it's bbq season + rufus teague!

B B Q   S E A S O N   I S   *F I N A L L Y*   H E R E!

I'm absolutely loving this beautiful Spring weather here in Toronto. I've got to say one my favourite parts about Spring & Summer is cooking delicious meals on the BBQ! Pete and I are so lucky to have our cute little back patio that gives us the opportunity to hang back there, host and of course cook up some delicious food on the BBQ for ourselves and our guests.

Last week I was lucky enough to attend a blogger event at Barque (one of my favourite places to eat in the city!) for all things BBQ. In other words, this was the event of my dreams! I loveeee BBQ, in fact I'd say it's probably my favourite type of food.

I got to learn all about Rufus Teague BBQ sauce and ohhhh baby, am I glad I now know it exists. The chefs cooked up all kinds of delicious plates using their BBQ sauce, and they were all incredible in their own ways. Also, how can I not mention the fact that their was a fountain of BBQ sauce! I mean, seriously? The best! Chicken Fingers dipped in Rufus Teague = heaven on earth.

The three flavours we tired were Honey Sweet + Touch 'O Heat + Whiskey Maple ♥

Everyone at the event left with some sauce and spices and Pete and I have basically been putting them to use every night! On Sunday night we made fajitas on the BBQ with Touch O' Heat. They! were! so! darn! good!

Follow Rufus Teague on Instagram + Twitter for some serious BBQ inspo for the Summer!

I thought I'd share a little somethin' delicious to make with your Rufus Teague BBQ sauce!:

BBQ BLTA WRAP:

Brown Sugar Bacon 

8 pieces thick cut bacon

1 cup of brown sugar

1 tp of rufus teague meat rub

1 whole wheat tortilla

1 beefsteak tomato, sliced 1/2' thick

1 head of boston lettuce

1 ripe avocado, sliced

1 tbs rufus teague honey sweet bbq sauce

Directions:

set oven at 400 Degrees

massage bacon with brown sugar and rufus teague meat rub (allow to sit for 3-5 minutes)

set bacon on wire rack + place in oven. allow bacon to crisp up and get crunchy

while bacon is cooking in the oven, slice up veggies

remove bacon from wire rack, cover with foil and retain heat

warm up tortilla in microwave.

once tortilla is nice and warm, slather on a heaping tablespoon (or more!) of your rufus teague honey sweet bbq sauce

add your bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado. wrap it up + serve up with some more bbq sauce!

Photography by Josh Tenn-Yuk courtesy of Rufus Teague

 + this is a sponsored post. please note that jules only chooses to work with brands that she loves, believes in and best reflect her personal brand & blog +

great wine with great friends!

H  E  L  L  O    T  H  E  R  E   ♥

It's been a really really rough couple of days. Without going in to too much detail about my thoughts on Tuesday nights US election results, I'll just say that there are better days ahead. 

I thought it would be fun to share this blog post about some of my favourite things! Wine, Friends & Sunday's! Oh and what better way to spend my favourite day of the week then spending time with some of my favourite people, in my favourite city, drinking one of my favourite beverages?

Yes, you got it! ♥ WINE! ♥ - I was really excited to try Inception Wine, I've seen it in the LCBO before and was obviously attracted to it because of it's pretty label (because let's be honest, we all judge wine on whats on it's bottle) - "Inception Irresistible White is a white wine made from a blend of Chardonnay, Viognier and Gewürztraminer grapes each harvested by hand at full maturity for maximum fruit expression and crispness. On the palate, the wine is refreshing and just a touch sweet." This bottle retails for $13.95 at the LCBO (sounds like a good Christmas gift idea to me!)

My favourite way to enjoy a good bottle of wine is with great friends and cute-as-can-be snacks. We are definitely the type to pair our wines with fun, simple, delicious snacks/charcuterie boards.

Pete & I went over to our good pal's Amy & Zach's and they hosted us so beautifully as always. Ames created this perfect little cheese tray to go with our white wine. And, can we just talk about how insanely wonderful their place is? Oh, I just love it. It was a bright sunshiny day so I snapped lots of photo's to share with you all. (Learn more about my talented friend Amy by following her on Instagram & checking out her site amykilloran.com)

What is your favourite way to drink wine?!

