Style Peek: black crewneck + black tights + summer skirt

Hey strangers...how have you been? I'm super excited because I leave tomorrow for a long weekend jaunt to Calgary! I'm going to see my dad and stepmom, have tons of great visits with my girls and do a wee bit of shopping. Can't wait!

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the mild November we're having but NOT loving it be dark both before and after work...hence the dark photos. One of the great things about the mild days is being able to still get away with tights. I've been wanting to wear some of my summer skirts, like this one. So I paired it with a plain black crewneck, plain black tights and black flats...so comfy and it puts all the focus on the skirt. Plus I feel kind of ballerina-ish in this colour combo!

black crewneck sweater - Gap (shop similar)

blush embroidered skirt - Gap (shop similar)

black tights - Silk Plus 

black leather flats - Aldo (shop similar)

Hope you're all having a lovely week friends!

Hair Ramblings

So now that I've cut my bangs...I'm can't stop picking at them. I'm snipping and trimming and shaping every second day! I'm working my way up to this...my dream hair....

Not the flaming red even though that looks flaming hot (baby steps!)...just the cut. I imagine she's Florence from Florence & the Machine's young hip niece...I want to be young and hip too :) So I'm starting with the haircut!

image via asos.com

What's your fantasy hair these days friends? How do you work up the nerve to take a leap?

Modcloth reduces shipping to Canada!

Hello everyone! I have some great news for us Canadian gals who love Modcloth...they've adjusted their shipping fees!

I made an order in the summer and it was something ridiculous like $17 for one item. I definitely think shipping fees are a huge barrier for companies wanting to increase their online shopping market. Well after seeing Modcloth advertising lower international shipping, I plugged this cute dress into my shopping cart for fun to see what shipping would be...would you believe it calculated at $1.98? I refreshed my screen a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things! Nope, all correct. So of course I couldn't help myself and ordered it.

Sapphire for Hire Dress - Modcloth (Shop here)

As a side note, I tried filling my cart with $200 worth of clothes and shipping was still under $20 so it must be pro-rated.

It's so much easier to think about buying one item here and there when shipping is close to nothing...Asos has really set the bar with this with their free worldwide shipping. I recently scored this dress for free shipping and no customs fees or taxes because the package value was below $50!

dress - Asos Curve (Shop here)

Let's hope everyone else follows their lead and starts reducing shipping fees to Canada!

*Ummm...can you tell I have a thing for blue dresses?

Have you scoped any new great deals you'd like to share? I'd love to hear them! Hope you all have a lovely rest of the week!

Style Peek: navajo sweater + skinny jeans + caramel boots

Hey everyone! I hope you're keeping cozy this November morning? Full blown winter has arrived here in Winnipeg and for a few moments I forgot what it was like....but I remember now and I'm all over sweaters, boots, berets and thick scarves!

See the happy look on my face (see above!)...I have some fab news to share! I've been named the new Winnipeg City Editor for Western Living Magazine (a Western Canada lifestyle mag)! 

What does this mean, you ask? Well, I'm still working full time at Fusion, but now I'm contributing monthly to the front-of-book section of Western Living - sourcing fantastic new and unique home decor and design items to be featured. It's a great little side gig for me, plus I've wanted to be a magazine editor since I was a wee lass picking up Seventeen mag...so this is my baby steps into this world!

On another note - I've been asked by you lovely readers about tights for us tall and curvy gals. So here's my scoop - I adore both HUE and We Love Colors for fantastic quality tights. 

I get my HUE tights at The Bay (in Canada) and Macy's (in the US). They have great texture and look for sizes 4 and 5 for more height and weight allowance. The bummer is those higher sizes are only available in basic colours like black and brown. 

This is where We Love Colors comes in...they have 51 fantastical shades in their Plus Size Tights to pick from. Shipping is $12 but I order 2 or 3 pairs at a time to make it worthwhile. I definitely recommend them if you're looking for something unique. Hope this helps ladies!

navajo sweater - PURE Alfred Sung via Zellers

white cotton top - Old Navy (shop similar)

skinny jeans - Gap (shop here)

caramel leather boots - Steve Madden (shop here)

Have a lovely week friends!

Style Peek: wrap sweater + slouchy knee socks + tall boots

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you're all having a fantastic weekend and joyful weekend ahead. It's been a busy work week but I'm so excited because I scored a seat sale to visit friends and family for a long weekend getaway to Calgary! Now to keep that shopping budget in check....why hello H&M...why hello Anthropologie....here I come!

