Happy New Year!

Having been completely absent from my blog for upwards of two weeks now, I guess I just wanted to write a quick post to wish everyone a happy new year! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday, no matter what you were celebrating!

I'm in for a nice low-key new years eve, in preparation for my birthday next weekend.

See you next year! :)

Supporting Local

For a project in school this semester I had to do a "soundslide" on a topic of my choice. Wanting to do something that was both visually appealing and catering to my interests, I found out that November was Support Local Month. So I got inspired and decided to do my slide show on a full day of supporting local. I went to some local stores and eateries and really had a good time. I was really inspired by what I heard from talking to the various owners and managers about how if we just support more local businesses, we all win. If you haven't checked out any of these places yet, I really suggest you do!

Wabi Sabi in Westboro has an amazing selection of yarn! Plus all of the ladies there are complete dolls!

Obviously if we're talking about supporting local, Victoire comes to mind almost immediately.

Next to Victoire on Dalhousie is Workshop, where you can literally find a gift for anyone on your list, even yourself.

Union 613 has probably the tastiest menu for the best value in the city. Definitely a new favourite for us.

Soooo.....yeah.

It's sad to say, but I think talking about not wanting anything, re-ignited my wanting everything. Although I still maintain that things like this shouldn't be bought for me by friends and family. They shouldn't be the ones to suffer for my extravagant tastes....

Club Monaco cashmere scarf, Barbour vest, Michael Kors rose gold watch, Michael Kors booties, Tom Ford sunglasses, Florabotanica by Balenciaga

Grace Coddington Memoir, Dannijo Luisa necklace, Citizens of Humanity jeans, Alexander Wang Emile satchel, Aveda Madder Root shampoo and conditioner

*****Pretentiousness not included******

We can't avoid this any longer.

Today is November 26th and Christmas is less than a month away. There's a few reasons why I love Christmas and a few reasons why I wish the holiday would just go away altogether.

One pro, is that I love GIVING presents. So much, that whenever I buy something for someone, I practically need to completely cut contact with the person until Christmas, or else I will explode and tell them all the things I bought for them, out of sheer excitement.

One of the cons for Christmas for me, is that I always seem to get sick either on Christmas day, or Boxing day. It's like my body is being a trooper for the busy times that precede the big day, but once Christmas is over, my body says, "screw you guys, I'm going home" and leaves me sick.

This time, last year I was compiling list upon list of gift ideas for people to get me. I was indexing things on Excel spreadsheets, (good with Excel, add that to the resume) and was dropping hints like it was going out of style.

This year though, I find myself kind of speechless. Sure, there's tons of things that I want. I do come from the want-it-now generation, so being completely want-less is almost impossible for me, but in terms of gift giving. I don't want my loved ones to give me anything. I am already given WAY more than I deserve every day of my life.

I look around at my nice apartment, with my nice things and good clothes and designer bags and think, "I don't really NEED anything."

Every day is Christmas for me, I get to spend my time with my family; whenever they can, they help me out, they give me their support in almost everything I do and we laugh. We eat good food and have warm houses.

That being said, I'm really liking the new Balenciaga Florabotanica perfume.... ;)

Published

So as you know, since I spent the entire summer going on and on (and on and on) about it, I'm in journalism school again!

My story is a little bit odd, and I was just thinking that the last time I was in j-school, President Obama was elected for the first time, now, I'm back and he's been elected again!

WHAMMY, I'm taking credit for this election. Mr. Obama, I will accept payment in shoes and bags. Thanks.

Anyways, as I said, my story was a little bit odd. I was first in journalism in 2008 in the post-teen age of 19. I wasn't "fresh" out of high school, but I was fresh out of living with my parents and being a kid. In that year I did a lot of growing up and by May I decided that I didn't want to return to journalism because at the time, I felt as if it were sucking all my creativity.

I wanted to be a WRITER. Not someone who writes. If that makes any sense. People may think that writing is writing. But in my opinion, the journalistic way of writing is almost like solving a really complicated math formula.

The commas and quotations have specific places they need to go. The sentences need to be short and to the point. Colourful language and purple phrasing is frowned upon for succinct and direct graphs.

