Confessions of a Tired Stylist.

These past few weeks have really tested my passion, skill and want to be a hairdresser. Almost every day of this past month has made me question whether I've picked the career path that is right for me, regardless of how I actually feel about my real physical job. 

I've had experienced stylists push my limits and tell me that I won't survive in this industry. I've been told that I'm a loud and obnoxious stylist who can't be tolerated in the salon. I've been told that this career will kill me, that I am "very good" at my job, but that I should get out now.

I've had clients walk away after years of service for no apparent reason. I've had hair turn green and left the salon crying. Ive stayed hours late and had ungrateful clients leave without so much as a 'thanks for staying and taking me after hours'. I've had clients change to other stylists in the salon and not even acknowledge me, as if I have dropped off the earth. I've also heard 5 minute long excuses for why clients have switched to other stylists in the salon, even though there were no hard feelings in the first place. You have a right to see anyone you want to see. 

My shoulders hurt, my hands hurt, I have painful migraines and most of these things can be attributed my to job. 

And somehow I wake up every single day and come do this job. I struggle through frustrating relationships with coworkers and clients alike. I stand on my feet all day to make people beautiful and most days I leave feeling like I've accomplished nothing. 

But here's the worst part. 

I love my job. I love the look on little kids faces when they are excited to come see me. I love the old ladies that come in every week and drive me crazy with their repeat stories. I love the women who I get to make feel young and beautiful, and the guys who need a little help with that 'bald spot'. I love making art, and making people feel wonderful about themselves. I love the smile on people's faces when they've had a hard day and I've made them feel better. I love seeing such amazing people every day who make my life feel so full. I have AMAZING clients. Seriously, so amazing. I have got to be one of the luckiest people in the world to get to spend each day with them. 

And yet, here I am. Wondering if I should get out now. Instead of having people around me to foster my love for this career I'm smothered with so much hate. 

I'm exhausted. 

I'm 3 years in and I'm exhausted? 

What do I do? 

K. 

An Autumn of Adventures!

While my life has been overly consumed with work as of late due to a injured coworker, and it just starting to get into the busiest time of the year, this fall has been full of fun and exciting things! 

We have done so many of our annual traditions, which I absolutely love. Every season we have a few things that are, in my opinion, must-do, but the fall is the busiest since there are so many fun things that happen in September and October before the rain sets in for the long haul. 

Several weekends ago we went apple picking which is so fun. We live just slightly outside the really good fruit zone in BC, but there is a super fun apple orchard called the Apple Barn out in Abbotsford we go to, and I would recommend it to anyone! 

We got like 10 lbs of our favourite apple for 8$! Definitely worth it, and it's such a fun sunday date in the fall! 

I got to host my first thanksgiving in our new place last weekend, which was exciting and horrifying all at once! I didn't get a picture of my turkey masterpiece... Unfortunately it was carved and eaten before I thought about it, but I did get a picture of my nice table setting. :) 

I got that table cloth at winners for 15$, definitely a steal and it made me feel all grownup! 

I love the Laity Pumpkin Patch in maple ridge. Their patch always has the best pumpkins, not to mention a few other fun things like an animal barn and a corn maze (which was much harder than last year, by the way.). We went there yesterday to get pumpkins for Halloween, and it was awesome. The weather was perfect, there were lots and lots of pumpkins out in the patch, and we got four beauties to carve next weekend! 

Next comes halloween... I'm making Alex  a pretty awesome costume, (or i hope it will be) so maybe I'll post about it once it's finished! 

Hope you are all having as fun a fall as i am! :) 

Blog, and be happy!

Kyleigh. 

Gratitude: Why my life is wonderful.

I have been admiring Facebook recently for these posts of gratitude that a lot of people have been doing. I've noticed that it really makes you acknowledge how great your life is, even after a bad day, or a bad week... Or maybe even a bad month. So I want to post about what I am grateful for, because sometimes I need reminding about why my life is wonderful. 

I have amazing friends. You are my chosen family and I don't think I mention it enough how blessed I have been to be accepted into groups of people that are just awesome. I am so lucky to share and enjoy so many amazing things with you... weddings... babies... breakfast. Not everyone is so lucky to have people like you. I am so grateful for each and every one of you for so many different reasons. You make me so happy. 

I have someone who loves me. He loves me unconditionally, even when I'm being stupid, feel ugly, hate everything in my life and just want to roll over and die. He is supportive of my career, of my hobbies and passions. He helps to provide a life and a home for me that I wouldn't otherwise have. He is goofy, he is wonderful, and I am so grateful to go home every day to someone that amazing. Not everyone is so lucky, I am so lucky. 

