Black Friday @ Place D'Orleans!

For my Ottawa and surrounding area readers, I have a treat for you. Our local mall Place D'Orleans, who I partnered with back in October for #MYVIP Night, is having a HUGE Black Friday Sale! 

This is a great way to put a dent in your Christmas Shopping and you don't have to travel all the way to the US to take advantage of some INCREDIBLE deals.

To add to the excitement, Place D'Orleans is opening their doors early and they will have promotions going on ALL DAY! Read more below:

I suggest we all take the day off work tomorrow and go shopping to take advantage of this event! See you there!







Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Holiday Give Away

Hi Everyone! 

I hope you all have a handle on your Christmas shopping, I know I don't but there's still time! If you are procrastinating like me, one of my fav bloggers, Spiffy Kerms, is here to help you. Spiffy aka, Nancy, is holding an awesome giveaway for Philosophy products -- everyone loves Philosophy, am I right? 

Check out the products here:

Go to the spiffykerms.com blog to see how to enter and she's giving you several different ways to enter to increase your chances of winning!

This giveaway is open to Canadians residents only (excluding Quebec).

I think this prize would make a great gift for the girly girly on your Christmas list or you can keep it for yourself.....which I might do!

Best of luck to all who enter!

bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Outfit Post: Target

Outfit

Sweater: Target

Camo skinny jeans: Target, these are reversible! Other option is a faded back.

Purse: Nine West, purchased in NYC a few years ago

Heels: picked these up in Costa Rica while on a work trip. I don't wear these nearly enough, they are super comfortable!

Last Friday I had to get some work done on my car that required several hours at the dealership in Orleans (suburb of Ottawa). So while that was being done I had a shuttle take me to Place D'Orleans (local Mall) where I finally visited my first Canadian Target store. I had some luck in the clothing department but here are my overall impressions of the Canadian Target:

The good

• Clean, bright store with friendly staff
• New clothing lines to browse
• I bought my first Up and Up product (Target's own line of beauty and household items). It was a lotion equivalent to Aveeno and so far I really like it.
• They have an in-store Starbucks (Yay)
• Loved the shoe selection and the prices were reasonable

The bad

• Prices are not comparable to the US stores. Though I am somewhat pleased with what I paid I expected better pricing on most items.
• Out of stock on almost everything! Like the shelves were almost bare in some sections of the store. The clothing department was also rather bare with limited sizes.

Overall I liked shopping at Target but I expected to LOVE it for some reason. I am loving the above outfit that I got there. The sweater was $20 and the reversible jeans were $34.99; I know I will get a lot of wear out of both of these items so I am happy!

Because the Ottawa Target was out of so many sizes, while I was in Kingston over Thanksgiving weekend I made a trip to their Target to see if I would have better luck. I was shocked at how much better the store was stocked! In Kingston of all places -Kingston is a much smaller town than Ottawa for my non local readers. So I was able to get a really pretty green blouse for work that I had my eye on in Ottawa and I bought black ankle booties that I will feature in an upcoming post. I also bought two soft v-neck T-shirts (can't have too many of those) and a white tank.

Have you been to the Target Stores in Ottawa yet? What did you think of them?

Hope everyone has a safe and relaxing weekend!

bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Cable Knit Pencil Skirt

This weekend was super hectic and I feel like could have used several additional weekends to recover. It was my Roomie/Bestie's Birthday and we cooked up a storm for 10 guests for her B-Day dinner on Saturday. 

We bought two filet roasts from Costco, cut them up into steaks, marinated them in BBQ sauce and added some Hawaiian Salt to them just before they hit the grill. We created a Baked Potato Station with chives, Gruyere, Blue & Cheddar Cheese, real bacon bits and sour cream. I also made Caesar Salad dressing from scratch and we had Caramel Salted cupcakes for dessert. Needless to say, it was a meal to remember!

The Potato Station - it was a HIT!

Me helping with the clean up

Shirt: Dynamite - seen here and here

As a thank you for all of my efforts - mostly cooking related - my Roomie picked up a really cute cable knit skirt from Joe Fresh as a gift. Who gives someone a gift on THEIR Birthday weekend? Well apparently she does and that's why she's my BFF!

So how can you style a cable knit skirt with out looking like a doughty Grandma? Pick a contrasting top in a bright color to offset the traditional look of the skirt.

