What's new & fashion help, please?

So I know I haven't posted very much lately. It's been really busy around here. We are rushing to get all kinds of things done (eg, shed). Why the rush? Well... my husband's being transferred to Calgary for six months. He leaves on Sunday.

Whoa. It's kind of a big deal. I'll be staying here (although I may pop out to visit once or twice), and he gets to come home for three days every two weeks.
Luckily for him, he's got good friends out there and is looking forward to the work - a change of pace from what he does at work here. For me, things won't change too much, only it's going to be a little lonely. The dog will keep me company, though, and those bi-weekly visits I'm sure will make the time fly.

Last weekend we did a bit of traveling as well. I had some work to drop off to galleries, so we went out to Oakville, hitting Toronto on the way. While in Oakville, where I'd never been to before, we decided to take a walk down through some suburbs to the lake. It's really nice! The waterfront neighbourhoods are lovely. The downside is the nasty fishy smell from all the algae or seaweed (I'm not sure which) washed up on the Lake Ontario shore. And the geese, which are everywhere (and when geese are everywhere, goose poo is a walking hazard! Not only that, but they're hissy, mean creatures). That was our Friday adventure.

Then on Saturday, we drove down to Niagara Falls (the US side) for some cross-border shopping. We went to the 'Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls'. It was decent, but not as good as the outlet shopping in Baltimore we did last fall. I didn't get too much but my husband found some great deals on really nice clothes for work.

I did find a dress for a wedding we're going to - for only $40 - at Dress Barn. Believe me, I was not comfortable shopping at a store called Dress Barn. Can you think of a worse name? Ugh! Who wants to buy their clothes in a BARN for goodness' sake?! It was desperate times, after exhausting all the other possibilities at the mall, before we went in.

Anyway, most of the dresses were what I think of as 'old lady dresses', but I did find this nice navy blue empire waist dress. I think I will have to get a little shrug or something though, because the wedding we are going to is an older couple and I feel like it might be seen as disrespectful or inappropriate to wear a sleeveless dress in the church. Am I way off there? I'm not a church-goer myself, and most of the weddings I've been to are young couples. I'm not sure where this notion comes from that I need to cover my shoulders. The dress does have straps.

I have some ivory coloured heels that I was thinking to wear... maybe this short strand of pearls, too. So take a look and tell me... (obviously, I'll do my hair and I guess I'll have to wear lipstick, too, since I look awfully washed out in the picture without it).

Alternately I have some strappier and more current white heels like so:
which would maybe be better (?). The ivory ones I'm wearing at left are kind of old and although they are more comfortable, I think they're not as nice.

Ugh! I am just a jeans and tank top kind of girl... this dressing up business is not for me! So if you have advice on shoes, shrug, makeup, whatever, please share. Just be nice, yeah?

Tropical Traditions Raw Organic Canadian Honey - Review and Giveaway!

***This giveaway is closed***
Winner: Hannah

Woo hoo! Another yummy product review and giveaway from Tropical Traditions. This time I got to try the Raw Organic Canadian Honey. All four words in that are music to my ears!

It has a creamy consistency (very spreadable), and melts in your mouth. The flavour is mild, not strong like a buckwheat or orange blossom honey, but more mild like a clover honey.

They don't say what flowers it's mainly from, but it is apparently harvested far away from people and crop farms on the 'wild frontiers of the Canadian north'. I wonder where that is, geographically? Nowhere near me in Southern Ontario, that's for sure. They have calculated the bees' flight distances and can say with certainty that this is organic honey - no pesticides or chemical fertilizers have touched the plants the bees are visiting.

The 'raw' part comes from the fact that it has not been processed in a way to keep it liquid in the jar. It has only been warmed enough so that it can flow (for filling the jars) - to the same temperature it would be in the hive. From the website: "It contains live yeast and enzymes, because it has not been processed. It also contains pollen because it has not been filtered—merely screened."

