Geocaching

A few days ago I went Geocaching for the first time ever! For those of you who are unfamiliar with Geocaching, its basically a big outdoor treasure hunt where you use GPS coordinates to find containers stashed with little trinkets and paper where you and your group of friends can sign your names and the date that you found the cache. The tradition is that you bring little trinkets or toys that belong to you and take an item that someone else left and leave your own. And caches are everywhere, seriously! It's so easy to find caches in your area, and there are winter friendly ones too! Here are a few pictures that I snapped on our hunt for caches in the Ganaraska forest (we found 3!)

Holiday Mugs

For Christmas gifts, I wanted to do something special for everyone, I really wanted to get creative! So when I read through this tutorial on Ladies Home Journal about painted botanical mugs, I got crafty! I went out and bought some porcelain mugs and porcelain pens at Michaels and got to work. I made the botanical mugs for the girls I was gifting to, and for the guys that I was gifting to, I decided to make moustache mugs! On one side of the mug I freehanded a french moustache and on the other side I made other 'staches. To finish off the gifts, I stashed kisses, hot chocolate mix, a mix of teas and sparkler sticks. 

This tutorial was so much fun that I think I'm going to have to make more! The botanical mugs turned out so amazing (I didn't follow a template) that I had to make one for myself! I even signed my name at the bottoms of the mugs to personalize them a little. I hope that everyone loved them! ♥ 

Rustic Chic

I don't know what it is, but I'm starting to acquire a taste for every article of clothing from Roots Canada.  It's probably me stalking the pictures from awelltraveledwoman on Tumblr, especially her taste in rustic chic clothing and decor, and also the amazing photography that she documents on her blog.  Ask me a year ago what I thought about Roots clothing and I would have said that it was for people with no concept of style, but now, I'm so inspired by it.  

I've never been a huge fan of the sweltering weather that we get in the summer, and I would never really want to travel to somewhere super warm.  I think it would be so cool to travel somewhere up north in the mountains and the trees, and I would really like to travel to Iceland someday (it looks so amazing there!).

I'm starting to acquire a taste for plaids, knits, nordic prints, faux fur and leather (hey, that almost rhymed, ha!).  I know this stuff is so stereotypical for Canadians, but its actually super stylish.  It's so weird how our styles differ and how completely opposite they can be.  One day I'll want to wear something like skinny jeans, flats, a black and white striped top and a black blazer and now I'm wanting to wear plaid and knits.  It's kind of awesome how we don't have to stick to a certain style pallet, and how we can incorporate some of our favourite styles into our unique *look*.  I'm kind of crushing on this Capri Hoody in Salt & Pepper and this Penny Duffle Coat in Blue Iris.

Christmas Tree Alternatives

It's that time of year again! The days are getting shorter, the air is getting crisper and all of the stores in the shopping malls are decorated with twinkly lights and playing Christmas music.  My roommates and I are moving out of our apartment at the end of December and we thought it would be too much hassle to put up our 3-foot Christmas tree.  It would still be a little sad to not have a Christmas tree up during our last few weeks here, so I picked out a couple of options that I think would work out nicely. Both would work nicely for a small apartment.

1. Christmas light candles- we have a few wine bottle lamps that we bought from the dollar store to decorate our balcony, but now that summer is over, we could take a few of them and put a string of white lights in them and gather them together on a table. It would look so cute with our presents surrounding them.

2. Glitter tree- I'm really leaning towards this idea. It's sounds like such a fun and crafty endeavour! All we would need to do is get a few branches from the park nearby (or at the dollar store) and lather it with glue and cover it with white/black/grey craft glitter.  Put it in a tall vase and voila! Plus, it would look so adorable with a few brushed metallic ornaments!

What do you think of my ideas? Which option would you choose? Is anyone listening to Christmas music yet? I'm starting on November 15th :)

Baby It's Cold Outside

Is it weird that I'm wanting to listen to Christmas music already? I've done quite a bit of window shopping and every store has their Christmas displays out and are playing Christmas tunes over their sound systems. I was in Chapters yesterday and I saw that Starbucks has introduced their Christmas cups already! :)

Want to know one of my favourite parts of having chilly weather? Guys in coats! I'm now starting to see it everywhere. I think it is so important to have a good fall/winter coat that fits with your personality and that isn't meant for the ski slopes. When I walk down the street I think the first thing I look at is a guy's coat, and then their face, hahaha. Bonus points if they have a nice scarf too, heehee. Is any one else with me on this one?

Photo: Hypebeast

Holding On

I've been kind of absent from the blog lately as I've been trying to get some school related issues out of the way and taken care of. For some reason, my school doesn't plan the courses they offer very well and doesn't accommodate very well to the mass number of students in my faculty, which has resulted in my trying to get into the right classes last minute to fill up the requirements for my program. 

