winners – PPMeow!

Summer in The6ix

Summer in Toronto is just the greatest!

We have everything….

Live Music! Plays and Performances! Dancing! Sailing! Spas! Shopping!

Outdoor movies! Cultural Festivals! Foods from around the world!

Annnnnnd all of these things are usually FREE and are walking distance from each other! No car required! ❤

Combo Royale performing under the Harbourfront Bandshell

There have been many wonderful fun-filled days this summer – but the most memorable was an unexpected Saturday afternoon that turned into a full day-o-fun!!!

It began with a play – an interactive dark comedy – THE WEDDING – put on by an independant theatre company: The Lighthouse Troupe. As audience members aka the wedding guests, we were encouraged to dress nicely, sign-in at a guest registry, find their table, and interact with the various members of the wedding party, much like a real reception. You know me – any reason to get dressed up is my kind of event! 🙂

After the show… we walked into Harbourfront for their Spicy Food Festival and found a free jazz concert which naturally led to impromptu lindyhopping on grass!

A Large Lady Lindy Hopping – yup! That’s me! 🙂

After that we walked along Queens Quay to Sugar Beach for Sail-in Cinema’s screening of The Princess Bride …

❤ My most favourite movie ❤

Since we arrived kinda late … we found a patch of sand for our blankets way in the back sadly, making the Sail-in screen teeny-tiny.

Plus, it seems we were too late for the courtesy popcorn and back-rests that many around us seemed to have nabbed.

Le sigh…

14115438_10154314807360359_6974492682269789308_o — Our sad seats on the sand, way in the back of Sugar Beach…before the win~INCONCEIVABLE! 😉

THEN….the event announcer asked for a family-of-4 who would/could potentially win a fabulous prize for answering a single movie trivia question.

When they failed…we managed to flag him down and I provided the CORRECT answer… which won us seats on a sail boat to watch the movie!!!

And there were handsome sailors too! #bonus 😛

Knowing useless Princess Bride trivia won us seats on Canada’s Fastest Sail boat! Boom!!!

THIS was our view for the movie … just waiting for the sun to set so that the movie could start!!!

Floating around on Canada’s fastest sail boat, eating popcorn with sailors and watching the greatest movie ever …

A perfect ending to a wonderfully unexpected summer day!

Curious about what I’m wearing?

How I Got The Look:

Dress and crop-top from Forever21+; Shoes from Winners

How would you describe THE Perfect Summer Day? What would it include? What would you do? What would you wear?

Tell me about it in the comments section below. 🙂

Special thanks to Ellie for capturing those dancing pictures! And to Five for the pictures on the boat!

Thanks for reading, xo

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Seafoam Nautical

A few weeks ago I pieced together an outfit on Instagram – follow me 😉 – for an upcoming date night outfit … with pieces in my current closet (as I’m totally broke a$$ since returning from my magical PPMeowAsianAdvenure)

Let me give you a run down of the items I selected.

How I Got The Look:

Seaform hi-low sheer top (Your Big Sister’s Closet) ; High-waisted stripped black n’ white pencil skirt (Winners); Peep-toed black pumps (Nine West); Multi-strand necklace (Stella & Dot); Anchor clutch (Aldo Accessories)

This sheer seafoam hi-low top I picked up last year from Your Big Sister’s Closet, it’s a piece that has worn well and continues to get tons of compliments and comments every time I don it.

First dates are always tricky when it comes to ‘the girls’ – you want to look alluring and highlight certain ‘assets’ without giving it all away. A difficult fine line when you’re a busty gal like moi.

This top works perfectly to give that allure … being sheer, giving you the illusion you can see everything….but having a high-enough neckline to let you have a sit-down dinner without having ‘the girls’ take over the meal.

Love the black lace detail down the front of this to too. Really just ties in all the other pieces of my outfit and helps dress-up this otherwise simple outfit.

It seems I’m a big fan of Nautical Inspired looks – click here, here, here and here to see what i mean 😉

What do you think of this as a first date outfit? Do you approve? What would you do differently? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Deep-V Faux Wrap

I have to say that I’ve been really, really good about NOT making too many additional outfit purchase since my Cross Boarder Shopping Extravaganza earlier this summer. Buuuuuuut, every now and again, usually when I finally make it into the office downtown, I maybe find an amazing piece or two that is simply too lovely to pass on.

Like this amazing sleeveless deep-V faux-wrap dress I saw hanging in a Winners rack just as I was leaving. There isn’t much of a plus-size selection at many of the locations in the downtown core, or so I’ve found. This dress that I fell in love with for instance, was a XL in straight sizes. Dun dun dun…..

