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Roxymandy December 22, 2014

Fun New Year’s Eve Activities With Kids

Long gone are the days of me complaining about having no idea what to do for New Year’s Eve. How could I think there was nothing to do when I was childless? The possibilities were endless! I could have done anything! I’ve had some pretty great ones – house parties, dinner and drinks with lots of friends, even Las Vegas. Now we have a third wheel, and our possibilities are a little narrowed down these days.

New Year’s Eve must be the hardest night of the year to get a babysitter. Since I don’t have one, it’s going to be a reservation for for three. With a high chair and crayons. It doesn’t mean we aren’t going to have a good time, but it’s not easy to find something to do that night with kids.

Last year we decided to have an early dinner at kid-friendly Il Fornello, and it was great. There were other groups doing the same thing with kids who had plans like us after diner, or people who were just trying to avoid the rush of couples that would arrive for a romantic dinner later in the night.

Next up we went to Oshawa Celebrates at the Legends Centre. This year it includes jumping castles, zoo animals, free swimming and skating, face painting and crafts! We enjoyed it a lot last year. It was busy, but not so much that we couldn’t enjoy the activities.

It wasn’t easy, but I found a few other kid-friendly events running this year for New Year’s Eve.

Glam Gal Tween Spa Is having a Noon Year’s Eve Party from 12pm-2pm.

For $40.00 children receive a Confetti Manicure, pink champagne, mini hair and make-up applications, and lots of other fun activities are also included.

New Year’s Eve Family Skate in Whitby will include free skating, face painting, balloon artists, ice painting, and jugglers. It sounds a lot like the event in Oshawa, but on a smaller scale.

Great Wolf Lodge is having a dance party, balloon drop, complimentary champagne toast, punch and party favours for every guest. They will event have a fireworks display!

Blue Mountain Resort is having a Family Celebration party for lodging guests which includes a buffet dinner, karaoke, face painting, fireworks and more.

Neb’s Fun world is having a New Year’s Eve Cosmic Bowl, with four different times to choose from (6:00, 7:30, 9:30 or 11:30). All ages are welcome, and some of the early times would be great for the younger kids.

Alight at Night is in Upper Canada Village, and they have a life-size toy train, horse-drawn wagons, a 50-ft high Ferris wheel, and over one million lights through the village.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find a lot out there, but if you know of a fun event where kids can attend, leave the details in the comments section!

Roxymandy December 16, 2014

Is it a good thing that having a child takes up all of your free time?

I was obsessed with deciding when I was going to have a baby. I’m a bit of a planner, so I tried to orchestrate my life in such a way that I was totally prepared to take the leap. I felt like I had to have certain things accomplished in my life first because having a baby would hold me back from some of the things I loved and needed to do.

Before I had a baby I had a really active social life – lunch and dinner dates with friends, lots of events on week nights and on the weekends, and in-between I was playing soccer, doing a pole dancing class with Cheeky Girls, doing both a pilates and yoga class, and snowboarding in the winter.

I was a busy girl! I was also working full time, and as a couple my husband and I spent a lot of time travelling.

I was sure having a baby would limit me from doing all of this, so I basically went into overdrive doing as much as I could. I remember saying to my husband that we needed to go on one last trip before the baby because I wasn’t sure if or when we could do it again.

Once I had my son, life stopped for a bit. It was my son, my husband and I in our own little world, trying to navigate our new life. We needed time to get to know each other, get on a schedule, and my husband and I needed time to learn how to keep this little guy happy!

Once I woke up from this mommy haze, I definatly realized that my personal time was limited. I was not only needed, but required for breast feeding, and I had a hard time leaving my son if he was fussy or upset.

I looked at things a lot differently at that point and realized I had to prioritize my time.

Out of everything I was doing, what did I really love to do?