I have a family. I am grateful for everything that they have given me from food and clothing, to advice and love. They are kind, they are smart, they made me who I am today... And even though my family unit isn't your typical family, I am grateful for each member of my family, because without them who knows who I would be. 

I have an amazing home. We have things in our home too. I dont sleep on the floor, I don't wonder where my water is going to come from. I have a door to open for my friends and family to come through and a door to close to protect me from the weather. I am grateful to be able to afford to have such an amazing place to live. 

I love my job. I have people that call and ask for ME to do their hair! Me! And I get to make money doing it! I get to share in the lives of so many incredible people going through their own lives and struggles, and I get to help them feel wonderful about themselves. I am thankful for each of my friends who became clients, clients who became friends and every client I haven't even met yet. I am so grateful that I get to spend my life doing something so wonderful every day. 

I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. It rains here. It is green, the air is fresh, the water is clean and I get to live here. I am so grateful to be Canadian, to live in British Columbia and to be able to look out at a thriving, busy and amazing city and feel safe to walk the streets. 

My life is amazing, and I know your life is too. I challenge you to look at your life and be grateful for what makes even the worst day seem not so bad. At the end of every dark tunnel, there is a light. 

Blog, and be happy!

Kyleigh. 

A Wine Wedding Weekend (or, why I love my job)

My job is one of the most amazing jobs in the world. There are so many reasons why, but one of my favourite things is all of the places it takes me with so many wonderful people. I am blessed with a job that allows me to touch so many lives, and share so many special days, and this weekend was no exception! 

I was given the true honor of doing the hair of one of the most amazing and beautiful people I know this weekend, Lee. She married a wonderful guy, and being a part of her special day in even as small a way as doing her hair was awesome! 

I am often honored with sharing special days like graduations and weddings with people doing hair, but it's always just that much more special when you can do it for a person who is a great friend too! 

I know that the photographers of the group got some awesome photos of her hair, and I can't wait to get my hands on them, since this is actually the only decent picture I got of it all day! 

Spending the second weekend in a row in the Okanagan was also amazing. As it turns out, Alex and I are wine addicts and we now have a collection of wine that we could drown in. After 2 wineries in Summerland last weekend, and 4 wineries in Kelowna this weekend we are STOCKED UP. I have banned us from buying wine until we've used most of it up... I think it will take a while. 

No duplicate bottles are shown (and there are a few) not to mention we have 3 or 4 other bottles that need drinking not from our shopping spree... Luckily we are going camping this weekend and I plan to drink a bottle or two! ;) 

Three weekends away in a row is a lot, and I'm actually almost looking forward to a weekend at home to relax... Almost! If you can't go out and enjoy the sunshine when we have it in Vancouver, you are definitely wasting the summer away... We definitely aren't doing that this summer! 

I hope you all are vacationing or staycationing and enjoying every minute just as much as I am! 

Blog, and be happy! 

Kyleigh. 

Vacation: A Summerland Weekend!

It's a lot cooler at home than it is in Summerland- at least today. I probably could have stayed another week or two or three... But I am home, feeling relaxed, tanned (or burnt...), and looking forward to all the fruit and wine in my fridge! 

Leslie, one of the most awesome people I know, turned 30 this weekend (Happy Birthday Leslie!) and we had the pleasure of spending some time up in Summerland to celebrate! It was definitely a weekend of sun, sand and bad food (I don't even want to know how much weight I put on this weekend!), and it was awesome. 

It was actually so awesome I didn't take many pictures... We were mostly swimming and drinking and having a good time. 

We also had the pleasure of exploring some of the awesome wineries in Summerland! We went to Sleeping Giant (a fruit winery) and Dirty Laundry Vineyard. Both were excellent! I definitely bought 5 bottles of wine, and with a weekend of wine tours next weekend, I think we'll be stocked up for a while! 

The one picture I did take when we were there was at Dirty Laundry. They have an incredible patio with an epic view of their vineyard! 

I am truly blessed with great friends and I can't WAIT for another weekend in the Okanagan next weekend with (most of) the same wonderful people! 

Blog, and be happy!! 

Kyleigh. 

A Crazy Summer!

Summer is so crazy. I feel like summer should be relaxing with wine and books and being at the beach, and for me it's just been busy busy busy... especially at work, which is excellent because other than Christmas time you definitely need the most money in the summer! Haha! It's all good, but I am so looking forward to the next few weekends... So many exciting things coming up! 

