My Secret Santa Revealed!

Jessy from The Little Dust Princess was thoughtful enough to organize a Secret Santa event amongst some of us petites who participate in the Alterations Needed Forum.

It was such a fun experience and my first one doing any type of gift exchange with people I have only virtually met.

I was so excited when my gift arrived in the mail from the one and only Jen of From Head to Toe.  If you haven't checked out her blog - what are you waiting for?   I have been a long time follower (ahem perhaps stalker as my husband likes to call it) and she is one of my favorite petites :)

Here are pictures of all the items she sent me:

^such cute stationary!!^

^earrings to go with any outfit^

^I'm not sure how to use these but I'm sure I'll figure it out :P^

^Ahh I can't wait to try these masks out!  I will definitely be asking Jen the best way to use them^

^this colour is GORGEOUS - I can't wait to use it :) and the maple leafs are so Canadian LOL ^

^I absolutely love primers.  I have really oily skin, so this will be perfect to try out^

^sooo excited about this one since I watched Jen's video ^

^eeek, so excited - I've never tried eyelashes on my own before - I bought the glue so I will attempt these soon :)  ^

LOFT dress!  I remember seeing this on several petite bloggers.  Please let me know who you are so I can link your blog to this post :)

^Everything together!!! :) ^

And here's how the dress looks on me :)

Thank you Jen, I can't believe how generous you are!  I LOVE all my gifts and can't wait to put them all to good use!

Edit:   I drew Elle from Fast Food & Fast Fashion.  Click here to see what I got her :)

I'm so happy to have found the "petite community" and the whole blogging community!  I have had nothing but positive experiences in the short time I've been blogging.   If there is anyone out there thinking about starting a blog I highly recommend it.  It's a great way to communicate with others that have similar interests.  If blogging isn't for you perhaps checkout the Alterations Needed Forum.   Many bloggers and non bloggers are part of the forum and it's a really nice way to get to know each other.   Twitter is also a great way to join in on the conversation. 

I wish all of you a wonderful New Years and may 2011 bring you all great health and happiness and I hope new friendships :)

Blog Sale item and help needed!

I am so super behind on getting my posts up!   A while back Sydney had this dress up on her blog sale site and I quickly jumped at the opportunity!   LOFT is unfortunately not available in Canada so I get my LOFT fix from other petite bloggers!

I was so excited when I received the dress, it's much prettier in person than in the stock photo.

LOFT Sleeveless Tulle Neckline Dress - 00P

I love the length of this dress and can see it working well for work with tights and a blazer and for going out to maybe a baby shower or wedding shower. Unfortunately, the fit is not perfect for me.

It's too tight in the hips / butt area!!!

^ you can see how it bunches up and give me a "tail" ^

^ and it's dong that "s" thing at the front I learned about on Jean's post here ^

^see the bunching in the front?^

So ladies, I LOVE this dress and I got it at a FABULOUS price!  As I mentioned before, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to find a tailor.   I have a few in mind in my area, but I want to turn to all of you the experts on what alterations you think I need to have done in order for this to fit better.  Then I'll see what my potential tailor has to say!

 

 

 

I can't believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow!!  I unfortunately still have to work tomorrow but at least it's only half day.  I will be with my side of the family tomorrow evening then with my husband's family on Christmas.  Afterwards we are heading to Montreal for a couple days!!!   So I don't know how much time I will have to check in on everyone's blogs, but I will be working on my Secret Santa post!

 

For everyone that celebrates I wish you a very Merry Christmas and for everyone I hope you spend quality time with all your family and loved ones :)

Belated Giveaway winnings and New Years Resolutions

How terrible am I?!?  I won TWO generous giveaways and have not blogged about them :(  

WAAAAAY back in October I won an amazing prize from The Girlie Blog - in fact it was her very FIRST giveaway!   I was super excited to be lucky enough to win this fabulous prize: 

I just love the details of the box!

Look how cute - tulips are my favorite flower :)

I thought the backing of the earring was really unique.

And here they are on!  They're so cute and simple and at the same time I feel glamorous knowing I'm wearing something to luxurious!  