I didn’t even have time to try it on – just held it up against my body. I decided that the DBA (designated-boob-area) was ample enough, the pattern and fabric forgiving enough, that I just ran it over to the checkout and hoped for the best.

Later that week I found myself running errands in The Duffrin Mall (who, I must say, have really stepped-it-up from the frightening array of shops it housed from my memories as a teen), and discovered these fab booties on sale at Reitmans…… regular price $60 — marked down to $14.99!!!!!!

A little accessories love: Suede Booties from *Reitmans*; Jean jacket from Old Nay; Bow earrings and vintage purse were gifted & thrifted.

New Sunnies!!! My first Aviators…from ElleHardware

And like that a country line-dancing outfit was born! 🙂

I rocked this outfit and made my way to Boots N’ Bourbon for their Thursday Night lesson + 1/2 priced appies and $5 beers!

Happy to say I wasn’t a complete disaster on the dance-floor. Thank goodness for all the vid clips from my previous blogpost: Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy!

Giddy Up!

How I Got The Look:

Dress from Winners (Wellington/Yonge); Jean jacket from Old Navy; Booties from Reitmans; Aviator sunglasses from Elle Hardware (West Queen West); Bow earrings were a gift and vintage suede purse thrifted/gifted.

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Star Wars in Fashion

I am one of those rare people who only watched the Star Wars movies as an adult, but never as a kid. And I’m proud to say I’ve become an instant fan – owning both sets of trilogies on blu-ray 🙂

My favourite character is R2-D2. Is there anything this beeping trash can on wheels can’t do?

He’s a projector, a Swiss Army Knife and tolerator of 3PO, all rolled into one. I don’t even mind that he’s gotten too CG in the prequels, when R2 dropped oil slick on some battle droids and ignited them with his personal jet boosters – he’s a rockstar and can do no wrong. He helped the Rebels topple the Empire, was X-Wing wingman to Luke and to C-3P0’s Riggs, and then stuck around to help the new Republic grow and prosper. R2-D2 is nothing but cool and reliable.

Any droid that can survive getting spit out by some Dagobah sea whale thing is worthy of winning my heart!

In an effort to celebrate May 4th – Star Wars Day – I’m dedicating this post to the awesome fun geeky fashions out there that I’d totally rock for realz (if I could find them)… paying homage to this fab sci-fi cultural phenomenon that is STAR WARS.

Shoes

(Above images taken from Pintrest, however no links to actual products to purchase 😦 )

Love love love this infinity scarf — you could totally wear this anytime, all the time.

a7befc851eb44adbf2a44b5b3b9b45f9 — Scarf image found in Etsy

d3fd7e7a98cf4e47fd23ce0e5b107aed — R2D2 Skirt

c31c963ef08a77f098d2e3dc0b047eb6 — Opening Story Text Crawl Tee

In case you have no idea why this Tee is awesome, check out the clip below….

In a galaxy far, far away from geek culture there are some fabulous Star Wars fashion out there to be worn May 4th and beyond! Check out a few of my faves:

Outfits

1dedb83b030d0c5690f4aac76dbae773 — How amazing is this dress!!! (image from Pintrest, no link to purchase)

*Insert Vader breathing sound here* 🙂

The Yoda Look – Do or Do Not. There Is No Try.

ea9d7054a94ee9f333f858427588220e — This hooded jacket is beyond words! (image from Pintrest, sadly no link to purchase)

And last, but certainly not least….. are these fantastic Star Wars gowns by Rodarte !

Do you own any Star Wars fashions of your own? Where did you get ’em? Tell. Me. Everything…. use the comments below 🙂

And May the 4th Be With You!

THE SouthAsian Princess Leia, Swing Dancing Look:

White Peplum dress from AdditionElle; shoes from Winners; sock buns for hair….Tah Dah! 🙂

SexyPlus Clothing Grand Reopening!

I was fortunate to have met Stefanie Augusteijn a few years ago B.B.B. (Before Becoming a Blogger). When I moved to midtown Toronto, her boutique SexyPlusClothing was walking distance for me when it was located just south of Rosedale subway station on Yonge St.

I’ve picked up a few coveted pieces from her shop in the past, including my beloved high-waisted leopard pencil skirt, my black lace wrap top and the highly complimented Cherry Bomb dress.

She’s recently relocated this fab shop. This past weekend a friend of mine and I took a Saturday morning road trip out to Mississauga to be a part of Stefanie’s Grand Reopening & 5-Year Store Anniversary Party!

