Oh man – this past weekend was a fun one! I had the pleasure of celebrating a stagette Salsa style!!!
The Lula Lounge (Dundas W/Duffrin Sts) in Toronto has a number of party packages, which makes celebrating a special event easy-peasy.
A gaggle of us -some more tipsy than others- with flowers in hair and penis-staws in hand …. visit my Instagram for that one friends 😉 … arrived for dinner (any appetizer + any main + any dessert), a beginner salsa lesson and then got to dance the night away to three sets by the live salsa orchestra (with a DJ in between sets.) And before the night was done, we were served up a round of Blushing Bride shooters!!! T.R.O.U.B.L.E. 😀
My Entree: Red Snapper over Polenta, with zucchini-corn-bean salad ~~~~~ My Dessert: Poached Pear. Delish!
Much thought had to be given to outfit choice for the evening. The MOH (matron of honour) assured us that there was no ‘theme’ requirement in the dress-code for the party she had planned, which naturally translated to:
Saturday Night Titty CityAttirewas encouraged and welcomed!!! 😛
I couldn’t find a hot pink hair flower …so feathers had to do 🙂
‘The Girls’, who too often are forced into hiding in an effort of making others more comfortable in their presence, extra precautions always need to be taken to keep them at demure levels of exposure.
But not tonight.
Tonight, “Thelma & Louise” (aka…’The Girls’) were coming out!!! STAND BACK!
All Black Everything – jumpsuit style!!!
The pants are a bit on the long side on my 5’2 bod. So this outfit only really works with a significant heeled shoe.
I picked up these black booties recently – while in search for sandals for my upcoming Asian Adventure – from Payless on sale for $33 and they work perfectly.
Now, I bought this all-black jumpsuit online, from Reitmans, just after Christmas. Buuuuuuut due to the amount of boobage I’ve avoided wearing it much. This one-piece has a sexy deep-v, back tie-up belt and nice broad sleeveless-shoulders to hide a supportive bra – requirement for fast paced salsa dancing.
And….there are pockets!!! Perfect for lip gloss, iPhone, credit card & ID. BOOM!
End of the night outfit shot — bridesmaids came to my hair flower aid 🙂
How I Got The Look: Black jumpsuit fromReitmans;Black booties from Payless; Necklace from SexyPlus Clothing; Earrings from Aldo; Hot pink feathered headband, gifted.
Salsa dancing with the Bride-To-Be + general stagette shenanigans. Fab Fun Saturday Night!
Now I wasn’t always a fan of the plus-sized jumpsuit. For more jumpsuit action on the blog ….click here and here and here.
In an effort to keep my 2015 promise to myself to Shop Less, and Travel More … I’ve taken the bulk of March off work to explore South-East Asia.
In my last post, I reviewed the 5 essential things to know before you go ….the importance of planning BEFORE a big trip. I’m happy to report that I’ve been able to book all my flights, determine a budget for the overall trip, topped up my travel insurance, and have made an appointment for all necessary vaccinations with a travel clinic for early next week (giving me plenty of time to begin any early doses of meds, if required). I’m feeling pretty accomplished friends. 🙂
Now, the big question remains … WHERE the heck am I going?
The Huffington Post recently put out an article entitled: The Top 50 Cities To See In Your Lifetime. I’m sad to report that I’ve only been to 8 out of these 50 cities so far. Buuuuuut…come March 2015, I’ll be able to check off #26 from this list!
DESTINATION #1: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur
This is the capital and most populous city in Malaysia. The main religion there is Islam, with significant Buddhist, Hindu and Christian minorities. With tropical super-summer-heat weather from March through to July. I’ve gotta keep both of these elements in mind when coming up with outfit choices.
Sadly, there won’t be any major festivals being celebrated while I’m there. This is the first destination of this trip as I’m meeting a gf of mine who currently lives there. Once I’ve recovered from the 29-hour flight there (yup…29-hours of solo travel – two stopovers – ew! That’s what you get when you book big travel on points friends.) After taking a few days to adjust to the time difference, she and I will head off together to ………….
DESTINATION #2: Boracay, Philippines
Boracay Island
This is a small and most famous island in the Philippines – known for its beautiful beaches, and pricey resorts, with a major party scene. Woot! Woot! We’ve decided to book a more modest hotel for the bulk of our stay here, but do a two-day splurge-o at a fancy spot before we depart.
Thinking I might even don my very first bikini on this beach …let’s see if my online order arrives on time…and if my body confidence is at an all time high by then. The main religion here is Roman Catholic, so I’ll fit right in – catholic guilt and all 😉
DESTINATION #3: Hội An, Vietnam
Hội An
Our last trip will be to this historic Old City in Vietnam, with a unique mix of Japanese, Vietnamese, and European influences. Turns out, there’s a community of swing dancers out here and they are hosting a dancing weekend while I’m there!!!
VLX – Vietnam Lindy Exchange, is a fun weekend of Swing dance exchange hosted by Saigon Swing Cats annually since 2009 in different towns in Vietnam. (Mui Ne, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Saigon).
2015 VLX – Swing Dancers Nationality
Apparently for the first time in the history of the VLX, this year, the Vietnamese represent less than 10% of the dancers. We have signed ourselves up for the full weekend – which means we don’t have to do much research for hotels – yay! I’m also determined to find a fab tailor to make me some custom threads too while we’re in Vietnam, I just hope there’s enough time.
There you have it folks – high level overview of where and what I’m planning on doing in South-East Asia. Weeeeeee! Writing this post has been super helpful – It’s really REAL now and I’m getting excited.
Full Disclosure: I’m freaking out!!!
This will be the first time I’m flying completely solo — I’m a nervous flyer in general, and these multiple connections I’ve gotta do alone is making me very anxious. Plus, don’t the airplanes of Malaysia have a recent history of disappearing all together!?!?!? 😮
Packing right is going to be incredibly important. With all my many flights and connections, I’ve decided NOT to check any luggage. Which means, I’ve gotta come up with 22 days worth of outfits that are cultural respectful, yet summertime comfortable that fits into 1 piece of carry-on only … yikes!
That’s gonna be challenging. Stay tuned for my next post where I’ll cover just that friends. Dun dun dunnnnnnn…
What are the MUST pack vs. Nice-to-pack items that YOU’D recommend I take along with me for this upcoming adventure friends? Would love your packing tips and thoughts and tricks — leave them in the comments below.
With project deliverables and timelines being pushed back, October was the first time I’ve been able to schedule a vacation all year!
The biggest pain with travelling solo is the ‘single supplement fee” many vacation destinations and travel packages charge travellers simply because they’re travelling solo. I had no real plans to go away this year, but not taking any time off since last November was starting to take its toll on me.
Luckily, a gf of mine was also looking to get away for some R&R…and we were able to snag a fabulous Air Canada Vacation deal at a 4-stars ALL INCLUSIVE 7-night stay at a beautiful resort in Grenada! TripAdvisor scored it pretty well, the dates worked and the price was right!
If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ve likely already seen a few of these pics…
Our 1st day in Grenada – complete with rainbows, drinks, sand & sunset!
The last few years of trips and travel have been more bucket-list-adventure focused (click here to see what I mean).
For this trip, I truly was a beach bum! There was a lot of lounging around the pool, drink in hand, reading my book while falling in & out of naps in the sun. To be honest friends, there weren’t too many outfit pictures taken on this week away. It was a SOLID rest and relaxation for the first time in a long time (vacation-wise).
Having said all that, this blogpost will be focus more on ‘What I Did”, rather than “What I Wore”.
Here we go….
Packing for the Trip
Seems that whenever I travel, somehow a pair of sunglasses goes missing. No matter what. So, I’ve gotten into the routine of buying a few ‘cheapy vacation pairs’ to combat my forgetfulness.
