Tiger Tail

Wearing an all black outfit against an orange wall reminds me of tiger tail ice cream.  I wonder if that still exists?
I’m wearing my Jason Wu for Target black pleated skirt, with a classic black turtle neck from Jacob.  To make the outfit interesting I added a flower on my neck, a gold belt, and leopard boots from Top Shop.  It’s all about the accessories.  JD

Photos by DT

Breakfast on the East Side

Heat Waaaave!  Toronto is HOT right now.  I have been laying low in my non-air-conditioned apartment trying to beat the heat.  Considering the last two summers were nothing but dark clouds, cool breezes and rain, the lack of air conditioning never bothered me…until now.  The past two nights I came home from work, laid in my bed with a fan on me and read for hours.  At least I am catching up on my reading non?  I wore this red dress to breakfast last Canada Day.  I purchased it from Target almost three years ago for $30 and it has held up incredibly well – fabric and colour.  Necklace is from Aldo Accessories for $20, bracelet is from H&M for $4 and shoes are from Nine West.  CM

Ready To Run

Julie and I had a couple of meetings to attend the other day which had us running to all ends of the city.  I wore this skirt from JCrew that I purchased from one of their outlet stores.  The best part about the skirt is that I can wear it three ways which I will be showing you in future posts.  My white blouse is a Target purchase which I bought it for less than $20 almost three years ago and it has held out longer than any my $70 Club Monaco blouses.  Sorry Club Monaco but it is true!  My shoes are Cole Haan and my crush on them grows deeper every day.  For their height they are crazy comfortable which was great for this day in particular.  If you like them but want to spend less, I came across similar ones done in funky summer colours at Aldo.  My necklace is from Aldo Accessories (still on sale!) and bracelet is from H&M Yorkdale.  Together they don’t really match but I think they work together for the outfit.  Sunglasses were $10 from a NYC street vendor and bag was a gift.  CM

Sugar High

Cupcakes sitting pretty

Hosts and bakers of the party – Betty Crocker and Martha Stewart :)

Friends of ours hosted a cupcakes and champagne party on the weekend and spent hours baking dozens of delicious cupcakes in hues of pink, sparkles, glitter, and chocolate of course. They added a prop element to the mix with fun hats, sunglasses, and wigs for taking pictures. (You know how girls love their photo shoots after a few glasses of bubbly). They live in the ultimate girl palace outfitted in adorable accents from stores like Target and Homesense. I like this Buddha in particular that they picked up from Urban Barn. Thanks for a fun afternoon ladies! xo

Abbot Kinney Blvd

A Sunday stroll, a bite to eat, coffee in hand, and lots of gabbing is how I recently spent some quality time with the bff on Abbot Kinney Blvd – an amazing street in Venice, CA.

I love Christina’s style and this is a perfect example of budget fashion – her sunglasses are from Target ($7), slip top is from a vintage store in Vancouver, cotton skirt is by Rittenhouse from One of  a Few in Vancouver, and shoes are by Clark’s from Freedman shoes (on sale) – they’re slightly on the grandma side but still chic, and more importantly comfy for her poor fallen arches. I didn’t take a close up of her feet because she has really beautiful toes, and some of you might be really jealous. Belt is Forever 21 ($8), and her purse was her grandma’s and is very special to her :)

Gjelina (ja-lee-na)

Intelligentsia

We strolled on over to Gjelina’s for brunch which was a cool spot with delicious food. Service was a bit slow but we were in no rush so it didn’t matter. I should have taken a pic of my sandwich – it looked so good and was a 9.5 on the taste-o-meter. We then went to Intelligentsia for coffee and spotted Toby Maguire, his wife, and baby in tow. He was quite striking in person – I liked the beard he had going on. The sun made the day just perfecto. 

Budget travel tip: I’d also like to tell you that over 4 and a half days in LA I only spent a whopping $330. Nuts eh? I used my Aeroplan points for my flight and paid $145 on taxes only; and the other $185 was just spent on food. I think the key to being a budget traveller is to not shop! Personally I’d rather shop before my trip and go with outfits planned, than go with nothing and waste sun and beach time trying to find something cool to wear when really, we have a lot of the same stores.  If you must buy something, you should make it one special purchase – something you can’t buy in your home town. Just my opinion. JD