Runs on Coffee and Cream

Spring is here. But not really. We got dumped on with snow again a couple of days ago. Our world looked like a snow globe all day. I think Emma was the only one thrilled about this turn of events in our household. Oh, and I guess the dog too. 

It's hard to believe it's June already. I'm not too sure where the time has gone, but here we are.

May

May was a great month. We went to Hamilton for the first time since Emma was born. It was a successful visit and the 5 hour drive there and back went well. Emma slept for most of the drive and we had interesting adventures at rest stops changing diapers and feeding her. We also had my mom up for a longer than normal visit which was nice. There was no rushing. Just hanging out and enjoying ourselves.

We played many games of Catan in May.

Matcha Lemonade season!

Lunch at Twiggs.

The summer heat showed up this month. My walks around the neighbourhood with Emma were now sunny and hot walks. I officially have tank top tan lines. We also went to Bell Park a couple of times. The most recent time was somewhat of a picnic with friends. Too bad their were a gazillion (I'm not kidding) tent caterpillars at the park trying to join us. It was a little annoying.



We ended May with Paramedic Week here in the city. We attended the proclamation last Monday to start off Paramedic week so of course I took a ton of photos of Emma and Adam with the ambulance since this was the first time Emma was at Daddy's work.

Sitting in an ambulance.

June

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June only just started but so far it's been a rainy month. I'd really like for the sun to come back now! We have a lot of fun plans for this month. Graphic-con is this Saturday, which is my first craft show of the year. I've been able to sew a bit with Emma around so I have faith that I'll be able to get back into sewing more and more as she gets older. There's two weekends that family is coming to visit us, Father's Day, our wedding anniversary, and the month ends with a friend's wedding. So it looks like it'll be another busy month.

Can you believe this cutie is 3 months old?!

I'm pumped for the summer with Emma. I have so many things I want to do with her. If you follow me on Instagram, I apologize in advance for all the adorable baby pics! I've been trying to keep them separate in a private account on Instagram. But they keep leaking back into my main account. Whoops!

xo Jen

Spring has finally shown up. The days are warm and the sun is shining. I've been going for multiple walks each week with Emma. Having a routine for my walks has been key to going out more. I load up the stroller with Emma, a water bottle, and my cell phone. Then we head out to walk around the neighbourhood. We have a certain route we take and we always hit up the mailbox half way through our walk. It's been great to soak in the sunshine and feel the fresh air on my skin. After a long winter being very pregnant, and then 6 weeks of being stuck in the house during my c-section recovery, these walks are very therapeutic. I need to move and feel warm, fresh air. It's a bright spot in my day.

I'm excited for summer. I have so many plans for us... hangouts in the yard, walks, picnics at the park, afternoons at the beach. I'm excited for these family days and moments with Emma.

There's a few things I'd love to pick up to get ready for summer.


Clockwise from top right:
Iced Tea Pitcher - I have the personal iced tea press and I love it! I want the pitcher for when we have company over.
Ice Cream Notebook - I love this print and I think this notebook would be great to carry in my bag to write down random thoughts, to-dos, and shopping lists. Mommy brain is real!
Summer Dress - How comfy does this dress look!? And it's super cute. It's so needed for hot days.
S'ip Bottle - I've been trying to drink more water and a stainless steel bottle would be great to keep my water cold during hot days.

What's on your summer wish list?
xo Jen

I've been a huge fan of Davids Tea for years now. In the last couple of years I started to make my own iced tea with loose leaf tea from Davids Tea and now I have the ease of taking iced tea on the go with me.

I'm talking about Davids Tea Iced Tea Press. I've been coveting one since they released their new design this year and I finally picked one up!



The directions are super easy:

how to use

Step 1

• In the outer sleeve, add tea and hot water to the fill line. Fill the inner compartment with ice.

Step 2

• While your tea is steeping, slide the inner compartment down into the outer sleeve, stopping before the fill line.

