This is Not a Drill! HUGE Sale @ RW&CO + My First Outfit of the Day (OOTD)

Remember that Staples commercial where the song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams is playing and a dad is skipping around the store delirious because his kids are going back to school? (in case you forgot, watch it here) Well, I felt like that yesterday. Why? Because it's SALE time in the malls! 

*Imagine me skipping giddily through Rideau Centre*

Despite my LOVE for fashion consumption, I am a pretty reserved shopper. When I shop, if I find something I like, I rarely purchase it on the spot. I need time to think about it, and how it will work with my wardrobe. If I start dreaming about the item, I know it's meant to be. My impulses get the best of me though when there's a sale. Especially if it's a MEGA sale and yesterday I was tested...and failed (or succeded....depending how you look at it!)

Always classy RW&CO had this little gem going on:

Really, they might as well have been giving their clothes away!! How was I to resist?

I settled on three items and decided maybe I could try doing my first outfit of the day (OOTD) post! I grabbed the b/f and off we went out for my first photo shoot today!

Now for any of you fashion bloggers, we need to talk. Who is taking your photos?!?! After about three rounds of him taking the photo, then me asking to see the photo, then me saying I don't like the photo...I was definitely testing my wonderfully patient boyfriend's nerves. I think the experience was made more difficult because he didn't understand why I would take photos of my outfit and then post them on the Internet. I assured him it was a legitimate thing that bloggers do. LOL!  

ANYWAYS...I ended up getting this silky feeling leaf-print romper which was regularly $58.00 on sale for $54.95 + an extra 40% off + a button had fallen off so I asked for an extra 10% discount which made the grand total...free! (Okay, it was $29.97 but it felt like such a steal!) Really, you should always ask for a discount if an item you like is in the least bit not up to snuff. The worst they can say is no! It took me a three-minute YouTube video to figure out how to sew the button back on and I was set!

Breakdown: RW&CO Leaf-print Romper | Fossil Stella Watch | Claire's Earrings | Gifted Necklace | Feet First Shoes | The Bay Cat Eye Sunglasses

I've been wanting a romper for a while but have always shied away because they're often made quite short. RW&CO's version is a decent length and so incredibly comfy! I appreciate the pockets as well. I mean, I'd never put anything in the pockets (come on, it would ruin the look!) but it adds an interesting detail. The romper also comes in black and a gorgeous ocean coloured blue.

I also got this adorable lemon coloured lace peplum top which RW&CO featured in their latest campaign:

Middle photo from RW&CO

When the model has it on, it looks like it will be tight but there's an elastic at the waist which makes it a bit more loose. Be warned that their sizes run large so if you're buying, I'd go down a size.

My final purchase was a casual two-tone peach colored cami. I'm 100% obsessed with peach and have to actively stop myself from making my closet monochromatic!

The front is a lighter peach soft-stretch material and the back is a hot-pink silky chiffon. There's a pocket on the front that's made out of the same material as the back. I think this will be my go to piece this summer when I want something easy to throw on. It's casual but the chiffon gives it an extra pizzaz. I'm thinking of pairing it with white jeans to make it really pop! 

Not going to lie, I LOVED doing this OOTD post. Like Becky Bloomwood (Confessions of a Shopaholic), I've always dreamt of roll calling my outfit like in a fashion magazine. OOTD posts allow me to do that. Now to buy a tripod because Lord knows I won't be asking the b/f to take photos of me again! LOL

Do you have any tips for doing OOTD posts?

HOW TO: Update Your Sock Bun

"There's a WHAT in your hair??" I get a lot of compliments when I put my hair in a sock bun, but not everybody is a beauty addict/devote YouTuber and therefore don't really understand when I say there's a sock stuffed in there. A few things to know:

1. The sock is not dirty!

2. I use a sock to make my bun bigger. With buns, bigger is better! (hehehe)

Ideally, you're using a sock that's the same colour as your hair so that it’s camouflaged by it. I didn't really have any black socks so my poor boyfriend has a few uneven pairs...I buy him socks at Christmas so I just consider it the circle of sock life!

I get bored quite easily with my hair and the sock bun has become such a go-to hairstyle for the past year that I felt I needed to switch it up. Enter: Claire's bun wraps! Claire's is honestly sock bun HQ. They sell hair donuts (for people too fancy to use socks!) and a whole bunch of wraps that you can twist around your bun to give it a little extra flare.

The wraps came in different solid colours and prints. I chose leopard because really, who has enough leopard in their wardrobe? It was only $6.25 (Canadian) for the wrap. There's a bendy wire on the inside that you can twist into any shape you want. It was super easy!

Step 1: Start with your bun! I'm not going to get into how to do a sock bun because there's a ton of resources on how to do that already. Check out this quick and easy YouTube video from SMLx0.

You'll notice my bun isn't perfect - but I like it not looking too fussy. My curls have a mind of their own!

