Cashmere needs your vote!

September 30, 2013 | Leave a Reply

Last week I attended the 10th Annual White Cashmere Collection show and was blinded by the talent and beauty of the participating designers’ creations. Each year brings another stunningly wonderful parade of dresses and accessories made from the bathroom tissue, and each year I wonder how the designers made these incredible pieces.

Throughout October you’ll want to pick up rolls of the pink tissue in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and also cast your vote here for the best dress. Each vote gives you a chance to win a $10,000 shopping spree while also directly contributing a $1 donation to the cause so get voting!

Vote for your fave 2013 White Cashmere Collection design and

Cashmere will donate $1 to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation

Image by me.

Uptown: Saying Goodbye to Vinyl

September 27, 2013 | 2 Commentaries

…and a whole bunch of other things around the house!

Things have progressed chez moi. Things are also slow going. While I can do without the mess and chaos, I’m loving the reno. It’s so satisfying to see things getting done the way that I want them. My dad has been helping out a lot and my mom will soon be joining the efforts (I’m putting their retirement to good use).

Here’s what’s been happening…

1. My dad removed the vanity and toilet from the powder room. The nice people at the Home Depot taught us about compression valves and we gave them a try. They’re great so far. I may not have a working faucet in this bathroom but the valves are shiny and clean.

White-Cabana-Uptown-2

2. On Friday night I decided to rip out the vinyl in the powder room. Took the baseboards right out as well using a spatula and a crowbar. I probably didn’t need the crowbar but it was awesome. I love tools!

3. Before I ripped out the floor, I visited a tile shop. The photo shows some of the tiles that I’m considering. But I think I decided to go for the 1″ white matte hex tiles. It’s going to look great! I’m going to try to tackle the floor in the next week or so. Wish me luck!

4. Dad has been doing a lot of electrical work around the house. In addition to moving ceiling and lights, he has started to replace the light switches. The square version instantly modernizes a room. The effect is really surprising (to me, at least).

5. I finished painting my bedroom a couple of weeks ago. At the moment, the ironing board is a feature in the room – I’m working on changing that! I am very happy with Chantilly Lace.

And that’s about it for now. More to come soon. Happy Friday!

*Due to a computer server issue, the original post vanished. I have rewritten this post.

Event: The BlogPodium 2013 report

September 26, 2013 | Leave a Reply

Collaboration. Honesty. Respect. These are just some of the words that I repeatedly wrote in my notebook at this past weekend’s BlogPodium in Toronto. Bloggers, PR agents, and brands artfully invaded the Hyatt hotel on King Street on Saturday to learn and share strategies about the world of blogging.

photo by Jordana

This year’s BlogPodium, just as in previous years, completely impressed me. Organized by co-founder Jennifer Flores (Rambling Renovators) and her BlogPodium 2013 crew, the event showcased the important work of bloggers, the brands that recognize their influential abilities, and the ways in which bloggers have come together over the last several years to form one of the most engaged, vibrant, and energetic communities around.

decorations by Minted, styling by We Create Hoopla; photo by Jordana

This BlogPodium was an extra special one for me as I gave my first blog-focused conference presentation. Several months ago, I submitted a proposal to Jennifer after a BlogPodium Call for Presenters was released. A little while after I sent in my submission, Jennifer put me in touch with Giulia Doyle (Audrey’s) and suggested that we partner. Our topic? Balancing a day job and a successful blog. While Giulia and I had never met, I was excited to work with her and give back to the blogging community through this presentation.

