We're getting closer and closer to New Year's Eve - and even CLOSER to the end of Hpnotiq's Sparkle Louder Contest. If you haven't entered already, what are you waiting for? Hpnotiq is giving a way one GRAND PRIZE trip for YOU and your three closest girlfriends to go to New York City to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve. The contest started November 4th and doesn't end until December 8th - so you still have time to enter a picture for your chance to win. Not only is Hpnotiq giving away this amazing trip, but they're also giving away 20 stunning Effy Diamond & Blue Topaz rings, 4 rings are being given away each week while this contest is running.
Entering this contest is super easy! Click HERE, upload a picture, and add some lots of sparkle!
I won't be ringing in the New Year in New York City watching the ball drop, but you better believe that I will be indulging in a few delicious Hpnotiq cocktails with my girlfriends. On the Sparkle Louder contest page, Hpnotiq has posted a few recipes for some delicious cocktails, and I'm pretty sure that I will need to try them all.
Since vodka is my drink of choice, it's clear that this cocktail is going to be my go-to drink for New Year's Eve:
Sparkle-tini
Sparkle-tini Recipe
2 oz. Hpnotiq
2 oz. Premium Raspberry Vodka
Splash of Club Soda
Grenadine Sinker
Shake and strain into a martini glass.
Simple, and sounds SO DELICIOUS, right?
You've still got plenty of time to enter this fabulous contest, so what are you waiting for? Remember, you can enter as many times as you wish.
Good luck, and I hope you WIN!
I'm going to take my post to a different place today, and I want to get a little real with y'all (Allie, that was for you).
If you're offended by what I'm going to rant about today, I'm sorry. This is just how I feel in this exact moment, and I'm going to use my freedom of speech to get this off my chest.
Today I want to express my frustration over three little words that have been said to me on three separate occasions this year. Not 'I love you', not 'Lets order pizza', and definitely not 'Fries with that? '. Yes, I know that two of those were about food.. but that's beside the point. These three little words are not threatening words, and they should flatter me more than annoy me...
She's not you.
This is something that three different guy friends have said to me this year in regards to a girl that they're dating or 'hanging out' with. While it should be flattering, it's really not anymore. Hearing these three little words just rubs me the wrong way. 'She's not you'... um no, homeboy... she's not me, nor will she ever be me.
I had a conversation with a male friend the other day who had just gone out on a date with a girl, who he had previously seen a few times, and I asked how it went... 'she's not you' (actually he said 'she's no Faith', but we'll go with it) was the response I got. No, I'm sorry, but the only person that will ever be Faith, is Faith. It's really that simple. It's sweet that he said something like that, and I'm flattered that a couple other guy friends have said the same thing this year because obviously there's something about me that sticks out to them... but clearly only enough to look for someone 'like me'. Not actually me. This is the part that annoys me.
Does anyone else remember this terrible song by Jesse McCartney? Now it just annoys me.
I know 100%, without a doubt, that my friend wasn't saying this to bother me. At the time, it didn't even phase me - I laughed it off, told him that I was the only 'me' and no girl would ever fulfill that role... but the next day I thought about the other times this was said to me, and then I realized it kind of bothered me. I've been told by the other two guys that the girls they're looking for are 'kind of' similar to what I look like (similar features/traits), but when it comes down to it, the girls don't compare to my personality at all.
'The conversation didn't flow' was what one guy said, 'She was absolutely boring' was what another guy said, and lastly 'It was like talking to a 2 by 4' (yes, he really said that).
I'm not trying to pretend like I'm on a high horse over here, but no... nobody's personality is going to compare to mine, because they are not me. The same goes for you, whoever you are reading this, nobody will ever be YOU.
This is my point, and this is my frustration.
Since I've apparently got word-vomit today and I just keep rambling, I might as well continue with this thought...
My personality is something that I worked on for 24 years. I did my best to 'master' it, if you will. No, I'm not saying that I am an amazing person or that my personality could win any kind of blue ribbon in a personality contest - if they even existed. I'm just saying that for the first 24 years of my life, I didn't have the ability to make friends, get promotions, or breeze through life on my dashingly good looks.
