Photos, work

Wordless Wednesday

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Just me keepin’ it real, at work. ha ha!!

We held a seminar, and I’m the person who just does the technical work for the seminar. Just hooking up the laptop and powerpoint, and sit back and relax lol. I blurred out my co-workers face. Don’t think he’d appreciate unknowingly being on my site.

No peeking at my work’s website address :)

An audience member had a question. I’m literally dying inside here. Ball of nerves. Do I really make faces like that? I swear, I was carefully listening to the audience ask questions.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

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Beauty, Health, Photos, Reviews

Favorite moisturizers and cleansers

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I have a handful of spa gift certificates to this local place, just sitting around my apartment waiting to be used. I’m just so scared and undecided what I should get done at the spa. Sometimes I think I want a facial, other times I want to get my hair dyed there. I’d get something simple like a mani/pedi but their prices are far too exuberant for my liking. Plus I love the lady I go to.

It all boils down to me being chicken but really wanting to get some sort of facial thing done. So, I’m slowly stepping into the realm of doing things myself before I waltz into a fancy spa and ask for a hydrating or peel-like facial. Is that backwards? I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t know much about skin care, other than moisturizing. I love to cleanse and moisturize the heck out of my skin. Perhaps that’s why people tell me I look like I’m 10 years younger than I actually am. That, or it’s the genes.

There’s just two must-have’s in my skin care regime. It’s my cleanser, and eye moisturizer believe it or not. Unfortunately they’re both pretty high end products but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s just what works.

Purity by Philosophy is the cleanser that I use. I bought the ginormasized bottle at Sephora, because it’s works out to be cheaper to get the larger sized, of course. It’s a very gentle cleanser, I can get it straight in my eyeball and it doesn’t sting. Nor does it make my skin feel tight, or dry afterwards. Bonus.

My face moisturizers vary from each time I go out and purchase one. I haven’t found anything that I love yet. But what I do really enjoy, is my Bobbi Brown Extra Eye Repair cream. It’s definitely a splurge for me and I can only find it at Holt Renfrew in Toronto. Sephora does carry Bobbi Brown products, just not that certain eye cream. It’s a very thick, luxurious eye cream and lasts about 6 months if you buy the full sized version.

I am mourning over my empty jar of Bobbi Brown extra eye repair cream that I just finished the last week of September. I remember buying it in February — see what I mean? Lasts a long time, all you need is just a dab. Applying too much moisturizer is a waste, only so much cream can soak into your face.

Not to worry, I went to Holt Renfrew last weekend and picked up a new extra eye repair cream :)

I’m always testing out and trying new products to add to my must-have collection. The next product I decided to try out was Philosophy’s micro exfoliating triple acid brightening peel pad. Wow, that’s a mouthful.

I exfoliate my skin pretty often because I self-tan a few times a month. Slothing off all that dead skin is a must, especially since I’m prone to spots of mild eczema and of course self-tanner coming off — you don’t want to have splotchy skin.

You’ll notice that each pad is individually wrapped which is great since it’s very sanitary. If it was just in one package, the pads stay much more fresh since they’re not getting exposed to the air.

The price point of these makes me want to cry, and I’m glad I ended up getting them to review here on my blog for you guys — otherwise I most definitely would’ve walked right past it at Sephora!

Don’t get caught off guard. The name of these are much scarier than the actual product. You think “peel” as in red, blotchy skin and your dead skin flakes off and you need to take a day off from work. No. These are so much more gentler than that, and it honestly just felt like a cold toner on your face.

The directions mentioned that you could use this pad, not only over your face but on the back of your hands, elbows and knees if desired. I didn’t do that, so instead just focused on my face. The first few things I immediately noticed about using the micro exfoliating triple-acid brightening peel

  • It was chilly and refreshing on my face.
  • My face wasn’t irritated! Yay!
  • My sensitive skin didn’t feel tight after applying it.

I didn’t notice any brightening the first time I used it, but are you really going to see a dramatic change the first time you use something? No. I did use 5 of the pads throughout the course of five weeks. So I’m following directions appropriately at once a week use. It claims that after two uses, skin is smoother and brighter. After 4 uses, fine lines and sun damage are visibly diminished. Thankfully I’m not at the age where I have sun spots or damage. My fine lines around my eyes are noticeable when I smile, and I’m pretty sure they’re non-reversable. But that’s besides the point. I did enjoy using them since it does help remove dead surface skin cells and promotes a faster rate of cell turnover. Which ultimately helps enhance your skins brightness. This is why you should exfoliate folks! You need to sloth off those dead cells in order for your skin to glow.

To be honest? Are they worth the hefty price tag at Sephora? Right now, I’m unsure due to the fact that I don’t have any other exfoliator to compare to.

Have you ever used an at-home facial treatment?

What is your favorite cleansers and  moisturizers?

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Daily, In the Kitchen, Photos

Honey mustard chicken ‘n beer

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Today? I’m going to show you guys how to make this scrumptious meal!

