Dear Blazer...

I Love You.
You are casually refined, very forgiving, and you go with everything. From work to play, from black to gold, you mesh with all my favourite things. I admire how you take everything I throw at you, and simply make it better. You are fun to dress up or down, and let me be whoever I want to be that day with no questions asked. Most importantly, when all else fails, you never disappoint, and for that, I am forever grateful.


Am I pathetic for loving some of my clothes this much? If my clothes were people, I'd write them letters like this every day just so they knew how much I appreciate them. I'd hang them with all their friends of similar colour, style, shape, and texture - and I'd NEVER drop them on my floor after a hard day at the bar work. I'd wash them carefully, dry cleaning the extra special ones, and never subject them to my devil of a dryer. My clothes would have the best life ever.

Hold on a second... they do. They definitely do because that above is how I treat all my clothes. Granted my gymnastics sweatpants along with a few other items do take regular spins in the dryer, but generally, I like to hang up or fold all of my clothes, and like most girls (maybe a few boys) my closet is colour coordinated, which isn't too hard when everything is black.

I was thinking about both my work and social schedule for the next few weeks and I realized that I wanted to wear my favourite Wilfred Satin Boyfriend Blazer (available at Aritzia [image 27]) to everything, and that it would go perfectly for almost any occasion that I had coming up. I said I would share my personal fashion ideas on this blog, so here is one of my number ones.


Every girl should own a blazer.


Go from work to after work cocktails with some employees?
Going to a "casual" work meeting.
First date? Blind date?
Have a lot of really cool shirts that aren't snow friendly?
Too tired to get dressed up but need to look put together?
Have that little black dress that may be too flashy for the wedding ceremony but will rock the reception?

A Blazer is the answer.
A Blazer is always the answer.

Not necessarily the blazer you wore to your first job interview that was so uncomfortable you were distracted and couldn't wait to get home to rip it off, along with the nylons you swore you'd never wear again. The blazer I'm talking about is a little more casual, a little looser and longer - a Boyfriend Blazer [boyfriend not required]. It falls a little below your waist and can be worn with a dress, a dressy top, or just a plain old white T with jeans and some bangles and still looks great. It should fit you comfortably and should only include shoulder pads if you're going for a very 80s vintage look or feel (ps if you are, Zara has a great one). Boyfriend blazers don't necessarily need to be tailored or come in at the waist, but they should look distinctively different than the top of your go to interview suit. Boyfriend blazers have no age limit.

Blazers don't need to be expensive, and if you aren't sure that you should have one (you should) I would recommend keeping the cost low. In fact, if you dont have a blazer and want one, log off immediately and either run to Kohls or click here to purchase this perfect boyfriend blazer (right - on SALE), check out those cute cuffed sleeves - I want!


Already have a blazer? Looking to up the ante, or to buy me a nice friendship gift? The blazer pictured in my love note (yes, the feathers are attached...sigh...) can be purchased here.

Happy Blazing :)

"Smells Clean..." Laundry: Post- University Friendships

First & most important... Happy Holidays!

I can't believe its Christmas Eve already. It looks and seems like fall to me - downtown we have barely any snow, and two days ago I was outside with no hat or gloves (thankfully, because my winter hat is shameful at best). I find, as I'm sure most people do, that I miss not only my long distance friends, but all my friends a lot at this time of the year. I think about all of my friendships - the new and the old, the strong and the not so strong that seem to be fading away, and I wonder where I'd be without them.


In University I was part of an athletic team and immediately acquired 13 new sisters. It was amazing to see how strong our bond was throughout my 5 years there, we had been through everything together - the clean, the dirty & the rotten. When I graduated, I wondered how I'd not only live without them, but make new friends that would fill that void. Not everyone is part of an athletic team, but I'm sure every University student has made so many friends that have impacted their lives in one way or another, only to move home after school and lose touch with some of the people who meant so much at one time or another.

It wasn't until I graduated that I learned that "real life" friendship takes effort, whether you are neighbours or live in different countries. Going to school in the US and then moving home to Toronto really meant I had to have a fresh start with new friendships, and I was very fortunate to have met some smart, beautiful (inside and out), intelligent ladies (and a few of you gentlemen) that have become a staple in my life: and you know what? I dont know where I'd be without these people either. Moving home, I also reconnected with old childhood/high school friends that I wonder why I ever stopped talking to while in University.