I was overweight, I truly felt ugly, and I knew the only way to make friends, get promotions, or navigate my way through life was to have a likeable personality. Finding a balance of humor, compassion, sarcasm, kindness, and attempted witty-ness, was something that I worked on. Again, to make it clear, I am NOT saying that I'm amazing, but I will definitely admit that I'm going to win my future husband over with my personality - not my looks.
No two people on this crazy planet of ours will be identical. No two people are going to have the exact same personality and look the exact same way. At the end of the day, while I am annoyed that numerous guys are looking for someone 'like' me, and not actually me - I'll try and take this as a compliment.
Holy rant/word vomit. Phew. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, you can all return to your regularly schedule programming.
To the friend who said this to me the other day, I know you just read this and I'm sorry that you just got used as an example. You know I still love you.
I don't have anything truly exciting to report from this past weekend - mainly because I forgot to take pictures when I wasn't at home. It was full of typical weekend shenanigans of seeing friends, running errands, food prepping, workouts, etc. Here are the only pictures I managed to take:
one. Friday night work-out. two. Saturday morning work-out. three. Sunday morning work-out. four. Amanda and I looked at some Christmas lights. five. Pre-Saturday work-out. six. You need a SB holiday beverage when looking at Christmas lights, duh... seven. FaceTime with my brother. eight. I love when Roscoe wears his jacket. nine. I accidentally broke my Otter Box in half. Sad face.
Literally these are the only pictures that I took this weekend - sometimes I just forget to take my phone out when I'm with friends. Oh, but another highlight was seeing Catching Fire on Friday night - it was amazing.
It's Friday... and I'm ACTUALLY blogging. I know what you're thinking - Shut. The. Front. Door.
Because I'm actually around on a Friday I'm going to link up with the Queen of Yoga Pants today to #backthatazzup.
Not a new song but still a favorite.
I've seen some new faces around here, and since I'm terrible with keeping my 'About Me' page updated, I thought I should do a little '25 things about me' post. This could be terribly boring, or you may enjoy it - I make no promises. But I hope you learn something about me.
1. I was in a movie at the ripe age of ONE, with Mr. Charlton Heston and Bruce Greenwood.
2. I'm hands-down the clumsiest person you will probably ever come across.
3. But, despite #2, I've never broken a bone.
4. I moved from the East Coast of Canada to the West Coast of Canada with my best friend almost 3 years ago for a 'change of pace' and new opportunities.
5. I once went quite a long period of time without crying, something like 5-6 years without crying at all.
6. Because of point #5, a lot of people told me I was heartless.
7. Contrary to #6, I honestly have a big heart. I don't mean that in a boastful way, I mean I genuinely care for my friends and family's well-being and usually befriend the 'loners' or 'weirdos'.
8. I have a soft spot for animals and old people.
9. I could easily waste hours upon hours on Pinterest just looking and funny pictures and end up crying from laughing so hard.
Admittedly, this picture made me laugh so much harder than it probably should have.
10. I've been told, more times than I'd care to count, that I should be a phone sex operator (by clients, patients, and customers at various jobs I've had).
11. I have a very outgoing personality when I'm comfortable with people. If you expect me to be outgoing at a party, it won't happen. I'll be the weird girl in the corner watching the clock and hoping nobody talks to me.
12. Despite my weird introvert-ness that comes out at parties, I'm usually the "class clown" when with friends, family, or at work. No shy bone in my body.
13. I spent my entire life being extremely overweight and made the decision earlier this year to become healthy. I'm currently a work 'in progress'.
14. Racism is something that I absolutely won't tolerate, and I'll yell at people for using the 'n word'. However, I seem to think it's appropriate to listen to the most inappropriate rap and hip-hop songs where that word is thrown around so freely. I truly don't understand my logic on this.
15. My hair has been almost every colour you can imagine. I'm currently growing my hair out so that it's 'natural' and this is the longest I've ever gone without dying it - almost one year!
16. My brothers name is Christian... my name is Faith. You can go ahead and start the religious jokes now. But, I love the names my parents gave us.
17. Speaking of Christian, he's one of my best friends in the entire world. I couldn't imagine my relationship with my brother being anything different.
18. I went on a date with a guy who stole my iPhone charger, and blogged about it.
19.
I started my blog for one purpose: a Christmas joke/picture advent calendar. I'm debating doing it again this year.
