Weekend recap (food photo heavy)

This weekend was awesome! I probably gained a couple of pounds with all the food I ate but it was worth it. It's Monday and I am still thinking about my meal on Saturday night. Normally, Mike and I don't do much on the weekend, we chill at home and watch movies. This weekend was different, we were pretty much on the go all day Saturday.

I was off on Friday and didn't do much. I actually can't remember what I did but regardless, it was nice to not be at work. For dinner, we went to Turnberry Golf Course in Brampton for my mother-in-law's birthday and ate at Nine18. The menu didn't have anything special but the mussels were delicious. The family barely spoke to each other since the Olympics was on every TV.

Saturday, we went to look around for some home stuff before getting our haircut. After the salon, we went to get groceries and then we headed out to meet Stella of Food Junkie Chronicles at Ten Restaurant. Because she is pretty tight with Chef Nic, we were treated to a tasting menu to preview the items that will be added to the menu starting Thursday. What we ate was crazy delicious!!! It's almost like Chef Nic read our minds because everything we tastes was something we were craving - me - lobster rolls, Mike - pasta and Stella - brownies & ice cream. In the photo below is our tasting menu, I put little cute hearts around my favorites. You know how you usually top off a meal with something sweet, well, I learned that having something savoury after dessert, doesn't leave that sticky sweetness in your mouth and actually makes you not feel disgustingly full. The foie gras truffle was very unique, it was presented well and had so many different flavours melting in your mouth. Sadly, I wasn't able to take a photo of it because by the time it was served, it was dark on the patio. If you live in Mississauga or happen to be in the area, do check out Ten Restaurant. You won't be disappointed. Now for some photos...

Strawberry cognac

Truffle fries with black garlic mayo

Lobster rolls

Lil Bros beet salad

As Mike likes to call it, Thick Spaghetti

Port Dover Pickerel

Brownie & Ice Cream

When we came home, all I wanted to do was sleep but we watched Friends with Kids. What a horrible movie. It actually made me not want to have kids.

Sunday, Mike set up us on a blind date with another couple. Strange huh? Through our BeachJunkies twitter account, we started tweeting with Lyndsay, who can be found on itravel2000's You Tube channel. We met up with Lyndsay and (her) Mike at Mildred's Temple Kitchen for brunch. We had an awesome time with this fun couple. It wasn't uncomfortable at all, there were no awkward silences and we actually have a lot in common. It's nice to meet new people who share the same interests in you, in this case, travel. The next time we get together, it will probably be at their place.

Now here's my little vent for the weekend. Mildred's Temple Kitchen does not take reservations for their brunch. Luckily, we got a seat on their patio. On their brunch menu, they only have about several items and only serve three cocktails - caesar, some grapefruit and vodka thing and mimosa. This upset me a bit because I love drinking cocktails in the afternoon. Ok, drinks aside, you think that with only a few things on the menu to choose from, there isn't much prep/cooking time...well then why did our meals take over 45 minutes!?!?! Thankfully, we were too busy chatting to realize the long wait for our food but if it was only me and Mike, we probably would have walked out. It's totally not acceptable for food to take that long when the kitchen is only cooking up like  seven dishes. Anyway, asides from us getting constantly surrounded by bees, the food was okay, service was okay but I won't be returning.

So that is the end of my foodie weekend. I was off again today and did nothing. I did get to Face Time with my blogger besties, Elisse and Reni twice. They bought me a cute little something for my iPhone. How thoughtful huh? I have been constantly washing out the teal colour in my hair...I'm ready to move on, I'm glad a sock bun hides my horrible looking mint coloured ends. Lastly, I finally got to watch The Lorax - what a cute funny little movie!

Hope you had a good weekend! I can't believe July is coming to an end. 

I'm mad because...

So this isn't going to be the prettiest post but we are all entitled to be angry at life sometimes, right?

...the shooter in the Aurora, CO theatre shooting has instilled fear in me. I use to enjoy going to the movies by myself. Now, I can't do it. I hate that he took that joy away from me.

...Air Canada Vacations has come up with a price protection plan. If you book and pay for air, hotel & transfer package by October 31, 2012 and if the price drops before you travel, they'll refund the difference up to a maximum of $400 per person (there's other rules and exceptions but still). Where the F was this when we got duped in June. Our vacation package dropped $400 per person a week after we booked!!!!

...after not going to the gym for two weeks, I have no desire to go. Just as I was on a roll, I lose my motivation. I have to push myself to start going again...next week.

...I don't know when the iPhone 5 is coming out and I would like a new phone now!

