Thanksgiving Fashion & Food

|Outfit 1:                     |Outfit 2:                 |Outfit 3:
|Scarf: here & here      |Tunic: here             | Scarf: here
|Denim Jacket: here    | Leggings: here        |Vest:here 
|Maxi Dress: here        |Handbag: here         |Shirt: here 
                                    |Boots: here & here   |Jeans: here
                                                                      |Boots: here

This weekend is Thanksgiving long weekend in Canada. As such, I wanted to do a post focused on all things Thanksgiving - both fashion & food. And; it gives all of you American readers extra time to think about your thanksgiving outfits and eats!!!

The three outfits above are all outfits that fit my "Thanksgiving criteria". In other words, they scream "fall" and are comfortable enough to both run around in, and to allow you to eat a ton in haha.

And just for fun, I also wanted to talk a bit about Thanksgiving food. mmm. Below are the recipes I plan on trying this Thanksgiving. For these and more recipes, be sure to follow me on pinterest!

November 22nd update for my American readers: I tried the Apple Cider Sangria recipe and it was AMAZING. Everyone loved it! I definitely recommend this delicious drink. I also made a non-alcoholic version by replacing the white wine with carbonated water (I have a soda stream) and the vodka with a splash of cranberry juice. I also increased the cinnamon by a pinch!

recipe: here

photo care of pinterest 

recipe: here

photo care of pinterest

recipe: here

photo care of pinterest

recipe: here

photo care of pinterest

Have a great Thanksgiving to anyone celebrating this weekend!! I am so excited for the long weekend! Some friends of mine are hosting a giant Thanksgiving potluck on Monday and I cannot wait!

Despite it being a holiday Monday in Canada I WILL still be posting on Monday (and it is an awesome work outfit - you don't want to miss it!) so I will hopefully see you all back here on Monday. Cheers!

Linking up with: the style files // fab favorites // casual friday // forage fashion // friday favorites // favorite fashion friday // fabulous friday // flashback fashion fridays // shoe & tell // hello monday // trend spin linkup - fall fashion 

 

 

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High Five for Friday #6

                                             Lila's Dress: Here

Welcome to another High Five for Friday, a post where I recap 5 great things from my week so far. Here goes:

1. Moved! 
 
I have (finally!) moved in to my new condo! The actual move was stressful and, as is always the case, a bit of a disaster, but at least I am moved in! I am definitely still in the process of working on the condo/getting settled but I am excited to at least be in my new space (even if that does mean eating on the floor for the moment because I don’t yet have a table or chairs haha). 

2. Spending time with my best friend

My best friend since the 8^th grade came in from Ontario on Monday night and we spent Monday & Tuesday hanging out in Vancouver. It was SO great to be able to show her my new apartment, my city, and my friends in Vancouver. One of the only things I miss about living in Ontario is getting to see her all the time. She was a HUGE help and helped me get more settled in to my apartment on Tuesday during the day. We also spent some time at Kits beach, went for dinner, and went for Trivia at a local pub.

 
3. Spending time with my favourite tiny humans
 
After spending two days in Vancouver with Maddie, on Wednesday we headed over to Vancouver Island where her two kids were spending time visiting their grandparents. I spent Wednesday and Thursday hanging out with them there. We played in the park, swam in the lake, collected sea glass by the ocean, and basically just lived outside!
 

 my bikini: here

4. Dinner at Chambar
 
My parents were in town Friday through Sunday to help with the move. On Sunday night we went to Chambar for dinner, which is one of my favourite restaurants in Vancouver. I had the mussels & fries, my go-to dish, and it was amazing as always. The mussels are gigantic and the white wine broth is so. darn. good. For dessert my mom and I also split this chocolate thing with a beetroot ice cream. I would never have thought I would like beets in my ice cream but my goodness it was amazing. Just the tiniest bit of tartness from the beets and the texture was so creamy. I am getting hungry just thinking about it.

