q & a time

Posted in Q&A by

1. What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

Other than curse my alarm and go to the bathroom, I let Daphne out for a pee (Campbell is lazy and doesn’t like to get out of bed), and then make my coffee.

2. What do you eat for breakfast?

6 days of out 7, it’s usually cereal. Kyle swears I have a cereal addiction. Sometimes I’ll throw him off his game and have eggs & toast.

3. What’s your go-to weeknight meal?

If I’m super stumped, I usually thaw out some spaghetti sauce (I always make way too much and freeze the left over sauce), boil some kind of short pasta (bowtie, rotini, etc.), mix it together in a casserole dish, top it with shredded cheese and bake it in the oven at 350°C for about 40 minutes. We call it spaghetti casserole or goulash, and it’s so easy and yummy! (I add Frank’s Red Hot sauce on mine.)

4. Do you do any kind of journaling or memory keeping?

I don’t, really. I have a little memory book for Isla to write down all her milestones and memories up to when she’s three, but that’s about it. I rely mostly on old photos and Facebook to remember past events.

5. How do you fix your coffee, or do you prefer tea (or neither)?

My coffee gets 2 teaspoons of sugar and a good dose of French vanilla-flavoured creamer until it’s the perfect shade of beige. For my tea, if it’s regular orange pekoe, I let it steep for at least 10 minutes, then add 2 teaspoons of sugar and a splash of milk. Any other type of tea usually just gets a teaspoon of sugar or honey, no milk.

6. What’s the last good book you read?

Probably The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. While it was a tough read emotionally, it was really good.

7. If you had a day all to yourself with no schedule, how would you spend it?

Reading, napping, and maybe getting a pedicure. A day to myself would be a dream!

8. What are three things on your life list?

I’m really not too sure what a life list is supposed to consist of, but I’ll say that happiness, good health, and love are on mine. Easy enough, no?

9. When you really need to relax or de-stress, where do you go and what do you do?

I started going to yoga about 9 months ago, and I must say, I really love how it makes me feel mentally. It’s only about an hour long, but I really appreciate how much I’m able to relax and recenter my thoughts. I usually come out of class rejuvenated and feeling great.

10. What’s on your nightstand?

Nothing, other than at night when I have my phone and baby monitor plugged in. Isla steals everything off of it otherwise! But, way up high on the dresser beside my nightstand is a box of Kleenex and my Chapstick.

11. What’s the last thing you do before you go to sleep?

Thanks to Kathleen for tagging me in this fun little post! I’m not going to tag anyone in specific to do it, so feel free to just copy & paste my questions below and just link back!

My questions:

1. What movie could you watch over and over again and not get tired of?

2. Company is coming over for dinner – what’s your go-to meal to impress your guests

3. What’s your favourite summertime drink? (Boozy or not!)

4. What would the exterior of your dream house look like?

5. What is the craziest food you’ve dared to eat?

6. Are you a sun worshiper or shade-seeker?

7. If you have $1,000,000 to donate to any cause that you wanted, which would it be?

8. What song do you currently find yourself singing along to at the top of your lungs while in the car?

9. It’s date night: Where do you and your significant other go for dinner? (If you’re single – what’s your favourite dinner spot?)

10. If practicality (and money) wasn’t an issue, what kind of vehicle would you love to own?

Project 365: May 11-17

Posted in Photo-a-Day, Photos, Project 365 by

May 11-17 (1)

May 11-17 (2)

May 11: Lunchtime at Fatburger! ♦ May 12: She road trips hard. ♦ May 13: I needed a snack, so she shared. ♦ May 14: The beginning of OCD habits. ♦ May 15: Delicious disassembled sandwiches. ♦ May 16: BBQ’s Greek marinaded potatoes and The Pioneer Woman’s Twice-Baked Potatoes. ♦ May 17: Mean muggin’.

Are we friends on Facebook? If so, you can view the full photos here.

Stick it with Broadway Nails imPRESS Press-on Manicure (+ a Giveaway!)

Posted in Beauty/Fashion, Giveaway, Product Review, Products by

I like having nice nails, but I struggle with painting them on a regular basis and I’m too cheap to cough up the dough to pay to have them professionally done. The result? I either have no polish, or I’m left with one hand having perfect polish and the other looking not so hot. OR I mangle the polish within 30 minutes because it takes so long to dry.

So, enter imPress Press-on Manicures by Broadway Nails. I must admit, I’m not 100% sold on stick-on nails, whether they’re store bought on professionally done. I’m not sure why, but it could have something to do with finding them on the floor of pool changerooms and nearly stepping on them … I digress.

I got my Influenster VoxBox in the mail yesterday and was excited to open it up to see what colour or design I’d received. Low and behold, I got not one, but two different “bottles” of nails to try out! One was “Over the Moon,” a funky, swirly design, and the other was “Stiletto,” a pretty reddish-burgundy shade.

I decided that I’d give Over the Moon a try. After reading the instructions, I figured it wouldn’t take me long to get them on. All I had to do was clean my nails with the enclosed towelette, figure out what sizes I needed (there’s 12 sizes and 24 nail covers, which is great because my nails are weird, wonky sizes), peel off the sticker and press them on. Pretty easy, if you ask me!

The result? Pretty looking nails … from afar. Here’s where I get a little critical.

I really liked how smooth and glossy the actual nail cover was, but up close, you could kind of tell that they were not and I think that had to do with they way I applied them. I definitely should have trimmed my actual nail to below the end of my fingers so that you couldn’t see the real nail. I also probably done a bit better job of tidying up my cuticles before applying as well. Personally, I wasn’t crazy about the shade – I lean more towards nudes and “fun” colours rather than reds – but that’s what’s great about the imPress nails – you can take them right off with ease, but they definitely could last up to a week like the box says. If I were to see them at the store, I may just have to pick them up in a different colour!

You can find the imPress Press-on Manicures at a bunch of different stores – Walmart, Target, London Drugs, and more, and they’re pretty inexpensive – about $9 for the colours and $11 for the designs. (Considering a bottle of good polish can cost $9 and you may only use it once, that’s not bad!)

Just for my awesome readers, I’m going to give away the other tester shade I received so you can try it out for yourself! The shade is “Stiletto” and would look great on a night out on the town! To enter, just comment below and tell me,

How often do you get your nails done, or do you DIY?

You can gain extra entries by: 

1. Following me on Twitter. (Leave a comment that you are and with your Twitter handle).

2. Tweet about the giveaway. (Leave a comment with the link to your tweet) You can even just copy & paste the following:

“I entered to win an #imPressManicure kit from @KaraEvs, courtesy of @InfluensterVox and @BwayNails! Enter here: http://wp.me/pM0Sy-1em”

 

3. Following me on Bloglovin. (Leave a comment when you do and leave your username!)

I’ll pick one lucky winner by Noon, Pacific Time, May 30, 2014, so you have one whole week to enter!

Win me!

Win me!

Good luck!!

voxbox-blogimage-popup2Disclosure: I received the Influenster imPress Manicure Canada Vox Box for free in exchange for my honest opinion of the product. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I was not compensated financially for this post. The giveaway is my own idea and was not mandatory by Influenster or imPress Manicure.