Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A Look Back at December


In December I shared my Holiday Lookbook, attended a Christmas party at my grandparents' senior residence and my family surprised Marco with a birthday treat.  I picked up some new shoes, ate more Pho than normal and surprised my Dad with a 60th birthday party.

I shared a video on how-to create a messy French twist, spent an evening with friends celebrating Marco's birthday and took a cupcake decorating workshop with a bunch of girls for a friend's birthday.  I scored some boots I was covetting on sale, got sick with Laryngitis and met a new friend in the elevator of my apartment who made me a knit headband.

I grew out my nails--a Christmas goal--and celebrated Christmas with my family and Marco's.



| CLICK HERE to see every monthly recap I did this year.
SHARE:

2013 Recap


Keeping with tradition, I've pulled together some of my looks from 2013 to rally up a little fashion recap.  2013 turned out to be a really great year, and an extension of the great second half of 2012.  I'm a firm believer that if you put positive energy out into the world you will get it back, and while that's not always possible--we're all real here--if you make a conscious effort to do so, it will eventually come natural and great things will begin to happen.

I set a few New Years resolutions for myself this time last year which were:
* Do my hair more often--versus just throwing it up--complete; and
* Become better at doing my make-up--complete (I have become a blending pro.  Okay, pro might be a strong word).

Resolutions don't have to be big or un-accomplishable, they can be small, mini accomplishments you make throughout the year, not necessarily with a deadline.  For instance, two years ago I set up monthly resolutions, with more attainable goals like sew a top, floss more and wear clothing that I had purchased that still had tags on it.

I will be back in a few days to share my resolutions for 2014, so stay tuned while I fine tune that list.

As always, thanks for reading and being here, whether you're a newbie or a long-time friend, I so appreciate you coming to my little corner of the Internet to check out what I'm up to.  Your support and the friendships mean so much.  Seriously, every. single. one of you.

Happy New Year!


 

Annual recaps from years past:
* 2012
* 2011
* 2010

SHARE:

Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas Gift Exchange Fun II


Sarah and I had our annual gift exchange between us at work this year since it didn't work out to get together over the holidays.  I brought the camera, set it up to record a video and didn't realize until now that we only got 2 minutes of footage out of 20!  Such a bummer because you don't get to see what we got each other, but I was able to salvage a few fun screen shots from our lunch hour (click over to my Facebook page to see the silly photos).

This year, we decided to lower our limit to $50 and I'm proud to say we both stayed within it and scored awesome gifts (or at least I love my gifts, ha).  Scroll down to see our gifts before they were opened a list of what we got each other.

For Sarah:
* Essie Nail polish, 'Come Here'
* Mexx wool coat (in forest green)


For me (hello amazing gift basket):
* Pier 1 suitcase ornament (representative of all our travels together; Vegas, Toronto & Dominican)
* OPI nail polish, 'Over the Taupe'
* Smart Set necklace
* Pier 1 jar candle in, 'Ember' (my fave)
* Four decorative Christmas plates
* Mighty Leaf peppermint tea
* Guess leopard wallet/change-purse




| See last year's gift exchange HERE.



SHARE:

Weekend+ Recap: iPhone Snaps

Since I fell ill with Laryngitis that's turned into a cold--that is still kind of holding on--I missed the weekend before lasts' iPhone Snaps, but that's because I pretty much spent it in bed watching YouTube and being bored.  I've compiled a bunch of photos I took over the course of the last few weeks so we'll call this a Weekend+ Recap since it's more than this last weekend.  

Since there's so many photos, I'll put the majority after the jump if you'd like to see…

My goal was to have long nails for Christmas--mission accomplished!  I'm so proud because I'm a chronic nail biter so this was tough but makes me so happy.
Nail colour:  N.Y.C. (not sure the colour name)


I met a girl in my apartment building one evening before I got sick in the elevator.  We were both wearing headbands and I complimented  her on hers and she offered to make me one!  A few days later I found this beauty on my door handle.


Pho, one evening in Chinatown.
Outfit deets:  Bench jacket, Club Monaco scarf (old), Walmart leggings, Jacob leg warmers, Spring boots, F21 cross-body and Jules & James hat and mitts.

More photos after the jump…
SHARE:

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Christmas 2013


Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, I know I shared the little video from Christmas Eve and Christmas day but thought I would recap with some photos if you'd like to see.

