House & Home, Photos, Reviews

Tibb’s Eve Brunch

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Yesterday was definitely a character building kind of day. With a stiff lip, I let myself mull over the situation for an hour or two, then go about my evening. The Guy came home early, and decided to take me out to get some Subway and check out the festive Christmas lights around Santana Row. He sure knows how to cheer me up! With that being said, thanks for all your comments regarding yesterday evening’s post. I do need to thank WestJet for their impeccable customer service.

This morning I got up and made us a brunch, and shortly after I finish proof-reading through my post, I’m heading over to Jessica’s house to make some cookies with her!

Brunch-headerI can hear you asking yourself what the heck does Tibb’s Eve mean. It’s a celebration to kick off the Christmas Season as you do in Newfoundland (where we’re from). Tibb’s Eve is the Eve before Christmas Eve and can often be referred as Tipsy Eve if ya catch my drift.

To start our mid-morning Tibb’s Eve, I made us a huge breakfast as we can finally sit back and relax with the two of us and Alfie. We had three sets of visitors throughout December, my parents in law, my sister in law and my husbands best bud all came down for a visit. It was great! I love entertaining, and showing people all the sights and sounds that California has. I will never tire of the Golden Gate Bridge, let me tell you that much!

I’ve been lucky that Walmart Delivery is taking a liking to my food posts, this is the third instalment of me working with them. Once again, all the food shown in the post (ok minus the grapes, they were gross anyway) were from Walmart and delivered right to my doorstep. The delivery guys and I are getting to know each other pretty well. Alfie still doesn’t like them — wouldn’t blame him really, they’re strangers.

I do have to say, I’m getting bolder in the kitchen and expanding my cooking skills to making a ton of things at once, instead of baking muffins and some scrambled eggs. I’m doing it all. Fryin up the bacon, making blueberry muffins, egg bagels with tomato and cheese, fresh fruit with whip cream, and having a side of apple juice, hot chocolate and then peppermint tea! Whoowee.big-brunch

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peppermint-tea-santa-mugI stocked up on the Celestial peppermint tea and now have a couple of boxes, there’s nothin’ better than peppermint flavoured treats at Christmas. After breakfast or even before bed, I like to sit in my chair and have a little chit chat with The Guy about our day ahead, or unwinding after a long day. My Santa mug has a few cracks in it, I think it can’t handle the heat of my extra hot drinks. Hopefully it’ll last a few more seasons!

So, it’s two days until Santa Claus arrives on his sleigh, and for those that celebrate the Misters visit, I sure hope you’re all ready. Are you? I have to admit, I need to wrap a couple of more gifts and I am set. We have a modest amount of presents under the miniature Ikea tree this year, but I’m really excited to celebrate our first Christmas as a married couple. This year has been so different for us, and believe it or not (I probably keep repeating myself) I’m the happiest I have been in my life. I’m content with where I am in my/our life right now. With that being said, I will be taking the next week or two off blogging to spend time with my new little family. See you in 2015, stay safe and Happy Holidays!

But before I head off until the New Year, here’s $15 toward your first order with #WalmartToGo, an online grocery pickup and delivery service and if you spend over $50 delivery is free.

Disclaimer: Walmart-to-go provided me with a gift card to use their delivery service.

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Beauty, Daily, Design, House & Home

Unwinding after a long day

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We’ve been on the go all weekend and it’s been incredibly amazing having my husbands family here. Three off them ran the Sacramento marathon on Sunday and it felt extra special since it was my sister-in-law’s 30th birthday on Sunday, so she got to celebrate it by running with her Father and Brother.

While I enjoy keeping busy and spending oodles of time with my husband, our friends and family, there’s still nothing better than unwinding after a long day. I’m afraid I may be coming down with something. You know the sore feeling in your body throughout the day. So what better way to potentially cure what may be an oncoming sickness than a nice bath and treat myself to an at-home spa evening. Once that’s done with, put on my cozie’s and curl up with a tasty hot drink and catch up with the family. Does the trick!Relaxing-in-chair

Our house is finally decorated for Christmas, so you can see a bit of a sneak peek at how it looks with the little feather Christmas tree next to our new grey armchair from O.co. It’s a bit firm, but overall pretty comfortable to sit down and relax. As you know, I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect grey (or green) arm chair. Ideally I wanted it to be a velvety fabric, but I was pleased with the Inspire Q, so I got it!Alfie-looking-up

Alfie-on-chairAlfie has taken possession of the chair, I don’t blame him. He’s either on the chair, or our new Moroccan Shag rug, it’s so cushiony and soft you guys. I’m no longer sitting on the couch on the other side of the room, I’m always sitting here with my feet up on a foot stool, wrapped up in this huge Christy Linens blanket watching YouTube videos, listening to music, or it’s where I go to chat on the phone with my parents.

grey-arm-chairI love that I now have a “me chair”.

