Wait. Where Am I? What city am I in?

I’m not a good April Fools pranker, so there isn’t anything fun on the agenda to trick you here today. I woke up knowing what day it was, and I didn’t get fooled by any of the blogs unfortunately. I’m naive when it comes to that stuff and I think it’s fun when I get pranked when I read blogs, or websites playing tricks. I need to forget what day it falls on, haha!

We have to book our driving exam with the California DMV before 60 days is up, otherwise we’d have to do that written exam again. Thankfully, I called to book the appointment and we got one a week out. So let’s hope I can pass this one too. I need to remember the rules of the road! It’s obviously been years since I did a road test so a lot has changed. For instance your hands aren’t supposed to go at 10 & 2 anymore?! 

Trader Joes, California Trader Joes, We were fully out of groceries and I plugged into the GPS on my phone that I wanted to go to Trader Joe’s. I have no idea what city I ended up in, but I found one. I have to say, I commend Trader Joe’s on their customer service, the quality of their products, and the low competitive pricing.I’ve only been into two different Trader Joe’s on two occasions, and both times I was helped promptly and the staff were SO friendly, one guy even told me a story about Canada! Haha.

Trader JoesI bought all this stuff for $37 there, and some of it is organic, which I didn’t intend to buy!

Trader Joes shredded coconutLove their packaging, pulls me in. But I managed to refrain. I’m excited to make Trader Joe’s one of my go-to grocery stores. Along with Safeway, and Smart & Final, because they’re pretty decent too.

20-Min-arm-workoutMr. Spiffykerms and I usually head over to the gym a half hour before it closes, so I’ve gotten pretty good at making the most of my thirty minutes there. Last night I did a 20 minute arm workout, and followed up with a 1 mile run on the treadmill.

workout-selfieFor weights, I used 15lb dumbells in each hand. My arms were definitely burning by the end of it. As for the squats with the weights, I did it sort of like I would do at CrossFit. I rested the weights on my shoulders, with my elbows up in the air, and did front squats with them. I’ve been wearing my Mizuno Wave Riders, because they’re much more newer than my Nike Free’s and feel nicer when I’m running on the treadmill.

Now, off I go looking at my dream homes online. #WishfulThinking.

Have you ever been to Trader Joes?

What are some must-have’s on your weekly grocery list?

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My Wedding Day Fragrance

We got married THREE months ago. Is that still considered newly-wed status? When do I have to stop calling us newly-weds? Can I do it forever?

Her-RingWhile I don’t regret the six day planned wedding, I did miss out on some fun wedding planning preparations like wearing a bride tank top. I bought it the day before my wedding, at Victoria’s Secret for a silly amount of money, and wore it the day after we got married. Keeping it real.

Our wedding was unexpected by most, but absolutely perfect for us and we both would do it the same way in a heartbeat — no fuss. I’m glad my dress was simple, and I don’t have to savour it in a box forever. I can wear it any time because it’s the perfect kind of dress to wear casually or formally. Right now it’s sitting in a Sephora tote bag. Maybe I’ll wear it this weekend.

The perfume that I wore on my wedding day was a simple choice for me. A fragrance that both myself and Mr. Spiffykerms (love the nickname Nicole gave him) enjoys. It’s no other than Philosophy Living Grace. I bet you’re not one bit surprised. I’m forever lucky that I brought it back home with me, otherwise I’d be scent-free.

Philosophy Living GracePhilosophy describes Living Grace perfectly: living grace spray fragrance was formulated to help center a woman’s mood, is deeply sensuous, multi-sensory and truly a heavenly inspiration. living grace is an ethereal, clean fragrance of fresh neroli to create uplifting feelings of vibrancy, soft, clean lily of the valley brings a sense of gratitude and sensuous, warm musk embraces you to the beauty of living in the present moment each day.

Living in the present moment each day. Exactly what we did in the 6 days planning our wedding, no? Can I just say this was meant for me?

Living Grace is a gorgeous bridal scent. I’ve been a regular fan of this clean fresh scent for a couple of years and I don’t see myself getting tired of it any time soon. I hope they don’t plan on discontinuing it, it’s absolutely wonderful to wear all year round.

