Category Archives: Nicole’s Favourite Things

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The “It’s One Month Until Christmas Eve” Edition

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Rex thinks he’s Santa!

ONE MONTH UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE YOU GUYS!!! November has been simultaneously been flying and crawling by. Time lost all meaning during the pandemic, and I still find myself confused by the calendar. One moment I will be thinking It’s November 24 already! Next week is December! and the next I will find myself in the garden centre, looking at the sign that says December 10 Christmas Market and wondering Is that today? No, it’s not December yet.

One month! I feel very festive. We are putting up the tree and indoor decorations, the outdoor ones are slowly making their way up, and I’ve started baking all the minty chocolatey things.

That’s right, it’s Mint Chocolate Season, Baby! And it’s also time for Nicole’s Favourite Things!

There’s A Little Kalette Shady In All Of Us

Guess who’s back? Back again? Kalettes are back! Tell a friend. Kalettes make it into my Favourite Things every year because they deserve it. These delicious little crosses between kale and Brussels sprouts are Limited Time Only – they are available at Costco from about November through January, so I enjoy them as much as possible in the season.

The best way to eat them, in my opinion, is to toss them with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with balsamic, and then roast them for about 30 minutes. Divine! Last weekend I got a little carried away and made two bags, and ended up eating some the next day at lunch and let me tell you, they were SO good. This is very strong praise coming from me, knowing how I feel about leftovers.

Boom! It’s A Ticket To Flavour Town

Another Guess Who’s Back Seasonal Appearance! It’s no secret that I love popcorn, and the festive Boom Chicka Pops are…kind of back? I happened on them at London Drugs a few weeks ago, but according to a friend (HI JULIE) they are currently nowhere to be found. Did I get the last ones? I swear I’m not hoarding! I did buy a couple of bags of each kind – in a normal consumption way, not a weird hoarding way – which should be enough to get me through the holiday season.

Lube Up

As I was preparing for Tiny Secret Festive Season by purchasing Festive Hand Soaps from Bath and Body Works, I realized that I could buy body lotions in those same festive scents. This, my friends, was a revelation. I have mentioned before that one of my pre-shower rituals is looking at my various bottles of body lotion and then choosing the scent of the day, a scent that will somehow reflect my daily activities, brighten my day, and say something about the day of the week. You may be thinking that is a tall order for a fragrance, but you would be wrong.

In any case, I bought these lotions to celebrate both Tiny Secret Festive Season and also Full On Festive Season – although, frankly, these will last into the New Year – and it’s so much fun lubing up in the morning. Yes, I said lubing up, what of it.

Like A One-Winged Dove

I like to use body wash to shave with, as opposed to a shaving cream, and Costco had a three-pack of Dove body wash on sale. It’s always a risk to buy any beauty item for the first time at Costco, because if I don’t like it, I have SO MUCH of it to use up. I was fairly confident with a Dove product though – I am a purchaser of their bar soap and the guys all use the shampoo – and wow, am I glad I bought it. This is probably the creamiest, thickest, most moisturizing body wash I have ever tried. But what propels it into Favourite Things Category is the scent.

It’s so hard to describe. Back in the early 80s, before scented candles were ubiquitous and there were SNL sketches about the Yankee Candle that goes on and on, my grandma had a candle in a pretty tin canister. Let us go back in time, when there weren’t a million items in every house and each item was carefully displayed and cared for. When I was little, and we were visiting at Christmastime, I would pop the lid off and just sniff the candle, which I don’t remember being burned; I suppose it was decorative, and probably was a gift. It had such a pretty, sweet scent, and this body wash smells exactly the same. It took me a while to pinpoint why I loved the body wash scent so much; it really takes me back. It’s a floral-ish, vanilla-ish, sweet-ish scent.

Peas in a Pod

I am a big listener of podcasts, and I was horrified to read that with the advent of more and more celebrity podcasts, the smaller, independent ones are losing audiences and advertising. Listen, I enjoy the occasional Literally! by Rob Lowe or Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend, but for the most part, my favourite pods are the ones that are small and independent. Remember in the blogging world when, for a few years, most blogs went into Big Blogger or Sponsored Post world, and the small blogs were considered “dead?” Let’s not let that happen to podcasts. I mean, now our blogging community shows that we are firmly Not Dead, but also, I would like for the small pods to keep making their episodes, and to that end I will tell you my current favourites. Sharing is supposedly the best way to support a podcast, and so here goes:

Were You Raised By Wolves? This is a podcast about modern etiquette, and before you frown and say “modern etiquette, what,” just know that this is an absolute delight to listen to. The hosts are so much fun and they go through different etiquette problems and questions all over the world.

Forever 35. Their tagline is “a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves,” and the hosts always say that they are not experts, they are just two friends who like to talk a lot about serums. It’s like it was designed for me and me alone. You know I love taking care of myself and also serums. I love the hosts, I love their guests, I love their topics, I just love this whole pod.

Everything Is Fine. Thanks to Ally (HI ALLY) for alerting me to this podcast, where two women talk about everything from their hair to their careers to sex injuries. I was excited to learn that one of the hosts was a staff writer for Sassy, which was THE magazine of my youth. Remember Sassy? It was the only magazine that treated teen girls like actual intelligent beings, in my mind.

Nobody Panic. Is there anything more fun than two British women giving advice on how to go to the hairdresser or how to drink more water? This is just a lot of fun; advice on how to be an adult. I do not think a 47-year-old Canadian mom of teens is their demographic, but nonetheless, I love it.

The Friendship Paradox. Did you know my blog friend Stephany (HI STEPHANY) has a podcast? SHE DOES! Go check it out, because her Season Two, all about how two friends with very different personality types navigate parties and gatherings, is so enjoyable. Also, it’s so fun to know a person via their writing, and then hear their actual voice!