I love to draw myself a bath and have a little soak to warm my body up. I bought the candles at H&M, but they’re unscented. Great if you’re not feeling up to smelling all those heavily scented candles. As for smelly candles my favourite candle is the World Market Bougie candle in the scent gardenia. I’ve been using Pure Brazilian shampoo ever since I dyed my hair — I love how silky and hydrated my hair has been feeling, I’ve been letting it air dry a lot lately, so it’s getting healthier and this is only helping. Thank goodness it doesn’t cause my hair to get frizzy.Candle-and-bath

I’ve been described as having a hotel-like bathroom. I love the way hotels present their towels for guests, and I try to mimic it at home for ourselves. It’s a little bit of luxe with handsoap not from the popular soap shops and just different stuff to decorate with.

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Once my bath is over I’ll head back downstairs and make myself some hot chocolate or tea to sip on in my Santa Mug (from the Superstore/Loblaws in Canada last year). I mean, tis the season, right? How come no one has told me about Celestial’s peppermint tea? Is it limited edition? It’s amazing, and kind of reminds me of peppermint white mocha’s from Starbucks.peppermint-tea

Alfie trying to get up in my business, I don’t blame him. We both like to cuddle.Alfie-on-my-lap

…and a little while later, he’s on the floor conked out. Alfie-napping-on-rug

What do you do to unwind or treat yourself after a long day?

Disclaimer:

Supreme Hygro towels + throw and cushion c/o Christy Linens
Inspire Q arm chair c/o O.co aka Overstock.com
Moroccan Shag rug c/o Rugs USA (just spotted that all shag rugs are 60% off plus you get free shipping!)
Shampoo, conditioner + hair mask c/o Pure Brazilian

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Daily, House & Home, How I Style, Photos

How we get ready for house guests

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House-Guest-PrepWe had our first house guest a few months ago, when The Guy’s best friend came down on his work trip, but he stayed at our place a little less than 12 hours. After that I thought it was time for another few house guests to make their arrival to California.

I facebook’ed my two sister-in-law’s (The Guy’s sisters), and asked them when they were planning to come visit us. Last time we saw his younger sister, was at our wedding. The last time I saw his other sister was when I was home in Newfoundland.

To my surprise, they both booked flights, and were here in California at the same time.

Needless to say, I wanted to have the house in presentable shape, as The Guy and I tend to drop things on the floor instead of putting them away. I spent one full day organizing our main floor, rearranging a few things, deep cleaning the kitchens, and took the vacuum to the floors. Our house is a little bare at the moment with little artwork on the walls, but it feels a lot more spacious after I moved a few furniture pieces around.

I’d show you our guest room, except it’s not exactly a guest room. The Guy has taken over that room for all his bike stuff, so it’s not as decorated as I’d like, whatsoever.

Preparing-for-house-guestsAfter a flight or long haul, I know that I love to just take a long shower/bath and simply relax. I like our guests to feel at home, or at the very least feel relaxed like they’re at a spa or hotel. Regarding the bathroom, I like to give them our spare bathroom and make it feel very hotel/spa like. I bought a few towels at World Market, and I already had the striped towels from Pottery Barn a few years ago. They were all freshly washed and folded like you’d see at hotel, all fancy like.

Guest-basketI gathered a few more goodies at World Market — we don’t have a store like that, that I know of in Canada. It’s one of my favourites around here, and it doesn’t help that it’s almost across the street from me. Inside the basket is a hand towel, a few face clothes, a candle, hand cream, body wash. Then I picked up some disposable razors from Daiso and added them to the basket. All topped with a few chocolate truffles.

Face-masks-for-guestsSince I love spoiling people, I couldn’t help but add a few more touches to the basket and towel. I added a few mini makeup items (cuticle oil, nail file, perfume, lipstick, and mascara) for the girls, and some face masks on top of the fresh towels.

House-Guest-Prep-2Adding a new hand soap was something I wanted to do, too. That was bought at TJ Maxx.

philosophy-shower-goodiesThe shower had a few travel sized items that I snagged at a hotel a few months ago. The cleaning lady and I shared a little bonding experience over the philosophy goodies, and she hooked me up big time. Now, I save them for our guests, ha!

A fresh and clean bathroom all to yourself as a house guest is pretty sweet, isn’t it? I’m so glad they both managed to book trips down to see The Guy and I. I’ll do a recap on what we did throughout the little while they were here, in the next few posts.

Krista and Shauna, I miss you both already!

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