Yellow Door Studio

Yellow Door Studio is a lounge, espresso bar and nail salon in downtown Oakville! A few days before my (surprise) engagement, my cousin brought me to this gorgeous space for a manicure. I immediately fell in love with the cozy entrance! The space is so luxurious and inviting and the owner is such a gem! She made us amazing cappuccinos (beans sourced from a local micro roaster called De Mello Palheta Roasters) and we relaxed a bit on the comfy couches admiring the décor and the bar while picking out our nail colours.

While my upcoming engagement was unbeknownst to me, I picked an OPI nail colour called Mimosas for Mr. and Mrs. Was that some crazy foreshadowing or what?! I was so happy with the result and of course it was great to have my nails done since everyone kept asking me to see my ring! We enjoyed our cappuccinos the whole time we were getting pampered too.

You can host parties at Yellow Door, as well as attend their many events like themed dance parties! This is a great spot to catch up with a girlfriend, spoil your mom, or treat yourself. Thanks Yellow Door Studio (and my mom and cousin) for keeping my engagement a surprise and for the beautiful nails! 

 

Cha Cha Matcha

Cha Cha Matcha is a matcha café with a few shops in LA and New York. We visited the flatiron location for some post gym fuel! The space inside is so beautiful so of course I had to have a photo shoot (I mean how could you not take a million photos in this gorgeous pink space). I learned a lot about Matcha along the way thanks to the awesome posters inside and the super friendly staff.

Matcha is a vibrant green powder milled from green tea leaves from Japan. It results in caffeine like energy and lots of antioxidants (think defence against heart diseases etc). You can infuse matcha into just about anything including hot beverages, pastries, candy and cocktails. 

We ordered a matcha chai to share which is one of their more popular drinks! It is essentially their home made chai mixed with milk and matcha. The taste was very smooth – not as bitter as I was expecting – with a great balance of spices. They also offer seasonal drinks such as matcha with hibiscus, rose hips and bee pollen or lavender honey mixed with collagen and blue algae. We weren’t feeling super adventurous but maybe next time!  

 

Big Booty Bread Co.

Big Booty Bread Co is a bakery and coffee shop in Chelsea. This bakery was founded in 2005 by an ex wall street trader named Jose Rojas who was inspired by his Latin American roots as well as his parent’s long-standing bakery (Don Ricky’s) in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

The name is hilarious and the window display is so inviting! I’ve been meaning to come here ever since we moved to Chelsea, and I’m so glad I finally had a chance to stop in!

Some of the bakery’s signature products include guava turnovers, dulce de leche cupcakes and peanut butter cookies as well as freshly baked bread and croissants. I was so indecisive but finally landed on the ham and cheese empanada which was amazing!! I regret not ordering more things to try! I also got a house brewed coffee which was amazing. Pretty sure the barista steamed the milk which added such a nice texture and flavor.

If you’re in the area, skip the chain coffee shops and treat yourself to some dessert and coffee at Big Booty! The staff are so friendly and the coffee is amazing! Also – once you step in I guarantee you won’t be able to resist the treats so just give in and embrace the Big Booty way! It is so worth it!  

 

My 2019 Book List

Happy New Year friends! We're probably all back to our normal routines by now and the holidays seem like they were ages ago! As we kick off 2019, I want to continue challenging myself to read 50 books this year. For the past few years I have tried to do this - some years were more successful than others but either way I loved transporting myself into a new story each time I picked up a new book. Check out a summary of the books I've read over the years here: 2016, 2017, 2018.

My goal is to continue making my way through the Time's All Time Top 100 List. I plan to continuously update this post throughout the year as I finish these books, and I'll mark the Time's books with an asterisk.

You can follow me on goodreads here in case you're interested to follow my books and check out my ratings! Thanks for stopping by!

1. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

2. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell*

3. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace*

4. The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose

5. One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul

6. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

7. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 

8. You Think It I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfield

9. The Inner Life of Animals by Peter Wohlleben and Jane Billinghurst

10. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing *

11. Whiskey in a Teacup by Reese Witherspoon

12. Still Me by Jojo Moyes

13. Becoming by Michelle Obama 

14. Something In The Water by Catherine Steadman

15. Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I've Loved by Kate Bowler

16. The Spider Network by David Enrich

17. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis *

18. Watchmen by Alan Moore *

19. The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

20. Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett *

21. Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon *

22. Ubik by Philip K. Dick *

23. The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles *

24. What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding by Kristin Newman

25. I, Claudius by Robert Graves *

26. Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs *

27. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers *

28. Give and Take: A Revolutary Approach to Success by Adam Grant 

29. Light in August by William Faulkner *

30. The Library Book by Susan Orlean 

31. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner *

32. Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis

33. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy *

34. Possession by A. S. Byatt *

35. The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski *

36. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John le Carée *

37. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Oliver Sacks

38. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

39. Born to Win by Zig Ziglar

40. Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson *

41. The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel

42. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston *

43. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

44. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy *

45. The Bridge if San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder *

46. Go Tell It On The Mountain by Jamed Baldwin *

47. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates *

48. Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

49. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

50. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie *