DIY: Indoor Herb Garden

Happy weekend! It is a nice, warm day in Toronto and I'm loving it. So far today has been wonderful. The bf and I had brunch at a friends place, have been all around the city on our bikes and even squeezed in some time laying on the grass at the UofT campus. Now it's time to buckle down and get some chores done. How's your Saturday going? 

On another note ... I have been wanting to grow herbs for a long time. I hate buying herbs because there's always too much and I can never use all of it before it goes bad. So ... I decided to make a little herb garden in our kitchen. It's the only spot in our loft that gets natural light due to a skylight so I figured it could work. I have seen many posts about growing herbs in mason jars (we all know how much I love mason jars) so I decided to give it a try. Here's what I did:

Materials included the seeds, a hammer, mason jars, potting soil and terra cotta pots. 

Since mason jars are completely enclosed, I added terra cotta pieces to the bottom of the jars, which creates a drainage system. The most fun part of the project was smashing the terra cotta with the hammer. BAM! 

     Voila!

 I planted basil, rosemary and cilantro, which are my favourite herbs. I am super excited to see the herbs grow. We didn't get too much sun this week so that's not good but keep your fingers crossed for me!

Orchid

I love flowers. My favourite is the orchid. I love how the flowers extend from one branch and find all varieties interesting to look at. I also love the texture of the petals and the fact that they look like they've been painted with sparkles. Unfortunately, I have not had the best luck keeping orchids. I had two orchids last year but they did not survive. I think I gave them too much love and over-watered them. I may or may not have also kept the temperature in my home too high this past winter. Either way they are gone and now I have a fake orchid sitting on my kitchen island. 

What's your favourite flower? Any tips for taking care of orchids?

Poppy seed cupcakes with lemon drizzle ... YUM!

 I made these poppy seed cupcakes with lemon drizzle for a bday celebration I attended a couple of weeks ago. I have never made poppy seed cupcakes before and was not sure if I would like them. I was beyond thrilled with the lemon and poppy seed combination and am anxious to try out variations of these cupcakes, such as orange and lemon drizzle, poppy seed and cranberry cupcakes with lemon drizzle and maybe even poppy seed and blueberry cupcakes with lime drizzle. Can't wait!

I got the recipe for these cupcakes from the book 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Connolly. My mom gave me this book as a gift two years ago and I love it! I have made several cupcakes using this book and they have all been yummy. With 500 cupcake recipes and sections such as low-fat cupcakes, vegan cupcakes, spiced cupcakes and even wholesome muffins it has everything you can image. For those of you who don't have this book, below is a picture of the recipe. 

Enjoy!

Saturday Brunch Obsession: Table 17

I am sure it is no surprise to many of you that I love brunch. I have mentioned that one of my favourite things to do on a Saturday is to go out for brunch. The weird thing is that I have not blogged about brunch in a while so here goes ... I have visited Table 17 on several occasions and it has quickly become one of my fave brunch places in Queen East. Pictured below is the delicious scotch egg I once ate with a selection of cheeses. I did not know what a scotch egg was before that lovely Saturday morning. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it is a hard-boiled egg that is wrapped in sausage, coated in breadcrumbs and then deep-fried.

Below is another wonderful dish I ate for brunch at Table 17. I recall it being two eggs over some beef all on brioche bread. YUM! Their rosti is also very good :)

Check this place out if you live in T.O. They also serve lunch and dinner which I have heard is worth the wait in line.

What's your take on a scotch egg? Do you like them as much as I do? 

Table 17

Location: 782 Queen St. East

Leslieville 

This Week ...

The collection of old/new frames, art, pics, material and paper I plan to use to make a gallery wall in our loft. I need more frames and will have to decide which pics I want to develop. If only this process didn't take me soo long!

New reading material

I hope this is correct :) 

I have eaten a lot of fuzzy peaches. Can you say candy overdose?

The lovely view of Toronto I had on an evening walk 

I can't believe I have never been to Sugar Beach!?!? Note to self: Toronto does not have many beaches so this may be a good option for reading/relaxing this summer

I have started collecting the things I will need to grow herbs in our kitchen

The bf took this pic of Vancouver from a float plane on Tuesday. Lucky for me he will be going back for work a few times this summer which means a trip or two to Victoria and Vancouver for camping on the beach and doing some other awesome fun things we never did when he lived there. Excited!

Happy Friday!

Friendship Bracelets

Image Source: 1/2

I am loving the friendship bracelet trend for spring and summer. There's just something tribal and nostalgic about them, which I love. I especially like the updated styles which mix metals with the patterned threads. Friendship bracelets also bring be back to elementary school days when I used to make friendship bracelets and wear a stack of them on my wrist. I can't remember how to make them but have been seeing them at vintage stores in the city.  I'm considering picking some up. I still have a few boxes of my old belongings to sort through and would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping to come across a few.   