Honey is a most amazing food. It contains small amounts of antioxidants, and is also an antibiotic. It can help heal cuts, and I always take it in tea when I feel a cold coming on. I have also heard that eating local honey can help with allergies, by building up a tolerance in the body to local pollens. Of course, if you're not from the 'wild frontier' that this honey comes from, that won't apply. But it's interesting!

I'll be completely honest. I was planning to work up a great recipe with the honey in it. But... things didn't work out that way. It's not that it won't work in recipes (I'm sure it would) - it's that it's so freakin' good straight out of the jar that we have been eating it spread on toast, in tea, and (eeks) by the spoonful right out of the jar! I love this stuff.

Luckily, there are already lots of recipes here if you are looking for another way to use it.

You can pick up a 17.6 oz glass jar of the Raw Organic Canadian Honey at Tropical Traditions for $10.99 (US). I was checking out the honey at my grocery store today and it's about $6 for 8 oz, so this is a good price!

Tropical Traditions has a Referral Program, so if you place an order with them as a first-time customer, please select “Referred by a friend” and in the box that says “How did you hear of us?” enter my sponsor ID number 5687267. By telling Tropical Traditions that I referred you, you will receive a free copy of the book Virgin Coconut Oil: How it has changed people’s lives and how it can change yours! by Brian and Marianita Shilhavy with your first order! This book is filled with testimonies and research showing how healthy coconut oil is, and it also includes over 85 recipes showing how one can incorporate coconut into their diet.

And yes, one of you gets to try this deliciousness for free! Tropical Traditions has offered one of my readers a jar of this yummy honey!

The giveaway:
A 17.6 oz. jar of Tropical Traditions Raw Organic Canadian Honey!

How to enter: Head over to Tropical Traditions and let me know one other thing you'd like to try, OR one thing that you learned there. Make sure I've got a way to contact you if you're the winner!

Extra entries (please leave an extra comment for each. If you already do any of these things, leave the comment - you do get the entry for it!):

• Subscribe via email to the Tropical Traditions newsletter
  
• Follow @troptraditions on Twitter (leave your Twitter name!)
• Follow me on Twitter (leave your Twitter name!)
• Tweet about this giveaway for ONE entry, this is not a daily! You can use this if you like:

  Yummy! Win Raw Organic Canadian Honey from @TropTraditions at Emily's Latest @emilyisland http://bit.ly/dCmb1p US/CAN 6/30
  

• Follow my blog (publicly) – 2 entries, leave 2 comments
• Add my blog button to your blog– 2 entries, leave 2 comments (please leave a link to your blog)
• Blog about this giveaway, linking back to this post and to Tropical Traditions – 2 entries, leave 2 comments and please include a link to your post
  

I will be verifying comments so please actually do the things you say you do ☺ If you already do any of these things, it still counts for entries!

Please be sure to include your email address if it’s not public in your blogger profile! Anonymous comments without a way to contact you will be rejected. Canadian or US mailing addresses only, please. Giveaway ends June 30th at 11:59 EST. A winner will be drawn the next day, announced here, in a separate post and emailed!

Prize will be shipped by sponsor. Note for Canadian entrants: Tropical Traditions is not responsible for customs or duties that Canada may charge if you decide to participate in this Tropical Traditions sponsored blog giveaway. (FYI - it's unlikely to have a charge, being well under the $60 that incurs duty charges! There was no extra charge on my jar, which came to Canada quickly and packaged well!)

Supplement Source.ca Winners!

Sorry I'm a little late with these! It's been crazy around here.

The winner of the $50 gift certificate to SupplementSource.ca is...There were four qualifying entries for the $25 gift certificate, and I numbered them by date. The winner for that is:and the second qualifying entry was:Congratulations to you both! I'm sure you'll enjoy shopping at Supplement Source. I'll be emailing you shortly!

If you didn't win, stick around - I've got some more fitness related giveaways coming up (as well as more yummy food ones!).