Over the past three years post-university, one of the biggest "aha" moments I've had is realizing that while friends-of-the-moment are great, the really meaningful friendships in my life take the most effort, and are the most rewarding. I generally dislike the phrase "you find out who your true friends are when..." because, while I agree this is accurate, I realized that this doesn't just happen, I have to put in the effort with the people that I want in my life. People walk in to your life every day, but they don't stay there without effort from both parties. I've learned that if I want people in my life, I have to call/text/email/arrange visits/etc etc... in order to keep that alive. Best case scenario - it is reciprocated, and I am so lucky that most of my old teammates, high school/university friends, and new work colleagues also realize the imoprtance of making time for their friends. The other side to this, is the unreturned calls, texts, and emails, the ones always waiting for invitations to things they never attend, the friends who are then hurt when they aren't included - whether its a movie night or a roadtrip to see other friends. I struggle with frustration when I think of my options for this type of friendship - I don't want to give up, but why the effort on my part when all the invitations are not only rejected, but most of the time never answered?

As a disclaimer, I understand that "life" can get in the way of friendships, we always have somewhere to be, something due tomorrow, or something we're late for. That being said, many of my friends have very busy lives - careers, kids, & relationships; however, these seem to be the friends who make the most effort. In university, all we had was class and maybe a job - living either with, or within walking distance from all your friends made it easy. Plans could be made 5 minutes before the event, and most cases involved everyone was avilable and up for whatever. Post-university friendship takes planning. No longer do we have the luxury of dropping our homework and heading to the bar for a drink or ten. No longer can we skip class to go shopping, or road trip to see a football game at a nearby school - we have to plan dinner weeks ahead, road trips months ahead, and Taylor Swift concerts a year in advance (ps - I can't wait girls!!). That being said, these are the most important friendships in my life right now. I am so lucky to have the friend who is taking her Masters and is busier than busy, but on her one week off a year makes the effort to see ALL her friends, and believe me, her black book of friends is overflowing. [Note: she is doing amazingly well, and is never too busy for a quick text message to at least let me know she is alive]. I am lucky to have the friend who drives downtown to meet me just for coffee, even offering to look after my cat she isn't so fond of when I am out of town - only trapping him in the fridge once...so far.

I am lucky to have all of you.

All the effort put in - whether its daily emails to a couple long distance teammates, weekly dates for coffee or wine with a group of special girls, or twice a year visits to Alumni weekend or Homecoming... all of the time, money spent, and 3000+ text messages a month is worth its weight in gold. Its you people in my life who are there for me no matter how dirty my laundry is, teaching me the lessons that never go out of style: friendship isn't always easy, you have to work to make it work, and the shakes the next day are always worth that last glass of McManis.

The Inaugural...a clean laundry introduction

Welcome [insert your name here],
...to what? I'm not so sure yet. I've wanted to start a blog for a while now, I just never got around to actually setting one up. It wasn't until last week when my BFF Michele set up her blog that it motivated me to start mine (I'm what you call a joiner...with the exception of hard drugs, or kareoke. I.hate.kareoke). I thought I'd start out with a clean post as an introduction to me, this blog, and a preview of whats to come.

If this were my eHarmony profile, I'd describe myself as young, outgoing, smart and funny. Since I'm not here to impress anyone, my description of myself would be young, outoging, smart and funny - with a side of cynical, lightly judgemental, semi-uptight, very liberal, and brutally honest. Oh, and the "funny" term could also be misjudged as a smartass. My eHarmony interests would read something along the lines of good food, good conversation, forensics tv shows, and city living. All of those are my real life interests, but I dont know how many young fella's I'd attract if I included copious amounts of red wine, an unhealthy obsession with makeup and all things skincare and beauty, reality tv shows, a love of candy shared with my mother, all things fashion, tea & my disaster of a rescue kitty Ace. Appealing non?
[Note: I am not on eHarmony, nor am I in the market...]

Hence the reason for this blog - I believe a person can have many contrasting qualities, and the ways we alter ourselves to fit different social situations lets us bring out all different attributes or opinions we may not have known we have. I wanted to use the term Laundry because in my head, it's the perfect term to describe human nature, personality, and our thoughts and opinions: We all have the clean laundry we wear to go places, to see people, to portray ourselves as we'd like to be seen. Come home, and we have the dirty laundry that not many people see, you're somewhat embarassed of, or you hope no one ever finds out about.

Over time, I'll share with you both my clean and dirty laundry... and I'm sure you'll find that most of my thoughts are somewhere in between...

Until next time.... happy folding.