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Holiday Gift Guide – The Self-Care Lover

Today, we’re looking at gifts for the person who is all about self-care. If there was ever a year to take care of ourselves, 2020 is that year. Help them reach new levels of self-care with these pampering gifts!

Budget-Friendly ($50 and under)

The gift that keeps giving. Gift the self-care lover four relaxing soaks with this Lush gift set! If baths aren’t their preferred method of self-care, no worries – Lush has a variety of other great gift sets.

Get self-care for the real world for the person who is always struggling to fit self-care into their busy schedule. The authors of this book take into account the fact that people lead busy lives, so they came up with some smaller suggestions to make sure you’re still able to take care of yourself.

Putting on a face mask is such a classic self-care ritual. Gift them double the pampering with this Day & Night Mask duo from The Body Shop!

Mid-Price ($150 and under)

Give a gift that’s thoughtful and personal, all while requiring no effort on your part! The Pamper gift set from Presentable Gifts contains a bath soak, champagne gummies, and one of my favourite candles from Temper and Lace. Added bonus: you’ll feel better knowing you’re supporting an awesome local business with this gift set!

Help create the perfect atmosphere with this Morning to Night Diffuser Kit from Saje. Use one essential oil to feel revitalized in the mornings, and the other to relax in the evenings.

Give them the gift of beauty slip this year. Silk pillow cases help prevent split ends as your hair glides over it, rather than catching on it. Plus, it won’t tug at your skin, preventing sleep-creases or premature stretching of the skin.

What’s a price limit?

You don’t need me to tell you that this year has been a stressful one. And, in my experience, many of us tend to feel the stress and anxieties of life most intensely when we’re trying to fall asleep. Help your loved ones have a stress-free, relaxing sleep by gifting them a weighted blanket this year.

Gift them the ultimate self-care day with a full day at the spa! Check out your local spas for a package of various treatments like the Ultimate Getaway at Ahava Day Spa.

If celebs are doing it, and it’s featured on Goop, then it must be the pinnacle of self-care, right? Apparently, sweat beds can help you sleep better, get clearer skin, lose weight, and detox your body. Or maybe it just helps you feel relaxed. But now you can gift an at-home version of this self-care experience with an infrared sauna blanket similar to this one!

Happy gifting!

Until next time,
Nadine

Holiday Gift Guide – Work From Home

I’ve decided to put together some holiday gift guides! I was originally going to do a single post with a few different interest categories, but then I just kept coming up with more and more categories. So, I’ve decided I’m going to do a different gift guide every day from December 1st-December 20th. I’ve put together a schedule below in case you’re wondering what all the categories will be, or which day a specific category will be posted!

For each gift guide, there will be three price points: Budget-friendly ($50 and under), mid-price ($150 and under), and what’s a price limit? (no price limit). Within each price point, I’ll try to come up with 2-3 gift ideas. I wanted to make this inclusive so that no matter your budget, and no matter who you’re shopping for, there will be a gift idea for everyone!

Up first, we’ll be coming up with gift ideas for people who are working from home. There’s been a surge in home offices this year thanks to Covid, and while working from home has its benefits, it also comes with some challenges. I’m hoping that these gifts will make the transition easier for those who are finding themselves working from home for the foreseeable future.

Budget-Friendly ($50 and under)

There’s nothing worse than your coffee going cold, and having to get up to microwave it 5+ times before you finally finish it. And of course, every time you get up to reheat your coffee, you lose your train of thought with whatever you were just working on. Let them enjoy their coffee without interruption with this mug warmer!

When you’re working in an office, you get used to working with the background noise of your colleagues hard at work around you. When you’re at home, it’s a lot quieter. Maybe the person you’re buying for doesn’t like to work in complete silence, but also can’t focus if they’ve got music or a podcast playing in the background. This white noise machine would be the perfect gift for them! It will break up the deafening silence without taking their mind off their work.

Get that special someone a personalized mug to enjoy their coffee in the mornings. All their coworkers will be envious when they see them sipping from this beautiful mug during their Zoom meetings!

