A Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes


  So it is the last day of the long weekend here in Canada and normally I would be on my way back from Banff. However, this weekend I did not get to go since Jay has been away for the past week visiting his family in the UK. That is right, the UK! I am a bit jealous since I would have loved to have been able to go, but my work only allows me to take 2-3 weeks of vacation time off a year and that trip would have taken up most of my time. Jay is a contractor, meaning that he can take time off whenever he wants, which is awesome but at the same time, he does not get vacation pay so he has to save up for it. Despite being stuck at home and working, I don't mind though, since I will practically have the whole month of August off. I am so excited! I will be going to Hawaii for the first time ever and after I will be visiting my family in my home province NS. The last time I was in NS was two years ago, so I am really looking forward to seeing everyone there.
  Ok, now let's get back to the outfit post! Jay actually took these photos of me a few weeks ago, even before the last two outfit posts that I did. The reason why I did not post this one first is because I decided to save it for when Jay went away, since I have no other recent outfits to post. Also, I chose this one to save because I feel like this one tops all the other outfits that I posted this month. The pictures were taken at the Muttart Conservatory in Edmonton, which consists of four different pyramid greenhouses: the Arid Pyramid, the Feature Pyramid, the Temperate Pyramid and the Tropical Pyramid.
  This was our first time ever going, even though we have been living here for about three years. The conservatory was beautiful to walk around in and observe all of the different plants. My favourites were the Tropical and Feature pyramids. I loved the Tropical Pyramid since it made me temporarily feel like I was in the Caribbean, minus the beach and fancy drinks. The Feature Pyramid is where they change the display to a certain theme every couple of months, in this case, the theme was "A Kaleidoscope of Colour." I absolutely loved this display since it consisted of gorgeous hydrangeas, a beautiful butterfly topiary and pretty flower umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. I actually don't know why we did not visit this place earlier, since it is a lovely place to sit and relax. Also, it is definitely one of the best places in Edmonton to take pictures. In general, I find Edmonton is an ugly city, (Sorry Edmontonians!) compared to other places in Canada like Jasper and Banff. However, there are still plenty of amazing places to take pictures. You just have to search and look for them!
  As for the outfit, the dress is from Modcloth, which I am completely in love with. I just love the colours and the fun floral print! I was also very lucky to have bought the last one in size small. At one point, it was sold out and my heart literally sank because I had been eying it for a couple of weeks. However, someone must have cancelled their order when I checked a few hours later. In case you are interested in buying the dress, Modcloth tends to restock it once in a while, so keep your eyes peeled! Since the dress reminds me of the '60s, I decided to pair it with matching '60s accessories and makeup. All the accessories are still available for purchase except for the purse and ring, which are old from Forever21. The hair scarf is from Unique Vintage and the earrings are from Bow and Crossbones. Bow and Crossbones is a lovely online store, that sells adorable retro inspired jewelry that ranges from fun tiki bangles to sweet '60s styled hoops. I really adore the pieces that they sell! My only complaint is the shipping was rather slow, (It took over a month to receive my two sets of earrings!) but then again, everything I have been ordering from the UK is taking a long time to get here. I don't know what is going on! The necklace is too from Modcloth and the bangle I bought on Etsy. Lastly, the shoes are old from Spring. Overall, this is definitely one of my favourite '60s inspired outfits and I am delighted with how well the conservatory matched my dress!

Dress: Modcloth (Sold out but stayed tuned for possible restock!)
Hair Scarf: Unique Vintage
Earrings: Bow and Crossbones
Necklace: Modcloth
Bangle: Etsy (CraftemallHandmade)
Ring (old): Forever21
Purse (old): Forever21
Shoes (old): Spring