5. Forest walk
 
I know I already mentioned spending time with my goddaughters as one of my 5 things, but a particular walk through the forest with 6 year old Adelaide totally deserves it’s own mention. On Thursday morning Maddie and I took the girls on a walk to the starbucks (we were dying for coffee) and we took a scenic 20 minute walk along the beach/through a forest to get there. Adelaide, having longer legs than her two year old sister, walked with me pretty far ahead. I’ve always said that getting a kid on a walk with you is the best way to find out what’s going on with them as they just don’t stop talking. This was so true of this walk. I almost never get to spend one-on-one time with Adelaide, and doing so allowed me to learn so many things about her little life right now (her favourite animal, favourite drink, what she thinks about dance class, and her ‘difficult’ teeth); It was so fantastic to bond just with her.  
 

I Hope you all have had a great week so far as well! I am off now to a friend's cabin for the weekend and I am so freaking excited for it! See you back here on Monday! 

Linking up with:
bright on a budget
casual friday 
friday finds 
five things friday 
oh hey friday
Fab favourtites
let it shine 

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High Five for Friday #3

Happy Friday! This week I am doing another High Five for Friday recap of 5 great things from my week. Here goes:

1) Mail Day! I have been so spoiled by the mail this week! I received such a lovely birthday gift from my friend Alicia who lives halfway across the world in Samoa. I was so touched by her beautiful card and gifts! I am completely in love with the gorgeous flowers for my hair!

 I also received a package I have been waiting ages for; SUMMER SHOES! I am SO in love with my new wedges and glad I got them just in time for Vegas!
 

Floral Wedges, here

Rhinestone Wedges, here

2) Booked a Music Video  
So, I haven't talked much about it on LegalLee Blonde, but in addition to being a lawyer and a fashion blogger I am a dancer. Of course at this point/age in my life it is more for fun (after years of ballet and jazz training) but I ended up going for an audition a while ago to be a "featured dancer" in a music video, and I found out this week that I got the gig! I am SO excited for it! The music video will be shooting towards the end of the month (and I will tell you then who the artist is!) Stay tuned on instagram for more about this!
Ps. I didn't have a photo to represent this, so here is an old and super creepy dance photo of me playing Scar in a ballet version of The Lion King. 

3) New Book  
I started such a great new book this week. As a criminal lawyer my area of passion has always been youth criminal justice. I really enjoy working with kids and youth. I recently picked up Burning Down the House: The End of Juvenile Prison by Nell Bernstein. It is an extremely interesting look into Juvenile Justice in the United States (where 3x more kids than ANY other developed country are incarcerated - some as young as 10 years old). I am learning a lot so far, and really enjoy it. 

4) Mani/Pedis with a Friend

 Wednesday night my friend Natalia and I went for mani-pedi's in preparation for our Vegas trip. It was great to relax and catch up. We also went for delicious sushi afterwards (cream cheese, smoked salmon and cucumber rolls are my downfall). It was a great night!

5) New Recipes 
I have been really trying to cook more and more meals at home, and to eat healthier. As such, I have been trying out a lot of great new recipes lately. I made two meals this week that I just LOVED and have to share them with you guys. You can follow me on Pinterest where I have a board of Healthy Eats! The first recipe I loved this week was Mexican Spaghetti Squash (recipe here)

The second meal was a "Coconut Smoothie Bowl". I don't have a recipe for this one, I just made it up but what I did was: Blend in a blender: 1 frozen banana, 1 cup coconut milk, 1.5 cups spinach, 1 tablespoon vanilla & 1 tablespoon coconut extracted. Pour the smoothie into a bowl and top with: shredded coconut, hemp hearts, chia seeds, dried cranberries, and banana chips. It was SO. FREAKING. GOOD. ... I am actually starting to want one just by writing this haha. Definitely try this out if you are looking for a healthy, filling and easy breakfast!

Phew. That was a lot to say/read! Thanks for staying with me guys. Hope you all had a great week as well. I AM OFF TO VEGAS TODAY AND IN CASE THE CAPITAL LETTERS DON'T TIP YOU OFF, I AM EXCITED. I'll try to post photos on instagram while I'm there!

