My Life Last Week

 L-R, top to bottom: 

me wearing my favorite ring, my MAC essentials: MAC prep + prime, prolongwear concealer, studio fix

drinks and dinner at Julio's Barrio, flowers from my best friends 

new spring shoes, a gift from my friend Caroline

kitty having a nap, St. Paddy's Day

Yeahhhh, I'm addicted to my new iPhone. I'm on instagram now! You can follow me @mariealamode. I'm just figuring out how to use it! Also, I take a lot of pics of my cat, just FYI. Did you have a good weekend? Anyone spend some time in a paddy wagon from partying too much on Saturday night? Get it? Paddy wagon?? On St. Paddy's day? ; )  ; )  ; ) Bah ha ha ha! I hope you all had a great weekend!

New Year, New.....Things

 

 

coat - Banana Republic, blouse - Old Navy, scarf, hat and rings - H & M, jeans - Joe's from Bamboo Ballroom, 

shoes - Spring, bag - Co-lab by Christopher Kon from Winners 

photography: Harvey Miedreich

Happy New Year! I really can't believe it's January already, let alone 2012. It's true that time flies when you get older. When I was a kid time seemed to pass sooooo slowly, especially while in school and now years come and go just like that and it feels like I was 21 just yesterday! (Too bad I don't look twenty one.) Makes me really want to enjoy every single moment. Time is so precious. 

This is what I wore to go shopping yesterday. I know in my last post I said I went shopping 3 days in a row over the Christmas break but I had more gift cards to spend so I went again this week, first to West Edmonton Mall and then to Southgate. Two malls in one day. Have you ever gone to two malls in one day? Do I have a shopping problem that requires in-patient treatment? I couldn't help it, there are so many great sales going on right now! Going forward though, I solemnly swear I will not shop for myself for at least a month. You heard it here first. Here are a couple of items I picked up:

 Yup! A $5.00 purse from H & M! See? Good sales.

 Dolce Vita shoes I purchased fromThe Bay for $62.00. Regularly $140 I believe.

I asked D. what he thought of these when I put them on and pranced around in our living room. He said, "They're interesting." I guess you either love 'em or hate 'em and I LOVE THEM!!

Well it's back to work and back to the daily grind for me.  You too? I hope you are having a great start to 2012!

Christmas Break: What I Did and Happy New Year!

         Spent some some much-needed time with my two best friends I've known since I was in a training bra.

Too much information?

Celebrated Christmas with my family

Enjoyed precious time with my goofy nephew. He poses like that for every picture now. Fortunately, I don't.

"Awwed" over animals (not mine)

...and more animals (unfortunately not mine either)...

...and more (this one is mine.)

Shopped 'til I dropped! I took full advantage of all of the Boxing Day sales. Not just on Boxing Day but also on the 27th, 28th and 29th. I told you I have a shopping problem! Don't act surprised. I bought this Co-lab bag at Winners. I'd been looking for a bag like this for months! It's the perfect size.

My friend Jenessa did my makeup. She does the best eyes!

I got my hair colored at Ponytails + Horseshoes

D. and I took in a very exciting Junior World Hockey game with his work. Czech Republic won 5 to 2 against USA. Here they are singing their national anthem at the end of the game.

And I relaxed and read books and watched movies. I took a break from work and blogging and just enjoyed my time off, recharging my batteries ; ). I hope you all had a wonderful holiday spent with family and friends and had some time to relax as well. Happy New Year! I wish you the absolute best in 2012! Thank you to all of you who read my blog. Thank you for your clicks, your comments and all-around love this past year. You don't know just how much I appreciate it.

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Sephora's Gonna Be The Death of Me

Back in January, one of my New Year's resolutions was to stop buying so much makeup and clothes. Well, I failed miserably as you can tell by my make-shift vanity table full of makeup and other products, above. (I'd like to mention that my vanity is usually not this messy, on a good day it looks like this!) And our closet which is so stuffed with my clothing that I had to purchase a clothing rack that I put in our room, right by my side of the bed which this past Saturday was so heavy it fell over in the middle of the night and landed on me. I woke up and I was covered in clothes! It was a very rude awakening, pun intended. Now if that isn't a sign I should curb my spending I don't know what is.

