Equal sweetner at McDonalds #CBias @McD_Canada #EqualCanada

Brandon is a huge McDonald's fan, huge, just like any other almost 4 year old I guess.  Its yummy kid friendly food and a toy, usually an awesome toy that Brandon loves and I don't want to throw out right away :)  Even though Brandon and I usually just hit the drive through for an iced coffee and cinnamelt for me and cheeseburger with fries, juice and a toy for Brandon he does love to go inside when given the chance.

For a special treat I took Brandon to McDonald's on Friday and when we pulled into the parking lot he asked why we not go through drive though, in four year old speak.  I thought it would be a good way to spend an hour to go inside, have lunch and play for a while to burn off some energy.  He loved it.


Watching the kids play always motivates Brandon to eat faster and not lollygag.  He was so excited to get up there and play and I was remembering how when I took Kristina as a little girl there.  Brandon kicked off his boots and took off, I could have left and he would have been happy until dinner time.  Kristina on the other hand was so scared to go up high.  She was so scared of something, I still don't know what but she took a good year of going there to be able to go up on her own.



I gotta tell you, its a lot more fun for kids up there than for me, I am afraid of heights lol.

Our lunch was great as usual but once I finished my chicken burger I moved onto my cinnamelt, my favorite by far.  I chowed down, it was delicious as usual, but then when I was done I happened to look at the top of the box and noticed the best before sticker on the top.  I had noticed these before because they are right on top of the box, the date was for two days before.  So upon a closer look, maybe I was crazy, it did say served by November 30th at 12 something. 



At this point one of the employees came into the play area so I asked her over and showed it to her and asked if it was just miss tagged.  She figured it might be but wasn't in the kitchen today so told me to head up to the counter and ask them.  It had tasted fine so I figured it was just miss tagged and went up when Brandon was done eating.  I showed it to the cashier explaining the date and asked if it could have just been tagged incorrectly.  She didn't know so she asked the swing manager.

The swing manager asked me if I wanted my money back and I said that I just wanted to know if it had expired two days ago and she said yes, sorry it did.  So of course I said then yes I would like my money back.  I was just kind of stunned and asked if it would make me sick or anything and she said it would probably be fine and gave me my money back.  I understand that mistakes happen, to everyone, and all the time, but I had hoped for more of a reaction from her that I had just eaten something that had expired two days before hand.  I wouldn't have been to worried if it was a few hours but two days...

I also asked when I ordered if they had equal sweetener as an option and they didn't so I skipped the tea and just had a diet coke.  Check out Equal on Twitter and facebook.  All they had was sugar and another sweetener, it would definitely be nice to have another option available.  Also, the best thing about this restaurant, how clean the play are is, I love a clean play area or I don't go back and this one is soooo clean!  We love it!  Follow McDonald's Canada on Twitter here!

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias

My weekend in the big city #CBias #EqualCanada

So last weekend I was in Vancouver for my birthday, I was pretty excited to go and it was even more fun than I imagined it would be.  My aunt was going over to visit a friend so we hopped into her car and hitched a ride.  Our plan was pretty open, lots of shopping, eating and drinking.  It was my 30th and Kristinas 9th birthday within days of each other. 

We stayed at the Delta hotel and resort in Downtown Vancouver.  I have never stayed at a hotel like the Delta before.  It was a very nice looking hotel, nice rooms, very friendly staff, the usual with a good hotel but the staff were nothing like I had ever met before.  The gentleman who served us dinner both nights was so friendly and nice.  He brought Kristina extra doughnuts for dessert and the following night he even brought them to her for an appy without knowing whether or not we were having a meal. 

He never charged us for her dinners, its free for under 6 so he just made it free.  When budgeting for a trip this is huge, he saved us so much money just in food alone.  He also comped my dinner for my birthday night and an appy for everyone to share.  He may have also comped a drink or two, I don't really remember how many I ordered :)

The breakfast waiter we had both days was amazing as well.  Not only did she give us the easiest directions to the best mall in the city, she is from the island where we are from, small world.  Even though we didn't know her so was so friendly and kind.  She comped my breakfast for my birthday and both of Kristinas!!

Here is what we had for Breakfast on my birthday!  I had the omelet, with hash browns, toast, and some fresh fruit.  I love that the fruit was already missing its rind, random I know but I don't like rind, even touching it lol.  My Mom had had a bagel with cream cheese and a nice big bowl of fruit and Kristina had Mickey Mouse pancakes with sausage and fruit.  We all loved our breakfast.  I tried some of the French Vanilla coffee, hoping it would be like Tim Hortons, I don't really like the taste of real coffee.  It was more like coffee than Tim Hortons French Vanilla so I had to add a whole lot of Equal to it to make it taste better. 