Step 2: Take your wrap and put it around the bun. I placed mine slightly to the left (my left)... or your right?? I'm SO bad at orientation.

Don't mind the window. A very nice person (thanks lovey!) took photos of me on my balcony. Natural lighting is your friend!

Step 3: Bobby pin in place.

Step 4: Enjoy your handiwork!

Two people have told me that this look reminds them of the Flinstones?! I think they may be referring to the bone that a few of the female characters wore in their hair. Whatevs...this is the 21st century version!

Do you have any ideas for updating your sock bun?

Date Night on Sparks Street! Vintage Cars and Les 3 Brasseurs

Quote from the menu at Les 3 Brasseurs

I'm always looking for a cute date night. Obviously, it needs to involve good company, but my favorite date nights also include good food (mmmm....food) and a fun activity. Friday night on Sparks Street met my criteria with the capital classic car cruise nights and dinner at Les 3 Brasseurs!

Now let's be honest.... I'm not a car person. At best, I can tell you my dream car includes a Hummer in one garage and a Fiat in the other (yes, I'm aware of the irony!) That being said, I can still appreciate the look of a nice car, particularly really unique vintage cars! I'll also remind my boyfriend when I drag him to a chick flick next weekend that our last date was spent looking at cars! :)

Every Friday from 4PM to 9PM until September 6th, Sparks Street is showcasing some of the region's finest classic rides. I was impressed with how clean and new the cars looked... sometimes people use the words "vintage" or "classic" to mean old and beat up - that wasn't the case here!

Parallel parking is difficult with a small hatchback. How do you figure you'd find a parking spot for one of these beasts?!?!

 


Red cars seemed to be pretty popular. An alignment of the higher fashion powers ensured I matched them! It was a little windy which is why I was awkwardly holding on to my dress in the photo!


I saw one of the cars for sale, and another one was being raffled away. There were no Hummers, but I wouldn't complain if I could drive one of those hot wheels around! I would have to pair it with a scarf over my head, cat eye sunglasses and high waisted ankle pants (hey, the outfit is important...I told you I wasn't a car nut!)


After checking out the cars, we went to Les 3 Brasseurs for dinner. The restaurant is a recent addition to Sparks Street, having just opened this past winter.  Les 3 Brasseurs gets its name from the three generations of the family that brewed beer and started the business. It's a chain restaurant that actually originated in France in 1986. Since then, they've expanded into Canada with Sparks Street being the first Ottawa location. A second chain is set to open in Kanata this summer.




The restaurant feels like a really upscale pub. The gleaming copper tank and aging barrels remind you what you're there for...the beer!


I've been craving a burger for awhile so I got the Texan burger with mild jalapeno cheddar cheese, mushrooms, crispy onions and BBQ sauce. Since I'm not much of a beer connoisseur, I was happy to see that alongside each dish on the menu, there's brewer's recommendations as to what kind of beer to pair with your meal. They suggested the brown beer which is described like so:


"A subtle blend of fine roasted malts gives this beer its ebony color and deep, rich aroma of chocolate and roasted coffee."


I like coffee, and heaven knows I have a love affair with chocolate (sidenote: really interesting article this week in the Ottawa Citizen that says women are hard wired from the womb to crave chocolate!) but I don't usually like dark beer. I decided to give it a whirl and it was fantastic! They have six standard beers brewed on site, along with a special brew of the month and a brew of the season.


My boyfriend got the blonde beer to go with his 3 Brewers burger, which is described as refreshing and flavourful with subtle fruit notes. 


We sat on their busy patio overlooking the Bank of Canada building. The place was packed for a Friday night, but we still received excellent service and our meals came pretty quickly.

The Texan burger with sweet potato fries and homemade mayonnaise

The 3 Brewers Burger

We both enjoyed our meals. Usually, I like my boyfriend's meal better, but I LOVED my Texan burger and my sweet potato fries definitely trumped his plain ol' fries!


Sparks Street has made a huge effort over the past year to liven up the downtown core and make it a top tourist attraction and a place where locals will stay past 5PM. Between the farmer's market, upcoming ribfest, salsa Thursdays, and the classic car cruise nights, there's plenty to do and we had a great time out on the town!


For more information about upcoming events on Sparks Street, check out their website. Les 3 Brasseurs is located at 240 Sparks (intersection on Bank).

The BEST of the Best Olive Oil: Ottawa's Unrefined Olive

Last weekend, I checked out the Unrefined Olive, for an event called “The Taste of Spring” and the whole experience was très chic! It totally seemed like a place Martyn Lawrence Bullard from Million Dollar Decorator would hang out. He would be like “This place is sooooo delicious” (in his English drawl)!

