Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Spring Maxi Dress Guide 2014

Last year I did a round up of spring time maxi dresses, and it's been one of my most popular blogs! An update seemed in order, especially given the abundance of MAG-freaking-NIFICENT dresses I've been seeing around zee web lately!

SIT BACK LADIES (and gent?) and let's get to browsing some of these diverse maxi dresses from Modcloth, Forever21, H&M, Urban Outfitters, and Victoria's Secret!

MODCLOTH

I love that this dress mixes neutrals and brights for you. 
And check out the cute crochet detail on the back!
Floral maxi dress with beige crochet details, from Modcloth

Crochet detail on floral maxi dress from Modcloth

This bohemian-esque dress has ALL THE STRIPES and a crazy cage-style back.
I really like the "sea glass" colors of this dress.

Striped and patterned maxi dress from Modcloth

Modcloth maxi dress with caged back

Classic navy and white combo. The white lace detail on the arm area is slimming, and the lace on the lower portion of the dress is so pretty! It even has a cute keyhole in the back.

Navy maxi dress with white lace details and chevrons, from Modcloth

Navy maxi dress with white lace details and keyhole, from Modcloth


This patchwork style dress brings out the country girl in me. The ruffly panel in the bodice area would also be pretty flattering for a small-chested lady such as myself!

Patchwork style white and blue bohemian maxi dress from Modcloth

Patchwork style white and blue bohemian maxi dress from Modcloth

Black and white is looking reeeeal good in this dress. 
I love that the chevrons vary in width towards the bottom.
Black and white chevron maxi dress from Modcloth

Black and white chevron maxi dress from Modcloth

This is one of my favorites because it's so simple, yet so pretty! 
And you all know that I'm a sucker for orchids.
Pink orchid colored maxi dress from Modcloth

Orchid maxi dress with sheer bottom and diagonal stripes pattern, from Modcloth










FOREVER21

I love the colorful pattern of this dress, plus the slits that make it easier to walk in. Perfect for me because I like to walk REALLY FAST.

Colorful pattern Forever21 maxi dress

Colorful pattern Forever21 maxi dress with strappy back

UM this floral dress is gorgeous. And dat back doe.
White maxi dress with beautiful pink/red flower print, from Forever21

Very cool back on this white maxi dress with pink flowers, from Forever21


H&M

Just give me a beach, some sun, and a coconut to sip out of, and I'll be ready to rock this dress.
White maxi dress with tropical pattern, from H&M

White maxi dress with colorful tropical pattern, from H&M


This black hi-lo dress is so versatile - you could probably find a reason to wear it once a week from now till September.

Black hi-lo maxi dress from H&M with lace detail

Black hi-lo maxi dress from H&M with lace detail


URBAN OUTFITTERS

This one seems effortless and sporty, with cutouts in just the right place! There are other color options available - including a navy/grey one that I also liked.

Sporty and effortless black and grey maxi dress from Urban Outfitters

Effortless black and grey maxi dress with cute side cutouts from Urban Outfitters


VICTORIA'S SECRET

Heyooooo gypsy dress. This has a "beautiful rags" feel, doesn't it??

Bohemian mixed print maxi dress with a v-neck, from Victoria's Secret

Bohemian light blue mixed print maxi dress with a v-neck, from Victoria's Secret


This super pleated, flowy dress comes in lots of colors, but I love this Aqua Frost the best.
In the navy picture, you can see what the back looks like.

Aqua pleated maxi dress from Victoria's Secret

Navy pleated maxi dress from Victoria's Secret

I adoooooore this dress!! It reminds me of mint chocolate Dippin' Dots, which isn't weird at all. As a bonus, it's on sale right now.

Mint and beige short-sleeved maxi dress from Victoria's Secret



Hopefully this maxi dress round-up has been helpful or inspiring for you! I had a few other dresses picked out, but they are already sold out! Better snag 'em fast guys.

Did you have any favorites from above?
What are some of your favorite stores to find spring and summer dresses?
Don't you just love Dippin' Dots? Mmmmm....

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{Linking with Monday Must Haves}

Monday, March 24, 2014

30 Random Things About Me (Blog TAG)

I was tagged by Amy over at Eyeshadow Addict to do this 30 Random Things About Me tag. In the past, you may recall that I did the 50 Random Facts About Me tag, as well as the Thirteen Questions tag, both of which I hope taught you a thing or two (or thirteen or fifty) about moi.

