Twistin' The Night Away

What I Wore:

Shirt: Thrifted

Sweater: Old Navy

Slacks: Joe Fresh

Shoes: Ardene 

There's a line in Sam Cooke's "Twistin' The Night Away" where he says a guy is "dancing with a chick in slacks" and for some reason this outfit reminds me of that. Probably because these aren't really pants, but they are definitely slacks. Every time I wear them I think of that line in the song. While browsing around the internet for pictures of slacks I came across this image which also reminds me of what I am wearing.

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I guess it's the bold print and the bright colours but this outfit really reminds me of the 60s. Ah the 60s, my first love. I grew up listening to music by people like Sam Cooke and Gene Chandler so it's only natural that I would have an affinity for the fashion of the time period too. I remember when Austin Powers came out, not only was it my kind of funny but the fashion was just to die for. Of course now I have branched out a bit and enjoy the early 1800s and anything from about 1870-1970 and, but I think the 60s will always hold a special place in my heart.

Datevitation: A Fun Gift Idea Review & Giveaway

I am very excited to present to you my first ever product review and giveaway! A few weeks ago I was contacted by the online store Datevitation. They were looking into expanding shipping into Canada and offered me a chance to test out their product. I was intrigued so I said yes and began the process of creating my very own Datevitation book.

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Datevitation is a family business run by the husband-wife team of Alex and Olga Karpman. Through their site you can make a coupon book to give to a loved one, there are options for lovers, parents, and even kids. You can also create the books for almost any occasion that you can think of e.g. Christmas, Valentine's, Birthdays, you name it they've got it. Once you have selected who you are going to make your book for you can select the occasion and the cover.

There are lots of covers to choose from in each occasion section as well. 

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I chose to make my book for Colin (of course, haha!). When I got into the book creation section I decided to use our faces, which made the end result extra hilarious and endearing. The next step in the process is to select your date coupons. There are over 500 date ideas to choose from! The entire creation process was really easy and straight forward and I had a lot of fun browsing through the coupon options. Once my book was finished I eagerly awaited it's arrival in the mail.

It took about two weeks for my book to arrive in the mail, which is pretty standard when I order things from the States. It came in this really cute "Surprise!" envelope :)

I really enjoyed the Festivus coupon option. Colin and i love Seinfeld so I thought this was one particularly entertaining. 

I also really liked the video game night.

And the cuddling one.

Now for the extra exciting part! Datevitation is offering one free coupon book to one of my readers! This would make a perfect Christmas present for that special someone. The giveaway will close on Dec. 4th and the winner will be contacted via e-mail within 24 hours. You can enter the giveaway powered by rafflecopter below. And please none of this follow and then leave after the giveaway, follow me if you plan to stick around for a while.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you can't wait to see if you are the winner of the giveaway Datevitation is also offering $10 off the purchase of a book with the special promo code SMASHING10. Books normally start at just $25 so it makes for a thoughtful yet economical gift, but with the promo code plus free shipping (total value of $13.50) you can get this one a one-of-a-kind gift for Christmas starting at just $15! The order cut-off date for guaranteed delivery by Christmas is Dec. 13th, so make sure to get your order in before then!

*Disclaimer: this is a sponsored post for Datevitaion, but I genuinely liked their product and thought it would make a great Christmas or anytime present!*

This One's For You

What I Wore:
Dress: Made by me
Cardi: Smart Set
Socks: Spring
Shoes: Payless
Belt: Reitmans

Their is an interesting story behind this post, so please bear with me on this one. A few weeks ago I was browsing Pinterest as I am wont to do and I saw that my pal Chatter Blossom aka Jamie had posted this picture on one of her boards.

I was really excited because this is the image that I based my thesis dress off of, the one that I am wearing in this post. When I was doing research for my thesis paper (which focused on how WWII affected women's fashion) I found this image and just fell in love with it. For our thesis' we had to make a practical portion for the presentation and I chose to make the dress on the left. I left a comment on the picture and told Jamie this and then tried to find an image of me wearing it on my blog. I quickly discovered I had never worn the dress on here before! I was a little surprised by this and vowed to do an outfit post in the future so that I could show her my re-production. So Chatter Blossom, this one's for you. 

P.S. I have another very exciting post coming this afternoon so please come back and check that out!  

Cat Glasses Sweater Re-Vamp

 A few weeks ago Talize had a 50% off sale that unfortunately I couldn't go to because I had to work.

Luckily my sister got me this awesome sweater and a few other things.

 Once I had the sweater in my hot little hands I noticed that it was missing a few buttons. 

 Sad face.

 Then I had a brilliant idea. 

 I have a ridiculous number of buttons in my stash, I was certain I could find a good set to use, and I was right. I bought these awesome cat glasses buttons at Nova in the summer but I didn't have any use for them until now.

 First I removed all of the old buttons except for the top one. I only had six buttons and the sweater required seven, so I decided to leave the top one on. 

