Daily, Food

Fog Harbor, San Francisco, the Prius & Four Seasons

18 Comments

Nancy-Jenna-Baker-BeachTo start off our girls week long trip with my friend visiting from Canada a few weeks ago, I took her out to San Francisco on one of her first days in California. Our first stop was to Baker Beach, making sure we went earlier in the morning. Tidbit for newcomers to this beach.

Baker-Beach-and-PriusArrive early in the morning or when it’s cold out. Baker Beach is a nude beach is primarily full of older grey-haired men who love to photo-bomb pictures, but lucky for us it was both early enough in the morning and a windy chilly day — therefore no sign of nudity. Ha!

Nancy-running-Baker-Beach

Jenna-on-Baker-BeachJenna is more civilized than I am ;)

Nancy-in-PriusMy car is currently on the fritz lately so I received a 2015 Prius Five to test out and review for a whole week and I made sure it lined up with my friends visit. Isn’t that insane? To be given a car to review. Now that’s what I’m talking about. So glad we had the Prius, not only did it save us tons in gas, it had built in navigation and was a breeze to drive. Once we had a glance at the Golden Gate bridge from the beach, we took our photos and scurried off back into the car. I’m tellin’ ya, being on that beach in California, was like being on a Newfoundland beach during a chilly autumn day. We were froze!

Pier-39-SFAt this point it was creeping up on lunch time and we decided to venture off into the right direction and grab some lunch at the Fog Harbor Fish House on Pier 39 with views of the San Francisco Bay.

Fog-Harbor-Fish-House-Pier3Although I’m from Newfoundland – I’ve never been to a seafood restaurant before.

Fog-Harbor-Fish-HouseSo taking that into consideration I had a glance at the lunch menu and made sure to order things that weren’t chicken. Tough for an ol’ routine gal like myself, but I did it.

Fog-Harbor-entranceFog Harbor Fish House pride themselves in offering the freshest sustainable seafood in San Francisco.

Fog-Harbor-menuThey have a few menu specialities:

• 100% Sustainable Seafood
• Live Lobster
• Cioppino
• Crab
• Steaks
• Daily Fresh Fish Specials
• In-House Baked Bread Made Fresh Daily

 

Sitting-at-Fog-HarborIt’s located on the second level of PIER 39, and every table offers spectacular San Francisco Bay views looking out over Alcatraz, the PIER 39 Sea Lions and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Fog-Harbor-startersWe were pretty hungry by the time we got there considering we skipped breakfast. So we ordered some app’s to start. Crispy lemon calamari for Jenna, crispy bay scallops for me. IJenna really enjoyed her calamari and I tried a bit of it too. But I’m not the hugest fan even though Jenna mentioned it was done perfectly (ie: not rubbery) but I still couldn’t get past the texture, and seeing the dangly legs. Guess I’m not cut out for that kinda stuff. Visuals like that kinda give me the creeps.

Fog-Harbor-lunchLunch was absolutely delicious. I hadn’t tried swordfish before, and I was questioning my friend who seems to be the connoisseur of many foods — she mentioned the fish tastes like a moist pork chop. That’s all I needed to hear. The swordfish had a mild flavour to it, so I’m pretty sure many people would enjoy eating it. We didn’t have room for dessert after the pile of food and virgin drinks I had — I was driving.

So our next destination was finding our hotel for the evening.Four-Seasons-Rooftop

Nancys-suitcaseFour Seasons San Francisco was a feat in itself to find. Although it’s in a great location, I had both the car GPS and my BlackBerry GPS going at the same time trying to find it. Considering San Francisco is known for its one-way streets and no left turns basically anywhere in the downtown vicinity, it was difficult to find the hotel. We drove past it twice not noticing it at all as it looked like an office building. Third time was a charm, and no 3 strikes you’re out over here, we found it, and parked the vehicle for the night.

As we were checking into the elegant Four Seasons, a couple of gift bags were waiting for us at the front desk, with a few San Francisco souvenirs and a gift card to the Westfield San Francisco Centre! Definitely hit up that massive mall and checked out the super-cool circular escalators while doing a bit of shopping. Nordstrom-SFI picked up a new concealer from Bloomingdales with my gift card :) I’m so thankful I googled the heck out of the area we were staying in and as luck would have it, the shopping centre was a simple 5 minute walk down the same street as our hotel was on. No one got lost! Whewf. Hey, it’s a huge feat when you’re in a new-to-you city, am I right?

Four-Seasons-trioOur room was really beautiful, and spacious. What caught me off guard in the best way possible, was the snacks, champagne bubbly champagne and this huge framed poster of “spiffykerms” hanging out at the Golden Gate. A wonderful personal touch that I wasn’t expecting — but it brought out the giggles in us!

Brut-Rose-sparkling-wine

Cheers

Nancy-with-champagne

Jenna-with-ChampagneWe popped the bubbly, ate our snacks and enjoyed cable TV for the night.