At 19 years old, the idea of having to memorize these rules and abide by a certain sentence structure, was completely suffocating. I wanted nothing to do with it.

To make a short story long, I'm back at school this year finishing off my last year. I have a little less than five weeks left in the semester and then after that I have my last semester that's going to include an internship! I'm loving life now. I think the four years I spent away has given me an appreciation for journalism that I never had before. I never go to school and wish I was doing something else. I'm getting all my homework done, all the time and am totally soaking it all up.

Booya!

I guess the reason why I wanted to tell you all this is because throughout this semester, I've been writing for the Algonquin Times, which is our school newspaper.

We also have a pretty rad website for our paper this year and I thought I'd share with you some links to some of the stories I've written!

PUBLISHED!

Ottawa Band Off the Floor

Steven Page talks mental health

Pimple problems popped

Saving the world one shoe at a time

Algonquin grad turns internship into busy career

On my brain...

Shoes....that is all.

Bon Chic, Bon Genre, Bon Leggings, Bon Coat.

BCBG seems to be reading my mind these days. These leggings are out of this world and my blazer and coat obsessions would be quenched for a bit with these two beautiful jackets.

Mad Men inspired shoot for Glue Magazine

This weekend I styled and shot my first real photo shoot! It's going to be in the Fall 2013 issue of Glue Magazine, a student publication thats available at campuses all over Ottawa, the photos are to highlight a great article by the lovely Caitie McRae.

Here are some "behind the scenes shots".  For the full thing, you'll have to pick up Glue magazine in the fall!

I got these photos from Darcy Boucher's instagram. She was one of my fantastic models for the day and  a blog of her own! Check her out! 

Algonquin Style.

For the first issue of the Algonquin Times this fall, I was able to do some "Campus Style" shots. But obviously only having space for so many, a lot of them didn't end up in the paper. I here are some Style Shots I took around campus.

Aren't we a stylish bunch? ;)

Love these Skull bracelets!

These boots were INSANE! 

When I was younger, I had to BEG my mom to buy be a Jansport backpack. They're totally making a comeback, and seeing the cool patterns they have now, you can see why!

It's no secret that nail art is sweeping the campus. I love these neon nails!

Such a cool vintage watch!

I LOVE the leather detailing on this backpack!

What does #OTTStyle mean to you!?

Ottawa may have a rep for being a sleepy city in Lululemons and Ugg boots, but we know better.

Ottawa is chock full of stylish ladies and gents and St. Laurent Centre wants you to showcase your personal style on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram for the chance to win an iPhone 5!

Seriously, all you have to do is upload your photo with the tag #OTTStyle! All of the entries will be posted on St. Laurent's Facebook page and on October 26th it will be open to voting!

This is such a neat competition! Make sure you enter!! I did! :)

#OTTStyle

The House That Pinterest Built

Lately I've become completely obsessed with the idea of not living in a sub-standard apartment building. Don't get me wrong, my apartment is nice, but having to depend on elevators and put up with the idiotic musings of rude people in the lobby, is starting to get really old.

Ok, it's not starting to get old. It IS old. Anyways, here's my dream house on Pinterest. I'll break it down, room by room.

The Entrance.
A well-lit, classy yet functional entryway with a giant mirror would be perfect for me. That way, I don't have to run into our bedroom all the time for that "one last" once-over to make sure I look presentable.

The Living Room

Exactly what it says, the room where we do our living. If I didn't have kitties, I would all over getting a leather sofa, but since they would shred that faster than you can say "scratching post" I guess it will always be a dream!

 

Kitchen

There isn't much that makes me as giddy as I get when I see a beautiful kitchen. A huge sink with all stainless steel appliances is probably as close to heaven as I'm ever going to get.

A Workspace to Call My Own

Right now, I've got all my stuff strewn across various parts of our apartment, all my clothes and shoes are hanging out in the bedroom, my makeup and whatnot in the bathroom and my school supplies are all over the living room and dining room. This could be rectified with my own personal working room. A desk where I could do all my (positive) writing and (negative) bill paying, and then included in the room I could cultivate my own clothing museum...

Bedroom

Even though I may not be practicing what I preach right now, I firmly believe that the bedroom should be as uncluttered and serene as possible. Our current room would be hitting the nail right on the head if it wasn't for the tornado known as OFW that I'm too lazy to clean up after. This room here would be ideal. A nice low bed perfect for collapsing into. 

I've been noticing now, for months that the hallway leading the parking garage in my building (DON'T EVEN get me started on what I think about parking garages) kind of smells like mould. It's nasty...and thinking like a rational person, I would have thought that having a great smelly and damp hallway would be high on the list of things to fix. But no, the other day I come home to find that the latest bit of revamping that was done in my building, was the painting of the lobby, which was last done like FIVE MONTHS AGO. Seriously? 

I think I need to make this dream home a reality sooner rather than later because if apartment living doesn't drive me mental, it will surely kill me of mould poisoning. 

The Hills

There's this neat little used DVD place downtown that sells literally EVERY movie or TV show you could ever imagine. In the past we've bought everything from seasons of The OC to the first Die Hard movie. And for cheap too! You can buy a season of DVDs for like, five bucks. It's fantastic.

One of my favourite buys has to be season one of The Hills. Before the monster that was Speidi, before Justin Bobby broke Audrina's (and our) heart, The Hills was a show that focussed on Lauren Conrad following her fashion dreams in Los Angeles.

I remember watching the show with Charles and being completely absorbed in their lives. Being appalled when Lauren was given her first opportunity at the Teen Vogue young Hollywood event, and Heidi gate-crashed and got her in trouble, I was totally invested in their lives. Charles, not so much. I'm sure he thought the whole thing was kind of silly, but he sat through it with me. (Like any good boyfriend would!)

The most infuriating moment of the entire series was at the very end when Lauren is given the choice to either spend the summer with Jason Wahler in a beach house, or go intern for Vogue in Paris. The entire episode was wrought with drama and indecision. This one episode seemed to pique Charles' interests. He seemed so sure that L.C would choose Paris. To him, (and me) it was the obvious decision. Chance of a lifetime in Paris, or sweaty summer with your greasy douchebag boyfriend.

At the end of the episode, when we see Lauren unloading her suitcases at the beach house, with Jason waiting on the balcony, biding his time to screw her over, Charles became vocal.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS? WHAT AN IDIOT."

My heart just swelled with love for my boyfriend at that moment. And now, whenever I think about ever having to choose love over career. I remember that moment and know, that I can have both. And I most likely will not end up making a career of ripping up novels to make "cute bookshelf boxes".

OFW

WHAT AM I GUNNA WEAR?!?!

In all seriousness though I have some ideas for outfits. I went to Club Monaco this week and got a few really classy and slick looking pieces that I CANNOT wait to wear. And did you know that Club Monaco gives a 20% student discount when you show your student card? AMAZING. I knew I went to college for something.

I've got about 3/4 of my outfits figured out, but I keep looking on Pinterest and other sites and I keep coming up with different things that I want to wear. Further proof that planning outfits for a few days only opens the door to planning outfits for your entire life. I almost wish there was more events or days for me to dress up for. But to be honest, I don't think my pocketbook could handle it.

This time next week I am going to be knee-deep in fashion and I can't tell you how excited I am. If you haven't gotten your ticket for OFW yet, hurry up and get one here! You won't want to miss it!

Funny Face

As much as I love fashion I can't help but feel that shoes and bags and clothes are not my favourite thing to see on a woman. Sure, I love getting together with a group of girls and chatting about clothes and whatnot. And talking to people about how much I love their necklace/sweater/belt/wallet is one of my other favourite past times. But I always discard the fact that more than any of these things, is my love of laughing.

I feel like the best accessory any woman can have is a sense of humour. I've always been drawn to really funny females. There is nothing more stylish to me than a confident woman who knows she can be witty and make people laugh.

I think that a funny woman can make anything look cool. And I've always felt that when I see or meet funny women, I'm always left wishing I was as cool as they are.

