Merry Christmas!

erry Christmas to all my readers! And sorry I've been away. I've been extremely tired… the reason being I'm 2 months pregnant! My due date is on July 20. That's my son's birthday! Isn't it strangely ironic? I was tired during my 1st pregnancy in my first trimester, but this is at a brand new level. I just can't seem to stay awake past 3pm. It's supposed to go away once I enter my second trimester, but I'm just so exhausted.

Anyways, I'm just starting to tell my family and friends. Oh, and the silly photo up top? It's me and my friends a few days back. My friend Julie, bottom right, invited us to her new house for a housewarming slash Christmas dinner. She bought an older house and gutted it top to bottom. She just moved in 2 weeks ago. I think her kitchen turned out beautifully. It kind of makes me want to renovate mine. I hate my kitchen. However, we're planning to renovate our basement in the spring. I'm excited for that. I have all these ideas in my head on how I want to do it.

Although she had a lot of clutter on the counterop it still looked good because the finish in her kitchen
was so nice.

She has a galley kitchen that is really big. I think she knocked down a wall to make it bigger.
My dream kitchen is an all-white kitchen with white Quartz countertops and an apron sink. I also love
the look of white subway tiles. Oh, and I would hang industrial pendant lighting over the kitchen island.
Love! However, my husband likes the dark kitchens.

Julie also made us a fabulous dinner. We started off with homemade mushroom soup and phyllo
pastries.

We also had a delicious salad with sweet onion dressing.

I think Julie's husband's family is from Jamaica so she served us jerk chicken. It was sooooo good.

We also had stuffing. In the background is her homemade (or what's left of it) artichoke/spinach
dip with baked pita chips. They were my favourite. I'm trying to get the recipe.

Amrita Singh from Enviius & a vintage necklace

apologize for the lack of updates. I've been extremely sick the past 2 weeks and I've been super busy at work. I'm still not feeling myself, but I thought I would share with you my Amrita Singh haul that I got 2 weeks ago from Enviius. I usually order my Amrita Singh jewelry from Hautelook, but I recently came across a Canadian online store that worked in the same way as Hautelook. I decided to give it a try. I figured I would get the order quicker. Well, let me say that I'm never ordering from Enviius again! As soon as I put my order in I didn't even get an update for a week to say that they shipped out my order. Instead, I had to email the customer service to find out what the status on my order was. One thing I like about Hautelook is that their website gives you a step-by-step look on where your order is at. You can see when Hautelook receives the items from the vendor to when it processes/ships out to when it's delivered to your door. Enviius didn't do that. Plus, it took the customer service person almost a week to get back to me. Then, they kept saying that their warehouse didn't get the Amrita Singh order and I had to wait another week or so. When it finally did arrive I got an email from them that my order was shipped. So I assumed all the pieces I ordered had shipped. Unfortunately I only got 2 things out of the 3 pieces that I ordered. The missing item (my favourite one too at that) said it was 'short shipped'. I had to email customer service again and it took them another few days to get back to me. Basically they said that the item I ordered was no longer available (what the hell!) and that I would get a refund on my credit card. It took another week for that credit to go back to my account. I'm so disappointed with this whole experience that I don't think I'll ever order from Enviius again.
However, I thought I would share with you the pieces that I did get.

This is the Erivor necklace. I do love this necklace. It's very heavy and makes a lot of noise when
I wear it, but it's such a statement necklace. 

I wore it once this week. I was in such a rush to get out the door that I'm not in love with my whole
outfit choice. 

I do love the layered look to this necklace.

Overall, I'm happy with this one.

The Clara earrings were a total miss for me. They are HUGE.

Look at it against my hand. It looks ridiculous on my ear. 

Plus the back are clip ons, not post back. I'm still debating how to pull this off. I might give this one
away. I'm so sad that I didn't get the other pair of earrings. I was looking forward to that one. ;-(

On a happier note, I bought a vintage necklace on eBay today. I only got it for $25 (that includes shipping!). It's much cheaper than some of the jewelry pieces that you see in stores and the one I got looks like it's really good

quality. The necklace is 20" in length.

Look how many layers of chain it comes with.

Sephora VIB event + Lush

esterday was the beginning of Sephora's 4-day VIB event.
I invited my non-VIB friend because the coupon I had allowed me to give my friend the same discount. It was my first VIB event ever so I didn't know what to expect. And boy, was I surprised. I mean, if it was a 50% off event I can understand the amount of people that were at the store, but it was only 20% off. The store was literally packed in every inch of space that they had. The lineup for the checkout went around the perimeter of the store. And yet, I decided to stay because I really wanted this one particular item- the ghd straightening iron. I knew it was expensive ($225CAD a pop) and I would never get it for full price. This was my only chance to pick it up with some sort of discount. While I was looking at it there were several other girls that wanted it too. They ended up taking the last 2 boxes that were out. It was the ghd Classic 1" Styler. I asked the Sephora SA to check the back for more and to my delight she brought several boxes out- 1 including a limited edition Scarlet Collection. The SA told me that the Scarlet Collection came with a heat protectant bag, 2 clips and a limited edition look, but for the same price as the regular Classic 1" Styler. When I checked the Sephora (USA) website it says it's a $270 value for $225USD. That's in USD. Usually the Canadian price is so much more. So I was happy that the Scarlet Collection was $225CAD. I got the last box of the Scarlet Collection and my friend got the regular box, but she would be paying the same as me without all the bells and whistles that mine had.

