Weekend Recap

aug 31 | Weekend Recap

Well yet another weekend has flown by and this one was the last one in August! I can't believe its going to be September already, where is the time going?

At least the weather is still summer weather and it was absolutely perfect for spending some time outside.

On Saturday the guy and I drove out to Niagara-on-the-Lake just after lunch and managed to squeeze in a couple of wineries before closing.

First stop was Trius Hillebrand, one of my favourites, where I did a flight of white and he covered off the reds.

Since it was his first time at this winery I insisted we walk around a little so he could see grounds and take in the amazing views. While we were wandering, he noticed a couple of picnic benches off to the side and suggested we head over to check it out. To our welcomed surprise they had a grill going, so we ordered up a couple of pulled pork sliders and hung out amongst the vines for a while.

Once we finished we headed off down the road, literally, to Jackson Triggs where the tasting room was absolutely nuts. Instead of being squished in with everyone else, we opted to buy a glass and sit out on the patio were we proceeded to order even more food, and just enjoy a great conversation.

Once we finished up at the vineyards we headed home, with a stop in Hamilton to visit with some of his friends and have dinner, (More food!). By the time we rolled up at home it was after midnight and I was beyond exhausted. Wine, sun and long drives really do this girl in.

Sunday morning my mom and I hit the salon for some pedicures and girl time. When we were finished we went by Carters Osh kosh so she could pick up a few more things to add to her already over flowing suitcase of goodies to take my cousins in Portugal next month.

After shopping I was ready to lay back and do nothing, so I grabbed my kobo and headed out to the back yard to enjoy.

Savouring the last bit of summer, we threw a couple of chops and steaks on the grill and enjoyed dinner on the deck, complete with candles as the sun went down.

Hope you all got out to enjoy the last August weekend!

xo,

        Taryn

Birthday Celebrations

aug 26 | Birthday Celebrations

If the photo of the absurdly large 30 didn't already give it away, I recently celebrated a rather large milestone. My birthday was last week and I have successfully avoided writing this post until now, as I have sort of been living in denial. It is hard to believe I am no longer a twenty something!

To help ease me into this next chapter of my life my family and friends spent nearly a week celebrating with me.

The festivities started the weekend before my actual birthday when my parents and sister threw what was supposed to be a surprise party, with all my family and some close friends. Even though I knew what was happening they still managed to sneak in a few unexpected things, including those balloons, and a cupcake tower!

I haven't had a real get together for my birthday in a few years, so it was extra sweet to have them take the time to organize everything.

On my actual birthday we kept things a low key with a dinner out at a nearby sushi place and cake and champagne at home afterwards. It was the perfect way to celebrate, intimate and with bubbly!

To round out the week, the amazing group of girls I work with took me for a drink at a little wine bar around the corner from our office. We toasted my birthday and how lucky I am to have them in my life to share this milestone with.

All in all, despite not being completely ready to accept that I am now starting a new chapter in my life, I couldn't have asked for a better way to kick it off. There are a lot of things I will miss about being a twenty something, but at the same time there are a lot of things to look forward to in my thirties.

I may not be exactly where I thought I would, and there are a lot of things I still have left to accomplish. But I know that I am the rule, not the exception, and those things I thought I needed to have figured out, I don't. Everything will fall into place when they are supposed to. I just need to look at how far I have come and how far I still have to go. I am thankful for what I have and the love I get to share with the amazing individuals in my life.

And as one of my friends said to me in one of my pre-birthday freak outs, relax, you're only one day older!

xo

         Taryn

Weekend Recap

aug 24 | Weekend Recap

Last week was a little on the busy side for me so I was more then excited to see the weekend come.

The girls at work had decided earlier in the week that they were going to take me out for birthday drinks on Friday evening, so who was I to protest. We dropped by a little wine bar around the corner from our office and spilt a bottle and tray of small bites. (FYI splitting a bottle was so much better and less expensive then getting our own drinks, definite repeat for the future).

Once we finished up, I headed home to meet up with another friend. We ended up sitting on a patio until after midnight chatting about everything under the sun. Those conversations are always the best!

Not having to much planned for Saturday, I ended up hitting the gym twice! I did a morning lift class and followed that up with a body blitz class in the afternoon. Crazy, I know, but so much fun!!

After working up a sweat I hit Starbucks on the way home and threw away all my hard work on a venti frappuccino. I hadn't used my birthday treat reward and when Starbucks is paying, you make it a venti!

Since it was such a lovely day I decided to spend sometime enjoying the sunshine on the porch before heading in to do some cleaning and then relaxing for the rest of the night.

With the guy heading out of town Sunday morning for work, I had another pretty open day. So after reading my latest book for a while, I decided to meet up with a friend at the Shops at Don Mills and make a gift exchange while I was there.

After that I headed home to scrounge up some dinner and backed a batch of White Chocolate Chip Avocado cookies, another Pinterest find, before calling it a night.

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

xo,

         Taryn

Work/Life Balance

aug 18 | Work/Life Balance

I missed getting my weekend recap up on the blog because 1. I had to work late and 2. besides a brief break Saturday evening for an early birthday celebration my parents and sister threw me (more about that in another post), I spent my weekend, working. So overall, nothing really worth sharing, but it did give me the idea for this post!

