Retiring the Work Shoes

I just finished my last day of work today... I LEAVE IN 6 DAYS!

I've been working at the museum for 16 months and I worked at Beachcomber for over 6 months. It's been a crazy adventure, and my shoes are definitely the proof of that.

After clocking out today, it finally hit me. I'm leaving! I'm about to throw these shoes in the garbage and move on.... I know they're just shoes, but shoes have a way of marking certain milestones in our lives. They go and see everything you do, travel with you...

Maybe I'm just getting sentimental. Either way, good riddance!

Clothes Swap

A clothes swap may just be the girlies thing I've ever been a part of. A bunch of girls get together, we bring clothes we don't wear anymore, but them in a giant pile and we look through the clothes and pick out what we like. It's like shopping for free! While we shop, we talk, we drink, we eat and just have a great ol' girlie time!

A couple weeks ago, I hosted a clothes swap. I needed to get rid of the clothes I'm not bringing with me, so I'll be less tempted to overpack. In total, we were five girls and we had a ridiculous amount of clothes in our pile. We all came away with 3-4 pieces we liked, and the rest we donated to a women's shelter here in Winnipeg.

It was a lot of fun to get to catch up with friends and it felt great to give to the less fortunate, especially in a time of giving but also of consumption. We spend so much money on other people for Christmas gifts, so maybe this way, someone will get a new dress for Christmas. In total, we donated 13 bags full of clothes! 

Oh, and all the coats and sweaters we collected will go to the Syrian refugees that have just arrived. God knows they'll need them.

Winter Jacket

Yesterday, December 16th, the snow finally came! It snowed all night and all day, and now Winnipeg is covered in a beautiful blanket of shimmering snow. That means, it's time to take the jacket out of hiding.

Last year, I finally invested in a new winter jacket. A good winter jacket in Winnipeg is vital, and the difference between freezing to death at the bus stop and only freezing a little bit. I shopped around for a long time before I finally settle on a Firefly jacket. I had one for years and it was a great jacket. It's a  little bit of a cheaper brand, at least compared to Columbia or The North Face, but it's just as good! What I hadn't like about the old one was that it was a two part jacket. This one, is a one-piece and it's oh so warm. I wasn't cold a single time last winter!

My favourite part of the jacket is the storm sleeves. They are built-in sleeves with thumb holes so the wind doesn't run up my arms. Genius! On top of that, on the left arm, there's this patch that opens where you can put your ski pass or ID. Sort of makes me feel like I'm Buzz Lightyear!

The best part of the jacket, the thing that keeps it so warm is the shiny reflective material on the back and under the arms. This material helps concentrate your body heat so you keep yourself warm. If you get too hot, though, there are zippers under the armpits so you can cool down a bit and let some of that heat out.

There are also pockets everywhere. Everywhere! Needless to say, even if I wish it would have been brown or black, it's an awesome jacket.

Lotus Leggings

You know how on Facebook there's always all these adds? Well one of the adds I see very often is one from Lotus Leggings. One day, I decided to go look around and see what it was all about, and I fell in love. They have the funkiest leggings! I'm a big fan of funky leggings, especially when it comes to running, and their prices are awesome. I don't usually do online shopping, simply for the fact that if an item needs to be exchanged or returned, it's such a hassle and I'm way too lazy for that.

But, it was late and money was burning my hands, so I just said "the hell with it" and added things to my cart. I had started with two pairs of the same leggings, the ones with trees on them, and then I needed about $10 more to get free shipping, so I found that pair of mermaid leggings and sine they were so cheap, I just got them anyway. Even if I wasn't going to wear them.

The shipping was super fast and the packaging minimal so it was great! On top of that, I got mediums, hoping they would fit, and of course, they were a perfect fit. I've gotten compliment after compliment on these leggings and I literally have to keep myself from buying all of them.

I really like that they're active on Instagram, so if you post your leggings and tag them in the picture, they'll re-gram your picture and you can see what others did with their leggings (yoga poses are a popular one), they also don't send you a gazillion emails about deals like other shops do.

So if you still need to buy a Christmas gift or stocking stuffer, I highly suggest you try these leggings! Here are a few of them on my "to buy" list:

Click here to see them on the website
(It's too bad they don't have a Canadian flag pair of leggings!)

Click here to see them on the website

Click here to see them on the website

Another Scarf!

I made a post about scarves last week, talking about how much I love them, and here's another one! This one is probably my favourite scarf.
Last year or the year before, my aunt got me this amazing green scarf for Christmas. This is a huge scarf, almost as long as my legs and as wide as my arm and chest. It has a zipper right in the middle, which means I have a bunch of different options on how to wear it.

It's such a nice scarf to wear during the winter, since it's so thick and soft. It never runs out! I especially love the back of the scarf. It has a split at the bottom, which makes it sit perfectly on my shoulders and rarely ever rides up like a regular scarf would.

You can find more, really great things made by the same company here.

Best Accessory a Girl Could Ask For

I've never really been good at accessorizing, or even matching colours or patterns together. So, I just never bothered wearing jewelry or "fancy clothes." I stuck to the good old t-shirt and jeans style and it's been working out perfectly fine for me. Until I started wearing scarves. It's the perfect accessory for someone like me who doesn't do jewelry and can't match patterns.

When I was younger, I hated wearing scarves. I found them itchy and constricting and I was always tripping on them. Winter clothes were already bulky enough that I didn't need the extra obstacle! But I grew up and the snow pants were no long needed... I shed the bulk and the scarves became essential.  It started with one... and next thing you know? I have 10. Obviously ten isn't a lot compared to other people, but for me, it's a lot. Now it's become my favourite accessory! I still haven't gotten to the point of wearing a scarf during the summer.... but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

One of these I got as a birthday gift from a close friend, another is made of a recycled sari, another I got in Germany, another is hand dyed and another I wore at my aunt's wedding. Almost every one of these has a story, which may explain why I only have 10. I love all of them! My favourite accessory.