Mid-Price ($150 and under)

One of the perks of working from home is getting to dress a bit more comfortably than if you’re in the office. However, depending on your role you may still be expected to dress in office attire during your meetings. Help them achieve their comfort goals in style with these Ugg slippers!

Do they need to take a lot of notes during their meetings, or plan out their day in a planner? Treat them to a fancy rollerball pen – they’ll be thinking of you every time they pick it up!

Do they have to print off or scan documents for work? Maybe they never bothered getting a printer since they could always use the one at the office – and now they’re constantly heading to Staples to scan or print documents. Save them the trip and gift them a printer that they can also use to scan documents!

What’s a price limit?

A closed door can only conceal so much, and chances are their boss doesn’t want family or roommates listening in on what’s being discussed in those morning meetings. Help protect their privacy with a sleek pair of AirPods.

Was hitting up Starbucks part of their morning ritual on their way to work? Now that they’re working from home, making that trip to Starbucks just to come back home might feel like a waste of time. Help them fulfill their coffee needs with a Nespresso machine, so they can brew their own lattes right at home!

Whether they’re working at their kitchen table, or they managed to throw together a decent work-from-home office space in a dedicated room, chances are they don’t have the same quality of furniture that their actual office provided. Gift them an ergonomic office chair, and save them the grief of an aching back.

Happy gifting!

Until next time,
Nadine

Honey Roasted Almonds

I’m not sure where this recipe originated from, but my grandpa used to make these honey roasted almonds, so I copied the recipe from him. He didn’t make them all the time, but sometimes we’d go over to their house and there would be a bowl of them sitting on the coffee table. And when that happened, I’d have to resist the urge to shove a fistful of them into my mouth the moment I sat down.

I bought a big bag of raw almonds from Costco a few weeks ago, and had been putting off making these because I just had a feeling they were going to take me an entire afternoon to make, and I honestly just didn’t have it in me. But they were so simple, and I think they only took me about half an hour to make.

Serves: 2 cups of almonds

Ingredients:

2 cups raw almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. water
2 tsp. canola oil
2 tbsp. honey

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350F. Cover baking sheet with foil, dull side up; this helps them roast faster. Roast for about 10 minutes or until browned. The rule of thumb is once you can smell them they are done. Let nuts cool completely. Leave foil on the baking sheet to be used later.
In a small bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
Add wet ingredients to a large sauté pan and heat over medium high heat, whisking constantly until it comes to a boil. Add nuts and stir constantly until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the nuts, about 2 minutes. Be very careful not to scorch your nuts! Add dry mixture and stir until sugar has caramelized. A little more than a minute. Spread in a single layer on your foil covered baking sheet and let cool before serving.

If you’re thinking these almonds are going to be really sweet, don’t worry. My dad doesn’t like sweets at all, and he loves these almonds. He made his own batch before I attempted them, so he gave me a good tip: if you want to double the recipe, don’t. Make one single batch, and then when you’re done make a second single batch. If you double the recipe you could end up with too much sauce, and it might not spread evenly over the almonds. But it’s so simple to make that doing two separate batches is not difficult or overwhelming at all!

Until next time,
Nadine

GHD Flat Iron

I was lucky enough to get a GHD flat iron for my birthday, and it is seriously life changing. If you’re sitting there thinking, yeah right, it’s probably just a gimmick. How could it be any different from every other flat iron out there? then I seriously encourage you to keep reading. You wouldn’t think there could be that much difference between flat irons, but there is. Here’s why I quickly fell in love with my GHD flat iron…

It is super quick to heat up, which is so nice. And when I say quick, I mean quick. It takes 20 seconds maximum, and it chimes to let you know when it has finished heating. I find this little chime to be quite handy too, because then I don’t have to keep impatiently checking to see if it’s warm enough yet or not.

Not only is it efficient with heating up, but it is also efficient with actually straightening my hair! With my old flat iron, I would have to go over a section of hair 2-3 times, depending on the state of it. But with my GHD flat iron, I only have to go over each section once, and it makes my hair even straighter than it would have been after going over it 2-3 times with my old flat iron!

