Rags to Riches and Everything in Between

Starting a strength training routine

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:18:00 +0000

I've been doing Body Pump on a regular basis but I think I want to take it to the next level and start doing a strength training routine on my own as well outside of the class atmosphere. Body Pump is great but because of the high reps, you don't really ever lift heavy and I think a lifting routine will be interesting and help me get toned and look more tight. From my googling and quick reading, most people recommend Starting Strength or The New Rules of Lifting for Women for newbies. I am going to try getting them for my ipad and giving it a go. Wish me luck...

CardSwap.ca

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:21:00 +0000

I got a few gift cards over the Christmas break that I don't necessarily see myself using so I was looking at how to monetize it. I found cardswap and remember them on Dragons Den. I think the Boston Pizza dude ended up partnering with them which would explain why there are so many boston pizza gift cards on there.

The idea is they buy your gift cards from you for a fraction of the price and sell it for a slightly higher rate than they bought it at and that's where they make the money. The money you get and can pay for a gift card depends on its popularity. As an example a $25 starbucks gift card sells for $25 or (4% off) which isn't an amazing deal but that's almost a free drink for every $100. You can find less popular gift cards for more of a discount --> LifeExperiences gift card are almost 30% off. In terms of selling, I got a good rate for an HBC gift card ~90% while a not so great rate for Spring Shoes ~75%.

I bought a starbucks gift card because I figured I was getting 4% off plus another 1% of from using my credit card to pay for it and that's 5 more % off than I had before. I also wanted to try it out and see how it goes. The concern I can see is things getting lost in the mail. I wonder how that is handled.

Shoemint is apparently in Canada

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:54:00 +0000

and I am really tempted to sign up but then I tell myself $80 for a pair of shoes is money I could spend elsewhere and I come back down to reality. For anybody that uses this in Canada, tell me how you like it.

Thinking about dyeing my shirt

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:02:00 +0000

I have this gorgeous ~~white~~ cream shirt that got a stain and I was lazy in washing it immediately and now it just won't go away :( The thing is, I love this shirt so I googled for options and am thinking about buying some Rit dye and trying to dye it to see if I can bring it back to life. It was originally white and over multiple washes sometimes not with other whites, it's changed into this creamy color which sounds gross but still looks good. But this stain is a nono. I am a little scared the shirt won't dye evenly and it will look a hot mess. I am going to try stopping by Fabric Land one of these days and seeing if I can find some of this Rit dye that is all over the interwebs.

Project Runway Allstars

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:19:00 +0000

Austin Scarlett

I don't have cable so I am pretty behind on the TV world. I was on hulu last night and what do I see? Project Runway All-Stars. Awesome! Except, it doesn't have Heidi as the host anymore. Not just Heidi, all the judges have changed. I wonder what happened. I found Heidi very chrasimatic and easy to like. This new host has some big shoes to fill but I can't help watching since some old favorites are back including the fabulous Austin.

Want > Fold Over Clutch

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Express is now in Canada and you Toronto folks can go to Fairview Mall to check it out. I was never super impressed by them on my shopping trips to the US but I popped in to see what it brought to Canada and there is this clutch! The most absolute gorgeous sparkly thing I've laid eyes on. The issue is its $80 and I can't justify that so after pawing it, I walked out the store. For $80, I might as well spend a little extra and get a BCBG one.

I did pick up a card to use before the end of January that gives me $40 off a $100 which if I am still lusting over this week, I might go back and get.

Eye Studio Sampler @ Shoppers

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:26:00 +0000

I was killing time at the mall today before dinner with some friends so I went into shoppers to see if there was any new & exciting products. I toyed with the lip balms but what caught my eye was the Eye Studio Sampler which gives you 4 deluxe sized mascaras, a Quo eye liner and a gift certificate for a full sized mascara for $39. Pricey but considering it includes some HE mascaras in there, it's quite worth it.

I love mascaras and trying new ones out so I was pretty tempted. The only thing that I couldn't figure out from the box was how big a deluxe sized mascara would be. Is it a weeks worth of use, a month, a few months....