Four-Seasons-Hotel-SF

Four-Seasons-beds

Four-Seasons-barA short while later, we heard a knock at the door. It was housekeeping checking in on me for turn-down service. Having had this never happen to me while staying at a hotel before, I assumed it wasn’t complimentary. I was wrong! The woman was so friendly and incredibly sweet to me being a bit naive, but we received some bottle water and extra shampoo — because hello they use L’Occitane products at Four Seasons Hotel, I definitely need extra.

Four-Seasons-twin-bedThe next morning we both had our showers for the day and oh my gosh you guys, the shower head in our hotel room was unreal. Perfect amount of water pressure, but the shower head was huge and felt like rain coming down, cleansing me. Now tell me that wasn’t relaxing! I was in heaven.

This was probably the funniest part of our stay at the Four Seasons. I brought down the framed photo of spiffykerms to the front desk, asking if I was supposed to keep it or hand it back. The man at the front desk greeted us professionally and quietly asked me “Was it on the wall?“.

Oh my gosh … no! It was waiting for me in the room on the desk. Thinking back to what he said, I laughed really hard and said I would never take art from the wall and ask if I could keep it. Which in turn loosened him up and we were all in tears laughing as we were checking out of the hotel for the day. He told me he’d be impressed if I took down the art from the wall behind him which was twice the height and width of me. Muscles. Thankfully, it wasn’t as awkward as I thought it was going to be, and I got to keep the personalized frame photo.

Jenna-and-I-Four-SeasonsOnce we checked out of the hotel, we headed down to one of my favourite places for lunch, and took the coastal highway down to Carmel. That will be another blog post, so stay tuned for that!

Fog Harbor Fish House
Pier 39, San Francisco
Facebook / Twitter

Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco
757 Market Street, San Francisco
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Westfield San Francisco Centre
865 Market St, San Francisco
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Baker Beach
1504 Pershing Drive, San Francisco
Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Disclaimer: A big thanks to Pier 39 for providing us lunch at Fog Harbor Fish House, Westfield San Francisco Centre for the goody bags and to Four Seasons for hosting our stay. 

Continue Reading

Beauty, Reviews

Dior Tie Dye . Beauty Talk Tuesday

22 Comments

Dior-TieDyeHigh5Makeup looks, and not necessarily product reviews of makeup, are probably one of my favourite types of beauty posts to do. That way you can truly see how to use a collection, or a various amount of makeup brands on one’s face. This time I’m going to stick to mainly products from Dior’s latest line: their Tie Dye summer 2015 collection.

Dior-Summer-2015So many fun colours for the lips, cheeks and even eyes. As per usual, I kept things pretty tame on the face and went for yet another every day type of look. Throughout the next few weeks I’m going to be posting a bit about the new Tie Dye collection, so stay tuned — because I have a feeling I’ll even be posting about it on Saturday’s too!

Can you tell I made this tutorial just after I woke up (and showered)? My eyes look super sleepy in the first few photos. Ignore that, and let’s get right into the look.
Dior-Skincare-tutorial1. Diorsnow Global Transparency Essence. Did you know using a serum is like drinking a green juice for your skin? My skin is almost always sucked dry of moisture, so I’ve been applying some sort of serum both day and night to help bring some moisture back into my skin. This one is excellent and I do enjoy how it makes my skin feel especially in the morning after a whole night of rejuvination. However, I might have to skip on it if I were to buy it myself rather than it being sent for a review, considering the hefty price tag associated with it.
2. Dior Capture Totale Multi-Perfection Eye Treatment. Eye creams are a dime a dozen, whether they’re expensive or fit in your budget. I have a couple of favourite ones throughout my rotation, from everything to a thick hydrating one, to a lightweight one for other days.
3. Philosophy Full Of Promise moisturizer. For the cooler months I’ve been using this mositurizer as opposed to my favourite Hope In A Jar also by Philosophy. But I feel as though this one sinks in better when I am prone to my dry skin issues. It looks fantastic underneath makeup, causing a glowy look to the makeup.
4. Diorskin Nude BB Creme in 025. Look how much that tube of BB Creme has been used. A lot! Clearly I’m enjoying it after using it for 5 weeks straight. For day to day makeup I prefer a more lighweight application and as an added bonus it has an SPF of 10. Now I don’t think SPF 10 is strong enough for my fair skin, so I apply an SPF after my moisturizer and before the foundation layer.
5. Cle de Peau concealer in Beige. I have been using this concealer in almost every makeup look I’ve done in the past year. It’s the concealer that just won’t come to an end. It’s brightening under the eyes and covers up that silly red circle on my cheek by my nose.