Thank you again to Designer Apparel and to The Girlie Blog :)

I was ALSO incredibly lucky enough to win Kelly's Tim Gunn book giveaway.   I still have NOT had a chance to read it, but I have some time off work so I hope to cuddle up with it soon!

Lastly I was tagged to do my New Year's Resolutions by the always on top of things (so opposite of me! :P ) Jessy of The Little Dust Princess.  I thought that I'd better get to this one NOW before New Year's comes and goes!

1.   Find a tailor.  Ummmm - yeah I STILL don't have one!   I also have a pile of jeans, pants and some dresses just WAITING to be worn!

2.  Take outfit pictures everyday.   I think this will help me stay on top of my blogging AND help me edit my wardrobe more efficiently.   I'm sure not all the outfits will make it to the blog but at least this way I will have outfit pictures to choose from!

3.  Cook more!!   We used to have a meal plan and as silly as it sounds it worked for us beautifully!  Since we moved closer to the city our lives have seemed to become more hectic.  I think a meal plan will help us cook more often and save us $ too!

4.  Take better care of myself.   As I mentioned in #3 because life is more hectic I haven't been seeing all my health practioners regularly.   I am lucky enough to have pretty good benefits at work too and didn't make use of them at all this year!

5.  Get more sleep.  I have to admit - I've been staying up way too late catching up on blogs and watching youtube videos as of late!   I feel like if I don't read everything I will miss out on something!  Does anyone have any advice on how to "filter"?  I would LOVE to be able to read and comment on everyone's posts as I completely understand how much time it takes but it just seems like an impossible task.  So as much as I don't want to I may have to pair it down a bit :(

I will tag a few people to talk about their top 5 resolutions (please don't feel obligated though!).

Marilou of Twenty York Street

Melissa of A Working Mom's Closet

Sydney of Petite Little Girl

Kara of ...of moments in moonlight

Louise of Cosmetic Bee

My new favorite Cardigan and an award!

I'm glad a lot of you enjoyed my Seven Confessions post.  It was fun to read all your comments and how much I have in common with some of you :P.   I was thinking about confession #5:

5. I get obsessed with songs.  I'm the type of person that can listen to a song over and over and over again.  I will look up the lyrics to the song of the moment so I can sing to the the song on repeat.  This is obviously one of the reasons why my husband love me :P

And I realized that I not only obsess with songs, but with articles of clothing too!   When I buy something new and absolutely LOVE it, it becomes part of my "uniform" and I wear it every chance I get!!!!   My current go to uniform consists of my Gap mustard cardigan reviewed here.

Here's my most recent outfit with this item:

Top:  Jacob XS

Cardigan:  Gap XS

Jeans:  Banana Republic 0P

Necklace:  mark by Avon

Detailed shots of my necklace:

And...I undeservedly received the "Stylish Blogger Award" from one of the sweetest ladies I've "met" in the blogging community - Marilou of Twenty York Street!  When I think of chic and stylish I automatically think of her!   She is so personable not to mention photogenic!   The definition of class.   She's always so sweet, she'll sometimes drop me an email just to say 'hi'! :)

So thank you Marilou from the bottom of my heart!  I don't feel I have earned this, but I will try to live up to it LOL!


It was so hard choosing who to pass this award onto - so many stylish bloggers out there!   So, I decided to pick three that currently stand out to me for not only being stylish, but because I admire them as well. 

 Kiki of Psyched for Style - not only is she stylish she's damn talented too!  Just look at how she decorated her little one's room.  


Sew Petite Girl - now here is INCREDIBLE talent!  Just check out this DIY Pearl Necklace!


Jessy of The Little Dust Princess - my fellow petite Torontonian :P  whenever I have a blogging/twitter panic attack Jess is always there to rescue me LOL!  Here's an example of some advice she gives about blogging.

Seven Confessions

I was tagged to do "seven confessions" by the lovely Banhannas, so here we go!

1.  My hair is naturally curly and I'm the only one in my family with this crazy hair.  (Well I have some uncles with wavy hair, but nothing like what I have!)

2. My background is Indonesian.  I don't meet too many so when I do find out someone is Indonesian I get super excited for some reason.   I have never been there though - never even been to Asia!