Shopping #Fail

So this weekend I had a hankering to go to Target and spend some time looking through their merchandise for new Fall clothes (boots in particular). I haven't been to Target since moving to Ottawa so this was an exciting way to spend a Sunday afternoon, for me anyways, doesn't take much to make me excited these days :-)

So I do a Google search on the trusty iPhone and get the closest store location to me, which is in Billings Bridge. To say this is close is slightly inaccurate because I live at least a 30 mins drive from anything in Ottawa.

Once I get to the strip mall where the Target is located I see that Target isn't opened (all other stores were). Hmmmm..... weird? So I go back to my Google search and see that the location I chose to go to doesn't open until the Fall! ARGH! How did I not see that before? So since I had driven all the way there I decided to look around some of the stores at Billings Bridge.

I picked up some cute necklaces from Ardene, they were 3 for $15. I also went into Fairweather, tried on and bought a purple and grey stripped sweater for $20 that I desperately need for work. It seems like all of my sweaters have decided to die just in time for Fall - they are all pilled or have a hole so I may return to Fairweather to buy more.

 Super hero stance!

Shopping outfit:

Jacket: Agent 99 in Kingston, Ontario (old)

Shirt: Dynamite

Jeans: Rag & Bone

Boots: Nine West

Necklace: Ardene (new)

 A better look at the boots, I love these and will probably wear them out by the end of the Fall/Winter

Sorry for the flash in this picture! This is the new top from Fairweather . It is super comfy and will go with dress pants, leggings or jeans easily.

So for $35 I got 3 necklaces and a sweater for work, not a Target adventure but not too shabby.

I also had filmed and uploaded a new Vlog and then I promptly deleted it. Why? Well I found it too long and boring, I also say "ummm" like a hundred times during the video. So I chickened out! 

What did you do this weekend?

Order from BooHoo.com and 100th Post!

I am so excited for two reasons today -  and I am sure you can already guess why by the post title :-)

First, this is the 100th post for Planet MelMac! I know that this isn't ground breaking especially in the land of so many talented bloggers in the Blogger-verse (sp?). However, this Blog  really only started as a small hobby for me at the beginning of the year and now I find myself constantly trying to improve what I post and finding new topics to share with my readers. At the start I was so shy and timid that I wouldn't even post a picture of myself to save my life. It felt too exposed and like I was setting myself up to be criticized. But with the encouragement and inspiration of some amazingly strong Ladies, I now have:

- (Fairly) Regular outfit posts, I really should be more consistent, so I will work on that.
- Found new and creative ways to edit photos
- Acquired and started using a snazzy Nikon L320 Coolpix Camera
- Upgraded my iPhone 3 to an iPhone 4S to take better quality pictures on the fly (among other major benefits)
- Started a Twitter account for Planet MelMac
- Posted my first very short Vlog with more to come (promise!)
- Attained many site visits and connections with my series of posts regarding a Wine Tour in Prince Edward County
- Most importantly my readers have shared their stories and questions with me and that has been my favorite part my far (Office Divas have been a personal favorite)!

When I look through my Blog at the beginning of the year to now, there is a real progression and growth; I am truly proud of that. Thank you to all of my readers for taking a peak at my life and for leaving such wonderfully sincere and encouraging comments; you guys ROCK!

Okay, now on to number two. My order arrived from Boohoo.com yesterday while I was at work and I raced home to see if my Madison Leather Look Thick Leggings would 1) fit and 2) could I pull these off? I am happy to report that they did fit and they look fabulous! I love the look of the partial leather and I am impressed with the fabric quality. It is thick and looks well made. All for the price of $30 plus no shipping fees! Hallelujah!

My order had arrived! Boohoo.com included a great catalog as well.

 Love the way these look -  sexy and stylish!

Top: Vero Moda

Shoes: Nine West

These earrings will go great with my new leggings!

I am very pleased with my first shopping experience with Boohoo.com and I will definitely be a repeat customer. They shipped from Ireland so it does take some time for the parcel to arrive to Canada, but I didn't find that unreasonable, especially when the shipping is FREE! I haven't worn these leggings out yet but I have plans, oh do I have plans to. I felt strong, sexy and confident wearing these leather look leggings (if only briefly in my bedroom) and I will be buying more of them from Boohoo, for sure!

