Bad days

Today was one of those days where I just didn't feel like getting dressed, because I couldn't decide what to wear, and then once I decided want to wear, I couldn't shake my depressed feeling all day. But a pretty floral dress always helps to cheer me up. I actually really, really, REALLY love the iris print on this one. I want this dress sooo bad now... 

White Night Fashion Show

Last Thursday (June 23) City Centre held a fashion show in support of Alberta Council of Women's Shelters and the fight to end domestic violence. It turned out to be a well-attended event, and it was a fun evening. The highlight was, of course, the one-of-a-kind dresses made by local designers to be auctioned off to support ACWS. The designers based their designs around white ribbon, to reflect the purpose of the event.

Dress by Jenine Desjardins

Dress by Nomin Gantumur (Handcuffs Required)

Dress by Trisha M. Pasnak

Dress by Tanya Evans

Dress by Kelsey McIntyre (Serendipity)

Dress by Corinna Chow (Parasol Designs)

Dress by Genette Salgado

Dress by Rebecka Pichoch

Dress by Cherie Howard

All in all, it was a fabulous evening with some wonderful fashion. In addition to these gorgeous creations, there was also a white-themed showcase of pieces from stores within City Centre. Although I usually am not a huge fan of wearing white, there were certainly some stunning ensembles shown through out the evening. 

More information about the designers involved can be found here.

White Out!

Dress- Pure and Simple 

Leggings- Diane Kennedy

Shoes- Kenneth Cole Reaction

Bag- Esprit

Ring- Fossil

Lipstick- Mac Rebel

Happy Awkward and Awesome Thursday! Today was the White Out Fashion Show in Edmonton, and it was fabulous! I will be doing a full post on it tomorrow or the next day!

Awesome:

-As mentioned above, the fashion show! I went with one of my gorgeous friends, Amanda, and we had a great time meeting people and watching the models gliding down the runway in gorgeous dresses made by local designers.

- I did mention the fashion show, right?

- Having the perfect opportunity to wear this dress, it's one of my fabulous finds from C'est Sera.

- 3 pairs of spiffy new shoes!

- Meeting some fellow Edmonton bloggers, including Andrew from High Gloss White, Marie from Marie a la Mode, and Janis from dress me dearly.. 

Awkward:

-Going shopping on my work break at the other clothing store in the small strip mall. And then coming back with a large bag...

-Finding out my dog threw up in her crate just after I'm finishing getting ready to go out for dinner and the fashion show. On a bright note, Charlotte (my dog) is no longer ill, and is currently stretched out beside me and is scratching her nose.

-Realizing that although I do adore my little brown point and shoot camera, and it is ok for outfit posts and day to day photography, it SUCKS for things like runway photography. And that means that the camera I was looking at earlier this week is moving off of the "save up for and buy in the future" list and onto the "save up for and buy ASAP" list. Which means I'm on a shopping diet. 

Happy Father's Day!

Vest- Woolrich

Tank- Eileen Fisher

Leggings- Diane Kennedy

The rain hasn't stopped yet, so I went through with my plan and wore the vest/sweater I bought yesterday. It is a bit too large, but I'm ok with it, because I wanted it for a nice casual piece for days like today (and I mean, come midterms and finals, I'm pretty sure an oversized, soft wool vest will be the greatest thing ever...). And I swear, I don't actually wear leggings every day, I just happen to post a lot of the days that I did happen to wear leggings. (I wore jean capris yesterday, a dress Friday, and shorts have been making frequent rotations in my wardrobe...)

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! I know mine's pretty awesome! He's always worked his butt off to give my family an amazing life and I'm incredibly grateful for that! (And he only grumbles a little bit when I ask him to take pictures of me...hahah) Thanks Dad!

Rainy days

The weather still sucks in Edmonton. Apparently by the week, (Monday. Or Wednesday. Or maybe eventually.) the weather is supposed to improve. I am interested to see downtown, because Edmonton isn't really designed for this much rain, so it would be interesting to see how that part of the city is dealing with all the rainfall. 

However, on a bright note, I went to C'est Sera (the Lendrum location is in the same strip mall as I work in) to browse, and I was excited to see that they have some incredible sales on! I bought four items, for AMAZING prices. Like a long wool vest for $9. Yup. $9 dollars. I was pretty pleased with myself. If you're in Edmonton, go check out C'est Sera, in addition to the location in Lendrum, there are locations on Whyte Ave and downtown! 

Unless something miraculous happens with the weather, I think I'll be breaking out that vest tomorrow....