Front of the Unrefined Olive
Photo from their Facebook page

The Unrefined Olive sells the best of the best olive oils and balsamic vinegars from around the world. I only recently discovered that a lot of the olive oils we buy at the big box grocery stores aren’t what we think. There’s a large amount of fraud and scandal (read Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller) in the olive oil industry as bottles labeled as extra-virgin olive oil are blended with lower-priced sunflower or canola or soybean oils, or with lower quality pomace oil. Extra virgin olive oil comes from an olive’s first press. Pomace oil is chemically extracted from the leftovers, the crushed olives or pomace – it is nowhere near as good as the extra virgin stuff and can actually harm your health!

When you enter the Unrefined Olive, the first thing you notice are the rows of “fustis” which are Italian-made stainless steel casks with spigots, which contain the different olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Despite having approximately 1 500 people through the store on the day of the Taste of Spring event, due to the craziness of the Great Glebe Garage Sale, everything was immaculately clean and shiny. The fustis help the olive oils stay fresh by protecting them from heat, light and air. The store is organized with the balsamic vinegars on the left, the fused and infused olive oils in the middle and the single estate extra virgin olive oils on the right. Their specialty oils like their black truffle oil and roasted walnut oil are found in the back.

The fustis at The Unrefined Olive.
The blue napkins were there for the tastings.

For the Taste of Spring, chef Justin Scott from Kudos Cuisine demonstrated cooking concepts and culinary skills using olive oils and balsamic vinegars from the store. Due to the small space, the event was limited to 26 people. I went with my boyfriend’s mom and when we arrived, we were warmly greeted and one of the staff took our coats. We were then invited to sample the different olive oils and balsamic vinegars in the store. With a small metal cup (take a new one for each tasting to really enjoy the flavour) you can try as many samples as you like. It’s like being a kid in…an olive oil store?! If you like one of the oils or balsamic vinegars, the staff will bottle it for you from the same fusti you just tried it from. The standard prices make shopping easy; 200ml for $12.00, 375ml for $19.00 and 750ml for $32.00; the specialty oils have different prices. For olive oils, you should buy whatever you can use within a year, with two years being the max. For balsamic vinegars, you have three to five years. The bottles that you take home are from Switzerland and UV light resistant to help protect your precious goods!

That's me with a tasting cup! 

Elizabeth Kilvert, the owner of the store, welcomed everyone and gave us great information about the history of olive oil and balsamic vinegar throughout the night. She shared that the olive oils in the store are super fresh owing to the fact that they only carry oils that have been crushed within the year – most have the crush date written on the label. I also learned that balsamic vinegar is proprietary to Modena, Italy (like Champagne is to France). Buy it from anywhere else and you’re not getting the real deal.

Throughout the night, we had four small plates prepared in front of our eyes by Justin. Each dish exuded his philosophy of cooking with fresh, organic, and mostly local, seasonal foods. The amuse bouche of shrimp poached in rooibos tea-court bouillon with kiwi sals, jalapeño white balsamic & organic garlic olive oil was heaven in my mouth! It was paired with prosecco which for a twist, had a tablespoon of cranberry-pear white balsamic vinegar. The whole thing sure trumped my grocery store shrimp cocktail!

Our salad in the making: Clarmell Farms Goat Cheese Frisee Salad with Fiddleheads, Figs & Pistachio Fig Balsamic Reduction & Chipotle Olive Oil

Main: Quail Egg/Wild Mushrooms/Asparagus/Sprouts/Rhubarb Puree Sicilian Lemon White Balsamic & Organic Wild Mushroom-Sage Olive Oil  

As a chocoholic, the dessert was my favorite. The glaze was made using soy milk, coconut oil, and cocoa powder from Camino, a local Ottawa success story. Really, who would have thought those ingredients together would taste so good?

Chocoholic's dream: Chocolate Glazed Bombe Cake with Espresso Mousse
Dark Espresso Balsamic & Blood Orange Olive Oil

Elizabeth took a leave of absence from her government job to open the store last November. I’m always impressed by people who have the guts to follow their dreams and do what they’re passionate about. Elizabeth and her staff’s knowledge, professionalism and exceptional product will continue to make the store a success. 

I obviously could not leave empty handed. My short list for the olive oils were the chipotle, the blood orange and the lemon fused; for the balsamics, the cinnamon-pear, espresso and tangerine were to die for. I settled on just two to start, but lord knows I can never go back to the crappy grocery store olive oils again!

The loot!

One last thing, I had previously heard that it’s bad to cook with olive oils because they have a low smoke point and when it’s heated all the health benefits go out the window. I learned that good quality extra virgin olive oil actually has a really high smoke point and is totally fine to cook with. The free fatty acids affect the smoke point and quality extra virgin olive oils have really low levels of it, which corresponds to a higher smoke point. All the olive oils at the Unrefined Olive are safe to heat.

We had such a great evening at the Unrefined Olive and my boyfriend’s mom is already planning to host a party there! They plan to hold more of these evening “chef series” in the future so stay tuned if you’re interested in discovering a whole new world of olive oils with great company! The Unrefined Olive is located in the Glebe – 151A Second Avenue. Check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UnrefinedOlive.