New Year, New Opportunities

I know some of you may think the whole concept of New Years Resolutions to be lame and pointless, but I've thought about it and think its a good idea for implementing new habits in 2011. I never really made solid resolutions before, so I might as well try it out, right? After some careful thought, I've narrowed down my resolutions to:

1. Get fit: I know this resolution has been beaten to death and a lot of people have never succeeded in achieving this goal, but I kind of made this resolution last year and it worked out pretty well actually (I started including the gym as an activity 2 or 3 times a week. I might not have stuck very closely with this, but improvement was made!) This year I'm going to make it a habit to go to the gym at least 3x a week, make healthier food choices and to opt for walking instead of taking the bus.

2. Stay positive: It can be so easy to go into worst case scenario mode, but keeping a positive state of mind will do wonders for my mood. 

3. Stop caring what others think: I fall into this habit sooooo often that I need to remind myself that other people's thoughts and opinions shouldn't and will not affect me.

4. Develop a sense of personal style: I fell victim to a few, okay, a lot of fashion faux pas in 2010, so I want/need to start thinking critically in terms of what I'm wearing and what I want to express to the world.

5. Get a job: Any job that will garner an income. Bonus points if I enjoy it!

Well, that's about all I can think of. I kept it pretty short because I find that if people make a lot of resolutions, it can be overwhelming and have a higher risk of failure. 2011 will be my year, I have a good feeling about this. Eeek, New Years Eve is tomorrow, I need to find something to wear! :)

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Winter Chic

Need a little outfit inspiration during the cold winter months? I know I do! I was flipping through the fashion section of Glamour when I stumbled across this picture of Lauren Conrad rocking a perfect winter look. All you need is a slouchy sweater, black tights or skinny jeans, black boots and a beret. Pretty simple!

photo: Glamour Fashion

Sigh No More

I hope each and every one of you had a great Christmas! Yesterday I made the mistake of going Boxing Day shopping at the mall and got to witness all the deal-grubbing people first hand. I ended up finding a good pair of winter boots, but I'm not sure if I'm completely in love with them, so I might return them, we'll see. For Christmas, I received a bunch of stuff that I had asked for, and a few gag gifts as well:

1. Knit Sweater Boots from Old Navy.
2. A Starbucks gift basket with a mug, coffee, hot chocolate and tea (from my bro).
3. Subway giftcard.
4. A leather Pandora bracelet with two charms.
5. A Sony Reader.
6. Clothes from H&M.
7. Giftcards for H&M that I have yet to use (!)
8. Diamond hoop earrings.
9. Curling/Waving Wand.
10. Money.

And the gag gifts that I received included a pack of 3 Bumpits and a Shake Weight, hahaha. I'm kind of intruiged by the Shake Weight, so we'll see if it actually works come spring and summer time. I'm hoping to go shopping tomorrow to use my H&M giftcards so I will share what gems I (hopefully) find.

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a fantastic day and get to spend it with people who mean the most to you. Let me know what you got :)

Rachel xo

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

I can't believe that it's Christmas Eve tomorrow! If I had my way, I would push Christmas over to next week, to extend the Christmas hype and also so I can listen to my songs a little longer. One thing that I don't like about this time of year...the crowded malls, yuck! It seems like people are in a hurry to get their shopping done and will give you death stares or growl at you if you get in their way or get between them and their shopping items.  It's also sad to see people get caught up in the hype so much when they don't even take a moment to donate money (even if it's just a few dollars) to the Salvation Army. I feel that people these days get caught up in the money and the toys and they don't stop to think about the more important meanings of Christmas, one of them being helping out others in need, whether it be food or other essential needs like a clothes or a place to sleep.

Anyways, I was going to write about something else, but I forgot! I suppose it can wait until later. Please take the time out of your day to donate, every little bit counts! Have a fantastic evening!

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It's All In the Details

I can't believe it's so close to Christmas, it just snuck up on us out of nowhere! I managed to get a portion of my Christmas shopping done today with my friend Roland, however there were a few instances where we were cornered into store isles by soccer moms and teenagers.  Luckily though, Roland is pretty good at chartering an escape plan, and we made it out of the mall safe and sound, haha. Anyways, I thought I'd share a few pictures I took to help any of you out there in need a little holiday inspiration:

Airplanes

In addition to my previous post about my recent love for anything grey,  pink and creme coloured, I picked up a few items from H&M that I just have to share. I picked up a black skirt, a grey knit v-neck sweater and a beautiful light pink clutch/purse (the colour is kind of wonky in this picture). Here's a picture of my clutch!

Also, here's a little something I picked up a few days ago. I love the smell of Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne perfume! It's my first bottle of expensive perfume (eek!) so I'm going to have to make sure to use it in small quantities ;)

Light It Up Like It's Dynamite

It's pretty snowy at home, we have about 15cm of snow and the weather has been tame, averaging about -3°C. With all of this snow on the ground, it's really affecting my outfit inspiration, my latest love being anything grey. A lot of people think that grey is such a blah colour, but it's definitely one of my favourites because it's so versatile and looks perfect paired with creme and pink colours. Here are a few pictures that are inspiring me right now:

All images from weheartit

We Gonna Party Like It's Your Birthday

Today is my 22nd birthday! It's so surreal and it just feels like a regular day! I ended up going out for dinner the night before with family, and it was a bundle of fun. I got the new 4th generation iPod Touch which was a great surprise. I'm still in the stage of drooling over it and squealing at all the fun things it can do. It turns out that I can blog from my iPod, and can take pictures and video on it, which will be a new added feature on the blog. Get excited! I'm off to bed, to begin my birthday with sleeping in :)

Girls and Haircuts

I found this picture on weheartit and had to share. This rings so true. When I cut my locks in February, I was so happy with the result, until the novelty weared off and when I realized I couldn't fully put my hair in a pony tail. Live and learn, right?

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Subterranean Homesick Alien

I can't believe that it's already December 10th! This  month is just flying by. Classes ended and I just had my first exam on the 9th, which wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It's weird to think that this is my last fall semester in school. I kind of don't want it to end, because the next little while is kind of unknown territory!

On another note, I want to learn to speak German. It's such an awesome language and sounds amazing. I'm going to see what German summer classes are offered at the school, and if there are any available, I'm going to take one or two just for the heck of it. 

Also, here's a little sneak peak of what I looked like this week in preparation for my exams:

Just the Way You Are

I've had a fairly low-key weekend so far. I went Christmas shopping today and I am now watching Bridget Jones Diary and Love Actually (as well as studying for German) to get in tune with the holiday season. I now want to watch one of my favourite Christmas films The Holiday. Watching these movies makes me want to take a long vacation across the pond, but in the meantime I can just swoon over these beautiful pictures.

Christmas Lights

I woke up this morning to this cute video in my inbox. Coldplay and Christmas music is the best combination ever, in my opinion. Enjoy! Ahhh <3

November Was White, December Was Grey

Even though I've been looking forward to it for months it seems as though December creeped out of nowhere. November went by so fast. It doesn't even feel like December though, which is a little sad, because I was picturing at least a few inches of snow staying around, and instead it was 10 degrees outside, humid and raining. Ick. 

This week has honestly been the worst for homework, my stress levels climbed up, and after today, they're slowly going down again. This weekend is going to be filled with study notes, coffee, and on Sunday, all things filled with Christmas!

In the meantime, I feel like doing a snow dance.