& then I stopped blogging

You may have noticed that this blog of mine has been really quiet lately. To those of you that have sent me a message/email to check in on me, thank you, I really appreciate it. It's a reminder of why I enjoyed blogging so much in the first place - because of all the wonderful blog friends I made. But, then life got in the way.

If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen the big news.

Kira on her first morning home

When we got back from the Dominican, we got an eight week old puppy! Kira is a Shepherd Rottweiler mix and the little love of my life.

Kira at 10 weeks

She's also a lot of work. My days are now spent training her, caring for her and spending (almost) every waking moment (where I'm not at work) with her (this is not to take away from all the hard work Andrew puts in with her. He spends a lot of time with her too). This all means less time to blog.

Have I missed blogging? Absolutely.

But something happened over the weekend. Friends came over. Food was ordered. I reached for my phone. My first thought was, "I need to take a picture of this so I can blog about it." Then, I stopped. I put my phone down. I didn't take a picture. Instead, I grabbed a plate and dug in. For once, I lived in the moment. Something I hadn't really understood, or done, before. I welcomed the moment.

Although I'll miss having a personal (and public) online diary where I record all the details of my weekly activities, I think it's time for me to take a step back.

This isn't to say I'm done blogging for good. Chances are, I'll be back with a new blog (eventually). But as of this moment, Let Life Be Like Music is no longer my outlet.

Don't worry, when I start a new blog, I'll announce it on Instagram so you'll know about it. You can also keep in contact with me at letlifebelikemusicblog@gmail.com.

But for now, I shall enjoy more moments.

Andrew and I in Dominican

We're Back! Dominican Recap Part 1

We're officially back from the Dominican Republic! I hope everyone had an awesome week. I'll do my best to try to catch up on all your blogs, but first I need to get caught up at work!

Don't hate me, but this week I'm just going to be blogging about our trip. Remember, this blog is also my personal (and public) diary. I definitely plan to look back on these posts in the future. So, bare with me and enjoy!

Andrew and I woke up bright and early on Friday, March 28 to hop on a plane and head to Puerto Plata, Dominican.

I have to start this recap off by saying that Air Transat is an amazing airline. I mean, just look at the lighting in the plane! The colours changed, depending if we were on the ground or not. Our flight was about 3.5 hours and we were given a hot meal, an alcoholic beverage and a large selection of in-flight movies. By the end of the flight home, I had seen Last Vegas (hilarious), Delivery Man (it was okay), Captain Phillips (very well done) and a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

On the bus: Andrew bored and on his ipad

After landing in Puerto Plata and grabbing our luggage, we made our way to the bus. We were so excited to make our way to our resort! That was, until our bus died. Yep, on the way to the resort, the transmission on the bus blew. So we had to sit and wait for a new bus to arrive.

Eventually, we made it to our resort though - hours before check-in time. Lucky for us, we had an ocean view suite ready for us which meant we didn't have to spend hours waiting to get settled in.

Bedroom

Living room

Kitchen

Bathroom

View from our patio

Our room was gorgeous and very spacious. We had an awesome patio which we enjoyed spending time on.

After getting settled in, it was time to eat. Oh man, Dominican food is amazing. After being to Cuba twice (Andrew has been three times), this food was definitely better than expected (if you haven't been to Cuba, you should know that the food there is not very good).

With full bellies, it was time to explore the beach.

The weather was perfect!

While taking in the scenery..

We watched planes fly above us.

As Andrew watched the planes, I set out to get us some drinks. What's an all-inclusive resort without the alcohol? It was time to get this party started!

I Confess... I'm Leaving!

It's Wednesday! Time to confess with Kathy!

I confess... Andrew and I leave for the Dominican in two days! Other than a snapchat when I booked the trip (and me telling a few friends), I've been pretty quiet about it in case something came up work wise and the trip had to be cancelled. I think we're in the clear though (I'm crossing my fingers).

I confess... I've been checking the price of the trip since I booked it to see if it had gone down at all (which lead to the conversation above). When I booked it, I had the option of taking the Price Protection Guarantee or getting $20 off the vacation (per person). I chose the $20 off. I made a good choice.

August 2009 - in Cuba

I confess... The first time I went on an all-inclusive vacation was with Andrew, just four months after we started dating! We were told we were crazy for going on a vacation so early on in our relationship. I think that vacation defined our relationship though. When we came back, I got really bad post-vacation blues and we both knew we found the person we were happy to spend our lives taking trips with. Yes, just four months in. This vacation is in celebration of our 5-year dating anniversary. Aw. (You can read about our first trip together here.)

I confess... I'm a little sad that going away means I'm going to miss the season finale of How I Met Your Mother. I've been watching this show since the beginning and I've been so curious to know how it ends! I think when I get home, I'm just going to avoid the interwebz until I watch it. 

I confess... This is my first time since I started blogging (about a year ago) that I'm going to be away from blogs for a whole week. I'm going to miss you guys! I also don't have any posts lined up while I'm gone. Try not to forget about me. Ktnx. 

Another Condo? Enough Already!

A shot I took from Andrew's plane

I love my city. I can't say it enough: I love Toronto! The hustle and bustle, the multiculturalism, the restaurants, bars and pubs, the fact that there's always something to do, the fact that I don't need a car because I can get anywhere in the city by public transit (which I groan about when there are delays).

One thing I don't like though? The overgrowth of condos. There are so many goddamn condos in this city!

