the impending swap

Ok, it's official - Christmas is coming!!! The bucket of Halloween candy was emptied by all the little kiddies tonight and the countdown for my favourite holiday is now on!

I'm always invited to at least one cookie swap every season and do my best to find an interesting recipe that might stand out amongst the gingerbread, shortbread and sugar cookies (not that I have anything against those traditional favorites). I just came across this recipe for white chocolate dipped peanut butter stuffed chocolate cookies... #amiright? The recipe seems a little labor intensive, but I think the final product is worth the extra time. My mouth started watering the minute I came across the recipe!

What are your go-to recipes for the annual cookie swaps? 

(PS. I promise to take a break on the Christmas posts until later in November, I just had to share a little bit of my excitement!)

weekend in wellington

We just got home from our second annual Halloween weekend with Acadia friends in Wellington. We rode bikes around to local Prince Edward County vineyards, feasted on some wonderful meals and danced the night away at the Hayloft Dancehall. We won the costume prize last year with our shark week costume, and attempted to reclaim our title this year with our taxidermy costume (unfortunately I didn't get a great photo of the final look). We lost to a group of girls who dressed up as Cats from the broadway musical, who were very deserved of the title. 

It was nice to get away and spend time with great friends. The brainstorming has already begun for next years costume!

{ Wellington has the most beautiful homes and B&B's }

{ tasted lots of wine at my favorite, Norman Hardie }

{ we brought home a few bottles to enjoy over the winter too! }

{ we had brunch at the local Courage Cafe }

{ turns out rubber masks are very hot and don't have great visibility, 

but we had some good laughs dancing around in them! }

a beautiful gift

I was lucky enough to celebrate my bachelorette with a close group of girlfriends last weekend. We went up to a family friends cottage and I couldn't have dreamed of of a more perfect getaway!! My bridesmaids and a close friend had planned the weekend, and among all the other surprises, surprised me with a beautiful monogrammed leather tote bag.

I had mentioned in passing a few times, about how when I got married, I wanted to get a good quality everyday tote bag with my new initials (I plan on changing my last name to Gray). Well, I'm lucky to have friends who picked up what I was putting down because they chose a beautiful eggplant colored Baggu leather tote, and had K G discreetly monogrammed on the side. D joked that I couldn't use it until we got married, but I haven't been able to resist and have carried it with me everywhere this week. The leather is buttery soft and I can already tell it's going to be a favorite wardrobe staple for a very long time!

happy thanksgiving

{ beautiful view of the six }

Thanksgiving always feels like the official beginning of Fall and I'm loving the sunny, crisp weather we're having here in the city. We're going apple picking tomorrow and have two family feasts to look forward to! We've had fun celebrating the Blue Jays victories this week and although it's been a busy couple of weeks, they've been very fulfilling. 

I hope your weekend is filled with time spent with family and pumpkin pie!

Happy Thanksgiving! xx

{ ps. a beautifully touching article that had me in tears }

{ there's something about new workout gear that provides major motivation }

{ a beautiful marble notebook we will use to recite our wedding vows! }

{ delicious desserts to finish off an amazing meal at Richmond Station }

{ prep for a recent girls night at home }

{ my first hot chocolate of the season, one of my favorite treats }

my skincare routine

Since getting engaged I've been putting a huge emphasis on my skin. It's been one of my biggest beauty insecurities so I've been diligent about paying extra attention to my daily routine and the  products I'm using. 

In addition to monthly facials that I've been getting, here are some of my favorite at home products... 

Unfortunately, I'm prone to small blemishes and the occasional pimple (which makes me feel like I'm 13). This Origins Super Spot Remover acne treatment is great for drying out pimples but doesn't over dry and redden surrounding skin. The La Roche-Posay Cicaplast was described to me as a beauty SOS cream and it really helps heal blemishes and lessen scarring. 

In between my facials, I'll do 2-3 at-home masks. I'm a fan of how my skin reacts to Origin products, and I love the Clear Improvements charcoal mask. The charcoal feels good at application and leaves my skin feeling super clean. I use a Fresh soy cleanser when I travel and like this Rose Face Mask as a less intense alternative - plus it smells like rose water.

One of the tips and feedback I hear most after my facials is that I need to moisturize more. I've used the same daily Neutrogena moisturizer ever since I can remember and have added an Olay night cream into my routine for the past year (it was rated by some beauty editors as the best drug mart night cream). I've also had fun with these I'm Real Aloe Sheet Masks I picked up in New York, they leave my skin feeling hydrated to the max!

+ + + + + 

I'd love to know - what are your beauty go-to products? What's on your bathroom counter at the moment? 

honeymoon

So this weekend's wedding planning resulted in us booking our honeymoon! 

Both D and I agreed that our top honeymoon destination would have been Europe, but February/March weather was less then appealing, so we decided to postpone a return to Europe and focus on booking a week in the sun. We knew we wanted to check out an island we hadn't visited before and had heard good things about Barbados. We had dreamed of finding a place with it's own private pool but as my search began I realized it might be a luxury outside of our budget. I decided to take a look on VRBO yesterday and found this amazing penthouse unit at the condominiums at The Crane, which is the oldest resort on the island. I had looked at the hotel rates earlier in my research and the rooms with private pools were three times as much, which was way more then we could afford - so when I stumbled across this suite it almost seemed too good to be true! 

