For a casual summer day out, I chose to wear something comfortable yet stylish. Comfort doesn’t always mean sweatpants and flip flops. And trust me, there’s nothing wrong with that combo, it’s my outfit every morning to the mailbox. Ha!
This summers go to outfit for casual everyday has been Maxi & Jean
Let me set the scene for you. It’s a beautiful sunny, windy day. 30 degrees with some points of scattered clouds. A walk around my mama’s neighborhood is to the starbucks down the street, lake views and semi clean sand between your toes at a micro man made beach.
Let me explain what’s going on with my hair here. It’s summer time and if I’m out under the sun for hours then I need to have it off my shoulders and out of my face. It’s all a part of the whole comfort thing. A simple pompadour front, achieved with a few bobby pins always does the trick. The rest of my hair usually goes up in a bun, ponytail, or as seen here in a low bun at the nape of my neck.
I bought this topshop clutch purse a long while back and it’s one my favourites. Big enough to keep my essentials like keys, phone, lip balm and a small coin purse/wallet. Also, small enough to not feel it on me at all and works as a perfect splash of colour for any outfit.
The maxi dress never gets old or out of fashion. At least it hasn’t for years now. So recycling your maxi dresses from previous years is totally do-able. Yes, that is exactly what I did here. This dress is from Guess and I don’t even know when.
The light jean material shirt over a maxi is perfect for going in and out of freezing cold air conditioned places. Also I’m not a fan of tube dress maxis so this covering the top allows me to wear them with comfort. Do you pair your maxi dresses with a top? A cardigan or perhaps a blazer? Tweet at me and let me know 😉
Note: This Friday Faves is dedicated to faves around the web.
Fave food story
I’ve been seeing this story pop on different sites all week! (Esquire, Cosmo) As it is I’ve been craving Chipotle for so long and I haven’t fulfilled that craving yet. Probably because the closest Chipotle near my home is about 10km away. Not that far, but far enough for me to contemplate whether to go or not.Hmph. Anyways, this guy-Andrew Hawryluk, ate Chipotle for 153 days and had nothing but great stuff to say about the results of doing that.
Fave recipe
The way I love my tea, London fog. Now I can have my cookies like that too. Thanks to this recipe I found on the web:
Got a suitcase full of these chips😍 this week! As you know I love BBQ (see twitter profile) and when I saw their new flavour, BBQ.. You can imagine the excitement soaring through me! Yes, food can have that effect on me.These chips are made from the finest, carefully selected potato varieties in the county of Herefordshire England. Classy chipping. They also have no artificial ingredients, gluten free and vegan friendly.
Craving some Tyrrells? (Loblaws, Wal Mart etc has them)
Craving something SOUR? Try this DIY sour candy popsicle recipe:
You’ll need:
Simply Lemonade (Pink) Popsicle moulds Sour candy
Pour in Simply Lemonade into popsicle moulds and add your favourite sour candy. Freeze and enjoy!
This is a great easy recipe to do with children or when you’re in a rush looking for a yummy frozen dessert. I love sour popsicles, but if you’re looking for a healthy alternative try switching up the juice with Simply Berry (no preservatives or added colours) and add some berries.
What does your morning look like? Do you have essentials that you grab everyday or do they change based on your daily to do’s? It’s Friday and here are my essentials
Fave Perfume: I’m going to get real with you. I have way too many perfume favourites. I base my daily fave on the mood I’m in, where I’m going and what I’m wearing. So since today is an errand running kinda day, I’m wearing one of my fave freshest perfumes. Acqua di gioia by Giorgio Armani.
I keep this roller ball version in my tote bag in case I need to freshen up throughout the day.
Friday Fave Lippy: Keeping today very low key with my make-up so I’m using my favourite subtle pink by Smashbox in Posy Pink.