Did you used to wear/make friendship bracelets?

Check out these Etsy Shops for my fave friendship bracelets:

makunaima

bfrend

My Favourite Books

Here's another post about books since this is a topic many of us enjoy! See my previous post on books vs. ereaders if you missed it. 

As I discussed in the previous post my reading life is drastically different from what it was a year ago. I am now reading a lot more and have rediscovered my love for reading. I love discussing books with friends and family and am always on the lookout for new books. I have been reflecting on my favourite books and realize that I don't subscribe to any particular genre. My favourite books are classics I read in elementary school, books that were recommended/gifted by friends and books that I read as part of my studies in university. For me, favourite books are books that I learn a lot from, can't put down and read time and time again. Here's a run down (in no particular order) of my favourite books:

White Oleander, Janet Fitch

A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a soldier boy, Ishmael Beach

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (the movie is awesome and I may or may not have a tradition of watching it every Christmas season)

Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden

The Shopaholic Series, Sophie Kinsella (yes I like chick lit and too bad the last book was a disappoinment!)

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper lee

The Bridges of Madison County, Robert James Waller

Lord of the Flies, Willian Golding 

The Truth About Stories, Thomas King

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series, Stieg Larsson

What are your favourite books?

Weekender

As I mentioned earlier, my friends and I were all pumped for a weekend up north when we received the news that the cottage we rented no longer had electricity. So instead we headed out for some horseback riding on Saturday morning. I am not sure if I have mentioned this but I absolutely love horses and was very excited! It was a chilly yesterday morning but the ride was pleasant and eventful. Here are some pics. 

Here I am getting on my horse named Penny.

One thing I loved about the ranch was that there were lots of dogs around playing.

My group and I heading out for our ride which lasted about 1.5 hours.

As you can see, Penny is a bit slower than the other horses. She was also very funny because she would stop randomly to chew on some grass. Apparently she is notorious for stopping along the way to eat!

The scenery was beautiful and I couldn't believe I was out horseback riding that morning. If you had asked me what I was going to be doing on Saturday I would not have thought I'd be horseback riding!

Here I am with Penny after the ride.

One of our instructors fell off her horse and was soaked in mud. Unfortunately another rider also fell off his horse. This is what I meant by eventful.

After the ride we all headed to downtown Oakville for lunch. I had this awesome prosciutto pizza topped with fresh basil. It was amazing!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. It goes by so fast :(

Half-Moon Nails

This evening I was supposed to head up north for an impromptu ladies weekend at Blue Mountain. Unfortunately, we had to cancel our plans because the electrical box in the cottage we rented blew out! What are the chances?? I have been a bit bummed but am now optimistic the weekend can be salvaged with a trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake and some horseback riding. Either way, I had planned to leave you with another post before I left so here's a little something I tried out this past Thursday night...

I tried the half-moon style of painting nails. I decided to go with black and gold because I like the contrast. I have never done anything this fancy with my nails on my own before so I did not know how it would turn out.

I followed this guide from The Beauty Department

Below is a pic of how my nails turned out. I am happy with the result and am excited to do this again. Next time I think I will do it with coral and gold. My only tip is to not press the reinforcers on too hard so that they don't peel off the nail polish when you take them off. Also, take them off when the black coat is still wet. I did a base coat, two gold, one black and a top coat. 

I don't want to toot my own horn but I think it looks pretty good for my first try. Here's to fun nails all weekend (and hopefully into early next week)!! What do you think?

Happy Friday!

Versatile Blogger Award

Thank you Shauna Wyrick @ Life Captured for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award!!!! I am really excited about this nomination simply because I love versatile blogs for their variety of topics and insights. 

The rules for this award are as follows:

1. Nominate 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award

2. Add an image of the Versatile Blogger Award

3. Thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link to their site

4. Share 7 random facts about yourself

5. Include the set of rules

6. Inform each blogger of their nomination

7 Random Facts About Me

My favourite fruit is a really ripe mango 

I love to go out for brunch on Saturdays 

I love nature and the outdoors and could spend everyday outside riding my bike
I am as close to a Virgo as you can get
I am a perfectionist who is working really hard to not be a perfectionist
I sleep with ear plugs every night
I love jewellery more than I love clothes

Blogs/Bloggers I nominate (in no particular order) are...

from Freya, with love
Ryan's Pearl
Orchard Bloom
A Lovely Escape
See Jane
Hip Shapes and Bristol Fashion
Born Lippy
Walk of Fashion
Cupcakes and Cashmere
The Londoner
The Drawing Mannequin
A Beautiful Mess
Shybiker
Life Captured
Oh My Heart

Thanks again Shauna :)