The Tight Shorts Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I've read that January gym memberships account for anywhere from 50% and up of the annual $ for a gym. It's annoying that the first 2 weeks of the new year at the gym are ridiculously packed but we all started somewhere. I joined off season a few years ago and am glad I did. I was super intimidated my first visit and don't think I would fare too well if I joined in January. I'd probably run away scared at all the manly men and gorgeous girls.

If you go to the gym, please read this for a funny but accurate post on people you run into at the gym --> The 7 Jerks You Meet in Every Gym. I must admit I've been guilty of being that tight shorts girl once in a while. Don't hate.

You know what's badass?

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 23:39:00 +0000

Pushups! I've always envied a woman that can do pushups on their feet. Something about them makes the person doing them come off as strong and bad ass. My goal for the end of the year is to be able to do a few of these comfortably on my feet. Pretty weak goal right? Not if your upper body is as weak as mine is. Last year I couldn't even do them on my knees. My upper body strength is lacking and something I never focused on. Running, cardio, I can handle no problem. Throw weights into the mix and you think you have a 5 year old on your hands.

Acne dilema

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:27:00 +0000

I've battled acne for what seems like forever. I finally gave in and made an appointment with the dermatalogist some time last year. Not sure why I waited so long since visits are covered by OHIP if you are referred by your doctor and my work covers a 100% for prescriptions.

I've gone from using Benzaclyin to Sulfacet-R to Differin to antibiotics to Tactuo (Canadas version of Epiduo). I am currently on Tactuo and while my skin is better than it was prior to using it, I still get about 1 new active pimple per week which is something I would consider awesome in a previous life but with a wedding coming up it still bugs the *#@& out of me! I am debating going back to the derm and asking for antibiotics again. The thing with antibiotics is once I am off it, everything comes back and I don't like the idea of having to take a pill everyday without knowing what else it's doing to my body. Lately I've been feeling like it's something I am willing to put up with to boost my confidence and not have to do a 100 things to my skin to make it look presentable. I just wish it was a phase I would grow out of like everybody said it would be.

Eye Liner - I think I found a new love

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:33:00 +0000

Milani Infinite Liner after shower

I have been on this quest to find something that lasts on my waterline throughout the day without giving me racoon eyes or fading away. For my lid, my go to way to line my eye is one thin line of L'Oreals Lineur Intese felt trip followed by a thin line of L'Oreals Lineur Intense brush tip. The effect is the blackest most precise smooth line.

Enter me discovering curling my lashes and tightlining. I love the way tight lining looks but can't get anything to last or not migrate below my eye and give me a semi raccoon eye look. I've tried everything...

L'Oreal liners
Maybeline liners
Prestige liners
Revlons liners
MAC Blacktrack Fluidline
Laura Merciers tightline cake liner (it says tightline in the product name so it must work right?)

Yeah well, none of these worked out for me. The closest was MACs blacktrack fluidline but by the end of the day, I could still see some product below my eye and the original line I placed would have faded quite a bit. I picked up Milanis Infinite Liner at Loblaws because I didn't even realize they sold Milani in Canada. There were several things I wanted but I settled on the liner. I tried it out on my hand as you can see above and it's been there for several hours and even through a shower. I take pretty long showers and I even did a protien treatment and deep conditioned so I was in there extra long. As you can see by my hand, it's hardly budged! Now I am a little worried about how I am going to remove it but I am excited at the idea of being able to line my waterline without smudging.

The only con I see so far is using this on my lid. The brush is a little thick and the formula is a little goopey so not sure I would be able to get a precise line but for my waterline, this is awesome.

CBC Radios Mommy Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:02:00 +0000

I normally have the radio tuned into cbc radio when I am getting ready in the mornings. I randomly heard the last half of the Sunday Editions coverage on mommy bloggers and how some of them start out with the intent of making money off their blogs. It was interesting because I think it applies not only to mommy bloggers but also makeup, fitness, you name it bloggers. If peoples opinions are geniuine or if they are upfront about it, it doesn't bother me but when it gets to the point when peoples blogging intentions become biased and every single post is littered with sponsored this & that, it doesn't become a fun read.