Gnomes, Tunics, and Eating Clowns For Breakfast

Over dinner the other night, we were talking about how Rex has gotten many nicknames from us already, and the guys pointed out that I frequently call him Baby. My older son said As we get older, I feel like you are going to get more and more into Rex. And gnomes. He’s not wrong. People, I had an image of my adult sons coming home to visit, and their father mouthing HELP ME as he was surrounded by gnomes; perhaps I’d be bustling around with a gnome hat for both him and Rex. All of this is to say that I felt SEEN by this post about Gnomevember, by MG Doodle (HI MG!). Who knew Gnomevember was a thing? To be honest, I think every month is Gnomevember in my heart.

As I have mentioned many times, the older I get the more interested I am in long, flowing tops, and so I felt this McSweeney’s post so very much. When you’re a woman over 40, a tunic wears you.

I love learning about nuance and sayings from other languages, as well as thinking about things that are part of our own lexicon. San (HI SAN) wrote about German idioms and I read them aloud to my husband, as we laughed hysterically. I was actually crying from laughing so hard. I think I will be using the Did You Have Clowns For Breakfast until the end of time.

Next week is December, one month until Christmas…so much to feel festive about! What are you loving this month? Tell me everything. xo

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The It’s Fall, Y’all Edition

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We have had the most beautiful October with the longest stretch of sunny and warm weather; it’s been the kind of weather that evokes that Anne Shirley quote – I’m glad I live in a world where there are Octobers – which, believe me, is not a normal state of affairs in Calgary. Our first snowfall came fully 2/3 into the month, which is late for us. Here are our Halloween decorations before the snow:

And here is the after:

This is fall in Calgary! You just never know what the day might bring. All of this means that it’s time to pull out the thigh high wool socks, the bumwarmers, and the winter boots. It’s also time for a Favourite Things!

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The It’s Fall, Y’all Edition

It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers

Well, you didn’t think that I would get through an October Favourite Things post without talking about decorative gourds, did you, motherfuckers?

After last year’s fiasco with local wildlife stealing my little gourds and eating them, I decided to keep my miniature gourds inside. Those soft crafted pumpkins were gifted to me by a friend (HI TARYN) and regularly get wagged off the piano stool by SOMEONE. The piano stool was my great-grandmother’s, and I only recently incorporated it into my main-floor décor.

The Girls

Sometimes I can really visualize my future self, and one of those iterations of my future self is Crazy Plant Lady. I mean, I can really see it; me, at an advanced age, lipstick on, wearing flowing black old-lady tops, talking to houseplants, and referring to them all as her babies. It’s already happening, to be truthful.

It all started when my friend Denise (HI DENISE) relocated to Houston, and gave me her 17-year-old Christmas cactus. This Christmas cactus is as old as my youngest child, people. I am a Garden Person but I haven’t had indoor plants for years, other than my almost-zero-maintenance jade plant; still, I promised to care for it tenderly. I immediately named it Noelle and started researching How To Care For A Christmas Cactus.

The first order of business was to re-pot it, and for that I needed some more soil. Too long, didn’t read; I should never be left in the garden centre alone. I decided that along with a new pot and some soil, Noelle needed a friend, and this decorative pepper plant was just the ticket. I named her Pippa. If I had more space Noelle would have had a whole clique of friends, alas, I do not have space.

I had this cute little plant vignette for a week or so, but when we found out that Rex was coming to our home I moved them to the top of the hutch. I wasn’t sure if Rex was a plant-eater – he decidedly is NOT – but I thought his gigantic wagging tail might easily knock over The Girls. This turned out to be prescient, as the aforementioned soft gourds are often flying across the kitchen.

Scrub-a-Dub-Dub

I have loved the Rocky Mountain Soap company for years, but I have always ordered their products online. This generally worked great, but sometimes I ended up with a scent that I disliked. A few months ago I was at the mall which is five minutes from my house, and discovered that they had a new, REAL LIFE store! How exciting! I was able to sniff to my heart’s content, and I bought this lovely Blood Orange Body Scrub:

It’s orange, so I feel like it suits a Fall Favourites. It smells like a creamsicle, or The Body Shop Satsuma line. It’s the perfect blend of scrub and oil, so that it really moisturizes while exfoliating. It’s great for those of us who – pardon me for being indelicate – tend to get ingrown hairs in the bikini area.

Hair

I saw this gorgeous photolog of a woman’s journey to grow out her grey hair, and I was kind of inspired, but not inspired enough, if you know what I mean. One day I shall stop dying my hair, but that day is not today. However. My hair seems to grow fairly fast, if my roots are any indication, which means that in the days leading up to Colour Day, they are fairly dramatic. My roots are almost totally white, which means I am always playing the game of is that my roots or is my scalp showing, am I losing my hair or is it just white. It’s not the most fun game.

I wear my hair up in a bun fairly often, particularly on teaching days, or on days that I don’t wash my hair. I found this hair band, which has trailing ends to make it look like a scarf, and I love it. It makes me feel like a fashionable hippie, or a fortune-teller, but in the best possible way.

I love it because it’s quite wide, so it covers up my roots nicely. I have many hair bands, but this is my new favourite because of the long scarf detailing.

Rex, Enthusiastic Subscriber to Friluftsliv

It’s been over two years since I decided to embrace my Norwegian heritage and the concept of friluftsliv; winters in Calgary are long indeed and I was tired of dreading them. I mean, what can you do about weather? There are two options: you can be miserable, or you can adapt. Well, I guess there are three options: you could move, but I didn’t foresee myself packing up and moving to Maui, the only place that I know of that has perfect weather year-round, so really, there are only two feasible options.