It's so easy to be a female in this day and age and only have on dimension. (Think Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian) I think that a female that can be self deprecating and funny and witty and scathing is just about the coolest thing a woman can be.

I've recently started following Jenny Johnson on Twitter, and if you aren't offended easily, and love funny women as much as I do, I suggest you do the same. She has me in stitches every day.

Only recently have I realized that in my life, I'm better off striving to be the funny girl rather than the pretty girl, or the sexy girl. I want to be a Tina Fey, a Chelsea Handler or even a Gilda Radner. Women like Kristen Wiig and Catherine O'Hara can really do no wrong in my books. They embody everything that I strive for. Smart, classy and funny as hell.

M'Oda 'OperanDUH

So the past few weeks I've been getting these emails. It's not totally abnormal for me to sign up for some website, forget about it then complain when I receive emails that I actually signed up for to begin with.

But every day for the past few weeks I have been getting an email from a company called M'Oda 'Operandi. At first I would just spam spam spam and delete delete delete. But the other day I decided to open the email and what I found, opened my eyes and changed my life forever. (That may be a small exaggeration...)

Basically what this site does is take the same method for buying luxury cars and applies it to buying luxury clothes. If you know me, then you know that luxury clothes is not only something I drool over during the day, but also dream about at night. ("So I had this dream that I got the new moto-cross pants by Rag and Bone, except they weren't that electric blue colour, they were like, taupe or something...I think I like the blue better." Like I had any say in what colour those pants are...)

For those of us who don't buy luxury cars on a regular basis, (cut to my red '05 Ford Focus) the concept is, that you pay for half the item a full season before it comes out and then once the item is released, you pay the remainder and the car gets delivered to you.

Seeing Charles finance things like guitars has always made me wonder why there was never a program to finance clothes. Some may argue that a CREDIT CARD is a way to finance clothes, but I mean real financing.

M'Oda 'Operandi seems to have read my mind and created a website where you pay 50 per cent down on clothing right off the runway. (So in Fall you would be paying half for Spring items and vice versa.) Once the item is made by the designer, you pay the other 50 per cent and M'Oda 'Operandi ships the items to you.

HOW. BRILLIANT. DOES. THIS. SOUND.

If had lots of money, (which I don't) it would be so worthwhile to shop for designer clothes strictly by this means. Think about it, you're guaranteeing yourself designer pieces right when they come out. And being able to make a down payment gives you time to save your money and not feel like you're taking such a hit in the wallet.

M'Oda 'Operandi deserves a Nobel Prize... (ok, maybe that's taking it a little far.)

Boots Boots Boots Boots EVERYBODY!

Looking through my shoe closet right now, it would appear that I have an obsession. Which, at this time of year is kind of good. But kind of sad at the same time because my shoe collection is lacking in other departments.

What I'm talking about is my love of boots. After yanking out all the boots that I own, I realize that I have 9 pairs of boots. By all "shopping addict" standards, 9 pairs of something is not really THAT excessive. But for me, it is.

Looking at all these suckers, I feel like I've got all the bases covered, glitter booties (from the vlogger sale a few weeks ago!), suede booties, knee high boots, rubber boots, combat boots and even cowboy boots.

But the other day...
I was at the Rideau Centre and saw the most gorgeous pair of gold and black booties at the new store Little Burgundy. They look so much like the Chloe Susanna bootie that the only thing that tipped me off that they weren't them, was the price! Although the price was still a little steep for my current budget, they are still in the back of my mind!

Hello beautiful...

I also saw these AMAZING capped toe booties at Zara that resemble these Alice and Olivia boots, except instead of gold, they are capped with silver. WAAAAANT.

Like this only silver!

So I think the moral of this story is that a Canadian girl can never have too many boots and that I need to save some money to add these lovelies to my collection. 

