Ottawa, you are growing on me

I not so recently moved to our nation's capital, Ottawa, Ontario and although its been almost a year since the official move happened, I still feel like such a tourist in my own city. Could be because I've ran away to Mexico twice (for almost 2 months each time) since then, or that my current life consists of work, homework, school and the odd time sleep, when my schedule permits - who knows! But for what is left of the summer I am determined to get a little more intimate with this city of mine. It's embarrassing that i still dont know my way around, get lost whenever im attempting to get anywhere, and i get a blank expression on my face when people tell me "You know, across from the (insert notable landmark here)."

If you've seen Sex and the City, you remember the "Anchors Away" episode of season 5 where Carrie dates New York city. I want to date Ottawa. I want to know all about it, the good and the bad, the ins and the outs, it's dirty habits and hidden gems. I've discovered that a great way to get more interactive with your city is to attend events. My last post about Avah Taylor was a great event I attended at local boutique Kania, and last week I attended a Third Tuesday Ottawa event to hear Gini Dietrich speak about her book "Marketing in the Round" and her website www.spinsucks.com. Although I felt a tad out of place, being a mere student amongst all of these business professionals, Gini was very entertaining and clearly passionate.  She drove home the point of "measuring your results", as  you can see how she signed my copy of Marketing in the Round. She stressed how important measuring results is, and correctly assumed that as communications/PR people, complicated math probably is not our strongest point. Nonetheless, advanced algebra is not necessary, just solely the simple act of correctly measuring your results. Companies and business want numbers. They want to know how many people have followed them on Twitter, liked them on Facebook, bought their product or visited their website thanks to you.  I am a guilty member of the "I'm in communications therefore i don't need math" club (maybe even the president), but Gini shed some light on the fact that yes math is necessary, and no it does not require a master's degree in economics. Thank goodness! As a student not yet out in the workforce, this put me a little more at ease. This sounds like something I can actually do. 

So for me personally, the Third Tuesday event was a success. Coming up I have a "Ladies who Lunch" business women's lunch on the 31st, a fashion event "Modern chic" on August 9th, possibly being followed by fashion show Aug 11. I'm so excited for all of these future events, and not only get involved with my city, but with topics that interest me. Communications is my education, fashion is my passion. 

I really cant wait to see what other events and opportunities Ottawa has to offer me. Ottawa, you have inspired me and  I truly believe that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. 

The Black Sheep Fashion

I have recently started writing contributions for The Black Sheep Fashion, which is a Canadian fashion website highlighting Canadian designers and style collaborations and I LOVE IT! Love the concept of the site, love fashion writing. This will be a short post, it's Sunday, I'm tired, and i don't have much more to say other then check out the The Black Sheep at www.theblacksheepfashion.com. It's awesome, it's Canadian and it's fashion. Can't get much better than that!

Here's my first article about FERI jewellery Every girl deserves a FERI tale. 

Avah Taylor Launch Party

Last Thursday evening my friend Katherine and I attended a launch party for avahtaylor.com (check it out- it is the latest add to my blog list) and had a wonderful time! It was my first time meeting Avah, but upon arriving at the location (Kania, a boutique here in Ottawa) i knew instantly we would get along just fine.  Providing cupcakes, wine, fine jewels and even finer fashion Avah sure knows the way to a girl's heart! The cupcakes were delectable, the wine delicious and the fashion darling. I particularly enjoyed the throwback to the late 90's with Destiny's child tunes pumping. Katherine and i were singing (horribly) "ladies leave your men at home, nah nah nah nah nah"all the way home. Be thankful we didn't start until we left the party (to the streets & pedestrians of Ottawa - i do apologize, it was the wine i swear!)

 Although it was a scorching 32 degrees here in Ottawa that day, it didn't seem to faze anyone (other than my poor hair). The location was full to the brim with fashionistas. Fragrance expert Sid Cratzbarg was there (he is SO much fun), as well as beautiful jewellery from Logan Antiques and Vivah Jewellery. I am relatively new to the Ottawa area (okay that is half true - I've been here since September but between finishing up my degree and working i have turned into a grandma and never go out) so for me it was extremely interesting to find all these local stores that were right under my nose that i didn't even know about! It was so refreshing to meet so many stylish people interested in my passion (fashion)! I really do have to get out and get to know my city a little more.

Overall verdict: awesome night, awesome people, awesome city!  My thanks go out to Avah for the great event and to Katherine for kindly allowing me to be her +1! Thanks for a lovely evening ladies! Hope to do it again soon! xxx

Pastel Pants

Pastel coloured pants are a huge trend these days, but if you are anything like me you see other people wearing it and think "man that looks great on them but i could never pull that off!". It's a trend that i have admired on other people but never thought i could do myself. I'm not a size 0, i've got hips and make it a habit to generally steer clear of light coloured jeans. That being said, for one reason or another i decided to give it a whirl. I'm 23, i figure why not try it when i'm young and i can? I reluctantly bought a pair of pink jeans from Zara, and even more reluctantly wore them out. To my pleasant surprise, i received SO many compliments on them! From women young to old, girls to men, everyone loves the pink pants! I tend to get stuck in my ways, and usually rather stay with the tried and true than attempt something new style wise. In that sense i think i am a bit frumpy for my age, and am trying to break out of that mold. If i can, you can too! The cliche YOLO is applicable here, because well you DO only live once, so go ahead and try the pink pants! I promise you will be pleasantly surprised with the results. If you are a little self conscious of your hips like myself, you could wear a longer, looser shirt to cover the area, or maybe add a cute cardigan. Other fun colours to try could include mint green, yellow and purple.

