Weekend Recap

Oh man, I miss doing weekend recaps, even though they weren’t a regular thing; they’re still fun to do!

White Shellac NailsI’m going on week 3 (as of today!) of having my white shellac manicure. Not a chip in sight, just a bit of growth. The woman I went to was a perfectionist and added an ungodly amount of layers which I started to get worried about. It turned out to be the best manicure I’ve had in my life. That picture is from the first day I got it done, looks nice hey? 

My husband is upping his ante with training now. Ironman Lake Tahoe isn’t too far away now, so it’s crunch time. Just hope that this year it’s not cancelled like last years was, ON RACE MORNING. Ughhh. Every weekend he is gone for basically half the day. Putting in 6 hours on a bike, following up with a 30km run after, and yes he is totally using my spibelt that I reviewed not too long ago, he’s honestly loving that fannypack haha.

Running outfitHe and I go on runs together, with Alfie every weekend too. Except, it’s nowhere close to 30 clicks. 6 kilometres is enough for me, and I’m there drenched, sweat pouring down my back. I’m looking at getting some new sneakers soon! I have had these Mizuno Wave’s for a while. This might sound random, but I am really loving both the (red) Handful bra that I got from the Title Nine event, and the Target Champion sports bra’s. I have the Target one in white. It’s pretty, especially under a colourful lululemon tank.

Let’s talk about Sunday dinners. Who loves’em?

Sunday-dinnerLast night I made salmon my new favourite way: equal parts mustard + vinegar (1 tbsp is enough for 2 salmon fillet’s), and top with fav toppings such as cherry tomatoes, feta, dill and a splash of lemon juice. On the side I cooked up some baby carrots with a dollop of butter, Chef Sophiane’s side of roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes from Eat Mise, and broccoli/cauliflower, then a spinach salad to devour first. Sunday dinners is what I long for — except I’m not a huge fan of spending a ton of time in the kitchen, especially after we both get back from a run together. I still want to have a nice hearty meal to sit down and enjoy with my husband though, so adding a few sides to help in preparation definitely is worth it.

Dessert was a fine mixture of three delightful desserts, also provided by Eat Mise. Although I ordered sides and desserts, they do offer entrées to choose from too. Apparently they will be rotating their menu each month, which is exciting. I really hope the start-up takes off, and I wish them all the best. I’ll definitely be ordering from them again in the future. Eat-Mise-desserts

  • French Chocolate Cake with Blueberries by Chef Sang Ae: There were 2 layers to this, the first was definitely chocolatey, and the second had almost a dense cookie texture. This was our 2nd favourite of the trio.
  • Apple Tarte Tatin by Chef Sang Ae and Chef Sophiane: Unfortunately we both were not a fan of the apple tatin. It wasn’t sweet, and had almost a sour rum flavour (not to be confused with gone off), we were expecting it to taste more like apple pie, somewhat.
  • Beet & Berry Cheesecake by Chef Charles: Give me all the cheesecake! All of it. We both were digging into this one moreso than the other two. Although it didn’t look like the picture, it still tasted nice and creamy, with a nice shortbread crust.

To give you a bit of history on Mise, it’s a start-up company in San Francisco that I ended up contacting back in July, asking if they’d be interested in me being one of their first testers when their site launched just a few days ago. Heck yeah and they said YES! And guess what? I’m not getting paid to say anything about them, I was given a $20 credit and I was genuinely interested in trying out some of their foods from the Chef’s.

Mise‘s belief is to spend more quality time with your friends and family, and less time disappearing into the kitchen to check on things. I think this would be an ideal thing for people who have busy lives at work, and aren’t a fan of cooking in general, because the cost of the meals aren’t really too bad. When you add in free delivery and no tip required (says so on their website, it’s not me being a stindge here lol), it’s pretty decent. Plus, who doesn’t love getting dishes from local chefs, especially prepared in small batches so you know it’s not cooked and waiting in a fridge days beforehand. Their dishes arrive chilled, never frozen. Eat Mise makes real meals, meaning no added preservatives, straight from local chefs – gotta say, I’m pretty excited to read one of the items I got was made from a French chef.

OH MAN… how did I forget to mention this! I cannot believe I am getting to review hair extensions. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it, because I mean… it was someone elses hair before it’s going to go on my head. They arrived at my doorstep a few minutes ago, and I hope that I can put them in my hair and have them be somewhat undetectable. Don’t worry, there will probably be a funny YouTube video about it, or a very honest blog post, haha!

I’m looking forward to the end of this week, because there are a few events happening in San Francisco — will I see you at the Makeup Show SF, or San Francisco Sustainable Fashion Week events? I might vlog the two events, if I don’t get all awkward and weird :)

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My Milkshake, San Jose

My-MilkshakeOh man.

MyMilkshake-SanJoseA milkshake bar. In downtown San Jose. A plethora of milkshakes to choose from.

Milkshake-counterTons of candy on the wall. I AM IN DREAMLAND.

Although, not the perfect milkshake I’ve ever had, it was still a really cool experience to completely customize your own milkshake however you wish.

View-outside-windowMy Milkshake in San Jose is a new business which opened in January, and has the most trendy decor and friendliest staff. Luckily I brought my Canadian friend (who is living down here in California too) with me, to try it out during mid-week in the middle of the day. The staff working there says it has line ups all the way down the street after work is out, or on the weekends. So we lucked out that way, with no line.

My-Milkshake-San-JoseTheir milkshakes are all named after superheroes: SuperMMan, BatMMan (the double M stands for My Milkshake). I decided on ordering the SpiderMMan which had kit kat and fererrro rocher chocoaltes in it. It was pretty tasty, and definitely tasted like a ferrero rocher chocolate. You can pick your milks (almond, regular) and your ice cream (soy, regular and yogurt).