Over the period of a few months, Giulia and I worked together (via Skype, telephone, Dropbox, and email) to write two posts for the BlogPodium blog (one and two) and to prepare a cohesive presentation for BlogPodium attendees. I am so grateful to Jennifer for brining Giulia and me together. Not only did I learn about Giulia’s approach to blogging, but I appreciated her professionalism, her commitment, and her creativity. Giulia – thank you. (It surprised many attendees to find out that Giulia and I only met about 2 hours before our presentation. Kind of cool, right?). For those who are interested in our full presentation, the slides should be available soon via the BlogPodium site.

me and Giulia; photo by Anna With Love

Presenting at BlogPodium was hugely satisfying for me and it allowed me to connect with bloggers – new and experienced – on a whole new level. We were able to take our conversations offline and speak in sentences that were longer than 140 characters. While I love the online world, face-to-face interaction is hard to beat.

photo by Giulia Doyle

Another highlight for me was Sarah Richardson‘s keynote speech. She was funny, intelligent, and engaging. She was approachable, spoke clearly and with ease, and really shared how hard work, determination, and talent, got her to where she is today. Having respect for colleagues, being nice, and working collaboratively, were just some of the points that she shared during her presentation. Creating successful relationships has been a really important contributing factor to her success.

Sarah Richardson & Jennifer Flores; photo by Anna With Love

Lunch was good…but dessert was amazing! Way to go Hyatt!

bloggers love chocolate, right?

Lunch was extremely enjoyable for me as I had the pleasure of sitting with such a talented and diverse group of bloggers. Thanks to Christine (Just Bella), Brittany (Gallery No. Eight), Megan (Hodge Podge), Gabrielle (Bee and Daddoo), and Sara (Saige Wisdom) for sharing your stories.

After lunch we heard from a panel of influential blog & magazine insiders: Margot Austin, Jacqueline Clark, Emma Reddington, and Rhonda Richie. This panel was moderated by the uber-talented Leigh-Ann Allaire. Oh man – she always always asks the questions that I am itching to ask. She know what to say and when to say it – she’s a talented moderator and I look forward to seeing more of her soon. This group of presenters shared their experiences with publishing – online and offline.

I am also pleased to recognize the generosity of the sponsors and exhibitors. They spoiled us with artistic, useful, and pretty supplies (everything from paint to caulking to candy to fabric)!

Sarah Richardson + Kravet

dishes at Urban Barn

Poppin in white at Chapters-Indigo

BlogPodium 2013 will always be something that I look back on with incredibly happy memories. Thanks again to the attendees, presenters, and sponsors for making this day so fun!

Cheers!

*Note: The original post vanished after it was published due to a server error. This piece was written from an earlier draft.

More fab vintage comes to Toronto

September 25, 2013 | 2 Commentaries

Lots of spectacular vintage is flooding the city this Saturday, Sep. 28, for the Toronto Vintage Clothing Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Boy oh, boy, I haven’t been this excited about going to an event at a convention centre in- ever! This is my kind of show. I can’t wait and I’m squealing inside as I write this. You can bet that I’ll be there for the 10am opening of the grand doors leading me to awesomeness.

Over the past year or two, I have been curating quite an impressive personal collection of vintage finds as well as cultivating my knowledge of fashion throughout the ages. It’s rather a treasure-trovey closet now that I call my own and I can hardly believe it. I used to wonder how to have beautiful closet of clothes (and a closet of beautiful clothes!) and I’ve got it, no doubt about that. I am so lucky to look at these outstandingly inspired and inspiring artful creations every day. I can’t tell you how much my life is enriched by vintage fashion.

Today I’m showing you just a couple of fun, recent-ish acquisitions staged on my silver fox muff- no, it’s not vintage but the jewelry is.

Hope to see you at the show, or that my love of vintage inspires you to stop into a flea market or vintage shop and pick up something special.

Necklace from Ruby Slipper Vintage Shoppe in Winnipeg

Silver and white pearlized earrings from Debbie’s Vintage Vibes in Toronto

20 Below: Tea Infuser

September 24, 2013 | Leave a Reply

No, I do not have my BlogPodium recap post ready to share quite yet. It’s fully in the works though so it won’t be long before you see it published here. In the meantime, I’ll continue with the regular 20 Below column by showing off this cool Luci tea infuser from Indigo*

Luci tea infuser, $12.50

*One of the sponsors of BlogPodium, in fact!