you can't go back, not even for a VHS

hellooooo. its been quite the whirlwind of a weekend.

beautiful BEAUTIFUL weather. I am in love with this indian summer we are enjoying right now.

I won't go into details but I had an uncomfortable problem that I ended up in emerg with sunday night but all in all STILL a great weekend.

dress was thrifted for $5 at a goodwill in Mississauga
Belt was thrifted for $4 at double take on Gerrard at Parliament

I think I would like to own an apartment in the city as well as a larger home north of the city, preferably on the water.

I would rent out the city apartment during the weekends/weeks I wasn't using it and would keep all my personal things in the country home. There are great websites where people can rent apartments similar to hotels and its win win, cheaper than a hotel for them and I wouldn't be using it anyway.

I certainly can't imagine life without a refuge to get away. my cottage has been a god sent this summer. I can only imagine the mania that would have resulted from endless nights on hot asphalt.

I have a lot of small projects on the go right now. small and fulfilling.

I would like to work from home and be my own boss one day. I truly believe I have the work ethic to do it and would feel so much satisfaction from that.

today I want to learn as much as I can, though. I want to have a mentor, leaders, idols. I need to start with basics and develop myself through guidance. I am new and fresh, which in itself is a commodity to market, but I know I have SOOO much to learn. I'm excited to grow.

I know I've talked about wanting to discover new music and I have another resource for you!

the fox is black is a wicked website that has some realllllly great playlists. (this is the same website that I found all those cool desktop backgrounds on) You can just click a playlist and it will download to itunes easy peasy.

So far I have listened to the in-between spaces and summer soak and LOVED both.

ENJOY THE SUNSHINE WHILE YOU CAN!

picture recap

I was going through the pictures on my blogger account and came across these ones that made me smile. 

have a lovely Saturday xoxx

the fox is black

work outfit! thrifted top ($2), blazer from Urban and blank skinny pants 

I got so many compliments on my hair yesterday, do you like? haha we weren't sure if we were going to have our sales meeting and one of the agents suggested we just sit and talk about my hair. HA! 

bossy pants face:

this weeks thrifting finds!!!!! From the Goodwill in Mississauga

oscar de la renta oversized bag in perfect condition. I've already used this three times. give me an oversized bag and i will FILL IT. $7

vintage pillow case ..$2 I think? will probably cut it up for a pillow or another project. way to BRIGHT for the theme going on in  my room right now but I couldn't pass it up. 

brown and orange blanket. the texture is really woodsy and I have it on the end of my bed. $4

grandpa sweater! I'm 99% sure this beauty is handmade as there are no tags or washing labels inside. plus you can kind of tell, don't you think? this was made for a lumberjack in the cold ontario winters. now it keeps me snuggled in at the cottage. 

its a little large but I rolled up the sleeves and perfect! I believe this was $7? 

I also got a few other shirts, a pair of white sandals and a great vintage dress, but they will be revealed through outfit posts because they are totally work appropriate. 

weekend plans are up in the air. Im not feeling so great today so I'm not sure what I want to do yet. 

things I accomplished this week:

-oil change

-went to a blue jays game

-stayed in touch with all my friends by email and phone

-drank a pumpkin spice latte!!

-may have gotten a freelance job on the side, doing social media for my friends mom

-set up my new desk and did ALLLL the laundry

-found the perfect scent at anthropology Honey and the Moon

have a great weekend friends xox

BANGS!

Should I get them?!

the world is your oyster

hello loves.

I think we all needed that long weekend, yes?

a very good friend of mine went through a major life change this weekend and we both sought refuge at the cottage. filled our minds with board games and bonfires- its a coping mechanism.

she is going through a similar break up that I did 5 months ago. (wow 5 months! time flies) I think when you date someone when you are both young, you grow up together. You know all the ins and outs and its a warm comfortable blanket.
But, especially for women, I think it is important to make sure we continue to develop ourselves. I say 'especially for women' only because there will inevitably be a point in most of our lives where we need to re-evaluate everything we have made for ourselves career wise and take time off for a family. For women we have to make the most of our youth and get as far ahead as we can before we start the baby making. That is my opinion/goal anyway.

We can mourn the loss of our relationships and be upset they did not work out after all. But, we can also be excited. Excited for no ties to a city, a province, a country..excited to make plans with only our interests in mind..excited to be close to the edge and run blindly into the unknown.

They are great guys, which makes it hard and also easy. They will find love. They will find happiness. They too will stand on their own two feet and jump higher. We can still be friends, share laughs and opinions. After all, they may know us the best out of anyone.

This post is meant to be hopeful. its meant to touch anyone who isn't sure if its really working out, but doesn't think they have the strength to do it alone. you do. you can. and its really really worth it.

I'm so proud of you.

i'm going to blog this

blogging. 

its a weird beast isn't it? 

Personally, I struggle with how much to share on this space. what is too personal to write about? I started this blog five (FIVE) years ago with the purpose of journaling my life. It was a step up from my livejournal account and when I began it was very very personal. I shared inner struggles and hard times. it wasn't pretty. 

