Vegas - Do's and Dont's

I can't believe it has already been a month since my girls trip to Vegas!! It was the best trip of my life so far - even better than The Yacht Week last summer which was pretty darn amazing. With this trip it just seemed that at every turn Vegas managed to out-Vegas itself - everything was bigger, louder & crazier than I could have imagined. For today's post I thought I'd give you a mini recap of my trip (according to my iPhone).
We arrived in Vegas Friday evening and went straight to check in to our hotel. We stayed at the Monte Carlo, which was perfect. We wanted to be right on the strip - and near all the hotels we wanted to go to (since literally going to a club in the hotel right next door can be a 20 min walk since the hotels are so massive!). Monte Carlo is a bit older (so fit within our price range!) but still had the central location.



** I couldn't resist snapping a pic of our "shoe collection". The 4 of us girls went CARRY ON on this trip and still managed to produce this many shoes. We are basically packing ninjas**

**Outside our hotel**


As soon as we checked in we got our butts to OMNIA night club at Caesars Palace. OMNIA was a really interesting club. We got taken straight to one of the booths on the top level and spent the night partying there. The actual club is on multi-levels with this big moving chandelier type thing in the middle. Armin Van Buuren was playing the night we went and he was great!

** OMNIA night club** 

Now, the best part of Vegas, in my opinion, are the day parties. Don't get me wrong, the nightclubs are amazing, but I have been to many cities around the world with great nightclubs. What made Vegas unique was the day parties. On Saturday we went to Wet Republic at the MGM Grand. After what was a giant unorganized mess of a "line" trying to get in, the actual pool party was really great. We spent some time in a booth by the main pool, and then the rest of the day in cabana a bit higher up, which was away from the DJ but had it's own mini-pool! Basically a hot tub, but filled with cold water. This cabana set up was probably my favourite of all them. Calvin Harris was the DJ and he was really great.
 

**Outfits: my swimsuit: here, similar body chains: here, here and here **

 

Saturday night we saw the Cirque du Soleil show "Zumanity". ... Funny story, we actually slept through the 7pm show that we had tickets for (... a little too much fun at Wet Republic I guess!) and woke up in a panic at 8pm. Luckily, we went to the box office and they were SO kind and just gave us tickets to the 10pm show instead. The show was really interesting and had some incredible acrobats. I highly recommend it!

After Cirque we went to Hakkasan night club (back at the MGM Grand). This was actually my least favourite night club - it felt very cramped - basically like every night club here in North America. However, Tiesto was DJ'ing and he was absolutely amazing!! Definitely my favourite DJ set from the trip!

Sunday, we went to Encore Beach Club. Again, I absolutely loved the day pool party scene; far more "me" than the club scene I guess. David Guetta DJ'd and he was pretty good. I really liked this club since we spent a lot of time bouncing around between different cabanas.

 ** Encore Beach Club**

 ** Outfit: Swimsuit, very similar: here, Statement necklace, similar: here and here, Sunglasses, similar: here. On Lauren: Swimsuit, similar: here, Sunglasses, here **

Sunday night we went to XS - which has a "Sunday night swim" so the club is set up outside around the pool. It was awesome to be night clubbing but in the fresh, cool air!! Zed, who I had never heard of before, was the DJ. He was a bit too electronic / techno-y for my taste, but it was still fun. The Sunday Night swim at XS was definitely my favourite part of the Vegas trip and I definitely recommend going to this if you are there on a Sunday!




** XS Sunday Night Swim**

Monday, our last day, we just explored the strip! Checked out as many hotel lobbies as we could and even did a bit of gambling! I only play Roulette, but I had SO much fun doing that. I am not much of a gambler as I was only willing to part with $5 for gambling purposes, LOL, but I turned that $5 into $27 so I was deliriously happy!

Overall, the trip was unreal. I laughed more than I ever thought possible, drank a ton, danced even more. 

