What's your design style?

With our move in date getting closer, I'm really excited about setting up our new space. What kind of style speaks to you the most? Has your design style changed a lot over the years?

Contemporary:

Eclectic:

Eco Friendly/Green:

French: 

Industrial:

Mid Century:

Modern Country:

Shabby Chic:

starting over

I've always been a bit of a minimalist and today I took it to new heights. I decided to donate the majority of my clothing. I only kept five dresses, five sweaters, four skirts, six blouses, my workout gear and a few of my favourite pairs of jeans. It felt amazingly freeing to de-clutter. I definitely kept a few things for sentimental reasons like the slippers I wore when I gave birth to my little girl, or the sweater my hubby gave me on my birthday, but most things were really easy to give away. There's something about turning 40, that made me want to start fresh and rebuild - to take the time to find pieces that really represent me. Do you think it'd be easy for you to start over or do you have a lot of sentimental attachment to your clothes?

spring shopping

The 2013 Spring Colour Palette

Have you started shopping for Spring? Here are some of my wish list picks in some of this season's trendy colour palette:

Colour: Linen

 

Colour: Monaco Blue

Colour: Emerald

Colour: Poppy Red

Colour: Lemon Zest

Where to find these items: 

Madewell for Linen Tote, Linen Wedges, Emerald green skirt, lemon sweater & shoes

Banana Republic: Navy dress

Plum: Denim jacket

Nordstrom: Navy swimsuit

Michael Kors: Emerald green tote

Mac: Red Lipstick (So Chaud)

Essie: Nail Polish (Silken Cord

Colour list courtesy of Pantone.com

going to great lengths

What's your favourite length to wear your hair? Would you ever try a pixie cut? Would you ever have the confidence to walk into a salon and ask the hairdresser to do whatever they think would suit you best? Or, do you go in with a game plan, like this post. Do you find it hard to change your look? Fun fact: Hair is extremely important to women. I mean it REALLY is. I've had more hits to my blog about how to put your hair in a sock bun than almost anything else I've ever written. The only thing that beat it out was the post I wrote about the birth of my daughter. If only she had been born with a little bun in her hair, the sky would be the limit on my stats! We really are a nation obsessed with hair. Hair tutorials on you tube get millions of hits. Salons collect big bucks getting our hair to look "effortless.". Do any of you remember this move when Keri Russell, on the TV show Felicity, went from these long locks:

to these short locks?

This haircut was blamed for the show's decline in ratings, subsequent cancellation and is listed under TV guide's "25 Biggest TV blunders"! Seriously, one haircut. Can you imagine if you got a drastic haircut on the weekend, went to work Monday morning and the boss took one look at you and said, "there's the door! We don't want that haircut around these parts!"

Sorry, I just made myself giggle with my play on words, because people part their hair.

But when Michelle Williams went from:

to her new pixie cut:

Her career and status as a fashion icon skyrocketed. Perhaps Michelle Williams should thank Keri Russell for paving the way. What's the most daring thing you've ever done with your hair? 

laced in style

Images courtesy of fashionrising.com and pinterest

Last week while shopping for a party dress, I ended up buying one with a layered lace skirt. I couldn't help but noticing that lace was popping up EVERYWHERE. What do you think? There's the shift style like these shown here,  here or here. Or maybe you prefer a more vintage silhouette like this or this. There's also the form fitting variety, like BCBG's little black dresses shown here, here and here. 

Would you wear one? Do you like them or do you find lace reminds you too much of your grandma's tablecloth? 

white rooms

I want to update our bedroom's look and am leaning towards painting it a fresh crisp white. I know, so daring right? I love how airy and fresh white walls can make a room look. White walls let the furniture, artwork and decor stand out. What do you think? Do you find white rooms cheery or do you find white walls too boring? 

sock buns

*image courtesy of projectcaptured.com

Now that I have longer hair, I'm quite smitten with beautiful braids and buns. What do you think of the sock bun shown above? Stylish? Or, should buns be saved for ballerinas and librarians?
Click here if you want to steal this look.