...my tan is fading. I know I still am dark but I wish there was a way to maintain it. The best way is to go on vacation again (lol).

...I really dislike Fifty Shades of Grey. Christian Grey is so mean and demanding, it upsets me. But here I am just starting the second book.

It's okay...

...to think Kim and Kanye are a cute couple even though I'm not a fan of them individually. I don't know if it's all for TV but they actually look like they're in love.


...to practically be 40 by the time The Hunger Games trilogy comes to an end in theatres. Releasing one a year is just torture. Is this how Harry Potter fans felt?


...to use the liquid from an Advil gel cap to soothe my breakouts. Surprisingly, the puffy and redness went down a bit.


...to drink sangria everyday after work. That's right I made a huge pitcher at the beginning of the week


...to be so in love with Justin Bieber's song As Long As You Love Me. Seeing him perform it at the Teen Choice Awards reminds me of Justin Timberlake's My Love video. Of course, no one can test Timberlake's dance moves.


...to not think anything of Fifty Shades of Grey. I decided to read it to see what the fuss was all about but as I was reading, I wanted to whip that damn Christian Grey for being an a-hole. I dislike him so much. There's no way I would let anyone control me. No one should ever tell me to eat, lol! Now I'm wondering if I should bother reading the other two books.


..to be so jealous of anyone going to Vegas. I want to have some fun too!!!

...to idolize Gwen Stefani. I'm glad that No Doubt released a new album but what is more shocking is how awesome Gwen looks. Her body...amazing. I want to be like her. Can't believe she is 40+ with two kids and can rock a body like that.

Random Friday

Just as I swore that I would not join another swap for a while, Lin comes along with her Summertime Swap. This girl is super sweet and I want to stay in her good books, so I signed up. How could I not? If you want to join in the fun (You only need to spend $15 of goodies to mail to your swap partner), sign up by this Sunday.

I made a new friend on Twitter, Tess. I am not sure how we started following each other (probably through BlushPretty) but she tweeted a photo of her gorgeous arm party. She decided to make more bracelets and sell them (but with each bracelet she sells, $1 will go towards the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure). With an overwhelming response, the bracelets sold out in a couple of days. I was lucky enough to grab three and I can't wait to receive them. The above photos are the bracelets she made for me!


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Last month, I won a $30 credit for Le Mode Accessories from Much Love Illy's blog. I love winning things! I had my eye on some items but they kept selling out. Finally, I was able to get some of the necklaces that were on my wish list. I lucked out too with an additional 15% off and free shipping.

To end things off, it looks like I will be going to California next month. I have 9 days left of vacation that I need to use by the end of August. My mom and stepdad graciously offered to pay for my ticket to come and stay with them. This will be the first in a long time that I will be gone for over a week and be away from Mike. As sappy as it sounds, I am going to miss him. It will be hard for me to fly out across to the West coast without him (I'm a horrible flier but I'm getting better). He is my travel and shopping buddy so it will be weird to be going without him...It was actually his suggestion that I go to see my mom and have some mother-daughter time. Isn't he awesome?!?!?

Happy Friday everyone. Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Nail Art: Gradient nails

While waiting until the next time I go for a manicure, I decided to try out gradient nails. It looked pretty simple to do and with a little more practice, I think I'll be able to get a better effect. I followed the step by step instructions from Nailasaurus's post, Gradient Nails Picture Tutorial.

I used Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails in Lacey Lilac and Revlon's Minted. I really like these two colours together but I can't wait to try out different combinations.

The only downfall about doing this nail art is that if you don't let your nails dry completely after the base coat and the first polish colour, you will get tiny air bubbles and the gradient effect might not show. There's also a lot of clean up around your nails once you are finished. I cleaned up the excess polish with remover and q-tips and then I took a brush and cleaned around my cuticles. The next time I do this, I'm going to polish my nails the night before and then use the sponge to apply the two colours the next day. Last night it took me close to two hours to do this because of the drying time between coats.



Review of Royal Hideaway Playacar

We left over a month ago to stay at a resort that we would eventually fall in love with. Out of all the resorts we have been to, Royal Hideaway Playacar has been the best so far. Nothing will compare. We enjoyed everything about the resort and even met the most wonderful couple, Tim & Jill. We spent three days with them chatting and drinking. We stayed out in the pool drinking until the sun went down at 7:00 pm. It was all pure fun. When you meet people on vacation and spend practically the whole day with them, it makes the resort more memorable. I truly wish that we were both there for the same amount of days. I'm glad Jill sat down beside me and complimented me on my hat and got the conversation going. The dynamic of our little foursome worked out perfectly because Tim and Mike would chill out in the pool drinking or go out to the ocean while Jill and I sat poolside reading and drinking. I love how Jill is super sweet, very talkative. Both of them are just really nice, hard-working, super smart people and have that Texan charm. 