We got this Sephora tote bag. I don't care for this bag. It's just a plain tote bag.

While I was at the checkout a SA was giving out samples. I got the Dr. Brandt Dark Circles Away
Collagen Eye Serum. 

I also got a sample of the Ole Henriksen Truth Serum. I have tried a sample of this in the past, but
didn't love it.

And now I present to you my ghd Scarlet Collection. The box was different than the classic ghd box.

Inside the box was a hot pink bag.

The bag has a magnetic closure and when you open it it unrolls into a mini mat and it reveals
another travel-sized pouch.

The mini mat is heat resistant so you can rest your hair iron and it won't burn.

The travel pouch can detach itself from the mat with these snaps that are on both the mat and the
travel bag.

The straightener comes with a cap that is safe to put on even right after you turn off your iron.
The regular ghd doesn't come with this cap.

The plate of my ghd is also in the limited edition colour- red. The regular one is in a gold/beige colour.

Here is the plug. The actual plug comes with a plastic protector. 

It also has these safety buttons. I have to press the red button after I plug it in my socket to turn
my ghd on.

The travel pouch has 2 compartments and 1 came with 2 hair clips.

This is the close-up of the bag.

Next I went to Lush to pick up Ocean Salt. I heard great things about this product and I was able to
test it out at the store. It is AMAZING! It's a face and body scrub and I'm planning to use it on my face
twice a week.

I bought the smaller tub for $19.95CAD. The larger one was $34.95CAD? That was a better deal, but
since this was my first time trying it I wanted to get the smaller tub.

The back of the tub has a sticker with the person who made the batch of Ocean Salt. My friend also
got the same thing and hers had a different person on her tub.

You have to stir the mixture before using it.
I used this on my face this morning and I just massaged it on my face in circular motions and my skin
feels so soft and nice. It smells really nice too like coconut and lime.

I also picked up a cleanser called Herbalism. I have combination to oily skin and my face has been
extremely sensitive and acne prone lately. I plan on using this every day.

It doesn't look pretty and smells a little vinegar-y, but I have high hopes for this. 

Fall wardrobe

was in a bit of a shopping mood last Friday so I went out during my lunch break to do a little shopping. It was such a stressful time at work and I needed something to cheer me up. What I needed desperately this season was a nice pair of black, flat boots. I didn't want anything too trendy. Just something practical and more importantly- comfortable. My first stop was The Bay. I have been impressed with The Bay lately because the new (ish) president and CEO, Bonnie Brooks, has really transformed it into more of a hip department store. They are carrying younger brands and somewhat hard-to-find brands in Canada- Halston Heritage, See By Chloe and Chloe, Sam Edelman (shoes), Dolce Vita (shoes), and many more. That's not including 'The Room' which is a new concept department that carries uber high-end designers- Proenza Schouler, Alaia, Barbara Bui, Roland Mouret, just to name a few.
I had tried on a pair of Enzo Angiolini riding boots last time I was in the shoe department at The Bay (when I was buying my Top Shop cosmetics) and fell in love with it. I was in such a rush last time so I didn't end up buying it, but this time I really wanted to take my time to look around. I did see the Enzo boots, but they were expensive- $300. The leather was also so soft and delicate that I was afraid that I was going to ruin them right away. I then spotted these Dolce Vita boots that had more of a pebbled leather and looked more casual because of the motorcycle style. When I looked at the price tag I was pleasantly surprised. They were originally $210CAD, but it was on sale for $165CAD. Plus, I was going to redeem my HBC Rewards to get an extra $30 off. And here they are:

These are called the Zela boots in black. They are soooooo comfortable.

The back has zippers going all along the top and bottom and there are buckles near the top
and at the ankles.

Here is the logo.

I then stopped at H&M to buy some socks. These pack of 3 caught my eye. The patterns were so
cute- well, on 2 of them at least. The last one is just a plain, heather gray.

These socks are long and really thick. They are perfect for the harsh Canadian winter and perfect
to wear under my new boots. They were $12.95CAD for 3.

Here I am sporting the boots. They are so cute with leggings and I don't have a problem squeezing
into it as I have big calves. I don't even have to unzip the zippers at the back. 

Here they are from the side.

At H&M I couldn't just buy the socks. I got this jersey top in a dark nude colour. It also came in cream
with the gold neckline, but I have lots of cream-coloured tops.

The neckline is my favourite feature with the knitted glittery material. 

I love this sweater! It's so soft and although it's shorter in length than many sweaters I own I think
it'll look so good with skinny jeans.

I love the beading near the neckline.

And here I am wearing with skinny jeans and my new Dolce Vita boots.

A close-up. I got lots of compliments when I wore this to work the other day. This was $39.95CAD.

This was my bargain find. I got this for $14.95CAD! It's a beautiful pleated skirt in gray. It's
showing up more taupe, but it's a light gray.

I wore the skirt with ankle booties and a motorcycle jacket to give it more of an edge. You wouldn't
believe how many compliments I got on this skirt. If you can still find this skirt you should go
out and get this ASAP!