Step 3

• When your tea has finished steeping, slowly press the inner compartment all the way down. Enjoy!

Because I'm going to be addicted to my Iced Tea Press, I need to stock up on teas that are perfect iced!

I've been hitting up my local Davids Tea store to taste all the new teas being sampled and I've fallen in love with a few that I desperately need to pick up:

From top to bottom:
1, Sour Watermelon
2. Rainbow Sherbet
3. Raspberry Mojito - by far my FAVOURITE!

I'm sure this list will get longer as they keep releasing new flavours for summer. I'll be sure to taste test as many flavours as I can! What tea do you recommend iced?

xo Jen

Spring is always a short season here. It shows up late and then before you know it summer pops up in June with some scorching hot days. Don't get me wrong, I love summer and everything that comes with it. But spring is nice for walks and hikes and to work in the garden. I feel like May is already filling up with plans which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it means this month is going to fly by.

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After sitting down with Adam to discuss some things coming up, we realized there's a handful of things we'd like to do before the hot summer shows up.

Spring To Do List:

• Go for a hike or two! Summer brings mosquitoes which makes hiking trails difficult without being eaten alive. So we want to head to a couple of hiking areas before all the bugs show up.
• Work on the outside of our house - put down grass seed, plant flowers in the gardens, decide on what vegetables we want to plant and start picking up seeds and plants.
• Have a bonfire. Before we get too hot evenings, we figure we'll take advantage of the cooler evenings with a bonfire. 
• Get our bikes out of the shed! Fill up the tires and start going for regular rides.
• Start making iced tea regularly. Iced tea is definitely a summer thing, but with Davids Tea promoting all their iced tea products I'm ready to start making pitchers of it regularly. It's refreshing after a warm walk or bike ride.

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I'm longing for sunshine, warm days, and not wearing layers of clothing. We're barely getting spring and I freeze at night because I refuse to put my furnace back on. I'm itching to open windows for fresh air and to wear shoes without socks.

More than likely this is pushing me towards my mermaid obsession... I'm wanting to live at the beach, the sun on my skin, and sand under my toes. I want to spend afternoons swimming in the lake and lounging on a beach towel.


Clockwise from top left:
1. Mermaid Hair Tank
2. Mermaid Glass
3. Majestically Awkward Tank
4. Mermaid Blanket
5. Mermaid Pouch

Not only do I have a mermaid theme going, but it seems a teal-theme as well. Come on sunshine! I want spring and summer!

xo Jen

I love notebooks, smooth-writing pens, and stickers. I have a serious addiction to stationery. Now add in the fact that I'm badly wanting sunny and warm weather, and Chapters' new stationery collection is pretty darn perfect for me.




I plan on treating myself to a new notebook and some new pens soon. The rainy weather we've been having has me wanting to surround myself in sunshine items!

xo Jen

The bowling alley had pretty great shoes.

I picked up a bunch of snacks at Nations Grocery Store.

It was gorgeous weather all weekend.

Spring has been a little delayed here but our snow is finally gone and flowers are starting to come through!

The cats are loving the fresh air coming through the open windows and all the sunny spots for hangouts.

I made a batch of lemon chip craisin biscotti. The lemon chips that the Bulk Barn sell are perfect for springtime cookies.

I also found some fabric scraps that I had hidden away in the closet. I'm so excited to use these for new projects since they're incredibly cute and summer-y.

I also found an amazing tea shop that my be my new obsession. This was a green honey milk tea and it was to die for.

I hope you're having a great Easter weekend. We're not doing much other than enjoying the sunny weather and spending some much needed time relaxing.

xo Jen

The theme of April seems to be 'waiting for warm weather and sunny days'. This post is no different.

Bath and Body Works

I had the chance to go wander around Bath and Body Works recently and I spent a long time smelling all their new scents. I fell in love with so many. Surprisingly I fell for more of their body products than candles this time around. They've released a bunch of summer-themed products; aloe gel lotions, coconut scents, body scrubs. I plan on impatiently waiting for a sale where I can use a coupon on top of the sale to go coconut and pineapple crazy!