Pretty in Pink


  Ok so first off, I just want to mention that I am absolutely delighted with how well these pictures turned out. For the past month, I have been dreaming about doing a lovely spring floral photo shoot, especially after being inspired by other fellow bloggers and their beautiful spring photos. So I did some research to see what flowers bloom in the spring in Edmonton and what came up were these Pink Spires Crabapple trees, which are somewhat similar to cherry blossoms. I actually have one of these trees near my place, but it is right next to a parking lot, which I did not want in the pictures. Online a couple of sites mentioned some parks that have the Pink Spires, so my plan was to go to one of these parks on the weekend.
  However, my plans were ruined due to the windy conditions that weekend. Normally, I try to challenge the wind but I just did not feel up to it and I did not want my hair to be all over the place. So what I ended up doing, was get Jay to take the pictures on a Tuesday, a few hours after we finished work. Of course, this was a bit of a pain since I had to get up early to do my makeup and curl my hair straight after work, but it was worth it in the end. Also, we did not go to any of the parks that I originally planned because they were too far away, so we just decided to wing it and check out a nearby park in St. Albert.
  It turns out that the park had the Pink Spires after all, which I was not expecting so I was extremely happy. The weather was perfect too, since it was sunny and warm with no wind. Hurray! The best part was that we practically had the park to ourselves, which allowed me to relax and not feel awkward whilst getting my pictures taken. Of course, it was 8PM when we got to the park, which probably explains why nobody was around but I was not complaining. In fact, one of the main reasons why I love Alberta is that the sun sets very late during this time of year. In May, the sun sets at 9PM and in the summer it goes up to 11PM! It's crazy but I love it! It is almost like having a full day to myself after I finish work, if that makes any sense. Also, it gives me more flexibility with my photos when plans end up failing. I still prefer and plan to do my photos on my days off, but now that there is more daylight even after I finish work, it is nice to have that as a backup.
  As for the outfit, I'm not going to lie, everything was purchased within the last two months. I started off with buying the shoes first and then bought the rest of the items to go with them. I'm a bit embarrassed though, because one of my fashion habits is buying whatever catches my eye, even if I have nothing to go with it, which in this case was the shoes. But they were just too adorable for me to pass up and I did want to create a pretty vintage pastel look for spring, so I bought them. Then I found the perfect dress to match on SheIn and at an amazing price of $15! Mind you, the quality is not that great but I was fine with that. To make the outfit stand out and give it more of a vintage feel, I chose to add a petticoat. I found this fabulous pastel petticoat from Malco Modes, which I am in love with! I mean what are the odds of finding such a petticoat that matches the shoes perfectly?! The only thing that annoyed me about the petticoat was the price. On top of the price alone for the petticoat, even the international shipping for Malco Modes is ridiculous and I doubt I will ever purchase from there again because of it. As for the accessories, the brooch I found on eBay and the belt is from Amazon. Everything else except the bangles and hair flowers I bought on Etsy. I could not believe my luck on finding a matching brooch and purse too! I especially love my vintage purse! It's so pretty and unique! Overall, I am thrilled with how well this outfit turned out and the pictures with the pretty Pink Spires made it all the more better. With that being said, I definitely need to improve on my shopping habits, but we shall see how that goes!

Dress (sold out): SheIn
Brooch: eBay (vintage item so only one)
Hair flowers: Claire's (bought at the store not online)
Belt: Amazon
Petticoat: Malco Modes
Purse: Etsy (vintage item so only one) TheOldBagOnline
Bangles: Thrifted
Rose ring with matching earrings (earrings not shown): Etsy Handcraftedpassions
Shoes: Unique Vintage