I have been devouring books lately though sitting out on my patio in the sun... This weekend was almost too hot to lay outside but I managed a few chapters here and there. If you're looking for a good, easy read I've been plowing through the Divergent trilogy which I was unsure about before I started it, but I actually like it a lot. If you liked The Hunger Games, it's definitely worth reading! 

Last weekend my mom and I went berry picking out at our favourite place in Langley, Krause Berry Farms. We go every year and pick at least a years worth of berries... which is definitely too many. If you love berries this is literally the only way it's worth having them. We got over 15lbs of berries for less than 20$! Try getting that at the grocery store... Plus you can't beat how beautiful it is being in a berry field!

Last night my mom and I went to the Symphony in the Park put on by the Vancouver Symphony Orchesta in Burnaby, which was excellent as usual! I think my mom and I have gone every year for the last 5-6 years, and it is always a great show. It almost always falls on the weekend of her birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!), so we try to rememeber to go. Unfortunately, it was so hot this time that it was very uncomfortable waiting for it to start, but we suffered through the heat and had a great time! 

Lastly I've been working really hard at getting more active, so I got a Fitbit! It connects with various apps and counts steps, floors climbed, calories burned, active minutes, miles walked... It's actually super cool. I wasn't sure it would motivate me, but I find myself checking it throughout the day and realizing I need to get up and get moving around. I've yet to reach the goal of 10,000 steps in one day, but I'm definitely working on it! 

I hope you're all having a fun, active, but relaxing summer! I can't wait to be able to blog about the awesome things coming up! :) 

Blog, and be happy!

Kyleigh. 

Summer Lovin' - Camping, outdoor furniture and a sunburn.

Happy summer friends!  It is definitely feeling like summer in Vancouver, and it is awesome! Some people have a misconception about Vancouver that it rains here all the time and we all must be waterproof (which we are, by the way) but our summers are amazing, hot and they make me truly believe I live in the most beautiful place on earth!

It was Canada day yesterday (hence my oozing love for the place I live!) and man did it ever feel like summer. We went camping for the 'long weekend' (as many people have reminded me it wasn't a real long weekend, but my days off are Sunday and Monday so it was for me!) and we had a great time. I have camped at Cultus Lake my whole life, and it's probably my favourite place to go in the summer. I don't get to go as often as I did when I was a kid, but being there instantly relaxes  me and makes me feel all happy inside.

They have a cool new adventure land up there across from the waterslides full of awesome rides and treats... It's definitely worth going to see if you are up for the day or a weekend! We had a blast!

We were there for 3 days of my 5 day vacation, as I extended my long weekend to a 5 day holiday because I haven't had 5 days off in a row in 2 years!  I guess that's what happens when you're working to build your career, sometimes you forgot to take a bit of time for yourself. I'm enjoying a nice relaxing day today doing some errands, making a yummy and healthy dinner and taking care of my brutal sunburn I got on Monday! I always burn on my first trip into the sun in the summer since I am ridiculously fair skinned... this one hurts pretty bad. I'll definitely have to go get some aftersun today so hopefully I don't peel!

Yeah. It's bad. 

Lastly, since it's summer, I thought id share the patio furniture we got! It's definitely patio season (although we haven't really been able to use it since we got it). I'm excited for dinner and drinks on the patio in the evening, soaking up some sun on the weekends and eating lots of delicious BBQed foods! :) 

This is the patio set we got... The evening sun hits it and it's such an nice place to sit and eat! The chairs are comfy, the table is big and since it's from walmart it didn't break the bank! 

And here are lounge chairs my mom gave us so we have a few extra seats outside. I have a feeling a lot of books will be started and finished here! In the morning and early afternoon there is lots of sun on this side of our patio, and we get lots of sun on the yard too, so I'm sure they will see the grass now and again too.0

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and are enjoying the excellent weather! Cheers to summer! 

Blog, and be happy! 

Kyleigh. 

Our New Home: A Lesson in Storage.

I love our new place. We have been here for just over a week and it has been great! Have there been a few bumps along the way? Of course. Luckily Alex and I have been together long enough to problem solve without completely wanting to kill each other (most of the time!).

One of the biggest things we have struggled with is storage. We have one closet in our whole place, and it is in the bedroom. To top it off, that closet isn't even quite full sized, so we have had to be a little bit creative as far as finding places for things that would otherwise go in a closet.

We are lucky that in our laundry room we have a few shelves above our washer and dryer that we can use for seasonal stuff like our Christmas tree and camping gear.  We are also lucky that we have two shevles above the rod in our closet that have been useful for storing a few extra big things that can't hide in plain sight!

