My favorite classic beauty staples...

This one will be short and sweet, but I wanted to share with my bloggers my favorite classic beauty products. And truthfully, I use almost every one of these every day...some on a more weekly basis. But all have a place in my beauty arsenal, and that's something that will stand the test of time for me!

Products from lower left: Crabtree & Evelyn Rosewater Hand Cream, Nivea Creme, Jovan White Musk Perfume, Olay Classic Moisturizing Lotion (Beauty Fluid), Vaseline, Dove Soap, Rosebud Salve and Covergirl Fragrance Free Pressed Powder in Ivory.

Now it's your turn...what are some of your vintage or classic beauty items???

Revamp...and things I love!

Because this will be a bit of a revamp…what are some things that get your butterflies going? I don’t necessarily mean just when it comes to romance or love. I mean the butterflies of excitement. The ones that you get when creating something, doing something you love, or even just being around an atmosphere that gives you comfort. For me, it’s these 5 things. They’re not in any order of importance, just parts of my life that are incredibly important to me. Things I don’t want to picture myself without…

Family and friends – No doubt about it. Family and friends are a huge part of my life. They can make me laugh (and yes cry). They make me feel so loved most of the time, and there are other times they give me advice and slight pushes I may unknowingly need to get myself back on track. Without those close to me, I would be lost. And for that, I never want to imagine myself without them. <3 

Good TV and books - I think I could live without the internet. Ok, hear me out. I know I have a blog, but in reality, to me blogs are almost like digital versions of scrapbooks, just available to anyone who’s interested. But give me a good drama or romance novel, a sordid crime drama on TV and I’m in 7^th heaven. Add in a funny Will Farrell movie once in a while and call me utterly content!

Vintage (anything!) – This one is a bit of a no brainer on this blog. Although I have a *slight* obsession with vintage jewelry, I have been in love with all things vintage since I was a kid. Garage sale and thrift shopping as an early teen only added to this addiction, I’m sure. I now own many many books on vintage shopping and finds, hundreds of pieces of jewelry, and even some clothing and nick-knack items that are over a century old. I love my collection, no doubt about it! And vintage/antiques are making a huge resurgence in the past few years it seems. There are so much vintage ‘inspired’ things out there now that it gives me hope people are starting to realize all the things they have stored in the attic might not just be junk anymore!

Baking (and good food) – I really LOVE to bake. I mean LOVE. Over the past few years it’s definitely a hobby that I’ve grown to truly enjoy, and now when I get a free afternoon to myself I find there’s nothing better than heading to the kitchen cabinets and seeing what confection I can create. I’m not the most amazing cook, but when it comes to baking, I literally am willing to try almost any recipe! (you can see some of my favorite baked items in my previous blog posts).

 My little ‘fur’ baby – I know it’s super cliché, by my little cat Tux is a big part of my life. He’s my little guy, and even though some may say it’s just a pet, I love that I have something to take care of and that depends solely on me. Plus, he’s such a character that I would hate for anything to happen to him. He may annoy the heck out of me sometimes, but I know I’m not the only one out there that loves their pet as if another member of the family. :)

An announcement that's been due...

So, it's been a long since my last post...what's new?

Well there is something new actually! It's a little sad that I haven't said it yet, but I recently started a little online business in which I sell vintage jewelry. I'm actually so surprised how much I enjoy the hunt to find cute and under appreciated pieces. It basically started when I was trying to find out some info on a necklace I had bought for myself. Well low and behold I came across a website which has this huge niche of vintage jewelry sellers and I got the idea 'hey, maybe I can do something like this'! A few hours of scouring my personal vintage jewelry collection, and then a few trips to some second hand and vintage stores later - my first couple of pieces were ready to be put into a store! Then a few more hours online setting everything up with pictures and viola...Jam and Jelly Picnic Vintage Jewelry was ready to be shared with the world!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JamandJellyPicnic

I'm hoping in the course of the next few weeks this blog will start evolving to show off my love of not only vintage jewelry but also other things that are a reflection of my new venture. New pieces I might find, retro influences I come across everyday, and goodness knows what else! Anyone is free to send suggestions of where they would like to see this blog go, and of course please also help support the new Jam and Jelly Picnic name by checking out my Etsy shop. :)

Update with all random things...

