sparkleshinylove

Toronto Food and Wine Festival September 18th – 20th + Enter to Win Two Tickets!

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The first annual Toronto Food and Wine Festival is happening September 18th to 20th at Evergreen Brick Works! It pairs two of the things I love the most – food and wine!

I love this venue. I have been to a few festivals and parties at Evergreen Brick Works, and I love visiting the farmers market there as well. It’s a great space to mix and mingle, and to enjoy some great gourmet food and wine.

Why should you attend the festival? Here are five great reasons you need to go!

1. Curtis Stone, Tyler Florence, Gail Simmons, Chuck Hughes, Roger Mooking, Mark McEwan, Antonio Park and many more will be taking to the stages for demos, talks and workshops throughout the three-day event.

 

 

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2. You’ll be able to sample, sip and savour all the flavours from 130 purveyors of premium products, fine foods and beverages from Ontario, Canada and around the world in the Grand Tasting Pavilion – presented by PC Black Label.

3. For the first time ever, Cochon 555 is bringing its flavour-packed marquee events series to Canada allowing guests to sink their teeth into over 1400 pounds of expertly prepared pork dishes by the hottest chefs including Chuck Hughes, Matty Matheson and more.

4. Expert-level educational workshops welcome legendary masters like Kevin Kent (Knifewear), Tetsuya “Ted” Iizuka (Soba Canada), and Antonio Park (Park Restaurant) to share their knowledge regarding time-held traditions like knife skills and soba noodle making.

5. Canada’s Best New Student Chef will be crowned after an exciting and unique cooking competition called Taste Canada Cooks the Books. Some of the brightest up-and-coming culinary talents from schools across Canada will gather in front of a live audience in the Miele Kitchen to make a dish from a well-known Canadian cookbook, with the author on stage!

 

 

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How would you like to win two tickets to the Toronto Food and Wine Festival?

Enter via the Rafflecopter App below to win! The tickets will provide you and a guest general admission to the festival, and will give you access to the Grand Tasting Paviliion and some celebrity chef events.

The contest ends on Tuesday, August 4th, 2015, and is open to Canadian residents only. There are multiple ways to enter, with one randomly selected winner announced on August 4th.

Good luck to everyone who enters!

For more on the Toronto Food and Wine Festival, visit them at www.torontofoodandwine.com, and on social media here:

Facebook: /Toronto FOOD & WINE
Twitter: @TOfoodandwine
Instagram: @tofoodandwine

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Mandy Furnis

 

 

Rice Krispies “Moms Just Know” + Win Free Rice Krispies for a Year!

Moms just know rice krispies giveaway

 

 

Every morning I get the same request from my son as soon as I wake him up – “Can I have a bowl of cereal?”. This kid would eat cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner if we let him, but so far we are just sticking to the mornings.

What happens if we don’t sit down for a bowl of cereal? Basically it completely ruins my toddler’s whole day, and in turn also puts a bit of a damper on my own. For the rest of the day he would talk about how he wanted cereal, and until he got that bowl of cereal he just wouldn’t be happy.

It doesn’t take much to realize that it’s best to stop and have cereal together in the morning instead of rushing out the door. That’s not even my mother’s instinct at work – it’s just common sense!

If anything, his love of cereal has slowed the whole family down every day at breakfast time. I have never been a big fan of eating breakfast. Before I had my son I hardly remember sitting down at our kitchen table to eat breakfast. I have always been a grab and go kind of girl!

You can’t exactly grab and go with cereal, so that means every morning we have to make sure there is enough time for us all to sit down and enjoy breakfast.

 

 
Moms just know rice krispies giveaway

 

 
We have stayed away from all of the sugary cereals on the grocery shelf and tried to pick healthy cereals for not only him, but all of us to eat each morning.

What’s great about Rice Krispies? Rice Krispies Original Cereal is made with the goodness of a simple grain and no artificial colours or flavours, making it a fun part of a nutritional breakfast. Rice Krispies Cereal is fat free and provides a source of 8 essential nutrients, including Vitamin D. And hello, it talks to you!

Not only does my son love to eat this cereal, but he loves to listen to it talk! He’s pretty hilarious about it, telling me his cereal says we should go to the toy store to buy him a present, and that he doesn’t have to put his dishes away. Apparently my toddler is also a comedian.

 

 

Moms just know rice krispies giveaway

 

 

Slowing down is important, especially because you don’t know how long these moments will be around. My husband and I take the time during breakfast to have a conversation with my son about what is coming up in his day, and we get a little quiet time before the craziness ensues.

 

 

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How would you like to spend your mornings with a year’s supply of Rice Krispies Cereal?

Enter via the Rafflecoper App below to win a year’s supply of Rice Krispies Cereal! There are multiple options to enter, and the winner will be announced on Friday, July 31st 2015. Entrants must be a resident of Canada, excluding Quebec, and readers may enter across all blogs running this contest, but they may only win from one participating blog.

Good luck to everyone who enters!

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Disclosure: I am part of the Rice Krispies “Moms Just Know” Campaign
with Influence Central and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation
with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

 

 

Mandy Furnis

 

 

Little Monkey Designs Personalized Family Name Pillow

Little Monkey Designs Personalized Family Name Pillow

 

 

Now that summer is here, I just want to be outside all the time! I am a girl who loves her air conditioning, but when I look outside and see the sun I remember how cold the winter was, and I leave my TV behind for the backyard to lounge in the good weather.

We revamp our back deck a little each year and refresh our lounging space according to what we feel like that summer.

This year I decided to do a revamp with a nautical theme in mind. I have outdoor cushions on our furniture, but I find some of the best pillows end up being meant for indoors. That doesn’t stop me – I buy what I love the most, and when it looks like rain I bring everything inside that won’t do well in bad weather.