So here we are with quite a bit of heavy, wet snow on the ground, and the stunningly beautiful warmth of this fall in the rearview mirror. In years past, I may have felt a bit disheartened at the prospect of cold, cold, and more cold for the next six or seven months, but NOT TODAY, SATAN. I have layers and I shall wear them, I have many pairs of winter boots, I have bum warmers and thick coats, and I have Rex.

It’s impossible not to be moved by his pure joy at the first snowfall. What a dog! In the ayurvedic world, I believe Rex would be pitta. Bernese mountain dogs are built for winter conditions, so I have a lot of vicarious joy coming my way, as we come into the season. And hey, there’s nothing like winter to soothe those hot flashes, am I right?

Hot Stuff; Heart Stuff

Speaking of hot flashes, Kari (HI KARI) had written this post about menopause, from a Gen X woman’s standpoint, and it is tremendous. All 34 menopause symptoms, each with a song from the 80s. This post was from 5 years ago, but I like to reference it from time to time because High and Dry.

Specific to that point, this How To Apply “No-Makeup” Makeup: A Guide For Mature Women is absolutely worth a read.

This month, Suzanne (HI SUZANNE) wrote a post about measuring with your heart, and I felt seen. I never use the amount of vanilla that a recipe calls for; I at least double it or I just glug glug glug it in. Other things I measure with my heart: to-be-read book lists, grated ginger in any stir-fry recipe, chocolate chips in desserts and cookies, and nut butters in my smoothies.

Speaking of nut butters, has anyone else noticed how tiny the Reece peanut butter cup “fun size” treats are? What the what? When did this happen?

Peanut butter chocolate is still one of my favourite things, but as of next week we will be entering my favourite flavour season: MINT CHOCOLATE! But that is a topic for another post. What are your Favourite Things this month? Tell me everything. xo

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Carryon Only Edition

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I have noticed throughout my life that whenever I secretly judge something, it always comes back to haunt me. I’m not talking about things I judge loudly, like not returning a shopping cart, but things I silently think that I will never do myself. I have long since abandoned such thoughts about parenting in particular, because I have learned that all I have to do to curse myself is to think I would NEVER let my kid do that or similar, and the thing happens.

One thing I have silently judged for as long as I can remember is people who travel with only carryon luggage; not the people with slim and light bags, but the people who take the maximum size possible and then jam that suitcase into the overhead compartment, leaving no room and no little inconvenience for the people around them. For god’s sake, I would think, meanly and with great resentment as I was forced to squash my tiny bag under the seat in front of me, Just pay the $25 and be done with it.

Well, here we are, in the summer of 2022, and the resounding chorus from anyone who has travelled is that a) their luggage got lost and was never found, b) their luggage was lost but was returned to them on the last day of vacation, rendering it essentially useless, and c) they waited for an hour to get their luggage at the airport terminal, while exhausted and already late due to a delayed flight. C is the Best Case Scenario.

My husband and I just got back yesterday from a long-anticipated trip to Mexico. We had a family vacation there planned in March of 2020, which turned into – after vaccines became available and we were so optimistic for the future – one for March of 2022, which would have coincided with both our 20th anniversary and our older son’s 18th birthday. We cancelled that trip in January 2022, what with everything going on, and it was lucky we did, as my son tested positive for Covid the day before we would have been due to leave. We decided to turn it into a vacation for just the two of us, and I have much to tell you about. First, though, luggage.

I am a notorious overpacker. For one thing, we have the kind of credit card that gives free checked luggage with every flight, which exposes my just pay the $25 thought process as privileged and tone-deaf. In any case, even before the free luggage benefit, I’ve never given it a second thought. Six black tank tops? Why not! Five pairs of shoes? Sure! When we travel by car, we take my minivan, which is generally stuffed full. But I will tell you this: the only thing that makes me feel more anxious than travelling without a giant suitcase full of my favourite things from home is LOSING that giant suitcase full of my favourite things from home. Therefore, given all the Lost Luggage Drama that has been a trademark of this summer’s travel, and with a lot of encouragement and tips from my friend Janet (HI JANET) I was determined that I could do it. I could do it! I could! I could go Carryon Only. Here’s how a terrible, spoiled overpacker ate her own words and went to Mexico with only a carryon suitcase and a smile.

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Carryon Only Edition

Hold Me Closer, Tiny Toiletry Bottles

The biggest thing holding me back from taking only a carryon is, of course, toiletries. It will not surprise anyone to know that I use a wide variety of liquid-form toiletries and hair products on a daily basis, and, of course, that is something that is very restricted in carryon luggage.

Aside from the fact that I have an environmental issue with those tiny plastic bottles of toiletries, they seem to be following in the footsteps of lemon juice and popcorn, in that they are very hard to find right now. I don’t know what the Trial and Travel section looks like in your local drugstore, but I have visited a few in the past month and mine are largely empty swaths of space, interspersed with the occasional basket containing tiny bottles of Pert Plus and mouthwash, a few brands of tiny toothpaste, and, strangely, mini-spray-deodorants.

Janet clued me in to companies that sell little refillable bottles for exactly these purposes, and so of course I bought a few sets. I even found one that had little tiny SPRAY bottles, so I could fill them with my hair products. I did buy couple of tiny toothpastes, because what are you going to do, but most of my other products I just squeezed into the little bottles. Sunscreen was the biggest challenge but my favourite Ultra Sheer Neutrogena sunscreen is in a smallish bottle anyway, and I figured we could probably just buy sunscreen, if push came to shove.

My husband is a person who can travel with almost no toiletries; he’s happy to use whatever the hotel or resort supplies, which feels like a risky business to me, but which also meant that he could take a few of my things in his luggage.

