Week recap... Friday already ? :)

This week my daughter had a bad fever and before I knew it it was Friday. 

Highlights of the week include: 

An impromptu photo shoot at Walmart led to some adorable shots with my baby, love her so. Sweater by RW&Co.

A couple of my work outfits this week, yesterday I rocked patterned pants and hot pink and loved the pop of interest in an otherwise classic work outfit of button down, cardigan and skinny pants. 

Soft cream blouse by Joe (on sale bought in blush also) - I'm really into folding up the sleeve of the cardigan or blazer to show off the sleeve underneath, though you can't see it so much here. 

Cardigan Anne Klein, pants Ricky's, pumps Target, scarf one of my favs from Cocoon House.

Today for casual Friday, I'm rocking the second day hair bun (inspired by French rules for hair here), my trusty black Guess jeans, a sweatshirt style shirt and men's simple long sleeve both from H&M, blazer from Gap. I love the striped lining on the blazer that pops every outfit, as I can tend towards too much black/not enough pattern... Also why I love the colour and whimsy in this scarf, adds lots of interest.

My incredibly stylish friend Chris came over last night to watch The Interview, and his outfit was amazing. He told me who made his perfect boots, pants, blazer, waffle shirt, coat and scarf, but I forget now. I'm gonna do a more extensive post on this guy, who we call Bermuda for his homeland, as his penchant for a dapper outfit, best seen in his going-out uniform of Bermuda shorts and knee high dress socks in summer, more than deserves a shout out. 

(Can't believe I captured a garbage bag in this shot, gold... Work in progress folks)

Tonight I have possible yoga, a photography craft night, and a road trip to a passport office two hours away in the morning. Looking forward to the weekend and some vino, pronto. 

Namaste and Happy Friday!!! Hope you all have a wonderful one!

Xoxo N.

Weekend staycations

This weekend there has been a lot of down time... A few outings led to sightings of outdoor nighttime hockey, a giant snowy owl, deer, wild turkeys... Next time must remember to wear two pairs of socks... Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Dress warm and enjoy nature as well as the comforts of home!

Sunglasses by Tory Burch. I love sunglasses and they are one of the few items I generally do go designer with. More affordable than bags or clothes or shoes, and protecting the investment I made eight years ago to get perfect vision - human engineering folks :)... The scarf was a Christmas gift and I don't know who makes it, and the sweater is a recent purchase from a local grass-roots store called Verde, it is bamboo and roomy and soooooo soft and deep black, I wear it to work, off-duty, really off-duty at home.... It is the absolute best, and I will post more on it later when I can tell you more about the brand. Here it is at work last week and at home last Sunday, contributing heavily to my happy place.

Pants Ricky's and pumps Ann Taylor.

Satin PJ's from La Senza... Want to be back on my bed doing this right now!!

I feel very inspired by nature and it is my dream to start a line of home and personal accessories inspired by same...

Snowy owls, barns, deer and wild turkeys...

View from the ferry bathroom porthole to Wolfe Island:

And lastly, weekends are for casual docs and converse, and curling up in front of the TV <3 ....

Namaste xoxo N.

TGIF and Missoni

Happy Friday everyone!

Today is jeans for charity day at work, which I love. Style articles these days tout jeans for work, but in my workplace it's still not technically permitted on the regular, although many show up every day in torn and faded jeans and think they are acceptable for work. They are not.

My co-worker and I showed up wearing kind of the same outfit - beige infinity scarf, blush top, black jeans and black heels. She is almost 50 and I am 31 and we both look great haha. 

I haven't mastered the full body selfie and the photographic effects of my lack of makeup continue to scare me...

Scarf by the Bay, blouse by Gap (sentimental because I wore it when pregnant on my Montreal babymoon, I wear a lot of my mat clothes still, am I the only one?), jeans by Guess, heels at Target (I keep selling these, they are so cheap, a perfect pump, and Target is closing in Canada so get yours before they are gone!! I scored the last two pairs in my size yesterday).

I want to end this post with my first observation on a collection, this continues to be a passion for me but I no longer have a subscription to Women's Wear Daily, I think I will have to invest again. Today's focus is Missoni's menswear RTW for fall 2015 - I have always loved Missoni's textures and prints and am very inspired by the entire collection, soooo winter-wonderful, beautiful, and honestly would wear everything in it. Seems every "it" blogger these days has a menswear-inspired look, and with clothes like these, it is no wonder why...

The coat below reminds me so much of one my most regretted donations, a vintage Pierre Cardin Paris overcoat just like this... Just because I barely wore it... Now I know that your usual clothes purging rules DO NOT APPLY to vintage designer finds... These are treasures... Yes you, silk Valentino pencil skirt I've never worn....

Namaste xoxo

Swap success

As I mentioned yesterday, I hosted a clothing swap last weekend and it was the best. I made pitchers of sangria, left a what not to wear marathon on the tv, borrowed a bunch of chairs and a clothes rack, and invited 8 friends and their surplus attire over for a very girly afternoon.

