I'm thinking we should take a trip to the city

I made a quick trip home to Edmonton this past weekend and I'm sure glad I did. I was feeling quite homesick. My dad was driving my aunt to the airport Friday afternoon so it wasn't that far out of the way to pick me up in Camrose. That being said, it was hardly smooth sailing - our car broke down on the edge of the city and we ended up waiting outside in the freezing wind for over half an hour waiting for a tow truck! We were on a freeway with no emergency lights so we couldn't even stay in the car. We eventually got home safely though, the car should already be fixed by now. I spent Saturday afternoon with one of my good friends and had a lovely time. We met for lunch and then spent the afternoon on Whyte Ave, which is how we usually spend our time (I live & she works on Whyte - the hippest~ part of Edmonton). We had lunch at Tokyo Noodle Shop, did a bit of faux-shopping at the Tinbox and the Junque Cellar, had coffee and bought books at Chapters and finished off with cake from Death by Chocolate. (If you're in or around Edmonton, those would be a few of my favourite places on Whyte!)

This striped top is actually one of my favourites, even though I've only posted photos of it twice before. It's no secret that I love horizontal stripes, and grey and black is a gorgeous colour combination. I positively love the length and the way it drapes - I can wear it with leggings, jeggings, or jeans and it's perfect on early mornings when the idea of layering baffles me. I paired it with my trusty Old Navy jeggings and some new jewellery for a cute weekend look.

top from Addition-Elle, jeggings from Old Navy, boots from Naturalizer

rings from Penningtons ($2.50 each), American Apparel nail lacquer in Mount Royal

bib necklace from the Tinbox

Here are a few photos from my Saturday:

Japanese tea pot

Chef's spicy uramaki from Tokyo Noodle Shop

Bento box (a really affordable lunch, only $10 including miso soup and rice)

vintage dresses at the Junque Celler

cheesecake at Death By Chocolate

my Chapters' purchases

Grey day

The other night I went out for dinner to celebrate my friend's birthday - we've been celebrating all week, it's so much fun! I was feeling quite sick and not in the mood to dress up, but I think I looked alright. I had a lovely time, good friends & good food is the best combo!





Dress - Walmart size 3X
Purple tights - Addition Elle size 3X
Flats - Payless size 11
Necklace - Penningtons

Saturday nights in neon lights

I have had such an awesome weekend! My friends and I don't go out very often, but our friend Nicole's birthday is on Tuesday and we've been celebrating all weekend. Yes please!

On Friday night we went to a nearby bar for karaoke. I'd never been to the particular bar and I'd never done karaoke before but it was tonnes of fun! I felt really great in this outfit, especially because I was confident enough to wear this skirt in all its high-waisted, body-hugging glory.



Top - Warehouse One size XXL
Bodycon skirt - Ricki's size 18
Tights - Penningtons size 4X
Flats - Payless size 11
Necklace - Reitmans


& Saturday night's outfit! We went to the bar, danced, played a game of pool, danced some more and then went to a friend's house. We ended up getting back to campus at 5am - a bit later than we'd planned!


Sparkly leopard print top - Penningtons size 3X
Shrug - Forever 21+ size 3X
Denim leggings - Old Navy size 18
Ankle boots - Walmart size 11
Bracelet - thrifted
Red purse - thrifted



PS. I'm totally enamoured with my new blog layout - big thanks to Natalie of Extra Large As Life!

Love is all over the place

Hey! So sorry that I haven't blogged in over a week, you'd think the winter semester had started or something. School is really busy, but I'm finally registered in the art course I wish to be in and my student loans have come in so I'm not broke. Now that things are a bit more ordered, I'm hoping this semester will be a good one!



This is what I wore today. Nothing super-duper fancy but I felt cute. I only had one class today, and I spent right before and right after at the club fair (I'm the secretary of the photography club). Later that afternoon my friend and I went out to get a few groceries and we saw that Penningtons was having a sale. I bought two shirts, two rings, and two necklaces for $42! I love a good sale.

Leopard print hoodie - vintage via Divine
T-shirt - Old Navy size XXL
Layering tank - Warehouse One size XL
Denim leggings - Old Navy (I love these so much that I purchased a new pair)
Ugg-style boots - Payless size 11

Blue Belle

Today my girlfriend and I celebrated our first anniversary. It's not until the 14th, but Ill be back in Camrose by then so we chose to celebrate before the winter term begins. We saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (at the movie theatre that sells frozen yogurt!) and then went out for a lovely Italian dinner. I had a great day, and I can't believe we've already been together for a year!

Here's what I wore for our date. More pictures than usual because I felt cuter than usual! That's fair, right? :)






Dress - Ricki's size 18 (I bought it for $10 & this is the first time I've worn it properly)
Cardigan - Walmart size 2XL
Tights - Penningtons size 4X
Necklace - Reitmans (free with the purchase of another necklace)
Flats - Payless

Pay It Forward 2011

The lovely Carla of MessyCarla has reinvigerated this meme and I am so happy to be involved. Isn't this such a cute idea? I look forward working on the handmade gifts! Like the image (credit to Rai) states, the rules are really simple, so join the fun!

