Curacao 2016 - Vacation Recap

Romper c/o

I was SO happy to be posing with giant letters spelling my name haha! My Curacao trip with my mom was a really great trip, and I figured today I would share some of my favorite photos from the trip with you!


Below is my version of a 'photo recap'. I hope you like it! I will be back on Monday with an outfit post AND a blog announcement! If you want to find out in advance what this announcement is, be sure to follow me on twitter and facebook and I will try to announce earlier on there!

One of the greatest things about Curacao was the gorgeous scenery - the beach views were breathtaking (obviously) but I was also so in love with the bold colored buildings. Everything was so bright and happy!

Similar Dress (1), (2) // Sunglasses

As a law nerd, whenever I travel I always try to find the local courthouse and/or prosecutor's office. This gorgeous building is home to the Curacaoan Public Prosecution service. COOL.

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Romper c/o

My mom & I snorkeled a lot. This pic is at my favorite of all the beaches we went to - Playa Lagun.

The crazy cool bridge separating Punda & Otrabanda - the two main parts of downtown. The bridge is on pontoons and swings side to side to let boats through! 

 My favourite restaurant we went to - De Gouverneur. Such a beautiful atmosphere!

My other favorite meal of the trip was in the old marketplace. You sit in cafeteria style seating and they make you whatever they feel like. My mom and I had the amazing meal pictured here, which included African stewed cucumber, papaya & plantains. 

I really liked the work of the local artist Nena Sanchez. Her murals were everywhere!

Nena Sanchez is most famous for her Chi chi dolls which are unique to Curaçao and a celebrated part of the culture. This massive Chi Chi sculpture was on display and I instantly fell in love with it.

Shirt // Sunnies // Nail Polish

Swimsuit Coverup // Similar Sunnies // Similar Ring

My mom and I drank a lot of pina coladas & strawberry daquris during the trip! 

Overall, as you can probably tell, my trip to Curacao was great - and I would highly recommend it!

 
Linking up with: casual friday // fab favorites // friday favorites // fabulous friday // flashback fashion fridays // that friday bloghop // weekend bloghop // 

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Christmas Recap & Best Boxing Week Sale Items!

Welcome back everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas and have enjoyed some time off! As you may remember from this post, I wasn't able to head back to Ontario for the Holidays. Luckily, my friends ensured my Christmas was still pretty amazing!

Be sure to check the bottom of this post to see my round up of the stores with the BEST boxing week sales, as well as my picks for the best items this boxing week!

Christmas Recap:

Christmas Eve I had some friends over for a Christmas feast! (You can see all my recipes on my Pinterest). We had a great time eating, drinking and just catching up.

Christmas morning I woke up bright & early to head to meet my best friend at her parents house about an hour away from me. Christmas morning with her family was the greatest. Her two younger brothers are definitely my "unofficial" brothers, and her parents are so welcoming. After the usual present opening chaos we spent the majority of the day playing games & helping out in the kitchen.

I was meant to stay over Christmas night and spend boxing day there as well but - surprise! - my 17 year old nephew texted me at 6pm letting me know that he was stuck in an airport and was going to get sent to Vancouver for a layover. So of course I told him I would come get him when he landed and he could stay with me. He ended up getting in at 1 in the morning, and had to be back at the airport at 7am. We still managed to spend a bit of time catching up, which was great... and definitely made up for being exhausted all of boxing day haha.

After taking my nephew back to the airport I headed back out to my friend's parents. We decided to spend the day making Jelly! Man oh man, was that ever a ton of work. We made both bell pepper jelly & jalapeno lime jelly. We spent the rest of the day/evening playing more board games and then I headed back home. Ps. if you haven't heard of the card game Super Fight you have to check it out. It's pretty darn hilarious.

Whew! What a whirlwind Christmas! I am now back cozy in my home -with the whole day off work, wooohooooo! See you back here on Wednesday! OH, and below are a collection of pictures from my Holidays. I hope you enjoy them!

My Apartment

Christmas Eve with Friends

 The Bestie & I At Her Parents' House

 My Nephew & I
Note how unimpressed he is with me taking a selfie at 2 in the morning...

A little too pleased with ourselves post-making homemade Jelly

My favorite Christmas present - a set of Kate Spade Cutting Boards!

Boxing Week Sales:

Banana Republic: 50% off Sale Items (plus free shipping & returns!)

Sole Society: 50% off Select Shoes, Bags & Accessories

Nordstrom: 50% off Select Items

Forever 21: 75% Off Select Items

Bauble Bar: 60% Off Select Items

J Crew: 50% off Sale Items & 30% off Other (LAST DAY FOR THIS DEAL!!)

Nine West: Up to 50% off 

Le Chateau:  50% off Suit Items!!

