Pretty Pleats

Skirt? Pink Tartan, Winners
Tank? Majestic, Winners
Purse? Thrifted
Shoes? Derek Lam, Holt Renfrew Last Call
Bracelets? The crazy lady at The Ex.
Hairband? ?, some department store in Paris. It stays put really well.

This outfit is the cousin of this outfit. You know, the cousin from the side of the family you actually talk to; a cool cousin. Hard shell purse plus pleats of silver embroidery... I absolutely love this skirt and I've lamented before that I don't wear it enough but when I do, I feel very ladylike. Don't expect any eye contact while I wear this skirt, I'm much too busy looking down and petting the sharp, pretty pleats.

Matt's managing a big reforestation/naturalization job in the area and he told me it would be a perfect spot for outfit pictures. It's cool to get a glimpse into what Matt does in order for us to afford our luxurious lifestyle. Thanks to him the cats eat Science Diet... No Name kibble is not good enough for those precious felines.
The site we were taking pictures at is huge and Matt kept wanting me to check out what they were doing here, there and everywhere and there I am tripping after him like a little girl in Mama's heels. I appreciate his enthusiasm but my ankles did not.

Hair- Do. A Twist Tutorial

Foreward: You know it's going to be a long post when there is a foreward... People have been asking for a hair tutorial for a long time now and I'm finally posting one. High five. I have no idea why but it was really difficult to get this together. My hairstyles are usually an secret competition (with a dear friend, we're gross like that) to see how many days we can go without washing my hair. I damage it enough with bleach and sun exposure so I try to wash and heat style it as little as possible. Most days I just throw my hair up based on what shape it is when I wake up; sometimes it takes 2 bobby pins and sometimes I need so many bobby pins that I'm a metal head like Taylor Momsen. I will do a post on this kind of hairstyle later but most of my hairstyles always start off with The Twist. I will often wear it out like this but I also just wear it like this at night to give my hair some control and curl when I release it... So easy...

Step 1: The key to this style is that your hair has to be 97% dry. It needs to be a tiny bit damp in order to give your hair curl for any hairstyles you may want to do during following days. But if it's too damp than the curls get too twisty and heavy looking. That 97% is exact science.
Give your hair a loose side part and twist away from the face, taking in hair as the twist goes on.

Step 2: Twist until about half your hair is gathered up. Pin the twist near the top of your head to keep it out of the way. I usually cross my bobby pins to make things secure.

Step 3: Twist the other side of your hair away from the face and gather all remaining hair.

Step 4: Finish the twist and pin into place below the ear.

Step 5: Release the twist that was pinned to the top of the head and nestle it into the crook of the other twist. Pin it. Any loose ends from the twists I pin and hide. I try to keep the ends straight so that when I release it there are no awkward kinks.

Step 6: I usually throw a bobby pin or two in the middle of the twists so they don't slide completely out.

Step 7: Give your hair a little scruffle. I don't like it when my hair is too neat, so I always loosen my hair up a bit. Staring at the mirror soulfully (or in my case the camera) is essential. Try it.

The Result: Neat and in control. And it gives great curls for further styles... as I will demonstrate in my next tutorial.
Sorry it took so long to post this. I hope it was worth the wait?

Four

Matt and I celebrated our fourth year wedding anniversary this last week. We went out of the city for a camping trip and had an all around romantic time... having bug spray fights, sharing s'mores with the wildlife and singing...um...

Shirt? ?, Winners
Skirt? Debbie Shuchat, Winners
Boots? Gap
Purse? Elliot Lucca, Winners (nothing thrifted... ah! The guilt...)

What a lie. We didn't go camping. I'm not so good at camping, I can't even think of a good camping song, that's where my story fell apart. What isn't a lie is that it was our 4th year anniversary. In keeping with tradition, we had a rather mediocre celebration. On our first anniversary, I was really hungover (Yes, Mom, I am still ashamed...). The next year, we were driving back from a vacation in PEI with friends, and last year we were sharing a cottage with my family in a tiny town in Holland (fun but not very romantic..)... This was going to be the year where we finally made it into a big deal... but then all the people in Matt's department had booked holidays already for that week, so he had to be important and work.
I took off work an hour early on our anniversary. An hour I should have spent making heart shaped sugar cookies or interviewing potential second wives but instead I spent it changing 14 times. I really wanted to wear pants to break up the skirt/dress binge I've been on lately but it wasn't working out, so I retreated to the safety of sequins and plaid. And Matt waited patiently as the tornado of clothing flew around him and then still took outfit pictures...

Dear Matt,
I'm sorry that I made you watch The Bounty Hunter this weekend. It was really crappy.
I'm also sorry that you ordered a burger that tasted funny on our low-key anniversary dinner. The fish tacos I had weren't fantastic either. The DQ Blizzards were good though. I can handle mediocre anniversary days because I know what we have every day in our lives together is pretty freaking awesome.

xoxox
Jentine

Worth Waiting For

Dress? French Connection, Winners (a lot of FCUK... I'm not sponsored, I'm just finding good deals...$20).
Denim jacket? French Connection, Winners
Shoes? French Connection, Vaughn Outlets
Purse? Tignanello, thrifted
Bangles? Gifted from Mexico and from a Goodwill auction.

This is officially the longest it has ever taken me to post an outfit. I wore this two weekends ago when Matt and I went out for dinner to celebrate free time. We stopped along the way to take some pictures in the last golden rays of sunshine. Oddly enough, blogging has made me fall in love with my city as we are constantly discovering great places to take pictures. As much as this blog is about fashion and smack talk, part of the fun is finding somewhere to pose it out. I know some people check my blog just to guess where the pictures were taken. There are issues with Hamilton for sure but I'm one of the city's biggest fans. There is so much potential in this city but sometimes it's just not there... The downtown core needs to come together so people don't just come by to get a wedding dress or get drunk on Hess. We need people to come in the morning for brunch, to go buy a handbag, to get some fresh bread and brie from the farmer's market, to have a picnic at Dundurn Castle, to tour the art gallery, to go for dinner at the crowded German restaurant, to come by our place to meet the cats and then get drunk at Hess. Spend your whole day and your whole paycheck here...

Wow... I didn't mean to go on that rant at all. Where I was going with this post before I got carried away on downtown revitalization, was that we stopped by to take pictures at the Museum of Steam and Technology that I didn't even know existed and we loved how they came out. I say 'we loved', because Matt was pretty excited about these too. Except for the back shot of the dress, these pictures are unedited. It took a while to post them because in my foolishness I erased almost every picture off the memory card. It was one of those moments where the smart voice in your head tells you to double check before you hit delete and the fun voice in your head says 'Let's Party!'. Because I erased the pictures off the memory card and not the computer, retrieving them was... tedious. But Matt found a program (yes, once again, he donned his tights and saved the day...) that could get the pictures but it was rather expensive unless we signed up for the trial version giving us the ability to save one picture a day. So, every day we have carefully pored over the little thumbnails and tried to make a wise choice over what one photo to choose during each block of 24 hours. This post is all about patience. Also about thankfulness... for Matt's patience.