Please also include your e-mail adress and/or blog link in the comment. Thanks!


My first five commenters:
1. Emily - http://curvaceous.tumblr.com/
2. Jacquie - http://sequinsandscrubs.blogspot.com/
3. Lauren - http://ohlauren.com/
4. Kel - http://lifeaskelknowsit.wordpress.com/
5. Christina - http://lachanga1.blogspot.com/

Spots are full, but be sure to check out the blogs above if you wish to participate.

For those that've asked, I don't mind if you're outside of Canada. I won't be making anything too heavy so shipping won't be a problem. :)

Casual striped dress

Today is a really casual nothing sort of day. I slept in, washed a tonne of dishes, and tried to trim my bangs. Tried and failed, but I just parted them to the other side and thankfully you can't tell. Right now I'm making an omelette for dinner and tonight I'll go out for coffee and run a few errands with my dad. I've also been spending an enormous amount of time reading Never Let Me Go, which my sister got me for Christmas.

Striped dress - Old Navy size XXL
Leggings - Walmart size 2X
Belt - Northern Reflection size XL
Boots - Walmart size 10W
Scarf - thrifted
Bangles - Ten Thousand Villages
Socks - Sears

Falling snow & polka dots

Thank you for the kind and supportive comments on my last post! It's great to have such wonderful readers. Thanks!

I had a lovely day today. I went with my friend and her younger sister to see Tangled, and afterwards we met up with a few other friends for dinner - a delicious Indian buffet.









Polka dot top - Old Navy size XL
Floral cardigan - Ricki's size XXL
Skirt - thrifted (a nice sweater material)
Grey leggings - Old Navy size XL
Wide calf boots - Naturalizer size 11W
Houndstooth coat - Walmart size 3X

I've been yearning for more polka dots in my wardrobe for ages, and I finally fulfilled my desire by buying this top at Old Navy during the boxing week sales. It was only $11, so I got the white and blue dotted one as well!

Wigs

I have a small truth to share: I wear wigs. Every single day.

This is something that I once thought would be impossible to share. But, I've grown a lot in the past year and in doing so I've been able to be braver than before. Previously the thought of someone finding out I wear a wig was fear-inducing, but now I'm comfortable enough to share this fact with many friends, acquaintances & dorm-mates and now even with you, my blog readers. I've been wearing a wig since spring of 2009, so I've been a wearing a wig the entire time I've been blogging. If you've asked me a question regarding my hair and I ignored it, this would be why. Sorry!

When I first decided to begin wearing wigs, I found a wig specialist in Edmonton and bought my wig through her. She's a really wonderful, knowledgeable woman and if it weren't for her I'd probably still be clueless about wigs. I bought my first two wigs through her, and while they're perfectly lovely wigs they are pricey! We're talking hundreds of dollars for synthetic hair wigs. I never thought of buying wigs online, it seemed absurd to me and I worried I'd be sorely disappointed with the quality. This was until I saw Kaelah's video review of Miss Violet Lace on her blog Little Chief Honeybee. Seeing the wigs up close in her video and the 100% positive feedback on the Miss Violet Lace Etsy shop (not too mention the beautiful, trendy hair styles) made me decide to finally bite the bullet and order the wigs online. It was hardly an impulse purchase, as I first needed to create PayPal and Etsy accounts, but it was still a step outside of my comfort zone because I don't usually shop online.

I bought two wigs from Miss Violet Lace, both ready to ship as I couldn't wait to try them out. The first is this long brown curly one for $75 CAD.





This wig is all kinds of gorgeous. I've always wanted long, curly hair & I can finally have it now. I received a compliment on my hair the first time I wore this wig out. The quality is on par (if not better) than those wigs that cost me hundreds of dollars. It's a bit thinner/less voluminous than my other wigs, but this is something I prefer and Miss Violet Lace does offer thicker wigs.

The second wig I purchased is this platinum blonde beaut. Although it is called silver I find it to be a true white-blonde. I really love this wig too. I've always wanted white hair but even before I began wearing wigs I was never able to achieve such a lovely colour. The wigs' scalp cap fits nice & snug, and they're not itchy in the least.





What I love about the wigs from Miss Violet Lace is that they're of such good quality that you can wear yours everyday, but they're affordable enough that even if you only wear wigs occasionally it's still a bargain. I never ever thought I'd be able to buy a wig for less than a $100 that was anything other than cheap and costume-y, but Miss Violet Lace has definitely changed my mind about that. As someone who wears wigs daily, I am so happy to find a shop that offers affordable, funky, good quality wigs. I'll definitely be ordering from Miss Violet Lace. Next on my list? Purple, red, and lavender wigs!

If you have any questions about wigs feel free to ask me in comments or on Formspring.
While I'm happy to talk about wigs, please don't ask me why I wear a wig. Being real, honest and genuine on my blog is important to me, but so is a certain sense of privacy. Thank you for being respectful of this fact.

I'm also really stoked because it's only the first day of 2011 and I'm already being brave!