Spa Saturday

So I told you I was up early Saturday...
And it was because we were headed to the spa.
Which spa?
Le Scandinave Spa at Blue Mountain in Collingwood, Ontario!

It's about 2 hours north of Toronto.
So we loaded up a car load of girls from my sorority alumni and headed north.

And it was amazing!
The sequence of what you're supposed to do is HOT THERAPY (hot tub/steam room/sauna).

Pic from the official website.

The Eucalyptus Steam Room pic from the official website.

Followed by a COLD PLUNGE (pools/snow (seriously welcome to Canada)).
And finally follow that with relaxing in one of the relaxation rooms or outdoor fireplace.
And simply repeat as much as you like.

It was pretty busy...and just gorgeous.
I would love to take some of my Texas girls (like Taylor and PinkSunDrops) to experience this because I'm guessing they haven't done anything like this.

These were two of the hot pools...you can see where you hang the robes and towels.

The snow covered roof to the left of the silo housed one of the relaxation rooms.  The silver silo was a Eucalyptus steam room.  The pool to the right was one of the cold plunge pools 55F.

Hard to tell but there is a fire pit at the top of the picture surrounded by Muskoka/Adirondack chairs.

Gives you a better idea of one of the fire pit things picture from the official website.

We even sat in chairs covered in snow...you should see our faces in THAT picture lol!
After that we had a quick snack of fruit/cheese/crackers before heading back to Toronto.
Laurel invited me out for dinner with her fiance and B so I joined.

We went to The Works Burger Bar.

pic from here

It was a fairly good burger place.
And I would go back.
However I get that they were trying to do something different with their glasses but I didn't love the measuring cup idea.

After a full on spa day (and I think it's quite hilarious that we finished it with burgers lol how healthy!)
I was beat and just headed home to relax.
A simply great Saturday!

Sock Bun Fun

So this past Sunday I met up with Quinn and Val for brunch.
Well actually it was supposed to me Quinn and I and then Quinn suggested we invite Val.
Which I seriously have NO problem with except...when they get together I don't get an invite.
But I'm trying to just not think about that.

So I wanted to try and do something fun for my hair.
I had been dying to try the sock bun.
So I of course youtubed videos.  
I settled on this one not due to the quality but because of the comparison of the way she did it.

So I used a sock and it really didn't take that long.
And the final result...(ignore the random cleavage lol).

Anywho we decided to meet at this cute place called Stoney's Bread Company in Oakville (the half way point between Quinn and I).

Pic from here

Super cute place.
And when you go there you order and then sit down.
Which actually seems to work great with a busy Sunday crowd.

Pic from here

Super darling place.
We luckily grabbed the front corner booth in the warm sunshine.

Pic from here

So we snuggled in with coffees.
And started catching up.

Breakfast was delicious I had the Stoney's omelette.

Quinn was so sweet and had been holding on to my birthday gift since November.
Some nice warm plaid pajamas...so darling.

Pic form here

After that I basically just went home and cleaned up and did laundry etc.
But it was a lovely start to a lazy Sunday.

Another book club meeting

Before we knew it it was time for book club again.
I always look forward to it.
So glad we came up with this idea for the cold winter months.

As usual amazing things were had.
This month's book was A Street Cat Named Bob.

Our opinions were split right down the middle.
The three who had cats growing up LOVED it.
The three of us who did not have cats/dog people didn't like it at all.

Obviously we are super cool and happen to like charts and graphs lol!

But who cares?!
Books club is really an excuse for us to eat, drink, and chat.

Our theme was English Picnic...how cute is this setup?

Apparently this is a British thing (says our British expat friends)....we weren't sure if they were pulling our legs!

British candies

Scotch Eggs...there is no actual Scotch in them...they are eggs wrapped in sausage

My obsession Nadege bakery and their Salted Caramel Tarte...AMAZINGNESS!

Can't wait until the next one.
Though I'm a wee bit nervous because I'm hosting.
Can you believe the girls (who ALL live downtown I know I'm super jealous!) are all coming up to my area?!
Mixture of nervousness and excitement.

Transformations...

Well remember when I asked you for your opinion here?
Saturday was the day.
And the big decision time.
So clearly I was very nervous.

I love my hair stylist she is AMAZING.
And right beside the salon is such a darling coffee place called The Tampered Press that I only discovered this Saturday!

Pic from here

I actually ran into my hair stylist there :)

Pic from here

I grabbed a latte.

Next time I want to be sure to grab one of their homemade Oreos.
How awesome does this look?

Pic from here

Anywho then it was time to make the decision....and...
I'm fully brunette.
And a little apprehensive lol.

The kind words from my beautiful friends certainly helped tremendously!
And a certain grad school classmate from Miami who may have commented..."it looks awesome!!!"
Lol I'm such a sucker.

Blonde vs. Brunette???

Y'all I have a hair appointment Saturday so opinions needed greatly!
Should 2013 be the year of BLONDE Teagan...

Pic from here

Or BRUNETTE Teagan...

Pic from here

I'm completely indecisive!
Clearly.

Saturday Snakes

So this past Saturday afternoon I headed out for the first time in what feels like FOREVER with my Canada crew.
It was P's birthday celebration so us girls decided to meet up at Snakes and Lattes

Pic from their website.

Such a cute place!

Pic from their website

Think of it like a cute cafe where you have 2, 369 games to pick from!

Pic from their website

These guys even know how to explain the directions to you for almost any game.

Pic from their website.

They have tons of food that are all cafe style.
Think baked goods, sandwiches, quiches etc.

Pic from their website.

And of course some delicious lattes!

So we picked some games to play.
A hard task with all these options.

Pic from their website.

We decided on Dreamphone, Them & Us and Dirty Minds.
And had a blast laughing and playing games.
Laurel had picked up a plain New York style cheesecake (Our girl P loves cheese!) and then we all brought different topping from passionfruit jelly, to raspberry topping, to Skor bits and Caramel.
They were totally cool with us bringing in a birthday treat!

Later we all headed home so the girls could change and get ready for a fun pub night.
I decided to hold off simply to get more rest as the next two weeks are crazy busy and I'm still not 100% well.
I'm loving handing out with my new little CanadaCrew though :)

November's Bookclub

November's book club was great too!
This time at one of the British Expat's downtown condo.
This time the book was "Let's pretend this never happened" by Jenny Lawson.
(Also a blogger by the way...well like a real blogger not like this excuse of a blog lol!)

Pic from here

Super excited to read....especially because as Lawson says, this book is about "the surprising discovery that the most terribly human moments—the ones we want to pretend never happened—are the very same moments that make us who we are."  
We definitely like it more than the first book BUT we decided that it is difficult especially with our criteria of a book that we all wanted to be something none of us had read before.

Seeing as a lot of the book took place in Texas this was a TexMex theme.

Champagne with Hibiscus flowers...amazing!

Hummus, Olives and Artichoke spreads

Snacks!

The table spread plus Salsas and my special Guac!

Close up of the salsas and guac...my contribution.

E's raspberry lime margaritas...yum!

Laurel's special 

S's delicious and spicy Boca Negra mini-cakes!

Another super fun and amazing bookclub.
So happy to be hanging out with these cool ladies.