Living Room:

When we first started looking for a place, we didn't really know exactly how big or small our place would be, so we started to refinish a small table we planned on using as a coffee table. Once we found our place and bought the rest of our furniture, we realized it was going to look small and ridiculous in the space, so we had to improvise. This actually turned out to be a good thing, as we started to look at multi-use coffee tables. Coffee tables are stupidly expensive for being a piece of wood with legs, so we went on craigslist and found our very nice storage coffee table for 20$!

This has probably been the best thing we bought for 20$ or less. Does it have a few scratches on it? Yes. Does it matter? Not really. At the moment it holds all our games and a few random things that we didn't really have a logical home for, but the storage space is huge and we can always move stuff around and use it for various things in the future! PLUS when one of our friends (or one of us) accidentally scratches the thing, it's not a murder worthy event.

Storage Score: Kyleigh - 1 New Place - 0

Bedroom:

Because we only have one closet and it is in our bedroom and being used for several things other than clothing, we had to be a bit creative in our bedroom as well. Actually, not really creative but we had to compromise on something that we didn't have before. When Alex had the bed at his house he had it boxsprings on the ground, which was fine until I realized we were going to need under-bed storage for some rolling bins I had, plus a few other things like wrapping paper. Alex was not very enthused by this idea as the bed frame brings the bed up about another 6" (which for someone as short as me equates to quite a bit of extra height) but we gave it a try and it is actually working out quite well. The bed is obviously higher than we are use to, but we'll get over it, and it gave us a king size bed's worth of storage!

Storage Score: Kyleigh - 2 New Place - 0 (Alex - 1/2 because he didn't want to do it but did it anyway)

Kitchen:

One of the other unique challenges we have had to face is that we have no upper cabinets in our kitchen. We have four beautiful windows that look out onto our backyard, but as far as enough cupboard space for not only pots, plates and cups, we had to reserve a couple of cupboards for pantry space too.

Needless to say our counter is a little full, but not overly cluttered (I'd like to think anyway). I found some neat countertop shelves at the dollar store that I might go back and get if I find that the counter seems too busy, but it's tolerable for now.

What I did find useful at the dollar store today were stack-able shelves to put in the cupboard for canned goods. Those damn cans take up so much space! I also used a few containers that I had laying around to organize my spice refills and bags of pasta that were floating around in there... I still have some organizing to do, but it's definitely getting easier to find the things I need!

Storage Score: Kyleigh - 3 New Place - 0

For the moment I am winning the storage war... whether I will continue to win it or not is a difficult question, but I'm up for the challenge!

Blog, and be happy!

Kyleigh.

Our New Home: T-minus 1 day!

This whole week has been a blur of packing, unpacking, moving boxes, loading and unloading cars and having the most sore shoulders I have ever had, but finally the day is almost here! Tomorrow night all of our furniture will be in our new place and we will have officially moved in. 

I'm not 100% sure where this last month went... I can't believe it's already June 1st this weekend. I'm excited and tired and not looking forward to trying to get settled in, but we have lots of time to get everything right where we want it. 

I can't wait to spend the summer out in the sunshine on our patio with friends and family and enjoy our living space that we've really created from scratch! We still have a few things to buy to finish everything up, but we are definitely close to having everything just as we want it. 

It can't wait for you all to see it! :) 

Blog, and be happy!

Kyleigh. 

Our New Home: Keys!!

I have been waiting almost 3 weeks to write this post! Yesterday we went up to our new place, signed some rental agreements and GOT OUR KEYS! 

I'm so excited. This is actually the sign that this is real... As if all the boxes and the excessive spending of money wasn't already making it real. If I could frame these keys I would... Except I need them to get into the place so that's probably not a good idea.

We measured and re measured, took some pictures and tried to visualize our new home... It's coming up really fast and we are able to start moving in boxes next week! 

I'm so stoked to move and I can't wait until we are moved in and I can post about something other than packing! 

Blog, and be happy!

Kyleigh. 

Our New Home: Packing and Pinterest

I've moved many times in my life and packing is not even remotely fun any of the times you have to do it. I'm throwing out as much stuff as possible so I don't have to pack it... It's not really working. 

What I have discovered is that when you're stumped on the best way to pack something, pinterest is rampant with ideas!

I have loved Pinterest for several years, it is especially useful for planning my imaginary wedding, finding awesome DIY projects I'm far too uncoordinated to actually do, and looking at delicious food I'm too lazy to make... But it has actually been super useful for planning my packing! 