Fave Read: You never know where you’ll be standing/sitting, waiting in line for whatever it is, bored out of your mind. I don’t know about you, but I can only do so much instagraming, tweeting and snapping. Sometimes I need to feel that old school paper between my fingers, turn pages for inspiration. That’s where the summer issue of Globe Style Advisor comes in! I just got mine and it’s going in my bag today. You can download the issue for FREE here.
Fave Tote: Confession: I have SO many totes lying around in my closets.Sometimes I have trouble transitioning from my tote bag days to carrying a nice purse. Especially since my totes carry a lot more than most of my purses.
Fave Jewelry Holder: You need one place where you keep your everyday go to jewelry. A’int nobody got time to be going through jewelry boxes early in the mornin’… This triple fish dish is made and designed by founder of rcboisjoli, Alexx Boisjoli and his studio is in Toronto’s junction neighbourhood. (The triple fish motif is based on old fish can labels, a weathered and textured look was created to give the fish an antique look.) You can also shop for his quality ceramics online: here. He was also featured in Style Advisor on pg. 28.
When it starts getting gloomy outside and I’m stuck indoors, I get an itch to start a new project. A simple DIY does the trick. Have you ever tried to tie dye anything?
I was going through the spring issue of Style Advisor and noticed this page of tie dye cushions that inspired me to do my own!
What you need:
1 pillowcase
1 Rit® Dye colour
1 cup of salt if your pillowcase is made with cotton
Rubber bands
Hot Water
Bucket
Scissors
Directions: Gather the center of the pillowcase in your hand and wrap a rubber band around it.
Continue wrapping rubber bands all around the pillow case by twisting different sections and tying tight with rubber bands.
Fill your bucket with 2-3 gallons of hot water and put in the cup of salt. Stir. Now put in 1/2 the bottle of dye. Make sure you wear plastic gloves. Soak the tied up pillow case into the dye water. The longer you leave it in and the hotter the water, the darker it’ll turn out. Also.it may look dark because it’s wet. Confession: I didn’t follow instructions on how much water to use, to wash the pillowcase prior to dyeing and didn’t use any particular method in tying the rubber bands as some people would.
Take out the tied up pillow case and carefully cut the rubber bands off with scissors. Rinse the pillowcase until it rinses clear water. Wash the pillow case by hand and then put it in the dryer.
Travelling to new places and learning about the culture and history of different destinations is something my husband and I love to do. Some trips are planned well in advance and some last minute. Our last big trip was to South Korea and Japan. We also had booked a trip to China this week for two weeks that we cancelled due to the wonderful new addition to our family. Now we look forward to taking him with us on all of our trips. The first one being to a resort in Mexico this May.
When planning a trip, where do you look for information, inspiration or general tips?
Reading and collecting the lonely planet books has become a tradition. However, a lot of the unique suggestions and tips come from articles. Articles like the ones I read in the Global Style Advisor that released today. If you haven’t already, I’d go out and get this travel edition found in the Globe and Mail to keep as a reference for the many destinations mentioned or check out the digital version here. Love the resort fashion spread, that has left me inspired for our trip in May. Need to have that Hugo Boss dress!
If I were only allowed to take a few some items with me to any of the great escapes mentioned in this Globe Style Advisor edition, they would be the following:
Fave Fragrance
Try travelling with a light and fresh fragrance. Especially if you’re stuck on a long flight.
Fave Notebook
Everyone has that one notebook they travel with. Somewhere to keep all of their plans, schedules, tips etc.
Fave Cosmetics
All I need is Benefit’s new roller lash, blush and an awesome lip tint balm for the perfect amount of natural colour.
Fave Tag
Just in case you lose your luggage and just because it’s a cute accessory for your carry on. Plus, there really is no place like home. 🙂
The evolving world of Social Media can be hard to keep up with. Here are some updates you may want to keep in mind when you’re planning your social media strategy.
Twitter
Twitter introduces group direct messaging and the ability to film, edit and share videos from your Twitter application. Group direct messaging will allow Twitter users to privately message up to 20 people. Now with whatsapp chat groups being most peoples go to for group messaging how will Twitter’s group messaging function compare?
