Salted White-Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

As of last exam period I have had the most intense craving for white chocolate.  And, I'm not afraid to admit that on Monday night after working on a STATA assignment, I came home, crawled into bed and ate an entire Lindt white chocolate bar. #NoRegrets If you too love white chocolate then these cookies are a great option. However, as with all recipes I write (when they don't turn out perfectly) I will give you my critiques, so please read the entire post before you start baking and if you make any alterations, please let me know how it turned out!

Skate Canada Nationals 2015

One of my new year's resolutions was to spend more time watching figure skating. While I complained and complained about CBC's coverage, what better way to make sure I don't miss any of the action by going to one of events myself. The first time I ever visited Kingston, Skate Canada International, a Grand Prix event, was being held and I got to see one of favourite skaters Javier Fernandez live (this is of course prior to him being a regular medalist). This year Kingston was hosting Canadian Nationals and I thought what a better way to end my time in Kingston by going to see it.

Boscia Tsubaki Beauty Oil

Since I received a sample of this oil from Sephora last winter this has quickly become one of my favourite skincare products. The primary ingredient, Tsubaki Oil has supposedly belonged to Japanese beauty rituals for centuries. It cost 57.00 CAD for a 1.7 oz bottle (I'm more of a metric girl but it really is a lot for your money).

If You Liked Downton Abbey...

During the summer I dived head-first into Downton Abbey. However, season three left me a wreck and I felt I could not go on. Recently I've started watching it from the beginning and realized my favourite part of the show was during the Great War. What triggered me into rewatching Downton was a book my mother had recommended to me ages ago and I felt that I ought to make some Canadian recommendations to those like my mother and I, who love a good wartime romance.

Present You vs. Future You

It may surprise you to know that I didn't need to style this photo. In fact everything cluttering my desk is only for one course. I'm not even a messy person but sometimes the work piles up a little to high. This pile also lead to a revelation this weekend that I need to really consider what makes me happy in the short term and what makes me happy in the long run.

Smokey Romantic Eye Look

Lately I've been wearing very little makeup. Normally I have "busy" days with lots of class and errands, where I tend to wear more makeup but this term my schedule is very spread out and with lost of time in the library I've mostly been wearing concealer, eye liner and mascara (during a Canadian winter you don't need blush!). Today, I'm going to be hanging out with friends and going to dinner so I thought I would be a bit more ambitious. I decided to create a pinky-smokey eye and keep the rest of my face very neutral so I don't look too done up.

December 2014 Wrap Up

Christmas Beauty Products 2014

If you read my new years resolutions, you'll know that one of my goals is to focus on skincare rather than make-up. I kept this in mind when I wrote my Christmas list. I think sometimes when you read beauty blogs you think you need every neutral palette that looks beautiful (I mean those are all shades you're going to use right!?) etc. but I find when I take a step back I should only really be buying new makeup products as I run out or to fill in a gap. So I made my beauty list small and precise.

New Year, New Me

(photo from stylecaster)

Warning: this post contains the biggest blogger new years cliche. I'm not the type of person to make new years resolutions because they just don't always work. I'm sure each of us has tons of reasons from they're hard to come up with, hard t follow through, hard to start etc. For those of you making them (or any goals) I wanted to recommend an app I used to use and wanted to get back into called Everest, but it no longer exists according to their website. Essentially it breaks down your goals into things that you can do on a monthly, weekly, daily basis to reach your goals. E.g. if you want to be tidier a daily goal could be to wipe down the kitchen counters or make your bed and a weekly goal could be to vacuum or clean the bathroom. The app then lets you check off the things you've completed. I'm sure there are other apps out there and this wouldn't even be difficult to replicate using an agenda.

This year is incridibly important to me as it marks the end of my institutional education and the beginning of the the rest of my life: learning from experience and learning as a professional. Here are my goals for 2015 and what I hope to continue and change going into the new year.