Spring Where Are You?

According to the calender it has been "spring" for two weeks.  Not the case if you look outside.  Edmonton had like a million feet of snow the first week of spring, it was crazy!  For those of you who live in warmer climates, this is what an Alberta snow storm looks like:

I had to take the bus home today and the five minute walk from the bus stop home took way longer.  I finished at three and no one was home from work yet to shovel so I had to shuffle through knee deep snow.  At least it was a work out right?

I've been busy busy around here.  I've been looking for apartments like crazy (we are temporarily staying with my parents as we came home from Oz broke-o) and I finally found the perfect place!  Two more weeks till move in date, woo hoo!  Can't wait to have my own space again.  I've also been in a scprapbooking frenzy.  I just about had it with my Oz album, but decided since I was already halfway through to plug on at it.  I've been spending all my free time scrapping (much to Joel's annoyance) and I am almost done- just starting New Years Eve.  I will put up some pics soon, I promise (I realize I've been a crappy blogger).

I've been casually doing some shopping (cause my closet isn't already full enough...) and came upon these fun goodies:

New shoes (my love).  I've been looking for the perfect nude shoe forever and finally found a none patent pair at Aldo.  Also got this fun David Dixon pair from Town Shoes. 

I hit up the Bay (Canada's main department store) and found this cute little dress and jacket from Material Girl.  Wore the jacket with another dress and leggings today, but can't wait to bust out this dress!  Yellow necklace is from Banana Republic- I had a 40% off coupon and couldn't leave the store without it!

Hopefully once I move and get organized again I will be a better blogger.  I loved it and really kept up with it in Oz, but just can't seem to get in my groove here.

What to Wear: To Work

I'm a hairstylist so I get to be a bit more funky with what I wear to work. Typically I end up with alot of black in my wardrobe, as it's inevitable the one day you were a new colored dress you will bump into something that has color or lightener on it.  I do have a lot of color in my summer wardrobe which I can't wait to pull out!

Today's outfit:

Black dress with back cut out- Forever New (best store in Australia- they do ship overseas so check it out!)

Belt- Forever New

Patterned leggings and black ankle boots- Myer's (Oz department store.  Even though they don't really have "winter" there they sure have some fun winter clothes!)

Earrings- Dynamite

Bracelet- Betsy Johnson (addicted to her jewelry)

 

Check out what the other ladies wore to work today:

 

Nicole: Gypsy in Jasper
Marcia: Like a Small Fire
Sondra: Abhaya Yoga
Lisa: Not Ladylike
Sarah: Exploring Woods
Amanda: Salvaged Strawberry

Lisa: Lala Faux Bois 
Shayla: Northern Exposure
Lexi: The Girl Who Says Quack
Stacy:  Let it Unravel
Amanda: Little Lady Little City
Sara: My Life out of a Lab Coat
Katie: Chestnut Mocha
Alex: Sweet Synecdoche

What to Wear- Florals

This week's What to Wear edition is florals.  Since all my floral prints are in my spring and summer wardrobe and our first day of spring looks like this...

 

...I decided to use photos from a NYC trip two summers ago.  (Since this is the only full length photo I have of me in floral-print!)

 

 I bought this dress with the belt at a random store in midtown NYC for $50, a steal.  It was the end of a long day of unsuccessful shopping and I was happy not to have come home empty handed. 

These shoes are Jessica Simpson from Macy's and are some of the comfiest shoes I've ever bought.  My sister and I bought matching pairs.

This green wristlet wallet was a Filene's Basement find.  The round black beaded bracelet is made of Obsidian, which is supposed to bring strength.  I wear it when I need good luck.  The silver and black bracelet is one I've had forever, so long I can't even remember where I got it.

Check out the links below to see how the other "What to Wear" ladies put together.

Nicole: Gypsy in Jasper
Marcia: Like a Small Fire
Sondra: Abhaya Yoga
Lisa: Not Ladylike
Sarah: Exploring Woods
Amanda: Salvaged Strawberry

Lisa: Lala Faux Bois 
Shayla: Northern Exposure
Lexi: The Girl Who Says Quack
Stacy:  Let it Unravel
Amanda: Little Lady Little City
Sara: My Life out of a Lab Coat
Katie: Chestnut Mocha
Alex: Sweet Synecdoche

What to Wear... For St Patrick's Day

I'm a little late on posting this but better late then never...

I had a hard time with this one because as much as I love green I don't seem to have much in my closet.

Sweater-Simons (awesome Quebec store that recently opened here)

Skinny stretch jeans- American Eagle

Boots- Geox 

Necklace and bracelet - Betsy Johnson

 

And a link to the other ladies playing along:

Nicole: Gypsy in Jasper
Marcia: Like a Small Fire
Sondra: Abhaya Yoga
Lisa: Not Ladylike
Sarah: Exploring Woods
Amanda: Salvaged Strawberry

Lisa: Lala Faux Bois 
Shayla: Northern Exposure
Lexi: The Girl Who Says Quack
Stacy:  Let it Unravel
Amanda: Little Lady Little City
Sara: My Life out of a Lab Coat
Katie: Chestnut Mocha

Victoria: Life is Better Blonde
Alex: Sweet Synecdoche

Around Here...

The last couple weeks have been crazy around here.  I started my new job at the end of February, which I absolutely love.  Things are going well there and I'm much busier then I was at my last salon.  I'm so happy I was brave and made the big move.

The next day we received news first thing in the morning that my grandfather had passed away in his sleep.  He was ninety seven years old so we had been expecting this for awhile, but still a shock to the system to actually hear.  We had a hard two weeks organizing things and attending funerals.  My Grandpa attended a Russian Orthodox church.  They have two funerals- a night time prayer service and a two and a half hour funeral and burial the following day.  Unfortunately we had to extend it to a third day as the wrong plot had been dug up at the cemetery!  Talk about a long goodbye.  My uncle brought brandy to the second burial (Grandpa's favorite spirit) and all the attendees had a shot in his honor.  He lived a very full and accomplished life and he will be missed.  Memory Eternal.