Long story short, I wasn't able to get into a mandatory class I need to graduate, which means I'll have to stay an extra semester in the fall. I'm not happy about it, but I suppose it gives me time to think about my options more (while also digging me deeper into debt and making me slowly go insane). I'm trying to stay positive, because everything happens for a reason, right? Hopefully something great and amazing will come out of this.

In other news, the weather is insane. -28 degrees tonight! Here's a little something to warm you up.

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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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 ;)

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.

Winter Song

Oh my gosh, it is so so cold outside! Last night was so chilly that I had to bust out my winter jacket. And this morning was wonderful waking up to a blanket of snow covering the ground. I had to snap some pictures to document. 

I'm going to be making a few changes here the next few days. Things like fonts, html coding and also looking into installing a little music player in the sidebar. I'm kind of clueless when it comes to finding which music player to go with, so I'll have to do a bit of research and fiddling around. Have a great weekend and Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US!

Baby It's Cold Outside

So, I had planned on waiting until November 15th before I started listening to Christmas music, but like the impatient person that I am, I started listening to holiday songs today.  How could I possibly contain my excitement for winter when it had already started snowing? On Halloween, I noticed that were a few flurries in the sky, but then a few minutes later, it changed to thick flakes of snow. They immediately melted when the hit the ground, but it got me so excited. 

I know that I have been slacking on my30 Day Challenge, but this week has been the worst. I have a huge paper due on Thursday and like the procrastinator that I am, I hemmed and hawed and waited until yesterday to start it. So apologies for the lateness and the lack of posts this week, after Friday I will have everything finished and can get back into the regular schedule of things.  Until then, here's a pretty picture to get you through (hehe!):

Colour Blind

Apparently Ottawa got it's first snowfall of...fall? It's kind of early for that kind of weather, but I remember last year watching the snow fall in mid-October. Most of the leaves have fallen off of the trees already, leaving the tree branches bare and exposed. As much as I love seeing the intricacy of the branches, without the leaves, it seems a bit naked. 

After the trees are bare, I like to see a little snow on the ground. I think it has to do with my love/hate affair with November (love being my one of my dearest friend's birthday!). It's kind of an "in between seasons" month, no leaves and no snow. So to get things started, I've selected a few of my favourite snow pictures. 

I find that Winter is the most romantic season. The landscape looks so beautiful with a blanket of snow over it. Winter nights are one of my favourite things in the entire world. I have so many happy memories about winter, ice skating, crazy carpeting, cold ears and noses, rosy cheeks, candy cane hot chocolate, fresh air, big snowflakes, mittens.  I could go on forever. I would be so happy to live somewhere where it's winter all year. Yes, I know, I'm weird. 

My Boots

One of the places I've always had an affinity for, and have been longing to travel to is Iceland. When I was younger, I thought Iceland was a big mass of snow and ice that had to be chipped away to reveal the real land that was underneath. Now, it has become a fascinating country that I hope to visit in the near future. The landscape looks so charming and unique. I know a lot of people who like to travel to warm places whenever they get the chance, overlooking little gems like this country.

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If you have the time, you should watch this adorable video made by Inspired by Iceland. Doesn't it make you want to hop on a plane and go there? One day Iceland, one day.

Sidenote: I got a new pair of awesome fall boots. They're almost knee high, suede-looking boots. They are awesome, and were so cheap ($20!). 

Flume

Thanksgiving is this weekend! I'm kind of excited to go home for a bit, but I also have to study for my midterm in German Cinema class that's next week. I've been so bad at posting this past week, but school is really starting to shift into full gear. 


This picture kind of reminds me of that stage between Fall and Winter. It's definitely starting to get more chilly now, which I love, but I'm unable to go sans-coat anymore. Time to bundle up with scarves!

I saw this picture on A Cup of Jo and swooned over this cute neck warmer from Pipsqueak Chapeau. It's so adorable and looks like it would be nice and warm during winter. The only problem? It's $120. I could probably make one for $3. 

Firsts

I bought my first Elle magazine yesterday. Normally I'm pretty opposed when it comes to high fashion magazines, but I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the magazine after purchasing it. I don't know what it was, probably MTV's portrayal of Elle with Erin and Olivia from The City. After looking through some of the faux fur pieces from Chanel's Fall 2010 collection, I was a bit surprised, but some pieces actually look quite elegant. I've only flipped through half of the magazine and I'm saving it because the rest of it looks impressive. 

(Star Wars flashback?)

Photos: style.com

Satellite

Okay, I may be getting ahead of myself here, but I've been dying to share my slight obsession with Hunter Boots. After eyeing a few photographs of Kate Moss wearing the adorable footwear, I've decided that I must come to owning a pair for the sake of my poor feet which always get wet trudging to class through the snow covered sidewalks. Luckily for me, I'll be getting a bus pass this year, but I'd still like to get a pair of green wellies, so no slushy puddle is off limits.  Apparently, the Queen of England owns a pair as well :)

Photo: weheartit