Linking up with:
Five Things Friday, 
Oh Hey Friday
Friday Favourites

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Travel & Fashion: Portland

Shirt: Express, last season. This season's here
Jeans: Old Navy (my fav jeans- they're such a good fit!) 
Runners: Champion (these are the most comfy runners I've ever had.
They have weird cushioning that feels amazing)

I am so excited to share my recent trip to Portland with you guys! As you know if you read my blog post here, I road tripped down to Portland for 4 days for my birthday last week. It was my first time in Portland and I had such an incredible time. Our first stop as soon as we arrived in town was Powell's. Powell's is the LARGEST BOOKSTORE IN THE WORLD! It is an entire city block in size and they have maps for you when you enter! We spent 3.5 hours here! :O haha

Hat: Borrowed from a friend (thanks Lauren!) Similar: here
Romper: Forever 21 (in store) Similar: here
Jacket: Old. Similar: here and love this fitted one here
Monogrammed Purse: Marley Lilly
Flats: Old. Similar: here and here

Life rule: never leave a criminal lawyer alone in the crime section of a book store. ... I couldn't help getting ALL of these books!!

After working up an appetite book shopping for so long we went to Pok Pok for some amazing Thai food. It was probably the BEST Thai food I have ever had (...and that includes when I was actually in Thailand!) This is definitely a "must do" if you are in Portland!

Later that first night we went to Hopworks Urban Brewery. One of the "must do's" when in Portland is checking out some of the (many!) breweries and distilleries. Hopworks was my favourite of the ones we went to - I unfortunately can't drink beer (wheat allergy) but Hopworks also had a Cider which I tried and it was SO good. Not to sweet and not too dry. I highly recommend it. My favourite thing about Hopworks though was just how PORTLAND it was. From the hipster staff & clientele, to the atmosphere, it was just really cool. The best part? They have bikes outside that help provide the ELECTRICITY FOR THE PUB! On it's own, that is a wicked cool idea, but it's even better because for every 15 minutes you bike you get $1 off your beer. If you bike for an hour, that's a free beer! If I lived in the neighbourhood I'm afraid I'd come every night after work for an hour workout that I reward myself for doing by getting an ice cold cider haha.

Next up, we went to Punch Bowl Social which was a ton of fun. If you haven't heard of it before, it is essentially chuckie cheese for grown ups haha. They have a great cocktail menu and a whole slew of fun activities - bowling, karaoke, ski ball and shuffle board (which by the way was SO MUCH FUN. Why is this an old person game?! I want to play this all the time!!) I won at ski ball and shuffle board which is basically the greatest athletic accomplishment I will ever achieve being the completely klutzy, lack-of-any-sport-skill, human that I am sooooo; YAY!

 Ombre Chambray Shirt: Current/Elliott Similar (and under $30) here
Jeans: Old Navy
Flats: Old. Similar: here
Necklace: Aldo

The next day in Portland was my birthday (Wooohooo!) and if you follow me on instagram you'll know that I was surprised with a stay at a really cool hotel for my birthday! The hotel was the Hotel Monaco right in downtown Portland. Let me just say that this was the WEIRDEST (in a good way) hotel I have ever been to! Everything from the crazy room decor (bird wall paper, crazy patterned sheets), to the giant Jenga in the lobby, to the zebra and leopard print bath robes, was wonderfully awesome (and again, oh-so-Portland).  

 *please note the collapsed remnants of a giant Jenga game ... we may or may not have drunkenly partaken in some giant jenga one night...*

 

The hotel also had a bottle of Cava delivered to our room (for free) for my birthday and they even sent a HAND WRITTEN card! It was surprisingly touching (... or I am just a big softie and got overly emotional that the front desk lady actually wrote me a card and signed it!!)

For my birthday dinner we went to Noble Rot where I had one of the best meals I have ever eaten! This restaurant has some of the best city skyline views in all of Portland as well, so it was a beautiful setting for dinner!

One of my favourite (and unexpected!) things from this trip was stumbling across the Oregon Ballet. I LOVE ballet (trained in R.A.D. ballet for years). I didn't plan on going to the ballet (mainly because travelling with a man, so it didn't seem like the best plan haha) but we stumbled across the building one day and I went just to go see the outside and peek in... and I discovered that they were rehearsing inside and that you could see the rehearsal studio from the lobby! I stood and watched a few minutes of it and it was absolutely breath taking.

Overall, as I'm sure you can tell, I had a great trip and really like Portland. Thanks so much for reading my "travel & fashion series"! I hope you enjoyed it and found it informative on things to do (and wear!) in Portland!

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