The Blog

Blog

look at my shooooooes!

When I was about two, I was the typical shy kid. Hiding behind Mom’s legs, hoping people wouldn’t notice me, until I discovered… my shoes. There must have been something special about that pair of shoes that made me discard my shyness, stick my foot out, point to my feet and say to every neighbour, friend and stranger; “Look! Look at my shooooooes!”. My parents must have known that my love of shoes would continue throughout my life, and my closet bursting with shoes confirms it.

One morning a couple of weeks ago I was watching Breakfast Television (as I do every morning), and I heard those fateful words “Up next, red carpet trends – in shoes!” I stopped making breakfast and went back to the tv to watch what all the celebrities would be wearing for TIFF. Then Dina said, “To win…” before she’d even finished saying it, I opened a new email message and typed in the BT contest email (I’d tried to win other prizes in the past, so I knew the email address already) and waited, poised over my keyboard waiting for the question from Dina. “To win this fabulous prize from Ron White Shoes, tell us what the embellishment is on the grey pair of shoes we showed earlier!” I knew the embellishment, the shoes were super cute. I typed my answer (zipper!) and sent it off to cyberspace. Finished breakfast, started work as usual… until I got a phone call from BT at 9:30 saying I’d WON! Amazing.

I booked my appointment at Ron White Shoes at Manulife Centre and couldn’t wait to go. Everyone was SO nice and so genuinely happy for my awesome win. My friend Elaine and I sat down and they started the foot massage machines that are under each seat in the store (why are these not in every store of every kind, I don’t know.) and we were introduced to Lee, who would be helping me pick out my shoes. We were tucked in a little corner of the store, and people kept looking at us like we must be famous to be getting VIP treatment. He brought over water, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries and we dug in after I had my feet measured. Lee asked me a few questions about what I was looking for, and then took off to grab an assortment of shoes, shooties, booties and boots to try on. It was SO much fun. I tried on tons of styles I probably would have overlooked and the piles of shoe boxes started to add up. I eventually narrowed it down to two pairs, basically the same sling-back peep toe shoe, one of them beige with a white bow on the back, and the others black sparkly shoes. Elaine and I discussed the pros for each shoe and I decided if I was going to pick out shoes based on being a VIP, it had to be the sparkly shoes.

Thank you so much Breakfast Television, Lee and Natasha (at Ron White Shoes) for making it a once in a lifetime day that I will never forget! The gift bag was fantastic, and the shoes are incredible, comfortable and make me feel amazing. Cheers to you all, and you can bet I’ll be sticking my foot out, pointing down and saying “Look at my shoooooes!!!” every time I wear them!

Breton Brittle

This is a sneak peek of the beauty that is Breton Brittle. It’s right after I poured the toffee over the Breton crackers.

It’s a snap to make, and unbelievably delicious.

bretonbrittle1

Apparently I was too distracted to take a photo of the final product, but it looks something like this »

Here’s the recipe!
*Edit: I also did a gluten-free version for my friends over at Sweet Grace & Co!

Breton Brittle

1 package Breton crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Line cookie sheet with heavy aluminum foil (over sides of pan). * Use jelly-roll pan. pan with sides. Layer crackers in pan, overlap.

Turn on oven at 400F.

Bring brown sugar and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan, boil for 20 secs. Pour over crackers. Bake at 400 F for 5 mins.

Remove from oven, sprinkle with chocolate chips, let them melt. Spread chocolate with a spoon (wet spoon first).

Leave overnight in the fridge. Break apart into pieces. Freezes well.

Darwin D. Martin House Tour

After numerous delays crossing the border, we finally made it to the Darwin Martin house tour in Buffalo. I’ve always been interested in architecture so the tour was a great chance to learn more about Frank Lloyd Wright’s attention to detail, his style of architecture as well as indoor decor. It was a blistering 43 degrees, and finally rained once the tour was over (breaking the humidity), but worth the trip for sure!

Overall our tour was very informative, and I would recommend it to anyone!

Frank Lloyd Wright tour

Keep up your hobbies, pt 2.

For my friend’s wedding, I got this amazing black silk tulip dress from Maison Clothing, but I had no accessories that would match it, so I decided to make my own.

This is made from a headband from Dollarama, 3 peacock feathers, a metal leaf and a small light pink bead. Oh, and some fabric covered cardboard from a Cheerios box to stabilize the back… gotta use what works!

Peacock Fascinator

Keep up your hobbies.

It’s easy to get caught up being a workaholic as a freelancer, and it’s important to have things that are just for YOU.

I’ve enjoyed making clothing and accessories as my hobby, and here is a dress I just finished… it took weeks and weeks because I was so busy – but I’m so glad I took the time to do something for myself!

Perfect for a summer day, this comfortable cotton knit dress can be dressed up or down!

I’ve made another dress using this pattern, but I made a lot more customizations to the top of this dress to make it more unique. This dress was made from this pattern.

Plaid Summer Dress