There were promises of Fresh New Spring Arrivals + Buy One Get One 50% offers along with Fashion and Beauty Prizes…and best of all Gourmet Cake and Refreshments!

Don’t let the outside fool you – the store is beautiful! And Stefanie designed it all herself!!! The fresh, bright off-white of the entire space and hardwood floors with pops of that SexyPlus signature pinks all over the place, along with the familiar alphabet artwork of Lime Green Squid just make you feel all smiley. 🙂

Lime Green Squid's plus size art — Lime Green Squid’s artwork

Closer Look of Lime Green Squid’s artwork. A few of these framed pieces were given away to a few lucky customers of SexyPlus Clothing.

“Dress for the weather you want, not the weather you have!”

Decided on wearing this green & black maxi dress w/skinny black belt ($17 Forever21+) with a cropped cardi ($10 Old Navy) combo with my grey moto leather jacket (Winners) and Rocker-girl boots (Aldo) … regardless of the snow flurries that followed us from Toronto to Mississauga that morning. My hair was uncooperative this morning as you can see. Sigh…

Here’s a few snaps of all the shopping fun that was had at this beautifully renovated boutique for plus sized babes:

Me with Stefanie, owner of SexyPlus Clothing

Special shoutouts to go the lovely shop-girls, Dream Taylor and Sabrina who were uber attentive and helpful, providing honest opinions and encouragement once you’re ready to emerge from the change rooms. I tried on several pieces, including this lovely ‘Hello Yellow’ dress, this Black n’ White stripped number and this Tiki inspired beach-ready dress:

I even became the SexyPlus “Guinea pig” for trying on the new Convertible Maxi dress, as Stefanie transformed this lovely navy chevron patterned fabulousness whilst on my body for all to see the many different looks this one piece was capable of. Please ignore the giant bra straps that are taking away from the loveliness of this dress – clearly I was not prepared to be apart of this impromptu fashion show 🙂

Check out the pics below to see what this Marie Convertible dress in navy chevron can do:

It was a delightful afternoon….but as you can see from my face in the above pic, I was clearly torn as to which pieces I wanted to take home with me. I limited myself to only ONE new purchase of all the items above – I’ve got myself on a strict budget as my closet is bursting at the seams these days with all my recent mini-hauls.

Finally, I decided to buy the Captain’s Bodycon dress – it’s made in Canada!

Waddya think? Did I make the right decision? (Oh…ignore the moustache socks also…lol!)

SexyPlus Clothing’s new location: 5100 Maingate Drive, Unit 14 Mississauga, ON —- with lots of FREE parking friends. If you get a chance, you should def make the trip out to see what pretty fashions need to be yours!

From SexyPlus Clothing: The Captain’s Bodycon dress – it’s made in Canada!

Swing Dancing

You may have read about how broken hearted I’ve been since my BollyFuze classes were no longer offered downtown. And although Yoga has filled the void of group exercise in my life, I still wanted more DANCING!

Since hanging out with Toronto Vintage Society peeps and being invited to judge ‘Best Dressed’ at various Electro Swing events, I have been itching to learn how to Lindy Hop and Charston …. I wanna be a Swing Kid! (minus all the sad bits of the movie, of course. I’ve yet to see the flick – it’s on my To-Do list!)

I’ve signed up for the 2-month “Crash Course” of Beginner Lessons to Swing Dance at Lindy Hop Revolution – eek!

My first lesson was a ton of fun! The instructors were Natalia and Luis – both from Spain, both encouraging, fun and funny. Best part — you don’t need a partner to learn how to Swing Dance!!! It’s a social dance….which means we swap partners throughout the class. I came alone, but after the hour I got to know Barbra, Donald, and two more delightful dudes (who’s names escape me) as they were the Leads with whom I got to boogie with.

My arms do not want to cooperate what-so-ever. And this constant ‘bouncing’ that is required doesn’t seem to keep the beat in my feet as it should. Buuuuuut, I had a grand ol’ time and can’t wait for next week! Although my footwork was a hot mess – my outfit was on point!

Here’s what I wore:

I picked up this cute swing dress from Winners – for $25!!! Just loved the dainty lil’ black n’ white flower pattern and capped sleeves. I had hoped to wear my tan moto leather jacket with it…But since winter windchill won’t leave Toronto, wearing the dress solo was not gonna cut it.

Ended up wearing my two-toned pink & tan cardi …..since it was lightweight enough to get me from A to B under a fall jacket. (I refuse to wear my winter coat any longer – it’s April for christ sake!