I was pretty excited to see that they had Equal in their sugar/sweetener collection.  I am looking for it everywhere I go now and it only seems to be in about 1/2 of the places I have been.  So thank you Delta hotel for everything you did to make our girls birthday weekend amazing!  You can learn more about Equal on their website, twitter @EqualCanada or on facebook!

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All opinions are always my own!

What coffee houses have Equal sweetener as an option?

Well I am going to let the cat out of the bag and share with you all that its my 30th birthday this Saturday!  I am so okay with it, not upset at all, and very very excited about my plans.  My Mom is taking Kristina and I to Vancouver for a weekend of relaxing and shopping!  My Mom and I have always been big shoppers so this will be a great time for us.  Of course Kristina loves to shop and is pretty excited to have a weekend away with the big girls.  It her Birthday this Wednesday so its kind of both of our presents :)

the Mama and the drinks

We were at my parents tonight for Sunday night dinner, we try to have dinner together every Sunday and my Mom and I were getting into planning our trip, can you say IKEA :)  After dinner the kids were spent and ready for bed and my Mom and I were pretty into talking about and planning our trip so Kris decided to take the kids home and my Mom and I went out for coffee.  After working all weekend it was a nice way to end the weekend!

the sugar and sweeteners

My parents live in Comox so we headed to the closest Tim Hortons and ordered our favorites!  I had an iced capp with milk, not so sweet for me then, and my mom had a nice steaming hot mug of hot chocolate.  Nice warm way for her to end the day, the only thing that would have made that better for her is being in her jammies.  We couldn't order dessert, we had just had some delicious Betty Crocker gluten free cake for the birthdays before we left so we definitely didn't have room for a doughnut no matter how good they looked!

the restaurant (nice and renovated)

It didn't surprise me that Tim Hortons didn't carry Equal, because, well, I was there last week asking about it.  I still suggested it though because I think that its only fair that people who don't want sugar have just as many choices as those who do want sugar.  There are syrups, chocolate, sugar, honey etc that sugar is for and then sweetener as the only other option?  It doesn't seem fair.  I don't drink plain old coffee so I can't speak for myself but that's what I would think.

Overall my Mom and I had a great time chatting about our trip, ps you won't hear from me next weekend because I will be having a blast :)  The only thing that could have made this better was to not have the air conditioning blowing down right on me, it made for an extra chilly iced capp, it probably could have been better had I had hot cocoa though lol.

Do you use sweetener?  What kind do you prefer?  Feel free to check out Equal on facebook and twitter , @EqualCanada as well as Tim Hortons on Twitter @TimHortonsNews

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. As always these thoughts are my own!  #CBias

Tim Hortons #CBias #EqualCanada

I love Tim Hortons, for those of you who aren't Canadians you may not have heard of it.  Its our version of Dunkin Doughnuts, I think that's your go to coffee place.  Tim Hortons has the best coffee, its cheap, always fresh and hot, and you can get it made how you want.  I don't drink regular old coffee, I just don't like it, I drink French Vanilla coffees which are sooooo good and I usually have a bagel and doughnut or cinnamon bun to go along with it :)  I also love to pick these up to make at home, in French Vanilla of course!

When I had the opportunity to take some time for me and head to Tim Hortons for a coffee date I was all over it, that's something you don't have to think twice about!  With cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner on Monday night I am sleeping and breathing turkey, just not eating it yet.  I could definitely use a few minutes away and thought what better way to do that than over some coffee with a friend.

My girlfriend Christy (above) and I (in the orange) met up for lunch today and had a great catch up.  We have 3 in our town and went to the one closest to my work, as I work all weekend but was on a lunch break.  This restaurant was just recently renovated and looks great, and it right beside a Wendys.  It was nice, don't tell the kids, to not have them underfoot and we could actually focus on each other instead of 1/2 paying attention and 1/2 dealing with kids.  It was also cheaper :)  The kids love Tim Hortons and have big lists of things that they each like to eat.  Brandon could even say Timmies at less than 2 years old and knew when we were driving past one :)  You think I go there to often?

There is something about the way Timmies, as we Canadians call it, put all of their baked goods on display that makes your mouth water.  You go in just wanting a nice hot cup of coffee, or an iced capp in the Summer, and walk out with more.  I don't think I have ever left Timmies with just a coffee.  When my girlfriend and I went yesterday we got a full lunch to go with our coffees.  Sandwiches, soup, cinnamon bun, doughnut an iced capp, and pop, can't get much better than that.

The purpose of our trip to Tim Hortons was to find out about the different sweeteners that they offer.  You don't just have the cream and sugar options like it used to be. They had cream, milk, sugar, and splenda.  The cashier was saying to me that you could even use their vanilla syrup as a sweetener.  That's a good idea but no less sugar although you would get some flavour with the sweet at the same time.  The Tim Hortons I was at didn't carry Equal but I did leave a comment card suggesting that they carry it.  Its a great option for people with diabetes and those looking to watch their sugar intake!

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias but all opinions are as always my own!