Everyone walked away happy with a bag of new free clothes and a joyful attitude, and it was a perfect antidote to the winter blahs I've been experiencing lately. We decided it needs to be a regular occurrence that can be done with books, accessories, etc! 

One of my finds was this basically unworn basic cardigan in fuschia. I wore blue and pink to match my daughter's outfit today and I love the effect the hot pink has on my winter mood. I don't often wear such girly and vibrant colours and a swap is a great way to acquire clothes you wouldn't normally buy without spending a dime. 

Another guest, a girl I'd never met before and instantly bonded with (new friends = win win win) scored some patterned pants that fit her like a glove but she never would have had the courage to buy. Highly recommend hosting and attending an event like this, it was transformative!!

Namaste xoxo

Natalia

...Cardigan by Anne Klein, scarf bought at Galeries Lafayette Paris, blouse by H&M, pants Ricki's, suede heels from Target ( I have to buy these again and in red suede and simple black - they are a perfect pump and SO cheap)... Still need to deal with those undereye bags...

Rebirth

2015... So many changes... I have moved, twice, and now am the proud tenant of a lovely early-20th century apartment with mouldings and high ceilings and downtown pest problems... ended an engagement and am the single mother of a three year old megawatt superstar lunatic.... and I work an office job, which is secure and sometimes interesting, flexible and my coworkers are fantastic.... but my passions are dying within me so I have resolved to resurrect my blog and my passion for fashion. Join me as I share my (hopefully daily) inspirations, thoughts and style!

Namaste and Happy Hump Day :)

N.

_________________________________

monochromatic OOTD:
undereye bags by three year old
geometric cropped sweater RW&CO
black pencil skirt (with boning in the waist and a lining, one of my favs) Sandra Angelozzi
tights Garage
boots from last weekend's clothing swap (so fun, recap post later)

Must apply tips from this article on undereye bags...

Scarf Heaven: Athena Procopiou and Cocoon House

Greetings!! I can't believe it has been just about 6 months since I last posted... It has flown... I moved cities, got a new job and got promoted... have an almost two-year-old... And blog posts were written in my head along the way but never committed to internet.

I fell so hard in love with Athena Procopiou's collection of scarves that I HAD to post about it... I am obsessed... I have a fascination with fractals and the repeating organic patterns that are everywhere, and artistically I feel that the hugest inspiration is nature... And apparently I am not alone because her F/W Fairytales collection seems like it plucked so many ideas from my own mind... her other collections, going back to 2012, are also so gorgeous... My words are failing me, just let the prints speak for themselves...

I had a black cat for 16 years... my beloved... I WANT this scarf...

These space inspired ones would look so great on...

BIRDS... beautiful...

Swans...

Birds and clouds... It's heaven.

My daughter is obsessed with owls. And so am I after seeing this print.

My partner is an artist and has been working on a piece with dandelions, and this has the puffy heads in a geometric pattern... I am very curious as to how this scarf looks worn...

Very many pretty butterfly variations...

These last two, shown flat and then how they would look in use... WOW. They are from her Ziggy F/W 2012 line and I WANT THEM VERY BADLY.

They remind me a lovely scarf I got recently, all soft and multicoloured and space print-y. 

It was my 30th birthday last week and my partner gave me a gc with which I bought this silk number that says 'handmade in China' label Cocoon House... The website, where you can get scarves in all manner of reproduced painting prints as well as many other items, says:

'Cocoon House is proud to offer its unique, fine silks and accessories. All of our silk products are made in small co-ops located in the heart of China's silk producing region, ensuring that products are of the highest quality and have been produced in a fair and traditional manner.'

Which is fabulous, and I love my new scarf, if I can't have Athena's...

Ferknot

I always mean to focus more on Canadian designers, so I am going to start with Ferknot, a collaboration of Jorge Calderon, Ryan Bruehlmann and Rick Taylor. They have a beautiful collection that excites me because some of my main staples are blazers, dress shirts (often men's ones), and shirt dresses, and that's their specialty. With soft luxurious fabrics and an emphasis on tailoring, this is one brand to watch! They also donate to Plant a Tree Today with every purchase to offset their carbon footprint.

Love love the colour mix here...

and here.

I want this shirt very much, but I am addicted to soft, perfect button down black shirts.

This blazer is pretty beautiful.

As is this more fitted one, love the colour.

They also have more affordable t-shirts, yoga shorts and such, and it's funny but those are pretty much some of my favourite things in my wardrobe as well.

The men's shirts often have these gold buttons and I love them, I wear a lot of men's shirts and this element appeals to me a hell of a lot, it's actually inspiring me to sew bling buttons onto my men's shirts.

Like I said, they emphasize tailoring and custom fits, so The idea of having a shirt dress like this cut to my body seems like a lovely dream.

More to come! I still have so much resort to see!