While it’s efficient in straightening my hair, it is also incredibly gentle on my hair. It glides over each section very smoothly, and I never feel like it’s pulling at my hair or breaking the strands. I think I can also credit this gentleness for the reason my hair has been looking so much healthier since using this flat iron. I used to have endless frizzy bits even after straightening my hair with my last flat iron, but with my GHD my hair is so slick, and there’s not a trace of frizz! My hair also looks shinier too – I don’t know how it’s possible, considering I’m not using any new hair products in conjunction with this flat iron. Who knows what the technology is behind this product, but it’s doing an incredible job in keeping my hair healthy!

If you’re not sure whether this product is worth it, let me be the one to tell you that it 100% is. It has made doing my hair so much more enjoyable, and makes my hair feel so luscious and smooth afterwards. Even Michael has noticed a difference in my hair! I never used to put much thought or care into how I styled my hair in the past, but this is a game changer.

I truly cannot go back to any other flat iron after using my GHD. It feels like such a treat every time I get to use it.

Until next time,
Nadine

Weekend in Photos (November 14-15)

This weekend we spent a lot of time outside – we went snowshoeing on Saturday, and then on Sunday we went to the dog park with some friends, and put up our outdoor Christmas lights! After our snowshoeing adventure on Saturday, my mom and I made some Christmas cards with some watercolour paints. It was really fun, and makes me want to do some more artsy things for Christmas!

Until next time,
Nadine

Birthday Weekend

My birthday was on Sunday, but Michael and I ended up celebrating just the two of us on Saturday, and then my family came over to celebrate on Sunday. Normally I’d have liked to plan something with friends, but with the stress of Covid this year, I just wanted to do something lowkey rather than worry about planning anything. You’ll also notice there’s a theme with how we celebrated my birthday. This is because I love Christmas, and if there was ever a year that we needed some Christmas cheer ASAP, it’s this year.

We started off my birthday weekend with a trip to the dog park. It looked a lot different following the huge dump of snow we got! It was Baxter’s first time ever seeing so much snow, and he absolutely loved it.

Michael and I had gone to get some Christmas decorations the night before, but I wanted to go to some garden centres to get cute little decorations for the house, so that’s what we did. I didn’t take any photos of our shopping trip, but we managed to get a few pieces from Greenland Garden Centre! We also popped into Ellerslie Gift and Garden, but they didn’t have much of a Christmas selection yet. We still managed to find a cute Christmassy lantern, though.

My mom said she’d take care of the cake for Sunday, but Michael still went out and got me some birthday cupcakes from Crave, and then surprised me with this little birthday display!

Baxter really did not like the balloons, and any time one fell on the floor he’d start incessantly barking at it. He ended up trying to paw at one, and it immediately popped, which I’m sure did nothing to help his balloon fear!

Michael had originally made a dinner reservation for my birthday supper, but with all the snow that was still coming down outside, I really had no desire to leave the house again that day. We decided it would probably be a better idea to just stay home, so we ordered sushi to the house instead.

We also enjoyed a nice game of crib.

On my actual birthday, my family came over and we made some Christmas wreaths! I’m really happy with how mine turned out – usually when I plan to do some kinda crafty thing like this, I have high expectations for how it’ll turn out and then end up disappointed when my vision doesn’t come to life. Or I get impatient and stop putting any effort in, then regret it later when I look at my finished project and wish it was nicer. But this time I was genuinely pleased with the end result! And even now, days later, I still love it and wouldn’t change anything about it!

For my birthday supper we ordered Padmanadi – if you haven’t tried Padmanadi yet, try it. Seriously. It’s so delicious. And don’t worry about the fact that it’s a vegan restaurant (because I know some people are weird about that). But it doesn’t “taste vegan” or whatever if you’re worried about that sort of thing. Their ginger beef tastes so much like real ginger beef, and has such a similar texture, that it’s actually suspicious – suspiciously delicious.

After supper, we all played games for the rest of the evening. I think I won 2 out of 3 of the games we played, which is only right considering it was my birthday!

All in all it was a wonderful birthday weekend.

Until next time,
Nadine

Quiet Girl in a Noisy World

Quiet Girl in a Noisy World is the perfect book for introverts, and anyone who wants to understand what it’s like to be an introvert.

