In July, Maria from Beauty Aware was my featured blogger. You can read that post and see other past featured blogs under the "blog of the month" label! Being my blog of the month gets you a designated blog post, a sidebar button, and a mention on my Twitter account. The sidebar button stays up all month long. I don't believe in necessarily making bloggers pay for advertising and I'd much rather show you blogs that I really enjoy reading. And I hope you end up enjoying them too!
Hi, y'all! Can you believe we are in August already in a year that seems to be moving slowly and quickly given whichever moment you're in? This pandemic seems to slow things down, but then I sit back and look at how quickly the months went by. Time is weird right now. Well, it's always weird, but it seems even weirder now. I read this article a few month's ago and it struck me as being true as the pandemic has continued! I find myself having to check my watch or phone more and more to see what day and time it is.
Now to some highlights from my Instagram account during July. I'm happy to see August, as autumn is just around the corner. I can't wait for full fall vibes with dark evenings, cool breezes, candle lit nights, etc. It's my favorite season, so bring it on. Sorry, summer lovers! :)
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| L'Occitane Aqua Reotier line - review is here! |
Let's hope this post isn't riddled with grammar mistakes as I type while singing along to Taylor Swift's Folklore. I'll do my best, because pausing it is not an option. Thank goodness that favorites posts are the easiest to write up! ;) For my fellow Swifties, tell me your favorite song(s) on the album. It's hard to choose, isn't it? I'm feeling Betty, Exile, Invisible String, Mad Woman, and Mirrorball. Probably my top 5 but then again, ask me tomorrow and that might change!
Now to the favorites! This is the first month since quarantine that my favorites are actually all beauty and not mostly skincare (see my last faves, because those still stand). We'll chalk that up to getting some new things and going on a trip where I actually put more effort!
My birthday was two weeks ago and I thought I'd share some of the things I got as gifts and just gifting myself - haha! I'd like to say my latest Addition Elle, H&M, Reitmans,Torrid, and Taylor Swift orders that aren't in this post fell under that category, but maybe I can get away with blaming it on "Christmas in July"? Yeah, let's go with that. Technically, Reitmans and Torrid fall under the birthday category because I used my birthday rewards. I just don't have them yet and want to make sure they arrive before I share what I got. Perhaps, I'll post a collective haul on those purchases - minus the Taylor Swift items, because they said it might be two months before they ship.
So in this post, we have Addition Elle, some of my gifts, H&M, Shoppers beauty haul, Juvia's Place, and a few birthday pictures! Just typing all of this out makes me realize just how done I am right now. Like DONE. July was a fun month with a little getaway, my birthday ,and some retail therapy but I'm good to get back to normal and reining back the spending again. Though points, rewards, and gift cards made this feel a little less daunting on the wallet. (Except for the Taylor Swift order mentioned above. That one hurt. Don't even get me started on the shipping to Canada, but darn it Folklore is amazing and I just wanted the album and some of the merch to go with it. Who knows when we're all going to get to experience live shows again?!)
We're still in the middle of a pandemic, but we had to get away. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll probably have seen my rant about our building management scheduling construction that requires us residents to leave our units for two days. To reschedule, they would fine us $1000+. With a lot of things still closed, having the dog, and not social circling, we had very limited options. A little getaway proved to be the best option and I set out to find a good and affordable choice for us. It felt a bit like blackmail for the choice of construction over health, honestly.
Since we didn't get away for our annual anniversary trip this year, we treated this like that. Granted, we spent a good percentage of the time in the hotel room because...well...COVID-19. It still felt like a vacation! St. Catharines was an easy drive from Toronto, making it a good day trip option if you're not wanting to stay overnight. I'm actually thinking of making that happen again, because I fell head over heels for a food item that you will see below. I've been craving it ever since we got back!
Here are a few things we ate from local restaurants and some of the landmarks we visited!
