I had such a great birthday this week. Family and Friends joined me for dinner at Hapa Izakaya and spoiled me with flowers and cards and gifts. I thought I’d share what I got as these are some of my personal favourite blogs to read myself; what’s in my closet or my bag or shower. It’s fun to see what products and things people are into and many times I find myself purchasing the same things.
So this is what I got! And a HUGE thank you to everyone who came out. I love and appreciate you.
The Kinfolk Table Book
I’ll start with something I treated myself with. I have a tradition each year where I buy a new dress to wear on my birthday and something from one of my wish lists. These 2 books have been on my Amazon wish list for a while. The Kinfolk Table is a beautifully photographed book that visits a variety of couples homes and records the recipes they love as well as take the reader to the hip-est dinner parties. I could just look at the pictures in this book all day. The recipes are simple and amazing too.
An Old Fashioned Christmas
I love Christmas; the baking, the spirit in the air, the snow, shopping for presents. This book encompasses all of this and places it in a New England setting. I dream of a trip to the East Coast in the near future: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire & Massachusetts seem like such magical places. Pine forests and wood smoke is what I envision. This book will be perfect to curl up with next to the fire when the sun starts setting early.
From my Sister Stephanie
I’ve been using this body scrub for years and will continue to do so as long as they make it. It is an amazing scrub that foams so your skin feels really clean afterward, not greasy like many body scrubs. This one’s perfect for using before spray tanning.
She also got me a $25 gift card for Chapters, a book store here in Canada that also carries home decor and unique beauty products. I went for a browse today and found this amazing Coconut bath powder. The ingredients are literally baking soda and coconut powder and it smells like mouthwatering coconut..like so good you want to eat it. I’m so taking a bath after I write this blog tonight!
From Seth
My sweet boyfriend got me this gorgeous rose gold iPad. I don’t have a cel phone so whenever we travel and I need to be online, I lug my MacBook Pro with me which is bulky and heavy and not very convenient. I’ve been wanting an iPad for a while as we plan do to some more world travelling in the near future (starting with Jamaica in September) and being an anxious traveller, this will come so in handy to distract me before boarding and while flying. I plan to download movies and meditation vids that will help soothe my anxiety.
From Mom and Dad
My parents got me a few goodies, including some body butter and perfume from the Body Shop, a really soft, stretchy skirt (which I’ve been wearing everyday) and a pair of beautiful Native Art earrings featuring the Orca and the Eagle.
From my sister in law Alli
Allison and her children got me this great t-shirt that basically describes everything I love in life. They also drew me these beautiful cards with a wand a la Harry Potter and a heart for a sun. Alli also got me a certificate to my favourite shop and I’ll show you what I got from there in a bit.
From my sister in law Ragne
Ragne bought me these lovely white and fuschia snap dragons that are currently adorning my kitchen counter. She had visited the crystal ark earlier in the day and the children chose these 2 rose quartz for me. I love crystals and have a large collection.
From Cheryl
My Mother in law very generously gifted me $100 to Shoppers Drugmart. Everytime I tell people that this is my favourite store (aside from Asos for clothing), they giggle. But I buy all of my cosmetics and toiletries at Shoppers so getting a certificate is so great plus I’d been eyeing a couple of things that I REALLY wanted and got to go buy today!
With my shoppers cards both from Alli and Cheryl I purchased my Strivectin Retinol which I use religiously and is pretty steeply priced but worth every penny. I also bought (finally) the Mind eye shadow palette by Stila I got to sample it at an event last winter and have been pining over it ever since. The rich burnt orange, browns and burgundy shadows are going to be my go-to look for Fall this year.
From Jenn, Renne & Brooklyn
My dear friends and fellow Colombian (Jenn) were so sweet to come out and celebrate. They bought me these lovely fragrant soap and perfume. The soap is in Thai Lily and the perfume is Honeysuckle which is a crazy coincidence because in my 20’s I used to always buy a honeysuckle scented oil that was my signature scent so what a great guess on their part.
Another gift from ME
And all that shopping today took me right by Bath & Bodyworks and of course I had to go in. I absolutely love candles and just my luck they had a 2 for 1 sale so I chose the Rose Water one which I’m burning as I write and is so sweet and perfect for summer. The Bourbon candle is the type of foodie candle I love to use in the Fall so I’ll save it until then.
And this concludes the wonderful gifts I received although the greatest gift is to be able to have a family and friends to celebrate life with. I’m so grateful to them all. Until next year!
Love,
Jennifer