But as a living, breathing, writer-slash-person, I can always come up with more ways to talk about myself. AND I'M 'BOUT TO, 'cause there are (clearly) about to be 30 more Bailey facts heading your way. Yes, yours.

LEGGO!

1. I'm terrrrrible at finishing books. There are an untold number of 66%-read books under my belt.

2. I feel compelled to wash my hands after anytime I touch a dog or cat.

3. I'm convinced that walking heavy on my heels all my life has given me horrible calf strength and no butt muscles to speak of. This isn't a scientific assessment, just a strong feeling I have. I've been trying to increase my squats for the last month or so, because Beyoncé says they work.

4. I don't own a smartphone. I had to cancel the data plan on my Blackberry when I moved to Canada, and replaced the 'Berry with a Samsung Bright Side, which sucks completely. Don't buy one.

5. My older sister Mallory and I saw the movie The Witches (based on the book by Roald Dahl) in the theater when it came out in 1990 (when I was either 5 or 6), and can still vividly remember our parents having to take us out of the movie theater crying because we were TERRIFIED. It was during the scene wherein the witches all remove their human masks and reveal their hideous witch faces.  If you haven't seen The Witches, just take a look at this screenshot and tell me YOU COULD HAVE HANDLED IT at age 5!

6. Once while attempting to slice a granola bar in half for a customer, I sliced into my own hand with a serrated knife at a cafe I worked at. I still have the scar. The customer did not care.

7. David and I met while working at that very cafe. (Whattup Esselon?!)

8. My eyes are very sensitive to sunlight - my grandmother recently told me they always had been, even when I was a very little girl. You can catch me squintin' on a sunny or hazy day.

9. The only time I've ever dyed my hair was with a temporary box-color back in 2006, but it was too subtle a change for anyone to even notice the difference.

10. I truly do miss Dunkin Donuts coffee products and always make a point to get myself a coffee or Coffee Coolata as soon as I can whenever I'm back in Massachusetts. Mmm....

11. I got my first real job at age 13, simply because I wanted to work. It was at an indoor skating arena in Pittsfield called The Arena, and the owner was a friend of my mother's, which explains how I was able to get a job at such a young age (pretty sure you're not legally supposed to be able to work in Massachusetts until you are 14, but my 14th birthday was about 2 months after I started working there, so WHATEVA). I believe the minimum wage at that time was about $5.25/hr. #BigChips.

12. Every weekday morning for breakfast, I eat a banana, coffee, and 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with peanut butter. On weekends, I prefer eggs/bacon.

13. My piercings are as follows:  A nose (ring) piercing (age 18), a belly button (bar) piercing (age 16), and pierced ears (age probably 5?). By the way, I've heard mutterings that belly piercings are supposed to be some sort of an embarrassment to women nowadays - like they're a stain to remind us of our rebellious youth - but I must have missed that memo. I'm not embarrassed by mine at all. Not yet anyway! Same goes for my nose ring - I've always loved it and have (thus far) never regretted getting it done.

14. I love camping out in tents. Even when I know that my night of sleep will be horrible, I just love sleeping outside in a tent. Especially if it's with David :)

15. I hiked to the summit of Mt. St. Helens in the spring of 2012. It was one of the most challenging things I've ever done in my life - physically and mentally. Unfortunately... there was no view at the summit because it was white-out conditions:




.  the summit!  I SWEAR!  .


16. Sometimes I go a year or more between haircuts of any kind. I just don't feel compelled to go and do it! My last haircut was in June (yes, of 2013), and scheduling an appointment for a cut had been on my to-do list for over a month before I finally made one this weekend. My appointment is on Thursday... wish me luck!

17. My first concert was the No Doubt Tragic Kingdom Tour in 1996. It was awesome.

18. I was in a high school production of the musical Titanic my senior year (2002). If you're not familiar with this play, you ought to be. It's not based on the movie.

19. Speaking of theater - I love live theater, but I don't go see it very often anymore.

20. This is going to sound a little wacky, but for a very long time I believed that boys must not have feelings. I struggled with boys (and girls... but mostly boys) being really mean to me throughout elementary and middle school, and when I tried to defend myself against them by being mean back, it just never seemed to have an impact on them. It really seemed to me that they must just not have feelings. This irrational idea became kind of engrained in me, to the point where even to this day sometimes I will say something insensitive to Dave or to a male friend (something I'd never say to a female friend), just because my blind assumption is that it won't hurt their feelings because they don't have feelings the same way I do. Can anyone else relate to this??