Who was the cleanest reindeer?
Comet
20. I have OCD with some interesting things. My boss, and some colleagues, have picked up in these tendencies and take any chances they can to pull pranks on me and move stuff around on my desk.
21. I read my horoscope in the newspaper almost everyday just for fun, despite the fact that I don't believe in them.
22. The Wizard of Oz was my favorite movie as a child and I constantly asked for Dorthy's Ruby Red Slippers... I still want them.
23. I sing in the shower every day.. loudly.
24. I start every morning with a dance party to get myself excited for the day. But I refuse to dance in public and can probably count the number of times I've actually danced in clubs with my friends.
25. Despite hating coffee, I grew a ridiculous obsession to caffeine. I would shoot espresso like it was vodka and chase it with redbull and function normally without going insane. It was problematic, so I quit.
Annnnd there we go. Writing all of those things was kind of random and I feel like I've told you a bunch of weird things about me, but sometimes it's nice to learn about the person behind the blog.
Happy Friday lovelies. Have a safe and happy weekend -- make good choices.
Life has gotten crazy over the past couple months and I've gone from blogging 5x a week to being lucky if I blog 3x a week. Yikes.
This week my excuse has been that I'm really sick and every spare minute that I'm not in the office, I'm curled up in bed sleeping. Not exactly ideal, but that's life.
I've written an 'anonymous' letter to my landlord before about the time he decided to get his fitness on by running up and down the stairs - repeatedly. Well yesterday another similar situation took place: my landlords son had a dance party, for close to 2 hours.
I get it. I love blasting music all day, everyday... But when you go home from work to try and sleep, and your ceiling is vibrating, because the music is so loud above you, it kind of puts a damper on said peaceful nap. Ironically, my solution for this issue is to blast music in my iPhone headphones so it drowns out the loud bass thumping sounds and allows me to actually get some shut eye.
While we're on the topic of being sick though - does anyone have crazy dreams while they're on sizzurp? Just me? The past few days I've been drinking cherry cough syrup - straight from the bottle - and my naps have consisted of crazy dreams on top of crazy dreams. Like inception on inception. Weird stuff, I tell you.
Since gettin sick, I haven't been able to workout. It's both good and bad... The sick side of me knows that I can't workout and I need to rest, and rest has been good. But, the health side of me is freaking out about not working out everyday. Finding that balance has definitely been a struggle and a half.
(this literally had nothing to do with my post)
Annnnd now that I've completely rambled about nothing, I'll let you all return to your regularly scheduled programming.
Oh hi, lovelies!
It's time for another weekend recap with Ms. Shenanigans!
I didn't do very much this weekend, because unfortunately I came down with a cold. But here is what I got up to:
one. Beers at the Mac Miller concert (technically not the weekend). two. Dinner date with Jennie on Friday. three. This is my "Oh shoot, I'm sick" selfie. four. Picked up some "Jewish Penicillin" (that's what they call it) soup. It's precious cargo, so I put the belt on. five. More car selfies. six. On that lil Wayne sizzurp. seven. You're jealous of my slippers, I know it. eight. Coffee date with a friend. nine. Chicken and sweet potato - food prep. Today's lunch, mmm mmm mmm.
I hope you all had a fabulous weekend, and I hope you all have a great week! See you all tomorrow.
Warning: Today's post will be another one straight from the hot-mess express like yesterday's post about guacamole.
Do you every feel like an old person? Like, a grandma? No? Just me... Okay cool.
Today, I'm feeling like a massive grandma. Why, you ask? Because I was out past my bedtime last night. I'd like to laugh and tell you that this is a joke, but no... I went to see Mac Miller last night (and he put on an amazing show by the way). But this morning I am feeling like an 80-year old woman... Because I only got about 3-4 hours of sleep.
Last night when I was heading home from work, I was already thinking about the fact that I would be out past my bedtime, and already planned on going home to take a nap, see? I even mentioned it to my friends...
I know that I'm currently on a 90-day challenge, and I'm not supposed to be drinking, but I'm going to be honest with y'all for a minute... Sometimes rules were meant to be broken. I started last night off with a shot of tequila before I started drinking beer... because that's how I roll. Also, I feel like concerts are the perfect occasion to cheat and drink... Also, my saving grace is that I'm still aboard the 'no hangover' bus, so hopefully that doesn't change anytime soon EVER.