I picked up these three below: Heart shaped polka-dots from Clare’s Accessories ($5) and the other two from Forever21 ($7 each)
Packing outfits for this trip was pretty simple: I just looked back to the blog to see what Summertime looks I rocked and shoved those items into my suitcase. I’ve linked each image below with their respective blogpost if you’re curious about the specific outfit deets 😉
Grenada is an island country consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea. Known as the Spice Isle for the nutmeg and cinnamon, clove, ginger, vanilla, lemongrass, bay leaf, thyme, and turmeric that grow so abundantly here, Grenada is a wonderfully green peaceful place, that feels off the beaten tourist track. Which totally works for me!
The Vacation Package (Flight + Hotel)
As I said above, we found a last-min deal with Air Canada Vacation — advertised as a 4-star resort in Grenada: Grenadian by Rex Resorts.
Let me start by asking … when YOU hear 4-stars, what do you expect out of an ALL INCLUSIVE resort?
The ‘Garden View’ Rooms weren’t anything special. They were clean and the view really wasn’t a garden so much as it was a hilly batch of grass. But who cares about that stuff. My biggest disappointment was the fact that the bathroom was teeny-tiny and did not have a tub. Now, I realize that a tub isn’t essential….however the standup shower was soooo small that if you were to drop the soap, your bare ass would be completely out of the shower! Shaving ones legs all week in there was not easy friends.
Seriously!? 4-stars and I have to ASK for a four-piece bathroom – really? Just saying’…
This was the width of the shower. Zero place to put your toiletries, soap, shampoo, etc. It was Ridiculous!The width of this shower … it was tight. 4-stars…I think NOT!
Outside of that bathroom disappointment, there weren’t any a la cart restaurants voucher included with our stay. The single restaurant on the resort grounds would give us a $40 credit, which didn’t mean much as each entrée started at the $80+ mark.
Lucky for us the buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinners were delicious! Super flavourful and authentic, which I appreciated. Hate it when resorts make their foods more “tourist friendly”.
The grounds of the resort were beautiful. There was only one pool, but since it was a off-season, there weren’t too many people there in general, and even fewer children. There seemed to be a lot of travellers from the UK there, but mostly honeymooning couples or retirees with tons of vacay time (upwards of 5-weeks). We did meet and hang with three Brit dudes that week – let’s call them Alvin, Simon and Theodore. And by mid-week there was an invasion of Caribbean Tennis Pros who happened to be conference at our resort. So there were plenty of friends to be made for drinking and dining with, all week-long 🙂
Things To Do in Grenada:
Coincidentally, earlier in the month I met a light-eyed, broad, tall, handsome stranger at a networking event who happened to be from Grenada. My immediate thoughts were…”If THAT’S how they grow their men in that country, then I need to get to there!’ 😉
He shared the following list of things I HAD to do while visiting (those listed in blue consider them completed off the list):
Eat Oil Down – traditional dish of Grenada, its delicious!
Try to visit Cariacou (one of Grenada’s sister Islands, the other is Petite Martinique). I believe there is a ferry service daily
Fort Fredrick (and old Fort built by the French in the 1790s i believe). One of the best views on the island!
Concord Falls
BEACHES – Grand Anse (Grenada’s “top” beach), BBC (nice and secluded. this is my favourite), Bathway (stay within the retaining wall area, the sea is very rough but manageable as long as you stay within that area), Levera (very rough water where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic. Also where the Leatherback Turtles come to lay their eggs. you might just want to take a walk along that beach if you’re not a strong swimmer. Bathway is around the corner, so you can always take a dip there), Pink Gin Beach (pinkish colour sand),Magazine Beach(I think my hotel was on might this beach)
River Antoine Distillery (organic white rum, Full Strength!! lol)
Sulphur Springs (great mud bath, close to Levera and Bathway)
Fish Friday in Gouyave
Things I DID in Grenada:
Great beaches, excellent Caribbean food and wonderful people. I’m told there is really good scuba diving (I’m a non-swimmer, but an excellent wader! I did manage to convince one of the wait staff to procure a noodle just for me to use ALL week for both the pool & beach. Seems I’m an excellent sweet-talker … especially in my bathing suit 😉
Leapers Cliff
Concord Falls
Check out this Jumper!! I tried capturing his jump shot-by-shot until the SPLASH!