I couldn’t decide between the pretty little silicone bottles or the ones with the case, so I got both. But check out the labels that came with them:

Are we bringing our own sauces with us? If so, it’s good that there is a label for it; we would hate to confuse a condiment with a body wash, and vice versa.

Waterproof Mascaras and the Wipes That Love Them

I don’t wear waterproof mascara very often, but it’s a must in Mexico, what with the humidity and the swimming. I recently bought the waterproof version of Maybelline’s Great Lash mascara in a fit of nostalgia; I used that mascara exclusively in my junior high years entirely due to an article in Sassy magazine about the Fancy Hollywood Makeup Artists who swore by it. You know what, it is a really good mascara; there is a lot of bang for the buck here.

When I use waterproof mascara at home I use a liquid remover with a microfibre cloth, but that seemed like a ridiculous waste of liquid packing space, so I decided to buy makeup remover wipes. I know! I know. They are environmentally terrible, but this is a special occasion and I promise I won’t do it again. It is well documented that I love Neutrogena everything, and so I bought these wipes and gave them a trial run before I left. They do the job perfectly; not a trace of mascara was left on my lashes, and no irritation around the eye area either.

Gleaming The Packing Cubes

My friend Kim (HI KIM), who travels a lot, mentioned packing cubes in a Facebook post as being “life-changing,” and so of course I investigated, and bought myself a set in a very pretty blue. Kim was RIGHT. Such a simple thing and yet it kept my little suitcase perfectly organized; I don’t tend to unpack when we are in vacation, choosing instead to literally live out of my suitcase, and these cubes made it so easy to find what I needed each day. Swimsuits in one cube! Dresses in another! Underwear in a third!

Plus, the set came with a dirty laundry bag and a little makeup bag, which I used for my very-pared-down-for-the-trip makeup items.

Compression Digression

If you have known me for any length of time, you know all about my circulation issues. If you’re new, hi! Welcome! Also, I have circulation issues! These issues crested into “the worst case of varicose veins I have ever seen on such a young woman,” as the surgeon who stripped them back in 2011 said; that stripping should have been the end of it, but I am a special flower who has developed new ones, to the alarm of my current physician. Too long, didn’t read; I wear compression stockings or calf sleeves a lot, but particularly when travelling to ward off blood clots and, I guess, death. The compression stockings I wear for flying are pretty hard-core; they take significant effort to put on and take off, and they look exactly like something my grandma would wear. Thick, “nude” stockings, what could be more stylish?

My husband: You can barely tell you’re wearing them!

Me: silently wonders if my husband is losing his vision.

The ones I wore for the flight to Mexico were thigh-high, as opposed to my full-on pantyhose stockings, which I wore on the way back, because I wanted to be able to easily (or, “easily”) peel them off in the airport bathroom to shove into my bag when we got to our destination. Wearing a skirt meant this was easy to do, and as a bonus the skirt also hides the invariable bulge at the top of the stocking. Vanity should have no place in this situation but it does.

Canadian friends: I have found it to be a terrible pain to buy medical grade stockings here. If you want anything more than light grade knee-highs, a prescription is needed, which I have, but then it’s a matter of getting measured at a pharmacy, and ordering them, and it’s just a pain. Easier and cheaper – even given the exchange rate – is ordering them from the US; I like this website.

Kindle The Reading Fire

I am going to preface this by admitting that I used to say I would NEVER use an e-reader, never. I like books! I like pages! My husband bought a Kindle back in 2012, and it has sat unused for the past several years in a drawer. Last year, a very lovely friend (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) sent me her very wonderful manuscript to beta-read, and the best way for me to read it was on an e-reader. It turns out that, like many other things I said I would never enjoy, I really liked reading that way. Don’t get me wrong: I still much prefer paper books. But with limited luggage and also reading outside with sunglasses as opposed to reading glasses, the old Kindle (with large font) was just the ticket. I loved how I could load it up, and pop it into my bag.

The only problem is that a ten-year-old piece of technology is very SLOW when it comes to uploads. I think if we are going to travel more I am going to put a new Kindle on my Christmas list.

Safety, Measurements

When flying, there are so many safety measures in place, and those two words made me think of the two posts that I read this month that really stayed with me, but in very different ways.

Erin (HI ERIN) wrote an incredible piece about the meaning of safety in childhood, drawing on her own experiences, and it is very powerful and moving. I found myself holding my breath while reading, and reminding myself to breathe through the difficult parts.

As I thought about people, myself included now, I guess, shoving their carryon luggage in the overhead compartments and maximizing every last inch of space, this hilarious post about the meaning of an inch popped into my head. I think we can ALL relate.

I have so much to talk to you about! The flight! The trip! The books I read! The leaving of my teenage children to their own devices for five days! But those things will have to wait, as I have much to do to catch up on life! Soon. I promise! xo

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The 10th Anniversary Edition!

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This month marks the tenth anniversary of Nicole’s Favourite Things! A whole decade of writing about beauty products, clothes, food, and the occasional gadget. Two things: a) wow, I have been writing this blog for a very long time, and b) looking back at my very first Favourite Things, I still have all of those tops.

Ah, summer. I have been working very hard for this past year to really Embrace The Season, but here we are in my actual favourite season, so no hard work is needed. I love summer. I often idly wonder if I would actually miss seasonal changes if I lived somewhere like Maui, where it’s just one long summery paradisiacal day after another. Maybe I would? But it’s hard to imagine.

In my first Favourite Things, I expressed my love for summer clothes, and summery beauty products, and produce-heavy salads for dinner with berries for dessert. I still love all of those things and I probably always will! If I lived in a place where it was always summer, would I miss my sweaters and boots? Would I miss hearty winter meals and moisturizers for chapped skin and lips? Like I said, maybe, but it’s hard to imagine.

Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. The point is that I am Embracing The Hell Out Of Summer. When it’s sunny and warm, I just want to be outside all day long, and feel mild resentment when I have to go indoors. I have been like this my whole life; maybe I’m solar powered.

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The 10th Anniversary Edition

Non-Psychologically-Scarring Skirts and No-Bra-Required Tank Tops

In honour of my first Favourite Things, I am going to talk about skirts with shorts attached and yoga tanks with built-in shelf bras. These are Enduring Favourite Things, and I have many of the same skirt and top but in different colours and patterns. What can I say, if it works, it works. Listen, living in Calgary there are, annually speaking, approximately 20 days total in which wearing light summery clothing is appropriate. That’s probably a high estimate, actually. The upside of this is that good summer clothing can last forever, as the chance to wear it out is limited. The moment the temperature rises above a certain point, which would probably be considered chilly for my Southern friends, I don a skirt. I think they are cute, and they are very practical with the shorts underneath; I never have to worry about accidentally psychologically scarring random passersby or, more likely, my own children when the wind picks up.

I also love a good yoga tank with a built-in shelf bra; this is a thing that works for me mainly because I am, how shall we say, not exactly overly gifted in the chestal region. I wear these year-round, as a layer mostly, but on warm days they can stand alone.

Talk To Me Goose

My love for Top Gun is well-known; I have loved it since I walked to the theatre with my cousins and older brother in Estevan, Saskatchewan, in the summer of 1986. To this day I remember my outfit on that sweltering prairie night: jeans and a pale pink, tie-dyed, off-the-shoulder short sleeved sweatshirt, despite the heat. I was smart enough by that time to realize that the one theatre in Estevan boasted air-conditioning, and let me tell you, they wanted you to know they had air-conditioning. It was always freezing, and if you were naive enough to wear summer clothing to an evening show, you would be blue by the time the movie ended. Anyway, back when Hannah, Allison, and I cowrote a fun nostalgic blog (HI HANNAH HI ALLISON), I wrote one of my favourite pieces ever, about Life Lessons From Top Gun.

All of which is to say I love Top Gun, and I love the NEW Top Gun as well. Do not ask me to tell you which one is “better.” That is an impossible choice akin to the one Sophie made, and I will not make it. In any case, my husband bought me this shirt, and I love it so much:

It must be worn with aviators. It’s a law.

Pedicures and Sandals

In the summer I swap my boots for sandals, but because I am 47, my sandals need to be of the utmost comfort. Who has the energy for painful footwear anymore? I have found Skechers sandals to be the cutest and most comfortable of all the sandals. These are my favourite, and they are good for walking too:

But I also love these sparkly slides, perfect for the days at the lake:

I have heels for the rare occasion that I need them:

I keep my feet groomed throughout the year; being a yoga teacher my feet are on display constantly, so regular pedicures are a must. I used to exclusively do my own pedicures, but there is the cutest little nail salon just down the street from me, and their prices are fabulous. With each pedicure they give a hot stone massage AND they exfoliate using orange slices, which I love. I still touch up my polish between pedicures, but I definitely go to the salon more frequently in the summer.

Lettuce Pray and Flower Power

There is a great line in Sorrow and Bliss, when the husband acquires a plot in the community garden, and he says that they will now be self-sufficient, in the area of lettuce. I feel seen. I am currently self-sufficient, in the area of kale, as we just had our third cutting. I’ve also had two cuttings of Romaine, and although my leaf lettuce has been very very slow to grow this year, I am expecting to be able to cut it next week. At least, I hope so. Harvest time! I get so much joy out of gardening, it’s unbelievable. It feels like a superpower: do you like this salad? I GREW IT MYSELF.

The first of the roses bloomed – I grow John Cabot climbing explorer roses, explorer roses being the only ones I think are sufficiently hardy to survive our winter temperature fluctuations. This is always exciting as the first one is quickly followed by a wall of blooms.

Let The Spinning Wheel Turn

This week marks my two-year anniversary of the arrival of my Peloton! It was, without a doubt, my very favourite thing to come out of 2020. I know the bar is pretty low, but still. On the actual date of my first ride – which is this Sunday – I plan to revisit the same class I did then, a 45 minute disco ride with Leanne.

It has been a really fun way for me to increase my cardio fitness, and it is measurable: that first 45 minute ride, my output was 277. My usual output these days for a similar class is around 400. If you know, you know! Do you have a Peloton and want to be Peloton friends with me? If the answer to that is YES, my leaderboard name is NicoleBoyhouse.

Wistfulness and Avocados

I have two favourite links this month, both summery in their own way. The first is from my longtime, beautiful, smart, and all-round lovely bloggy friend Suzanne (HI SUZANNE). Suzanne wrote about how you can’t go home again, and the piece, like her, is beautiful, smart, and all-round lovely.

My other favourite link is from a newer blog friend, Jamie (HI JAMIE). Jamie wrote about toxic diet culture, body acceptance, taking up space, and avocados as a metaphor for our bodies. I love a good metaphor and I love a good avocado, but most of all I love her message, particularly in the summer when we are inundated with images of “beach bodies” and “bikini bodies” and what have you.

There’s so much to be grateful for in the summer, there is so much to love, but I particularly love and am grateful for YOU, my dear readers, for being here and for listening to a decade of Things that are my Favourite. xo

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Operation Fancy Lady Edition

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About a month ago, I was able to watch my son perform at his school in a student-run short production. This production was the first on-stage production since before the pandemic, so I was pretty excited. As I waited for fifteen minutes after the production for my son to finish the stage cleanup, I chatted with others who were waiting for the same reason. I talked to my son afterward: I met L’s parents and R’s mom, oh, and I met S’s dad and stepmom and introduced them to G’s mom…He looked at me curiously. “How did you meet all those people? Did you just go up to them and ask them if they had a kid in the play?” Yes! That’s exactly what I did.