Judging a book by it's cover

If you have read any of my previous posts then you are well aware of my obsession with Pinterest. Another hobby (obsession) i have is reading. I love, love, love to read! It has been a passion of mine ever since elementary school, where book fairs were the highlight of my life and i was constantly begging my mom for the latest and greatest new book in the monthly book order. It is such a passion that when i find a good read, i can NOT put it down; which was the motivation behind my one rule. NO reading for pleasure allowed during the school year. If i let myself read for pleasure during the school year, i would not open a single text book. This being said, since i am currently taking summer courses, and well it IS summer, i have decided to let myself break this one rule. While i was in Mexico for almost 2 months, i managed to read 5 books that included: The Lovely Bones, Can you keep a secret?, Baby Proof, The Hunger Games, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  

Although it was a little dark and twisted, i LOVED The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I found myself completely immersed into the story (which FYI, was originally from Sweden and is translated to English) and it was a heaven sent for my plane ride back to Canada. The 4 hour flight from Cancun to Toronto passed by in the blink of an eye and i was barely able to put it down. I am SO anxious to read the second book, The Girl who Played with Fire. Oh and to also see the movie! 2nd rule of mine: always, always read the book before the movie. Book is usually better, more detailed and you have creative liberty to come up with your own conclusions, ideas about characters etc.  

What am i reading now? Well, i just picked up "The Wealthy Barber Returns", which is a Canadian business book about personal finance. A professor of mine recommended it for a business class i'm taking this summer. I just started it, but for being a personal finance book it seems surprisingly entertaining. The author has a charming comedic air to him, as you can see in this interview. 

I also picked up some light reading, in the form of "50 shades of grey". Ive heard many controversial things about this book, but the consistent theme is that anyone who reads it, loves it! Apparently it really pushes the envelope of what is appropriate and PG, and is targeted towards thirty something stay at home moms, we shall see! Wish me luck! What are you reading these days? 

La isla...bonita?

San Pedro was....interesting to say the least. We went to Chetumal (the capital of the state of Quintana Roo) and from there proceeded to take the boat "the Belize Express" to San Pedro. The Belize Express was nowhere near as glamorous or speedy as it sounds. It took us just over 2 hours of turbulent wind and waves to reach San Pedro. Despite being a frazzled, windblown mess, the positive side to the boat ride was one hell of an amazing view. I couldn't believe that the water ACTUALLY has a visible line from where the water transforms from a dull grey to turquoise blue. I always assumed it was a gradual change but nope. It is actually pretty amazing.

Other then that, San Pedro was nothing i imagined it to be. I imagined well, what Madonna sang about. A beautiful, luxurious island bursting with equally beautiful people. Maybe that was a little farfetched, but that's the impression that is given about San Pedro. Reality: a quiet, quaint and overpriced little beach town with golf carts instead of cars, and american prices instead of pesos. To sum San Pedro up in one word is: ghetto. It is, surprisingly, extremely ghetto. There is absolutely ZERO nightlife. Being there on a Friday and Saturday night we expected to party it up at least a little bit, but there no was no party in sight. Of the two night clubs that exist in San Pedro, one is drug and violence filled, while the other has heavy 90's rap music with thrashy girls and boys that don't know that your waist is at your hips, not your knees. Obviously we didn't find the party we were looking for and disappointingly headed back to our hotel room.

 Our hotel room on the other hand was a pretty great place to be. An apartment style suite with 2 bedrooms, 2 bath, a kitchen, living room and small balcony overlooking the pool with the sea just a few feet away = perfection. Another downside to San Pedro is that yes there ARE many wonderful activities to partake in, but like with everything else in San Pedro, it comes at a (ridiculous) price. Any type of activity (scuba, snorkel, tour etc) begins at about 60$ US and goes all the way up to 200$+ (per person!!).  Needless to say we opted for driving our golf cart around all day and the free kayaks that were offered at the hotel. Another larger plus for San Pedro (well Belize in general) is that it is English speaking. Score!!! Never did i ever think that i would be able to speak English (and not be judged for it) in central-south america, but lo and behold Belize is an English speaking country, thank god! Enough struggling in Spanish, finally someone can understand me perfectly.

In all of this, OF COURSE i managed to find some time for shopping! In this land of overpriced products, i did manage to snag 2 pretty cute dresses. One blue-green colour dress with pockets and a white one with lace detail for about 50$ US in total. (25$ each)

Next we travelled to Bacalar, about 30 minutes outside the city of Chetumal. Now THIS was amazing! Think Canadian cottage country meets Mexico. It is actually situated around a lagoon that is called "la laguna de los siete colores" which translates to "the lagoon of seven colours" and does it ever live up to its name. Many people from Chetumal own houses overlooking the lagoon, much like cottages in Canada, but about 100 times more picturesque. Turquoise, green and baby blue water that is as warm as a bath tub with sunshine for days. Absolute paradise. I don't know when, where or how, but i am stating here and now that i WILL own a house there one day. Let's hope its not just a pipe dream.  Here a few pictures that don't even BEGIN to do justice to the beauty there. Enjoy!

La Isla Bonita

Tonight i am heading to la isla bonita (a.k.a San Pedro, Belize).  As much as a i love Mexico, i am really excited to discover a new country and am anxious to see Belize. One of the things i am most looking forward to is hearing their english. Apparently a dialect of English is spoken in Belize, here's to hoping i can make some sense of it. San Pedro is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places on earth, and if Madonna has a song about i imagine its pretty decent.  Either way, a weekend on an exotic island doesn't sound half bad to me! Happy weekend everyone!