Nutmeg Processing Plant
Crater Lake
Rum Factory
River Antoine Distillery (organic white rum, Full Strength!!) One of the last places if not the last, that uses a water wheel in the distilling process, a system that goes back to the 1700’s and I believe the wheel they have running there is the original one from that time.
Fish Friday
Fish Friday in Gouyave – a weekly street party with lots of FRESH fish and seafood cooked up in a variety of ways plus music and other entertainment.
And one morning I even woke up bright and early for Bird Watching (yup…you heard me right).
I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed it too. 🙂
Things I BOUGHT in Grenada
I did very little shopping while I was there. I did bring back with me bars of Grenada’s finest dark chocolate from both Jouvay and The Grenada Chocolate Company. AND a bottle of the fantastic West Indian hot sauce. As you can see I’ve used much of it already since being home. I’m a fan – the spicier the better 😉
Oh! And I bought a bottle of Rum Punch from the factory too…no pictures of that…. **hiccup**
There it is … my 2014 vacay summary recap. With Winter weather upon us, some of you may be looking for a sunny vacation destination to get away to. Having read my post, would Grenada be on your shortlist?
SWING OUT TO VICTORY! is an annual dinner-dance held at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. You don’t need to be a dancer! There are tons who come out just go to absorb the experience in a great museum setting with people dressed in their vintage finery.
The superb Toronto All-Star Big Band performed nostalgic tunes from the 1930s and 40s all night underneath the famous Avro Lancaster (last in Canada) – the main focus of the event.
This was going to be my first ‘away’ dance … and I was excited to get all decked out in ALL of my 1940s gear!
Finding vintage plus-sized pieces hasn’t been too easy. But I did have some luck at this Spring’s Toronto Vintage Clothing Show, where I picked up this floral belted day-dress, along with these new-vintage (i.e. never been worn) Celebrity bow-tie heels. The white gloves are from 69Vintage, and the purse was a vintage gift (thanks JJ!). The only non-vintage piece was my fascinator, which I picked up from the Your Big Sisters Closet.
In an effort to make this dress more ‘1940s evening appropriate’ … I was on the hunt for a fur stole. Lucky for me, my vintage loving friends (thanks Erin & Joy) discovered that The Public Butter (a vintage shop on WQW) had a ton of them for sale!
I picked up this beautiful mink fur with a patterned, in perfect condition, lining for only $40!
The beautiful vintage mink fur stole I picked up – in mint condition from The Public Butter, $40!
The hair is always my biggest challenge. Liz, of The Vintage Inn, gave me a great easy tip and I was able to create this vintage back-roll…which held up pretty well all night!
A gaggle of us carpooled our way just outside of Hamilton, in our 40s finest …. stopping to have dinner at Swiss Chalet, we be Klassly like dat….yup – classy with a ‘k’. And then we were off to dance among the planes with uniformed men 🙂
Lovely 1940s fashions, airplanes and furs with some fabulous ladies! Special thanks to Erin for bringing along her camera to capture some of these fab snaps!A little sweaty faced after all the dancing
At some point in the middle of the fantastic night, a delightful lady handed me a card and said I was her choice for “Best Dressed” of the evening…and would be called up on stage for the competition! Woot! Woot!
