Opening of the First H&M in Ottawa!

It's been a while since I've posted about fashion or beauty, so here it is!

After hundreds of five hour drives to Toronto for some shopping sprees, I am delighted to say that Ottawa's shopping malls and  stores may finally be enough to satisfy our local shopaholics. I, myself, was ecstatic  when I found out that we would be opening a Forever XXI and H&M all in a short time period.

Because of my mountain of homework, assignments and upcoming tests, I did not plan to visit H&M anytime soon. Instead, some act of fate (haha, not really) gave me the perfect opening to go browse through the new store on our way back from Toronto, ironically enough.

It definitely met my expectations. The clothes were amazing because, let's be honest, lot's of stores *coughforeverxxicough* sometimes like to give their Ottawa stores the products that don't sell as well. I found so many nice things, but because I was a few days late, most of them didn't come in my size anymore.

Here are the two things I actually ended up buying:

Over-Sized Sweater
I FINALLY FOUND AN AMAZING SWEATER. I've been looking for a cozy sweater since the end of August. They all ended up being too cropped, too scratchy or too thin. I've already worn this three times since I bought it haha. (Oh, shoutout to Renee, who I know is reading this post, for being the first to compliment the sweater. ;) ) I love how this sweater is super baggy with a cozy and wintery design. The back even drapes down a little so you can wear leggings without showing off your... bottom... :P

Sorry about the unoriginal picture! I just packed away all my summer clothes without planning for this post and I have no idea where my mom put all the bags, haha. Back to the dress.

Neon Pink Dress
I never really bought such a bright dress before... I tried on the same dress in royal blue as well, but somehow this pink one just stood out to me. This dress fits super nicely and ends right above the knees. The contrast between the bright pink and the black is perfect and, overall, it just gives off this great energetic vibe.

So there we have it. My first of many adventures to Ottawa's very first H&M! I hope you all enjoyed this fashion post, it has been a while hasn't it?

What are your favourite stores?

See you next Sunday! xx

♚ Autumn In Canada ♚

My family has a tradition where we take a day during each Thanksgiving weekend to go visit the forest. In Canada, we are famous for the maple leaves, which gives us the advantage of having a breathtakingly beautiful fall time when the leaves turn crimson, golden and amber.

During each of these annual visits, I love taking photos. I'm not really a professional photographer or anything, but I thought I'd share a few photos with you anyway!

What's unique about your country or city?

See you next Sunday! xx

❄ wheretoget.it ❄

I know I promised that my September Favourites would be out this week, but I was super busy with hosting guests and exploring our city during Thanksgiving weekend. I personally think that it's way too late to post my Favourites, but I'll have one for October! As a way of begging for your forgiveness, I have a bonus post for the week!

Now on with the post...

So my sister, who's a year older than me, came home one day from school telling me that a girl in her science group had introduced her to something completely and utterly amazing. Naturally, I was super curious as to what my sister was so in love with. So we sat down and she took out her laptop and typed in "wheretoget.it". And let me just tell you, I was not disappointed.

If you're a Tumblr user, a Pinterest user, or an Internet user in general, I'm sure you've all come to a few pictures of things that you really really REALLY wanted to buy, but just didn't know where to get it. This website allows you to post pictures of anything that you see on the Internet and don't know where to buy. As soon as the picture is posted, other users begin to help you look for the product and the price.

Here's a snapshot of what the site layout looks like!

I find it really fun to browse on this site occasionally. It's such a great way to relax and destress. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to relax and destress lately, which is great. Sarcasm. I'll definitely write a post on destressing sometime soon, haha.

Do you have any sites that you're obsessed with?

See you on Sunday with some... PHOTOGRAPHY! :)

♪ My Autumn Playlist 2013 ♪

If you know me at all in person, you would know that music is a big deal in my life. I decided to give try making my own list of recommended songs every once in a while and hope to find readers and bloggers who have a similar taste! This first playlist is going to be quite simple and you'll probably all recognise the artists on this list, but in the future I promise to include some new artists that I, personally, have discovered.