   Ok, so ever since posting my blog onto YouTube, I 've kept reminding myself that I need to do updates. The last post I had was sadly far to long ago, but I promise there are reasons.
   The first and foremost thing that has prevented me from being in the mood to blog is that a close friend recently passed away, and to be honest I've noticed I'm not always in the mood to share alot of my feelings about smaller meaningless things, you know? I'm trying to be there for my BFF (whose brother was tragically taken) and also trying to re-evalutae my life so to speak. To look at those around me differently and to be a lot more thankful for everything I have, big or small. To say that it's changed me is an understatement. I still feel for the mourning family, and I see how broken they all are, but I know that it's also helped me to treasure my own family more. I've complained about my sibling, I've complained about my parents, and I know there have been times where I've just been a major grouch. But why? Because I'm a pessimist and in a bad mood? That's no excuse to constantly belittle what I should be lucky to have. In a way I feel like it's taken me far too long to notice that I have things really quite good. I have a great family that I get along with (most of the time), I have friends that I truly love, I have a pet who is my little fur baby, a job that I completely love, and an apartment that feels like my home. I'm secure in my life, and though it may not be perfect, it's mine. I don't want to regret anything that's led me to become who I am or where I am today.
   Secondly, let's face it, everyone is busy at this time of year! I feel like ever since the middle of November I've been swimming just to keep my head afloat. On top of the experience I talk about above that happened, I also had my mother's, sister's and father's birthday in November, and immedietly after that it was time to start planning things happening for Christmas. Between finishing the birthdays, helping planning and attending my work Christmas party, and Christmas shopping I am spent. Don't get me wrong. I love Christmas, very very much so. But it's hard some years when everything seems to need doing. I don't doubt that everyone probably feels stressed, but I guess in a way I will be a little happy to have the refreshing beginning of the New Year start. And on top of all this I also managed to finally get my license at the ripe old age of 25, and am now starting to look at my first and biggest purchase, a car. So yes. Fingers crossed I will be posting VERY soon about something that is a new addition to my life.
   And that, in a nutshell, has been my life for the past 2 months. Busy, eventful, but also very important to me. :)

I think it's about time I share my Youtube channel on my blog, don't you??

http://www.youtube.com/user/rosemarylove86

Yummy yummy...

Geez, I m the worst blogger ever! Who goes months and months with no post??


Anyways, it's Thanksgiving long weekend here in Canada and I wanted to contribute something to my family's delicious dinner planned, so I thought I would try some sort of pie or tartlet recipe. Personally I'm a big fan of pumpkin or apple spice pies in the fall, but because my family is a little on the picky side, I thought I should be a little safe and choose cherry for the filling. In terms of the crust, well this was my gamble. I actually didn't use a recipe at all for this! I really do love baking, and I think sometimes half the fun of it is coming up with an idea of what you want, and just try different ingredients until you get it! For me it was simple. I wanted a quick graham crumb shell, and the filling had to be easy enough as well. So here is the final result. Enjoy!!

And now, here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

Tartlet crust:    2 cups graham crumbs

                  1 cup butter, softened

                  1 cup brown or white sugar

Filling:      2 lbs, or 2 and 1/2 cups pitted and halved cherries

              1 cup sugar

              1 sachet of pectin       

              1/2 cup water

In large bowl cream together butter and suagr until well blended. Add in graham crumbs slowly until entire mixture clumps together. Press into an empty muffin pan, adding about 2 tablespoons of mixture into each muffin tin. make sure bottom and sides are even in terms of mixture thickness. Bake in a preheated 350 degree over for 7 minutes. Let cool completely and dish out onto a plate or cooling tray.

In a saucepan, add cherries and water and bring to a gentle boil. Add in sugar and pectin until mixture forms a thicken gelatinous texture. Remove from heat and spoon into cooled tartlets or mini pie shells. Place in a fridge or cool area for a few hours to let the filling set. And there you go!

Makes about 16 tartlets or 12 tartlets and one mini 8 x 8 rounded mini pie



July showers bring...

Wow, has it really been almost 2 months since I got my butt on here to do a post? How sad! I can’t believe I let it fall by the waist side as bad as this.

Anyways, to stay on topic, it’s been a horrible summer so far in terms of rain. I don’t know if I’ve seen this much rain in Alberta for a long, long time. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was say April or even May, but being that it’s almost August and we’ve barely had a summer, many Albertans are starting to get fed up. That doesn’t even begin to explain how bad the bugs are because of all the extra moisture too. It’s not that this is just to rant about something as silly as weather. But when you are hoping for a warm summer to go camping or to outdoor markets and festivals, weeks or even months of constant rain can sure feel depressing.

Which is why I wanted to share this picture. I woke up one morning after it had rained all night (and would continue to do so that day as well) and as if it was almost perfect timing, there was a break in the dark clouds and the rising sun was able to peek through a bit. It caused one of those beautiful bright pink skies that you don’t see very often. I grabbed my iPhone (my new multitasking love) and quickly snapped this picture to make sure I remembered how wonderful it all looked.