Users will use the Twitter direct group messaging function to share content with people they follow on Twitter vs whatsapp which is with people who you have in your phone book. It’s essentially, micro social networking within a social network. Creating smaller groups that have similar interests to share content with, away from the public eye.
As for the new video direct upload function. Brilliant! It was about time, especially since Instagram and SnapChat gave that option to its users. So which app should you share your short videos with? Look at it this way, Twitter you share videos that are related to your tweet, especially information you want to get out quickly in real time (as you know, Twitter moves fast). Instagram, share your most creative and engaging videos (recipes, workouts, snip its of your latest YouTube video) and SnapChat is a short story of what you’re doing in real time for personal accounts. However, if you’re a brand then it’s totally different and is used for promoting and getting the message out there (like the new discover option).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtFJf1N3zWw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNnVH-mwSdM
Facebook
Have you seen the new CTA (Call to Action) button on your Facebook page? It’s right on your cover photo:
Facebook gives page managers 7 tag options for their CTA button. They include:
Book Now
Contact Us
Use App
Play Game
Shop Now
Sign Up
Watch Video
LinkedIn
There’s a new LinkedIn app in town for Android users. It’s a fast and easy way to strengthen your professional connections. This app gives you updates about your connections so you can reach out to them at the right time. For an example, recruiters who post job opportunities or hr connections from companies you love. You can download the app on the google play store.
It’s so easy to get enthralled by the speed of connecting digitally with people and the speed of answering your question via a google search. Some of us have turned into digital age zombies. Not able to have present human interaction because our minds are always elsewhere, thinking about checking our social media accounts, work or anything else but the person in front of us. Could it be because of the smartphone invention? Now that we have access to applications, the internet, messaging and more where ever we go, when ever we want. It has hindered us from being able to break from it all. Here’s a beautiful reminder that we need to wake up and remember to be present:
It’s Thursday and you know what that means (on Twitter and Instagram at least)… Throwback Thursday! I like being different and thinking outside of the box, especially for party themes. I was really excited when I found a few ladies online, who shared their Alice in Wonderland themed bridal showers. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel so silly for choosing it as my theme. You still get a few people looking at you puzzled, like “whaaa? Alice in Wonderland? So, do you like, dress up as a rabbit?” Haha. That was the best response I got.
I compiled an album of images from my google search for ideas and inspiration. Here are some of them:
Tea cups, flowers & decor
Cake & Sweets Table Ideas
Dress inspiration
As soon as I knew my theme, I was on a look out for everything that could work for decor. It isn’t hard to pull off this theme, especially around spring time when you have faux flowers, rabbits and green everywhere! I was fortunate enough when one day I got off the street car, at the wrong stop and accidentally found a tea shop that had dedicated their entire window display to Alice in Wonderland. They had tea pots, topsy turvy decor, clocks and more.
The store wasn’t open at the time, so I went back later. If you’re in Toronto you MUST check out this store for any of your high tea events; Pippins Tea Company on Queen Street West.
One of the items that I was SO in love with at this store was their tea cup clock. Kind of looked like this (Note: It’s not the size of an average wall clock, approx. 25 inches length and width):
The price tag was a bit much to be used only for the bridal shower and at the time not knowing where I would put it didn’t justify the purchase. One day though, I may hunt this piece down for a room dedicated to where my ladies and I can have our afternoon tea or even look into making this my DIY project.
The ladies who own and/or work at Pippins Tea Company are incredible! As soon as I told them the theme of my bridal shower they were giving me lots of ideas, tips and helped me out with letting me rent a large hot water dispenser for the event and gave me Alice In Wonderland boxes for free! (The boxes were used to put the prizes inside for the games we played.)
I bought all of my tea supplies and decor from Pippins. Best find ever!