Smoothies

We've been on a smoothie kick in our household lately. Fresh fruit, frozen fruit, leftover almond milk or yogurt close to expiry, chia seeds. It's been an easy way to include some fruit into our diets and use up random ingredients from our fridge. I've experimented with green smoothies in the past but we no longer have kale or spinach on hand. We buy different greens since we share them with our pet turtles. But after seeing this super handy graphic, I'm realizing there's nothing stopping me from trying green smoothies with the other lettuce we have on hand.


What have you been loving lately?
xo Jen

Since I'm on a unicorn kick, as well as the fact that we have spring weather finally, I'm obsessed with colours - pastel, bright, tropical. All the colours! I bought a sweater last week and it's coral! This is odd for me since I tend to fall into the grey/blue category with most of my clothing. I will more than likely pair that coral sweater with a grey tank. But it's such a bright, happy colour and I'm excited to wear it.

I've been drawn to colours everywhere. These are a few of my favourite colourful things right now:

1. Tarte's Make Believe in Yourself collection. I want it all.


2. Starbucks' spring cups. They're too cute.


3. Davids Tea Summer Collection. I plan on picking up an iced tea press for myself to have fresh iced tea all summer!


All these colours put me in such a happy mood so I plan on surrounding myself with them.

xo Jen

March is almost over and I couldn't be more excited for April. April means spring weather, Easter celebrations and Adam's birthday. All things I enjoy and it means I have a month of baking ahead of me!

Our last bit of snow that we got hit with while going for a walk downtown. We found a pretty cool wall mural hiding in an alleyway though.

My new favourite mug.

I finally pulled out my Tony Moly Pokemon makeup to use. The Jigglypuff colour suits my porcelain skin perfectly.

I knew I had to buy a bag as soon as I saw them in the Easter candy aisle: Carrot Cake Hershey Kisses! They're delicious with a cup of coffee.

Logan is enjoying the fresh air on one of the odd days I opened the windows in the house.

Seymore has been doing his best to find all the sunny spots in the house. I catch him almost daily lounging in a sunny area in the living room.

I started the month reading Bee and Puppycat.

Spring is here! Well, kind of. The weather dropped to -28 last night and we still have snow piles everywhere. I also haven't spotted any grass peeking out. But Spring is here and that means we'll slowly start getting warmer and things will start growing!


I'm ready to ditch the sweaters, heavy socks, and winter coats. So I'm sure I'll be feeling a little chilly over the next couple of weeks while I move into my spring wardrobe, even though it's not warm enough yet.

My fashion and beauty inspiration for spring this year is pretty, romantic, and sensible.


Clockwise from top left:
1. I want all things succulents.
2. I love all the pretty eyelet tanks I'm seeing.
3. Long tanks to wear over leggings have become my go-to outfit when I'm home and I plan on wearing these cute and comfy combos right into spring.
4. I realized last summer that I need sensible, but cute walking shoes. Something that won't look too crazy with a cute dress but will still save my feet from all the walking we do.
5. I just picked up this blush and I'm obsessed with the pretty, sparkly look of it.

Now to wait impatiently for when I can ditch my coat and just wear cardigans outside!
xo Jen

My phone camera made the pink much darker... but it looks so pretty against the sprinkles.

I'm sure you'll see these sprinkles again since I have so much spring inspiration right now and want to bake everything I can!

I hope your week is treating you well!
xo Jen

The s'mores frappuccino is back at Starbucks and it's still amazing!


Cotton candy sunsets are one of my favourite things about this time of year.


So we found a groundhog in our yard a couple weeks ago. It was kind of crazy and he was pretty big. Thankfully we haven't seem him since.



I'm pretty excited for Summer to officially start, are you?
xo Jen