 Then I sewed on the new buttons using some buttonhole twist/cobain thread. It's heavy thread that tends to hold up better than the regular stuff does. I find that buttons are always the first thing to fall off, so I make sure I secure them really well.

 And easy peasy lemon squeezy, I have a new awesome sweater that is ready to wear! 

In case you were wondering why the last picture is only a torso shot, I was too lazy too take a proper outfit picture because the camera was set up to photograph my judy (mannequin). Yup, that's how I roll.

Remixxxxed Skirt

What I Wore:

Shirt: Thrifted

Sweater: Thrifted

Skirt: Made by me (no pattern)

Tights: Joe Fresh

Shoes: Ardene 

I really like this look. I know I wear this skirt a lot on here (at least it seems like that to me), but it goes with so many things. A lot of fashion bloggers that I follow somehow manage not to wear the same thing multiple times, or they do special "remix" posts. Sometimes I wish I had enough clothes to be able to wear different things all the time. Unfortunately I don't have the money to spend on buying new clothing all the time, and that seems a little bit wasteful when you can mix and match items to make new outfits. That's another reason why I like thrifting and making things because you can get something that is unique and that you can match with other things in your wardrobe.  

With the move quickly approaching (two weeks!), packing and such things are happening at a decent pace. And by decent, I mean I have one box packed at my parents (full of clean sheets), but have managed to sort through all of my school papers and and everything else in my room and came away with a ridiculous amount of recycling and things to donate. Also, the day after we move Colin's sister is hosting a clothing swap. I am really excited for it, and it actually is coming at a perfect time because I already had to sort through my clothes before we moved anyway. I will be definitely sharing pictures from it afterwards, even if I don't come home with anything. Other than the hustle and bustle that surrounds a big move, there is not much else going on. I have started watching the X-Files and am really enjoying it so far. I never realized how many people started there careers on there. Last night I watched and episode with Jack Black! I was really afraid of that kind of stuff as a child, but am just starting to get into it now. It took me forever to be able to watch Buffy, and that's pretty tame in comparison. I am glad I have grown out of that phase though because there are some great sci-fi/horror shows out there.

Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

What I Wore:
Shirt: Oblige

Skirt: Made by me (no pattern)
Tights: Joe Fresh
Socks: Spring
Boots: Golden Ponies

I have been really enjoying skater skirts lately. I made that black one that I wear on here a lot (too much?)  a while ago and have since made two more, this blue one and a nice grey one. I have recently been buying up remnants and making super quick skirts with them too. Usually I am not into suede, but this particular group of suede was was very soft and light and I absolutely loved the colour. I love the way red and blue look together, so very nautical. I'm not sure why but I also kind of felt like a super hero in this outfit. Yup.

Planning the move has been going along at a good pace so far. We have a date picked that works for everyone, we have a truck booked, and our electricity should be set up for us when we get there. I was extremely shocked and annoyed when I found out that they charge you a deposit fee on top of the installation fee when you set up a new electricity account. I mean I figured they would charge you an installation, fee, but a deposit too? They wanted us to pay $240 if we couldn't get a letter of reference from the people we used in Halifax. Luckily Nova Scotia Power had us on file still and we were just under the cut off date to use them *phew*. I feel like everybody wants to charge you for anything they can these days. We still have to set up the internet and then the place is all set for us to move in. Now we just need to start collecting boxes from our respective work places and actually pack. I really hate packing, and we are amalgamating two households, but we still have three weeks so I am going to take my time. I get stressed out so easily, I need to make sure I just relax and hopefully the actual day will go smoothly. Does anyone have any moving tips and or tricks to share?

Moving Out And Up

What I Wore:
Dress: Old Navy
Cardi: Suzy Shier
Socks: ??
Boots: ModCloth

I return after another brief hiatus with excellent news! After much hunting and some unpleasantness, Colin and I have found an apartment! We applied earlier this week and found out yesterday that we have been approved! We are going to sign the lease tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited. The apartment is on the top floor of an old Victorian house close to the downtown core. It is in a great location, in between each of our respective sets of jobs, and a little more unique than your standard apartment building. I was really hoping that we would find something that suited us (and our pocketbooks) since this is our first real place together. I mean we lived in an apartment in Halifax, but this seems different somehow. We probably won't be moving in right on Dec. 1st because someone still lives there until the end of the month and the landlady wants to do some minor repairs before we move in. We will most likely move in the following weekend if everything works out, we'll find out tomorrow when we go to talk to her. I am super excited and can't wait to do some decorating and homey type stuff.

I am also excited to break out these boots again! They have been biding their time in my closet since spring, but now it is their time to shine. If you have been around here for a while you might know that I am hard on shoes and it's hard for me to find shoes that fit/last, so I am really happy to be able to bring these into their second winter season. Not that it's winter here yet, but it's coming, oh it's coming. Late fall is as good a time as any to start breaking them in again.