Geez…check out my Best Dress competition – 7 ft tall goddess with perfect pin-up hair…Best Dress Contestants were me, 7ft pin-up goddess and Winston Churchill
2nd prize winner of a giant basket of goodies for the Best Dressed Contest!Moi – a la 1940s. Photo credit: Shermette … click the link to see her blogpost recap on this event.
Is there a panda behind my head? “I always feel like somebody’s watching me”….Toronto Vintage Society ladies totally ambushed this uniformed crewmen into this shot. He doesn’t seem to mind too much though 🙂
Dancing to the always magically big band music of Toronto All Star Big Band, surrounded by the planes at The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, among veterans and friends dressed in vintage finery and WINNING 2nd place in the best dressed contest ….. what a fantastic night!!! Can’t wait for next year! 🙂
Lindyworks is Toronto Lindy Hop’s annual weekend of workshop wonderfulness! It’s all about Lindy Hop and Vernacular Jazz dancing. Having only begun my own Swing Dancing love affair (began this past spring, click here for that)…. this was my first workshop ever! I was uber nervous about being surrounded by actual dancers for an entire weekend (three days) of solid dance instruction to challenge and inspire dancers during the day and to practice your newly acquired skills at evening parties that feature the best LIVE swing bands.
Here’s the only snap I took during the entire 3-day workshop. Clearly, I was too busy dancing my feet off… 🙂
THE WORKSHOPS:
The organizers of Lindyworks 2014, along with our fantastic guest instructors: Evita Arce & Michael Jagger AND Sylwia Bielec & Alain Fragman Photo credit: KHPhotographyFrom NYC, Evita Arce & Michael JaggerEvita Arce & Michael JaggerFrom Montreal, Sylwia Bielec & Alain Fragman
Moi… in sweaty-workshop-mode … learning new moves and improving on technique
Photo credit: KHPhotography
Not quite sure what I’m doing looking at the ceiling … perhaps that’s my own ‘personal styling’ of a dance move…
“Please, Lindy gods, make this room a little cooler…” 😉 Photo credit: KHPhotographyPhoto credit: KHPhotography
Love this one…. “I saw you…with her… Wag our finger in unison”... STOMP OFF! 🙂
Photo credit: KHPhotography
Thank goodness for KHPhotograpy for capturing these moments – all I had to show at the end of workshop day 1, was the following Facebook post:
Sweaty Workshop Selfie vs. Douvercout House Ready Selfie
Lucky for me and for PPMeow! readers that Kahlil Heslop (of KHPhotography), friend and fellow Lindy Hopper, captured the evening and events perfectly!!!
Here are a few perfect snaps that just make my heart oh-so happy with memories of a fantastic 3-days of Workshops, Competitions, Performances and Social Dancing.
THE COMPETITIONS:
Photo credit: KHPhotography
Check out my gf Erin and her partner Luis (our instructor at Lindy Hop Revolution). She began in Beginner Lessons with me…and now here she is competing in her FIRST competition!!! I’m soooo proud of her!!
Photo credit: KHPhotography
They TIED for 3rd place I’m told! Woot! Woot! I may have been an extremely vocal cheering section – She is my hero! 🙂
Check out the hip action on my instructor Luis…He’s Spanish – his hips don’t lie 😉 Photo credit: KHPhotography
I just love the look on everyones faces! Still can’t believe I got to social dance with Michael (Mic) Jagger – ha! He’s oh-so-very-fantastically! **swoon**
Lindy Hop – the most fun you can have with your clothes on. 😉
For Kahlil’s full photo album of Lindyworks 2014 shots click here.
Click here for JT Photography’s photo album for Toronto Lindy Hop
Now that you’ve seen “What I Did”….let’s talk about “What I Wore” to the Saturday Night Lindyworks Dance at The Douvercourt House – hosted by Toronto Lindy Hop.
This lovely dress was on sale at the time I was looking for my the perfect dress for Tiki Lani Lanai with TVS.
If you look really closely at the pattern of this dress, you’ll notice they are little chat bubbles/text bubbles.