RCAF circa 1945

January 2013

 As sad as the last few weeks have been, it has brought our family together and I've been hearing all kinds of interesting stories of my family's history and some neat old photos have surfaced.  My Grandpa was a major event recorder and the family historian and I'm glad there is so much history available for me to learn.  My Mom says I'm like him, as I'm always taking pictures and keeping good notes via blog, journals, or scrapbooks.

I picked up a new 2013 journal at Indigo the other day and came across this interesting little book.  It's a five year journal and it comes with different questions to ask yourself each day.  Something you can look back at and reflect upon, seeing how you've changed over the last five years.  Thought it would be an interesting keepsake and I've been having fun filling it out so far.  I've also been adding a little note about anything significant that happened each day.

March has just been flying by!  My calender's been so full and I feel like I've hardly had any veg time.  This is the first time I've had a few hours to myself and nothing I need to do besides sit down, blog, and catch up on emails.

Oz Smash Book

Since I've been back I've been spending a lot of time scrapbooking, both at TM and at home.  I brought two Smash albums with me to Oz to document my trip.  I did really well keeping up with our adventures until we moved to Sydney, where I was too busy to scrap on a regular basis.  Now that I'm home I have a backlog of pictures to scrap- five months worth to be exact!  I've made it up to the start of October now, a good dent, and am past the middle of book two.  I bought a third album as I took way more photos the second half of the trip then the first.  Good thing I'd been more diligent on keeping up with my blog so I can remember exact dates and little details.  I printed all my pictures with my Selphy, which was handy while traveling.

The best thing about scrapping back home- the product!  Scrapbooking is not so big in Oz and I had a really hard time finding stores that didn't have cheesy 1990's product.  I've been buying a lot since I've got home!

Fresh Start

I have been back home for just over a month now and I am somewhat organized.  Though there have been a lot of stresses with getting settled in yet another city (number three this year) it has never felt better to be home.

Tomorrow I start a new job!  I had gone back to work at my old salon, but after three weeks it just wasn't feeling like the right move.  I went for an interview and found a place that had all the things I liked about my Sydney salon so I went for it.  It was tough to tell my old boss I was leaving, but my gut tells me this is definitely the right move.  Even better, it's on the south side of town, which is where Joel works and where we plan on living.  Before we left for Oz we lived and I worked downtown and I couldn't see us living anywhere else.  Funny how one year away has got me ready for suburbia!  Now everything I need will be in my little south side bubble.

Right now we are staying at my parents until we save up enough money for an apartment (we didn't come home with much money in our pockets).  Hopefully now that we have two full paychecks coming in we will be able to get our own place soon!  We'll also have to get ourselves a car.  I've been checking out Kijiji and thankfully we can get a decent VW for good prices.  In Oz we had to buy the most embarrassing car ever and I told Joel that will never happen again!

The weather here in Edmonton has been great!  We have snow, but it's not been cold.  The coldest it's been in the last few weeks was -10 C.  There's been lots of sun, many days in the positive temperatures, and big, fluffy flakes when it does snow.  If winter was like this every year I'd be happy!  For those wondering, it doesn't feel extra cold after spending a year away from winter.  I'm  wearing my fall coat, so haven't had to bundle up too much.

On February eleventh we welcomed a new niece- Arianna Carolyn.  Joel's sister had her first baby almost two months early.  She arrived tiny but healthy.  We went to meet our new niece a few hours after she was born and we were honored by being asked by Savannah and Jamie to be Arianna's godparents.  She'll stay in the NIC unit for a few more weeks, but she is doing great.

Wainwright, Alberta

A week after arriving home I drove out to Wainwright, Alberta, a town east of Edmonton, to visit with my friend and her kiddos.  Wainwright is not an overly exciting place, with a population around 5000, but it is a cute town.  I've been going out to visit for quite a few years now and this time decided to explore the town and take a few pictures to capture it's essence.  Since arriving home I decided I want to get to know my country on a higher level and appreciate all that is Canada, the big and the small. Sometimes you have to stand back and realize something so simple that you take for granted on a daily basis can be pretty interesting if you take the time to look.  Hoping I can do more "exploring" of my own backyard this year.

Driving on a snow covered Highway 14.  Note the CN Rail train to the right.  A typical sight on an Alberta highway.

War Memorial Clock Tower at the center of town, looking down Mainstreet.

Mainstreet Wainwright.  I love the vintage feel of some of the shop fronts.

Town Hall, which I believe was previously a fire station.

My little nieces and I enjoying the snow.

Life Is Better Blonde

Welcome to my new blog!  For those of you who have followed me here from Word Under thanks for finding my new home.  For those of you just joining, here's a little bit about me:

My name is Victoria.  I have just moved back to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada after a year's stint in Australia.  I'm a hairstylist so I love all things beauty and fashion related and am a mega shoe-a-holic.  I'm a scrapbooker and an avid photo taker (and slowly getting the hang of photo editing), so be prepared for a lot of photos!  I love to travel (hence my year down under) and see new parts of the world.  I also have a new love and appreciation for my own country, which I hope to get to explore every inch of.  I love spending time with my friends and family (which I've discovered is the most important thing to me after being away so long) and my husband Joel.  

This blog will be a combination of my life, my photos, my scrapbooking, fashion, a bit of party planning, and future travel endeavors (once my Oz debt is cleared...).  I have just joined a group called What to Wear, some awesome ladies giving biweekly fashion posts, which I'm pretty pumped about joining.

Hope everyone enjoys the new blog!