Daily, Travel

Winchester Mystery House

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Winchester-HeaderWinchester Mystery House is a historic house in San Jose. The still unfinished mansion is full of strange hallways, hidden rooms, and supposedly various ghosts. The Guy and I took a tour there while on our San Jose Staycation a few weeks back.

Winchester-WalkwayThe house is so beautiful, yet so very strange. A woman residing in Connecticut, had quite the untimely death of her 6 week old daughter, and husband shortly after.

The-Guy-at-WinchesterNever getting over the grieving period and mourning of her loved ones, she moved out to California after given the advice from someone she trusted. Apparently she was so superstitious that she needed to keep building and building her home in California. She continued to build for 38 years straight. Contentiously. Could you imagine? Every day. Building.

GardenWhen she died, all building of her home stopped. Her house belongings were sold at auction and took 8 truck loads per day for 6.5 weeks to move all the furniture out. MAN! For one person!

Cherub-and-Winchester-House

Winchester-HouseI’m not one to feel claustrophobic but holy smokes due to the small rooms, narrow switch back staircases, we were on a tour with a group of about 20 people in total, with kids included. A 65 minute tour of the strange house was definitely long enough for me! The Guy couldn’t get enough of it though — he loved it. I mean, I did too, but I felt so strange being in there.

Sitting-outside-WinchesterI definitely got an eerie vibe from the house. I definitely wouldn’t want to go trick-or-treating there or get lost inside. I’d never be found, haha! If you really want to get spooked, do a flashlight tour, which happens every Friday 13th.

Cherub-at-WinchesterMrs. Winchester loved her home, and built it so architecturally sound that it withstood many earthquakes. However, the mansion was 7 stories high at one point, up until the large 1906 San Francisco earthquake which took the home down to four stories.

Bush-13 Fun facts about the Winchester Mystery House I learned on the tour:

  1. 160 rooms in the home.
  2. 40 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, yet one shower.
  3. The design of the house was so strange. Doors opening into walls. Staircases to go nowhere, or a ceiling
  4. Her séance room had 1 entrance yet 3 exists.

I don’t want to ruin anything for you guys in case you decide to do the tour yourself one day. So I’ll leave it at that, and finish it up with photos of the grounds. We weren’t allowed to take any photographs inside.

Side-of-Winchester

Winchester-Palm-Trees

Door-to-nowhere

Seating-area-outside

Winchester-Grounds

Me-Standing-at-Winchester

Winchester-cherub

pink-flowers\ Winchester

Winchester-Mystery-House

I would say it’s definitely worth touring the house at least once if you visit San Jose, even if you’re not totally interested. I had absolutely no idea what we were getting into on the tour. And I’m still thinking about it a month later. I’m seriously fascinated by it all.

Winchester Mystery House

525 South Winchester Boulevard, San Jose, CA 95128
408.247.2101
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Beauty, Reviews

Those automatic hair curlers freak me out

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InstaWave-by-KissBack for another Beauty Talk Tuesday, are ya? Last week I skipped out on a beauty post because I wanted to tell you about our new huge bed. But now we’re back to talking about beauty again.

Have you seen these automatic hair curlers around? Whether it be on TV commercials, or in my case — youtube beauty channels? They had freaked me out for the longest time. Mainly because I envisioned my own hair being sucked into the vacuum-like wand and getting tangled for the rest of my life and having to get it cut out.

Just like that time I had to have my hair cut out of a swing set in my parents back yard when I was a kid. I was twirling and twirling the seat around and then boom. Hair caught. Devastation ensued.

Well, if I caught your interest, you’re going to have to read through this post to see if I like the Kiss InstaWave automatic curler, and whether or not it scared me.

Initial thoughts:

  1. It was going to burn my fingers.
  2. My hair was going to get caught.
  3. It was going to be easy to use.
  4. My hair would stay curled.

Unfortunately for 3 and 4, it was false to all, even after using the tool a number of times. Sigh.

The curler itself has two heat settings: low and high. I set it on low because my fine hair doesn’t need to go up to 420*F any any time in its hair-life. It also has two directions you can rotate the iron which makes an obnoxious noise when you use it. But that’s nothing to fret over.

Curling-my-hair

Letting-hair-goIt’s important to note that you remove your curl going in a downwards (not out/diagonal) motion. I’m not sure what happens if you break the rules and take your hair out diagonally. I decided not to try.

Curling-harCurling this side of my head (and the back side) was something I’ll definitely have to get used to. I found it quite difficult. This is my annoyed face. It took a couple of tries to get this particular piece of hair to curl without falling out. It’s my hairs problem, not the product. My hair is too silky, even as second-day-hair.