Thank you again for reading and I look forward to sharing 100 more posts with you!

Love,

MelMac oxoxoxoxo

Boo Hoo

A fellow former Kingston turned Ottawa resident who also has an amazing blog, called Hippie Lace, featured a really cool online clothing site boohoo.com on her blog. When Emmett Katherine mentioned that they offer free shipping for Canadians on orders over $35, I immediately had to check it out. They offer great fashionable clothing for men and women along with shoes and accessories for really reasonable prices.

I had been coveting  some leather leggings for Fall, but didn't want to go full on leather for this look. I think that all leather would make my thighs look a little thundery :-) Sorry for the self deprecation but we all have flaws we have to work around don't we? I found the perfect pair of partial leather leggings on boohoo.com:

Madison Leather Look Thick Leggings $30 CND

These are great because the leather panel is below the thigh so my problem area is solved! These retail for $30 (great price point right?) so in order to get the free shipping I needed to spend a little more, so I picked up these super funky earrings that I am really excited to wear:

Cynthia Studded Earrings $10 CND

These two pieces came to $40 CND and will be arriving either Wednesday or Thursday of this week, YAY! I really hope the leggings fit, but if they don't BooHoo has a 14 day return policy. You do need to pay for the shipping to return the item. 

I really don't know why more Companies that sell merchandise online don't offer Canadians free shipping on orders over X dollars, they would get so much more business if they did. I don't know how many times I have talked myself out of buying something online due to the cost of shipping. Boohoo's shipping rates are posted on their website and they ship all over the world.

I hope you enjoy looking through Boohoo.com and I will post the leggings (if they fit) and earrings in an outfit post once they arrive. I hope that the quality is decent as the prices are low, stay tuned to hear what I think!

Neon and....Scallops?

Hi All! Kind of a weird Blog Title today but I didn't really know how else to summarize today's post :-)

So last night I made dinner for my Roomie and I wanted to share the recipe with you as it is tasty, received raved reviews and best of all, it's good for you!

This was originally a Weight Watcher's recipe that I tweaked a little but it is still Low-Cal so not to worry. If you like scallops you will love how these Pan Fried Spiced Scallops turn out.

What you'll need:

1 Bag of Scallops - Spend the money and buy the big fresh ones. For frozen, I think you can't beat Costco.
1/2 Tbsp Cumin
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
1/2 Tbsp Paprika
1 Tbsp Cajun Seasoning
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
2 Tbsp Bread Crumbs (they can be Italian)
1/2 tsp Salt (sea salt is best but you don't need to use it)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp butter

What you'll do:

1) Take your defrosted scallops and pat them dry with a paper towel.
2) In a small bowl combine all of the spices and breadcrumbs, EXCEPT for the salt and place them on a small plate.
3) Take one of the scallops and gently roll it around in the spice/breadcrumb mixture until completely coated. Place coated scallop on a separate plate. Repeat this step with all of your remaining scallops.
4) On Med to Med-High heat, heat a non stick pan on your stove. Pour the Olive Oil and butter onto the pan and let the butter melt.
5) Place the scallops into the pan making sure not the crowd them. You may need to do two batches depending on how many scallops you have and the size of your pan.  If you place too many scallops in the pan they will not brown! Also do not touch the scallops once they are in the pan or that will cause them to steam rather than get crispy on the bottom.Check the heat and turn down if there's too much smoke.
6) After about 2 mins, peak at the bottom of your scallops, they should be golden brown. Flip all of the scallops in the pan to cook the other side for another minute or so.
7) Once the other sides are golden brown, remove scallops from the pan and place on a clean plate.
8) Sprinkle the salt over the scallops while they are steaming hot and enjoy!

We served the scallops with a favorite salad mixture called 7 Super Foods and a Wasabi Sour Cream sauce on the side. For the side sauce all you do is take about a 3/4 cup low fat or non-fat sour cream and mix in wasabi powder to taste -- add a little at a time and taste before you add more. If you dump a bunch of the powder in at once, WOOOOOOWWWEEEEE!

Here's the finished product! It's a light meal with BIG flavor; perfect for the Summer. You can also serve these golden little medallions of scallop heaven in a tortilla with the Wasabi Sour Cream sauce drizzled on top. With a nice glass of Pinot Grigio ....so YUM!