Some random thoughts & tips if you are heading to Vegas:

1) DON'T bother buying/bringing sunscreen - the pool party clubs have sunscreen in all the cabanas.. and if you/your friends aren't placed in a cabana, I am also told that you can just go to the lost and found and they will give you a lost sunscreen.

2) DO bring your most glam outfits. It is absolutely normal to wear heels and a statement necklace with your bikini while at the pool parties.

3) DON'T plan on more than one club per night. It is just not do-able given how far away the clubs are from each other

4) DO hashtag "vegas" or "lasvegasclub" or other similar things on a social media post when you arrive. Recruiters for the clubs search these and will leave info on different clubs (and how to get on their guest list) on the photo. This is great if you are a Vegas first-timer and don't know any of the recruiters. Trust me, you need a recruiter to get you in the clubs, otherwise you are looking at lineups an hour or longer!

5) DON'T miss out on the pool parties! I swear they are better than the nightclubs!

6) DO take a day to walk the strip going in to a bunch of the hotels lobbies/casinos just to check them out. They truly are stunning. My "must sees" are: Caesar's Palace, the Venetian, Paris, Aria, & Cosmopolitan. 

Linking up with:
casual friday linkup  
fab favourites linkup 
friday favourites link up 
friday finds link party 
let it shine 

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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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Travel & Fashion - Scotland

Happy Thursday readers! Today I wanted to post again about a trip I did last summer. If you've missed my previous travel and fashion posts you can read about my trips to Uganda, Tanzania, Greece & Italy.

I went to Edinburgh with my best friend Sarah. Let me just say right now that Edinburgh is officially my favourite city in the entire world. I just loved it. The history, the kind people, the organization (..yes, as someone who is extremely type A, the fact that the city is super organized was like crack for me) and even the climate. Being a Vancouver-ite through and through, I didn't mind at all that the weather is pretty rainy. After years in Vancouver I am a PRO at what to wear in a rainy climate so the fashion in Edinburgh was right up my alley!

 As you can see from the above two pictures the fashion was about staying warm and staying dry... with lots of cashmere and plaid. In the top picture I am wearing a 100% cashmere sweater that I got in a local shop in Edinburgh for UNDER 60 DOLLARS CANADIAN. It was the greatest thing. Cashmere is SO cheap throughout Scotland. I also fell in love with the plaid bow headband that you see me wearing in the top picture.. I bought it in three different colours haha.

Cashmere Sweater: Similar: here and here
Plaid Headband: Similar: here and here

 This was probably the coolest part of exploring Edinburgh. This is the coffee shop The Elephant House... which is where J.K. Rowling sat and wrote parts (most?) of Harry Potter. The cafe has lots of dedications in her honor inside and every table is more like a desk in that it has a drawer filled with paper and pens should you wish to write. I was in full on Harry-Potter-Fan-Meltdown-Mode the entire time Sarah and I were there.

The scenery of Edinburgh really is something spectacular. There are castles at every corner and the city is so green and lush. Below are my two favourite 'scenery' pics.

 The Food in Edinburgh was.... odd. I'm not sure I'll ever become a fan of things like Haggis. However, it was cool to try some really crazy stuff like deep fried Mars bars (Sarah and I could barely finish one shared between the two of us) and this AWESOME soda you an see below, called "Irn Bru". Irn Bru is Scotland's own soda pop. It is delicious but, more importantly, I think it is really cool because it is the highest selling soft drink in Scotland - outselling both Coca Cola and pepsi. Apparently, Scotland is the only country in the world that has a different pop that beats out Coca Cola / Pepsi which I just think is really freaking cool.

 This final pic is of Sarah & I right before we did a cool walking tour of the "underground" city of Edinburgh. Overall it was an unreal experience. I highly recommend exploring Edinburgh if you ever have the opportunity! 