Now don't get me wrong, if I could afford it, I'd live in a condo right now instead of renting an apartment. It's not condos I'm against, it's the amount of condos that are being built!

In my area alone, I can count at least six condos that are being built right now! They're all within a five block radius of each other! Putting up these condos meant closing some of my favourite stores. Houses were bought out and torn down to be replaced with condos. The only heritage site in my neighbourhood, a post-office, is being torn down for yet, that's right, another condo (despite a petition that happened last year).

If you go downtown, all you'll see is condo after condo after condo being built.

It's madness and it's making this city very congested.

I'm over it.

In some good new-building news: Toronto is in the talks of creating a $60M all-year-round water park.

via

I can get on board with that. I just don't know where they'd put it. What with all the condos and all.

Are there too many condos in your city?

She Stepped On My Face

It's Spring, right? It sure doesn't feel like it. Onto the weekend recap!

Friday. 

Gym.

Saturday.

Woke up early to go to the gym, then met up with some friends for lunch.  

We went to a vegetarian/gluten free restaurant which was pretty good. Truth be told, I think Fresh is better. 

After a 3 hour lunch (it was spent catching up), I went home. As I killed time waiting to meet up with Jerome, I made Andrew get snap chat so I could bug him while he was at work. 

 

Mmm..protein bars.

 Many selfies were taken. 

When Jerome arrived, it was time for a carb filled dinner. 

 

I had the delicious pasta

We went to one of my favourite restaurants ever, Grazie. Their food is SO good!

Andrew joined us when he finished work. Just in time for a selfie. 

Sunday. 

I got together with Eliane to get alterations done to my bridesmaids dress for her wedding. 

 

 

After the alterations, we went to her place for a delicious meal.

Later in the afternoon, I met up with Andrew and Misty. We took her to park for a long walk. During the walk I, of course, managed to slip on the ice and fall. Misty went to check on me when I fell. Unfortunately for me, Andrew had a stick in his hand, which distracted her and caused her to step on my face. 

A passerby told us he wasn't fast enough with his phone to record it and get it on YouTube. Thanks...

How was your weekend?

He Can't Give Just One Answer (Boys Behind the Blog)

I totally didn't realise that yesterday was the Boys Behind the Blog linkup. Since I missed it last month, I'm linking up a day late so I don't miss it this month too.

Time to ask Andrew questions!

Yes, those are mountains behind him

1. What's your lucky number?

Andrew: 6? I don't know. 7?

2. Do you have a lucky charm?

Andrew: Yeah.

Me: What is it?

Andrew: You.

Me: Aw. No, but really, what is it?

Andrew: Nah, I don't have one. 

3. Do you fill out a bracket for March Madness? Who do you want to win?

Andrew: What the heck is that?

Me: It's okay, we're Canadian.

4. March 10th is "Middle Name Pride Day." What's your middle name?

Andrew: Umm... Anil.

Me: Why did you say 'um'?

Andrew: Because it's a random Indian name.

5. Submit one question you would like to see on a future The Boys Behind the Blog.

Andrew: Ummmmm....

Me: Uh huh...?

Andrew: Have you ever tried the mile high club?

Me: Oh my god, really? That's your question?

Andrew: What? Is that not a valid question? Fine... What's your favourite type of pants? Jeans, sweats, etc?

Me: Okkk...

Andrew: When you go on vacation...

Me: No, you already asked two.

Andrew: No, put this one.

Me: Sigh. What is it?

Andrew: When you go on vacation, what is the one thing you want to accomplish?

Me: Accomplish? Uh, don't people go on vacation to relax?

Andrew: No, when you and I go on vacation, we go on tours and explore and stuff.

Me: Maybe accomplish isn't the right word..

Isn't Andrew fun? Happy weekend everyone!

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March 2014 Ipsy Review: Destination Beauty

What do you get when you sign up with Ipsy?

For $10 a month (plus shipping for some; $4.95 for me), subscribers receive a Glam Bag with samples and full-sized beauty products which are unique to them and the profile they filled out when they signed up! You don't know what you're getting ahead of time. The only thing you know is that it follows a theme. This month's theme was Destination Beauty.

What I got:

Nicole by OPI
Roughless

Cost: $10.99

Thoughts: I love this shade and I'm fine with the rough texture of it.

Be a Bombshell
Bora Bora Eyeshadow Quad

Cost: $14.99


Thoughts: I love receiving makeup pallets in my Ipsy bags but I'm not sure about this shade. My eyes are blue/green so eyeshadow colours in that shade don't go so well with my eyes.

bareMinerals
Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in Get Ready

Cost: $5.00


Thoughts: I've heard that bareMinerals is a good brand so I was happy to try this. The colour was really nice and it actually lasted for a while. I liked this product.

Klorane
Smoothing and relaxing patches

Cost: $6.00


Thoughts: I know it's hard to see what this is from the picture; sorry about that. Basically, they're under-eye patches. "Dark circles and puffiness are visibly reduced and the eye contour looks fresh and bright. Cool patches in refrigerator before use to increase effectiveness and enhance its refreshing effect."

I was disappointed that we only received two packs. You can't really see a difference with just two patches.

The whole Glam Bag, with the bag!

I didn't like the look of this bag but at least the contents were pretty decent. I was really disappointed that we only received four products in this bag when normally we receive five. Hopefully we'll get five next month!

Total cost of contents of bag: $36.98

How much I paid: $14.95

Savings: $22.03

Interested in getting your own Ipsy bag? Use my refferal code here!