Plus giant buttons and a lil’ collar…..Too cute, right?
How I Got The Look: Dress from Cherry Velvet Plus; Belt & Shoes from Winners -these were not wore whilst dancing 😉 – and the 50s vintage sweater was thrifted from Goodwill.
I picked up this navy Jax Leatherette newsprint dress from SexyPlus Clothing last month at the Fall Preview Blogger Exclusive.
As you saw last week during my Fall Double Feature collaboration series, both Leather and Blue Hues are trending this season. This dress combines them both perfectly.
I’m loving the leather details on the shoulders and above the hems of both sides of this dress.
This Zebra clutch is my new favourite piece right now, I try to bring it along with me whenever I can 🙂It was my birthday last week and I got to unveil this dress over that weekend.
Another year older – uggh – and not at all wiser. Or maybe not as wise as I hoped to be at this point. But in these pics I don’t look a day over 28 😉
Must be magical camera tricks of LawrenceKerrPhotography – I’m loving the images from this shoot!
I’ve been having mixed emotions about turning older this year.
Not really being up to organizing & celebrating a non-milestone born-day, I took the day off instead and spent some quality time with me, myself and Irene 😉
The lovely Elmwood Spa – a true urban oasis – treated me for a birthday lunch, which I ate in my plush robe & slippers. After that I was rubbed down by a giant man, whom I’ve decided to remember as spectacularly handsome ;), for an 80-min Hot Stone Massage followed by Water Therapies which included pool, steam room and the hot tub. I was determine not to leave until I looked like a raisin!!
Lunching in fluffy robes and drinking in the afternoon ….Happy Birthday indeed!
In the evening a gf and I met up for dinner (tap pas and sangrias at Carmen – delicious!), followed by tickets to see HEDWIG and the Angry Inch at the Lower Ossington Theatre where we were entertained by talented rock bands, drinking and great singing by an interesting transsexual with lots of stories and rock songs. The performance was fantastic! Buuuuut the story, which I found sad, went over my head. I had to come home and google exactly what I just spend the last 90-mins sitting through.
I got a lovely birthday card that read:
In this world where things move so fast and change before our eyes, I take comfort in the precious and few things that are constant and true…your friendship is one thing I can count on; one thing I keep safe inside my heart. I celebrate you on your birthday and I honour the friendship we share day after day, year after year.
Between this card, invitations to dinners, brunches and drinks, and the numerous phone calls, voicemails, texts and the 101+ Facebook messages of Birthday Wishes – I felt pretty damn’d loved all day. I’m a very blessed and lucky girl! 🙂
Overall, a pretty freakin’ fantastic birthday weekend!!!
And now, let the next 365 days of this new year in the life & times of Irene be awesome! Cheers!
How I Got The Look:
Blue suede platform shoes from Payless; Zebra clutch from AlterEgo Clothing; Newsprint Jax Dress from SexyPlus Clothing; Leaf earrings from …yikes, I don’t remember friends, they are super old.
If you’ve been following PPMeow! for sometime now, you’ll know that I’ve fallen head-over-heels for Lindy Hop and Swing Dancing! So much so that all summer I’ve tried to attend as many free, outdoor swing event around the city (click here & here), and nearly every Saturday (since the completion of my lessons with Lindy Hop Revolution), I’ve been at The Dovercourt House where Toronto Lindy Hop hosts weekly live bands and dances (with lessons).
Well friends, the last Saturday of every month, Toronto Lindy Hop has a fantastic theme night – and August’s was: SWING PROM!
Which means, this chick had an excuse to get extra all dolled up in vintage-esk duds AND dance the night away in a tiara – duh!
I picked up this teal dress from a Plus Size Consignment Sale I participated in last year — its an ASOS dress — and this is the first time I’ve ever worn it. The long strand pearls were picked up from the Toronto Vintage Clothing Show a earlier this year and shoes (from Naturalizer) and tiara were from my wedding. Thrilled to finally have an excuse to wear this prettiness out again!
