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Roxymandy September 8, 2015

The Eureka Trend with Graham & Brown

As a Graham & Brown Ambassador I’ve been challenged this year to take on a decor trend each month.

My latest challenge was with the Eureka trend!

The Eureka trend is a chance to create, delight and wonder, offering the opportunity to inspire others through your own interior design ventures. Creating a sudden, unexpected realisation to all those who enter the doors to your humble abode on how they can represent their own characteristics with colour and vibrancy. “- The Eureka Trend.

Our home has slightly different decor in each room, but each room has one thing in common – a pop of turquoise. No matter what the color scheme or decor we find a way to have a flash of turquoise to keep things exciting and to tie each room together.

The Lit Arrow Wall Art from Graham & Brown was perfect for adding out favourite pop of turquoise to our home.

I paired it with the Graham & Brown Pocket Watch clock I previously posted about on the blog because I thought it would be a great contrast to the Lit Arrow Wall Art.

We previously had this Threshold cabinet downstairs, but we decided to move it to our upstairs hallways as it had the turquoise pop we wanted for our hallway as well.

Our hallway was previously bare, and likely still needs more decor on the remaining walls, but this great pop of color from the Lit Arrow Wall Art is the perfect addition to our home.

For more information on Graham & Brown, visit them here.

Roxymandy September 7, 2015

Back to School Lunches with StenLock

I can’t belive it’s already time for back to school!

My son spent the summer in camp at his Montessori School, and will be heading back there next week after a break, and I’ve been preparing by picking up new fall clothes for him, and gathering supplies like a new backpack and lunch bag.

I’m lucky because I don’t need to make my son’s lunch every day because his school takes care of that, but for class trips and events I need to put something together.

It’s easier when I’m with him to convince him that he needs to eat everything, and remind him of what he likes. He often says “I don’t like that!”, but forgets that he actually does! This means that when I’m packing his lunch for days I’m not there, I need to be creative with his food so he’s interested enough to eat it.

StenLock contacted me to give their Tupperware a try for my son’s back-to-school lunches, and I jumped at the chance to see what I thought of the Tupperware, and what my son thought of it as well!

All StenLock containers are made of food-grade stainless steel, which resists bacteria and germs more effectively and will not impart peculiar tastes or smells to your food.

StenLock is 100% BPA free, stain-resistant, light, and has a leak-proof airtight seal.

With all of the different sizes of StenLock I tried out, I was able to create a fun lunch for my son. He loves having his sandwiches cut up into shapes, so I used fish-shaped cookie cutters to create is sandwiches.

I picked up some mini-grapes from Farm Boy which are perfectly bite-size for toddlers to mix in with his blueberries, and I cut up lots of green and orange pepper and cucumbers. I finished off his lunch with crackers and pretzels fit together in different patterns and a pasta salad. Very easy lunch, but organized in a fun way so he would be interested in eating.

My son was easily able to open all of the StenLock containers, and close them back up when he was finished. The containers were lightweight enough that he could stack them up, and they hit the ground a few times during clean up and they weren’t damaged at all.

Although it’s suggested the lids are washed by hand, the rest could be thrown in the dish washer which was handy! Any excuse not to do dishes works for me.

For more information visit http://www.stenlock.ca.

Roxymandy September 4, 2015

Versatile Blanket Scarves for Fall

Last fall on the blog I was raving about plaid blanket scarves, and I spent the chilly months wrapped up in these oversized comfy but stylish scarves until spring.

This fall blanket scarves are back, and although many of them are back in plaid, there are also some pretty great patterns that I can’t wait to wear. What is so great about an oversized scarf? How versatile they are! Most of the time it doesn’t matter what you are wearing under them because they end up being your actual outfit, or at least the top part of it! I loved either wearing a large scarf as the main staple of my outfit, or on the really chilly days wrapping myself up in the scarf to keep myself warm when it got windy and snowy.

I am wearing the Wilfred Diamond Mosaic Scarf from Aritzia ($85), and I love how big and cozy it is! I can wear a very plain top beneath it and have the scarf as my outfit which is great because I really like the pattern, and how it’s a different color on each side of the scarf.

Here are a few more of my favourite versatile scarves below!