It will give us the privacy we are looking for, access to their beautiful beach, convenience of resort amenities (I definitely plan on visiting the spa!) and we can still get out and explore the island at our leisure. 

There's a lot to think about with planning the wedding so it is so exciting knowing that we have a week of lounging on those pool chairs to look forward to!

wedding update

As of today, we've been engaged for exactly 5 months and there is 5 months (+3 days) left until our wedding day! I'm happy to report that we've come a long way since the initial days of planning and have sorted out a good portion of the important details.

Invitations: We're working with Paper & Poste to create our wedding invitations. They've made so many beautiful invitations (just flip through a recent edition of Wedluxe to see some) and when we met with Lexi (co-owner and designer) it felt like we were just chatting and laughing with an old friend. We've come up with a simple and modern design and I can barely wait to hold the finished product in my hands.

Food: We recently sat down and chose our menu from a long list of options offered by the Food Dudes. Each and every option sounded incredible, so it was no easy feat. We've booked our tasting for later in October, which I'm expecting to be even more enjoyable than cake tasting!

Cake: Speaking of cake.. We had a tasting booked at Le Dolci, and unfortunately D got caught in traffic on his way downtown so I met with the designer to discuss the aesthetic we were looking for and ended up taking the cupcakes home with me. D and I had an impromptu cake tasting on the couch later that same night!

Hotel: We've chosen the Thompson Hotel for our hotel block and recently booked ourselves a suite for the night of the wedding. We're hosting a morning-after brunch in the rooftop space that has amazing views of the city. I can't wait to sip on mimosas and chat with family and friends about the night-before.

Photographer: We will be working with Hugh Whitaker on our wedding day(!!!) He is so uber talented and I love his artistic, out-of-the-box shooting style (as far as wedding photography goes). I have zero doubt we will end up with the most amazing wedding photos ever.

Given our relatively short engagement, there's still a few details on the to-do list...

- Final decision on band & florist (we have it narrowed down to our front runners)

- Suits for all the gentlemen

- Bridesmaids dresses

- Honeymoon

+ + + + +

Some fun facts about being engaged: 

- We call each other 'fiance' when we're home alone together (there's something corny and playful about it)

- I clean my ring obsessively

- strangers are so kind about congratulating us 

- we've learned the wedding industry in Toronto really isn't that big - everyone sort of knows each other and is familiar with who has what to offer (which definitely helps in terms of suggestions and feedback!)
- I play 21 questions with anyone who has recently attended a wedding - 'how was the food', 'did they have a DJ or band', 'what did the decor look like?'... I'm always interested to hear peoples feedback about what they loved or disliked

rehearsing in style

{ photo via 9to5chic }

A few months ago, after recently getting engaged I was browsing Pinterest for winter wedding inspiration. The Christmas colors and snowflakes were totally lost on me, but this winter white outfit was right up my alley and matched the aesthetic I had dreamed up in my mind - classic and understated. The sleek skirt paired with a chunky knit sweater was so effortlessly beautiful - I knew I wanted to recreate the look for our rehearsal dinner and have been on the lookout for pieces ever since.  I came across this J.Crew lace skirt and knew instantly it was my own version from the inspiration photo. Spoiler: my wedding dress has zero lace, so the delicate lace feels appropriately fancy and special. I'll continue to look for the perfect knit sweater and feminine heels to pair with it for our final dinner as fiance's in February. 

{ J.Crew lace pencil skirt }

P.S. Shopping tip: I realized after I had purchased the skirt that I had somehow missed a 25% off promo code. I called J.Crew and they quickly honored the discount, and applied a free shipping code that had popped up the day after my purchase. Apparently they will honor any promotions within 7 days of the purchase!

weekend in algonquin

We spent this past weekend on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park with two of our best friends who are visiting from Vancouver. I think this marked our third annual weekend together and it is always a summer highlight. We played frisbee golf, swam in the lake, sipped wine by the fire, caught up over amazing cheese platters and went crazy during hour-long dance parties. We came home with very happy, full hearts (oh and full bellies too, after a stop at Webers!). 

happy weekend

{ a beautiful birthday gift sent from my sister in Australia }

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of travel and celebrations. My birthday fell on the Tuesday after our NYC weekend and I was lucky enough to celebrate with a group of great friends over tacos and margaritas at Cafeteria. I was spoiled rotten and was reminded of how birthdays are such a special acknowledgement of how loved I am.

We went up to our friends new cabin on Lake Joseph in Muskoka this past weekend and swam tons and caught up around the campfire. I also ate my weight in roasted marshmallows...

We had a wedding appointment with a terrific florist this week (who I'm really hoping we get to work with), I went to a Blue Jays game with my co-workers and we caught up with a cousin who was visiting from San Francisco.

This weekend we're off to Algonquin Park tonight to spend time with friends visiting from Vancouver! I don't mean to share my life story, but hopefully reminiscing of recent days helps you understand why this little blog has been suffering lately. 

We've made some exciting wedding progress which I can't wait to share next week!

Whatever you're up to this weekend, enjoy yourself! This September weather is so enjoyable compared to the sweaty, sticky heat of August. xx

{ birthday gang at Cafeteria } 

(the restaurant didn't have air-con and I think all of us left 5 pounds lighter from sweating so much) 

{ a sassy clutch that I picked up in cottage country, of all places }

{ the sunniest day the skydome, which totally warranted ice cream }