decked out for summer

Happy Weekend! In Canada we're celebrating the Victoria Day long weekend. Whoot whoot!
Have you got any fun plans lined up? We've got back-to-back barbecues with friends (tis the season!).
This afternoon I have a hair appointment. The word appointment is an understatement. I am pretty sure by the state of my overgrown hair it'll be more like a woman arming herself with a machete and hacking her way through it. I just hope she can rescue the precious exotic birds that have taken to nesting in my hair. Do you ever get that hopeful feeling the morning of a haircut? I always look at the stylist with a naive anticipation that they'll find just the right angle of cut and just the right mix of colour that somehow I will walk out looking like Natalie Portman. But alas, I have to remind myself that she is a stylist, not an illusionist. If you have longer hair, here are some great hair tutorials to try out. What trends are you digging this summer? What about adding some zip with this colour for your nails? Or splashing this colour on your lips? And I'm not sure if I've been influenced from my baby girl's variety of onesies lately, but I am on the hunt for a jumpsuit and a romper this summer. A lot of people don't like the all-in-one outfits. Bathroom visit challenging? Perhaps. Would you wear one? I would love to find something like this entire look. Do you enjoy the experience of shopping? I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan. I think it's being born into the indecisive sign of Libra: I find the big stores overwhelming for decision making and in boutique sized stores I feel a bit stalked by the salesclerks. They lurk outside the changeroom, "How's it going in there?" "Fine." I lie. Then, like one minute later, they are back, "Still going well?" Do they think we are superheros? I mean seriously, how fast do they think we are at changing outfits? Also, this post baby body is continuously morphing so shopping is on a hiatus for awhile. My goal is to rock something like this for a friend's wedding this summer. That being said, I'm off for a much needed run. Have a great weekend friends! xo

oscars 2012 - the hits and misses on the misses

Did you watch the oscars? I'm a huge movie fan, but this year, there sure was a lot of "meh" in the mix. I was very underwhelmed by this year's best picture contenders. But let's face it, lately the oscars are just as much about fashion as they are about filmmaking. Here are some of my personal picks for favourite fashionistas: 

Michelle Williams (in Louis Vuitton). It always amazes me that this is the same actress from Dawson's Creek. I absolutely adore her vintage style and wish I had the face to pull off that amazing haircut. Her style is iconic. 

Milla Jovovich (in Elie Saab). This look is the perfect throwback to Hollywood glam. Love. It.

Kristen Wiig (in J. Mendel). This dress is so romantic. I'd get married in it (if I wasn't already hitched and could afford to lounge around in designer wear). Her relaxed hairstyle and black nail polish give this look a great edge. I was hoping her brilliant original screenplay for Bridesmaids would win her an oscar. The cast and the writing are all insanely hilarious. She penned the best comedy in years. She is amazeballs. 

Gwyneth Paltrow (in Tom Ford). She looks statuesque. Two children, are you freaking kidding me? I don't think my figure was that amazing in my pre-teen years. I love her simple classic style. She always looks so natural, never overdone. 

Cameron Diaz (in Gucci). This nude toned dress looks amazing on Cameron. It suits her beach- tousled hair/tanned complexion perfectly. 

It's a little funny that all of my favourite dresses this year have a long and lean silhouette, probably a subconscious choice on my part to will my body to look like that one day. 

Not that I can really critique designer fashions given that I wear my lululemon track pants for both my day and evening looks lately, but here were a couple of looks that I think missed the mark:

Angelina Jolie (in Atelier Versace). A lot of people placed this look in their top 10 best dressed list, hell, her leg already has 10,000 twitter followers. Something just didn't sit right with me - her arms look eerily thin and the leg jutting out of the slit felt awkwardly forced. Angelina is a goddess but she needs to eat a sandwich with extra mayo on it. 

Meryl Streep (in Lanvin). Meryl is my favourite actress. I don't think anyone can come close to her mad skills. Her acceptance speech was bar none the best of the bunch. But, something about this look felt a little frumpy - I didn't think it did much to flatter her legendary beautiful looks. 

my new vegan purse

Have you heard of Matt & Nat?  I love their company's brand - vegan friendly accessories lined with incredibly durable fabric that is created 100% from recycled plastic bottles. Animal friendly, environmentally friendly and stylish? I'm a fan. Here's some background info on the company. A local store in Vancouver (Obsessions) had a sale on Matt & Nat purses this weekend, so I splurged as a late birthday gift to myself. Inside the purse was a little quote tucked inside: Life isn't about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself. Love this company.