Go here to have a listen.

Express check out is for people with few items!

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:35:00 +0000

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I am buying a handful of items at the grocery store and the checkouts are packed. Oh wait, there's an express line that says it is for people with 1-8 items. Sweet! And even better there is only person ahead of me in line. I get to the line and what do I find? The couple in front of me has a cart full of items. Not 1-2 items over the recommended 8, at least 20 items! Seriously, wait your flippin turn in the normal lines or the least they could've done is let me go ahead of them. I had 2 items. Am I wrong for feeling entitled to being in an express line and expecting that everybody else follows the rules? That's what it's there for right?

Removing Tarnish from my Tiffanys Necklace

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:30:00 +0000

I've noticed that my Tiffanys chain isn't as polished as it could be as of late. It's been looking a little black & dull. My bf gave it to me several years ago and I basically wear it 365 days of the year so replacing it wasn't really an option which is what I normally would do when I get frustrated. I've tried everything from the polishing agents you can buy at the department store to the polishing cloths straight from Tiffanys and their polish. While it works, I could never polish the nooks & crannies & overall was never happy with how it looked. I've paid for Tiffanys to clean it and it comes out amazing but spending $20+ to get it cleaned feels like a rip off.

Google gave me this link and I just tried it. You can read about the science of it here. All you need is some hot water, aluminum foil and baking soda so what did I have to loose by trying it. Well if you are looking to remove tarnish from your jewelry, try this! It's practically free since you likely have the items in your kitchen and it worked super awesome. My chain looks like how it did when I first bought it. I did have to do it a few times to get all the tarnish off but it was pretty easy to do. Now it's ready to be worn another 365 days :)

January 2012 goals

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:40:00 +0000

Instead of posting goals for the whole year, I figured I'd try it month by month with little baby goals that are more realistic. So to start off for January, I'd like to accomplish the following.

Beauty

Spend no more than $10 for the month. Eeek! I already bought a rubberized base coat from Quos new nailpolish venture with Quo for $10 earlier today called Strong Bond.
Slather Aquaphor on my cracked heels nightly. This is gross but once sandal season is over, I stop moisturizing and my heels are proof. I want to get my soft heels back and this will only happen if I regularly take care of them instead of seasonally.

Fitness

Run once a week and lift weights once a week
No pop of any kind
Cook at least once a week for work lunches

Wedding

Print my save the dates cards
Get $2k deposit for contract I signed last week

Clothing

Spend nothing. Yup, that's right my boxing day shopping has me wanting nothing new for the time being

Misc

Sell something. (currently have some video games up for sale on Kijiji and may try selling shoes that I've never worn)

New Year, another $5k in TFSA

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:39:00 +0000

A brand new year means another $5000 you can put into your TFSA. I just deposited another $5k into my existing Canadian Tire TFSA. Last year I put my $5k in a TFSA trading account through questrade and lets just say that I didn't do as well as I had hoped. I think I will continue to use what I have from my 2010 TFSA contribution for stocks and this years $5k in a savings account. Plus with a marriage looming later this year, I want money to be liquid because let me tell ya, weddings are bloody expensive!

Go here if you're curious about interest rates you can get on your TFSA savings account. If you are not using a TFSA, you should! You don't get taxed on your gains and have absolutely nothing to loose as you can take the money out any time during the year.

I still need to figure out what I am doing with my RRSPs.

Back from Niagara

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:54:00 +0000

Ate at the Fallsview buffet last night. They raised the prices from $20 to $30 for New Years eve but promised an enhanced menu compared to their normal buffet. For $30 I was not impressed. There was nothing special about what they were serving in there and didn't seem that different from their normal menu. You would think for new years eve, they would at least be on point with their dessert but nope. We both had one bites of various cakes and pies we picked up from their dessert table but left it behind.

The weather however cooperated and we watched the fireworks over the falls for the countdown. We couldn't be bothered to spend the whole night there so about 10mins before 12, we walked out the back of Fallsview Casino and watched the view from there.