Top Trousers

From Left to Right: Rebecca Minkoff Gavin Pleated Pants, 10 Crosby Derek Lam Colourblock Wide Leg Trouser,  Alice + Olivis Front Zip Leggings with Leather Panels, Elizabeth and James Metallic Winston Tux Pants

I'm obsessed with the idea of a pair of trousers with a racing stripe down the leg. I think it brings youth to something that's supposed to be super sophisticated. All the Top Gear reruns we're watching on Netflix must be influencing my choice in fashion. I am loving the racing stripes, motorcycle jackets and stylized boots. Everything can be made cooler by adding leather and zippers. Non?

Vlogger Haul.

I have been so fabulously busy this week I can't even begin to tell you how exciting it is. School is starting to a get a little intense, but I'm really excited to work really hard and just ROCK IT. Work is also quite busy and my volunteer commitments are starting to get a bit cray too, but to be honest, despite how tired I am and how much I may complain about not having free time, I am truly loving every minute of it.

I was also given the amazing opportunity to compete as a finalist for the Place d'Orleans Fashion Vlogger Search this past weekend. It was such a fun day! Not only did I get $200 to buy the latest fall trends from the mall, but I also got to meet some really cool bloggers from around the city! Since the main reason I started this little blog was to become more involved with the fashion community in Ottawa, I think taking part in the Vlogger Search was a success! Even though I didn't win (Congrats Amanda!) I still had the best time and came away with some great items!

Our task for the day was to buy items that illustrated four things: A hot fall colour, shape, texture, and pattern. We were given an hour and a half and $200 to "go nuts".

My Haul! And Baxter, apparently trying to let me know he likes the jacket best.

The thing about cats is that if you lay anything down anywhere, they will lay on top of it. Science!

One of the first things I picked was this amazing leather jacket from Dynamite, even though it's mostly white, it's still hot for fall. Not wearing white after Labour Day is so over and this jacket is going to look amazing once it cools down a bit.

I then got these great booties from Spring. To be honest, normally I am a bit of a shoe snob. If they cost less than $100 bucks, the snob in me assumes that they're garbage and I move on. These booties were less than $100 and I LOVE THEM. I think bringing sequins into the day is a great trend to try out and everyone needs a pair of these black newbury booties. These ones in particular remind me of these Guiseppe Zanotti mixed texture booties, except, ya know, a fraction of the price!

I also hit up Urban Planet, which, I can actually say I haven't set foot in an Urban Planet since one opened in my hometown like 6 years ago, but I was surprised to find some really cute accessories! AND FOR CHEAP. Impressive!

I'd really like to thank Place d'Orleans for inviting me to be a finalist. And congrats to all other girls, who also got a bunch of fabulous stuff!!

Say NO to dry-cleaning!

Silk is undoubtedly one of the nicest fabrics to have in your closet. It can be worn in the summer, the fall, the winter, anytime really. It gives a really polished and sophisticated and luxurious feel to any outfit.

But what I don't love about silk is the fact that wearing it, makes me sweat. And sweating, means I have to wash it more often than I would say, a pair of jeans. And washing silk usually means dry-cleaning silk.

I called around a couple places in town this weekend to find out exactly how much they were charging for dry-cleaning silk and I was really shocked. Most places the average cost for dry cleaning a silk blouse is $11, for a silk dress it's around $25. Here I was with a bag FULL of things to dry clean. I had five silk tops, two dresses and a pair of silk shorts.

If you do the math, thats OVER $100 just to clean clothes that I've already probably overpaid for anyways. I don't know about you, but the thought of paying $100 to be able to wear my silk clothes again just makes me shudder. I don't have $100 to spend on CLEANING something. So my clothes sat in their dry-cleaning bag, untouched. The days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months and I am still no closer to wanting to get any of this junk dry-cleaned.

So, sick and tired of seeing this dry cleaning bag gather dust in my room and refusing to spend $100 on something like this. I consulted a fabric, sewing and knitting expert, (I texted Charles' Mum) asking her to help me with handwashing some of these dreaded silk things. She sent me to a couple links that talked about how to best go about it. And from those links I kind of created my own version of hand-washing.