I honestly have never packed up by myself before... All the times I've moved in the past I've moved with my mom so I really had no idea where to start. What I did find on Pinterest is somewhat of a schedule that helps sort out what you can pack and survive without for several weeks or only several days. I've been trying to follow the rough schedule... But I have about a months worth of packing to do in 2 weeks so it hasn't been going well. 

I also found some handy tips about the best way to label everything so boxes don't end up in the wrong rooms, and something I never thought of that most people call "Box #1".

Box #1 is pretty much one of the most useful things I've read about in my search for efficient packing. It's basically a box that you label "open first" and it's the essentials to get you through the first night/day before you can get to unpacking all the boxes scattered around. A lot of people pack an overnight type bag with clothes and toiletries, but I didn't really think about other things required for the first night! Most people include the following in Box #1:

Cleaning supplies

Paper plates, cups and napkins

Toilet paper

A shower curtain to shower after a hard day of moving

A couple of towels 

Sheets/bedding 

Cables, remotes and chargers (although phone chargers should probably stay out of boxes and be in purses)

A utility knife for opening boxes

Pens and sharpies 

Pet supplies (if required) 

Honestly, a lot of these things seem super straight forward, but I'm the kind of person who would most likely pack these all in separate boxes without a clue where I put them. 

We are lucky however that we can move boxes slowly, so we shouldn't have too many problems keeping things organized! 

I can't wait to post about getting our keys... Any day now! :)

Blog, and be happy! (And happy long weekend!) 

Kyleigh. 

Our New Home: Furniture shopping.

So... Furniture shopping sucks. 

Well let me clarify, I actually find it kind of fun to go around and sit on different couches and see if I could imagine important things in my life happening on that couch. Really, where else do you live more than your living room? The reality of it is, furniture shopping on a budget for a home that isn't your 'forever home' is pretty exhausting. 

Alex and I definitely have different ideas about what we should have as far as furniture, and how we should lay it out. 

I am the practical type. I like something cozy, something I can snuggle up on, read a book, watch tv, take a nap now and again. I'm not very big so I don't need a 14ft couch... I like things not huge, clean and reasonable. Our suite is big but it's not a mansion... I'm looking at furniture that would be movable to other places we may live in the future.  Example:

Alex is the go big or go home type. He literally likes only the biggest, most ridiculous sectionals in the store because he is a lounger and loves to have as much room as possible to lay across the whole room.   Example: 

You can see why furniture shopping is a challenge. 

We definitely don't see eye to eye on a lot of the stuff we are looking at. We also don't have a 5000$ budget for furnishings either... Trying to keep the shopping at a reasonable price point is also a challenge. Have you been furniture shopping lately? Who knew an ottoman was 400$! 

As we are looking around, we also came to the realization we don't actually know the dimensions of our new home, and that's really thrown us for a loop. Funiture is usually about 3-4 weeks away, and we move in 3 weeks... We can't really wait until the long weekend when we get the keys to measure and decide then! We did some guesstimate work last night and so we hope we can get something that will make us both happy.

Who knew couch shopping was such a chore? 

Blog, and be happy,

Kyleigh. 

Our New Home!

So... I'm sitting here with food poisoning on my day off, watching Dexter and I thought I would write a quick post about some changes in my life... it's been like 6 months since I really sat down and felt the desire to blog about something, but I'm pretty excited so today seems like as good a day as any to write a post!

As most of you probably know already, Alex and I are moving in together! After 4 years we pretty much decided that now was a good time.. so as of June 1st we will be moving up to Westwood Plateau in a beautiful basement suite we just knew we had to have the minute we saw it! The fact that we got it is a whole other thing... We've liked suites before and they have gone to other people but I am SO excited to not have to search Craigslist every other hour looking for new postings... That part of the stress of moving is finally over!

Here are a couple photos to give you an idea of why we are so excited!

The big living room and the door to the bedroom!

The massive kitchen that faces out to our own private little lawn area and patio.

        We actually have two little patio areas outside which will be awesome for the summer.  Maybe we will actually try to have a couple plants around even though I have a super brown thumb and I kill absolutely every plant I come near. It's worth a shot... right? I'm also so looking forward to having people over for dinners or game nights... it'll be so cool to actually have people over instead of always being the ones going over for a change!

So we left the security deposit yesterday, and we get the keys on the Victoria Day long weekend! I'm super excited... but now comes the difficult part.

We need to buy a LOT of furniture. Well... not a lot.. but we don't have a couch and so that now becomes priority #1. We also need kitchen stuff... probably a coat closet of some kinds as there are hardly any closets... probably a rug or two... some side tables....