Minted Christmas Cards!

it's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's here, it's finally (almost) here. My favourite time of the year, what I wait for alllllll year long - Christmasss! Oh I am so happy. Even though I LOVE Christmas more than anything, I still wait a bit to get my decorations up until it really feels real. For me, the official "kick off to christmas" is The Toronto Santa Claus which is usually mid November. Since the parade just happened this past Sunday I am definitely feeling those special Christmas feels ♥

This is my third year in a row ordering my Christmas cards from Minted and once again, I absolutely LOVE how they turned out and am beyond excited to start writing them out to some of my favourite people! There are so many different templates and styles to choose from but this one really stuck out for me, I absolutely love the font, and knew I wanted to use one of our engagement photo's for the background and am happy with how it turned out.

Minted is a design marketplace of independent artists from around the world! I love the concept so much and it's something I am always really excited to support. I love that it's a place where artists can learn, gain exposure and build their businesses. Especially since I am someone with a similar dream.

All holiday cards are available with matching envelope designs and recipient addressing! (free for a limited time) and on top of that, there are tons of other adorable things to add in too! I got some custom gift tags that I will share with you soon, and adorable stickers too!

For more inspiration on all the beautiful prints, cards, photos, stickers etc - get connected with Minted:

Instagram // Twitter // Website

* this is a sponsored post. please know that jules only chooses to work with brands that she loves, believes in and best reflect her personal brand & blog *

Etsy Weddings - Adorable Gift Ideas!

H a p p y   T h u r s d a y!!! ♥

Today I am excited to share my second post about my ETSY wedding finds! I am thrilled to be working with Etsy and have had so much fun looking at all the amazing Canadian vendors! These people are seriously talented and create the most beautiful things.

This post is a round up of my favourite gift ideas for wedding gifts! This could be gifts for your bridesmaids, for a wedding shower, a bachelorette or for the wedding day! I love taking the time to choose a really special, unique and most of all handmade/custom gift for my friends and family. I love being able to support local vendors and also choose such a thoughtful gift! So here are some of my favourites:

*Sweetheart Jewelry Box Etsy Shop*

Montreal, Quebec

Sweet and simple handmade jewelry that is so beautiful and feminine! I love the idea of treating your bridesmaids to something special with their initial or favourite colour that they could wear on your wedding day and many days and years to come! I love the dainty necklaces and bracelets with such soft pretty colours! 

*gracedesign Etsy Shop*

Toronto, Ontario

Can you tell I am a sucker with anything that has gold and pastel colours on it? GraceDesign creates BEAUTIFUL bags. All different sizes, designs and colours. I fell in love with these clutches that are just gorgeous and perfect for a wedding day! This would be so perfect for a bride or bridesmaids! This one comes in mint green too. So lovely!

*Siideways*

Peterborough, Ontario

OK so this is the most adorable thing ever! Siideways makes temporary tattoos of all shapes and sizes and all kinds of designs. I found this custom temporary tattoo for a bachelorette party and fell in love! How adorable is this? I just love it, and of course you can customize it with the brides name! 

*Noteworthy Designs Co. Stationery & creative packaging*

Peachland, British Columbia

How precious are these vow books? I just adore them and think they are so sweet. Noteworthy has a number of gifts that come from the heart, and it's obvious in the pieces she creates. From vow books, to tags to wedding guestbooks - Noteworthy offers a number of heart felt gifts and favours for weddings and events! These vow books are my fave.

*The Recovery Well*
Ottawa, Ontario

OK if this is the cutest thing you've ever seen than I don't know what is! The Recovery Well has a number of different designs on forks and spoons, a lot of which are perfect for a wedding. This would be a sweet gift idea for a wedding shower or the big day! There are a bunch of different phrases but this one is just so perfect for us coffee lovers. 

*Lovely Hankies 2015*
Edmonton, Alberta

LOL. OMG, stop! This is actually the most hilarious/amazing thing ever. I legit lol'd when I saw this specific phrase on Lovely Hankies Etsy! It's just too perfect, and so funny! I consider myself a pretty laid back/fun bride so something like this is just perfect. Would be a really cute gift for a bride at a shower or to give her on the day of her wedding! There are a bunch of different phrases too!