But, moving on... Do you ever just feel like you woke up one day feeling a lot older than the day before? Like, I'm pretty certain that I used to be fun... but I have no idea when I switched from fun to grandma? Clearly it was when I turned 25. I've been having a lot late nights lately and it got me thinking - am I alone in this? Do other people feel the same way the next day? Do other people turn down plans because they know they'll be too tired in the morning? Do other people debate cancelling plans because of how late they'll be out? SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME THAT I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE. I'd really appreciate that.
Sorry for the rambling... I was planning on doing a nice and well written post about health and fitness - but like I said, grandma faith over here cannot handle that today. Grandma faith would actually like to crawl back into bed right now. Yeah, that would be great.. But, instead, I need to go get my work on for 8 hours and then attempt a work-out. Guess who is quitting her 'no caffeine' rule today as well? Ha, I'm full of rule breaking this week and I don't hate it.
I don't like guacamole and chips..
.. said no Juan, ever.
This post is going to be a little here, a little there, and basically a crap-ton of random.. 'Cause it's my blog and I call the shots, and if you don't like it then... that's just fine (I was trying to sound intense, but the Canadian in me really just wants to apologize for being rude. Crap). I told you this was going to be all over the place, right? Yeah, cause it already is.
So last night I was FaceTiming with one of my best friends from back home - who doesn't live on the East Coast anymore either, but she doesn't live here either, so it's basically like she still lives at home, so I'm going with it.
I WILL TRY AND STOP WRITING RIDICULOUSLY LONG SENTENCES... STARTING NOW (Juliette, that yelling was just for you... you're welcome).
Anyway, I was on FaceTime with Nikki and we were talking about a few nonsensical (ha, I really just wanted to use this word) things and my blog came up in conversation. Nikki asked what I was going to write about today and I just stared at her blankly. She came up with some not so awesome suggestions.. her first one: Guacamole.
You want me to write an entire post about guacamole, Nikki? Are you kidding me? Okay, lets see what I've got.
Guacamole is delicious, whether you eat it with hot-fresh-salty tortilla chips, in a burrito bowl at Chipotle, or eat it out of a dish with a spoon like the classy broad that you are - guacamole is the epitome of delicious.
It's heavenly, orgasmic (sorry mom), and downright perfect.
However, I have had some bad guacamole in my days. This, in itself, is a cause for infinite sad faces, my friends. Truly. There's nothing worse than taking a tortilla chip, dipping it into the delicious looking guacamole, and popping that sucker in your mouth only to be disappointed. All of that build up, AND NO SATISFACTION. I'm sorry, but no.
That's not okay.
My homegirl, Ellen, knows exactly WHAT IS UP. Why is this still a problem? It is 2013 here people, we need GOOD SOLID CHIPS THAT CAN HOLD A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF GUACAMOLE. I mean, come on. This is really all that I'd like from life. Okay, that was a bit dramatic - but this needs to be solved, and stat. As much as I enjoy eating my guacamole with a spoon (I do not believe in discrimination and there will be NO GUACAMOLE LEFT BEHIND), I feel as though we really need some solid chips that we can depend on. Somebody should work on this.
I digress...
Nikki went on a 5-minute long tangent about how guacamole is so delicious but it's annoying that it's really ridiculously popular for no reason. Yo, Nikki, imma let you finish - but can we take a second to discuss the fact that guacamole is definitely the Gretchen Weiners of Mexican dips/condiments?
Back to Nikki - I had to bite my tongue from saying 'IT IS POPULAR FOR A GOOD REASON, FOOL'... but she's my best friend, and I'm Canadian... so that means I called her a twat and let it slide. KIDDING. I wouldn't do that.
Despite her nonesense, she raised a valid point about guacamole though... she said that it's just glorified avocados. Yes, yes, it is. But it is the HOLY GRAIL of avocados. And those avocados can go ahead and be glorified all day, e'ryday as far as I'm concerned.
Because, case in point, Nikki... GUACAMOLE IS DELICIOUS.
If and when she reads this post, she's probably going to kill me for writing it. But, this is what happens when you JOKE ABOUT BLOG IDEAS WITH A BLOGGER... especially one who has no shame and will literally write about anything.