A few years back I heard the term Extroverted Introvert, and I felt seen. I am technically an introvert; I need my alone time to recharge, but I love being around other people, and I love meeting new people. If you are having a party, and you need Mixer People, give me a call. There’s nothing I love more at a party than circulating through the room and talking to everyone: I love new people and I love seeing familiar faces, and I would probably talk to a chair if it had a picture of a smiley face on it. This is why I was very excited to join my husband for a night in Banff at a conference his company was hosting; there was a reception, and a dinner, and I was ALL IN. This was my first Real Social Event since before the pandemic; I have really missed having these kinds of events to meet people.

I discovered, after meeting other spouses, that most of them were there for both nights of the conference, whereas I only drove out for one, and so I felt a little regretful. But no matter! It was held at the Banff Springs, which is a very special place. This was my THIRD time to the Springs in the past six months, so I think that makes me a Very Fancy Lady.

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Operation Fancy Lady Edition

Three Outfits

I wanted to make sure I was comfortable for the 75 minute drive to the Springs; Banff can be very unpredictable in terms of weather so I needed layers, and I wanted those layers to look cute since I assumed I would meet people upon arrival.

I want to talk about these pants. These pants are officially a Favourite Thing, and I have them in a few colours. They are from lululemon and they are structured, with a button and zipper, but they feel like yoga pants. They are literally the most comfortable pants I own, and I love them. I added cute Skecher flats, a plain tee, a super-long swoopy sweater, and a scarf. It was a perfect driving outfit, but also perfect for wandering around the hotel, meeting my husband’s colleagues and customers, and having a glass of wine at the bar, where I ended up talking to many people who were not involved in my husband’s conference, but who were from as far away as Ohio, Georgia, and Virginia. When I meet people like that I feel like I need to be an Ambassador For Canada, and I end up saying things like Welcome To Our Beautiful Country, and giving tourism advice.

After being a self-appointed Canadian Ambassador, I went to get dressed for the fancy dinner. I bought this dress for a Christmas party in 2018, and have worn it maybe once since. It is from the now-defunct Le Chateau, and is a stretchy sheath dress underneath a big drapey part, which makes it comfortable AND flattering. The heels are decidedly NOT my comfy Skechers, and by the end of the night my feet were very sore, but needs must sometimes.

The next morning my husband went golfing with customers, and I decided to go for a walk to Bow Falls and downtown Banff before I had to check out. I put my great-for-walking Skechers on my very sore feet and layered up.

The weather was pretty unsettled, with really low-lying cloud and a few sprinkles of rain, so I was happy to have packed this jacket, also from lululemon. It’s lined and waterproof, and the hood zips up really nicely in case of gusty wind.

Here is a photo of Bow Falls, which is crazier than normal because of all the rain that we have had of late, as well as the usual seasonal snowmelt:

I guess in terms of Favourite Things, being in the mountains is one of them. This is maybe the very best thing about living in Calgary, the proximity to the Rockies.

Sheertex

Unless it’s the middle of summer, or I am on a hot and sunny vacation, I do not like being bare-legged while wearing dresses. There are three reasons for this: a) I get cold, b) I have Reynaud’s Syndrome which means my legs are generally an unattractive shade of purplish-blue, and c) I have very unsightly varicose veins. Longtime readers may recall I had my varicose veins stripped back in 2011, and that painful procedure was supposed to be the end of it, but alas, I have since developed new ones and my doctor says there is nothing to be done, as I am obviously prone to it and if they strip any more veins, I am going to have Massive Circulation Issues.

Our local Pharmasave advertised that they were carrying Sheertex hosiery; I have had a few occasions in the past month where I would be wearing a dress and wanted to wear pantyhose, and so I looked into Sheertex. I will tell you now, I almost fainted when I saw the price tag. However, in the long run I think it will pay off, as these are supposed to be indestructible.

How many pairs of pantyhose have I thrown out in my lifetime after only one wear, sometimes even less than that, because I put a fingernail through them while putting them on, or snagged them on a bracelet, or got a run from bumping into a table? I shudder to think of the money down the drain. Anyway, the cost of these is insane, but supposedly they should last me a very long time. So far I’ve worn them four times, and they still look perfect, and that’s AFTER I took off my shoes and walked around in my stocking feet at the Banff Springs, after having several drinks and standing around in heels for hours.

Cover Girl Outlast

I have to thank Gigi (HI GIGI) for the recommendation of Cover Girl Outlast lipstick. Gigi said that she used it and it lasted all day, even with mask wearing and eating. I was skeptical, so I took photos of myself for a day wearing it, applying it only in the morning and not reapplying during the day.

8:00 am. In the Superstore parking lot with freshly applied Outlast.

12:30 pm. After a morning of grocery shopping and mask wearing, drinking several glasses of water and a smoothie, eating a fruit salad, and brushing my teeth, the lipstick still looks perfect without a reapplication!

3:00 pm. This is after taking the boys to their optometry appointment. Lip colour is still there – after masking too – but it’s starting to fade.

7:00 pm. This is after dinner, water, and flossing and brushing my teeth. Eleven hours of wear, no reapplication; I am not going to throw out all my other lipsticks but I feel like I could. Other lipsticks, you can JUST GO HOME. This stuff is amazing, thanks Gigi for the recommendation!

