Here are some of the things I am loving from J. Crew:

I'm a pear-shaped lass so I think these beautiful structured 50s-esque day dresses would be so totally cute.  And just because the shape is "ordinary" doesn't mean the print and finishings have to be.  Polka dots and eyelits?  A well-placed braided belt and some leg-elongating nude flats?  Thats I can work with!

Speaking of flats, there assortment of ballets is mind boggling and beautiful.  These on-trend braided numbers are finished in Italy and come in 3 colours.  I think these could go with everything!

OMG this trunk!  I love it.  The colour, the shape, the statement it would mak at the airport and hotel.  Love!

This necklace is just gorge.  Comes in other awesome colours but I always gravitate to turquoise.  I first saw another blogger talking about it here.  Apparently she found it cheaper.  Something to think about...?

 How great would this bracelet looked staked with a rose gold watch and some other little peices?

A beautiful, braided leather belt.  Every wardrobe needs one!  And to casualize and cinch in my dresses it would be fab.

Enjoy!

Keep your eyes peeled for my "What I'm ACTUALLY packing to Mexico" post.
xoxo
RW

Roxy Rant

L'Oreal Base Coat.

It just plain sucks.  It's thick and sticky and has been since I bought it.  The thickness makes the dry time for my nail polish go up by about a half hour (if it dries at all!)
It doesn't seem to make my polish last any longer AND to add insult to injury, the brush has come up one of the slits in the side of the wand and now is all fanned out and f-ed up which makes application a b*tch.
Grrrr.....

A Few of Ava's Favorite Things...

I thought I would add some of Ava's favourite things right now as she is my daughter, I love her, and I love all the things she loves too!

Number 1 Ava Rule: always bring a notebook.  You never know when you might need one to sketch, take note, practice your letters or you signature.

 The above 3 shots are of Ava's dresser.  She keeps an ever evolving and revolving number of toys up there so that they A) are away from Jack's prying fingers and B) are just plain fun to look at and move around and pose and talk to and make up stories about and...

Ava loves to get cards from her family all over Canada (and the world!) so we took a piece of ribbon and hung it over now of the windows in her room so we can look at them for weeks and remember the thoughtfulness of all the loves in our life.

 Ava loves getting mail (as previously stated) and she especially loves that now she has her own magazine subscription.  The magazine is really cute for kids and we got the prescription though QSP at her school and so we are raising money for her school at the same time as we are enjoying getting mail and learning about cool things.

Ava loves her own makeup!  I love my makeup stuff too and am always playing around with it and applying it and carting it around so this little vinyl Barbie cosmetics case (with cosmetics!!) of Christmas she was over the moon.  Now she has a place to stash her mini anti-bacterial hand gels and Hello Kitty lip glosses that she begs me for whenever we go out.

We all love to put on music and dance around.  It's usually Rihanna or Sharon, Lois and Bram but recently we have been putting together a mix for our trip to Mexico and, of course, we had to put on some Bob Marley tracks or relaxing by the pool. Ava has taken a shine to Stir It Up.  I mean, who hasn't?

The Sartorialist

I've talked about my love for this site before in one of my postings about favourite blogs but I think it deserves it's own posting.
The Sartorialist.
Capturing street style from all over the world (but, of course, mostly New York, Paris and Milan) I really love photographer Scott Schuman's eye for fashion and for photography and the pictures make me see the world more romantically and other-worldy.
If you need more of that in your life, please check this site out.  If it's not already, it will make it to your Favorites list.
Here are some of my favourite looks from recent posts:

This blonde is just working the sexy right into this plain, white tee.

From a Burberry show.  I love everything Burberry does.  Suits my style perfectly.  And this look?  Love!

Scott is always shooting outside of fashion shows.  How great is this one?  The sweet of that pinky purple....yum.

This photo was taken in Paris and it just reminds me totally of my time there.  I love this look as well as it is fashionable and sweet without having to be sexy and overt.  And that bag is great.

