Search results

82 results found.

The Birthday Convertible

Although my birthday was a few weeks ago, I can’t help but smile at how awesome (yet simple!) it was. All I wanted to do was have a convertible for a week and cruise the town. And we did just that.

The shiny red convertible, Mazda MX 5 RF was “ours” for the week. But since there was a bit of a mishap with scheduling on the vehicle I ended up accepting the manual transmission one and then handed over the keys to my husband (with the company’s approval). You know that not only made his week, but made mine too since I got to be, well quite literally chauffeured around on my actual birthday haha! Best kind isn’t it!

On my birthday, as mentioned I had no other plans other than to relax and spend the day driving with Mr. Spiffykerms. We cruised down the California coastline on the scenic PCH (pacific coast highway). We stopped at a coffee shop in Santa Cruz that I found on yelp, and drank iced drinks in the sunshine.

It was flippin’ glorious and honestly one of the best birthdays I’ve had to date. Mainly because my husband was finally relaxing with me (I have no trouble relaxing lol) without a schedule or a plan in mind. We stopped at a beach, then continued exploring in the MX5, obviously with the top down at all times. A sweet taste of convertible life for 7 days. My goodness.

After trottin’ all over, we started filming some drone videos (see the video at the end of the post) right before sunset. Finished that up, and drove to a Mexican restaurant for some nachos (I’ve been craving Montana’s Nachos from Canada since for-ever… I can’t seem to find a tasty plate of nachos around here at all! lol).

And that’s it! The birthday adventure, with Mazda. :)

Because I’ve posted it a dozen places all over the internet already, it might be overdone. I still wanted to include it in this blog post though. The drone video! Although I said I had 20+ minutes of footage, there was definitely a lot more, I just roughly cut the clips and ended up with 20 minutes to cut down to a 59 second video. I thought it was neat. My husband did all the filming, and I edited the video together.

Continue Reading

Typical day in the life of a full-time blogger

While blogging isn’t typically a run of the mill daily routine and set schedule, I thought I’d take a wee bit out of my week and show you the fun parts of being a blogger are. I swear, most days are spent all alone, workin’ the internets, stylin’ flatlays and coming up with collaborations and campaigns. And oh gosh, I do not take blogging for granted and it has its privileges. Especially these past few months where now I can make monetary compensation off what I have been doing for over 15 years as a hobby.You better bet I miss a bit of routine in my life. Not a week goes by where I don’t miss my old job and co-workers in Canada! If you want to see who I’ve partnered with to make this blog post come to life, please see the disclaimer towards the end of the post.

SEVEN O’CLOCK

06:45| I love waking up early when I know I don’t have to. Does that make sense for anyone else? I mean, I could sleep in, but think of the length of the day when I get up at the crack of dawn. I wake up and check my e-mail and social accounts on my phone for 15 minutes or so. Probably not the best thing to do when you first wake up but I love checking it! I know this might seem like an ungodly hour to wake up when I mention I work from home, but I tend to feel focused and most productive in the morning. It’s also nice waking up while my husband is still around in the house! He wakes up around this time daily for either commuting, or going to the swimming pool.

07:00 – 07:15| Get dressed and let Alfie outside for his morning walk. Come back inside and turn on my computer and immediately start playing some tunes on Google Play music (I prefer a bit of noise in the house). This is also when I clean up my desk, as it’s always a pile of grocery receipts / post-it-notes / mugs. I’m not a fan of working around clutter.

Ninja nutri bowl duo07:15 – 07:30| Some mornings I either drive to the town of Los Gatos for my famous CPR (lol…I know, the name of that drink kills me!) or head to McDonalds and grab an iced coffee. This isn’t an every day occurrence, and I definitely savor it when I drink my specialty drinks. I don’t like to have a ton to eat when I first wake up, so I’ll make an omelette as soon as I get home. On special occasions where I want a cool treat in the a.m. I’ll make an acai bowl topped with fruit and coconut chips. I’ve been going ham over this Nina Blender I was sent a few weeks ago (I vlogged about it here!). It’s the Ninja nutri bowl duo and perfect for frozen treats — I broke our other blender last summer by making too many açai bowls. Oops. One of these ‘jars’ is enough for two bowls — and I only use 1 frozen packet of açai from Trader Joe’s, the rest of the goodies inside the bullet is made up of frozen goods: blueberries, strawberries, 1 full banana chopped, and some milk. Boom. So good.

07:30– 08:10| This is when I sit back and relax, eat my banana + sip on ice coffee, and catch up on Snapchat, IG stories, YouTube videos and reading blog posts. I only allow myself 30-40 minutes for this otherwise I could easily sit there for hours. Clearly I seem to work best when I’m on a schedule of sorts.

