Where to Shop – Pottery Barn Customer Appreciation Event + Smashcakes & Closets Shopping Event

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Saturday November 2nd Pottery Barn Kids is having a Customer Appreciation Event from 5:00pm – 9:00pm.  They are offering refreshments, and 15% off in store merchandise.  You must RSVP to attend by November 1st .
Yorkdale Location – 3401 Dufferin Street, Toronto
416-785-7375
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Smashcakes & Closets is being put on by Fashion-Forward.com.  The event is Sunday November 17th from 11:00am – 3:00pm at 70 Peter Street, Toronto.  Fashion-Forward is an online marketplace where you can buy and sell clothing by meeting up locally with buyers and sellers.
This event will have sellers connected with Fashion-Forward who will will be offering up their brand name and designer items for sale.  They will have free Starbucks for the first 40 shoppers, and lots of prizes and giveaways.
Smashcake will be selling their desserts in their pop-up bakery, and there will be demos on how to buy and sell with Fashion-Forward, make up touch ups, jewelry and cosmetics for sale through vendors, and polish changes with Vain Polish for $5.
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www.fashion-forward.com
www.smashcake.ca
Photo #1 courtesy www.potterybarnkids.com; Photo #2 Courtesy of Fashion-Forward; Photo #3 Courtesy of  www.smashcake.com

Where to Shop – Elle Canada Event at Joe Fresh + Dynamite Launches Online Shopping

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On Wednesday November 6th from 6- 9pm Elle Magazine Canada is hosting a shopping night at Joe Fresh on Carlton Street in Toronto.  A contributing stylist from Elle Canada will be there hosting, along with snacks, refreshments, they are offering personal style consultations and 20% off all in store purchases!

First come first serve on the guest list – RSVP to rsvp@ellecanada.com

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Today Dynamite has launched online shopping!  They are currently offering free shipping from today until November 3rd, 2013.  The cost of shipping will automatically be deducted at checkout.  No discount code is required.  Happy shopping!

www.dynamiteclothing.com

web_exclusives

Photo #1 Courtesy of Elle Canada, Photo #2 Courtesy of www.dynamiteclothing.com

Our Visit to Rock Lobster on Queen West Toronto

 

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Rock Lobster has two locations in Toronto – one on Ossington, and the second on Queen Street West.  We tried the Queen West location because it was much closer to downtown.

Their seafood is flown in from Nova Scotia fresh every day.  The menus for both locations differ, and the Queen West location isn’t even on the main website.  The restaurant doesn’t seem to need to advertise because with word of mouth they are busy enough.
The restaurant was much smaller than I expected!  It could only seat 70 inside, and this outpost is actually larger than the restaurant on Ossington.  They do not take reservations, and although we were told to expect a 45 minute wait at 8:00pm, we only ended up waiting 15 minutes.
We started with a round of drinks, and their cocktails included a slushie with tequila, and a drink named Breakfast of Champions with Fruit Loop infused vodka.
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We ordered a round of oysters ($2.25 each which is thought was a good price) which were fresh – as expected!  We also ordered Lobster devilled eggs ($7) which tasted great, and had little chunks of lobster in them.  The egg itself actually looked pink.
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I had the Lobster Poutine ($14) which came out in a skillet pulled high with cheese, gravy and lobster.   It was a strange combination with the fries and gravy hot and the lobster cold, but it tasted amazing.  It was a huge portion, and I couldn’t finish it.  I also tried the Lobster Taco ($5 for one) and it came on a fresh tortilla with fresh lobster and a sauce that had a kick to it.
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I would say the restaurant is not kid friendly for dinner.  I’m not sure about lunch time, but at dinner the music was so loud it was hard to hear the person next to you!  The tables were very close together and I couldn’t imagine fitting a stroller or high chair into the restaurant.  Lunch may be a different story when it comes to the music volume, but space-wise and menu-wise I wouldn’t call it kid friendly.
www.rocklobsterfood.com
538 Queen Street West, Toronto
416-203-6623
Photo Credit:  #1 Toronto Life Magazine

What to Do – Vacation at The Sagamore Resort in Bolton Landing, NY

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The Sagamore Resort is located on Lake George in Bolton Landing, NY.  We chose the Sagamore because it offered 8 different dining options, it looked like it had beautiful grounds including a pool, and it was near our main destination which was Lake Placed, NY.