Tangled-hairI tangled my hair a couple of times, but it didn’t get stuck like I thought it would. I had to take this picture though, the curl after that little rats nest needed another moment in the automatic curler. Hoo, wee.

After-curlingAfter I curled all of my hair. It left it with more of a wave, and it didn’t take nearly as long as it would with a regular curling wand – did the trick, and if I really wanted it to stay put, I would’ve had to spray a ton of hairspray in. I just left it be, though.

Reasons why I’m pretty sure it didn’t work in my hair:

  1. My hair is difficult to curl (and hold a curl without an entire can of hair spray).
  2. My hair is silky and fine, thus making it slip out of the automatic curler and not have a strong curl from the beginning.

Who I think would benefit from this type of curling wand:

  1. Those who are lucky and have a ton of thick hair.
  2. People with longer than shoulder length hair.

With-curler-in-hand

What are your thoughts on an instant curling product? Would you use it?

Disclaimer: I received this product for review.

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Daily

Shop Santana Row this Mother’s Day!

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I’ll be taking a break from blogging while visiting my family back in Newfoundland, Canada. I flew here last night and today is my first official day and I’m so excited to surprise my nephews at school — they have no idea I’m here! Follow me on Instagram and Twitter and I’ll be back to regular blogging when I get back in May :) 

Santana-Row-HeaderMany people venture up to San Francisco to do their shopping. But what they don’t realize here in the Bay Area, there’s tons of fantastic shopping to suit any budget right here in San Jose. Whether you’re at the mall, or across the street in Santana Row there’s something for everyone. Seriously, Santana Row has everything from Gucci, to H&M! Clearly I shop at the latter one because I can’t afford to do luxury shopping right now, haha!

Santana-RowSantana Row is the first place I bring out-of-town visitors, not only for the shopping — but for dining and drinks too. There’s so many yummy restaurants to choose from, my favourite being Pizza Antica for their authentic wood fired thin crust pizzas, man I do love some pizza.

So pop on by to Santana Row and see what kind of goodies you can get your good ol’ Ma for upcoming Mother’s day on Sunday May 10. There’s even a movie theatre there if she’s into that —take her out to see a new release, even! Here are a few top picks of mine:

The-Dry-barTreat her to a mid morning hair blow-out at The Dry Bar. Have you used any of these products? Their dry shampoo is pretty good (it’s a clear aerosol so perfect for brunettes), and I love their mousse that comes in a yellow bottle, it makes my roots have some oompf! I need to restock on that stuff soon.

Ted-BakerTed Baker has some cute arrivals for Spring. Check out that blingy faux crystal necklace!

MadewellIs your Mom a jeans and tee kinda gal? Hit up Madewell for some perfect fitting jeans and a few simplistic accessories. I kinda want that mini wallet for myself. I’m thinking of adding it to my birthday wishlist ;)

Beau-BijouFunky jewellery is always an awesome choice. These photos are all taken at the Beau Bijou store.

AnthropologieAnthropologie will always be my favourite go-to store for little knick-knack gifts. Coffee cups with your Mom’s initials, or even a huge candle. Candles are always a nice touch to add to a kitchen island. These one’s from Anthro are massive and smell amazing — as do all Anthropologie candles, am I right?!

Bo-ConceptSam at Bo Concept is one fun dude to chat to. He was telling me all about the urban Danish design and functional pieces of furniture they have. Perhaps your parents are re-modelling their home? I wanted everything in this store.

Pressed-JuicePressed Juicery recently opened up in Santana Row — is your Mother into drinking fresh pressed juices, or maybe into juice cleanses?

Z-GallerieThere are SO many amazing interior design pieces at Z Gallerie. These were just a handful of my favourite picks from the 3 tiered water wine/beer (let’s be real) dispenser to gorgeous bedding, and table top decor.

Vintage-Wine-BarOr take her our for a few swallies at the Vintage Wine Bar! Santana Row has the cutest little places all around.

Sur-La-TableMy Mom loves to cook (she’s a good one at that — wish I had taken after her in that way!), and I know she’d love anything by Le Cruset bake/cookware.

OOTD2-Santana-RowOr  just simply spend time with her! Have fun taking silly photos wherever you go!

OOTD-Santana-RowEnjoy your time together, laugh, giggle, and shop.

Obviously these are just a few ideas for presents that I spotted around the shopping/dining area of Santana Row to give you some ideas on what to give your Mother. Fresh flowers and taking her out for a nice meal, just the two of you is also something I’m sure she’d appreciate!

What do you usually do for Mother’s Day?

Santana Row

377 Santana Row, San Jose CA 95128
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