Note that the location of My Milkshake is in downtown San Jose, so if you find a spot outside their building they can validate your parking for you when you buy something from My Milkshake, or you’ll have to find a parking garage or metered parking (free after 6 P.M.). But definitely give this place a visit if you’re a milkshake lover, who loves customizing their drinks!

 

City-of-San-JoseMy Milkshake SJ
151 South Second Street Ste 199, San Jose, CA 95113
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Surfers, Blue Bottle Coffee and Pacific Ocean Views

My friend Jenna lucked out during her week long trip to California. I had a completely blocked itinerary for her as soon as she arrived at the San Jose airport. I’m not saying it was so cholker-blocked that she couldn’t relax, it was the epitome of relaxation if I do say so myself. Hotel stays, wine tours and spa treatments — I’m tellin’ ya, not everyone is going to get that type of treatment. I’ve known Jenna since we were three years old, and it’s been close to 4 years since we’ve seen each other in person. It was long overdue for a girls trip, so I invited her down to Sunny California. Except, it happened to be really chilly and only kinda sunny the entire time she was here. Whoops. Can’t change Mother Nature.

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HanaHaus-Blue-BottleAfter our overnight trip to San Francisco came to an end, we woke up at a reasonable hour, packed up our belongings and started the drive down to Carmel. To break up our 2 hour commute I swung by the city of Palo Alto and stopped at the new Hana Haus Blue Bottle coffee shop. More on that place later, but it’s a beautiful spot to relax and/or work if you so choose. I had to show her all the cool spots, you know.

Lunch-at-BumbleThen we stopped for lunch  at one of favourite brunch spots in Los Altos: Bumble (see what I did my first visit to Bumble)! We had a nice little lunch on their adult patio away from any children, and had a grand ol’ chat, catching up. After we were done there, we took our time driving down the scenic Highway 1 to Carmel.

I always love to stay at the warm and welcoming Hofsas House when visiting Carmel. I surprised my husband for his birthday last year for a trip down to Carmel as a late honeymoon gift for the both of us, so I knew Hofsas House was the place to go once again. I love going there!

Hofsas-House

Hofsas-House-girls-weekend

Hofsas-House-2-double-bedsOur room was so spacious, quite large really! Such an airy, and sweet feeling room. Perfect for our little getaway for just the two of us.

Red-wine-and-chocolatesTalk about being spoiled. A bottle of red plus some chocolates and wine walk tour tickets were waiting for us in the room as we arrived. We definitely hit up the Wine Walk tour right away but not before showing Jenna the little town of Carmel and taking her to the serene Carmel beach, hoowee!

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Carmel-BeachThe sand here is the softest I have ever felt underneath my feet. Surfers galore. Dogs frolicking on the beach and couples holding hands. My heart was swooing! Can you now see why I love this place so much that I need to take every visitor here?

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After a quick visit to the beach, since it was windy and chilly, we walked around the downtown core, and did the self-guided Wine Walk Tour and sampled wines at three different wine tasting rooms before heading off to supper.

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Galante-Carmel

Wine-in-a-TubThis one being my favourite. Because, how fun is it to pretend you’re taking a bath drinking wine? It’d be better if the tub was filled up and in my own bathroom. Hehe! Cheers to that!

Hofsas-House-roomAfter our wine tastings were over with, we walked back to our room at Hofsas House, grabbed some warmer clothes and got ready for supper.

Prius-in-Pacific-GroveWe headed out for a quick 15 minute drive up north to Lovers Point in Pacific Grove to have a meal at The Beach House in our trusty 2015 Prius Five that took us everywhere on our week long excursion. I never thought about buying a red car, and not for any real reason to be honest. But doesn’t this red just pop out at you?

Cold-in-Pacific-Grove

View-from-The-Beach-HouseI don’t know what place is prettier, Pacific Grove or Carmel. Both places are absolutely breathtaking. This was our balcony-type view from The Beach House, in Pacific Grove. I mean. Come on! Watching the sunset while eating supper with this view… unreal, and nothing like I’ve ever experienced in my life. We couldn’t stop raving about it.

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Beach-House-ice-cream-cakeOur meals at The Beach House hit the spot, but the winners of the entire meal was most definitely the home made ice cream cakes. I’m still thinking of how good they both were.

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Pacific-Grove

Sunset-in-Pacific-GroveAfter we finished our delicious meals, we drove around Pacific Grove for a little bit just as the sun was setting. Perfect timing for that golden hour photo op, am I right? I think I have a thing for taking photos of trees. Especially the ones around this area, they’re really cool looking.

Once we were back in our room at Hofsas House, we lit a fire and hung out for the rest of the evening, watching a bit of TV before falling asleep. The next morning, we woke up super early because I wanted to take Jenna back to Carmel Beach for some more photos then off to Point Lobos (you can see more photos here from when my Husband and I went). I’ll let the photos do the talking for themselves…Carmel-Beach-CA

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Pt-Lobos-NancySecluded beaches = everything dreams are made of.

Carmel-Beach-and-ocean

Pt-Lobos-JNHooray for my camera balancing on the edge of a fence, and me racing down to beat the self-timer count down. Oof!

Standing-on-Prius-FiveThat next day when we went to Point Lobos, we were heading back to San Jose — but not before doing a bit of outlet shopping in Gilroy. Such a fun way to end this leg of the trip! Stay tuned for the San Jose staycation in Santana Row which will be up next week sometime.

Hofsas House
San Carlos St, Carmel, CA 93921
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The Beach House at Lovers Point
620 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove, CA 93950
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Disclaimer: Thank you to Hofsas House in Carmel, and The Beach House in Pacific Grove for hosting our stay and feeding us yummy supper!

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