So what is my definition of an autumn playlist? For me, the whole atmosphere of autumn is super warm, rich and welcoming. I chose to make a playlist of calm and rich (if you can describe music like that) songs that I personally would love to listen to while cuddling in a knit blanket, reading a book and burning some amazingly scented candle in the background. So without further ado, I present to you my autumn playlist!

1. Autumn Leaves by Ed Sheeran

2. Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood 

(I especially love the acoustic version)

3. Tiptoe by Imagine Dragons

4. Rainy Zurich by The Fray

5. 1901 by Birdy

6. Little Things by One Direction

7. Only Love by Ben Howard

8. Endlessly by The Cab

9. Video Games by Lana Del Rey

10. Counting Stars by One Republic

11. Let Her Go by Passenger

12. Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's

13. Stubborn Love by The Lumineers

14. Monster by Imagine Dragons

15. Stormy by Hedley

I created my first playlist on 8tracks which you can listen to here, but don't judge because it's my first playlist and I was supposed to be doing homework so it came out super rushed...

I am so sorry for all of you who were looking forward to a September Favourites post! I have 4 labs, a math test, and philosophy assignment, a chem quiz and a French presentation all next week before our long weekend! I promise that it will be out next week though!

See you next Sunday!

What songs are on your autumn playlist?

Baking: Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

So the days are getting shorter and the air is getting colder. What's better at warming you up than cookies?

These cookies are super easy to make and the ingredients are easy to find! My family and my friends love these cookies whenever I make them on special, or not so special, occasions.

So let's get started!

♪ INGREDIENTS ♪

1. 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

*Note: My house only had salted butter when I was making the cookies. If that is your case too, skip the salt.*

2. 1/2 cup granulated sugar

3. 1 cup packed light-brown sugar

4. 1 teaspoon salt

5. 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

6. 2 large eggs

7. 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

8. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

9. 2 cups semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips


♪ TIME TO BAKE ♪

Step 1
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 2

Whisk up your butter until it's light and fluffy. Then mix in the two sugars until the mixture is even. Finally, add the salt, vanilla and eggs. 

Step 3
In a separate container, whisk together the flour and baking soda.

Step 4

Combine the two mixture and stir until even.

Step 5

MIX IN THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS, YUMMERS!

Step 6

Scoop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto your baking pan. Make sure you put a layer of wax paper on your pan first!

Step 7

Slide your pan into the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes!

Step 8

Let your cookies cool down for 2 minutes on the pan, then transfer them to cooling racks to cool completely!

Step 9

Enjoy!!!

So there we have it! A delicious and simple recipe for chocolate chip cookies! I'm pretty sure you could get anyone to forgive you for something just by giving them some of these, haha.

Let me know in the comments if you try them out and make sure to tell me what you think!

See you next Sunday! xx

❋ My Autumn Essentials: 2013 ❋

Helloo again my lovely readers! So, it's finally my favourite time of the year: Autumn! I just love the whole cozy atmosphere happening in this season and how it's the perfect balance between summer and winter. In fact, I love autumn so much that I'm writing this post out in my garden with a cup of steaming green tea. Anyways... because it's the first day of autumn, let's talk autumn essentials!

Candles

Like you probably already know, I love candles. I've been obsessed with candles in the summer, so naturally, my obsession with candles become downright unhealthy during autumn and winter. I literally went out to Ikea yesterday and accidentally bought 3 candles. Here are the scents I'm going to be obsessing over this autumn:

1. Stress Relief Eucalyptus Spearmint from Bath and Body Works

2. Strawberry from Bath and Body Works

3.  'Some sort of Swedish berry?' or 'The Red One' from Ikea 

4. Green Apple (?) from Ikea

5. Cinnamon from Ikea

Fluffy Slippers

Emphasis on 'fluffy'. I've pretty much been constantly wearing slippers all the time recently because of all the dust from our basement renovations. But now that the air is becoming cooler, I was finally able to take out my new and extremely fluffy slippers from Costco. They're on my feet from the second I enter my house to the second I leave it and I am loving these slippers!

