a look below to see what I mean:

And this is some of what I've done so far inspired by the above photos:

                                                 

                                                          

 

For the ceremony, I want it to be a bit more elegant and I really wanted something to draw the eye into the centre were Alan and I will be standing. I found this altar on an online classifieds and snatched it up as quick as I could. I love it. There is a rod in behind where the previous couple hung sheers, however, we will be hanging ribbon strung with sparkly beads like the inspiration picture below:

 And finally, here is a picture of a part of the room where we are getting married. It is in a harbour view room where 3 of the 4 walls are windows over looking the water and city. It is beautiful and I love the ceiling.

Let me know what you think and what to keep in mind when planning a wedding! 

Cheers, 

Sara

My Teeth!

So, my whole life I've wanted straight teeth. I remember begging my parents for orthodontics. Their answer was always to wait until I had my own job with benefits and pay for it myself.. so that's exactly what I did.

My journey started in May when I went for an Invisalign consultation. Basically my orthodontist strongly advised against the Invisalign because of my specific issues and the fact that it would take forever and not be stable. My teeth issues turn out isn't just crowding of my upper arch. I have an overbite, cross bite, rotated molars and crowding! Thus my orthodontist suggested a Haas appliance (palatal expander-ouch!) for 5-6 months, some other contraption that pulls my teeth backwards for 3-4 months, then elastic free braces for 12 months.

Well... what about my wedding coming up September 2013? My first appliance was put in July 15th, meaning it should come out about late December, my next appliance will be in until late March and then my final braces will be on in April. This means my teeth will not be done in time for the wedding- oh no!

However, my orthodontist said that the bulk of the work will be done by September so my teeth will look pretty good, and she will be able to remove the hardware for the wedding, give me clear retainers, and then put them back on after the wedding- yay!!

For those of you interested in my straight teeth journey, check out my videos and pictures below:

July 15, 2013: My untreated teeth













September 10, 2013: My Haas appliance










My youtube video about my experience **HERE**

Cheers for now!

Sara