I was keeping soccer, but pilates and yoga had to go. I took up running, which didn’t need to be scheduled, but could be done at a moments notice when my son took a nap, or things were slow at home. Eventually when I went back to work I got a gym membership, and although I rarely go, I only do go on my lunch hour at work so I can keep my nights open.

I sold all of my snowboarding gear since I didn’t really go that often, and instead of taking pole classes at night, I did a mom and baby class on my mat leave.

Travel didn’t stop at all – we just got more creative! This was something that was very important to us and we couldn’t give it up. We took our first trip with our son to the Bahamas when he was 7 months old. I packed like a very paranoid mom and made sure everything he ate on the trip was from home because I was scared he would get sick! He has been on a plane three times now at the age of 2.5, not to mention all of the road trips and weekend getaways he’s been on.

Travelling with a child is absolutely difficult, but it’s possible. We have learned along the way that sometimes he will annoy people on a plane, and that yes he absolutely needs a nap on vacation or he will turn into a raging little human. There was a steep learning curve.

The biggest change to the reduction of my free time was to my social life. I think I’ve been more particular with friendships, and who I choose to spend my time with. It can be really hard to get together with friends like I used to. I have lots of friends who I don’t see nearly enough! It think that’s a big part of getting older as well – with work, children, and just how busy life is in general, I find it’s hard to see my friends as much as I want to.

I also think I choose who I spend my time with more wisely as well. I’ve just stopped bothering with friends who weren’t supportive, who didn’t make an effort to spend time with me the way I did with them, and those who were only bringing something negative to my life.

I think overall having a child and losing much some of my free time was a good thing for me. I wasn’t prioritizing my life. I spent time with people who brought a lot of negativity to my life, and I spent a lot of time doing activities just to keep busy. Spending nights at home used to be something I loathed. I felt like if I wasn’t out doing something every night then I was wasting my time. Now that I am so busy with being a parent, I appreciate taking the time to stop and just be home. My only regret has been that I didn’t take the time to prioritize my life sooner, and focus on the things I really needed and wanted in my life. I’m actually very happy that I have less free time now since I’ve learned how to make the most of the time I have.

Roxymandy December 15, 2014

My Favourites From The Toronto Christmas Market

Every year we head to the Toronto Christmas Market to do some holiday shopping, eat some great food, and just to generally get into the holiday spirit.

Usually we head to the market on a weekend, but this year we went on a weekday and it was great! No long lines, no crowds, easy parking – it was lots of fun.

If you have haven’t been, or haven been yet this year I have rounded up some of my favourites from the market this year.

The KINDER Smile Booth is located on Santa’s Lane, and families can head inside and have their photo taken for free. I loved their cute Lil’ Sled Parking area!

The Walmart Holiday Helper Workshop offers free hot chocolate, cookies, and they have lots of demo toys to try out. You can also get a free photo with Evan the elf, and they have lots of tablets available so you can order gifts from Walmart.ca on the spot.

One of my favourite places to shop in the Distillery District is Blackbird Vintage Finds.

I pretty much buy something every time I go there. I love all of their lotions and creams! They have great stocking stuffers and gifts that you can’t find anywhere else.

Last year I did the BKR Beauty Water challenge with Blossom Lounge, and one of their locations is in the Distillery District.

You can’t walk out of this store without buying something! Their curated selection for men and women, and their selection lifestyle products are totally on trend. Basically it’s a dangerous place for me to shop.

mini mioche is a store I’ve blogged about in the past (since I love it), and most recently I included some of their items in my Toddler Gift Guide.

I love that they have a great little play area for kids so you can take advantage of them being preoccupied while you shop!

My favourite part about the Christmas Market is the food! The vendors outside have so much to offer, but some of the restaurants in the area are my favourites.

We’ve been to Mill Street Brew Pub which is pretty kid friendly (high chairs, kids menu, and nice and loud!), and El Catrin before, but after recently eating at Cluny Bistro & Boulangerie, we decided to go there again.