Much needed colour

Image via here

I was going through my computer files, looking at some of the pictures I had saved as fashion inspiration, and I saw this one and thought it was a wonderful thing to post as a splash of colour. Edmonton's been having really crappy weather and it has been dismal, and lately I've been kinda depressed, so all of the pretty flowers (and the gorgeous corset) seemed like a nice, cheerful distraction.

Also here's an article by Gala Darling on body image and blogging. I thought it was an interesting read.

Happy Friday!

Awesome (with very little Awkward) Thursday

Tank- DKNYC

Vest- Louben

Leggings- Hue

Shoes- Browns

Lipstick- MAC Rebel

Awesome:

-Dinner with one of my best friends! Girl talk! Gossip! Amazing Indian food! 

-Going to a used bookstore after previously mentioned dinner and buying several books.

Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (both volumes), Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Thackeray's Vanity Fair, Skibsrud's The Sentamentalists, Steinbeck's East of Eden(I have already read this, but I loved it SOOOO much. I love Steinbeck. <3 [And Allen Ginsberg. I have an unhealthy love for Ginsberg.]), and Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables.

-Looking though old pictures from my synchro days and watching old routine videos. Finding this stellar picture of my custom solo suit. It was beautiful. The burgundy fabric was actually sheer, and was layered on top of a skin tone fabric to create the main body of the suit. My coach (who was a design student) then drew the design for the gold onto the suit while I was wearing it to create the perfect lines and shape, after which the lady making my suit then cut out from the fabric and sewed it to the suit. Closest I'll probably ever get to wearing Haute Couture...

 

Awkward:

-Not being able to come up with anything awkward, but still having had a gloomy week overall. I was in such a funk. SO glad to have seen my friend!

-Canada Post strike. SUCKS. I am waiting for a letter from my friend. I WANT IT BADLY!!! 

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

I wish I could say I had a glamourous few days away from blogging, but that would be a lie. The time not at work was spent around home, mostly in sweatpants, except for dressing up last night.

Awesome:

-Regular correspondance from my close friend who is interning in Montreal!

-Doing the PERFECT light smokey eye. 

-New lipstick!

-The PERFECT Eileen Fisher blazer I am buying at work tomorrow!

Awkward (or annoying):

-Moving furniture (annoying). Ugh.

-Getting all dolled up to go out for dinner with a friend, and then finding out she is having a crisis and is unable to make it. Fabulous makeup (see above) and no where to flaunt it....

-The postal strike, which is making snail mail difficult. 

-Buying another maxi dress, and concluding that they just aren't my friends. Maxi dresses seem to always either look like pyjamas on me, or they look like I bought a really cheap and ugly formal dress. I really want them to work, but they just don't. 

Gloomy Friday

Today was a bit of a humdrum day. I started off a bit disenchanted with my job, even though I love what I do, and I really like my coworkers. I then looked out the window, and saw that it was raining, and had to change out of the adorable and fun dress I was originally wearing. And as the day wore on, I gradually felt worse and worse, I really hope I'm not catching some sort of cold/flu bug! I am upping my vitamin c and orange juice intake! I am trying to turn my evening around with a pot of earl grey tea and some relaxing time. 

Hope everyone had a good Friday! TGIF!

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

Awkward:

-Does anyone else find that they can't keep their closets organized? I feel like no matter what I do, I keep tearing everything out in a mad panic, and then it lies on the edge of my bed and storage chest until I get around to organizing it again, until the cycle starts again...

-The number of spiders I've been finding...I am TERRIFIED of spiders. My theory is that the population has increased as a result of the high mosquito population this spring.

Awesome:

-Folk Fest tickets! My friend and I stood in line for about 4 hours to get our tickets for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. However, the wait was totally worth it, tickets were sold out in a record two hours. Now, we just have to wait until August! (Also, I was interviewed and apparently they were playing it on Global TV. Not sure how I feel about this yet.)

- I re-wrote my minor application, and submitted a very in-depth rationale to the advisor. I am hoping that it will prove that I've put a lot of thought and planning into it and the Faculty of Arts will finally approve it. (I don't know if some universities are more flexible, but I'm trying to get an individualized minor approved at the University of Alberta, and they sure like to stick to the sweet and simple basics.)

-My version of the lemon soda from the Lemongrass Cafe in Edmonton- 1 lemon, juiced (with pulp), and one can of club soda, stir and enjoy!

All in all, it's been a pretty great week for me so far! I hope everyone else is having similarly lovely weeks!