If you want to read more about the resort we stayed at, please check out our review on our travel blog.

Have you ever met people on your vacation that you really got along with?

Happy Friday

I am going to follow suit with Why Girls Are Weird and do a Happy Friday post. I hope everyone had a great week, looks like both fellow Canadians and Americans had a short work week. My next week will be short too because I took Monday off!


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10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

1. Revenge especially Josh Bowman

2. Working out hard two days in a row, cutting out carbs and losing 2.5 lbs

3. Ordering bracelets from the lovely Tess who I just met on Twitter

4. Buying a new yellow handbag

5. Maybelline BB Cream in Deep (it matches with my tan)

6. Justice Bieber's As Long As You Love Me

7. Peach green tea bubble tea with tapicoa

8. Short work weeks (in a row)

9. Be gone landline!

10. RHP sangrias later tonight

Weekend recap

Although it's a Tuesday, the weekend ended yesterday. It was Canada Day long weekend and since the holiday fell on a Sunday this year, the stat holiday was yesterday. My weekend, well, it started on Thursday. Last minute, my friend @foodieyu asked if I wanted some tickets to BeerStock which was at West50, a local bar around the corner from my condo. Since it was the night of the NBA draft, Mike agreed to go with me, as long as we were home by 7 pm. Therefore, we did a mad rush to drink some beer and eat food within 90 minutes. Good thing that the bar is only a 3 min walk from our place. So with beer tasting glass in one hand and tokens in the other, we began our drinking journey...

Mike and I got the chance to meet the chef of West 50, Chef Brendan Prong (@chef_prong). He took some time to chat with us and even sent us home with another pulled pork sandwich. I met his brother Chef Nic (@niccancook) back on Mother's Day at Ten Restaurant. These two brothers are the nicest people/chefs you will ever met. They will always take the time to greet the patrons with a quick hello. They communicate with their Twitter fans and are just all-around nice guys. If you ever pop into one of the restaurants, don't be afraid to ask for them in the kitchen and say hi.

We had such a good time trying out different local beers, chatting up with the beer vendors and even eating the pulled pork sandwiches and chicken tacos with chips. Mike won a huge beer basket but sadly since we left early, he wasn't able to claim it. Thank you so much Stella and Chef Prong for the tickets to BeerStock. You will see us there again next year but hopefully we will see you sooner at West50. Oh, and my favorite beer of the night, probably Shock Top and Welly Special Pale Ale.

So that was my Thursday. Friday was a little more somber since it was my brother's death anniversary. This was the first year that my mom wasn't in town so I decided to keep it low-key. Mike and I met my dad at the cemetery and then we went out for sushi.

Saturday was the annual Ponce Pool Party. The usual suspects were in attendance but I forgot to take photos. We ate lots of kalbi BBQ (although Giselle decided to treat everyone to some KFC to satisfy her craving) and drank lots of sangria and beer. The kids had a great time swimming and singing to One Direction. It is really nice to hang out with this group of friends. We only see each other maybe twice a year but I can stress enough how much fun we have when we get together. It seems like sangria is the crowd favorite so once again, I made a batch to bring. This time though, I made sure to bring an extra bottle to make more.

For the rest of the weekend, Mike and I chilled. There were things we could have done, we could have enjoyed the beautiful day but we got lazy and just immersed ourselves with watching more episodes of Revenge. Why didn't anyone tell me how awesome the show is? We have four more episodes to go. Once we finish, I don't know what we are going to watch. We already caught up on Suits and Gossip Girl, any suggestions of shows we can watch throughout the summer?

Last night, I tried to read most of the magazines that were sitting on my night table. I came across a little tidbit in In Style on how to make your own nude polish, so I gave it a go...

I had some MAC highlighting mineral powder kicking around, so I took Cheeky Monkey Pearl Necklace (a polish I would never wear alone as it's pearly white, ewww) and added the bronze and pink highlighting powder. The idea is that if you use the colout you would typically use on your face, it will turn out to be the best skin-matching nude polish.

That was pretty much my weekend. I also did some cleaning (have you pulled out your stove/oven away from the wall? It's pretty gross) and I read more of Insurgent. I did laundry and watched This Means War. It was a good long weekend, not too busy but it felt complete.