I will say though, before anyone tries this, do not hold me responsible if your silks get ruined! I am a firm believer that clothing has a mind of it's own and if it wants to react badly to something. It will. ;)

Most of the tutorials I saw online suggested using detergents like Woolite. Since I'm cheap, I just used a TEENY TINY amount of Tide in some bowls in my kitchen. For some reason the idea of washing clothes in sinks just upsets me. No matter how many times I clean the sink, it will always be the place where I spit my toothpaste into.

I had one bowl full of my tiny amount of detergent and lukewarm water, and a second bowl for rinsing just full of water.

Here is the most expensive pile of clothes EVER. Over $100 just to CLEAN all this. BALONEY.

So after I swooshed around one of the shirts in the detergent bowl for a little bit, I rinsed it off in the rinsing bowl a bit. You kind of have to be careful because sometimes the colours will run which will freak you out at first, because the water in the bowls will turn colours, but if the blouse or dress is a solid colour, I don't think it's an issue. Or at least, it wasn't an issue with my stuff.

After the rinsing was done, I would put the shirt on a clean towel on my dining room table and just kind of roll it up like a flap-jack! (I don't know if anyone else ate flap-jacks as a kid, but they're like really thin pancakes that you roll up)

A flap-jack with a really expensive silk shirt lining.

They also said in most of the websites I saw, that you shouldn't hang your silk in the sun because it can damage it. So I hung all my items in my creepy poorly-lit bathroom!

My results were pretty good. Washing my stuff this way got the job done and cost about 1/100th of what I would have had to pay at the dry cleaners. I think when I do it again I'll probably add a little vinegar to the mix. I've been told by several people that vinegar is like the be-all end-all miracle cleaner. So I will just have to try that!

Do you have any tips for cleaning "dry clean only" stuff??!?!!?!

VOTE!

Hey Everyone! The voting has started for the Place d'Orleans Vlogger Search! Go here and vote for meeeeee! :)

http://apps.facebook.com/vloggersearch/gallery/entry/29

Little Brag.

I don't mean to sound like a braggart, but I'm going to brag for a second. Simply because I AM SO DARN EXCITED. This week has been really fabulous. I started school, which seems like it is going to be challenging and wonderful all at the same time, I also found out that I have been hired as a PR intern for Ottawa Fashion Week, AND have found out that I am one of the Social Media Editors for the Algonquin Times!

It's been a week literally FULL of amazing things. I spent all summer in some sort of rut, not feeling fulfilled creatively and wishing I had more to occupy my time, and now in one week, all of my wishes have been granted. Luckiest girl ever. I am so excited for the insanity.

I also entered in a Vlogger Search competition at Place d'Orleans. The winner gets to be the vlogger for  the mall and wins $300 per month to shop with! Hello dream contest! The voting starts on MONDAY for this thing, so you can bet that I will be bugging everyone to get on there and VOTE FOR ME TO WIN! :)

Check out my vlog here and see what awesome buys I found at Place d'Orleans!! And don't forget to vote on MONDAY!!

http://apps.facebook.com/vloggersearch/gallery/entry/29

Rachel Comey is My New Best Friend

With NYFW going on right now, the blogging world is abuzz with everything fashion. But for those of us at home, nowhere near the epicenter of all things fashion, does NYFW really mean anything? I'm really halfheartedly following the coverage. Sure, I'm interested in seeing the new collections and maybe finding some new designers to add to my list of, "If I wasn't broke as f*ck I'd want to buy your clothes", but things like watching bloggers "prep" for these events or read posts about how to get snapped by a street style photographer, is just not very interesting to me.

That being said, during my fashion-blog perusing today I did happen to see the latest from Rachel Comey. I had never heard of her before like a month ago but once I saw some of her designs, I immediately felt an affinity for her. I love clothes that are chic and have a sort of "boyish" sense to them.

These designs just feel so...COOL. It's like wearing them you will be that girl you see who looks great but isn't too fussy about fashion. It's all just very effortless, while still being dynamic and interesting. The shoes alone look like they could take any old Plain-Jane outfit beyond the stratosphere of cool.

Here are some of my favourite looks from the show this week.

(Photos from Fashionista)

But what really caught my eye a month ago was the Fall collection. (I always love Fall more than Spring!)

(Photos from Style.com)