Favourite Link of the Month: The Sugar Thief

This has nothing to do with being a Fancy Lady, but I read The Sugar Thief by Laura Bray (HI LAURA) and have thought about it intermittently ever since. It’s just an absolute delight. Laura is not a new blogger, but she is new to me, and her writing is wonderful. Go check it out!

Happy Pride Month! Those are my Favourite Things this month: what are yours? Tell me everything. xo

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Daily Glow-Up Edition

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You’re already beautiful; the makeup is just for fun. This is what my friend Dan Thompson used to say, and it’s so true. Makeup, to me, is fun, but I have a small confession to make: I actually don’t feel like ME without makeup on.

It’s not that I don’t believe that I’m beautiful without it, and it’s not that I hate the way I look, barefaced. It’s not even that I prefer the way I look with makeup on; it is that I honestly do not feel like myself without it. I don’t feel like my best self without it, either.

There’s probably a lot that could be said or conclusions that could be drawn about me, given that statement, but it is absolutely true. I put on makeup every single day, every SINGLE DAY, regardless of my activity or who I see or don’t see, because the truth is that wearing makeup is for me and for my own mental benefit. Illness is the only thing that keeps me from putting on makeup, and even then, I have to basically have one foot in the grave to not at least brush on a coat of mascara and a dusting of powder.

I have been writing about my Favourite Things for almost ten years now – the first Favourite Things was written in July 2012! – and the point of it has never been to tell anyone else what they should be doing or using. Nicole’s Favourite Things are NICOLE’S Favourite Things, things I love and things that work for me, and if they work for you or you want to try and enjoy them, then that is a bonus.

I know what it feels like to have someone disparage something you love, or cast aspersions on you for enjoying something, and I never want to make anyone feel that way. I never want anyone to feel that they should be doing something or that they have to do something or shame about what they do or like. If you’re a person who prefers to go au naturel, for whatever reason, I celebrate and support you! After all, we ARE all beautiful, and makeup is a fun frivolity that I do not want to live without. I COULD live without it, of course, but I do not want to.

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Daily Glow-Up Edition

First, let me show you what we are working with.

This is me at 4:10 am on a Thursday morning; my face has been washed and my hair has been brushed, but I am pre-yoga, pre-workout, PRE-COFFEE, all of which are things that de-puff my puffy morning face. I have no makeup on, nor any moisturizer. This is just me.

Serums and Primer

I have spoken before about my love for The Ordinary serums – I like the caffeine 5% for under my eyes, and the argireline solution for my forehead lines. Both are under $10 each and they last about four months. I mean, you cannot go wrong. I also use Smashbox Smooth and Blur primer, although I don’t think it smooths or blurs, but it does help my makeup last all day. In the summer and on warm spring days I put on Neutrogena sunscreen – it goes on before the primer, but after the serums.

This is me post-shower, post-yoga-and-workout, post-coffee, post-serum-and-primer.

BB and CC Cream

If I am not wearing actual sunscreen, I like IT Your Skin But Better CC Cream because it contains SPF. You can sustain sun damage any time of year, people, yes, even in Calgary, even in the winter. I am outside a minimum of an hour a day, regardless of weather, and much more than that in actual nice weather, so SPF is a must. If I am wearing the afore-mentioned Neutrogena sunscreen, then I use Garnier BB Cream, which I like but doesn’t have anything in the way of SPF.

Small note, if you decide to try IT CC Cream: it is quite heavy. Use about half of what you think you might need, otherwise you may end up with a Kabuki-like face. I also like a dusting of pressed powder; Revlon Photoready Blurring Powder is my favourite. Does it blur? It does not. But it helps “set” my makeup for the day.

The Eyes Have It

Longtime readers will recall that I have been a fan of Maybelline Falsies Lash Lift for many, many years. Honestly, I have tried many more expensive brands of mascara and I always come back to Maybelline, which is available for about eight dollars at the drugstore.

There’s nothing like a mask and car lighting to showcase the eyes:

In addition to the most ridiculously-named-but-so-good mascara (FALSIES, WHAT), I use an Annabelle eyeliner and brow pencil. Here’s the thing: never in my life did I think I would need a brow pencil. I was born with what can be kindly described as Luxurious Eyebrows, but were, in my teen years, something more akin to a cross between Martin Scorsese and Bert from Sesame Street.

However, due to greying and, apparently, balding eyebrows, I have had to fill in – gently, don’t want to channel Uncle Leo – my brows for the past year or so.

I also add just a tiny bit of blush to the apples of my cheeks.

Smooch

Lip colour is just so transformative. I like to have lots of options; I still wear a mask to most places, but if I’m outside walking or meeting a friend, I always put on some lip colour. Even just around the house, I like to at least put on tinted lip balm. Calgary is a very dry climate and I find lips can get chapped or cracked very easily, and O’Keefe’s is great for nighttime treatment or on the rare occasion that I want an untinted lip balm.

My favourite Cover Girl Semi-Matte lipstick in the Trending shade has been discontinued! Don’t you hate that? I guess it’s time to find a new favourite among the million other lipsticks around.

So there we have it; my daily glow-up routine. I enjoy Putting On My Face, as the senior set says, and these are all my current favourite products. I hope you enjoyed my transformation! If you have favourite makeup products, let me know what they are – I love hearing about such things! xo

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The 47th Birthday Edition

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I have been learning Spanish via the Duolingo app, thanks to the encouragement of my younger son, who is using that app to learn Japanese. My goal is to become semi-conversational, and I was practicing phrases the other morning when everyone was in and out of the kitchen, making their breakfasts and getting ready for the day ahead. Imagine, if you will, a perky, I’ve-Been-Awake-For-Hours Nicole, trying out Spanish phrases on her Just-Woke-Up-Don’t-Talk-To-Me family. “Tu quiero un jugo de naranja?” I said to my older son as he, bleary-eyed, poured himself some orange juice. “Yo bebo cafe!” I said happily. “Tu quiero el pan?” I asked my husband as he opened the fridge to grab the rye bread. He looked at me blankly and then said “Si, senorita.”

