red and yellow

While looking around my room I noticed a have quite a few pieces that "go" together quite well. Here is a pairing of my red and yellow items where the shades are spot on.

must buy if you live in the 'peg

pretty little pink things beat me to the punch here, but if you have not got yourself down to mcnally robinson yet please do to pick up the last issue of sandbox magazine do so now!! The last issue I would say is their best yet, reminding very much so of the first issue I picked up nearly 2 years ago really putting a unique focus on the people & places here in winnipeg. I adored the article on candy lam owner of paramix and kawaii crepe, the fashionable etsy store owners and the new coffee and art shops popping up around town. Looking foward to seeing what is next to come.

batiste & katie gallagher fall/winter 2012

I absolutely love batiste dry shampoo, so much so it is isn't even funny, once you try it you will never want to try another brand I swear.  With new york fashion week freshly wrapped up batiste was the official sponsor of up and coming designer katie gallagher. It was a great pairing, since dry shampoo refreshes your hair while also adding texture. I have also come up with an amazing trick that I have been using to help combat any fears of spraying white powder on your hair before you go out. Even though batiste does brush out and blend very very well I have been spraying my hair before I got to bed and letting my pillow do all to the work of blending. When I wake up in the morning my hair is ready to go! Batiste is truly one of my holy grail products.

organic review: threla

While searching etsy for all things earl grey related I came across threla an organic home-made beauty and skin care line. I obviously had to order the earl grey lip balm but also added a few more items to my cart seeing as threla offers beyond reasonable prices for the high quality items they offer. Here is a review of what I purchased. {note they offer an online store and etsy store so I won't link the items directly but let you choose what site you like better}

calming mangosteen clay mask: I love mix it your self clay masks and at $3 this was well worth a try. I did find that this mask did not mix as well with water as other beauty mud's I have tried in the past so do beware it takes a bit of hard work to incorporate the powder with the water, once mixed it makes for a very light and easy to spread clay mask. The scent is stronger once mixed and it quite lovely. Overall I do like the mask I myself have mixed it in with some other clay powder I have and will use it in honey.

green tea scrub: I loooove things with green tea and this exfoliating powder is no exception. it has a lovely light scent and when mixed with water gives a very gentle scrubbing effect. I like my scrubs more severe so I have been mixing this with another gently pre-made scrub to make for a once a week super scrub. Lovely product overall.

earl grey lip tint: This comes in a tinted version and regular balm, I choose the tinted version because I loved the unique oval shape of threla's lip tints. The smell is amazing and the tint subtle but with a nice gold shine to it. Their balms soften the lips with out leaving a thick residue. I have been using this under my lipsticks and it has been a great base. I can never go back to blistex now that I know earl grey and green tea lip balms exist!

green tea citrus deodorant: This is the travel size of their all natural deodorants and it so so cute at barely 2.25 inches tall this is great for your purse. I have found this very easy to apply seeing as it is so small and fits your body quite well. The smell is amazing and does not transfer to your clothes at all. Very natural feeling and does a good job of keeping you fresh.

I absolutely adore natural brands and am pleased the add threla to my list of new brands I love.

AVEDA Institute Hair School Scholarship Video Contest

Hair styling is not my thing. In fact I am horrible at it I have always been envious of those who manage to make their hair look good on a daily basis and not resort to loose buns day after day. I was pleased to hear that Aveda has opened a new hair school in Winnipeg located in the distinctive ashdown building in Winnipeg’s exchange district. The Aveda Institute in Winnipeg will house an Institute and Academy Salon Program as well as the first Aveda retail store in Manitoba! Aveda is holding a great contest for potential students called "Born to Style" potential students can submit a video showing why they are born to style and can win 1 of 5 FULL scholarships including one to their new Winnipeg Institute:) For more information view the video below or visit their contest page

lasagna cupcakes

I found this recipe over the weekend and could not wait to try it out! Making a big pan of lasagna takes a lot of work and these little cuties seemed so much easier and nicer to look at. I used this recipe from tablespoon as my guide line but switched it around so I will post what I did to make mine.

What you will need:
wonton wrappers {they come in packages of 80 which is way too much, I freeze the left overs and they taste just fine}
1 lb ground beef
pasta sauce of your choice {I used rago}
shredded cheese {mozarella for me}
optional {olive oil, sea salt, pepper and basil paste}

How to make:
Cook ground beef in olive oil, salt & pepper and basil paste until thoroughly cooked
Preheat oven to 375 degrees, spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
I placed one square wonton wrapper in the muffin tin so the edges popped up a bit, I filled with a spoon full of ground beef, a spoon of pasta sauce, added a little cheese and than added a spoon more of beef.
I than used a circle cookie cutter and cut a wonton wrapper to make the "top" of my lasagna cupcakes. On top of the wonton I added a bit more sauce and covered with cheese. I managed to make 10 of these and we had some left over they look small but are filling.
I baked mine for 16 minutes and than turned the oven to broil for the last 2 minutes which was just perfect.
The cupcakes remove quite easily with a knife, if you get cheese on the pan it makes them harder to get out...

Overall these are probably the tastiest little things I have made in a long time. Pizza lasagna is next and possibly mac and cheese cupcakes as well!

slight change

I LOVE buttons and my favorite thing to do is change out most of my buttons. These 2 tops from old navy got their buttons changed this week from subtle to stand out. I was going to go colour block crazy and add the orange buttons to the green top but ended up going more classic. I also resisted my urge to put a classic combo of black buttons on the ivory top. Overall it was a quick fix and I am sure I will still fiddle around with them, but I am loving the more unique look coloured buttons give these simple tops.

recent purchases:beauty

I have been using these products for a little over 2 mo's now and sometimes there is instant love and other times you need a few months to know that this product is actually working wonder for you... I bought the covergirl tone rehab foundation on a whim since my skin was getting so oily with my maybelline dream mousse foundation. I of course read reviews on it after I got home and seem to have a very different take on this foundation. Many reviews say this foundation is not for oily skin but I have found this is the best foundation I have used! my t-zone is matte for hours if I use this foundation alone on my skin, if I use a primer I do notice my skin gets oily...The tone rehab aspect of this foundation is amazing, it really covers up blotchy skin, acne scars and general blah skin. The only thing that has been keeping me from proclaiming my love is how it feels on my skin, my skin feels quite cakey and not skin like to the touch, although nobody touches my face but me it has been turning me off. But right now this has been able to keep my wandering foundation eye satisfied.

Ooooh how I have chapped lips in the winter, I bought this after making my own was too messy and didn't seem to be quite the same. At $9 is is slightly pricey but I have gotten a lot of use out of it and I still have more than 3/4 a jar after 2 mo's. I use this morning and night to gently scrub my lips and it has done a pretty good job of keeping my lips from splitting if I could stop wearing lipstick my lips may be doing even better. Overall if you are too lazy to make your own sugar scrub I recommend just buying this one!

just saying...

dessert sinsations has the best imperial cookies I have tried in town {best sweet potato fries as well}

flea market style in the peg

note: not taken at this weekends flea market, taken off google, bad me

Over this past weekend The downs hosted it's annual flea market with proceeds going to riding for the disabled. I always look forward to the huge flea market like sales that hit winnipeg in the spring and fall. The next few events are planned for Sunday March 11th at canad inns polo park {10am to 4pm}and the downs will host another spring antique and collectible show Friday, April 13, 2012 {5pm - 9pm}, Saturday, April 14, {10am - 4pm} Do keep in mind there is a cover charge for these flea markets of around $4. Although I usually come home empty handed it is nice to see the variety of vintage items. Winnipeg also has 2 year round free flea markets that will fill your weekend urge to shop for vintage. Thirsty's and the mulvey market are open saturdays and sundays and most holidays. This summer I have plans on making better use of these markets.

oh no you didn't...

Don't get me wrong I love that this spring chiffon is everywhere. I just find that it tends to run big on me and my skinny arms are getting lost in these loose tops. After much debate I decided to try my luck and cut the arms off one of my shirts. As it turns out it was easier than expected, with tiny sewing scissors {think cuticle scissors} I cut the sleeve as close the the seam line as humanly possible right above the original serger seam. If you do attempt this keep the original serger seam don't cut off the arm and think you will hem it and it will look nice...

I almost didn't even have the sew the top but figured I would fold over the serger seam to make a nice clean edge. The only problem is I decided to do my project at 8 o'clock at night and didn't bother waiting till I had the proper thread color...but under cardigans nobody will know!