I don't regret posting those feelings. I am glad I can go back to them now and remember how and what I was feeling at the time. many people write in a diary...I wrote on my blog. it was never 'promoted' I didn't tell anyone about it. it wasn't for anyone else to read really, I could just type faster then I could write my thoughts in a book. 

A lot of my family found out I even had a blog when I wrote my thesis on blogging and thought it was fitting to 'blog' my work. I was given positive reviews but it switched something inside for me. this was no longer my private corner of the internet (and you could argue that no part of the internet is private) but something that I would be held accountable for, from my family. 

I've had people say "well its on the internet, it can't be private" but I would like to argue that at that time it WAS. five years ago many people had never heard of a blog, and facebook didn't even exist. there was no way that anyone was going to find it unless I told them. I didn't use real names, I had a separate email for the account. it WAS private. 

I remember one Christmas my aunt said "Hello red food colouring!" I was floored. I was embarrassed. I was relieved. My secret was out. I was no longer able to use this space as a personal dumping ground and to  say anything that I didn't want to be accountable for in real life. I took almost 8 months off from blogging. 

I knew whatever I posted on here it was like writing a group email to my family every time. the posts became less emotionally oriented and more carefree. its always been and will continue to be a personal blog. its about my life, its about my thoughts, my opinions, it will never be anything else. I have just chosen to censor myself to know if I wouldn't talk about this with my mom in real life, I am not going to talk about it on here. 

Recently I was in an interview and my blog came up, (it was a social media related job, so this was natural) and she asked for the URL. I stammered. Part of me was so used to protecting this space. I obviously told her and have no regrets (although I did warn her not to go too far back in the archives or it might get a bit emo). 

I also don't want this space to become all rainbows and sunshine because a) I don't enjoy reading blogs like this and b) my life is SO not always awesome. No one's is! so to blog like that makes me feel fake. 

this topic doesn't really have a conclusion. I have always blogged and will continue to blog. I hope that people realize this is an outlet for me. this is my way of thinking out ideas and getting feedback from the world. its something I enjoy doing. I enjoy the connections that I make through blogging. 

expect more sunny days on here though, my life is pretty great right now. 

smartphowned

hahah okay I know this website has been pimped out on facebook but it is F-in funny. hahahhaa 

dave since you don't have facebook, I present smartphowned to you. time well wasted.

Two Birds Eatery

 Two Birds Eatery is a project I have been working with one of my best friends on. She is opening this eatery in Squamish BC in only 2 days! It feels like has been in the works for so long, but also like we just started brainstorming.

edit!!! TBE is opening tomorrow!!!!!! (I pre wrote this post.) ONE DAY!

(Sticker)

I was able to help Leanne and Carole with the logo design, and all of the marketing material for the store. So far we have done stickers, two versions of business cards, a great facebook page (check it out and 'like' us!!!), signage for the front of the eatery, loyalty cards (buy 9 coffee's and the tenth is free) marketing plans and many other smaller things! The website is still very much under construction and I am taking it on myself to learn html and css and get the site looking great. I promise to link to it once I reach that point.

these pictures are from when I visited the Bird's in July so everything was still under construction. 

So if you ever happen to be near Squamish (between Vancouver and Whistler) please stop by and be sure to let me know.

more recent picture, almost ready to open!

pockets full of stones

this is a pretty typical corporate style 9-5 outfit for work. I'm not changing the world with my style, I am fully aware. I just never see any blogs with more 'professional' style clothing and there are a LOT of people who dress so badly for their office jobs. I'd love to be able to wear more relaxed style but its not an option on days when there are meetings and boardrooms.

this outfit was extremely inexpensive. the skirt (brand new jacob) was found when thrifting for $2.00 the shirt is H&M for maybe $25.00, the watch was thrifted for maybe a dollar or two, the shoes (my go-to day to day amazingly comfortable) are from Lindsay's salvation army $4.00, and the belt was given to me when I worked at Fossil watches.

outfit total: $33

I'd like to think that professional style does NOT need to be expensive. you can buy extremely well made things second hand and pretty much everything that i've bought new for work has been from H&M. you really can't beat the prices there. there are a few girls at my work that wear outfits with more cleavage (don't have any, so I don't have to worry!) and black stretchy pants. its fine for days off but I firmly believe if you look serious about your job, people will take you more seriously.

mmmmmm I just ordered greek food and need to go pick it up. xoxoxox

ALMOST FRIDAY!

who wants to come to my cottage for the long weekend?

went hunting through my pictures for some cottage scenes. 

who wants to come up?

I will take you water skiing, jet skiing, tubing and board game playing. we will walk to the end of the road and back, probably in the middle of the night, and we will sing our hearts out to classics around the bonfire. 

It will be grand. Who's coming?

oh my goodness I miss those shorts. I actually wore through them over the course of the summer. this was the last summer I was single(ish).  i cut them from pants to shorts to short shorts. 

I'd like to dedicate the photoshoot below to Kalua and loneliness: 

I miss being blond

Come up! its just over an hour from toronto and we've already talked about how close it is from lindsay/peterborough.  see you there ;)