I'm done talking about guacamole now, I think. But in all fairness, I did start out by warning you that this post was going to be all over the place. It's basically the biggest cluster f@&$ of a post to hit my blog since the time I went on the worst date with the biggest douchebag and thought it was appropriate to blog about it (this link literally has NOTHING to do with this guacamole post).
If this isn't how you say guacamole, then you're saying it WRONG, and you can't sit with us.
I, legitimately, was going to go on another tangent about some of the other things that Nikki talked about, but I think I like the idea of this post being solely about guacamole. Good day.
Yes, there were a few missed 'that's what she said' moments throughout this blog post, those are just for you Allie.
Hi friends, I have something really exciting to share with all of you today!
I hope you don't already have plans for New Year's Eve, and if you do - you might need to cancel them. There is an AMAZING contest going on right now which gives you a chance to win a trip for you and THREE of your girlfriends to go to New York City!! Um, HELLO - who wouldn't want to win this contest?
I did my own Sparkle Louder picture to show you how easy it is. I'm kind of obsessed with the sparkles.
To enter the contest, just go to the Hpnotiq contest page and follow the easy steps to create your own Sparkle Louder picture (using their app) just like the one I made, above. Upload a picture - from your computer, facebook, or instagram - and add as much sparkle as your little heart desires. Fill in all of your details, and just like that - you're done. Easy, right?
You can't really tell in the picture above (because it's black and white), but I'm wearing my favorite pair of pants - they're mint green and fabulous. Despite the fact that mint green isn't entirely appropriate as a winter color, I'll be wearing these pants on New Year's Eve because they add that perfect amount of pizzazz to my outfit, and it's how I'll Sparkle Louder! I'm a big fan of wearing fitted jeans and a cute top, especially a sparkly top - which is exactly what I'd wear if I won this trip! Even though I won't be watching the ball drop in New York this NYE, I will definitely be having a party with lots of Hpnotiq cocktails.
As much as we would all love to win the fabulous Grand Prize trip to NYC, there can only be one winner (plus her girlfriends, duh). BUT! But, but, but! Don't worry! You can still win one of Hpnotiq's other amazing prizes, they're giving away 20 Effy Diamond and Blue Topaz rings - 4 sweepstakes prizes are given away each week!
Oh, and remember that when you're sharing your sparkling images on social media (twitter, instagram, etc), be sure to use the hashtag #SparkleLouder!
I'm a little, okay, a lot jealous of whoever wins this Hpnotiq's contest, because I would LOVE to ring in the New Year with my favorite girls in NYC. It's basically like your own version of Sex and the City. Why are you still reading this post? Go enter, now!
Contest runs from November 4th - December 8th, 2013.
Just remember that you have to be of legal drinking age to be eligible to win this fabulous prize.
It's Monday! Which means it's time to link up with the fabulous Sami for some weekend shenanigans.
Technically today isn't a real/usual 'Monday' to me, because it's a stat holiday and I don't have to work... so I'm probably still sleeping right now. Thank goodness for being able to schedule posts.
one. Selfie, as usual. two. Delicious, delicious, delicious. three. I destroyed this bottle of wine. By myself. four. My dog thinks that he's a "lap-dog". It's cute. five. I think fall is officially coming to an end. View on Saturday's run in my neighborhood. six. The greatest homemade sandwich I've ever seen. No, I didn't eat this. But I wanted to. seven. Sunday Funday workout. eight. This is why Amanda isn't allowed to bake... she struggles. Notice her phone under all that flour. nine. Pumpkin protein pancake with natural peanut butter, raspberries, and bananas. YUM.
On Saturday, I went thrift shopping with my friends - Amanda and Alex. One of the stores that we went to was an amazing vintage boutique clothing store. This woman had SO MANY one of a kind articles of clothing and we were in awe. She made us try on so many different things for her - just for fun. We spent probably an hour or an hour and a half in this one store just to entertain her and her sales associate. The two of them sat on the couch in the changing area, ate their dinner and watched us play dress up. She kept telling us that we were giving her 'dinner and a show'... it was a hilarious experience to say the least. I made a collage of my favorite outfits that I tried on...
