It’s all those carrots I ate

This weekend we checked out the little town of Saratoga. We brought Alfie along with us to do a bit of window shopping in the charming European-feel town, have a stroll through the park, and to our surprise a free concert at Wildwood.

Heading back to our car we saw this insane luxury car. I’m not huge into cars, but this one was unreal. It ended up being a McLaren — to which that peeked The Guy’s interested in looking up the base price of what it goes for. Ohh, you know — 1.3 million. I don’t think I’ll ever make that much money in my entire life. If I had a car that expensive, I’d be afraid to take it for a drive for fear of it getting scratched. Or bird pooped on!

Saratoga-Park

Wildwood-Park

Wildwood-Park-Flowers

Crouching-with-Alfie

Concert-in-Wildwood-Park

Wildwood-Park_2

Saratoga-Trees

McLaren-in-Saratoga

Saratoga

Flowers-in-Saratoga

Eye-glasses

Barber-Shop-Saratoga

Alfie-in-sand

Saratoga-Restaurants

sideview-brown-glasses

Trees-in-Saratoga

Saratoga-Door

Outfit-of-the-weekend

Alfie-and-my-legs

Alfie-and-MeAmerican Eagle puffy vest, Etsy necklace & scarf, Anthropologie cardigan
Urban Outfitters tank top, Forever 21 jeans, J Crew flats, GlassesShop glasses

So, I bet you’re wondering why I’m wearing eyeglasses, no?

FortSmith Rectangle Tortoise – Tortoise

My eyesight has always been “better than perfect vision” says the Optometrist. I crack jokes whenever I get my eyes checked every few years, saying it’s all those carrots I’ve been eating making my eyesight abnormally good. I have always wanted to rock a pair of eyeglasses. Everyone in my family now needs them, but me! Well, ha! I figured out that you can buy non-prescription glasses. I mean, I guess I knew that a while ago but never really thought anything of it, until I was contacted by the GlassesShop. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted the FortSmith Rectangle Tortoise (the one’s I’m wearing in this post) or the quirky Sonoma Rectangle glasses in white. I’m never the type to dwell on which item I should get but I was completely stumped. Go out of my comfort zone and get a bold white set of frames? Or stick to a smart brown tortoise shell set? Why not both! Worst thing they could say was no. To my surprise, they agreed on the two. Woo buddy! Score on that one.

They arrived from China in a timely matter. I googled reviews and it wasn’t good. Shipping took ages, or their prescriptions were incorrect upon arrival. After mine arrived I took a ton of selfies to see if I was confident enough to wear them out in public, mainly the white ones. Boy, they’re somethin’ else. Instagram folks gave me the two thumbs up, so that was a bit of an ego boost. The Guy has been wearing glasses for a long time, so he thinks it’s a little odd that I’m voluntarily wearing them since technically, I don’t have to. Well sir, I think it adds a bit of fashion to my otherwise boring outfits/face. Not that I have a boring face. I mean, it spices it up with accessorizing my face. Get it? What do you think of them?

If you’re interested in buying a pair prescriptions or not, Glasses Shop has offered you guys a 20% off code: use NancyX20 before checking out.

What did you do this weekend?

When is the last time you explored your city?

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7 Things to do in Carmel

7-things-CarmelWe had a major plans to fully relax and evoke in everything our weekend getaway to Carmel had to offer. Temperatures when we visited (October) were perfect. Ranging from 20-28°C/70-80°F during the day and  10-18°C/50-60°F at night. You’ll want to pack your sweaters for the evening, and don’t forget that it’s best to dress in layers. When we were walking around downtown Carmel, it was warm, however close to the beach was breezy and a little chilly.

With houses that looked straight out of a fairytale, many each with their own house-names; we found one called Carmelot, and another Hansel & Grettle, pure storybook goodness. Carmel is a seaside village that is full of unique boutiques to peruse through, fine dining restaurants, beaches with sand so soft, with a rugged coastline. I’ve gathered up 7 things to do if you’re ever in the area of the must-see romantic village of Carmel. While we didn’t get to make it out to Big Sur, the famous Pebble Beach or take off on the 17-mile drive, these are only stops on our must-see list when we go back.

Point Lobos

Point-LobosA rocky shoreline, majestic views, crashing waves, breathtaking beauty, all available on this two mile coastline. Perfect your afternoon and bring along a packed picnic to enjoy while you take it all in. Dogs are not allowed in this state park, and be aware – there is poison oak everywhere, we didn’t exactly know what it looked like, but luckily for us there was warning signs that included pictures. During our walk we spotted tiny lizards. Luckily we did not spot any non-poisonous snakes that supposedly hang out and slither around the area. Often you’ll find whales breaching through, and sea lions at Point Lobos, so keep your eyes peeled!

