Toronto – Page 2

Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy!

I’m a huge line-dancing fan! Unfortunately there aren’t many places within Toronto that have line-dancing regularly or at all…which meant I’d have to wrangle like-minded folk and travel out to Oshawa or Georgetown (total opposite ends of the city via GO Train. And upon finally getting there, cowboy hat, boots and all, I’m typically I’m the ONLY brown face on the dance floor.

Sigh…But that has all changed friends as Toronto has opened two new watering holes specifically for country-line-dancin’-lovin’-cowpokes like moi!

Rock ‘N’ Horse Saloon (formerly London Tap House, right in the heart of the Entertainment Dist) and Boots ‘N’ Bourbon (on Queen St. East) … both I’m told have fab food, drink specials, often live music for line-dancing and best of all a mechanical bull!

Here’s the outfit I’ve lined up to wear…to Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy…Giddy Up!

Sunday nights at Boots n’ Bourbon Toronto’s Country Music Line Dancing hosts beginner lessons at 7pm. Jeff is the patient and handsome instructor who took us through a variety of dances to make us look good on the dance floor …which works out perfectly for us to bust out our newly learnt moves once the live band gets on stage for the rest of the evening! Plus, half priced appetizers and drink specials don’t hurt either 🙂

There were a bunch of names for the dances learnt that night — super fun and easy to do, with a bit o practice. Here are few clips of the ones I remembered the names of – in case you’re looking to get a your country line dancing on in your living rooms:

Dance #1: Cowboy Charleston

Dance #2: Lil’ Yeller’ Blanket (that’s cowboy for “little yellow blanket”)

Dance #3: Country As A Boy Can Be

Dance #4: Copperhead Road

The live entertainment this night was RORY GARDINER — *hubba hubba*

Ladies, my distant iPhone pics don’t do him justice…check out his site…Meow indeed!!! 😉

Overall….what a fantastic way to spend a Sunday night in the city during long weekend!

Yee Haw!!!

Now that you’ve got a few steps under your belt with this post — would you OR have you ever try Country Music Line Dancing yourself?

What did you wear?

How I got The Look:

Flowy short-sleeved dress from Damzels, Doll Factory by Damzels (Roncessvales & Dundas W Sts.)

Short brown cowboy-ish booties from Payless

Photo credit: Rebecca Northcott, Rebecca Northcott Photography

April Outerwear

If you’re a fellow Toronotonian….than you must be feeling the pain of the constant weather flux from +21 degrees one day to a chilly -4 the very next.

I personally refuse to wear a winter coat in April! However, a girl needs more than one piece of outerwear to make it through this fickle weather comfortably. So here’s how I’ve managed to come up with creative solutions based on the weather forecast.

Weather: High Teens (+18) (Monday, April 14 2014)

I managed to get to and from the office WITHOUT a proper coat. This little cobalt blue blazer (along with a ‘just incase’ silk scarf) was all I needed in terms of outerwear to the office yesterday! Plus, zero hosiery was required – so peep toed heels had to make an appearance too!

The Look: 3/4 Sleeved cobalt blue blazer, DressBarn; Purple leopard peep toed heels, NineWest; Berry bandage skirt, Forever21+; Lepoard peplum top, Reitmans; Bianca Tassel necklace, Stella & Dot; Gifted gold vintage earrings

Weather: Below Zero (-4) (Tuesday, April 15 2014)

I awoke to snow-covered rooftops, strong winds and heavy flurries this morning, as I walked my pup. So I was forced to pull out my wool Fall coat, pink pashmina and large brimmed hat (plus booties) to make it in into the office today. Seems my poor hat hasn’t been stored properly, but I think it still worked well regardless of the extra floppy one side 🙂

The Look: Black hat with leopard ribbon, Winners; Camel wool coat, Old Navy; Pink pashmina, Necessities; Purse, Guess; Black leather bow tie gloves, Danier

Weather: Single digits (+4) (Wednesday, April 16 2014)

Anticipating tomorrow’s weather, I think I’m gonna wear my shawl + hat combo to the office, making sure my under layers are warm enough to get me by (thinking a lightweight sweater and ankle length pants) … but who knows what my mood will lead me to outfit-wise when I wake friends 😉

The Look: Houndstooth shawl, Reitmans; Black belt, Lane Bryant; Hat from Vintage Clothing Show (forget which booth)

How have you been managing keeping your outerwear fashionable and functional while the weather decides if we’re finally going to let go of Winter and fully embrace Spring/Summer?