Hey Bulldog


  Have you ever fell in love with a piece of clothing or item, so much that you just daydream about it 24/7 until you finally buy it? Well that was me with this dress! The minute I found this dress on Modcloth, I instantly fell in love and just had to buy it. The main reason was because of the adorable French Bulldog print (I am a sucker for Frenchie stuff). The second reason is that I adore the style of the dress.
  Previously, I mentioned that I am not to keen on wearing '50s fashion (even though I absolutely love it) mainly because, at times I feel too extravagant in the clothes. Also it can rather expensive just to put together one outfit. For instance, a typical '50s outfit usually consists of: a dress, belt, petticoat, handbag, shoes, bangles, brooch/necklace and a hair accessory. Based on the stores I shop, it would probably cost me $250-500 CAD per outfit, which to me is a lot of money. I don't know why, but I just can't seem to find any stores that sell cheap '50s items. The best I can do so far, is buy hair flowers at Claire's and bangles at the thrift store. I also bought a few cute vintage inspired dresses from eBay and SheIn.
  Luckily, this outfit did not cost me that much. The dress alone was $100 (it is now 50% off grr), which is not cheap, but the quality was worth it and the belt came with it. Also I already had black heels, so I just needed a black vintage style purse and jewelry. I found this perfect purse from Unique Vintage, which was also on the pricey side at $67, but it was exactly the type of purse I was looking for and I knew that I was not going to find a similar purse anywhere else at a cheaper price. For jewelry, I already had some basic black pieces, but I decided to take it up a notch and incorporate some French Bulldog jewelry to add more fun to the playful print. Of course, this too added up in costs, since I bought each piece from a different seller on Etsy (none of the stores had all three items together). When it comes to buying items on Etsy or eBay, my tip for you is to look at all the items in the seller's shop and see if there are multiple things that you need. That way you can do combined shipping, which will save you money, as opposed to buying each item from a different seller. Another tip is to find sellers in your country, that way the shipping will be cheaper and fast too.
  Overall, I am in love with this outfit, especially the dress! Normally, when I find French Bulldog clothing it is usually the typical graphic t-shirt or pajamas, so when I found this adorable vintage Frenchie print dress, I was absolutely delighted. It is almost as if the designer read my mind and personally made this dress for me. The only minor flaw was the sizing. Generally, I buy everything in a size small, but for this dress I purchased it in a medium based on a reviewer's recommendations. I am so glad that I got the medium because the small definitely would have been way too tight for me. The dress is still a little bit loose up top, but I would much rather that than have it be too small. I also had to get the straps adjusted because they were way too loose. Other than that, the dress is just perfect!

Dress: Modcloth (50% off!) I recommend a size medium if you normally are a size small.
Purse: Unique Vintage
Earrings: Etsy CaramelaHandmade
Bracelet: Etsy AnimalRings
Ring: Etsy shopheydoyou
Shoes (old): Le Chateau

Purple Rain


  For more than 5 years ago, I used to be obsessed with watching '80s movies. I would search on my computer the top 100 80's movies, read the synopsis of each one and decide whether to watch it or not. One day I came across Purple Rain and decided to give it a whirl. My Dad has been a massive fan of Prince since the '80s, so I thought it would be interesting to watch the film and see what all the hype was about.  
  After watching the movie, I immediately became addicted to Prince's music. Practically every song on the Purple Rain album is just phenomenal and watching Prince perform some of the songs in the movie was entertaining to watch. When my Dad briefly visited me in Germany for the weekend, (I used to be a nanny for a British family there during my gap year) I even asked him to bring his Prince's Greatest Hits album so that I could download it to my computer. Then for several months, I played the album constantly everywhere I went. I fell in love with his music so much, that I just had to keep listening to it over and over. I think it is because the lyrics are just so darn catchy, not to mention the melodies are upbeat, funky and fun to listen to.
  A year after I got into Prince's music, I moved back to NS, Canada and started my first year of university. During this time, Prince was doing his "Welcome 2" tour and was going to be playing in Halifax at the end of November. Back then, I was contemplating on whether to go or not. A huge part of me wanted to go to the concert because it would have been absolutely spectacular, plus I already was listening to his music for the majority of the year. However, during this time university was very stressful for me. It was getting close to the end of the semester, which meant that I had a ton of assignments and exams on my plate. In the end, I ended up not going because of the workload I was given. Also, my Dad was away for work related reasons, so I would have felt bad going to the show without him.
  Overall, it truly is terrible that neither of us got to see Prince perform live. I especially feel sorry for my Dad, since Prince was one of his favourite artists growing up. Looking back on this, I wish I would have ditched my studies and went to the show, because opportunities like this are once in a lifetime, but what can you do. All I can say is thank-you from the bottom of my heart Prince for sharing with us your extraordinary music! You were so incredibly talented and will be greatly missed! I hope you are partying it up in the afterworld, in "A world of never ending happiness, U can always see the sun, day or night." RIP and may your music carry on forever and ever!

Dress (old): Tobi
Jacket & Necklace (old): Forever21
Black & Gold bracelet (old): DailyLook
Fuchsia bracelet: Claire's
Ring: Kameleon Jewelry
Other bracelet and rings: One ring is vintage and the rest is from a local store in NS
Purse & Boots (old): JustFab
Sunglasses (old): Spring

 
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