Trench Coat: Similar: here and here
My Scarf: Similar: here and here

Sarah's Scarf: Similar: here

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Travel & Fashion - Tanzania

 * The sign in front of my office, wearing one of my custom made office dresses* 

A few years ago now, the summer after first year law school, I had the privilege of going to Tanzania for 3 months to work as an intern at a women's legal aid clinic. The experience was challenging, rewarding, at times terrifying, and a hell of a lot of fun.

I lived and worked in the capital, Dar es Salaam. I rented a small house with 2 other interns in a local neighbourhood (ie. not an expact community). I loved our house, it was bright and vibrant - filled with local artifacts. We also had a rooster that lived in the backyard (I named him George). George was my favourite because he was pretty much incompetent at his only job (being a rooster). He would - without fail - cock-a-doodle-do exactly 20 minutes after the sun rose every morning. As a total non-morning person I friggin loved him. George got me.

* My house *

I loved the work I got to do while in Tanzania, but more than that, I loved meeting and getting to know the phenomenal women I got to work with. From other lawyers, to social workers, to friends working in the peace corps, everyone was so passionate. It was uplifting to say the least.

Ok, I know you are all reading this for fashion too so let me get to that! The fashion in Tanzania was incredible. What many people don't know is that Tanzania is quite the mix of traditional East African culture and Indian culture. There is a large and vibrant Indian diaspora community in Tanzania. It creates, in my opinion, a culture and life that is really unique to Tanzania. By way of fashion, there are many Kangas and Katenges (traditional Tanzanian fabrics) with bold and bright patterns, but, there are also traditional indian garments such as Sari's.

I was lucky enough to live and work primarily in Dar, but I also spent a lot of time with friends in a nearby village called Bagamoyo. The town is home to an amazingly talented seamstress who made me a number of beautiful pieces of clothing. 

Living in Tanzania for as long as I did there was no doubt that I needed to get appropriate clothing for different local functions. Let me tell you, I did NOT have to be asked twice to "Go get traditional clothing made" haha. I jumped at the opportunity. Below are photos of me with my colleagues in a number of the dresses and outfits I had made.

See what I mean about bright and bold colours?! To me, the whole country just exudes vibrance. Below are a few photos that my dear friend Hannah took that I think really illustrate this: 

The other AMAZING part about Tanzania that I have to tell you about is the Safari that I took in Ngorongoro National Park just outside Arusha, Tanzania. An African Safari was something that was on my bucket list, and to be honest I am still in shock that I was able to cross it off my list. My safari was everything I ever could have imagined and more. My roomate/colleague Madison and I did a 4 day safari where we slept in tents RIGHT ON THE SERENGETI ... literally no fences, no nothing, just us plunked down in the middle of the wilderness. 

*Madison and my tent- day one*

*Going on safari in our 4X4. Madison and I met up with two American guys also wanting to do a safari, so we joined up with them and spent our days in this 4x4 watching the animals together* 

I couldn't believe how many animals we saw on safari, nor how close we were to them. In particular I had, shall we say, a "situation" with a zebra... but I'll tell you about that at the end. First, here are my favourite pictures from my safari:

And last, I leave you with my zebra story (and a favourite Zebra picture). So, it's the middle of the night and I wake up and realize I have to pee. Not an "I can wait till morning pee, but a my-bladder-is-exploding type of pee". I realize that I am going to need to leave the tent in the middle of the night and walk to the nearby outhouse.

On go my boots, on goes my head lamp, unzip goes the tent door, and out I go. Now, being considerate, I decided not to turn my headlight on until I had walked a few steps away from the tent so as to not wake Madison. So, in complete darkness I step one step around the corner of our tent and *BAM* .... I was standing face to face with a ZEBRA. After a solid few seconds of both of us standing there staring at each other frozen, I turned and BOOKED IT the other direction {swearing and screaming like a crazy person, of course}. Thankfully, I made it safely to the outhouse and back to my tent (taking a very long route around Mr. Zebra) without any further incident. All I could think though is; seriously!?! Who the heck RUNS INTO A ZEBRA?!?! The things that happen to me :S, hahaha. 

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