$150 Giveaway to Forever 21!

Happy Friday Babes!

I am over the moon happy right now. I am finally feeling (almost) 100% better, and as of today I am on vacation for 9 days straight! I am looking forward to getting some rest, doing all sorts of Christmasy things, and spending time with Pete, my family and my friends. This year is mine and Pete's first year spending Christmas day together and I am so excited!

I am also VERY excited to announce an amazing giveaway I have for you as an early Christmas gift! 

I am giving away a $150 gift card to Forever 21 ♥

I just did some Christmas shopping at F21 and got some amazing stuff! I am especially excited about the outfits I got for my niece Ivy! I also just had to get this really adorable & *sparkly* outfit to wear on Christmas day.

How to win this amazing giveaway?

1) Be a follower of this blog & leave a comment saying one thing you're really excited about for Christmas! (ONE ENTRY)

2) Post this photo on your blog or your instagram tagging both myself and F21 

@julierosschristmas

@forever21 (THREE ENTRIES)

3) Tweet about this giveaway & tag me and F21 @heyjulesxo @forever21

Comment below to let me know which ones you have done! Winner announced late on Sunday night.

Minted Review : The Prettiest Christmas Cards!

Oh hey guys! I'm sorry for my lack of posts, I've been busy being little miss christmas, and then getting a horrible cold after doing four christmas parties in a row. But after a day and a half of rest, I am on my way to feeling human again. Need to get to 100% again by this weekend so I can start all over again! 

I am beyond excited to be working with Minted again this Christmas! They truly make the most beautiful products that are perfect and pretty as can be. For the second year in a row I ordered our Christmas cards from Minted and beyond happy with how they turned out. The paper used for the cards is thick and smooth, and the colour is bright and wonderful. They have so many amazing templates that it was really hard to choose just one! 

This year I went with the "Tis the season to be jolly" template, with a photo of Pete and I at my pal Jenna's wedding last New Years Eve! So far everyone who has seen them or received one has been over the moon excited with it! :) 

I also ordered a few custom notebooks as Christmas Gifts, so I will post about them after Christmas so I don't spoil it in case the people I got them for are reading!

If you haven't had the pleasure of getting something from Minted yet, you should definitely check them out! Anything from Invitations, Save the dates, Thank you cards, Christmas cards, notebooks, planners etc! I could not be happier with how my goodies turned out and I'm looking forward to my next order.

minted review post - the cutest of cute.

Ever since I heard of minted I have spent so much time drooling over everything they have to offer! 

Pete and I had our Christmas cards made from minted and everyone was raving about how perfect they were. When I was given the chance to order some of their Valentine's day goodies, I had such a hard time choosing because I wanted it all! After some serious thought, I chose some really sweet items.

♥ custom made valentines! - they say [ "you're the best" love, jules ] and they were cute as can be. I loved having a blank back on the card to write a personal message and they even came with a perfect tiny little envelope. People just loved them & I have some saved for some special people.

Here they are below ;

♥ Baby Avery memories journal! - My BFF's babygirl Aves turned one last weekend (I can't believe it!) and I wanted to give Carly something special for the big day. I figured an absolutely precious journal custom with a photo of Aves and a message would be perfect. Would you look at that! The cutest ever, she LOVED it. I will definitely do something similar as a gift again soon.

Ok but isn't she the cutest babe in the world? ;

♥ Blog idea notebook! Going with the theme of love, I figured why not create a custom notebook to store all of my blog goals and dreams in? Seems fitting! These two colours together are heaven, and I customized the font at the bottom to my blog name the life of a cupcake - I plan on putting it to use this weekend.

Hearts & Notebooks & All the cuteness ;

♥ Place cards, those little cards you see in the photo's are also just adorable. Can't wait to use them for an upcoming party I plan! 

How perfect is that arrow though? '

I'm so impressed with minted once again! Just the whole experience is lovely and so easy. They have the most adorable templates and gift ideas. The packaging is as cute as everything inside too (which is always such a pleasant surprise) Their stuff is great quality and for someone who loves to spoil people and give them little things to say how much I love them, well minted is a dream come true.

Check them out if you haven't already
Minted website
Minted blog
Minted on twitter
Minted on instagram @minted

XO.