ASOS Oversized Scarf In Herringbone With Tassels

Zara Geometric Jacquard Scarf

Dynamite Plaid Blanket Scarf

Anthropologie Chinchero Scarf

Forgotten Cotton Blanket Scarf

Roxymandy August 31, 2015

Pencil Skirts That Are Not Just For Work

Pencil skirts usually make me think of work wear, but this particular skirt has me thinking about after work dinner and drinks!

The fact that it has a cute red camo print, and an asymmetrical cut makes it fun. I only have one other pencil skirt and I hardly wear it, but I’ve noticed that I’ve seen a lot of really great ones lately that would look very fashion forward with a crop top or loose sweater to offset the tight skirt.

This type of skirt is great for giving the illusion of a taller figure, so high heels are a must to finish the look.

Comfort-wise it’s actually surprisingly easy to wear because of the stretch in the fabric (this one is from H&M for only $39.95), and I find that high-waisted skirts can be much more flattering than one that sits on the hip.

See below for a few more of my favourite pencil skirts!

Banana Republic Sloan Fit Pencil Skirt

Zara Pencil Skirt with Ruffle

Forever 21 Origami Pencil Skirt

Gap Ribbed Pencil Skirt

All Saints Metal Pencil Skirt

Roxymandy August 28, 2015

My First Shopping Trip to Farm Boy Whitby!

Today I visited Farm Boy Whitby for the first time, and I can already say I’ll be back. I wrote last week about the grand opening and the events to come this Saturday, August 29th, but I decided to stop in to see the store for myself today.

The biggest thing I noticed was that I couldn’t actually purchase anything bad for myself! I really needed chips to get me through the weekend (I am a HUGE chip fan), and I couldn’t find them. Why? Well, they aren’t exactly healthy, but I was provided with all kinds of alternatives. I picked up some of Farm Boy’s own tortilla chips and salsa in the place of my beloved chips.

The store is packed full of everything good for you! At the checkout instead of rows of candy bars you find organic candy and gum. It’s a real change from the average chain grocery store.

The produce was incredibly fresh, and there were a few options you don’t always see at the grocery store like coloured carrots, and sliced up fruit samples in the isles.

My favourite part of the Farm Boy Whitby store is the fresh meals you can eat there or bring home! We are always on the run, so sometimes I need something quick to feed the family.

I couldn’t belive all of the options. The meat section had all kinds of marinated steaks, fish and chicken all ready for the oven or BBQ. It was a bigger selection than I have seen at a regular grocery store. The deli and cheese section had fresh products ready to be cut and packaged, and again had lots of ready-to-go options as well.

The salad bar is pretty amazing. It’s got everything from pre-made Ceasar salads, to a section where you can create your own salad, all kids of potato and pasta salads, and then other mediterranean style salads. Every kind of possible salad combination could be put together there. There was also a section to package fresh soups made daily, and even a section with hot meals like pasta and butter chicken.

There was a separate area where you could have a stir fry made on the spot, and a sandwich section where you could have it warmed up on a grill. There was also a fresh sushi spot, and a full service bakery.

The pizza area was really impressive. You could choose the toppings on your pizza, and watch it cook in a fire burning oven before it’s boxed and ready to take home.

There was a great seating area both inside and outside to eat which was nice as well.

I picked up quite a few items from the Farm Boy brand like fresh orange juice, mediterranean salad dressing, and their tortilla chips and salsa.

I don’t think my shopping cart has ever looked so healthy!

I didn’t notice too much of a price difference between Farm Boy and the other grocery stores I normally shop at. I often buy organic fruits, vegetables, and gluten free treats for my son and I found the prices very comparable to where I usually shop and what I usually buy in that regard.

I really loved that they had many pre-packaged lunches and snacks to take on the go as well. How great is this lunch in a bag? It includes a sandwich, drink, cookies, an apple and a granola bar!

For someone like me who doesn’t always have time to make dinner but has good intentions for serving something fresh and healthy to my family, I was very impressed with what they had to offer for meals to go.

Overall I loved it, and I will be back often!

Farm Boy Taunton Gardens (Whitby) is located at 2 – 360 Taunton Road East, Whitby, Ontario.