21. I've been working full time for the same company for a little over 6 years now.

22. I included a bundle of Boston channels in my Canadian cable package, so I still get to watch Boston news and weather :)

23. I am an avid apartment singer. I always have been and only minutely care what my neighbors think of that.

24. I just finished reading Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns).

25. YouTube videos are mostly my entertainment of choice - I watch them more often than I watch television. Some of my current favorites are Miranda Sings, LeighAnnSays, Flula, Jenna Marbles, MissGlamorazzi, and cutepolish.

26. When I was younger, the trolls in Earnest Scared Stupid scared me so much that it impacted my sleeping.

27. Using my right index fingernail, I compulsively pick at the side of my right thumb... and kind of always have. There's usually a cut or broken skin of some sort in that spot. #Sexy.

28. At age 8, somehow the rubber backing of one of those super cheap plastic earrings became lodged inside my ear lobe. Just take a moment to think about that... the rubber back had basically grown into my ear. I had to have surgery to remove it, and I can still remember how frightened I was as they were about to put me under anesthesia. I have a vivid memory of my Dad being there with me (in hospital scrubs) as I fought back against them putting the anesthesia mask to my face. The good news is, as a bi-product of getting a minor surgery as an 8-year-old, I received an AWESOME "feel better" present from my aunt Dee - a big stuffed Max (the dog from The Little Mermaid!).

29. I severed my ACL playing soccer in 10th grade (2000) and had to have surgery to repair it. I'm still paranoid to this day that the repair isn't going to hold!

30. I have a somewhat irrational fear of slipping on things. You'll probably either crack up or want to smack me if you catch me trying to walk up an icy hill in the winter or cross the street on a rainy day.

Ok, now I'm exhausted. I hope you've made it this far - and that you've enjoyed learning a bit more about me!

Thanks Amy for tagging me - and now I tag all of YOU to participate in this tag as well. If you don't blog, share a random thing about yourself below in a comment :)

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Sunday, March 23, 2014

Beach Walks, New Shirts + Workouts of the Week

Howwww the heck has your weekend been so far? I hope you've all had plenty of relaxation and productivity, or whatever blend of that makes you feel like your weekend has been successful. I've been crossing some things off my list (if you follow along regularly, you might know that I try to make a to-do list every weekend), taking walks, and buying the occasional "thing" for myself. Because.

My weekend kicked off well with the Friday afternoon news (via mail) that I won't owe anything additional for my 2013 taxes after all! Big "phew" for that one. This was my first year earning contractor income, so it was a bit of mystery for me how those taxes would play out. I'm also happy to report that not only will I not owe any more money, I'll actually still be receiving a nice refund! #HEYOOOO! High fives all around to everyone else who gets some money back this spring. Go shoppin'. Or save that shit. Your choice. (I'll probably do a bit of both.)

Anyway, what else have I been up to the last few days? I took a couple of walks... this one along the beach on Thursday was particularly nice:

Walk along a Vancouver beach

English Bay in Vancouver

View of Downtown Vancouver from Kitsilano Beach

Sailboat in English Bay in front of mountains

Mountains and tankers from beach in Kitsilano
And on Friday night David and I finished off our evening with a sunset beach walk:

Sunset in English Bay in Vancouver

Sunset in English Bay in Vancouver, ships and mountains

Sunset in English Bay in Vancouver, ships
I walked downtown a couple times and picked up some new shirts, because my closet isn't full enough yet. (Full disclosure: That was sarcasm.) Seriously though, I had it on good authority that Victoria's Secret was having a sale on their popular v-neck t-shirts, and I a) needed a cute white v-neck that didn't suck, and b) wanted to see what all the hoopla was about with these tees. They definitely ARE cute and have a really flattering fit, so I grabbed two (since the sale was 2 for $34) - a white one and an orchid colored one:

So far I absolutely love them both, and the girl at the counter told me that she owns a few of them too, and that they stand up well to washes.