My husband thinks I am crazy for doing this, but on the other hand he admits that he really likes this year’s set up and pillows.

As a Little Monkey Designs Brand Ambassador I was able to get my hands on one of their personalized pillows to complete my summer look.

 

 

Little Monkey Designs Personalized Family Name Pillow

 

 

Little Monkey Designs Personalized Family Name Pillow

 

 

Little Monkey Designs Personalized Family Name Pillow
 

 

Little Monkey Designs Personalized Family Name Pillow

 

 

They have quite a few options for their personalized pillows, but the theme I chose was a classic design that showcased our little family.

The Personalized Family Name Pillow requires you to disclose your family name (of course!), year for EST (we chose our wedding year) and what your family “population” is. As you can see my answer is 3 1/2! This is because our family includes myself, my husband, our son, and our Yorkie Maverick – he’s the 1/2.

You can also customize the font color, and size of the pillow.

The quality is great – it’s made from a polyester blend which looks like canvas, and the cover has a zipper to remove the pillow from the case.

 

 

Little Monkey Designs Personalized Family Name Pillow
 

 

They are spot clean or dry clean only, and they are available in 16×16 (what I chose) and 20×20.

I think this would be a really great gift for a Bride to Be, or for a baby shower. It’s a great personal gift for someone who has everything, or just someone who would love something special.

It’s pretty comfortable too – this kid just wanted to sleep on it!

 

 
Little Monkey Design Personalized Pillow

 

 

Little Monkey Design Personalized Pillow
 

 
Little Monkey Design Personalized Pillow

 

 

Little Monkey Design Personalized Pillow

 

 

Don’t forget to use my code ‘sparkleshinylove’ to save 15% on anything in the Little Monkey Designs store – including sale items!

Visit them at www.littlemonkeydesigns.ca.

 

 

Disclaimer: This product was provided to me for review, but all opinions are fabulously my own!

 

 

Mandy Furnis

 

 

Pretty Summer Off The Shoulder Tops

Off the Shoulder Tops sparkleshinylove

 

 

I usually shy away from off the shoulder tops because I have this thing with strapless bras. I find them so uncomfortable! They have to be tight to stay up, but then they slide down and you have to constantly adjust them. I don’t think I have ever found one that fits properly. I just generally dislike them, but there’re so many cute off the shoulder tops out there right now I had to suck it up and go strapless.

I love the pattern on this one I am wearing from H&M. I thought it would pair best with white jeans or a crisp white short for a mediterranean feel.

 

 
Off the Should Tops Round up of Off the Shoulder Tops - H&M Off the Shoulder Peasant Top

 

 

Off the Should Tops Round up of Off the Shoulder Tops - H&M Off the Shoulder Peasant Top

 

 

Off the Should Tops Round up of Off the Shoulder Tops - H&M Off the Shoulder Peasant Top

 

 
Off the Should Tops Round up - H&M Off the Shoulder Peasant Top

 

 

Get out your strapless bras ladies – here are a few more of my favourite off the shoulder tops!

 

 

Painted threads off the shoulder top

Painted Threads Off the Shoulder Top

 

 

Rebecca Minkoff Dev off the shoulder top

Rebecca Minkoff Dev Off the Shoulder Top

 

 

Vince Camuto palm print off the shoulder top

Vince Camuto Palm Print Off the Shoulder Top

 

 

Zara Elastic Off the Shoulder Top

Zara Elastic Off the Shoulder Top

 

 

Dynamite off the shoulder dress

Dynamite Off the Shoulder Blouse

 

 

Forever 21 Off the shoulder ornate print top

Forever 21 Off the Shoulder Ornate Print Top

 

 

Talula Cabrini Blouse

Talula Cabrini Blouse

 

 

Michael Kors Petite Sea Orchid Off Shoulder Top

Michael Kors Petite Sea Orchid Off Shoulder Top

 

 

Mandy Furnis

 

 

3rd Annual Touch-a-Truck Event – Friday, August 21st!

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When I found out I was having a boy, I knew the next 18 years of my life would include a lot of dirt, mud and trucks, but I had no idea that I would actually get pretty interested in those things myself.

It’s actually not that bad hanging out with the boys sometimes, and finding fun new activities we can do as a family is fun. One of them is the annual Touch-a-Truck event in Oshawa.

This year the Touch-a-Truck event will be entering its 3rd year, and will be taking place outside of the General Motors Centre in Oshawa on Friday, August 21st from 5pm – 8pm.

Last year when we attended many of my son’s friends attended as well, and they loved climbing all over some of the cool trucks at the event.

The event is free, but making a donation to big Brothers Big Sisters shouldn’t be missed.

Children of all ages can get up close to over 40 vehicles of all shapes and sizes they normally couldn’t interact with like giant cranes and bulldozers.

Kids can also check out the camel rides provided by the Bowmanville Zoo, as well as Bricks 4 Kidz Oshawa who will have specialty vehicle Lego sets that can be built and raced. There will also be a charity BBQ from the Spectra food and beverage team.

 

 

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Current vehicle partners include the Durham Regional Police, Oshawa Fire Services, St. John Ambulance, Ontario Regiment Museum, GO Transit, Durham Region Transit, NICHE LIMOS, City of Oshawa, Mackie Group, Oshawa PUC, G4S Canada, Durham Kubota, CCT Auto-Trans Inc., Durhamway Bus Lines Inc., Hard-Co Construction, Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, Canadian Red Cross, Clarington Contracting Services, Verspeeten Cartage, and more.

For more information on the event visit www.generalmotorscentre.com.