Deep and Rich Nail Polish

Throughout the year, you will pretty much never see me wearing dark nail polish on my finger nails. Unless it's autumn of course. Then I'll only be wearing dark nail polish. I just find that is captures the coziness and classiness (?) of this season perfectly and goes so well with the amber and golden leaves outside.

Here are the colours I've been loving:

1. Blue My Mind by OPI

2. Devilish by Revlon

3. Gold Coin by Revlon

4. Red Velvet by Sally Hansen

5. Camouflage by Rimmel London

Beanies

Beanies can make just about any outfit look cute. Wearing a super formal blazer and collared shirt? Add a beanie. Cute. Wearing a sweater and leggings? Add a beanie. Cute. Wearing a comfortable and baggy t-shirt that shouldn't even be seen in public? Add a beanie. Cute. Anyways, you get the point. And what better time is there for beanies than Autumn?

Infinity Scarves

Infinity scarves can tie together any outfit. I don't know about you (but I'm feeling twenty two?), but I'm usually in denial about winter coming and summer leaving so I refuse to pack away my tank tops. Some of them can go pretty low in the chest area but these scarves keep you warm and still looking cute. I love adding winter and summer looks together during the fall season!

Leggings and Hoodies

Now that school has started, waking up early is just not one of those things that I look forward too, which is essentially quite sad because I'm a morning person as opposed to a night person. Sometimes, I stay up super late doing homework and the last thing I want to do in the morning is stand around in my pyjamas and find a cute outfit. I feel like you can never go wrong by pairing a hoodie with a pair of leggings. It looks super laid back and casual with your hoodie, but the leggings take away any possibilities of having a 'sloppy' look. Not to mention that it's super warm for the chilly autumn breeze.

Cardigans

Any warm cardigan will take you far. Once again, for those lazy days, finding any plain shirt to wear is fine as long as you have a printed cardigan to balance it out. They're also super cozy but not too warm for those classrooms that always seem to have bipolar temperature.

Cozy Blankets

When I finally got the opportunity to redesign my own room, it really wasn't hard for me to find a theme. I just have a never ending love for bright, open and cozy rooms, so naturally, as winter arrives, the amount of blankets, pillows and rugs pile up in my room. It's especially great to cuddle up in a cozy corner and listen to some relaxing music when you have to work late nights on homework and projects.

Don't forget to leave a comment below if you want me to do a room tour! :)

Top Knot

So, let's be honest. Sometimes, I'm drowning in homework and don't get to wash my hair as often as I would like to and I have yet to invest in a dry shampoo. I can also predict that I will slowly become more and more lazy to look presentable in school so I might as well start off with a neat(-ish) top knot at the beginning of the year that will slowly morph into a messy bun in April. Be sure to let my know if you want a tutorial from this former ballerina ;)

Boots

It's actually kind of sad how excited I was to get my boots out. I just love how they can tie a whole look together! My flat heeled ones are super comfy and give my outfits a clean and laid back look while my high heeled ones easily dress up my outfit on those icky outfit days. I find that boots are an essential in general for a girl, not just for the fall.

Overall, my go to outfit during the fall season is a nice comfy sweater, an infinity scarf, a beanie, a pair of leggings and a comfortable pair of boots! I hope you all have an amazing time enjoying what is left of your outdoor time, unless you live somewhere super warm. If that's the case, feel free to visit us in Canada, haha.

So my next post was written out two weeks ago, but I never had time to publish it. This week, I'm going to Leadership Camp as a leader and I am ecstatic to scare those grade 9's, haha. That naturally means that I won't have time to prepare a post for Sunday, so I will finally be publishing that one.

Hint: It involves something delicious and sweet.

What are your autumn essentials?

What is your favourite part of autumn?

Leave your answers below because I love love loveee reading and replying to all your comments!

I'll see you next Sunday! xx