Greetings from Sydney!

Hi peeps,

I'm in Sydney tonight chilling in my hotel room so I decided to make a random post. I'm staying the Cambridge Suites in a wicked room actually. It's a one bedroom suite, with a harbour view and king size bed! They were like "we've upgraded you to a harbour view suite!" which is nice but I never look out the window so meh? I felt clever anyway.

I'm glad I'm only staying one night. I had a feast tonight. They have a "manager's reception" every Wednesday night for the sad business peeps that are here mid-week. But they give you free wine and beer, plus tasty appetizers! So I had some of that, and then a delicious candied salmon and garlic mashed potatoes meal, mmmm.

So I have an update on my quest for a Smythe blazer. I found two AMAZING ones on Ebay and they are BOTH in my size! I was so excited and was practically ready to buy both of them when I realized something horrible. They sellers said they only ship to the US! Who DOES that? Guess you don't want my hundreds of dollars for your stupid blazers. Here they are - are you dying with joy over how fabulous they are?

Anyway so I've messaged the seller of the beige-ish one and she said she's "just not comfortable shipping to Canada". So I guess you're "not comfortable with making any money". I wrote back to her and explained how ridiculously easy it is, so perhaps if she doesn't get any other bids, she'll message me. The other seller has it set up so I can't even message her. I'm considering clicking the Buy it Now and then being like, whoooops, didn't realize you don't ship to Canada but how about you do? Thanks.

Along the same lines, Foreign Affair has not only a Buy one Get one 50% off sale but it's ALSO tax free on Thursday and Friday nights! Amazing, except the Smythe blazers they have I don't *adore* so I'm not sure if I'll get any. They're very nice but they're not as nice as the ones above.

Oh and I need thoughts on this blazer. It can be shipped to Canada and is in my size, but it's not one of the ones I was dying for. It's somewhat interesting though.

I will keep you all posted as things progress! I have to do another post to show you all of the fabulous Smart Set clothes I've bought lately. I do this every year. When I Christmas shop, I somehow give myself permission to buy myself pretty much anything I want at Smart Set because I'm "Christmas shopping". Doesn't matter that it's for myself I guess, lol.

Anyway, the end!! :D

Weekend recap!

It was a busy weekend in the life of EFF.

Friday night Scott and I went to a surprise birthday party for one of our friends Friday night. I am always one of those people that gets a little stressed about surprise parties (while also loving them). What if they wanted to be alone that night? What if they're startled when we jump out? What if they're not appropriately dressed? It's tough to be me.

This guy seemed pretty pleased when we all jumped out, although one guy jumped up first and a little early and apparently the birthday boy thought initially he was being robbed. I know what that's like. I'm pretty much convinced I'm about to get robbed/murdered every night of my life.

Scott made me a fascinator that night.

Then on Saturday morning, Mom, me, Kelly, Kap, Sue and Kathy went to the Dal craft fair. No major purchases there, except Mom bought her 6th bird feeder. It's for the cottage apparently. Mom and Dad are using the "it's for the cottage" excuse a lot lately. Dad does this for every unnecessary tool set he buys from Canadian Tire. If you haven't heard, he had quite the haul this week. Anyway, I bought a few ornaments. Then we all went to Gingergrass for lunch, mmmm. 

That afternoon, me, Kap, Sue and Larry went to Andrew and Luke's hockey game at the Sprydome. They each scored a goal! That me, Kap and Sue all missed because we were late....oops. 

BTW, did everyone know Luke and Andrew are the captain and assistant captain of their team?? Superstars. 

Sunday was Michelle's birthday party! Good times had by all! Those missing include Sphen, Kelly and Mark (please note which Foster child is at every party), Katie and Allie. Delicious chili, chowder and sandwiches were served, along with Nova 7, my fave! My headache magically disappeared after I had some. 

The mustard was popular. 

Scott and I are about to watch a movie called Super 8. Will let you know how it is....if I don't fall asleep.....while I will.......so.......perhaps ask Scott. 

The end!

Little did she know

Little did Vivian the Volvo know what she was in for when Emily Foster strutted onto the used car lot of Volvo Halifax in April 2011.

Vivian (as Scott as named her ) came with some snazzy 16" alloy rims when I bought her. It took me a while to figure out the whole "rims" thing. I don't think I really knew there were "rims" and then tires that were separate. Anyway I've got it all straightened out now. Especially since now I'm the one that buys them all.