Every time I read this collection of comics, it brings me such a sense of calm and comfort. As someone who identifies as being quite introverted, and sometimes uncomfortable in social gatherings, I find Debbie Tung’s comics about her struggles and joys as an introvert to be incredibly relatable. Reading this makes me feel understood, like I was seeing someone else describe my own life.

When I first read this book, I couldn’t believe that someone else felt the exact same way as I do in social situations – some as big as parties, and some as minor as receiving a phone call. And not in a way that’s trying to be quirky. Just a genuine, authentic representation of how I often feel. This book made me feel less insecure about being introverted, and made me feel more open to speaking to others about it. This made me realize that, although not everyone can relate to every single thing I’m going through, a lot of people do feel the same way as me! There are some people who I would consider to be quite extroverted, but when I tell them that I hate answering the phone, and that I let many calls just go to voicemail, they told me they felt the same way. Feeling comfortable enough to discuss these things with others made me feel so much less alone in these experiences, and less like an outcast for feeling the way that I do.

While I think this is a great book for introverts to read in order to feel understood, I think it’s also a great book to read if you know someone who is introverted or feels socially awkward! This will help you understand them and their experiences in a way you might not otherwise be able to – especially if this person doesn’t yet feel comfortable to discuss these feelings openly yet. I urged my boyfriend to read it, and I pointed out my favourite comics or the ones I could relate to the most. He sad he found some parts of it to be quite sad, knowing I struggle in those ways. But I didn’t feel sad at all when reading this, even at the parts that maybe do address difficult situations. I really just felt relieved that there are other people who feel this way too, and who are brave enough to discuss their feelings. Plus, I can tell this book wasn’t written for sympathy. It wasn’t written so that people would feel sorry for Debbie Tung for feeling the way she does. Rather, I read it as an exploration of her identity, and a way of coming to terms with, accepting, and embracing this part of herself.

I first discovered Debbie Tung’s comics on instagram, and instantly fell in love as I saw my own personality being represented on her page. When I found out she was releasing a book, I had to have it. And I’ve never related to anything more.

If you’ve read this collection of comics as well, I’d love to hear your perspective on them.

Until next time,
Nadine

The Best Dog Walkers in Edmonton

A quick note: All the photos in this post were sent to me by members of The Leash Team. For more adorable photos, check out their instagram! @theleashteam

When I knew I would be starting a new job at the beginning of September, we knew we had to figure out a situation to make sure Baxter was still being taken care of, and getting the attention and exercise he needs during the day. Yes, I’m working from home right now so I can still let him out to go to the bathroom when he needs, but I can’t really play with him or give him attention since I need to be working. And, eventually, I’m going to be working at the office, so I wanted him to get used to not having me around all day.

Originally, we had started looking at doggy daycares for him. But, the more I was looking at them, the less sense it made for our situation. It would be mandatory for him to be neutered by 6 months of age at most of them, and according to our vet it’s better for his health if we wait closer to a year of age for the procedure since he’s a larger breed. It also just didn’t make sense for me to be driving to drop him off and pick him up when one of the perks of working from home is saving money on gas.

So, we decided to look into dog walkers instead. That way, I could still keep him in his crate during at least half the day while I’m working. And then, when he’s old enough to be left in the house by himself, I can just close the door to our office where I’m working if I need to. By doing this, he’d get used to being alone during the day, and by having a dog walker I’d feel confident knowing he’s still getting exercise during the day. While I was looking for dog walkers in Edmonton, I found The Leash Team, and I’m so glad I did.

Baxter absolutely loves them, and warmed up to Dan right away during our initial consultation. I was a little bit worried, because Baxter has always been apprehensive of strangers. But the moment he started going for walks with them, he fell in love! Now when they come to pick him up, I can hear his cage rattling as he likely wiggles with excitement!

**Baxter with one of his new best friends, Harriet.**

I feel so happy with our decision to go with a dog walker rather than a dog daycare as well, because I’m not sure Baxter would be getting the same amount of exercise at a dog daycare. Apparently, with dog daycares, their main goal is to keep dogs nice and calm during the day – I don’t doubt this, either, as some listed that they had “nap time” during the day (I’m not really sure how you enforce nap time with dogs!) But I know Baxter must be getting plenty of exercise on his walks with The Leash Team, because he comes home and just sleeps all afternoon!

