It's been a weird month. What happened initially was that I was feeling a little down and lacking energy and just could not bring myself to write an entry. That's (one) of the unfortunate parts of being bi-polar - you start all these endeavors when you're super manic and then abandon them when you're starting to feel low. I was pretty bummed, especially since I had just shelled out some money on advertising (oh no, I'm luring people to an inactive page!) but what can ya do.

I'm still not out of my slump, but now there's more stuff going on. My parents just finished helping my grandma move to Canada from Florida so it's a bit hectic with that and my grandpa was just released from the hospital, maybe a little earlier than he should have been, considering he's on an IV and on oxygen. I've practically moved back in with my parents in the meantime to lend a helping hand and give my gramps some companionship.

However, not everything is bad! I got paid some money for house sitting while my parents were away in Florida, packing up my gram's house, I got to go in for work at an ad agency that I get to work at sporadically throughout the year and I got my first Share-a-Sale cheque. Can you say rolling in money? For me anyways!

In other exciting news, I was featured on the Modcloth blog (my fourth time!) It was a total surprise and I didn't even know until some friends on Facebook had tagged me. It really brightened my day and I was so happy to be featured alongside my friends, Elana and Pamada.

As for the other reason I'm here, I'm announcing a really cool opportunity from Modcloth! I myself can't participate because it's for US citizens only, but you creative ladies Stateside better get on this STAT!

 

The dresses from the swatches (as far as I can tell) are as follows:

Cartoon Deer - Cheeriest and Dearest Dress - $94.99

Dogs on Red - Graceful Greenery Dress in Dog Park  - $155.99

Yellow and White Stripes - Difference Between White and Saffron Dress $47.99

Rainbow Dots - Chipper and Cheery Dress - $87.99

Bowling Pins - Rock and Bowl Dress - $87.99

Colourful Food - Good Enough to Eat Dress - $69.99

Blue Toile - Be Outside Dress in Delft - $74.99

Blue/Red Chevron - Lauren Moffatt Over and Overlook Dress - $409.99

Leaves - Paint a Picturesque Dress in Leaves - $124.99

Mint Floral - Day Off the Grid Dress in Mint - Plus Size - $49.99

There were a few couldn't find that I can only assume have been discontinued. I was too afraid to look in the abyss that is Pinterest/Google.

A few of the key details are as follows -

Submissions are accepted until 9:01am PST this Valentine's Day, 2/14. So sorry for the lack of advance notice! Like I said, a little hectic around here!

Fabric designs are to be designed using the "Air of Adorable Dress" template. This dress has been made in loads of other cute styles. Whatever choice they end up going with will be in good company!

1/ 2/ 3/ 4/

Special guest judge, Amanda Needham, the costume designer of Portlandia will help determine the finalists! After that, the Modcloth community will vote on the Be the Buyer page. I think this is so rad. She has such a good eye for fashion. There are so many characters on Portlandia (mostly portrayed by Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen) and they have such unique quirks and different fashion personalities. She is able to transform the actors into totally different people! Yet at the same time, while watching the show, I ALWAYS want to own what they are wearing, even if they are supposed to be a dowdy person.

Sounds really cool right? I'd love for her to take a look at something I had whipped up!

If this sounds like your cup of tea, head over to the Modcloth blog and read the full contest rules. They were a little lengthy so I decided to spare you on here.

As for other things, I've spent way, way too much money recently. Mostly because I had more than usual. I'm going to try some of the things I read in this blog post about ways to distract yourself from shopping. A little too late for this month, but definitely going to use it in the future!

Hope you all are doing well! That's all for me! Talk soon!

Flapper Finale

I'm finishing up my flapper week with a flapper print dress! I was originally going to do a flapper inspired outfit, but then I received this Myrtlewood dress in the mail (one that I had been lusting after in my previous post "Modcloth's Bea & Dot and Myrtlewood Have Stolen my Heart") and I decided to model a new outfit, instead of just re-creating a previous one.

I decided to include this post under Splurgy Sunday because it falls under a splurge for me! The dress retails at $89.99 but I found a large on ebay for $50 and altered it down to my size. Luckily for you readers though, it's currently on sale on Modcloth for $44.99! Total steal. It's a great dress. The print has a very subtle gold shimmer and when you descend stairs, the skirt very gently puffs around you. You can't help but feel like a princess.

