Nancy, Author at spiffykerms.com

VLOG: Trip to Santa Cruz in a 2015 Toyota Camry XSE

July 1, 2015 15 Comments

While I’m not an advanced car reviewer by any stretch of the imagination, I can still provide some feedback on what I think of the vehicle itself.

I have to admit, the Toyota Prius I hadÂ in MayÂ wasn’t my favourite car to drive. Something about it made me a bit uneasy, whether it be the structure of the car itself or not feeling comfortable driving a new-to-me car. But there was something about it. However, hopping into the drivers seat of the Camry XSE was a completely different ball game. My husband assured me that he thinks I prefer driving in larger cars, as I grew up with my family driving boat-sized vehicles. That’s not to say that the Camry is huge by any means, it’s just larger and more in charge. Haha!

Onwards and upwards.

The week I had the Camry simply flew by, and I was a little disappointed to hand it back over to Toyota. But we did have a bit of fun with it for the week while we could. In fact, I ended up taking Alfie on a mini road trip down to Santa Cruz for the day, and filmed a full days adventure.

Yes, this is the video that wouldn’t save properly â€” I can thank my husband working his magic skills in getting this to work and upload to YouTube for me, finally! I’d love for you to watch it, I know it’s a super long video but I think it turned out awesome (can I pat myself on the back for that one?).

You may notice that the Toyota’s have changed in the last few years, I feel like this model in particular has adopted the front face of their more luxury brand, Lexus. A far cry from a boring family car. This Camry is definitely large and in charge, especially has some give to ‘er getting up to 110 clicks on the highway (65mph for the American folk).Â Toyota has added some interest to the Camry, the body is redesigned in the 2015 version. It has ultra-suede and sport seats, it’s not your typical camry. I mean, it’s a pretty good looking mid-sized sedan, and it feels like a sportierÂ car.

The layout of the front seats to the dashboard on the Camry XSE was much easier and comfortable for me than others.Â Digital display in the odometer where it gives you navigation, and temperature readings.Â You can see that the car itself has a sport mode where you can use the paddle shifters behind the steering wheel to act as if you’re using a manual transmission. Another thing about the Camry is that it has blind spot monitoring system to notify the driver if there is a car in their blind spot. A feature I had come to really enjoy.

Â Camry-inside I’m not sure if all cars are doing this or not but both the Prius and the Camry had smart key-less entry which means you can keep the key fob in your pocket and unlock the drivers side door with your hand. The other doors stays locked until you unlock them on the drivers side. Thumbs up to the Toyota Camry XSE! I’m impressed.

If youâ€™re looking for more information regarding the Toyota Camry XSEÂ check out their website.

Disclaimer: The 2015 Toyota Camry XSE was loaned to me for a week to review. All opinions are my own.

Beauty, Daily

New scents you should try for Summer 2015

June 30, 2015 3 Comments

Want to have a new summer fresh scent but don’t want to invest too much money? Perhaps you’re all about layering scents like I am and simply don’t have a budget to get the fanciest of perfumes at Nordstrom.

In steps Demeter fragrances.Â I reached out to them months ago, so I’ve done the sniff test on the ol’ bod for weeks on end, and I can finally attest that some of these light scents will be my signature scent for Summer 2015.

Demeter has an incredibly massive online store where you can get some pretty wild scents likeÂ Marshmallow, Blueberry, New Zealand, Great Barrier Reef, Vinyl even! Who would want to smell like vinyl? I mean, psh this is so weird but really cool in… well its own way I suppose really. Right?Â I’m not into anything that smells remotely like food, so those one’s are out of the question. They sent some to me, but I immediately brought them back home to Newfoundland with me to give away. My sister in law grabbed up the Mountain Air one, which was a little too musky for my liking and the New Baby scent = a little too weird for my liking.

But not to diss them entirely, they have some fantastic scents that I really love.Â Let’s get into those one’s, shall we? First I’ll quickly describe the type of scents I like: citrus/fruity/floral and fresh. Pretty simple I suppose, hey?

I got to pick out a handful of scents to try out and I reached for Plum Blossom, Clean Skin,Â Between The Sheets, Peony, Orange Blossom and Neroli. I was originally thinking that Peony and Orange Blossom sprayed on top of one anotherÂ would somewhat mimic the expensive Jo Malone fragrance. It doesn’t. But they are both really pretty scents.

Keep in mind the scent won’t stay too long on the skin a few hours max. I feel like since these are just 30ml bottles, they could be brought on the go with you, to spray every hour to refresh the scent on your skin.

Shop the store itself and browse the entire massive collection, or look through their all classic scents, top 30 scents or some of the scent collections.

Have you ever heard or tried Demeter Fragrances? Thinking about giving them a go, or what? :)

Contests, Daily

Organizing my day-planner

June 29, 2015 21 Comments

I’ve caught the planner-organizer bug! More like, I needed to get my s**t together because I have a forgetful mind, and I’m getting to that age where I need to write everything down it seems, otherwise it just won’t happen. How’s that for keepin’ it real!

I bought a thin and flimsy paper planner from Target right before 2015 rolled around, and I’ve been using it ever since to keep track of everything I have on my schedule, from blog posts going live to doctor’s appointments and my workouts. All colour-coded including ‘cute’ stickers.Â Although it may not look as organized as some of the hardcore planners out there, it works for me. If you’re so inclined, let me walk you through my planner! Parts have been blurred out due to personal information being on them.

Ink colours:

Black = blog posts written & scheduled
Pink = YouTube videos scheduled
Green = Workouts
Blue = events & appointments
Purple = Chores (I usually rely on my notes posted on the fridge for this instead now, which is why you rarely see any purple ink)

Since I’m a visual person, I like to have a variety of interesting things happening on my planner. The stickers are either from Organized Chaotic Fun orÂ Charm Tape,Â which are both Etsy sellers.

Most daysÂ I have ideas for blog posts, youtube videos or groceries popping up in my head when I’m out and about, so this mini leather journal is a great additive to my purse, especially since it’s so small, these two are from Paper Geek My (along with the pen and adorable mini tassel!).

You can customize it too from Paper Geek My on Etsy. I have my points and gift cards in here with a notebook on the back side. The one I’m giving away has two notebooks in the leather journal, which can also be replaced once you use it all up.

One lucky winner anywhere in the world can enter my giveaway to win theÂ mini leather journal, with aÂ mini tassel charmÂ in theÂ colour of their choice (just not the red one I have on my notebook). I’ll also include 1Â cardboard pen, and someÂ tear drop paper clips.Â