Committed

I'm currently reading Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert, the follow up to Eat, Pray, Love. It's been a slow process, whereas I devoured Eat, Pray, Love (likely caused by the fact that I was, indeed, reading the book on sloooow Italian trains).

Prior to the movie coming out this past summer, I had read a lot of blogs from travelers who generally disliked EPL for whatever reasons. The reasons that stuck with me though, is that her writing is narcissistic, her story is narcissistic/unrealistic/etc. These were things that I never experienced while reading EPL. But, I can certainly see in Committed how her writing can be narcissistic. In fact, there are times when Gilbert's writing just starts to grate on my nerves. Perhaps that's why I've struggled to get through this one.

But, for all the times that I just want to punch Gilbert in the face, she manages to redeem herself with some really great passages. And while it's auto-biographical and the insights aren't particularly revolutionary or earth-shattering, it is nice to see that Gilbert can take old cliches and apply them to her own life. Rather than being preachy, Gilbert comes off as a friend giving you guidance and advice (that occasionally you want to punch, hard).

All in all, I'll be glad when it's over (I can't wait to get to The Lost Girls!), but I'll be glad to have read it. And it may become useful for when I get married? Maybe?

Dakota Sale Pre-Shop Winner!

Thanks for all your entries everyone!

The winner of the pre-shop is...

@katherineKW

Katherine, please email or tweet me and let me know if you are available on

Thursday, November 25, 2010 at 9:30am

Enjoy your shopping Extravaganza!

My Ferragamo

My Ferragamo 'My Joy'

Meet my new shoes.

In September 2010, My Ferragamo crept onto the fashion scene seemingly unnoticed. So unnoticed that the most informative article I found was from Vogue India (and near the bottom of my Google search!). In fact, the collection made its debut at Fashion Night Out in Delhi.

My Ferragamo is a capsule collection from the world famous designer - which I take to be in the same realm as the Jimmy Choo 24:7 collection. The My Ferragamo collection consists of ballet flats, wedges, and boots in bright candy hued colours and made from lightweight materials.

I found the My Ferragamo collection at Holt Renfrew and fell in love with the My Joy. They are lightweight and butter soft. I don't typically spend a lot of money on shoes, but lately I've been having a hard time finding a good pair of flats that have some cushioning on the sole. While it may not look it, there is a tiny, baby-sized platform in the shoe, perfect for elevating my foot off the hard, painful ground. They also came with a shoe bag, making them the perfect travel companion.

Click here to see the rest of the collection.

Win a Chance to PRE-shop the Dakota Group Sale!

This is no ordinary sample sale. This is the sample sale to end all sample sales.

Here are some fun facts about the sale:

• Extra stock being brought in - it's more than just samples, it's a SUPER SAMPLE SALE
• Lots of sizes
• Matt & Nat extravaganza
• Huge assortment of coveted clothing and shoe brands
• Prices slashed up to 80% ...or more
• Join the Facebook Event for further updates (hint: messages sent to mobiles) on markdowns throughout the sale: http://on.fb.me/c54rK2
• Tweet with them! @DakotaGroup & @YBrands - they promise to share your finds

So what do you win? By entering you have the chance to PRE-SHOP this amazing goodness BEFORE the public. The date/time is TBA, so if you win, send me a message and I will let you know the details. The winner must be available at the specified time, or else another winner will be selected.

To enter, make sure to follow me on Twitter/ like me on Facebook/ comment on this post.

The winner will be selected (and announced) on Tuesday, November 23!

Haul Video

I kept waiting for the video to upload to youtube, but I never heard about it. Turns out it was private. >.<

FASHION Magazine's Great Canadian Vlogger Contest

I've entered this month's Great Canadian Vlogger Contest with FASHION Magazine. This month's topic was "What's in My Make-up Bag".

Please take the time to watch my video and tell all your friends! Every view counts as 1 vote - so watch often!

Chocolate Overload

Rather than dressing up and going out on Saturday night for Halloween, I stayed in and did some baking. I had been raiding my friend's chocolate stashes, so it was my turn to bring the treats. Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere recently tried both of these recipes and they looked so delicious, how could I resist?

Homemade Oreos

Oreos are my favourite store-bought cookie. I always prefer homemade to store-bought, but I have a soft sport for oreos - especially double stuff! The biscuit in these is soft and chewy. The icing, sweet but not overbearing. I didn't have an electric mixer or piping bag, but it all tastes the same, right?

 

Chocolate Truffles

I wanted to make these in Halloween colours, but surprisingly, festive sprinkles were impossible to find. So instead I settled on metallic jewel toned sprinkles. Without the proper tools scooping these out proved to be a (very messy) task. They're definitely something that takes all night - but not in a way that macarons do. These at least allow you to do other things. Using bittersweet chocolate made these truffles rich but not sweet. You know, the dangerous kind.

So pretty

Aside from sprinkles, I used candied almonds and cocoa

Party in the Back

Fall and Winter are officially here. Daylight savings is coming up this weekend, the nights are long and the days short. How depressing. It makes it hard not to be compulsive and buy airfare to hot destinations when you see amazing prices (Hawaii R/T $235).

I long for days where I don't need to wear a coat. This outfit is from the last fleeting days of September when it was still warm enough for just a t-shirt...at least before the sun went down.

Jeans: H&M Top: Alternative Apparal Boots: Payless Blazer: Zara

Necklaces: Sworovski, La Dama, random chains Bracelet/Ring: La Dama Sunglasses: Cheap Monday

I love, love, love the back of this shirt

I'm still working on my boyfriend's fashion photo eye - but he's getting better!