(Shhh, don't mind the red eye. When I went to fix it, my editor thought my eyebrows wanted to be green for some reason.)

I also decided to try out some new make-up I got. It's 1920s style mascara by Besame. It's pretty darn nifty! It's mascara, eyeliner and eyebrow colour in one. It's cake style and activated with water. This is right up my alley because I only wear mascara 4-5 times a month. Tube mascaras dry out before I get my money's worth (although I try to milk them for all I can!) I tried this product out in all 3 areas. It's a little tricky on the eyelashes (it goops right at the lashline, so you have no choice but to wear it as eyeliner as well) but I love it as eyeliner. It's really subtle and doesn't smear. I might even wear it daily. And this is coming from a girl who wears eyeliner once or twice a year. It was a little dark for my brows, but I bought it in black. It might be better if I bought the brown colour. I might still keep using it, because again, it doesn't smear. My brow powders never stay in place. It's just a little bold and definitely makes my brows look way thicker than they actually are.

Also, while applying it, this tends to happen if you put the mascara on first (since the spoolie has mascara on it.) Will have to remember to put it on last next time.

Pictured: Cover Girl concealer in the lightest colour they have, Rosebud Salve, Besame Powder in Light, Besame Rouge, Besame Mascara

While doing photos, I kept running out of ideas for photos. So I tried to do the Charleston. If this is what made it in... you don't want to see the out takes!

Outfit Details

Fabulous Flapper Dress - Modcloth - original price $89.99, currently on sale for $44.99

Shoes - gift from my mom (they were her's)

Earrings - another pair of earrings from the Titanic collection (see more in my "Lots of Love for Luck Be a Lady Dresses"  post)

If you are like me and can't get enough flapper related goods, be sure to check out Unique Vintage's flapper section and Modcloth's "Gatsby Garb" section.

Well, that's all for me! I'm going to be taking a few days off to celebrate Christmas time with the fam! Hope you all have a happy holiday and I'll be seeing you soon!

Check out my other flapper related posts from earlier this week!

Three Gatsbys For the Price of One
Flapper Fun Brought to You by Etsy
Bright Young Facts
Modcloth Giveaway! Plus More Flapper Fun

Modcloth Giveaway! Plus More Flapper Fun

My birthday is coming up this week so I thought I would celebrate by giving a gift back to my readers! I couldn't think of a better thing to do than sharing my love of Modcloth. I'm giving away a $25 gift card to one lucky reader! It's the perfect time for this gift card with Modcloth's 50% off sale (it goes on until the first week of January.) You can really get a lot of bang for your buck! I was able to buy some cute pug earrings and an adorable cartoon style skirt that I've been eyeing forever for $30 shipped (I had a coupon as well.) I could have gone a little crazy on some navy coats (I've been dying for one) but opted that maybe I will get one after I actually get my birthday money!

Anyways, to enter, all you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter widget below! Since it's just a gift card that is e-mailed out, the contest is open to everybody! International peeps included. Contest ends December 27th (on my birthday.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
In other news, I went out and hung out with some peeps at the bar, which is so, so great. I've been such a recluse that it's great that I got out. I didn't take any pictures because that would be weird if I haven't seen any people in awhile and I suddenly bombarded them with wanting to take pictures for blogging purposes. But we just hung out and played darts. I can't believe I won at darts last time I played! I could barely get any to hit the board. Even the board AROUND the board. They just kept bouncing off and hitting the floor.

For New Year's, I would love to host a flapper themed party. I have so many flapper style dresses and I'm super into the music right now. So is my boyfriend! That is why I'm super bummed that Baz Lurhmann's Gatsby didn't go that route. Boardwalk Empire is much, much better in that regard. My boyfriend plays several video games that has old timey music and I just eat it up. It's so good! I made a playlist featuring some music so hope you enjoy it!

 

And just for fun, I thought I would post this video! It's 100 years of fashion in 100 seconds! Neat right?

That's all for me! Talk soon!