In today's style peek, I'm showing off my newest obsession - layering knee socks under tall boots! Warm, cute and a fun look!

taupe sweater - Winners

black slouchy tank - Forever 21+ (shop here)

skinny jeans - Gap (shop here)

oatmeal knee socks - Winners

black leather tall boots - Steve Madden (shop here)

woven and faux leather belt - Zellers

What clothing trend are you obsessed with right now friends?

Have an amazing weekend!

Style Peek: navy dress + mustard cardi + chunky necklace

 

Happy Monday friends...I hope you all had a great weekend and your week ahead is looking bright! 

I'm super excited to share another sewing project with you. This was a very simple column pattern with an elastic inserted in the high waist for shaping. The pattern called for a knit but I'm not ready for stretchy yet so I took a chance and decided to go with this navy printed rayon. It came out pretty preppy so I tried to boho it up a bit with a chunky wood necklace, mustard cardi and espresso tights. I love the shape so I think I'm going to do a repeat on this on with some other fun fabric - maybe with a shorter lenght? More like a tunic to wear with leggings.

navy dress - handmade by me!

mustard cardigan - Gap

chunky wood necklace - bought a million years ago in Calgary

espresso tights - HUE (shop here)

brown leather flats - Aldo (shop similar here)

How was your weekend friends? You know what I've been thinking about...Christmas shopping. My family has abandoned our homemade Christmas idea - I think we'd need a whole year to pull that together! So now we're going to stick to one small gift each and try to make it sentimental...what are you doing for Christmas this year?

Have a lovely week!

Style Peek: navajo sweater + rust beret + slouchy boots

Hello weekend! I'm enjoying mine - how about you? Not much to report, I've got a massage, a yoga class and I'm hosting my mom's birthday dinner tomorrow (lasagna!). 

It's still nice fall weather here in Winnipeg, but the chill is taking over the air. I really love the navajo trend I've been seeing, so when I spotted this oversized wool-blend sweater at Zellers for under $39 - I snapped it up! It's from the Pure by Alfred Sung line and I highly recommend you Canadian gals go check it out. They line is full of adorable sparkly skirts and blouses for holiday parties, plus lots of staples like this sweater and flowy dresses, all on trend, on budget and sized up to XXL. I really do hope they keep the line when Zellers transforms into Target here.

This is total weekend for me, with a plain white t-shirt, skinny jeans and slouchy boots, plus my rust beret for a pop of colour!

black and white navajo sweater - PURE Alfred Sung via Zellers

white t-shirt - Elle via Kohl's (shop here)

skinny jeans - Gap (shop here)

black slouchy buckle boots - Aldo (shop similar)

Have a fantastic weekend friends!

Wedding Pics: The Photobooth

I hope you're all having a great week! Thanks so much for your kind words and support as I try to find my blog/life balance! I feel better just knowing that YOU all know I won't be posting every day...I'm going to shoot for 3 times a week for a while. I also starting taking a restorative yoga class (a-mazing!) and reading Dr. Oz's You on a Diet (I like the idea of eating to fuel our bodies and optimize their performance!). So baby steps....

As promised, I still have wedding pics to share with you! These are by far my fave of the bunch because they show me how much fun our guests were having that special day. We had our photographer set up a photoboot at the venue and let everyone loose...it was by far the hit of the wedding! Here's a few of the shots...

My inspiring and amazing mentor Nat (check out her fab food blog) and her lovely hub Tony (thanks for coming all the way from Calgary!)...

My adorable cousin Kyra who spent the night tearing up the dance floor...

Barrett, my co-worker and his wife Larissa - would you believe he got that tan in Manitoba??

My sweet niece and nephew Hailey and Wyatt...

Sis/maid of honour and her hubs...

Gorgeous cousins - yup, I've babysat them all! Dang I'm old...

Me and my old Churchill roomie Amy - known for her pricelessly sarcastic sense of humour...

Kirk and Anna, two crazy kids in love...

My aunt and uncle...another pair of crazy kids in love!

Thompson girls! Best buds since grade 9...

Handsome cousins looking very serious...

Mother of the bride...what a dame!

As only BFFs can be...

A few of the MANY McGees! Love my new in-laws!

Me and Nat...she's such a cutie! I spent most of the night coveting her Anthro dress...fun fact: we discovered Anthro together...

More fun from the McGee side!

Jack and his buds...and Graham doing the zoolander...

My awesome, kooky, gorgeous co-workers!

2 of the coolest new gal pals I've found in Winnipeg!

Me and my sweets!

All images by Leah Bima

Have a lovely and amazing week friends!