So anyway,  winter time rolls around and I'm sure Vivian is thinking, Emily will obviously either buy me a second set of fabulous alloy rims or she'll just put winter tires on my current rims. It doesn't matter that keeping alloys in the winter is foolish. After all, I AM a Volvo. She probably also thought, well if worse comes to worse, she'll get me steel rims and buy some nice wheel covers.

Instead, this is what Vivian got.

To make matters worse, there was the issue of winter mats. I had fabulous plans all along to buy Volvo brand winter mats. Unfortunately, when I was told my rims would be ONE HUNDRED FREAKING DOLLARS EACH WHICH EQUALS $1250 FOR ALL OF MY WINTER TIRE NEEDS, I started feeling less snobby about my winter mats. 

Lloyd Foster, the ultimate resource for pretty much anything imaginable, informed me he was having a "sale" on his used floor mats. So I busted on over to Towerview Drive to check out his selection. Lloyd informed me that not only were these mats on sale, but they were FREE! I had stars in my eyes. 

Problem is, the floor mats didn't *exactly* fit my beloved Volvo. So, naturally, what a normal person do? Cut the floor mats :D 

Poor Vivian has black steel rims, with no wheel covers, and chopped up floor mats. Oh I also drilled holes in her frame to put on a trailer hitch. Love you Vivvy! 

Leaving comments!

Hi peeps!

I love getting comments on my blog so feel free to leave as many as you want! I get a notification to my email whenever I get one too so it gives me joy during my workday :)

Anyway, so it was a hassle before to leave a comment because you had to do this weird set up thing, but I think I fixed it so that you don't have to do any sort of log in anymore. Just type your comment and for the drop down box where it says "select profile" just pick the "Name/URL" option, then type your name in the name spot so I know who you are. You don't need a URL. I just tested it and I think it's working now fine. If it's still not working for anyone, let me know and I'll take a look at it again.
A real post will follow later today!

Smythe

Ok so if you've never heard of these, or tried one on, or seen them on someone, you are missing out.

I had heard of this brand before and didn't really pay much attention to it before as I knew it was pretty expensive and is only sold at Foreign Affair.

Smythe makes THE most fabulous blazers and jackets you've ever seen in your life. They mostly do blazers. Back in the day (like maybe a few years ago), they seemed to more do "linen" type blazers, which I intensely dislike. But the stuff they've done this past year are these amazing structured blazers (thick-ish) that are longer in the back, with cute things like leather elbow patches.

Trouble is, they are REALLY hard to find. Well the best styles are anyway. Foreign Affair is the only place that sells them here, and it's really hard to find the fabulous ones left online. Let's put it this way, I contemplated getting one shipped from Australia because it was the ONLY website in the entire world where I could find the one I liked in my size. Don't worry, I didn't do it, but someday one will be mine.

Here are a few of my faves.....

Another interesting fact. If anyone watches Sarah Richardson on Design Inc or Sarah's House on HGTV, she wears these blazers ALL the time and looks fabulous in them. Tommy, her sidekick, is the sister of one of the women who started Smythe (Tommy's last name is Smythe!). Also, Sarah has randomly been BFF with one of the girls of that duo as well for her whole life. Muuuuuuust be nice!

And finally, some sad news about their upcoming Spring 2012 collection. They are moving away from the classic neutral coloured blazers with their typical fit and going towards a more colourful palette with lighter materials and odd designs (like ones where they fit weird and slouchy and they're like, it's fashionable! OBVIOUSLY). But, according to the chick at Foreign Affair (who I really find it hard to believe is their "fashion buyer"), they'll be doing more of the same fab jackets I love in their Fall 2012 collection.

The end!

Current coveted items

I know you're all excited - it's my first shopping related post!!!!! If you don't like shopping or brand names in general, you might not want to read any further.

Just thought I would inform you all of one of my current most coveted items. I often covet items. Me coveting an item doesn't *necessarily* mean I'll end up getting it. I think it's more just the fun of trying to hunt them down when they're hard to find, and then when I finally find them, I may or may not get them. There haven't been many things that I have REALLY wanted that I've not been able to find.

Anyway here we go!

It's a fabulous purple purse. I was watching one of the last episodes of Entourage and saw one of the cleverly fashionable characters carrying this wicked purple slouchy purse. I LOVE slouchy purses. Some people like shoes, I like purses. Oh and jackets (more on that later).