Check out the rest of my flapper posts here!
Three Gatsbys For the Price of One
Flapper Fun Brought to You by Etsy
Bright Young Facts
Flapper Finale

Sale on Party Dresses on Modcloth!

I thought I would detour briefly from the flapper stuff to talk about sale things going on over at Modcloth. I can't resist talking about sales. Or Modcloth. Combined, it's my kryptonite. Also, I've noticed that "Thrifty Thursday" has turned into sort of "let's point out sale happenings" Thursday. Treasure Tuesday has turned into "Etsy Picks" rather than going to my favourite local vintage haunts, Wardrobe Wednesday has turned into Wishlist Wednesday (although I'm not sure what I was going for with "Wardrobe Wednesday" anyways. Surely I meant to post more than one outfit a week?) and Shenanigans Saturday has turned into whatever personal post didn't fit into the other days. To be fair, I came up with the titles before I started blogging and before I had written a single post, so I wasn't sure how things were going to go. I'm trying to not let the titles limit me or anything but I just take some liberties with where I squeeze my posts in. For instance, I started writing monthly goals on the first of every month. No matter what day the first falls on, I've got a plan on how to make it work for that day's theme. I actually have lots of different ideas I could do for each day, but laziness prevails and I keep doing the same thing. Must break these patterns!

Modcloth is running a promotion right now for 20% off party dresses. Interestingly enough though, while searching for my picks to feature, I found a huge amount of dresses for 50% off! I thought I'd feature a mix of both, all under $50, so I could include the advertised promo but also some really awesome dresses at a fabulous steal!

Masterful Maestro Dress - sale price $37.99

Eye on the Prized Dress - sale price $47.99

Interviews at the Party Dress in Black - sale price $41.99

The 20% off sale ends at 11:59PST tonight (12/19.) I'm not sure when this 50% off magic ends.

1) Mulberry Bash Dress - sale price $48.99

2) A Laud of Love Dress - sale price $43.99

3) Shoreline Soiree Dress in Stripes - sale price $38.99

4) Make the Rounds Dress in Medallions - sale price 39.99

Sadly, between buying Christmas gifts for the fam, scooping up deals on ebay (it seems like there is so much listed on there. Everybody must be selling their stuff in order to have funds for Christmas!) and buying on Modcloth (they have a new promo everyday practically!) I'm all shopped out. I don't have a single dollar to spend. I'm trying to scrounge together some monies in order to buy Christmas cards! The family might either be getting computer print outs or the same Christmas cards I've been giving them for the past few years. They're from a pack that is meant to be sent to multiple people (not given to the same person a dozen times, ha!) I would love to get a new party dress of course but I have enough party dresses to last me all year. If you happen to need a dress for the holidays though, now is the time to scoop one up!

That is all for me! Off to go hang with my boyfriend and his family for the evening! Talk soon!

Wardrobe Wrap Up - Fall 2013

Wowzers. I almost put Fall 2012! Where has all the time gone? Sometimes I still feel like it's 2006 (or 1998.) To think that it's almost 2014 blows my mind a little bit. This Buzzfeed article sums up how I feel perfectly. It's almost like I didn't realize how quickly time was passing until I sat down and analyzed it (thanks for pointing it all out to me, Buzzfeed!)

Unfortunately though, this fall hasn't felt like fall at all. It's felt more like winter. I know this winter is going to drag on for a long time because it was freezing and snowing in November. I want time to slow down but not in a miserable type of way. I want happy, fun time to be slow. I only want time to slow down if it's the kind that is meant to be savoured!

But enough of that. I complain too much. I feel like I'm turning into my Gramps. Always a cranky bear. Onto the point. I'm here today to post a wardrobe summary of my fall looks, since fall is almost ending.

Original Post - Pumped For Patterns

I started fall off with a love of patterns by modelling a retro style Louche dress and pretty Poetic License booties.

Original Post - Challenges Ahead

Next up, I experimented with some city skyline tights by pairing them with a 60s mod styled twofer.

Original Post - Reveling in Rachel Antonoff

I then modelled one of my favourite dresses, a plaid dress with a kitty shaped pocket by Rachel Antonoff.

