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White Tee, Jeans - And Coffee: By Gal Meets Glam

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Background/Overview: Malcolm Gladwell covers a few of the alternative reasons for people’s success -- we as a society tend to assume it’s all about hard work / who you know -- but Gladwell shares which pre-conditions and opportunities (like when and where we were born and how many hours we commit to something) make it easier for some people (’outliers’) to achieve their successes. 

What I loved: He cites some really interesting research studies -- I really like when authors do that (reminds me of research papers in school but more interesting topics).

What I didn’t love: Don’t expect to end this book with a better idea of how you can achieve success. It’s just some explanations for why it’s easier for some people to become successful. It’s more an INTERESTING read than a PRACTICAL read, which is what I usually expect from the books I pick up in the self-help or business section of the bookstore. Sometimes I felt like Gladwell didn’t have ENOUGH research to support his argument which makes him less credible to me. Honestly, in the end I questioned why this book has been so widely popular, influential, and recommended to me --- but my boss made an interesting point: he thinks Gladwell’s arguments are popular because they are debatable, a conversation piece for people.

Recommended for: If you like the idea of redefining what success means. If you like interesting research and examples of interesting people.

In the end, although I’m not even sure how much I liked the book, I think I’m going to read another of Gladwell’s books - David & Goliath that covers examples of what happens when little guys stand up to the big guys.

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re: the sticky notes -- my idea for how to read a book just in time for a book club meeting on said book.

Background: the author, Brene Brown, had one of the most popular TED Talks of all time http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability and it is a pretty good teaser for what the book is about.

What I loved: all of it. Brene’s writing style is smooth, combining an authentic, relatable voice with an academic tone (i mean, she is a PhD sharing her and other’s research on vulnerability).

What I didn’t love: I can’t think of anything!

Recommended for: if you find yourself struggling with trust and opening up YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. and even if you are an open and trusting person like myself, it reminded me why it’s so important and how i need to continue to stay open and vulnerable in my relationship(s), my future marriage, and with my future children.

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typically, it bothers me to NOT finish a book. but sometimes with “self-help” books, you realize in the middle that it’s not as relevant to your life as it was when you first purchased it. for example, I purchased this book when I was going through some stress at work, dealing with conflict with a coworker and I found myself obsessing over our conversations and really conflicted internally, so I wanted to be able to say ‘fuck it’ to stuff like that. half-way through the book, however, I got a new job.

Background: I believe fuck it therapy is the first of John Perkins books, now including “fuck it: the ultimate spiritual way” and coming soon “fuck it: do what you love.” The basic concept is: say fuck it to all the things that don’t matter very much in this world so you can spend your energy more productively on the things that do. John Perkins & his wife seem like the coolest people – they both said fuck it to their normal lives & jobs to move to Italy and have ‘fuck it’ retreats where they teach this fuck it therapy.

What I loved: the title, the brashness and ‘realness,’ and how he breaks down the sections/chapters. one section is 8 different walls that block us (some will stand out as most relevant to you), the next section details how to break through each wall, and more

What I didn’t love: sometimes Perkins is too informal. he gets off topic and I don’t know what he’s talking about anymore. and as much as the breakdown is good, I found it really confusing – almost like he breaks it down too much into too many chapters so not much of the book is relevant to the ‘walls’ you’ve identified with. perhaps you need to read the section on ‘walls’ to determine yours, and then only read the parts of the book that relate to your ‘walls’ afetr that.

Recommended for: when you’re in a time of your life (that I think we all go through off and on) where you find yourself so caught up in situations, issues, conflicts, drama with people who don’t matter, or you feel really stuck with where you’re at in your life and the things (job/city/people/material goods) you’re attached to.

this is not a book you can read casually here and there over a few weeks like I did, it’s a book you need to dive in and commit to so you can focus your attention on it for 1-2 weeks. my dragging it out is what made me get lost on what he was trying to teach and is why i eventually quit trying.

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summer beauty essentials

this summer has been about simplifying my beauty routine. for a while I was loving makeup and having fun with it, then I started feeling like I needed full makeup on a regular basis, and eventually I noticed my skin was suffering from all the products and cleansing. 

so in May I decided to go a month without makeup. I allowed myself mascara on days I wanted to feel a bit more feminine or fancy, but for the most part: bare face. and I loved it! I saved so much time getting ready and not having to cleanse 2-3x a day, I’m saving money on makeup + skin care products, and eventually my skin cleared up too. so for the rest of the summer (aside from a few weddings) I decided to keep this thing going.

in addition to mascara, I decided to venture into the world of BB cream. I’ve never been good at remembering daily moisturizer and sunscreen for my face, and I know how important it is, so this lightweight three-in-one product has been a game changer. it feels so natural and so far has NOT been clogging my pores -- even if I forget to wash my face at the end of the day, I don’t wake up with a breakout like I did when I wore make-up.

aside from my face, hair products are important for me in the summer as I can either get frizz from humidity or flat hair/roots. on the left is my dry shampoo. I know that my hair benefits when I DON’T wash it every day, so this dry shampoo allows me to do that while adding some much needed volume, no heavy product feel, and a really nice scent. next is my anti-frizz creme, I just apply a little bit on my towel-dry hair after a shower and it helps control that humidity frizz and protect my hair on the days I decide to style it with heat.

I chose all these brands because they are affordable and accessible at my local drug stores, and don’t test on animals!

FYI: After using this Grow Luscious mascara from Revlon for a while, I tried out their Lash Potion Volume & Length version and HATED IT. I used it for a few weeks before throwing it out and going back to Grow Luscious. the Lash Potion caused me to have some really dry irritated eyes, and didn’t last well throughout the day!

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MARCH #BOTM: Thrive by Ariana Huffington

Background: Ariana Huffington is the co-founder and CEO of Huffington Post. In her pursuit of success, she overworked herself into major exhaustion and went through something that made her question her pursuits, her priorities, and her path in life. This book is how she re-defined success to be more than money + power, adding a “third metric” involving well-being/wisdom/wonder.

What I loved: The content AND her style of writing. The content was so on-point it was as if she was taking thoughts directly from my brain. To me it was almost a yogi way of thinking about business, talking about the importance of nature, meditation, sleep, gratitude... all the simplest things. Her style of writing is the perfect balance of personal anecdotes, real research and statistics, and inspirational quotes. 

What I didn’t love: Honestly, I can’t think of anything... except maybe long chapters? When books have long chapters it takes me extra long to read as I have trouble really getting into it.

Recommended for: Someone like me. Anyone who is chasing after success and/or pursuing some kind of corporate career (or really any career that would require you to work your ass off), but who is concerned about work life balance and concerned about focusing your life on the pursuit of money and power rather than the really important things. 

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must-haves: springtime shoes!

as a Canadian, I am so excited to pack away my winter boots for a few months and bring out my lightweight sneakers for spring/summer. these four styles are classics every year...

converse: ~$60 CAD (I want)

vans: ~$55 CAD (I own)

toms: ~$60-$90 CAD (I own)

keds: ~$50-60 CAD (I have owned)

I chose to highlight the brand names for this post, but i am actually a believer in knock-offs. my favourite shoe store for cheaper versions of almost all of these shoes above is Spring Shoes. This year, I will keep my worn in grey Vans sneakers as shown above (love them), I will buy a pair of no-name TOMS, and I may buy myself some Converse. I love Keds and think they are so comfy but I just don’t need another pair this year.

Now, my honest review of TOMS shoes:

I do have a problem with TOM’S that I will share. I have owned no-name TOMS style shoes I got from Spring for $20. They lasted 2-3 summers and never smelled... everyone always complained their TOMS shoes smelled and I never understood that... until I splurged and bought myself a pair of real TOMS. And I think I know why. They use leather for in-soles. Which drives me crazy because there’s actually no reason to use leather as your in-sole. Now, I have always and will always try to avoid buying leather (the sales lady told me it wasn’t leather when I bought my TOMS), because I think it’s doesn’t live up to the hype or the price tag in many cases, but TOMS is the perfect example of leather being useless: my leather in-sole has fallen apart and smells horrid, this never happened with my no-name TOMS. My big toes also never poked a hole through my fake TOMS and this is a common problem I’ve seen and experienced with my real TOMS.

I love what TOMS does for the world, and I would love to donate to them, but I think they are so overpriced I won’t buy again. I would rather buy $20 fake toms and donate $20 to TOMS personally.