EIGHT O’CLOCK

08:10– 08:55| Hop in the shower and get ready for the day. Here are the contents of what I applied on my face this day: Tarte Maracuja Oil, It Cosmetics CC Cream (applied with a beauty blender), BECCA bronzer, Burberry blush, Tom Ford lip balm (that I bought from the Sephora VIB sale) and top it with Marc Jacob’s new mascara. Whooo wee it’s nice. Also, remember my fancy dyson hair dryer with hilarious pictures? I still use it. It’s annoying to store under the bathroom cabinet as I don’t want to twist the wires up so I’ve been leaving it unplugged on my counter. I’ve actually been having a bit of issues with the ground fault protection needing to be reset any time I turn on the dryer. I had a sunken feeling the first two times the dryer wouldn’t turn on. But my husband told me that perhaps the wiring in this place can’t handle such voltage. Anyway, just a little tidbit for you if you have/had that issue! Side-note: Like my agenda that’s half-showing? It’s a caviar leather planner from Cloth & Paper, it’s all-black-everything (because it has black hardware on the inside) and the perfect size. I really need to get crackin’ on my stationery favourites, either a post or a video — any preference?

08:55| I pop all my supplements and allergy pills to combat my hives. Yes, they’re still going on and no we still don’t know the reason. At this point (close to 2 years) they’re simply considered chronic. This is when I review my schedule for the day and list of goals I want to accomplish in my planner. Occasionally I’ll plan a breakfast/brunch date with another local blogger, pack up my laptop, planner and notebooks and head out to meet with them.

NINE O’CLOCK

Black + Decker pet vacuum9:00| This is when I get some chores done. I start cleaning up the house and doing my daily clean-up, each day is different but this day I vacuumed (every second day I’ll rotate between floors. Today I vacuumed the stairs because I’m completely obsessed with this new Black + Decker pet vacuum (the mid-part is removable!!!! It’s perfect for getting into the crevices of stairs.

Then I empty the dishwasher, tidy up the kitchen, bring any clothes on the main floor up to the bedroom, and put away the clean laundry.

TEN O’CLOCK

10:00| I’m a PR Manager with Canadian Beauty Bloggers network (say hi #BBloggersCA!), so at this time I check the inbox and reply to any e-mails that may come in during the day. After the tasks are done for the CBB’ers I continue working on spiffykerms blog posts and/or responding to comments / tweets / Instagram comments, and checking my own two e-mail accounts.

10:40| Take Alfie out for a lil’ piddle. I either make myself a mid-morning tea (always tetley), or fill up a glass of water. Trying my hardest not to consume caffeine every day. I now order decaf lattes at coffee shops, and going on 6 days without that buzz! Ha. Funny how you can get addicted, and I only started drinking coffee beverages 2~3 years ago.

ELEVEN O’CLOCK – NOON

11:00 – 12:30| If I’m not out with a friend for coffee/brunch or hanging with a pal, I’m usually writing blog posts at this time. I don’t write blog posts every day, if you’ve noticed I backed off from 5 posts a week, to 3. However, lately I’ve been blogging less — eep I want to get back to blogging regularly again. I find it’s easier to manage, as I am more careful with how I articulate things on my blog. I make sure the meta/keywords/SEO on the particular blog post is up to par.I change my top, in exchange for one that isn’t covered in pet hair, put on my Forever 21 corduroy jacket and head out the door. This day I was writing this exact post at my friend Elisabeth’s house on my Lenovo Yoga Book. I’ve been using my Lenovo for blogging on-the-go lately and I love how portable and light it is, it’s so handy to have and just shove in your purse!

12:45|  I head back home and stop by Trader Joe’s to grab a salad and run any other errands I need to do (groceries, Daiso items: dish sponges, etc).

ONE O’CLOCK – THREE O’CLOCK 

1:20| If I’m not writing another blog post, I’d probably be taking photos/flatlays for my Instagram, especially during this time when the lighting is perfect at my flatlay-taking-spot in our house. Sometimes this can take hours if I’m in the mood to stylize many products. It’s one of my favourite things to do lately. You might’ve noticed I cut back on how many blogs I post a week over the past few months. That’s intentional as I’m trying to focus more on quality content, narrowing in on my niche, and providing better value for my blog readers

2:00| There’s a 4.5 hour time difference between my Mom and I, and I talk to her pretty regularly on FaceTime. This is when I ring her up and hope she picks up for a chat to discuss what’s going on back home in Newfoundland.

THREE O’CLOCK

3:00| Dreading the inevitable late afternoon crash I try and get as much done in the morning as possible. Like most, around 3:00pm is when I hit my slump so if I’m on the computer I walk away, make myself a snack, then check the mail and take Alfie for another piddle. My UPS guy usually comes around this time, so I’m often opening up PR parcels on Snapchat lol.

3:45| Pop back on the computer, check Instagram and reply to some comments, and check into YouTube to see if anyone posted any new videos (I’m addicted!) and watch one or two.

FOUR O’CLOCK

4:15| I’ve been turning off my computer and putting my phone on airplane mode for an hour a day, just to unwind and decompress. This is the time I’ll take Alfie out for a super long walk or if it’s raining I’ll literally get out those adult colouring books and giv’er, it’s surprisingly relaxing.

FIVE O’CLOCK

5:15| Sometimes my neighbour texts me for a walk with Alfie and her pup Nelly (and baby in tow!). Alfie’s girlfriend, Nelly? Alfie hates her… hahahahaah I’m serious too. It’s unfortunate situation really but seeing them two loud-mouth dogs together make me laugh.