Fluo Cambridge Satchel

I guess I've known for a while that neons/fluoresents were making a major comeback style-wise because I love to follow that sort of thing and voraciously read the 5+ fashion magazines that I have subscriptions to and troll fashion blogs with every free moments I had.
So, when I saw the petite woman carrying one of the highlighter yellow Cambridge Satchels at Costco during one of our family's pilgrimages there one weekend, I was not surprised or horrified by the enormous bright beast on her small stature but, instead, I was envious.
It was beautiful.  Fun.  Structured.  And most important: bright.  It reminded me that spring was coming and all the fun fashion possibilities that comes with it.
And now,s I pay homage to the bag I so covet and also to a new site that I found where I rekindled my love:

Check out more fun looks like the one directly above at this site.

Hope you all had a great weekend!
xoxo
Roxanne

Making Me Smile

I have done lots of list of things I love and raves about beauty products I like, and I think it goes without saying that anything I put on this blog is something that I whole-hearedly endorse but I have never been so compelled to make a list until now.
I feel I owe it to you all, and even myself, to make a list of things that make me smile.  It's so important to me to make these lists so I can stay true to myself in this life I lead where I am bombarded with imagery and information all day, everyday.  It often makes me ask myself, What do I like?  What makes me happy?  Well, here are a few of those things.  Hope they can bring a smile to your face too. :)

I have a hell of a time finding pants I like.  I'm hippy, a little saddle-baggy and thick legged.  (Hey, I know my weaknesses!) So when I find pair of pants that work I want to sing it from the rooftops.  These Gap Really Skinny black pants are my lord and saviour and I have 2 pairs and if I ever don't have them in my life, I would have to run around naked (at least half the week).

My Volcom Space Rocker Hoodie is so cute and so comfy that it makes me smile just seeing it hung in my closet.  I mean look at the friggin thing!!  Pompoms, people, pompoms!  

 Here's a picture of me canoodling Jack in my hoodie.  Lovebirds!

The Bulk Barn has a little slice of heaven right there in one of it's bins.  They are called chocolate peanut butter pretzels and they are the best thing you will ever inject.  Salty and sweet, crunch and soft.  Soooo good.

 My Ikea makeup organizer.  Best thing ever.  It's so clean and lucite and so jam packed yet organized.  It's like a metaphor for what my life should be: transparently amazing and packed with the best things.

 Bath and Body Works rubber duckies.  They are so cute.  They have flowers on them or polka dots or whatever and they are big and they look so cute and they are awesome.  I feel like a little girl.  But in all honesty, the best thing about them is that they are sealed shut and watertight so they don't go mouldy inside.

 My Sorel boots.  Where would I be without you?  In rural Ontario hell, that's where!

I feel so totally cute taking Jack to the end of our driveway to pick up Ava from the bus with this bad boy.  I mean, c'mon!  We even have little sleighs to put on instead of the wheels when it snows. Awww...

I am thankful everyday that this rose gold Walmart watch is in my life.  So adorable, functional, amazing and attention-getting.  Love it like butter!

Lookbook.nu, one of the BEST fashion blogs ever.  People put up their own pictures of their looks and then you can track them back to their own blogs and you can look at other looks they've posted on the site and you can vote on your favourites...and it's all around amazing.  These people are so stylish you can't help but be inspired.

Hope I inspired you too!
xoxo
Roxanne

Loving...

I just needed to post this lovely picture for you guys.  Everything about it makes me super happy, especially the awesome baseball T.  I got the pic from the great blog called Sofis Snapshots that you guys should definitely check out.  
This picture makes me want to go surfing or bike riding or something else outdoors in the sun.  My car is presently under a couple inches of snow but I am definitely looking forward to Spring...it's coming soon, right?
Enjoy!

Travelling in Style

Here are some pictures I took for you all on a recent trip we all took to visit family in Toronto.  We stayed at the Doubletree by Hilton in Etobicoke and although I don't necessarily recommend that hotel, there were some lovely things about it and we had a wonderful time with the family no matter what.

The Doubletree gives every person a warm walnut & chocolate-chip cookie upon checking in.  I mean, the chips were all gooey!  OMGoodness it was the perfect treat after 3 hours of driving and the fact that we got 4 huge cookies and the kids could only possibly split one and Dallas doesn't like walnuts did not suck either.

The complimentary toiletries were by Crabtree & Evelyn.  So wonderfully scented.  I didn't actually use the shampoo and conditioner but Ava did and her hair smelled like Hawaii.