Explore Carmel

Explore-CarmelEach day we took a walk through the town of Carmel and admired the architecture, boutique stores, and pet stores where we grabbed Alfie a couple of treats, twice! I love that Carmel doesn’t have any street numbers, the signs on the store fronts, restaurants and even gas stations are made of wood. Locals don’t receive mail to their homes, instead they gather to the local post office to collect their packages and mail that may come through. A true neighbouring experience. While Carmel is pretty hopping during the day, the town of Carmel is early to bed, early to rise. After supper is over, the streets are completely bare and quiet with total darkness. Be sure to bring a flashlight with you, and don’t wear heels more than two inches.

Mission Ranch

Mission-RanchRolling meadows on Clint Eastwood’s property which he saved in the mid eighties from condominium development. We kept our eye out on the streets of Carmel hoping we’d catch a glimpse of The Guy’s man-crush, Mr. Eastwood.

Carmel Beach

Dog-friendly-beachCarmel has a dog-friendly (leash-free) beach at the bottom of Ocean Avenue. A mile and a half of white sand that is so incredibly soft, you can’t help but sink your toes in it. The views from the beach are incredible and memorable with Point Lobos at one end, and famous Pebble Beach on the other.

Wine Walk Tours

Wine-tastingCarmel Wine Walk by-the-Sea offers a Wine Walk Passport which is a self-paced, self-guided tour to all the tasting rooms that are conveniently within walking distance of one another. The Wine Walk Passport offers a flight of wine of their choice of any 9 of the 12 tasting rooms. Lucky for you and me, the passport doesn’t expire.

Dog Friendly Restaurants

Dog-friendlyWith many culinary selections to choose from you’ll be sure to be pleased with everything Carmel has to offer with regards to eating out. Don’t leave your pooch at home, bring him/her with you as many restaurants in Carmel and Carmel-by-the-Sea welcome dogs at their outdoor tables and patios. One place in particular: Forge in The Forest offer a dog-menu!

Art Galleries

Carmel-Art-GalleriesFine art line the streets of Carmel, whether you’re into sculptures, photography, or paintings (which will forever be out of my price range), there are plenty of galleries to browse through.

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Inital thoughts on permanent hair removal

Back in July, our town house complex put on a pool party for the residents. That’s where I met our new friends — they’ve got an adorable chi-weenie pup named Penelope. We often walk our dogs nightly and finally, Alfie is starting to know little Nelly’s name.

Now, at first we sort of forced friendship with the two dogs. Nelly I’m sure loves any and all dogs she is around, she’s got that hyper personality that doesn’t understand when other dogs are angry with her. Thankfully she doesn’t mind alfie too much when he’s going at her viciously barking. Alfie on the other hand, hates anyone who even looks at him. 3 minutes into our regular walk routine, he settles down and trots along side his girlfriend while we chat about our days.

A few nights ago on our nightly walk we got to talking about hair removal. My friend was about to go to the salon to get her regular waxing done. I thought about it, and remembered when I used to do the hot waxing at home. Messy, terrifying and time consuming. So, when The Guy and I moved from Canada to California I got rid of my at-home-waxing kit, and kept the epilator to use on a regular basis. I’ve since slacked off with using the epilator under my arms (I wouldn’t dare use it anywhere else) and have resorted back to shaving.

Veet-Permanent-hair-reductiRecently, Veet reached out to me and wondered if I was interested in a more permanent hair removal product that you could use at home called Infini’Silk Pro by Veet.

Who wouldn’t want their hair permanently removed, especially from the underarms. I mean, we’re living in California now and for the love of Fall — the cooler weather still hasn’t hit us yet, and I’m still comfortably wearing tank tops all day long. I think it’s safe to say I need to groom a little more often than I’m used to.

I have to be honest with you guys I’m following the rules on this packaging here, since I don’t want to mess up my body at all. The instructions state that you cannot have a tan before using the product. So, I’ve listened to that — and haven’t been able to test it out yet, even though I’ve had it sitting next to my computer for the last number of weeks.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid to start using it. Though, there’s a part of me that is really excited to be underarm hair free. I’ve already read reviews of it online and it’s FDA cleared. However it will not work with every skin type.

InfiniSilk-by-VeetWhile I wait for my skin to go all pale, I did take it out of the box and have a peek at it. The laser is small, and will take a lot of pulses, zings or zaps (whatever the laser noise is) to get your full leg, and the handle is quite a big piece — but light weight, so when you’re doing your underarms it won’t get heavy or bulky feeling. A typical full hair growth cycle may take 18-24 months. So during that time it will most definitely take multiple sessions to achieve permanent results. There is a warning that is a little spooky that says “Warning: Do not treat the same area of skin more than once per hair removal session! Treating the same area of skin more than once per session increases the likelihood of adverse effects.” Um. What kind of adverse effects?

Veet-Infini'SilkThere’s different sizes and prices on Veet’s website of their laser hair removal machines. But keep in mind I’ll be going more in depth about this product at a later date when I scrub my tan off my skin and give it a few tries. It’s not going to be permanent hair removal in one easy zap, it takes time for your hair to grow back and get zapped off again. It’ll be a slow process, but good things come to those who wait.

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