The list goes on, so the next 3 weekends will probably be spent at Ikea, various other furniture stores... hopefully it will be more fun than stressful, but I'm looking forward to picking out some stuff together and building our little home!

Anyway... I feel absolutely horrible so I'll stop here. I look forward to various new home updates as moving is probably going to take over the next 4-6 weeks of my life!

Blog, and be happy!

Kyleigh. 

10 Reasons Why I Love Autumn.

So obviously it's fall. It's pouring rain, i don't want to get out of bed and face the storm quite yet, so what better way to start off the season than a quick blog post? 

I spent yesterday, or the first day of fall, mostly sleeping, cuddled up watching football and being lazy and cozy. Sunday is my only weekend day off usually, so I usually like to do something, be busy, but not yesterday! 

So, here are my top ten reasons to love autumn... Just because! :) 

10. Cooler Weather.

If you know me at all, you know that I am pretty much a walking furnace. I am ALWAYS hot. It is something that I've always been, which means that summer generally isn't my best time of year for sleeping or being a functioning member of society. I love summer for the sunshine of course, but when it's in the 30+ I am just about as uncomfortable as I can get. So, cooler weather is definitely a welcome sight for me! I love a cool breeze in the morning, so I'm excited for the cool crisp days of fall!

9. Soup.

Along with cooler weather comes my ability to eat one of my FAVOURITE foods ever. Soup.
Soup is pretty much the best creation on earth. It's warm, it's filling, it's comfort food to the core, and it's cheap and easy to make and have for leftovers for the rest of the week! When I can start pulling out my soup recipes, I know it's fall, and I think they'll be making their way out of the recipe binder pretty soon.

8. Scarves.

I probably own about 35 scarves. That is not an exaggeration at all... I literally own about 35 scarves. Needless to say, cooler weather brings about my scarf collection getting some use, and I love it!

7. Crochet.

One of my favourite rainy day activities is to sit down and crochet a blanket, a scarf... anything really! When the weather is too hot, dealing with lots of yarn all over the place isn't exactly enjoyable, so with autumn comes one of my favourite pass-times! I don't know why I love to do it so much, but it's kind of one of those mindless things you can do while watching TV or before you go to bed. I find it SUPER relaxing, and after a crazy day at the salon sometimes all I want to do is relax!

6. Jeans.

Jeans are my wardrobe staple. I wear jeans until I wear holes into them, so in the summer when it is so hot I have to find other things to wear... and I don't like it! Being able to bring out my jeans and not feel like I'm going to cook to death is always nice!

5. New TV shows.

Okay seriously, who doesn't love this about fall? As much as I like the summer, there is nothing worse than waiting 2-3 months to find out what happens after a crazy cliffhanger season finale! As much as I hate to admit it, I watch a lot of TV, so new episodes and new series to watch always make me happy... especially when the weather isn't so nice!

4. Apple Picking.

Last year Alex and I went apple picking and it quickly became one of my favourite things to do in the fall! We love apples, and right around thanksgiving is such a great time to go with the need for apple pies! =) It's a super fun sunny fall day activity, and I'm counting the weekends until we can go!

3. Pumpkins.

At the very top of my fun fall activities list is the pumpkin patch. Alex and I carve pumpkins every year, and we love to go and pick our own out at the local pumpkin patch. It's a fun and inexpensive activity, and it should be on everyone's fun activities for fall list!

2. Hockey.

Beleive it or not, hockey ISN'T my favourite thing about fall... although it comes in at a pretty close second. When hockey season starts I know it's fall, and I'm so excited. The way that people feel about the NFL football season starting... that is how I feel about hockey season. I could probably watch it day in and day out.... maybe I should have been a hockey analyst....

1. Leaves.

My number one favourite thing about fall is the leaves, and we have so many trees in Vancouver we are SO lucky. They are so bright and colourful... they always look beautiful, and who doesn't like jumping on a few crunchy ones now and again? I would say leaves are the number one reason I want to get married in October, the reason why I love going out for walks in the evening, and definitely my favourite fall thing to take pictures of. As much as I hate to see the green die... if it is going to die at least it happens beautifully!

I hope you all had a lazy and relaxing first day of autumn like I did, and that maybe you find one or two things on my list that make saying goodbye to summer an okay thing! 

Enjoy your first week of autumn! :) 

Blog, and be happy, 

Kyleigh. 

Healthy Eating and Meal Planning: Part 1.

Let me start this post by saying that I am a hairdresser. I am no nutritionist, nor am I exactly an expert on health and fitness.... as a matter of fact I think I am an expert on how to sit on the couch and eat take out.