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#SARACOOKS: sweet & spicy beef & sausage CHILI

Chili has got to be one of my favourite meals to make. Always a crowd-pleaser, it reminds me of Superbowl parties, cold winter afternoons, and even summer nights at the cottage. It’s easy, it’s filling, I always make enough that leftovers last a few days, and it can be as healthy as you want it to be. 

Ingredients:

1lb lean ground beef

2 regular sausages

1 can kidney beans

1 can Heinz Maple Baked Beans

1 can tomato sauce

1 package chili seasoning 

2tbsp barbecue sauce (I used Diana’s to increase the sweetness!)

Lately I’ve been experimenting with chili for two reasons (1) I had chili at a Superbowl party years ago that was as sweet as it was spicy and it was the best chili I had ever had {hence the maple beans + sweet bbq sauce in this recipe}; (2) my family orders meat from a farm in bulk, and we got an order of pork that included way too many sausages (which none of us even like very much) so I’m trying to get creative with ways to include them in recipes (resourcefulness!).

I don’t think I need to tell ya’ll the steps involved in making chili, do I? It’s essentially cook your meat, and throw all of the ingredients into a slow cooker for as long as you can wait before digging in! 

*One tip for adding sausage like this to a chili or stew, as I learned from watching a Jamie Oliver show, is that you don’t want to slice the sausage into your bite sized pieces as soon as you take them out of the package -- you want to cook the full sausages first, slice, then cook some more, or else all the meat will fall apart and separate!

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#whereIvebeen // 4 days in Salt Lake City, UT

I travelled to Salt Lake City (September 2014) all by myself to present my master’s thesis at a conference (so about 1/3 of my time there was spent in BYU classrooms listening to other presenters).

What I did: I stayed in a crappy hotel, I visited BYU, I walked to the Gateway mall a few times, I ate at a famous mexican restaurant (Red Iguana), ate at Red Rock Brewery restaurant twice (it was that good), went to a famous donut shop (Banbury Cross Donuts), and rented a car and drove into the mountains alone (scary) to take a tram up to the top of the mountain (amazing) at the Snowbird Ski Resort.

What I wish I did: I wish I visited the temple and historical buildings tours (had the opportunity but was suffering from some anxiety), and I wish I could have driven to Great Salt Lake but ran out of time. If I was staying there over a week, I also would have loved to drive to Arches National Park.

What I learned: it is SO expensive to rent a car in the USA (if you’re under 25, I guess?), and my phone GPS never worked in the US either even though I tried to get a long distance data plan for my trip -- this was very overwhelming, as I ended up navigating 2 hours into the mountains with nothing but a map and half an idea where I was going (”drive toward the mountains!”). I also learned a lot about travelling alone, in general, but more on that later.

*The #whereIvebeen tag is not meant to brag about where I’ve been, but to share my travel experiences with people who may be thinking of travelling to any of these places soon. 

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#SARACOOKS // "Burrito" Stuffed Peppers

My boyfriend and I had been craving burritos, but wanted to eat something healthier & stay in for dinner + I've always wanted to try making stuffed peppers... need I say more?

I couldn't find a specific recipe for what I wanted, so I searched for similar "tex mex" style recipes and freestyled the inner ingredients

Ingredients:

2-4 large peppers per person (red, green, all seem to work the same)

1 cup rice (I used brown)

1 can kidney beans

1 red onion

1 Jalapeno

1-2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar)

1 pound ground beef

2-4 tbsp chili powder

Serve with: sour cream, salsa, guacamole

Steps:

Cook beef in large skillet on medium heat (I add fresh garlic almost always)

Prepare rice

Prepare peppers: remove and discard the tops of the peppers, clean out the interior seeds, slice bottoms slightly if necessary (helps keep the peppers standing upright & stable in oven) & place in a deep oven-safe pan or dish

Chop onions, jalapeno (and any other veggie you might like inside)

Wash kidney beans

Once beef and rice are ready, mix together in a large bowl with beans, onion, jalapenos & add chili powder to taste

Fill peppers with the above mixture

Place a layer of tinfoil over the pan/dish

Cook @ 375*F for 35 minutes

Remove foil, add layer of shreeded cheese, cook another 5 minutes uncovered or until cheese has melted

Serve with burrito sauces like sour cream, guacamole, salsa, hot sauce & EAT IT

How was it? 6.5 / 10

Honestly, I felt something was missing. Maybe the rice needed more flavour. Maybe I needed to mix shredded cheese into the pepper mix. Maybe it was too much red pepper, not enough inside mix for me. I found the recipe really needed to be served with sour cream & salsa or else it would taste boring. Kurtis liked it but agreed it needed lots of those sauces to be flavourful enough for us.