Oooh, senorita! Is he trying to court me? My son asked what was the difference anyway, between senorita and senora, which led me into a long diatribe about the world in which we live in, where men go their whole lives being senors or sirs, and women get demarcated into ma’ams or senoras at a certain age to indicate their mature status, at which point he said, “Well, you’re always talking about how GREAT aging is and how AMAZING it is to get old, and how you’re so LUCKY to be able to be old, so you should be really be excited to be a senora.” Then he raised his eyebrows, with a half-smile, in the way someone would while laying down a royal flush, just before scooping a huge pile of chips towards them.

Well, he’s right. And today is my birthday! If you know me at all you know a) I love birthdays, b) I think everyone should be treated like a queen or similar on their birthday, and c) I especially love MY birthday. Although I’ve been married to one for over twenty years, I don’t really understand people who go about their birthday like it’s just another day, and are completely quiet on the subject. If it were socially acceptable to walk around with a tiara and a sandwich board proclaiming It’s My Birthday, I would. Alas, it isn’t.

But it’s my blog and I Do What I Want. It’s a Thursday, which may not be the Prime Day for a birthday, but means I can really spread out the celebration over two weekends. It also means that I can give you a Nicole’s Favourite Things!

I don’t know about you, but the number 47 is one that I use conversationally in a hyperbolic way to indicate something that is scrambled or chaotic: I feel like I’m being pulled in 47 different directions, I have 47 different things on my plate right now, all I wanted was a coffee and there were 47 things on the menu and none of them were coffee. Do I feel, on my 47th birthday, like I’m scrambled or chaotic? Not really, but I thought it would be fun to list out 47 things I love on my 47th birthday.

Nicole’s Favourite Things: The 47th Birthday Edition

  • Coffee coffee coffee.
  • Early morning yoga in a silent, sleeping house.
  • Watching the night sky lighten into dawn.
  • Sunrises.
  • Holding my breath as I put away my thick, heavy, cute sweaters and take out my lighter, spring-weight cute sweaters.
  • At-home hair colour.
  • Books books books.
  • The library! I love you, library. You are so good at sharing.
  • Having teenage boys and all the great conversations that we have, including but not limited to: The Girl From Ipanema is a stalker song, how Shakespeare lacked originality in naming characters in Macbeth, and Brezhnev’s eyebrows.
  • CAKE! All kinds, but especially BIRTHDAY cake!
  • Red red wine, you make me feel so fine, even if you give me hot flashes. It’s worth it!
  • Dr. Jen Gunter and The Menopause Manifesto, for normalizing things like hot flashes.
  • Sunday morning walks with my Shmoopy.
  • My Garmin watch, which praises me for moving. Thanks, Garmin, I DO deserve a “mic drop” for getting my steps in.
  • Friends I get to see in real life, even if it’s not often, and friends I never get to see in real life, but connect with often.
  • My chosen sisters – you know who you are!
  • Visiting my parents at the lake.
  • Wrinkle cream and serums! God bless.
  • Mascara!
  • Lipstick and lip gloss for those times I don’t need a mask. Is there anything more transformative and life-affirming than a good lip colour?
  • Yoga pants.
  • Yoga pants that look like regular pants – it’s sorcery!
  • Greek salad and hummus on Friday nights.
  • My piano.
  • Spotify, what an age we live in that I can just listen to whatever I want whenever I want ALL THE DAMN TIME, even when it’s something completely random.
  • Podcasts! Especially Gen X This Is Why, By The Book, Jiffy Pop Culture, and We Didn’t Start The Fire – my current favourites.
  • Modern medicine: thank you, modern medicine, for being awesome and saving lives.
  • Little green shoots in my garden, that are currently under a thick blanket of snow, but I know they are there!
  • Barkley! My puppers.
  • My home gym, specifically my Peloton, and, even more specifically, Leanne Hainsby’s classes. I was saving her latest Disco Ride for this morning, and – this has never happened before – it disappeared. DISAPPEARED. I wanted disco, so I did an old Disco Ride, which was great, and I was number one on the leaderboard (out of one, that’s how old the ride was). Still, I will be singing Ring My Bell all day today.
  • Popcorn. It was back at Superstore, and I may or may not have completely stocked up and I may or may not look like I’m hoarding popcorn.
  • Berry season! Bring on the berries!
  • Salvadore, my garden gnome, who is not yet in the garden but has been moved every night after I go to bed. It’s like my own, non-holiday version of Elf in the Shelf.
  • Puzzles, but not ones that are too challenging.
  • Desiderata, which belonged to my grandma and has meant something special to me since I was a kid, and now hangs, reframed, beside my piano. I read it every day.
  • My yoga students; past and current. I love them all. One of them brought me peppermint bars today!
  • Mint chocolate; whoever first put that combination together deserves accolades.
  • Nuts; every day I am grateful there are no nut allergies in our house.
  • Speaking of nuts, peanut butter and chocolate. Now there’s a delicious combination.
  • Memories of long-ago spring break beach vacations, and dreams of future ones. There are going to be future ones, right?
  • Cutting into the perfect avocado.
  • Sunshine and mild spring temperatures, hopefully they are coming.
  • Running in the fresh air.
  • Our proximity to the Rocky Mountains and my ability to hike in those mountains.
  • Cute pajamas.
  • Green smoothies, every day.
  • All of my wonderful blog friends. Some of you have been with me since 2008, some of you are more recent friends, and I appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you for being here, thank you for taking this journey with me. We are better together. xo