SIX O’CLOCK - TEN O’CLOCK

6:15| I’ll unload the dishwasher and start preppin’ supper for us. One of the easiest recipes I make us is my “Fish Friday” meal which… I tend to serve on you guessed it… Thursdays. Just kidding. I really do make fish basically every Friday and I love it. I purchase boneless skinless salmon from Trader Joe’s and it’ll make 4 meals (two lunches for me when I save the left overs). All I do is plop’er on a sheet of parchment paper, coat both sides in a mixture of honey mustard, and yellow mustard. Boil a pot for basmati rice, and halfway through everything cooking I also lay out some broccolini (so much better tasting than reg. brocc), with salt/pepper/olive oil drizzle and boom, a tasty meal. Carb heavy yes, but sometimes I make it with the crunchy brown rice that Trader Joe’s sells… equally as nice.

6:35| Alfie gets pretty active around the time my husband gets home, so I’ll play fetch with one of his favourite toys :)

7:00 – 10:00| It varies of when I start my nightly routine. I’ve been removing my makeup with some Trader Joe’s micellar water makeup wipes, and washing with my ol’ faithful Purity by Philosophy cleanser. Then following up with my two aveda moisturizers that I reviewed a while back. They’re sooo good, and I’m using them so so so sparingly. Not too often, but 1-2x a week I’ll do a longer nightly routine with my skincare. This is when I whip out the Pixi beauty products with glycolic acid (both the serum and the glow tonic have it). When I do that, and pair my aveda moisturizer on top? Boom, unreal skin the next morning. I should do it every night, but I don’t want to… lol.

10:20| When I head to bed, I end the day the same way I start it, on my phone — a habit I should probably break but it’s the reality. And that’s it! A day in the life of me. One of the best parts of being a blogger is that no two days are the same, so it rarely feels stagnant. I spent this entire day writing down what my day looked like, but it will be completely different tomorrow I’m sure! I put in a lot of hours into this blog and social media to support our household (which I’m sure makes the tiniest dent… ha!).

I hope you enjoyed this detailed peek into my daily life!

Shop the post:

Disclaimer: Products shown in this post were sent for review, I was not paid or sponsored in any way for this post.

Continue Reading

Five Things Friday . 003

01. BAY AREA BLOGGERS|
I thought I’d start out this five-things-friday by sharing five local bay area bloggers/instagrammers I enjoy! Perhaps some of them are new-to-you, and you can check them out too!

Alyson from The Beauty Vanity · a friend of mine with a beautiful beauty site, and an even prettier instagram feed.
Grace from My Style and Grace · I met Grace at a blogger brunch a few months ago, she’s sweet is so stylish. Check out her outfits on instagram.
Joanne from GoFitJo · a fitness inspiration and a kind soul. Her instagram feed is pure goals.
Melissa from Savvy in San Francisco · she’s a darling, and always on top of the latest beauty launches. Her instagram beauty flatlays are magazine worthy.
Ariana Lauren from Fashion Born · From her interior style right down tot he clothes she wears, I love it all! I found her on instagram.

02. OCTOLY|
Octoly.com is a site where you can receive free beauty products in exchange for a post on Instagram or a YouTube video. Obviously there’s a catch and it’s only open to USA (sorry Canadian pals), and you have to have 5K on YT, and 10K followers on IG. But it’s SO awesome because my parcel that came yesterday, was a few Dior items! Sign up if you can.

03. EBATES|
Ebates is old news to many, but I recently signed up in April, and I’ve already made $9.00 in savings from shopping online and using the discount. You don’t even have to think about it because when you visit a website (and you have the ebates in your web-browser-bar thing) it automatically pops up like an ad (lol… great) and you can “activate your %% back now” and most times it’s between 1-4% but if it’s your birthday week, you get a whoppin’ 15% back on your purchases on a lot of stores! You can use my referral link to sign up if you wish. Not sure what I get out of it to be honest though…

04. TARGET TEES|
Weird angle/photo of me. Ignore the face, look at the tee. lol. Blush pink is a fantastic colour and I’ve been on the hunt for so many tops in that perfect-shade since I realized how …. flattering it looked on me. Target has a 3/4 length top that kind of resembles a baseball tee (sleeves are reversed in stripes). I picked it up yesterday for $12, buy it here. Sweet.

05. BIRTHDAY CONVERTIBLE|
My birthday was last Sunday, and all I wanted to do was just go for a simple adventure in the car I labeled as the “birthday convertible” aka, convertible life, the Mazda MX5 we had for the week. My husband and I drove down the PCH (pacific coast highway) and hung out at coffee shops, browsed a store in Santa Cruz, and literally spent the day crusin’ along. It was so fun and relaxing and honestly one of the best birthdays I’ve had. By the way, spot my phone case? I ended up switching over to an otterbox because I dropped my phone on the ground (with the google-pixel case on it!) and it still chipped on the two bottom corners. Ticked off I was. Anyway, this slim otterbox case is definitely bulkier than most, but if it keeps this Pixel safe’n sound and free of any more chips I’m a happy phone-owner lol.

Continue Reading