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We searched reviews on Trip Advisor and read that the resort hosted many children in the summer, and they had a distinction between restaurants which were child friendly, and adult only.
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The resort itself has many gorgeous views of Lake George.  Our son is 1 1/2 and he loved running around the grounds.  The resort has boat rentals, an indoor and outdoor pool, tennis courts, a basketball court, playground, a spa, and nature trails.
Room-wise there are condos, lodges, the main hotel, and even a castle to choose from.  We chose to stay in one of the lodges.  The room was much larger than a regular room, and had recently been refurbished.  We actually tried to get a larger room with a adjoining section for our son to sleep in but they were full.  We travelled in September during their slower season, but the resort was still very busy.
We were worried about which restaurant to take our son for dinner, and were advised by the staff that La Bella Vita would be fine.  They had plenty of high chairs, and we soon realized our son was the only child likely at the whole resort!  We didn’t see one other child during our stay there, so he was a kind of celebrity amount the guests.  They had a kids menu, crayons and a colouring placemat even though it was a higher end restaurant.  The food was excellent for dinner as well.
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The resort offered 24 hour room service which we took advantage of!  We weren’t ready to go to bed when our son was, so we ordered drinks and dessert to the room which worked out great.
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We would definitely visit this resort again.  Our son loved it because of all of the open space to run around, there was lots of selection for food, the pool offered drink service, and the main hotel was beautiful.  Bolton Landing itself had a few shops in its downtown, but otherwise it’s a very small town with beautiful views and was very relaxing.
www.thesagamore.com

What to Do – Go on Vacation to Hard Rock Punta Cana

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I’ve found that many people have mixed feelings regarding Punta Cana.  Most people say that the beaches are amazing, but the resort was ok, or the food was so-so wherever they went.  I decided to try a resort that no one else I knew had gone to.  This can often be a very bad idea without a referral, but in this case we were lucky that this resort was exactly what we were looking for.

The Hard Rock Punta Cana is like putting a giant Americanised resort on a tropical island.  Some people would love this idea, and some would absolutely hate it.  I loved it because it felt like I was staying at a clean and modern hotel, but I still had the island experience.

Hard Rock

 

Our room was bigger than any other resort room we have had before.  There was previously a resort where the Hard Rock stands today, but all of the buildings were completed renovated so there was no trace of what was there before it.  The rooms very modern and ours included a Jacuzzi tub right in the middle.

The size of the resort was overwhelming.  There was a shuttle service to take people from building to building, to the beach, to the restaurants, ect.  The resort is all-inclusive with 15 pools and 9 restaurants.

Hotel

 

The spa was a cannot miss at this resort.  It basically had every amenity you could think of including a hydrotherapy centre, whirlpools, steam rooms, a clay steam room, sauna, hydro-reflexology, a sensory expertise pool and an ice room.  It was 60,000 square feet and was so expansive you felt like you were alone the whole time you were there.  I was scheduled for a couples massage and couldn’t actually find my partner!

 Spa

 

We spent most of our time at the Eden pool which we found to be the most relaxing.  There were no children allowed at this pool, and the chairs surrounding it were covered with cushions.  Sushi was made on site and delivered to your chair, and staff would periodically come around to spritz you with cool water and to bring you fresh fruit on a skewer.

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We did not travel with children on this trip, but one side of the resort seemed to be where they were placing families with children.  There was a children’s splash pad and pool, a children’s lazy river, and many different activities on site like an arcade and a babysitting service located in a central location.

If you wanted to travel to a resort without children, and wanted to avoid children as well this resort would be a great choice.  The resort is so large it’s easy to choose what you want to do and avoid what you want to avoid.   There were plenty of adult activities such as the casino, nightclubs, bars, and an upscale restaurant.

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It also seemed like a great place to bring children because it felt like having children at the resort was very much accepted due to all of the family focused amenities located on one side of the resort.  Basically they seemed to segregate the families with children on one side of the resort, and they placed couples on the other side of the resort in terms of accommodations, and the resort was so large you could make the trip what you wanted.  Overall I thought it was a great place to stay in Punta Cana, and a great all-inclusive resort.

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www.hardrockpuntacana.com