This summer has been one of "those" summers. You know the ones... not only is every single weekend full to the brim with BBQ's and parties, but even the weeks seem to find a way to get so busy that all you want to do is eat bad food and take naps.

We in Vancouver have been especially lucky as our weather has just been unbelievably amazing, which makes you want to get together with friends and have a couple of drinks even more than usual. All of this is awesome and great in it's own way... except for the fact that it is horrible on the healthy lifestyle and weight loss side of the coin.

Since fall is fast approaching (even though I'd rather tell you we have 6 months left of summer) it is time to get into a routine. I always associate "back to school" with getting back to normal, and even though it has been years since I was in school, and I don't have children, it's a good time of the year to reassess some things and start to recover from the awesome summer.

This September, Alex and I have sworn ourselves to healthy living. I feel like I have said this 100 times, but this time we are serious. I've been trying to think of various ways that we could really work on having a healthier lifestyle, eating healthier, and spending less money and so I have decided to try and meal plan.

I have never meal planned before, so I thought that I might chronicle my journey through meal planning and better budgeting our eating... not as a fitness and nutrition person, but as a regular struggling person who works a crazy job and just wants to be healthier. I have read so many meal planning and healthy lifestyle blogs and websites, and most of them are written by people who are naturally inclined to be able to be organized and be healthy, or they have lots of experience on the matter and just make it sound so easy. I am not one of those people.

This will be an experience, it will be difficult, and I am looking forward to it!

Blog and be happy.

Kyleigh.

My Crazy Summer.

I actually don't remember the last time I blogged, and not because I haven't had anything to blog about but because I have been extremely overwhelmed with things to blog about, it has literally been impossible to find a moment to post about anything that has happened this summer. So, to ease myself back into blogging, I thought is share a few fun things that my summer has brought me! 

 Camping. I love camping, well..... As much as I 'camp' I suppose. Trailer camping isn't real camping but it's the thought that counts! This year I managed to actually go up to Cultus lake where I have had the joy and luxury of camping there for my entire life. My grandparents have a seasonal spot there, so when I have a couple nights it's nice to pack a tent and a cooler and enjoy a relaxing mini getaway! Alex and I have managed 2 weekends up there, and I'm hoping we can squeeze one more in before the summer is out! 

Football. As most of you know I am a sports fanatic, and so I went to my first lions game this summer! Alex and I took my mom for her birthday since she is a huge lions fan, and we had an awesome time! Hopefully I get to go again soon! 

Berries. I love going picking. Berry picking, apple picking, pumpkin picking.... Summer and fall are the best time for this awesome activity! My mom and I went strawberry and raspberry picking in July, and we are preparing ourselves for the blueberry haul that we will go get this coming week! I'm looking forward to apple picking in September/October and, of course the pumpkin patch, one of the best things of the whole year! 

I hope that this summer is treating you well, and hopefully I'll be able to blog about some more awesome summer things soon! :) 

Blog, and be happy! 

Kyleigh. 

Recipes: A Mexican Feast!

It's a rainy day in the lower mainland today, and this usually means that if I'm not at work, I'm bored. So, usually I try to find something to do, and today it was making an elaborate mexican dinner!

I actually love spicy food, but it usually doesn't sit right with me (perhaps because a lot of it is quite greasy) but I tend to avoid it. I have a cookbook at home that I bought that I have yet to cook anything out of, so I decided that today would be a good day to read it, find some yummy recipes and, because I can't leave anything alone, change the recipes and make them my own! There were a whole bunch of awesome mexican recipes in there, so I thought I would give them a go and a have a yummy theme dinner!

I made a spicy black bean dip and guacamole served with warm chips, and shrimp and/or chicken fajitas!

Let me start with the Black Bean Dip, because it was what I was most weary of, but turned out SOO yummy. I've never really had anything like it, and I love it! We ate so fast I didn't get many pictures, but man was it delicious!

Black Bean Dip

1 19oz can of Black Beans; drained and rinsed thoroughly. 
4 cloves of garlic; minced to a paste
2 tablespoons of light cream cheese
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp white vinegar
2 teaspoons of chili powder
1/4-1/2 tsp of Chipotle chili powder.*

*use to taste really, I used 1/4 tsp and it was plenty, but you might like more!

Combine everything in a food processor, mix until combines and has a dip like consistency (it's pretty easy to tell when all the beans are mashed up!) Put all the dip into a microwave safe dish, cover and heat 3-5 minutes, or until warm to your liking. Stir and serve with tortilla chips!

It is delicious, healthy and spicy! Definitely worth giving a try!