They had high chairs and a children’s menu, and our son loved their gnocchi! The freshly baked bread basket was a pretty big hit with our toddler as well. One thing to note is that they don’t have plastic glasses, so I spent the whole time my son was drinking his water hovering around him in case he accidentally broke his glass. We had a great lunch! I love how pretty this restaurant is! It’s gorgeous. The service has been great both times we have been there, and the food was really creative and impressive. We had to stop next door to take home some macarons as well of course!

The Toronto Christmas Market runs every day until December 21st! For more details visit www.torontochristmasmarket.com.

Roxymandy December 9, 2014

Tips for Christmas Time Prep + Tested Holiday Recipes

It’s coming! As of this moment, you have 17 days until Christmas. This means if you were planning on buying Christmas presents online, you should really think about upgrading your shipping option to expedited! Things are moving fast this month, and I have put together some tips on how to get ready for the big day. These tips are all for starting right now, because if I am honest you may be a little behind on your prep for the holidays. Hopefully some of these ideas will save you some stress over the Christmas season.

Tip #1: Start grocery shopping for your Christmas dinner over the next 3 weeks. Add a few items each week to your regular grocery list that you will need for your big Christmas dinner. This way you won’t be that person doing a last-minute grocery shop just before the 25th when the shelves are empty and the lines are long. It’s a great way to absorb the high cost of that big Christmas dinner you will be making as well by adding a few extra items to your grocery list each week. If you use boxed stuffing or canned cranberries, load up now while they are still on the shelves! Otherwise some of the fresh items will need to wait, but you can at least get organized with your Christmas dinner grocery list so you know where you are at.

If you are planning on making fresh cranberry sauce, check out this recipe I used last year at Christmas from Simply Recipes. I didn’t realize cranberry sauce was so easy to make!

Tip #2: Bake your Christmas cookies now and freeze them. Trust me, you cannot make Christmas dinner and expect to have freshly baked cookies unless you cheat a litte. You can bake your cookies now and freeze them, or even better do what I did last year and attend a cookie baking class where you can do all of your baking in a couple hours, and take home what you don’t eat to freeze for Christmas day. Lot’s of baking classes are happening right now for this exact purpose, so take advantage! Last year I took my holiday baking class with the Supercentre’s PC Cooking School, but you can also find baking classes with Le Dolci (they are having a Holiday Cookie Baking Extravaganza class!), and The Market Kitchen.

Even if a class seems expensive, think of all the ingredients you would need to make many different types of cookies. Pair that with a class full of people doing some of the work for you, and it’s a pretty effective way to get your holiday baking done all at once!

These raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies were a big hit for me last year as seen on Sally’s Baking Addiction!

Tip #3: Start planning your quick and easy Christmas morning breakfast now. If you don’t want to get up at the crack of dawn to make a fabulous breakfast for your family, find a recipe now that you can make ahead the night before, or something very quick and easy for Christmas morning. A few weeks back I blogged about an awesome crustless quiche recipe that takes 5 minutes of prep time which would be a great time saver.

I’ve also tested out Martha Stewart’s Bacon, Egg, and Toast Cups and they taste amazing. They require very little prep, and they taste great.

Tip #4: I promise you, it’s not too late to order personalized holiday cards. But do it ASAP! Any Christmas card will do, but personalized ones add a nice touch. I usually order my holiday cards from Vistaprint, and they do a great job. I wasn’t happy with the batch I last ordered so I called their customer service line this weekend. The first thing they said to me was that they would replace my order for free! They have excellent customer service. They offered to send me my replacement cards within three days. They have lots of shipping options, and if you are really pressed for time you can choose the three or five day option.

Here is an example of our card from Vistaprint last year.

You can also order personalized holiday cards through the Walmart photo centre, and you can easily pick them up at your local walmart.