Another benefit of choosing a dog walker for Baxter is that I know he’s getting the socialization with other dogs that’s really important at this age. Sometimes when we take him to the dog park there aren’t many other dogs around, or the dogs that are present aren’t really interested in playing. I started to genuinely worry that Baxter wasn’t getting the proper socialization he needed, and that he’d never learn how to behave around other dogs. Since The Leash Team does group dog walks, I feel at ease knowing that Baxter is guaranteed to socialize with other dogs every time he goes on a walk. And it’s paying off! When we first brought Baxter to the dog park, he seemed unsure of a lot of the dogs there – if one of them ran towards him to play, he’d be sprinting away from them with his tail between his legs. But now when we take him, he runs to play with the other dogs without hesitation – his confidence has grown so much after just over a month with The Leash Team.

Dan also assured us that although they do off-leash walks, they would start Baxter on a leash in case he runs off. It’s a long leash, so he gets to wander away quite a bit, which gave them the chance to work on his recall. Then, when his recall was good, they’d leave the leash on him but not hold onto it – that way if he does start to take off, they can grab the leash easier than they can grab him! And, as an extra safety measure (which I appreciate because I’m someone who always worries about the worst case scenario!), they put a GPS tracker on him so if he did manage to run off, they would be able to locate him. I’m happy to say that, although I was working with Baxter on his recall for a while, it has gotten so much better since he started with The Leash Team. Before we signed him up, he would sometimes come when called – it depended on what he was doing when we called him. But now, he can be playing with another dog at the park, and he’ll still come when we call for him.

I’m so happy that we signed Baxter up for walks with The Leash Team. If you live in Edmonton and you’re considering a dog walker, or even a dog daycare, I’d highly suggest reaching out to The Leash Team.

Until next time,
Nadine

Weekend in Photos (October 17-18)

How are we already halfway through October? This year is somehow both flying by and dragging on. Michael came home this week after being away at work for a few weeks, so we did a bit of homeware shopping!

Michael was up extra early on Saturday to watch a soccer game. I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep so I came downstairs to join him, and found Baxter keeping him company!

Our living room didn’t have a light fixture in it, and now that it gets dark earlier we were in desperate need of some lamps. We picked these up at Ikea, and it gives the room such a warm, cozy vibe.

We also picked up this giant mirror, which matches the hutch really well and fills out our huge wall nicely. We will still need to get some artwork for that wall eventually!

After a busy day Saturday, we treated ourselves to Indian food from Rasoi on 50th. I highly recommend this restaurant if you live in Edmonton!

Until next time,
Nadine

Thanksgiving 2020

This Thanksgiving I insisted on hosting, since it’s the first Thanksgiving in our new house! My parents, my brother, and my brother’s girlfriend all came over. My parents also brought our family dog, Murphy, so it was a bit of a circus with the two dogs!

Normally, we attend a large family reunion with everyone on my mom’s side of the family, but obviously with everything going on right now that wouldn’t be a good idea.

We started off the afternoon playing games and eating snacks, because we love celebrating holidays with games and snacks!

It wasn’t long before Murphy was all tired out from playing.

My dad also thought a nap sounded like a good idea. Baxter disagreed.

With great effort, I managed to get Baxter to sit still long enough for a Thanksgiving photo.

A very tasty, incredibly filling Thanksgiving dinner! I always forget how filling everything is when I’m piling all the food on my plate, and then by the time I finish the second type of potatoes we have, I’m starting to regret my portion sizes. However, I’m still grateful for all the food because it means leftovers and turkey sandwiches all week long!

But no matter how full you are from supper, there’s always room for dessert. And that’s exactly how we finished off our day – with dessert, and more games!

I’m very grateful my family lives in the city, and that we were all able to get together for Thanksgiving. I know we’re living in a very uncertain time, and not everyone could be with their family for the holiday. But I hope everyone was able to have a happy Thanksgiving this past weekend, regardless of how you celebrated.

Until next time,
Nadine