3. I can't ride a bike.  I never learned.  I was an indoor child preferring to play with Barbies by myself!  My husband used to race road bikes professionally - how's that for opposites attract?  :P

4. I don't drink alcohol.   I just never liked the taste of it - I'd much rather have a smoothie, or a latte or a tea!  I also find drunk people annoying but I hear that's normal for all sober people.

5. I get obsessed with songs.  I'm the type of person that can listen to a song over and over and over again.  I will look up the lyrics to the song of the moment so I can sing to the the song on repeat.  This is obviously one of the reasons why my husband love me :P

6. I can't eat a lot at one sitting but I'm ALWAYS hungry.   I get hungry about every hour so I feel like I always need to be eating.

7. I talk myself out of things a lot.  Which is why I tend not to get a lot of things done!  I'm a great planner and "leader" when there are other people involved but when it's just me I'm such a slacker.

Not sure if that was really interesting or not, but I'm a pretty simple person LOL!

I think I'm really late to this game and everyone has already been tagged!

Petite Fashion Challenge #4

It's here, it's here!  Petite Fashion Challenge #4 is here :)   Every time these challenges are announced I think "oh I have plenty of time to do this" and every time I end up quickly snapping photos the night before.   This one was no exception!  




The challenge:

Create a holiday party look using festive colours and/or holiday pieces without looking like a greeting card.
 
I don't really have many opportunities to dress up and I don't like buying expensive dresses for one time wear (wedding dress excluded!) so I thought I would work with items that I currently have.


I've had this red dress for years - I honestly can't even remember where I got it from.  I decided that red would be my festive colour and I used really "blingy" accessories as my holiday pieces! And what's more festive than a snowflake brooch? :P

Dress:  Unknown Brand  size XS

Belt:  Danier XS

Shoes:  nine west size 7.5

Accessories:  Avon

The earrings are ridiculously huge but I love them all the same:

The pretty snowflake brooch that I got last year:

This bracelet is a bit big on me but I still love it.  Makes any outfit special :)

The fun wasn't just for petite bloggers but any petite that wanted to join in on the fun!  I had an entry from Design Girl:

"...for the holiday challenge, I decided to not go with the traditional colors but to go with a little bling on my shirt and keep the rest simple and comfy. I just got this shirt from Express delivered today and I already love it. It's a pale pink and is sheer with a black floral pattern and some black and silver bead embellishment. I styled it with a pencil skirt to wear to a work holiday party (tucked in so you don't see the gather at the waist) and with jeans for a holiday get-together with the girls."

I mentioned to Design Girl that I can see why she loves the blouse so much!  I think it's so unique and pretty and obviously versatile!

"Oh, and I never could get my shoes in the photo, which is why I am holding them."

Outfit details:

Blouse: Express embellished pleated sleeve Tandori shirt in XS (it doesn't look like it's still available online, but I ordered in on Black Friday and think it's probably still in some stores)

Tank top: Ann Taylor Loft XSP lace tank top, old
Skirt: Express tweed high-waist buckle-back pencil skirt in size 00 (I'm 5'1 and I think I need to get it hemmed 1 to 2 inches.)

Thanks Design Girl for your submission - I hope you start your own Petite Blog soon! :)

There was a really great turn out for this challenge.  Please check out all the other petite bloggers that participated in the challenge:

1. The Life of Ann James

2. The Little Dust Princess

3. Shorty Stories

4. I am Khatu

5. Fast Food and Fast Fashion

6. Psyched for Style

7. To Brighten My Day

8. Petite Early Morning Style

9. Petite Little Girl

10. Caramel Covered Everything

11. Little Nashua

12. Mix and Match Fashion

13. Sew Petite Gal

14. Petite Eats

15. The Petite Fitting Room

16. Sisters Sincere

17. O Miss Studious

18. a.fashion.deliberation

19. Stylepint

20. Cute and Little
21. Vicky's Daily Fashion
22. Fashion For Teens
23. Extra Petite
24. Alterations Needed
25. PetiteXXS
26. Twenty York Street

This challenge was definitely harder than it seemed!  Can't wait to see what all the other ladies came up with!!  ***(If I've missed you I apologize - let me know and I'll add you ASAP!)***