Some black bean dip and guacamole!

Secondly I made Guacamole, which I have also never made before, but it was so easy I should always just make it myself.

Guacamole Dip

2 avocados
1 clove of garlic, mashed to a paste
1/4 cup onion (I used yellow)
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
dash of chipotle powder (could use regular chili powder instead!)

Mash avocado in a mixing bowl (or I mixed mine in the food processor), add additional ingredients, mix until well combined. Serve with tortilla chips!

And lastly, for the main course, I made orange and lime marinated shrimp and chicken fajitas!

Orange and Lime Marinade (for chicken or fish)

1/3 cup Orange Juice
1/3 cup Lime Juice
3 cloves minced garlic
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbs olive oil
dash of chili powder

Marinate chicken (if using chicken) for 30 mins+, if using shrimp or fish only allow to marinate for a maximum of 20 minutes.

Grill or panfry chicken until tender (I chopped mine into bite sized pieces pre-marinade, so mine didn't take too long to cook) and grill or pan fry shrimp 2-3 minutes until cooked.

Served with cooked peppers and onions, cheese, any of the dips listed above, sour cream or anything else you love with fajitas. Heat up tortillas until warm, serve and enjoy!

Everything was delicious and totally worth the effort of making it all myself, and I will definitely be showcasing my black bean dip and guacamole at the next gathering that I can! =)

Blog, and be happy!

Kyleigh.

Review: My New Blender!

So I've wanted a personal blender for a long time... and while they aren't very expensive I just struggled with the thought of having two blenders at my house because that just seemed ridiculous!

However, the blender we have at my house is like a high powered beast of a blender. Seriously, it might as well be industrial with how loud and crazy it is. It's not exactly the best early morning blender, unless you want to wake up the whole neighbourhood! Also, I loved the thought of a personal blender being so much easier to clean and maintain since you blend the smoothie into the to-go bottle! It makes small, one person portions too, so there is much less waste than using a full sized blender. (I always seem to make enough smoothie for 4 people instead of just me!)

Since it was my birthday this past weekend, I decided that now was a good time while I have a few extra dollars in my pocket to go a buy the blender I always eye at various stores.

I did quite a bit of research on personal blenders because many of them have the blades built in to the bottom of the to-go mug. This was something that bothered me a little bit, and something that I think a lot of people don't think about! It kind of made me feel a little unsafe thinking that if I blended something and the blade broke inside the smoothie that I wouldn't know until the smoothie was finished! So, I set out to find a removable blade blender... and believe me when I say those things are NOT easy to find.

I looked all over the place at different blenders, and there are quite a few companies that make personal blenders. From Hamilton Beach all the way to the Magic Bullet, there are usually sections in the appliance area of a store dedicated to small blenders, however there was always one of two things:

1. The blade was built into the bottom of the mug, or
2. It was damn expensive!

I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend 99$ on a blender that I will literally use only for early morning and post work out smoothies! I could buy a whole new big blender for that much, so it just wasn't reasonable or necessary to spend that much on a mini blender.

Finally I saw the blender I ended up getting yesterday. The Oster MyBlend blender.

This is actually the perfect blender. It's compact, easy to use and easy on the wallet at only 34.99$, which includes the 600ml sports-style bottle. It's pretty high powered for being so little, and gets everything blended up in no time.  It's also great because they sell the bottles on the side in various colours, so the family can each have their own smoothie bottle!

I used it this morning for the first time and it was awesome. Thus far, I give it 5 stars! =)

So, if you need a mini blender, I'd definitely suggest this one!

Healthy smoothies to go for the win!


Blog, and be happy.

Kyleigh.

A weekend update!

Well I have just been a super neglectful blogger lately. It's not that I haven't had things to blog about but for some reason I just haven't had time to really sit down and write it out! I've been pretty stressed out lately, so I guess blogging hasn't really been on my mind. 

However, no matter how bad things get, good things still happen like this past weekend for example! We went to whistler and had a wonderful time celebrating birthdays and partying our faces off! It was so much fun spending time with great friends and just letting loose! 

We also stopped off at the Brittania mine museum on our way home from whistler on Sunday. It was super cool, I hadn't been there since I was like 8, and Alex never had so we had lots of fun exploring the mine! 

So, this week is a week of celebration. I'm going to de-stress, relax and celebrate MY life, because I was born 22 years ago this coming Saturday! If nothing else, I'm glad to be alive in this beautiful place and enjoying my friends and family!

I hope you all have a wonderful week, enjoy it and celebrate a little for me! :) 

Blog and be happy, 

Kyleigh