To my surprise….making these corsages and boutonnieres were uber simple.
All you need are some love faux flowers and leaves, a bit of felt adhere the flowers down to, elastic to secure it to your wrists and a hot glue gun to stick everything down into place. Easy. Peasy. Lemon. Squeezy. 🙂
These were the ones I created!!! I’m not at all crafty…and was thrilled and how great these turned out! Yay me!Tah-Dah! Corsages totally make these prom dresses….don’t you think?Swing dancing in poofy frocks just makes your heart happy…. at least it does mine. 🙂Gentlemen readers … if you’re looking to meet beautiful chicks in the city…clearly SWING DANCING is where you’ll find them! Meow indeed! 😉The Pre-Prom Crafty Team … 50s, 60s and 80s themes represented
So long summer ….. the last Dancing on the Pier swing series at Harbourfront Centre took place last week. I kept my outfit of the day relatively simply, yet nautical …swing dancing by the water and all 🙂
What I wore: a striped high-neck tank (Reitmans); my navy anchor pencil skirt (Old Navy); and my red Airwaks (Payless)
For other nautical themed looks click here, here and here.
I only got there for about an hour of solid dancing to the fab Toronto All-Star Big Band, who’s tunes revives the spirit, with the style and sounds of the 1930s, 40s and 50s – that golden age of the big bands.
I haven’t been to the ballpark to see a game in a long, long time. 9-innings of baseball sitting on hard plastic seats snug beside strangers can be a bit daunting. But when a gf invited me with some premium 100-level seats on a hot, sunny, breezy Sunday knowing the Rogers Center/Skydome would be wide open…how could I say no?
After all, any activity where one can drink beers in the afternoon without judgement is one I can happily support. 😉
Truth be told, I’m not much of a sports fan, and dressing ‘sporty” isn’t the easiest thing to do within my existing wardrobe. But I definitely wanted to be a ‘fan-girl’ … so I dug out my Jays Jersey and paired it with a simple jean skirt, with built-in shorts (Reitmans), my red Airwalks (Payless), and the only baseball cap I could find, and off I went.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of the new Blue Jays logo. I much prefer the classic one….and have my eye on this great baby blue cap from Fanatics; the leading online retailer for everything sports, specializing in apparel for all of your favourite teams.
When getting ready for the big game I know that everyone has their own sense of style. Looking around the Dome that afternoon, checking out everyone’s sporty personal style… I started to think about what my Perfect Game Day Outfit would look like.
In addition to this classic logo’d Jays cap in baby blue, I’d use these 7-pieces of clothing/accessories to create my ensemble:
Love this lace baseball tee! Sporty, yet delicate and feminine…perfect for a hot summer day and more interesting than just a plain tank-top. Cotton draw-string shorts to make the long hours of sitting on hard plastic seats a bit more bearable. Plus having a cross body bag means you won’t have to place your purse on the sticky, gross floor. I kept the jewellery simple – white leather bracelet and pretzel earrings (how fabulous!!!). And finally baby-blue polka-dot Keds …who not only go with my baseball cap selection, but keeps you comfy casual and cute. And a scarf, just in case it gets cold. BOOM! Game Day ready! Let’s Play Ball!!!
Fanatics has a ton of other baseball hats in case the Toronto Blue Jays aren’t your team…. just sayin’ 😉
Checkout a few snaps I took from the game I was at that Sunday afternoon … I dunno what it is about a dancing mascot but he makes me oh-so happy.
