Mad Hatter!

Posted in Style by alex mcdonald

Fall is in full swing and I love it! As sad as it is that summer is now gone, the days are shorter and the sun is not nearly as hot, I can’t get enough of the beautiful fall colours and all the fall style. Lately I have been seeing so many fab hats so I had to jump on the band wagon. Usually I’m not a big fan of wearing hats, as cute as I find them, I find them extremely uncomfortable. I have a really big head and I never ever wear baseball caps because I think they are so restrictive, at the pools I always start the day in a fedora and end the day with it lost and my hair in a bun. When I found this hat (for cheap!) I loved it immediately and it was actually comfortable. Give me all the winter hats!

Totally into these boots too, I wear them all the time.

We have been having the most gorgeous fall! The weather has been so nice, which will be hard to remember when we’re 5 months into the deep freeze winter!

I love being able to wear just a sweater or a light jacket, the saddest thing about fall in this province is how short it is! I’ll be in a parka before you know it.

I love the shape of the hat but I also am obsessed with the colour. I like reds on blonde haired girls!

Hat: Old Navy
Jeans: Joe’s Jeans
Sweater: Twik at Simon’s
Boots: Spring
Scarf: Target

I hope everyone is enjoying this sunny fall, and get thee into a hat!

14Oct2013

Fall Cravings

Posted in Style by alex mcdonald

As much as I like to hold onto my flip flops until there is a foot of snow, one of the great things about the cooler weather is changing up the wardrobe. Sweaters, boots, and mittens oh my! My husband and I just bought a new house and we’re moving in a week, this also makes me want to change up my style – I’ve got fall cravings for clothes, decor and food! These are a few of my favourite things!

Loving this festive Fairisle sweat from ASOS.

I’ve always been an UGGS girl for these ridiculous winters we get here, but this year I’m going for these Sorels. I think they will be really cute with leggings and skinny jeans.

Speaking of jeans I also want to get a new pair of dark denim skinnies for the winter. The last couple pairs I bought seem to stretch out badly after one wear so I think I might try to go a size down this time and suffer with too tight jeans for the first few hours and then hopefully they’ll end up being perfect. I’ve got my eye on these J Brand skinnies, I have never owned a pair of J Brand jeans, I usually go for Hudsons or True Religions, and J Brand ships to Canada now so I’m excited for them.

My girlfriend Lindsy is doing a Stella and Dot party this month so I am looking for something that would be good for a Christmas party, maybe with a black dress. Right now my favourites are this Oslo necklace…

and this Kahlo bracelet.

I always buy a lot of dresses in the spring and summer because of all the great colours and prints, but most don’t translate to fall and winter even with tights. So in winter I prefer to wear a lot of sweater dresses which are so cozy. Right now I’m into this Free People dress that I think would be really cute with black tights and booties.

And I love this one for snuggling.

Of course Fall brings out so many pairs of glorious boots! I feel that I need a new short pair like these little cutes from Aldo,

and a tall pair, equestrian style, from Michael Kors that I’m lusting over.

Anyone who knows me knows I am handbag crazy so every season I’m yearning for a new one. Right now I am all over this Celine. I know this style has been out for a while but the caramel colour is new and the bag keeps appearing in my dreams! So gorgeous.

I know its like blasphemy and everyone thinks I’m crazy but I don’t really like pumpkin spice lattes. They’re soooo sweet! Even when I order it 1/2 sweet I still can’t take it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to do tons of pumpkin baking. In the next month I want to try black bean pumpkin soup, pumpkin spice mini donuts, pumpkin french toast bake and I want to try oreo pumpkin puppy chow for our Halloween Housewarming Party because it’s black and orange. I made a maple pear pie for one of our thanksgiving dinners which was a hit with my family but I wasn’t in love. I also made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I took to work and they were gone pretty fast. My husband’s birthday is next week so I have to start brainstorming for his bday dinner, he is a steak and potatoes kind of guy so please let me know if you have any unique ideas. I’m going to bring out our wedding china for the first time to serve it with.

I know we are super Disney geeks but I am dying to go to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Disney World! They just do such a good job during the holidays there and all the pictures I’ve seen online it looks so fun and festive! They have so many fun events and amazing decor. I keep dropping hints to my husband that we should go but it’s already October 14 so I don’t think it’s happening!

I hope everyone is enjoying the season, bundle up!

9Sep2013

Fall Wreath

Posted in Uncategorized by alex mcdonald

I know we all love summer and summer is so amazing, the sun, the heat, the activities – I totally get it. But I am really looking forward to fall! Fall here is fleeting, we quickly have to hunker down for 7 months of burtal winter so we have to make the most of it. I am in love with all the things fall brings; sweaters, boots, pumpkin, colourful leaves, cool evenings, fall crafts and I’m so excited for all the fall baking I could cry! My first project to welcome Fall is this wreath! I was inspired by a wreath I saw on pinterest and then went to town buying out Michaels in preparation. It is so simple to do and underneath all the pretty stuff is mostly just a pound of glue. I usually do a wreath every fall, spring and Christmas but the fall one is always my favourite. I like doing seasonal wreaths because you can be so creative and do basically whatever you want.

Get all your supplies ready, and lay down the newspaper like your Mom used to do every time you wanted to craft as a kid! The only slightly tough parts for this wreath were the wooden letter and the burlap bow. Paint your letter first before you do any of the wreath. I did basic orange as the base (two coats) then dotted the yellow with a small, rounded sponge.

Any all surface acrylic paint will do. I let it fully dry between coats and before dabbing the yellow and adding it to the wreath. The only other part that was a little challenging was the burlap bow. I tied it so it was in a double bow and left a long tail which I ended up cutting shorter when I was planning out the flower placement. I tied the bow with a brown pipecleaner and glued a flower on top to camouflage that.

Once I had the bow secured on I went to work on the flower placement. There is really no trick to their placement I just lay them all out before I glue them in so I can try different patterns. I honestly glue the crap out of the “stems” of the flowers and squish them in between the branches of the wreath.

Do whatever kind of combo you like, I added the wooden M last once all the paint was dried and used a ton of hot glue to get it secure. You`re ready to welcome fall to your front door! Good Luck!