Was anyone else adding an extra hour onto your work/school day? Due to the time–change I kept thinking to myself when it was 1:00 but really, it’s 2pm and all day I was like that! Especially yesterday since we didn’t set the clocks back yet. It made the day seem extra long which is so wonderful being that it was Sunday.

We had a pretty low key day yesterday, because on Saturday we drove to Toronto to check out the Dinosaur exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum.

I also stopped by one of my favorite stores. You’ll have to wait and see what’s inside this pink bag!

It was like my childhood dream came true. I loved the exhibit and I loved imagining the dinosaurs coming to life and stomping on my head, or scooping me up like King Kong. I’m so excited to share the photos with my nephews, they’re at the perfect age right now and know much more dinosaur names than I do, so it’s pretty impressive.

We decided to get out of the house for a bit and stock up on some sale items at Sobeys.

Cereal sale! Time to get an abundance of it.

Don’t be fooled by those 3 boxes. We picked up I think 11 in total. Hey, a deals a deal. Gotta stock up when you can grab them for a great price, right?

Cheese was on for $4.99 — cheapest we’ve seen the bricks in a while.

Since I had all the time in the world to cook a meal that evening I’ve decided to whip up some random concoction and pray that it tastes good. Plus, doesn’t hurt to surprise those tastebuds once in a while.

I’ve been on the hunt for new recipes to make in the kitchen, and it couldn’t have come at a better time when I was chosen to be one of the bloggers to shop at The Beer Store and cook up something with beer, and share it with you all. Perfect opportunity to change things up in the otherwise typical meal.

Dang straight I’m including beer in my recipe with you guys today. Let’s get crack-a-lackin’.

First up, I have to be honest. It’s been more than a few years since I’ve stepped inside a beer store. I do have to say I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t ID-ed. Guess I’m past the age of looking 25 of younger. Shame.

When I walked into the store I got in the wrong line up immediately. This one above was for returns to get cash back from your bottles/cans. Ha, oops!

Standing alongside of the beer returns aisle, you could get closer to see the selection of beer choices to buy. Whether it be in cans, bottles, or tall boys.

I didn’t know you could buy just one beer, singly. The middle photo posted above had a cooler full of them. Kinda neat, especially if you’re a lightweight or just don’t drink all that often and want just one or two.

Here I am waiting for “The Beer Man” (heh heh) to bring us out the beer we ordered and paid for. The boyfriend was with me, so he ended up choosing Rickard’s White tall boys.

Cooking with beer? So easy. If you have a recipe that calls for water, and want to add a bit more flavour — substitute it with beer!

I think this would be a great recipe to bring to a holiday party. Just the fun-factor of calling it Honey Mustard Chicken ‘n Beer is enough to make me giddy. I’m sure a lot of the guys would love it too.

That’s all you need!

I honestly would’ve never thought this would’ve tasted as good as it did. I lunged into the Boyfriend arms as soon as he came home from work, telling him that it was RESTAURANT QUALITY. I don’t know how to describe the taste other than semi-sweet, and one of the better meals I’ve made.

Honey Mustard Chicken ‘n Beer:

  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 tsp garlic
  • ¼ tsp ginger
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp mustard
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1 ½ tsp soy sauce
  • 2 cooked chicken breasts

You’ll notice there’s two kinds of mustard in the mix. I found dijon mustard in the fridge, as I was putting away the yellow mustard, so I added it in!

Directions:

  • Cook chicken (I used a grill) and set aside but keep warm.
  • Heat up your oil, garlic and ginger
  • Add in honey, mustard, and dijon mustard and whisk it together in your pan.
  • Add the soy sauce then beer
  • Cook it all together until it starts to bubble

  • Add in your cooked, sliced chicken breasts, keep the heat on medium-medium high and flip your chicken when you feel like it (after 5 minutes or so)
  • Make sure your sauce has coated the chicken and serve!

The sauce was very runny so if you want to add thickness to it add 1tsp of corn starch with a drop of water to a glue-like consistency, and then add it to your sauce mixture. This will shine up the sauce, if you were having guests over and wanted your presentation to be pretty ;)

It was so easy! I served the chicken with some quinoa and a spinach salad.

Whaddya say, folks? Dig in.

I added a few more pieces of chicken to our plates after I snapped some shots of my wonderful creation. Ahh… the perfect way to end the weekend, am I right?

(Baked Garlic Beer Fries from Life & Kitchen)

If you’re feeling beerave (ha, see what I did there?) you could also make these Baked Garlic Beer Fries I found online too. Since I didn’t want too much beer flavours happening in my mouth, I decided to stick to just the Honey Mustard Chicken ‘n Beer concoction and add a bit of quinoa and spinach salad to the mix.

Super easy, super flavourful and quick prep & cook time!

Have you ever cooked with beer?

What is your favourite type of beer?

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.

 

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