Next year, I want to stay in or go somewhere out of the country!

News Years Eve

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:05:00 +0000

Time to ring in the new year. I am a homebody & like staying in but the bf always trys to get us to go out. We are heading to Niagara for one last day of eating like kings and queens, drinking and just relaxing. Then it's back to the daily grind as they say.

I am hoping to spend all of tomorrow just vegetating in the house and not doing anything.

Tintin

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:57:00 +0000

Tintin!

I can't wait to watch The Adventures of Tintin! I read the comics when I was younger and this brings back fond memories of rushing to the comic store to get the latest Tintin comic available. I do wish they made it a live action movie but the fact that it was Steven Spielberg that took this movie on makes me happy. After all he did do the Indiana Jones movies...

Season of gluttony

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:34:00 +0000

It's amazing how much food people (myself included) eat over the holidays. Every day I wake up with a slight stomach ache saying today I'll watch myself but then that same night when I am out with friends or family I just can't seem to say no.

Waiting for the postman

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:39:00 +0000

I just got a shipping notification from my video games and lululemon purchases. After my boxing day purchases in store, I did more boxing day damage by buying some lululemon work out gear from their sale section. I could never buy anything regular price but I must admit I dig their quality. I wanted those underarmor capris I mentioned a few posts back but could not find a good price on them and ended up buying the boogie short, the groove short and the biker groove short from lululemon. As you can see, there was a bit of a shorts theme with my purchase. It's just when I get all sweaty, I like to be wearing minimal clothing ;)

Boxing Day Shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:10:00 +0000

So I was only out for about an hour but I did my fair share of shopping. I can't stand crowds and I often find my sizes are gone if I shop later in the day, so I was at the mall bright and early at 8am when it opened. I thought I was early but there were already lots of people at the mall. Old Navy opened earlier than the mall and there was already huge line ups to the cash register that I didn't even bother looking inside.

After going to a few stores at the mall, I stopped by some outlets that were near by. I wanted some sweatpants from Roots but alas, they were not on sale. The Jacob outlet however, rocked! It was 50% off everything and if you don't mind buying items a season late, I'd recommend going there.

The damage

2 tops from Medicino ($50)
1 top from Smart Set ($10)
A gazillion things from Jacob ($36). Ok not a gazillion but seriously their outlets kicked ass. I bought Ts for $2.50 and even this dress I had been eyeing when it was over a $100. It would've rung up for $12 but when I looked at the receipt when I got home, I didn't see it on there. I wonder if the lady missed it because I bought a bunch of items from there. Regardless it would've been the most expensive thing I bought there.
Ratchet and Clank All for One from Amazon.ca ($33 but paid for using the gift cards I got from swagbucks)
Assassins Creed Revelations from EB Games ($20)

My UD Naked Palette has arrived

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:58:00 +0000

I ordered it a while back and shipped to the bfs address in the states to take advantage of a Sephora sale. Well he finally brought it back with him and I am quite excited to play with it. I want to try the following look.

I am loving the mild weather

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:42:00 +0000

Relatively speaking mild off course. Compared to last year, it's definitely been warmer this year. I was around Nathan Phillips Square last night and it was a little weird to see it filled with skaters since it doesn't seem cold enough.

Also what is a stand alone xbox 360 store doing on queen street? I googled and it looks like it's an Xbox 360 Central store which allows you to try out games before buying them. Not very informative Xbox 360 site. It didn't seem like you could buy anything from there and was really for trying games out. Seemed a little strange and misplaced if you ask me.

Last minute shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Rags2Riches) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:13:00 +0000

I was at the gym last night which happens to be inside the mall & I could barely get a parking spot so I thought I would outsmart everybody by going there early the following morning so I could squeeze some last minute shopping in. Well it seems like everybody else had the same great idea because I spent about 20mins waiting at the checkout line in Winners.

I am participating in a secret santa gift exchange and bought my buddy a bunch of baking goodies since she loves to bake. The neatest item I thought was this square cupcake tray for $15 at Winners. I actually think it would be great for brownies since I love the edges and this way all the squares would have a crispy edge.