Today is Remembrance Day, which is a day where we take time to remember those who have fought for our country. Please take a moment to remember them today, and give a moment of silence on their behalf.
I feel like it's been a long time since I've shared any of my clumsy tales on the blog... so today I'm going to share three separate incidents that have all happened in the past week. Just because I don't always share my stories on here, it doesn't mean that they don't still happen.
I've been known to fall on the bus, lose my pants while chasing the bus down a crowded street, fall through a deck, walk into any table or door, and trip over every sidewalk. Like I said, just because the stories haven't made it onto the blog in a hot minute - it doesn't mean that they've stopped.
Last Friday, Amanda and I were leaving a football game and walking to a local bar to hangout before heading home for the night. En route from the stadium to the bar, we had to walk under an entire sidewalk covered in scaffolding. Normally, this wouldn't be such a problem or seem like a big deal, but we were walking behind a group of about 7 or 8 guys and they were walking too slowly for my liking... so I decided to walk past them and cut through the scaffolding ahead of them so that I wouldn't be stuck behind them the whole time.
You know how the scaffolding bars/pipes do a criss-cross thing? Yeah, I didn't see it. Like, at all. I smoked my head off of the 'criss-cross' part as I was trying to cut in front of them. The entire group of men saw this, laughed and proceeded to make comments the ENTIRE way to the bar. Amanda was laughing, I was laughing and possibly cursing, and the guys were shouting things like: "SHE CAN TAKE IT LIKE A CHAMP!" "OOOOOH THAT HAD TO HURT - YOU'LL FEEL THAT TOMORROW" or my personal favourite, "God love Canadian girls, they know how to take a good hit and just keep going".
Yes, I took the hit like a champ and kept on walking to the bar. But I'm not going to lie - it hurt REALLY badly and continued to hurt for a few days.
I was running late and had to actually run for the bus one morning last week. I saw the bus coming down the street but I knew if I bolted across the street, and the few blocks down, that I would be able to make it to the stop just as the bus was getting there. As I'm running across the street (I live on a busy 6-lane highway type street), my music that's blaring in my ears from my iPhone just stops playing. I assumed I had somehow unhooked my headphones but continued running. As I'm sprinting for the bus stop, I'm feeling around in my pocket and my purse to grab my phone - but I can't find it. Anywhere.
I stop on the spot, squat to the ground, and frantically search through my bag - my phone is not there. I panic and start running back towards my house. Just at that exact moment, I see my poor phone lying helpless in the middle of the highway street and I watch as it is run over by not one, but two cars (and possibly the bus that I missed).
I think I yelled at a few cars not to run over my phone, because I'm crazy like that. I then proceeded to run into the middle of the street (with traffic coming at me) to grab my phone before it was run over by yet another car. Somehow, miraculously, the phone was 100% okay. No scratches, no marks, nothing. Thank god for my Otter Box case. It's a miracle, I swear.
Exhibit C:
Last night I decided to go for a quick run when I got home from work. Despite the fact that it was only 6:00pm it was already completely pitch black dark outside. Instead of running my regular route, which primarily involves alley-ways, I had to run along all of the streets throughout my neighborhood. I was so focused on not tripping over the sidewalk, or slipping on leaves; that I was continuously looking down at the ground instead of looking straight ahead. This worked out really well, I didn't trip... but I did run into a tree. I then started laughing at my sheer stupidity and looked up to see a family of 4 staring at me as I casually jogged away giggling laughing hysterically and texting my friends to tell them what I had done. No shame, friends. No shame.
Since it's Monday, I'm obviously linking up with my girl, Sami. My weekend was pretty low-key but here's a quick glance at what I was up to the past couple of days...
one. Post squat/run workout. two. Hanging out at JJ Bean coffee shop with Amanda - don't worry, this isn't coffee. three. Last week I gave myself a squat challenge. 500 squats per day for a total of 2,500. four. Selfie before Saturday's run. five. I indulged in the most delicious cheat meal, ever, on Saturday night. Mmmmm. six. Facetimed with my brother, his girlfriend, and my cousins for a bit. seven. Selfie before brunch with friends. eight. Brunch is my favorite. nine. Sunday afternoon's workout - 8k walk (with sprinting intervals) and a bit of strength training.
I hope you all have a fabulous start to your week - see you tomorrow!