Pippins Tea Company: Key hole centerpiece
TIP: To give height to my centrepieces I added some books wrapped in colourful tissue paper. We did a poor job in wrapping them because we were last minute with this idea but it did the trick.
I got a styrofoam ball from Michaels and put these faux green grass pieces all around the top half and placed it on top of the pot.
TIP: If you can find a half ball, that would be so much better. The white part of the ball kept peeking through whenever a guest would brush their arm or hand against the top. A half would stay put and not move as much.
We left some of the loose tea we bought from Pippins Tea Company open and some already packed into tea bags for guests. Leaving it open allowed our guests to smell how amazing the tea was. It was hard picking only two flavours since they have SO many at their shop.
TIP: Label your teas. We forgot!
I used many different sets of tea cups for the event, just like the actual movie and story when all the characters in Alice in Wonderland are sitting around the tea table, notice how each one has a different cup/saucer?
I added a few other little Alice in Wonderland touches to the table decor. Clock, playing cards, rabbits and colourful food plates for the lunch that was served. If you choose to do this theme you could always just do high tea foods like sandwiches, croissants etc, however, I always like to do lunch as well. The lunch wasn’t part of the theme at all. I picked what the majority of my guests would love to eat, a fusion of Italian and Indian food.
I was bursting with excitement when my bridesmaids surprised me with an Alice in Wonderland themed cake, cookies, cupcakes and cake pops! What darlings to organize the very best themed sweets table I’ve ever set my eyes on. (Thank you loves!)
For the takeaways, I made these Alice in Wonderland themed gift bags THAT had AN EYE SHADOW, EYELINER SET WITH LIP GLOSS. THESE BAGS ARE REALLY EASY TO MAKE.
Takeaways
You need:
white gift bags black and Red construction paper hole puncher black ribbon red tissue paper
Directions:
Cut out hearts and clubs out of the black and red construction paper. Put aside. Punch holes into the hearts and clubs as seen in above picture and do the same for the white gift bags. Weave the black ribbon through the hearts/clubs (make sure the ribbon only shows behind the shapes) and then through the gift bag. Tie in back. Fill the bags with the tissue paper and gifts. Voila!
To bring this entire event to full circle I had to play the part by wearing a rabbit outfit wearing a blue dress like Alice does in her story. At first I looked everywhere for a blue dress and I found one but it wouldn’t come in time from Dubai for my bridal shower. So I got permission from the designer to have something like it made here in Toronto.
alice in wonderland dress
I found a seamstress on Queen Street who I read in an article had done many dresses for different stars who would come to Toronto for shows. Kingi from Peach Berserk took my design and created it beautifully. I was on a time constraint otherwise there were a few things I would’ve asked to have fixed but otherwise it was perfect!
The 22-year-old founder of shipyourenemiesglitter.com, Mathew Carpenter has a found a way to make money off of the annoyance of getting glitter on yourself and not being able to take it off. I thought this was hilarious, innovative and pretty darn cool. Pranks are meant to be fun! You need to have a sense of humour to appreciate things like this and not take it personally.
Shipping your enemies glitter in an envelope could be mean or you can laugh about it and enjoy the glitter for years. Imagine this, you get glitter shipped to you, you open it and it blows up and is now everywhere! After hours of clean up, months later, you see a lone sparkle that was left behind. Would you flash a smirk or cry? I would smirk and maybe even laugh. I tip my hat to you Mathew. Well done and according to reports due to the high traffic on your site you’re starting to regret launching this idea and have put it up for auction.
Favourite Link
NERD ALERT: Do you remember playing MS-DOS games? I certainly do! I found a software library of some games you may have played back in the day: here
Favourite Tech
Introducing a PC games hardware called Razer:
Favourite Game
After watching my husband play Clash of Clans for weeks I started to get an itch to try the game out for myself. I’ve been using my Lumia 1020 ever since I cracked the screen on my Samsung S4. This game isn’t available in the windows store. So that being said, I recently got it fixed and the first thing I did was download Clash of Clans and I love it!