So anyway, I thought vaguely about that purse for a while and then decided to try find out who made it. After some internet searching, I found out it was made by this somewhat new designer in LA called Donatienne. Turns out I was actually on the street in downtown LA where her store is and I didn't even know it! Poor showing on my part. Her purses are just starting to get popular with the celebs. To most of you, you'd probs think it's ridiculously expensive (if I were to tell you the price that is....but I'm not going to....because you'll judge me if I end up getting it). But in terms of "designer" purses, it's actually decently priced.

This is a scene from Entourage where I originally saw it (it's kinda blurry):

Here's a pic of it from the designer's website.

Some of you may be thinking to yourself, I saw a bag the other day similar to this one that is probably WAY cheaper! My answer - that's nice. I only buy certain brands of purses. It's not necessarily a snob thing, because I buy Roots purses mostly. Also, contrary to popular belief, I don't actually buy that many purses. I find one I adore every year or two and buy it, and that's how I justify spending a bit more one them. I carried my brown Roots one for almost two years but recently replaced it with a new delightful Roots one. Actually here's a pic of it if you're wondering (I got it in a grey-ish colour called Pebble - it's amazing and I highly recommnend it. But not if you like lots of compartments and hate constantly "losing" things in your purse because it's basically one giant sack! Perfect for me though):



By the way, a tip about buying from Roots. Don't EVER pay full price. They have 25% off the entire store all the time online - I got 25% off mine :D The shipping is free (if you spend enough) and fast too.

So the purple purse is currently sold out but should be back in stock soon. I joined Twitter recently and am "following" the designer to see if she says when they'll have more in. I wonder if there's such a thing as "fashion detective" or "private fashion eye" as a career option? I'd be a super star.

A walk at the Dingle

Second blog post ever!!!!


So this past weekend, Scott and I were dogsitting Mr. Fred Dickey. We didn't have Ginny as apparently her social calendar was too full for her to join us. I had Friday off which was completely fabulous. 


Saturday morning, something strange and mysterious happened. Scott woke up at about 6:45am and said "Let's go for a walk!". The funny thing is, I have been dreaming of the day he would do this, but on that particular day, I had ZERO desire to get out of my cozy bed. 


Anyway, the useful part of my brain convinced the other part that I should definitely not pass this opportunity up. So off we went. 


We decided to go to the Dingle. My favourite part at the Dingle is the clever little walking trail that I discovered that goes along the water (down by the main wharf). Mom told me about it several years ago and said it was a public trail and for a while I didn't believe her because it seemed too good to be true! It goes RIGHT in front of all the fabulous houses and I feel like I'm outsmarting the people that live in them because a) you know they hate it that that path exists and b) I get to spy on their fabulous lives. 


Anyway so I took these few pictures that morning and thought I'd post them because they're kinda cool. This is exactly the natural light that morning - I didn't photoshop them at all! Mostly because I don't know how haha.

Above: Scott and Fred on the wharf

Above: Freddie

Above: Just starting our walk

Above: Fred having a wicked time. He pretty much has a smile on his face. :)



So that was our lovely morning at the Dingle! 

My first blog post!!!!!

Hi peeps,

So this is my very first blog post EVER. I'm not sure why I decided to make a blog. Perhaps because I'm bored at work (but that NEVER happens so that couldn't possibly be the reason.....).

I think it's because I like to talk a lot about the things I buy and things I'm excited about and this way, I don't have to find someone to listen to me. You can read if you want and not read it if you don't want. Scott might be verrrrry pleased that I have this new outlet to blab my thoughts to. :D

I'm going to tell you about a lot of random stuff on this blog, so be prepared. I'll post pics of things I buy, or things I did, or just random stuff I decided I liked. If you call me materialistic for talking about things I buy, I will block you from my blog (that might be a lie....).

Perhaps this will end up being more like a diary because maybe no one will read it. Except for Katie Shipp, who I know for a fact stalks my Mobile Me site waiting for new pictures. Sue Sampson has also sent me several threatening texts about outstanding albums needing to be posted. Oh and Geoff O'Toole LOVES listening to me so he'll likely be a regular reader.

Anyway, that's it for my very first post. I'm going to send you all an email to tell you I have a blog now, so wait and see what appears next!!!!!!

Yours favorite blogger ever,

-Emily

p.s. I will be having guest bloggers on my site so start doing nice things for me and *maybe* I'll consider you. Stephen Foster you are pre-approved.