I also grabbed something that I've been looking for FOREVER: a light-colored chambray button up. You might think that a top like that is completely ubiquitous and not at all difficult to find, but it's been really hard for me to find one that fit me right and didn't have any wacky rogue details like spikes on the collar or weird cowgirl-esque embroidery on it. I got this one from Old Navy after seeing it on a mannequin in one of their window displays. Bonus - it was on sale for $20 (marked down from $39!)


So basically now that I have one of those, things are really going to start happening for me. I CAN FEEL IT!

Yesterday it was raining alllllll day long, so the walk I took downtown yesterday was a wet 'n chilly one.  I originally went into the city looking to get myself a haircut, but the salon I went to was booked up for the day so I made an appointment for Thursday instead. I will take some before and after pictures at the appointment because my hair is loooooong right now, and there's no telling WHAT could happen to it on Thursday!

Today is looking like a GORGEOUS day so far. The sky (from what I can see from my living room window) is completely blue and the sun is shining. Practically bikini season already!!! Just kidding, we're not quite there yet. But David has started wearing his Keens, which means warmer weather is on its way! (His Keens are a bit like Punxsutawney Phil, in that respect.)

Alright, so enough blabbering. On to my workouts from the past week!

3/17 (cardio)
15 mins elliptical
15 mins biking

3/18 (lower body and core)
10 mins rowing
2x:
   - 30 weighted v-sit twists, holding 15 lbs
   - 30 diamond clamshells on each leg
   - 30 alternating weighted side bends, 15 lbs each hand
   - 40 side lunges + plyometric push off, each side
   - 30 Brazilian crunches
   - 60 bridges
   - 1:00 plank
10 lat pulldowns, 30 lbs
10 lat pulldowns, 40 lbs
10 lat pulldowns, 50 lbs

3/19 (upper body)
5 mins elliptical
3x:
   - 12 chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand
   - 12 deltoid flys, 5 lbs each hand
   - 12 close grip chest press on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand
   - 12 deltoid raises, 5 lbs each hand
   - 12 tricep extensions on exercise ball, 5 lbs each hand
15 squats, holding 10 lbs
15 squats, holding 15 lbs
15 squats, holding 20 lbs
10 lat pulldowns, 40 lbs
10 lat pulldowns, 50 lbs
10 lat pulldowns, 60 lbs

3/21 (lower body)
5 mins elliptical (1/2 mile)
2x:
   - 12 deadlifts, 15 lbs each hand
   - 5 single leg squats on bench, each leg (I'm practicing this one - not strong enough yet!)
   - 40 calf raises, 15 lbs each hand
   - 40 side lunges + plyometric pushoff on each side
   - 30 diamond clamshells each leg
15 squats, holding 15 lbs
15 squats, holding 20 lbs
15 squats, holding 25 lbs

I plan to get to the gym today as well, but not before enjoying this sunshine! 
Did you do any random shopping this weekend? 
Has spring begun to sprung where you are?

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Saturday, March 22, 2014

Draw By Night March: Draw Your Dream Home

The latest Draw By Night meet up in Vancouver went down on Wednesday March 12 at the Vancouver Film School downtown. The theme for the evening was "home sweet home," and we were encouraged to imagine our dream homes - whatever that meant to us.

For those of you not familiar, Draw By Night is a free bi-monthly meet up where people come together to draw, doodle, and create the occasional masterpiece in the company of others. You can bring your own drawing utensils, or use the ones provided at the meet up. The skill levels of those who attend are incredibly varied. I myself am just a doodler, but some of the other people are enormously talented!

Normally I go around the room and snap pictures after completing my own drawing, but this time I only remembered to take photos of mine. Oops! Fortunately, there's a whole Flickr album dedicated to the evening, so if you're interested you can browse some of the talented artists' drawings here.

At first I didn't know what to draw, so I started drawing a shamrock, which turned into this ombre rainbow chain of tiny circles...


The chain eventually turned into a tree, as many of my drawings tend to do...


Inspired by all of the moss that grows in the nooks and crannies of the trees around Vancouver, I added more tiny green circles as moss on my tree... and gave my branch a house swing!




The mountains in the background are inspired by Vancouver too...




I mean, a house swing isn't my "dream home" but it did seem like a fun house...


And jumping from your house swing into a pond below sounds like even more fun, right?






Thanks for checking out my doodles! If you're in the Vancouver area and want to join our little drawing party, follow along with Draw By Night's Facebook page to find out when the next event will be. And if you'd like, you can browse past blogs about Draw By Night events here.

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