Tip #5: Start planning your holiday outfits now. You don’t even need to buy something new – just start digging through your closet to make sure you have your outfits planned and ready to go. Christmas time is the worst time to go outfit shopping! The malls are crazy, stores can hardly keep things in stock, and when you really need something you can’t find it anyway. Start going through your wardrobe now to see if you really do need to buy something, or if you can find something hidden in your closet. If you do find something in your closet, set it aside so you don’t wear it for the rest of the month so it looks new when you go to wear it on Christmas. This way it won’t look like so something from your regular rotation.

And finally, the most important tip…

Tip #6: Tell your significant other now what you want for Christmas. If you are hoping they are going to surprise you with exactly what you want, be prepared for strong chance of disappointment. Although you think your spouse should know what you want, odds are they haven’t been getting your hints. Make it easier on them so they have an idea of what you want, or at least strongly guide them in the right direction. You don’t have to write an itemized list, but make sure they have some strong hints so they aren’t freaking out on Christmas Eve under pressure to find you the perfect gift.

Good luck with your holiday preparations!

Roxymandy December 8, 2014

My Visit to Eataly in New York City

This weekend I spent time in New York City for some holiday shopping, and time at the spa. I do a trip to NYC annually, and like every other year I had a amazing time!

This time around I decided to venture over to Eataly on Fifth Avenue. Eataly is 50,000 square feet and includes 7 restaurants, a wine shop, food market, and includes private dining options and cooking classes. They even have a Guest Relations Desk to assist customers with their experience.

Eataly in New York City has shared owners including owned by Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich and Joe Bastianich.

Why did I want to come here? Well, I read reviews about how amazing it was online and wanted to check it out myself. Even at the airport there were other travellers talking about visiting the Eataly location in Chicago! Another reason I wanted to check it out was that rumour has it there is one coming to Toronto.

The location in NYC is very easy to find since it has multiple entrances stretching across two streets. This place is huge!

It’s hard to explain just how big this place is! As soon as you walk in there are maps available, and staff to assist you find what you are looking for.

The market stretches across the whole space, and the selection of food was incredible.

The pasta is so fresh that I saw the staff making pasta and then pouring it into containers to hand straight to customers. It was amazing – it can’t get fresher than that.

Eataly NYC has 7 restaurants which have table and bar seats at each. The opportunity to sit at the bar was perfect for me since I was dining alone. I wanted to have a great meal, and eating at the bar made me feel a little less like I got stood up. I randomly chose a restaurant called Manzo. It was more of a formal restaurant compared to some of the others, and the food did not disappoint. The best part about eating alone by the way? I didn’t have to share the bread basket! I decided to try on of the specials, a lamb bolognaise with papardelle. I was in pasta heaven. The server said that it was the best bolognaise they had ever had, and I had to agree after eating it. The pasta itself tasted so fresh that it’s ruined some of my previous favourite restaurant pasta dishes.

After lunch I was back to checking out the market, and seeing what else it had to offer. There was a Gelateria with fresh gelato made in-house, a Pasticceria with fresh pastries and cakes, and an espresso bar.

There was a housewares section with kitchen gadgets, and a cookbook section for inspiration.

The word fresh was centered around everything at Eataly. The pasta, the pastries, the butcher – everything was made on site and that day. Even the Rosticceria was cooking rotisserie chickens and carving them for sandwiches served to a line of people waiting in anticipation. The market was extremely busy, but the space was so large that it was easy to find a restaurant with a seat, and the cash registers moved everyone quickly through lines.

If you think you would be overwhelmed with a visit to Eataly, they offer walking tours of the facility as well. I looked online for more information and found that it was sold out for a Wednesday – this place is very popular! The cooking classes look amazing – from Pizza Making to the Flavours of Tuscany, there were lots of classes to chose from. They even had a kids pastry making class which I thought looked cute.

You can shop online with the Eataly website, and they ship to Canada as well.

Eataly New York City is located at 200 Fifth Avenue, and you can find them online at www.eataly.com.