Original Post - Lauren Moffatt For All Seasons

I took advantage of an exceptionally sunny day in my Lauren Moffatt skirt (that I got for a steal!)

Original Post - Premiere of Movie Monday!

I took inspiration from one of my favourite movies, Sound of Music, by wearing local Windsor, Ontario designer, Dilly Daisy.

Original Post - Scoring Authentic Vintage at Hallowe'en = Priceless

Was feeling fabulously retro in a thrifted 60s shift dress.

Original Post - Mmmm... Marmalade

Had an orange crush on this fabulous vintage inspired dress from Marmalade.

Original Post - Lots of Love for Luck Be a Lady Dresses

Became a little obsessed with the "Luck Be a Lady" dresses by Closet from Modcloth after modelling one here. Even got my mom hooked on them! Bought her one for Christmas (had her try it on to see if it fit, check out how lovely she looks on my Instagram!)

Original Post - Vintage (and Black Friday!) Edition of Thrifty Thursday

Experimenting with my first venture of an outfit post using indoor photography. Oy! Hopefully it will get better!

Original Post - Evergreen Envy

Squashed into a too small Rock Steady dress, just to rock a nice hue of Christmas green!

Original Post - The Dress at the End of the Tunnel

Some more terrible indoor photos (because I'm a cool cat who forgets to put on the flash) but good news is I match the heels of my shoes to my dress, woot!

Original Post - Polyester Paradise

For my latest outfit post, I wore a very cheaply made dress (it looks like a Hallowe'en costume in person) but it actually photographed pretty well. I might even try to rock it out in public sometime! I just have to remember to give it a good steaming first.

What were your favourite looks that you rocked this season?

The Dress at the End of the Tunnel

One of the greatest feelings for me (being a shopaholic and all) is finally being able to nab a dress that I thought I'd never be able to have because it was much too expensive and just out of my reach. Modcloth's Cabin Fever and Last Hurrah sales are perfect for scooping up my most loved items but I need to shop all year round! What's a girl to do? Ebay is typically my solution but when there's something specific I need, something that I'm lusting madly for, I wait for something I love to hit the regular Modcloth sale page and attack with 20% off coupons (courtesy of my Modcloth catalog!)

I even remember when I first saw the dress. It was this past Easter. I was bonding with my boyfriend's sister, who I was meeting for the first time. We were hitting it off pretty well. She was a model and into fashion naturally and seemed happy that I was into fashion too. Unfortunately, I lost her as soon as I showed her the Modcloth homepage. I guess not everyone shares my fashion sense. She thought it was too "hipster-ish" (NOOOOO!) Since I had Modcloth pulled up anyways, I surfed the New Arrivals and there it was. This beauty. I knew I had to make it mine.

I love this dress in person even more. I ordered the size 4 because they were out of 6s and it was a good call. It has plenty of stretch. I just love the shimmery fabric! Also, this was another photo session where I was doing the pictures alone on my tripod. I also forgot to pop the flash up completely. Oopsie. I tried to make it better by sharpening all the pics in PicMonkey but I don't know if that really helped.

Sitting dead pan in front of a camera by yourself is pretty awkward. And so is doing close ups of fabric. You should see the out takes!

Outfit Details

Dress  - Slant Rhyme Dress - Modcloth - on sale currently for $114.99 (at last check, there was one left in a size 2!!!)

Shoes - Rampage Women's Mariska Pump

Earrings - purchased at the hair shop where my Aunt Susie works

The dress is also available in black, but I'm not sure I dig it as much. The stripes are wider and well... I just like pink better! Plus, this pink is so dreamy. It's kind of cherry coloured and just perfect. The black version looks like it belongs in a Tim Burton film. Not that I have anything against that, just that pink is more my scene.

Overall, I'm so stoked that I went for this dress when I did. I went to Petrunia's website and they only sell to retailers. Plus, they listed their stockists and all they had listed were boutiques! They didn't even list any online retailers. I wouldn't be surprised if Modcloth were the only online store that carries them.

If you'd like to see all my best looks from the season, check out my wardrobe wrap up post!

That's all for me! Time to go stalk my next purchase. Talk soon!