Anyways, I tried to ignore the email I got from Sephora last week with the subject header "The Biggest V.I.B. (Very Important Beauty Insider) event of the year!" but I just couldn't. They were giving V.I.B.'s a 20 % discount on everything in store! Did you hear me?!?! TWENTY PERCENT OFF! So this V.I.B. went to the M-A-L-L last Thursday with a goal to purchase only one makeup product: Makeup Forever's HD Microfinish Powder I've been wanting to try for a looong time.

I did not walk out with just the MUFE powder. I decided to pick up a new eye cream, as I was running out and the skincare expert at Sephora recommended Algenist's Complete Eye Renewal Balm to help with my dark circles and fine lines. It was 20% off so how could I resist? I blame my purchase of the Urban Decay NAKED palette on the chick who was behind me in the forty-person (i'm not kidding!) line-up who had two palette's in her hand, which I had been trying to get my hands on in Canada for a year before giving up because they were always sold out. She told me I should "definitely get one, before they're all gone" so I did and told D. it was all her fault.

Here it is in all it's eyeshadow glory! Can't wait to try it.

Did any of you take advantage of Sephora's sale this past weekend? Have you tried any of these products?

I'm making a promise, right here on my blog that I will not purchase anymore makeup products until 2012. So help me God.

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TGIF

Thank God it's Friday! It's been such a long, dreary week for me. We had a freakin' snowstorm on Monday (yes, in MAY) and the gloominess continued all throughout the week until today. I felt so lethargic and just uggghhh so almost every night I curled up on the couch in my sweats and a blanket to watch more episodes of Sex and the City. BTW I finished the very last episode (which I had NEVER SEEN, can you believe it???) tonight and cried. Bawled actually. I haven't cried like that since I watched that "16 and Pregnant" episode where the young but mature couple put their child up for adoption. Some of you know for the past few weeks all I've been watching is SATC from season 1 on and now all I have left to watch are the bonus features : ( I feel an emptiness inside me lol. Although in just a few weeks we'll all be able to see the second movie in theatres and the countdown is ON! Anyways, thankfully the sun came out this evening and almost all the snow has melted so the boyfriend and I took a stroll down Whyte Ave because we could!

On to the jewelry. Above is a pic of the recent  pieces I picked up at H & M. I bought the golden ring a few weeks ago and the rest today. My favorite color is turquoise so I died when I saw the silver ring with the turqoise stone for under $7. Right now they're having a "Buy Two Get One Free" sale so I guess I got it for less than that. I think I may have to go back there this weekend : )  Have a great weekend! I'll leave you with this quote just because : )

via lelove

Retail Therapy

Hello! I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. The weather was cold and windy last week and it snowed on Thursday. By the time I passed out in my bed that night there was a full-blown snow storm going on outside my window. I wasn't surprised, this is the type of climate I live in and I’m kind of used to it by now but it made me a bit depressed nonetheless. I mean, snow in April?! What’s a girl to do when she’s feeling down? Why, go shopping! I picked up these babies at Aldo last week. After trying on some wedges and a hookeresque-type shoe that made me look like, well, a hooker, I decided on these sling backs.  They weren’t in my budget this month, especially since I’m going on a weekend getaway to Vancouver in a couple of weeks and  trying to save some extra money but I couldn’t resist. I love the heel and how they're kind of like clogs but not really and they are surprisingly comfortable My mood lifted as soon as the sales girl swiped my credit card through her machine. (Is that healthy?) I was flying high on my way home. Even the EXIT sign that flew off of it’s post right in front of my car on the highway while I was going 80 km/hour on the way home couldn’t dampen my mood! (And yes, I was lucky it didn’t hit my car!) Now I just have to wait until the snow melts until I can wear these, hopefully sooner than later ; ) xoxo

Gone Done Did It

I went shopping on the weekend. It was between this and a new lap-top. The camera stole my heart, the laptop will have to wait. I have been wanting more of a "professional" camera for awhile now and have always been interested in photography. Ever since my nephew was born my family and friends call me the paparazzi. I took my first pic of him when he was an hour old and haven't stopped since! And when I get together with friends, whether for a night out or someone's birthday they can always rely on me to take many, many pictures for lasting memories . And now that I have a blog this camera will definitely be put to good use. I have already begun experimenting. New pics coming soon!