Linking up with: OOTD // let it shine // a lovely little a la mode // mix it mondays // sophisticated style // on trend tuesdays // style sessions // tuesday fashion party // confident twosday // trend spin // the mummy chronicles

 

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Christmas Gift Guide: Surviving Last Minute Shopping

Anastasia Brow Kit // Sole Society "Mason" Weekender Bag // Naked Eyeshadow Palette // Watch & Bracelet Set // Quilted Cross Body // Audio Enabled Earmuffs 

Pom Beanie // Ring // Initial Necklace (no longer available at Bloomingdale's, so I've linked it up elsewhere) // Rose Gold Brush Set (also only available elsewhere- but it's linked!) // Infinity Scarf // Similar Pocket Scarf

As a busy woman, I know how hard it can be to find time for things like Christmas shopping. If any of you have left your shopping to the last minute - fear not! It is possible to shop for Christmas gifts at the last minute, and still get excellent gifts that your friends & family will love.

In addition to the above items which all make great gifts, I've got a number of tips for you on how to actually survive shopping for gifts right before Christmas. Here goes:

How to Win at Last Minute Christmas Shopping 

(1) Pick 1 or 2 Stores ONLY
As you can see, my picks above are all from Nordstrom & Bloomingdale's. These are great stores for last minute shopping because of the variety of items available in one store. When you're shopping last minute you do not want to get stuck going to 10 different stores. One-stop shops are the place to be!!

(2) Pick Out Items Online
Shop online to determine what you want to (ideally) get, and arm yourself with a printed list when you actually go to the store. Stores will be crowded, and the last thing you want is to have to aimlessly wander around looking for gift ideas.

(3) Call Stores to Check Availability

Many stores - even during the busy Christmas season - will check stock if you call and give them the product code (that you will have seen during your online research) Better to know in advance if the item you want is available so you can get in and get out and avoid the aforementioned aimless wandering haha.

(4) Call Stores for Holds 

Many stores will put on hold for you the item/items you have called about. Most will keep them behind the counter. This way, you can go straight to the till and not worry about finding things in store! Some stores - like Macy's - even allow you to shop and pay online and just do "pick up" in your local store. This is the biggest time saver there is!

And there you have it!!

 Good luck to everyone with their last minute shopping. And don't forget that it is totally okay to pick up a little something for yourself while you're at it! Personally, I can't get enough of THIS!

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Holiday Office Wear

Blouse // Skirt // Heels // Purse (on CRAZY sale!!) // Necklace // Earrings 

Can you believe it is already the last week of work before Christmas?! I love festive outfits this time of year (as evidence by my instagram lately haha) but it can be hard to do so and still look professional.

This outfit has been my go to this holiday season. I love the red pencil skirt and it's so easy to add a bit of sparkle and get a work appropriate holiday look.

Good luck to everyone in getting through this late week till Christmas! I'm not making it home to Ontario this year (flights were over $1000!) but I am SO lucky to have such great friends that Christmas is still going to be amazing. I'm having two of my closest friends over for Christmas Eve. I'm going to make a proper Christmas dinner (thanks mom for the recipes!) and then we are just going to relax and drink by the fire. Then, Christmas morning I am heading bright & early to my best friend's parents house which is about an hour away. I'll stay up there for a couple days and could not be more excited about it! 

What are your Christmas plans?! 
 
Ps. don't forget to follow along on Facebook & Twitter to see this week's Monday Must Read!

Linking up with: creative mondays // shoe & tell // #howifall // let it shine // beauty by miss l // hello monday  // a lovely little a la mode // sophisticated style // mix it mondays // on trend tuesdays // bloggers who have inspired me // trend spin linkup // style sessions // confident twosday // tuesday fashion party // what i wore // the mummy chronicles // spotlight of the week // thursday fashion files 

 

 

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Office Christmas party

Similar Dress // Blazer // Hat // Similar Boots // Nail Polish

Today I wanted to share with you a holiday party look that is office appropriate. It's hard to know what to wear to a work party - especially if you are in a hyper-male industry like I am. The best advice I ever received was to maintain the same level of 'coverage' as you would in your workplace.

This is obviously different for every woman. I am NOT here to tell others what is appropriate for them; but, if you are someone who would never wear a short skirt to work, don't wear one to the work party! Whatever is appropriate for you for work- stick with that for the work party. Once you have your general fit/coverage idea, look for more sparkly or fun fabrics to make your outfit party ready!

This look is from an outfit post I did last year - I wore this to last year's Holiday party! The shift style and slightly longer length of the dress meant I was covered as much as I am day-to-day;  but the feathery fringe and sequins made it Holiday ready! I also added this menswear style blazer... mostly for warmth! haha

Today is day 4 of our 12 Days of Giveaways (see original post here if you have missed the details!). Today's featured blogger is Jen from Fashionably Employed. Jen, like me, focuses a lot on making her work wear fashionable. She also focuses on finding companies with sustainable business practices - which is really cool to see.

Today's giveaway is in partnership with Bought Beautifully. You can read about their focus on sustainable practices that impacting positive change on their website. They will be giving away a canvas day bag created by Cause Gear. Below are a few of the other items I like from BB. Good luck! 

Tassel Quartz Necklace // Leather Tote // Utensil Set // Pillow

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Linking up with: casual friday // fab favorites // flashback fashion friday // fabulous friday // forage fashion // friday favorites //style files  // style saturday // shoe & tell // trend spink linkup  // fashion love letters
// #wiwt

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