What is YOUR favourite accessory? Does it have a story behind it?

DIY Mermaid Costume on a Budget

My family has always been the kind who never bought Halloween costumes. All our costumes have always been handmade, and this year is no different!
I've never really been the "dress up like a Disney Princess" type, but not too long ago I got myself a pair of mermaid leggings on a whim (they were cheap and if I got them they made it that I would get free shipping on my other leggings), and decided to use them for my Halloween costume. On top of the red hair, well it seems easy to just dress up as the Little Mermaid. Since I'm on a pretty tight budget, here's how I made a Halloween costume for under $30!

I got the shells at Michaels and painted them with paint I had at home, then added some glitter and rhinestones like this:

Start with painting the shells...

Final product after the glitter and rhinestones!

After that, it's just a matter of putting it all together!

Leggings: at Lotus Leggings for $16.99
Seashells: at Michaels for $3.50 each
Glitter and rhinestones: at Dollorama for $1.00 each
Bra: at Dollorama for $3.00
Total: $28.99

There you have it!

What are you dressing up as for Halloween?

Cardigan Season

Fall and cold weather means more and more layers... which makes me happy! I love wearing sweaters and I definitely have more than I could possibly ever need. I would wear blankets if that was socially acceptable! The closest thing to wearing a blanket would be a cardigan. I recently started wearing more and more of them, and I can't get enough!

Cardigan: Maurices // Shirt: (somewhere in Berlin) // Jeans: Maurices 

Cardigan: Maurices // Shirt: (somewhere in Berlin) // Jeans: Maurices

This is definitely my favourite shirt! I got it at a small boutique in Berlin and immediately fell in love with it.

Cardigan: Garage // Shirt: H&M // Jeans: Maurices

Cardigan: Garage // Shirt: H&M // Jeans: Maurices // Socks: Walmart // Boots: Payless Shoe Warehouse

You Can Never Have Too Much Running Clothes

Back in July, I decided to splurge on some more running clothes! I got myself a good pair of capri tights and a running shirt that has a pretty sweet technology in the fabric. As you can tell, I like to wear really bright colours when I run. Somehow, it always seems to be pink, red or a combination!
This time is no different! My leggings are just as bright, although the shirt isn't!

Shirt: Columbia // Leggings: UnderArmour // Socks: Running Room

I really love this little feature on the leggings.... It has a pocket at the back! This is perfect for my long runs so I can put my keys and they won't jiggle or bother me at all, and I could even put a small granola bar in there (not that I would want to because it's above my butt and all...). Definitely a very handy asset to the leggings! I personally hate when I have stuff bouncing around in my pockets.

Now the shirt. This particular shirt is from Columbia and is part of their Omni-Freeze Zero line. This is technology in the fabric that is activated by sweat or moisture and cools down the fabric. Sounds crazy right? How could sweat make fabric cold? Well it works. I tried a sample of the material at Mud Hero and was flabbergasted at how freaky it is! It seriously gets cold! The wetter the material is, the colder it feels on your skin. Perfect for summer, right?

I may spend a lot of money on running clothes, but they are worth every single penny.

Fall=Plaid... Right?

Fall is a beautiful season. The leaves change colours and fall, giving the cold grey concrete a happier glow. It's time when the birds take to the skies in their "V" formations and slowly, the weather grows cold. I love fall. Thanksgiving, Halloween, sweaters, playing in the piles of leaves...
One thing about fall that I've recently fallen in love with all over again? Plaid. I got myself this button-up plaid shirt and it's comfortable and I can't stop wearing it! On top of that? It goes with pretty much anything.

Jacket: Suzy Shier// Shirt: Garage // Jeans: Maurices // Socks: Kodiak // Boots: Payless Shoe Warehouse

This elephant necklace is among my most prized possessions... It was given to me by my host-mom in Germany on my last day there. Not only is it a great souvenir, it also goes with everything. Just like my plaid shirt!

What are some of your favourite fall wears?

I Spend Way Too Much Money on Running Gear

Whoever said running is cheap, has clearly never bought running clothes/shoes. When I was in Berlin for the half-marathon, I wanted to buy some souvenir running gear with the half-marathon logo, obviously. The thing is, the sponsor was Adidas, which meant that the running clothes were going to be a little more expensive.... I didn't mind; I rarely ever splurge unless I'm travelling and my mindset is always "when will I ever get the chance to do this again?" when I'm travelling, so I splurged.

Here you can see what I wore during the half-marathon: the green shirt is the event shirt
Undershirt: Running Room // T-shirt: Adidas // Tights: La Senza

Sweater: Adidas // T-shirt: cep // Tights: New Yorker // Socks: Running Room

I had to buy myself an even t-shirt, of course, and I also saw this really great sweater: it's light, warm, has reflective bars and is wet-wicking (with the event logo on top of that), so I thought, I can afford an 80 euro sweater, right? Right. I also bought this really cool graffiti, limited edition running t-shirt at this same expo. Just at the expo, I spent 140 euros on running clothes. That's about 180$.

A few days later, I was out shopping in Leipzig, and I saw these amazing tights and matching sports bra, and once again, I splurged. Another 50 euros on running clothes.

T-shirt: cep // Tights: New Yorker

It may seem crazy to spend this much, but if you remember in December, I spent a lot of money on running clothes, and it is so worth it. These last a really long time and honestly, I never want to take these tights off, they are that comfortable. When you're running long distance, it's all about comfort, but when you can find something funky that's very comfortable, it just makes running so much more fun!