Dior-TieDye-Tutorial6. Diorshow Brow Styler in Universal Brown. I wish I was great at doing my eyebrows. But I feel like I’m not doing something right. I’m still practicing. Bonus is that there’s a little spooly hidden on the bottom side of the brow pencil. The Dior brow styler is similar to Anastasia’s Brow Whiz, and I have that one too, but I think the colour on that one is a little too red for me.
7. Clinique High Impact Mascara. Lengthen those lashes! I have about a handful of favourite mascaras. This being one, which is excellent for an everyday look. Nothing too drastic.
8. Dior Tie Dye blush in Nude Tan. Perfectly pigmented to give a coral glow to the cheeks
9. bareMinerals California Bronzer. Add a bit of sun-kissed bronzer to achieve the perfect California Bronze. If you haven’t seen my review/tutorial on this it’s over here!
10. Dior Addict Tie Dye Lipstick in 001 Red Bliss. More like a tinted glossy lip balm, you don’t need a mirror to apply this like I had originally though. Toss it into your purse and reapply when you’re on the go.
11. Dior Lip Mazimizer Collagen Activ in 006. Adding another extra bit of gloss to the final look, I used this lip plumper. Alright, so I have to be honest. This one is pretty similar to my go-to lip plumper by Buxom lip glosses, but Buxom gives an icy cooling to the lips, where the Dior one is a bit warm. So, it’s taking a bit of getting used to. The colour is gorgeous though, a nude colour which can easily be paired on top of other lip products.

Dior-After

Dior-After2The final look!

Disclaimer: The Dior Tie Dye collection was sent for review. All opinions are my own, and thank you for supporting spiffykerms.com.

Continue Reading

Daily, Reviews

Simple shifts to make your home safe

11 Comments

Disclaimer: I’m not sure how NETGEAR found me, but they contacted me to become one of their ambassadors, and that’s awesome. Yes, they sent me the Arlo Smart Home Security Camera for free in exchange for my honest and very own opinion. 

NETGEAR-Arlo-Security-CamerI’ve had people come to the door and scare me with their bold demeanor, whether they are sales people or people who had no good reason to be on our property. Being scared in your own home sucks. Here are some of the the most important things that help me feel safe around our home.

1. Get to know your neighbours
What happens if you forget to close your garage door? Who are you going to text and ask for help? What happens if there are strange noises outside and you’re home alone? Call up your neighbour and chat with them for a bit while things settle down. A few weeks ago I was in San Francisco, came back home only to realize I left my house keys inside our home. Luckily I could text my neighbour and hung out at their place with their new baby and dog until my husband came back from work.

2. Have a dog that likes to bark
Alfie, without fail, will bark when he hears something suspicious outside. He is on watch 24/7 and I can rely on him to provide early warning for surprise visitors. It doesn’t hurt that the majority of people who ring the bell have no idea the size of the dog behind the door in front of them, either.

3. Intercom and alarm system
These are pretty standard, but they really help give piece of mind. The intercom system is great so not only do I not have to actually answer the door to see who’s there, I don’t even need to go near it. It has been a savior, especially for those times I don’t want to answer the door if I’m in my PJs or it’s dark out and I feel uncomfortable opening the door. I like the alarm at night because I know it will wake me if anything sets it off.

NETGEAR-in-hand4. Security cameras
Once upon a time, this might have seemed a little extreme, but with new cameras connected to the Internet, they really aren’t a big deal and the comfort they provide is well worth it. A while ago, I really wanted to know what was going on outside without having to approach the door. My husband and I had discussed this and he put up a makeshift camera directing onto the porch so I can see people coming to the door before they ring our doorbell, then decide if I want to answer it or not depending on if I’m expecting a mail delivery or the like. This is a great addition to the intercom. Recently we’ve upgraded to much fancier cameras from NETGEAR, who provided me with the Arlo Smart Home Security Camera to try out.

Setup:

Easy! There is a special device you have to plug into your router, but aside from that, you only have to choose where to put the magnetic camera mounts. An easy to use app on my iPad completed the setup.

Pros:

+. Truly wireless:  The cameras run off batteries so you can literally place them anywhere.
+. Recording: The video goes directly to the Internet so you can play back events on your phone.
+. Weatherproof:  You can put the cameras indoors or outdoors.
+. Night vision and motion detection: The Arlo sends you alerts whenever there is motion detected by the camera and will automatically record a clip at that time.

Cons:

 –. Non-rechargeable batteries: we’ll have to replace these every few months.
 -. Some of the more advanced features require a paid subscription.
 -. Hard to mount securely outside: The provided mounts are magnetic, which is great, but outside, it makes the cameras themselves too easy to steal. You really need to buy       traditional camera mounts to make them harder to remove.

Why would you need it?

The home security cameras are great for a variety of reasons. Not only for home security purposes, but for instance, monitoring your pets when you’re away at work — spy on them and see what they do throughout the day. Have elderly parents? Want to watch the babysitter look after your children? Or simply while you’re away on vacation and want to check in on the house?  The Arlo cameras make it easy to do it all, and the flexibility of the battery powered wireless design is fantastic.

There are add-ons you can also buy if the starter kit isn’t enough for you. You can set up to 15 cameras under the one system. Pop ’em all over the house!

We like to go the extra mile to make sure our home is secure. Although it’s hard to prevent perpetrators from watching and waiting for you to leave your home — and be bold and break in. But at least we’ll know right away if they do.

How do you like to make sure your homes are safe and sound? 

Continue Reading