Use the Comments section – tell me!

Have you LIKE’d the Facebook Page yet? ….. if you haven’t…you really should! 🙂

#TVS: Rock-A-Billy Shake-Up!

Last year upon finally jumping on the Mad Men bandwagon, discovering and falling in love with the Rockabilly/Vintage scene Toronto has to offer, the Toronto Vintage Society organized a meetup event last night’s one-night-only live music: “Sweet 16th” installment of the Rock-A-Billy Shake-Up, at the Junction’s – 3030 (3030 Dundas St. West).

My friend Liz, a fellow TVS member and blogger of The Vintage Inn, has done a fabulous post about the bands of this event, click here to read all about it 🙂

Some of you may remember this cherry-bomb pin-up dress from a previous post. I love this dress! It was meant for an event like this! I wore it with my rocker-chick buckle & zip booties (as winter does not want to leave Toronto yet), in hopes it would yield better results with the men-folk than it did the last time. Uggh!

The plan was to meet grab dinner at 3030 with a few TVS members prior to the show. The menu looked fantastic….plus it would give us a chance to giggle & catchup, whilst securing us a solid spot to enjoy the music for the rest of the night, winter coats and all. 😉

Although the food items were all pretty delicious, the ordering system is very interesting. Patrons must first acquire a seat, then go up to the crowded bar to try and nab a bartender’s attention, only then is a menu of food offerings shared with you (no menus at the table). If you’re successful at this point you are given an order number on a stand, to put on your table and someone will search the venue for your little number and bring you your food. Popcorn chicken, Blue cheese MacN’Cheese, Tostada of sorts and a plate of Bacon, were just a few of the items various people from our little possy ordered.

Also interesting is that their offerings of beers is different at both of the bars in this venue. Soooo say you’re a fan of Mill St. Organic — and you happen to be sitting in the backroom where all the performances are, what you must do is order your appies at bar one, pay, and then walk yourself over to bar two through crowds of people to order your pint of choice. Annoying? Yes..buuuuut it does allow a girl to strut all over the venue at least once to check out the crowd and for the crowd to admire your outfit 😉

First up was a London, ON band called The Hi-Tones (above) – I totally fell in love with the lead singer’s sailor inspired dress! I’m totally crushing on the nautical look these days – anchors away crazy!

Since this was a #TVS event, I got to catchup with a bunch of members I haven’t seen since the Vintage Holiday Party, and even got to meet a few new members who recently joined this fabulous group. I also got to meet a fan of Petite Plus, Meow! She came up and introduced herself and sang prasies of my wee blog! In fact, my post about shoes inspired her to run out and buy the exact same ones 🙂 My heart smiled all night with her compliments – thank you, thank you, thank you, lovely girl!

There were a ton of folks from Toronto Lindy Hop in attendance, many of whom tore up the dance floor with fancy swing-spin and twirls and whirls. Very impressive! Think I’ve found my next ‘fun’ to fill the void that the lack of BollyFuze classes have left in my heart……stay tuned for more on that. 🙂

I’ve been bombarded with work commitments this week and haven’t been able to blog as regularly as I like. I’ve been so busy that I was considering working late instead of going out Friday night. I’m soooo glad I attended – what a fantastic way to end the work week! A big Thank You to Toronto Vintage Society to introducing me to such a fun scene…can’t wait for the next event! xo