I was also a bit confused about what to eat as a side, as the peppers alone seemed like a strange meal, but inside was all of the veggies, rice, and meat we could have had as sides so anything else would seem weird too. It was surprisingly filling though, I didn't think it would be enough for Kurtis so I made 4 for him and he only got through 3. 

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February #BOTM: #GIRLBOSS

If you don't know the story behind this book... author Sophia Amoruso was "unemployable" in her early twenties, started selling vintage clothing online, and was a multi-millionaire within six years as the CEO of Nasty Gal Clothing. In this book, she shares her story of hard work and rebellion that led to her self-made success, while guiding young women on how to be a #GIRLBOSS in whatever they want to do.

What I loved: She writes like I imagine she talks. Funny, quirky, informal, with a bit of an attitude. She adds in stories from other "girlbosses" in other fields. She includes old ridiculous pictures of herself, cool cartoons and quotes between chapters. It all breaks it up nicely and makes it so much different than any other business book.

What I didn't love: Because she speaks so informally, I found it felt a bit scattered at times. Although she tries to connect everything with subheadings, sometimes I was still left wondering "how did we get from there to here?" I'm also a BIT surprised it's a NYT bestseller but I'm assuming that has more to do with her backstory than the actual significance of the book (is that harsh?)

Recommended for: any girl wanting to start something new from scratch, girls into fashion, girls who are into business, girls who want to be into business but would hate the typical business books. 

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#whatiwore: Valentines Date!

Okay, I admit, I'm the type of girl who makes a semi-big deal about Valentines Day. When you've been together as long as K & I have been, I love the excuse to dress up and go on a fancier date than normal. We don't have to do it on the 14th when places are crammed, we don't need to exchange gifts, we just do homemade cards & a nicer-than-normal-date.

Unfortunately, the normal plans of dressing up and going out somewhere fancy were foiled when (a) I didn't feel well and (b) it was -30*C out {my little black dress would have resulted in frostbite} and (c) we really wanted to visit Mongolian Grill buffet after not visiting in years!

So I wanted something comfortable and casual enough for the restaurant, but to feel a bit more put together than an average night:

tweed blazer, h&m (older)(~$50)

peplum top, target canada (purchased in january)(~$20)

layered necklaces, american eagle ($2). the shorter of the two is a gorgeous diamond necklace K bought for my birthday years ago, the longer one I just happened to spy while standing in line at american eagle for $2! the small circular pendant on the end has a K on it (perfectly cheesy & adorable, just how I like things on vday).

hi-rise jegging, american eagle (new)(~$50)

mid-calf heeled boots, reitmans? (old)

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January #BOTM: The Happiness of Pursuit

This is a true story and guidebook written by Chris Guillbeau, who’s “quest” was to visit every country in the world in 10 years. Guillbeau offers you stories of dozens of other true quests taken on by people all over the world.

Favourite part: I love any book like this that brings in the true stories of other remarkable people to inspire you to do something.

Least favourite part: Many of the examples were travel-related, and as a young poor recent grad I’m trying not to travel this year.

I didn’t end this book KNOWING my quest. It gave me some ideas and inspiration and was a good, easy read, but you can’t expect it to give you the answer you need in terms of what to commit your life to.

I recommend this book for: people who like inspiring true stories of extraordinary people, and who think they might like to be one of those extraordinary people who do something DIFFERENT with their lives.

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15 goals in 2015

2014 was so good to me, here are the 15 goals I’m working towards in 2015:

new job

make $__000

pay off $__000 in student debt

move out

do spin & yoga 4-5x a week, walk/hike on the weekends

read a book a month (#sarareads)

volunteer

learn a new skill

log my year in a calendar again (i’ll explain later)

NEW BLOG (hey!… coffeewithsara.ca)

no travel EXCEPT save/plan for a weekend in chicago

less / more structured social media time (less useless scrolling)

keep cooking! try new recipes! (#saracooks)

find out if i have the breast cancer gene

live modestly & live gratefully

*photo credit