Also if you’re interested I did a recap on my Wedding Day Makeup.

What perfume did you (or will you) wear on your wedding day?

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Tea Sparrow

Hope everyone had a nice weekend or what’s left of it!

So, Tea Sparrow must’ve read my mind (or twitter and instagram feed) on how much tea I’ve been ingesting and asked if I’d like to sample their march monthly tea box.

Four-Tea-Sparrow-teasEXCITED! Even my instagram friends were excited for me in that one pic. Ha!

My doorbell rang earlier in the morning and it was the town house staff mentioning some maintenance they were going to do on the homes next week. About 10 minutes later the doorbell rang again… making Alfie go on a rampage (he hates anything out of the ordinary and barks like wild). I ran downstairs but nobody was there. So it scared me. Lol. I looked out the peep-hole and no one was there.

Tea-Sparrow-shipping-boxThankfully, it wasn’t an intruder. The Tea Sparrow box was just dropped off at my doorstep. YAY!

4-teas-one-boxI’ve never heard of this company before, but they’re Canadian so I thought why the hey not. They’re based out of Vancouver B.C and is North America’s first monthly tea subscription box. It’ll cost you $20 a month and you’ll have 4 different varieties of herbal and caffeinated loose leaf tea that will total around 35 cups of tea. One thing I like about Tea Sparrow, is that they have free shipping for Canada and continental USA.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drinking tea and never a pot of coffee. In fact I can count on one hand, how many times I’ve had hot coffee. I’m greatly affected when I drink it — which can be fun, but tastes gross unless it’s iced. Am I making any sense?

With my time of exploring the sights of California, I’ve been dying to get my hands on some orange pekoe tetley tea. I’ve found some Tetley, but not that flavour. Either way, I’ve been trying out different kinds from all sorts of stores I’ve dropped in on. Most are posted on my instagram feed.

White-Tea-ChampagneThis flavour of White Tea Champagne? Definitely the first one I dug into. It’s pretty much the bees knees. I’ll be drinking that one on the regular.

Loose-Leaf-Tea-from-Tea-SparrowI’ve never had loose leaf tea before, mainly because I haven’t bought a steeper. Seeing the loose “stuff” in it was kinda neat. No wonder it smelled so good. Tons going on in just a tablespoon.

White Tea Champagne is described as:
White tea with a fresh sparkling note of champagne and cassis.

Ingredients:
White tea, black and red currants, balm leaves,
lemon grass, cornflower and sunflower blossoms.

Steeped-TeaWhite Tea Champagne shown above. I’m not too complex of a tea person. I have my tea pot, and little sweetener jar to match but the way I go about it is definitely not fancy at all. I boil water in a cooking pot and then dump it into my tea pot. Or in this case, since Tea Sparrow tea’s are loose leaf — I borrowed my friend’s steeper thing and it worked perfectly fine.

Sipping-on-Hot-TeaI steeped the tea for a total of 5 minutes. I like strong tea. First sip with my St. John’s Newfoundland mug… represent!

LunchSet up for a nice healthy lunch. Leftover quesadillas? Best kind.

Tea-SparrowIs anyone interested in me reviewing the other 3 flavours? Each monthly Tea Sparrow box will be different but you can order them on the websites shown on the front of the tea packages.

Tea-shelfTea Sparrow bags just chillin out in the cupboard with all the other teas I’ve bought since moving here.

Best part — if you guys want to sign up you get 60% off your first Tea Sparrow box. The password is “teas”

If you like them, you can subscribe monthly. Here’s the run down:

  • A One Time Tea Box - one Tea Box, one time ($25)
  • 3 Month Prepaid Subscription - three tea boxes over three months ($66)
  • 6 Month Prepaid Subscription - six tea boxes over six months ($120)
  • Ongoing subscription - here you can subscribe for ongoing tea boxes at $20 per month.  You can start/ pause/ stop this subscription at any time.

Disclosure: Duh, of course I received the first monthly box to review for free. I had no idea who they were when they contacted me. Since I love tea, I obliged. Review is my own, as always friends! (Who’s isn’t?)

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