For the most part, my job isn't demanding of my personal time. However, there are exceptions to this rule and this past weekend was just that. I have in the past been forced to forgo the gym, stay up until all hours and even worked the occasional weekend. I don't generally mind though, I have a great team and my company has set up a nice little trade off for me, allowing me to take time in lieu.

However, this isn't always ideal and I often find myself looking for a better work/life balance. This was definitely the case a few months back and ended up with me taking a week off just before our fiscal year end to reset my batteries.

I find that in order for me to be able to give 110% at work I need to be able to have time for me outside of work.

I have been making it a priority to detach myself from my job once I walk out the door at the end of my day and leaving non-pressing issues until the mornings (to-do lists help a lot)!

It is still a work in progress and although I make time to focus on me and the other aspects of my life there will be times when you just can't avoid the inevitable.

xo,

         Taryn

Gift Giving

aug 14 | Gift Giving

Who doesn't like gifts? Housewarming, Birthdays, Showers, Just because...

I much prefer giving gifts then receiving (I am a tough one to gift). For me, it's about the thought and love that goes into them and seeing people's reactions. It is also so much fun planning out what I'm going to get and how I will present it!

So with a good friends birthday around the corner I got to work pulling together a cute little b-day present.

She recently got into running, so I decided to centre her gift around that (plus she mentioned she needed some running things, so win-win).

Since we try and keep things affordable, I opted to go with a new headband to help keep those pesky fly-aways out of her face and found this one from Lululemon. 

It is not only super cute, but can be worn extra wide or narrow (got to love options!)

I also got her this adorable journal from Chapters so that she could track her progress and goals.

Lastly I made a little treat (customary with all gifts I give) keeping with the running theme. These Pistachio Cranberry Energy Bites, curtesy of Pinterest, are the perfect little boost before heading out for her runs!

Her reaction was exactly as I hoped. She loved her gift and couldn't wait to try everything out!

xo,

         Taryn

Book Love

aug 13 | Book Love

There is nothing quite like cracking the cover of a new book and getting lost in a whole new world shaped by the most colourful characters and places.

I can and have spent days curled up with literary greats, historical figures, and everything in between devouring one book after another.

I am what you might call a binge reader. Lucky for me, my reserve list at the local library is several books deep so I am always sure to have something new at my fingertips when the mood strikes me.

Most of my reading usually happens on my commute, thanks to my Kobo Touch. But for those “too good to put down books” I’ve been known to pass up hanging out with friends, and even sleep to finish just one more chapter.

This was the case last week, making for a rough Friday at the office. But with another book finished I was itching to get my hands on something new, so I was more than a little excited to see an email pop up telling me a new book was released to me from the library.

So for the next few days I will be diving head first into another adventure, this one curtesy of Judy Blume and her newest book In the Unlikely Event.

xo,

          Taryn 

Weekend Recap

aug 10 | Weekend Recap

Don’t you love those weekends where you strike the perfect balance between busy and relaxing? This weekend was just that.

After a great workout Saturday morning (where one of my instructors made it his mission to render my arms incapable of even lifting a fork), I proceeded to head home where a bathroom cleaning that had been put off all week could no longer wait. So with all the energy left in already exhausted arms, I scoured away until everything from the mirrors to the toilet bowl sparkled.

To reward all my hard work, I decided to plop down in front of the computer to watch a movie. This glorious plan of mine didn’t last long. I was soon driving myself over to the trailhead not far from my house for an afternoon hike with the guy.

I have always loved wandering the trails and since Saturday went from overcast to blue skies and sunny, it made the hike even that much better.

After playing on trails, I settled in for a movie night with the guy and a pint of Häagen Dazs (bless his sweet soul for picking this up). We ended up watching this interesting documentary called Detropia, which looked at the decline of the Detroit economy due to changes in the auto industry and the impact that it has had on the residence of the city. If you’re into documentaries it is up on Netflix, I recommend it.

Sunday morning we decided to go out for a drive and ended up cruising all over the city checking out different neighborhoods and falling in love with some of the most incredible homes.

On our way back we decided to stop for some food and found ourselves at this cute little brunch and espresso bar called Ashdales in Lesliville

They made these delicious avocado eggs beni and the best home fries!

After getting home I felt the urge to bake so I decided to try out a Caramel Butter Bar recipe I found on Pinterest, emphasis on the butter!

They turned out pretty well, but a little much for my taste. At least they were a hit with the ladies at work today!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

xo,

       Taryn

Beginnings

aug 7 | Beginnings

So as I sit here writing out this first post it is clear to me why after coming to the decision that I wanted to start a blog, I then proceeded to procrastinate for I don't even know how long. I am terrible at just being able to do something without needing it to be absolutely perfect. So I am forcing myself to sit down and start what is now officially this lovely adventure. (note: I wrote and re-wrote this post at least a half a dozen times. Perfectionist much!)

I wont make this a long winded first post, I'll simply leave you with the basics. I have wanted to start a blog for as long as I can remember, but as I mentioned above never seemed to get my act in gear and always found myself needing to tweak one more thing. But, as time went by though, I started realizing that life doesn’t wait for you to “be ready,” you have to just take the proverbial bull by the horns and jump into a new adventure.

So here I am, learning as I go and hoping that someone out there stumbles across this site and finds my ramblings about the little things in life amusing enough to stick around.

Regardless of whatever happens, it’s going to be a lovely adventure!

xo,

        Taryn