Summer in Toronto is not complete without attending at least one Shakespere-in-the-Park ‘pay-what-you-can’ event! Pack a picnic, a blanket and a friend or two and it’s a perfect night of outdoor theatre. This year, CanadianStage is offering both comedy and tragedy in High Park. The shows will be playing on alternate nights through the summer. Last week, a gf via Facebook invite with a whopping 20+ of us who RSVPd a solid “YES, I’M IN”, were due to go. Which only yielded a total of three persons who – actually – physically – showed up to see the light-hearted As You Like It under the stars. (Why do people suck? Let’s leave that difficult to answer question for another day, shall we?) 😉
Witheth me doth be the most loveliest of maidens; healthy and svetly Sara and lusty and strong Natalie and in the bushes did lurk musical talents of a local school of young violinists. We were merry and gay and mosquito burdened. It was a joyous night had by all.
The performance doesn’t begin until about 8pm (dusk-ish). I got there an hour earlier to secure seats whilst the others were en route from their offices. The three of us managed to get fabulous dead-center seats of the graduated earth seating – cleverly lining our sit-on blanket with a $1 shower curtain to keep the damp out.
Dressing for summer evenings in Toronto hasn’t been easy this year with unseasonably cooler nights. Which means one must think about serious versatility when outfit planning to sit on one’s ass for 2+ hours, while the sun disappears and you’re left shivering cuddled under a blanket, while trying to stay cute. Plus, we can’t forget the inevitable use of a portapotty – dun dun dunnnnn.. 🙂
Keeping all of this in mind, here’s what I came up with to help keep me summer cute & comfortable while the sun was in full-force ,while protecting my freshly washed hair from bugs…
How I Got the Look: White patterned crop top and Tribal pants both from Forever21; Pink leather floral sandals (uber old from The Bay); Aviator sunnies from ElleHardware; Headscarf is vintage, picked it up at the Toronto Vintage Clothing Show earlier this year.
My headscarf was a last-minute addition to my outfit of the day. Since much of my outfit was a simple black N white colour scheme….I made sure that the scarf had loud vibrant colours in it – a Summery punch, if you will. With light rain threats in the forecast that evening, I simply wanted to protect my hair…but didn’t want to wear a hat and possibly be an irritating obstacle to another play-goer with the unfortunate luck of sitting behind me in the park. So this seemed to be the best solution.
I wanted to do wear a more sophisticated head wrap but alas, none of them looked right on my pea-head. Maybe, with practice, I’ll rock a few more of these techniques in the near future — thoughts? 🙂
Fab video of 12 wraps in under 7-mins …
Shakespeare isn’t everyones cupa tea … I never read/studied this particular play in school before, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it…and I didn’t even need to read the Coles Notes before hand. 🙂
There were some fantastic lines in this one…with some hilarious female characters, one of whom is AUDREY who won me over with the following line:
I am not a slut, though I thank the gods I am foul.
Over the past few years, I’ve been more of a “skirts and dresses kinda gal”….but for sitting outdoors at dusk with bugs and cool temperatures, and the possible use of a portapotty at some point in the evening, made pants the best option! These are lovely and light for summer-daytime, keeps your legs from getting bitten by bugs in the evening and comfortable enough to be sitting crossed legged cuddling on and under a blanket.
Are you a fan of theatre – outdoor theatre?
Which ones have you been to….any recommends for me?
To be honest friends, there weren’t too many outfit pictures taken on this week away. It was a SOLID rest and relaxation for the first time in a long time (vacation-wise).
The grounds of the resort were beautiful. There was only one pool, but since it was a off-season, there weren’t too many people there in general, and even fewer children. There seemed to be a lot of travellers from the UK there, but mostly honeymooning couples or retirees with tons of vacay time (upwards of 5-weeks). We did meet and hang with three Brit dudes that week – let’s call them Alvin, Simon and Theodore. And by mid-week there was an invasion of Caribbean Tennis Pros who happened to be conference at our resort. So there were plenty of friends to be made for drinking and dining with, all week-long 🙂
If you look really closely at the pattern of this dress, you’ll notice they are little chat bubbles/text bubbles. 
So long summer ….. the last 
PPMeow! 