On Christmas Eve, I travelled with Marco to Kingston to spend the evening with his family.  We had a great meal and opened gifts late into the night.  This was the first time I'd ever been away from my own family at this time, but I had a great time.  After the gifts were done, the nieces and nephew gone, everyone got ready for bed.  Marco and I decided to do stockings for each other this year--a first--and did that in private around midnight.  It was fun and perhaps the beginning of a tradition.


The next morning we woke up and had breakfast with his parents.  From there, we packed up and travelled the two hours back to Ottawa to spend the afternoon and evening with my family.  My parents were busy cooking in the kitchen upon our arrival we settled in with some drinks and snacks to pass some time.


Around 4pm, my sister, her husband and my nephew arrived and we opened our gifts--also a first for this sort of thing as we normally do this Christmas morning--which was really fun.  We didn't finish before my grandparents arrived for dinner, so we took a break to visit and eventually eat a turkey dinner (my fave!).


I'm going to do a full post and video on some of my favourite gifts but here is a really cool one my sister and brother-in-law gave me: a mini pie maker!  As some of you know, I'm a huge pie lover and this baby whips them up in 10 minutes.  This could be dangerous, but I'm really excited.


Later on in the evening, we finished opening our gifts and spent hours chatting, eating and trying to solve little metal mind-twister game puzzle things (above) Santa gave us.  We left after midnight, tired and happy.


Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!


Other posts you may have missed:
* Christmas 2012
* Christmas 2011

SHARE:

Saturday, December 28, 2013

VLOG | Christmas 2013


I made a little video of my Christmas that spanned over the 24th to the 25th, which included travelling to Kingston with Marco to see his family and then back to Ottawa to see mine.  Thanks for watching! xo


| Vlog stands for video-blog, so if ya don't know, now ya know.
SHARE:

Friday, December 27, 2013

Pictures from the Toronto Ice Storm of 2013


Although I'm not from Toronto, the ice storm that hit the capital of Ontario--also about four hours away from my city, Ottawa--was quite incredible.  It's been over 15 years since we've seen a storm like this and hundreds of thousands went without power for days and sadly, over Christmas.

On the bright side, it makes for some beautiful scenery and photographs and while Marco and I drove back from Kingston on Christmas morning, we stopped along the 401 at a service centre to walk into a wooded picnic area to snap some photos of the aftermath.



SHARE:

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas!


Merry Christmas!

Today we travelled from Kingston to Ottawa for a celebration with my family.  I'm currently hanging out, waiting for my sister, her husband and my nephew to arrive.  We are going to open gifts and then my grandparents are coming over to join us for dinner.

I'm surrounded by treats, wine, and baked goodies.  The photo above was taken this morning when we stopped at a service station on our two-hour drive from Kingston.  The ice store that hit Toronto and more made for a beautiful backdrop so Marco and I took advantage and snapped some photos with the DSLR.

Hope you're having a great day.  I'll be back tomorrow evening with more photos and and stories about my Christmas holidays.  Sending love and a big hug to everyone!




SHARE:

Monday, December 23, 2013

HAIR TUTORIAL | Messy French Twist


In this video I show you how I create my messy French twist I rocked a few weekends ago.  It's super easy, takes under five minutes and is great for day 2 or 3 hair.  

Hope this is helpful and if you rock this look, tweet/instagram me @acoest1984 and use the hashtag #acofrenchtwist  

I'd love to see your take on it!




SHARE:

Friday, December 20, 2013

Covet | Holiday Pants


I have several sequinned items; tops, skirts, dresses, a pair of shorts, but no pants and I could see these babies fitting right in.

I'd pair these with a black blazer and silk cami for work or a party with friends and something sexier like a sleeveless top for a night out with my man.  These are definitely flashy but would work so well for NYE and since I'm a pant lover--more so than dresses, usually--these would be the perfect compromise.


SHARE:

Christmas Decor Around My Apartment


Since I'm still down and out with Laryngitis that has been joined by cold symptoms, I thought I would share a few Christmas snaps from around my tiny apartment.  

I wasn't going to put up my tree--gasp!--since we are so close to the day and I will not be here, but eventually gave myself a good shake, took 10 minutes and got my baby tree up.  Remember when I got this little tree?

To be honest, I've hardly decorated aside from the tree and throwing a sequin top on my mannequin.  I haven't had the time to grab all my decor from my parent's basement, bring it back here and decorate.  I was going to go into details about my apartment and recent thought, but I'll save that for another day.  Cheers!





SHARE:
Blogger Template Created by pipdig