Ava very much loved the complimentary stationary.  I have to say, it always does come in handy, doesn't it?  If only to write down exactly what everyone wants on their pizza.

My recommendation: take a long luxury bath at the hotel before you have to go out.  It really makes it feel like you are on a real "vacation" and it's even more luxurious knowing you don't have to scrub the tub ring you leave behind.

I love the excuse of going away to restock my magazine collection.  Just a few of the ones I picked up for or on this excursion.

When I pack, especially in the winter, I pack in outfits so I do't accidentally forget any layers.  Then I hang those outfits together in the closet.  This reduces the amount of hangers I use (which Dallas appreciates) and eliminates any time-wasting and head-scratching when I'm getting ready to go.

Anything can be storage on the road.  For instance, I used the top of this ice bucket to hold all my stud earrings that end up rolling around everywhere and getting lost, and then I just piled the rest of my jewelry on top.  Ta-DAH!

Here are some of the things I bought at Sephora and the beautiful beauty department of the Walmart at Square One mall.
From Sephora: a travel size tube of the L'Occitane hand cream for my purse, and a travel size of Urban Decay's "All Nighter" spray.  I went there to get some Origins Vita-Zing moisturizer but they didn't have any. :-(
From Wally-World: Maybelline's Magic Lumi under-eye concelealer, Marcelle BB Cream in Light, and a purply 8-pan Wet&Wild eyeshadow palette.

xoxo
Roxanne

Beauty in Mexico

Easy peezy lemon squeezy!  That's the name of the game for my Mexican beauty routine.  I don't want to bring a bunch of stuff that I won't use or wreck the stuff I really like in travelling.  So, I think with this beauty arsenal I should be set to luxuriate on my week off.  Because, really, the easier the better when on vacation.

Something easy and something packable, these wipes take all the thinking out of taking your face off and it ensures I will actually DO it and not get lazy.

I also like a face wash in the shower to really take it all off.  I keep a big bottle of Cetaphil in my shower at home, so why not bring a travel-size version with me on vacation.  The travel-size ones are available at Wal-Mart and are cheap and easy.

I'm not skimping on my moisturization or on my SPF for this Dermalogica Dyanamic Skin Recovery moisturizer is exactly what I need.  And, seriously, my face looks and feels amazing afterwards.

I'm also not messing around with nail polish and remover and all that jazz.  For a week?! No way.  Shellac mani/pedis for all and in this gorgeous and on-trend deep orange colour called Tropix, it's meant to be.

My hair is going to be taking a beating with all the sand, sun, surf and chlorine so my Joico K-Pak Reconstructor conditioner is a must.  I have an empty hand cream pump that is small enough for travel but big enough to last me the week.

And with my hair being watered down by the waves all day, maybe I can get away with not washing it all the time?  In that case, better spray in some of this awesome OSiS dry shampoo to make it smell nice and look less greasy.

The above two looks are what I am going for.  The first is from Prabal Garung's Fall runway and the second is the lovely Alexis Bledel in an orangey-red statement lip.  I am loving the mascara's eye, dewey complexion and vibrant lip right now and I think it will work great on vacation.

So that I don't have to worry about my expensive powder blushes breaking or looking "over-done" on my skin, I will be taking my Joe cream blush in "Bloom" and...

 my Tarte cheek stain in tipsy to create my dewey/sun kissed cheek looks.

I do not need to have racoon eyes while in and out of the water or have to worry about getting all of my mascara off at the end of the night so I will be taking a Kiss Me tubes mascara with me.  If the water does hit my face, the mascara will just tube off and not run down my face...score!

 My Revlon Lip Butters to create my statement lips?  No brainer.  I have a ton of fun colours, they are nourishing to lips, easy to put on, look great.  I can't say enough about them.

I will be bringing some kind of BB cream with me.  The two I have now do not have an SPF so I am thinking of picking up this Clinique one with SPF.

 I love an aerosol sunblock.  That is all.

And of course,  fun little antibacterial gels are awesome to bring with you on the fly.  The Bath and Body Works ones are always really cute and you can get them in some delicious scents.  Yum!