Here's a look at today's outfit and a Top that I picked up at...you guessed it, Wal-Mart!

 Top: American Apparel, shown here

Skirt: (New) Wal-Mart for $8 and they still have some in stock!

Flip-Flops: Fairweather, shown here

Look down from above

This is a top I picked up at Wal-Mart. I think it will look cute with some skinny jeans or a pencil skirt.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Love,

Melmac oxoxoxox

On My Wish List

Happy Summer Solstice MelMac'ers! I always have bitter sweet feelings about the First Day of Summer. On the plus side Summer officially begins and it is the longest day of the year; who doesn't love a long Summer night? On the down side, this means the days will get shorter and shorter here on out. This means Winter is Coming (if you get this reference, you and I can definitely be friends).

In my recent post A Wine Tour In Prince Edward County - Part 1, I mentioned that we went shopping the morning before our tour started. There were two items that really caught my eye and I hope that I can either find them online or in the US for cheap; so far not successful :(

How do you pick which cosmetics to buy?

*Note: This book was not sent to me to endorse in any way and I did not receive compensation. These options are my own.*

For Christmas this past year my Mom gave me a book that she saw me read in Costco one day. It's called Don't Go To The Cosmetic Counter Without Me by Paula Begoun, a well known cosmetic expert. You can read more about her on her website here. This book is like an Encyclopedia for all cosmetics from face wash to lipstick, it has tons of products listed here broken down by brands and categories.

What makes this book so useful is that her ratings are based on the ingredients used in each product and also  spells out whether to product delivers on it's claims i.e. "moisturizes for 24 hours"! She will also disclosed if the product is tested on animals which if you have a soul, you will care about :)

I am a cosmetics junkie.... this is just some of what is in my purse and desk at work.

I have a ton more at home that fills a full drawer in my dresser, several plastic storage containers and about 1/2 of my cabinet in my bathroom!

In North America, we spend $7 Billion a year on cosmetics! That's mind blowing! That doesn't count plastic surgery either. I know I spend a lot of my income on beauty products and I used spare almost no expense on what I thought was a life changing product. Now that I am older I try to be more practical with my spending on beauty and this book has been an invaluable resource in that goal.

When approaching the cosmetics area of your local department store or pharmacy, it can be overwhelming! There are so many brands and products to choose from. This one moisturizes, oh but this one makes me look younger, this one has SPF and this one has sparkles on the package (how cute!). How can we possibly choose the best product at an affordable price when there are so many options? And after we have spent our hard earned money, are we going to be happy with that purchase? Well Paula is here to help you!

Paula rates products from Poor, Average, Good and Best with honesty and fairness from how they are packaged to what the ingredients do, results you can expect and their price points (huge money save here if you are slave to expensive, trendy brands). Paula also has her own line of cosmetics available on her website.

Now there will always be a matter of preference to consider. Even if Paula rates a brand with a less than Best rating, you may still love that product and see great results from it. For example, I have no idea why people love Maybelline Great Lash Mascara. It has been rated at the top of almost every magazine's" best mascaras" for decades and makeup artists claim it is a must have. I don't get it, the brush sucks and the results are "meh" in my opinion.  Paula, however rates it as Poor, finally someone sees the light!

I think it is really great to have a reference guide to arm yourself when you purchase a cosmetic of any kind. I refer to this book all the time and her website as well!

You can find Don't Go To The Cosmetic Counter Without Me in any bookstore or on Amazon and it retails for approximately $26.36 CND.

I hope you'll find this post useful and next time, before to run out to drop your dollar bills on the latest and greatest in make up or wrinkle cream, do some research to get the best bang for your buck!

Melmac oxoxoxox

Peachy Keen

Hello and Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I was fortunate enough to get my hair cut and highlighted on Saturday at The Spa in Bell's Corner's in Ottawa. I can usually get away with 9-10 weeks between hair highlighting but boy oh boy by week 9 my hair really needs it! Feels so much better to have "fresh" hair, doesn't it?

*Sorry for some of the blurriness in this pictures, they were taken with the oldest iPhone known to man ;-)*

Whenever I get my hair done, my hair dresser straightens it. Such a nice change for us curly haired Gals :-)

Since I was in that neck of the woods I ventured to Bayshore Mall to see if there was anything fun to buy. Smart Set was having a sale on dresses and since I am a self diagnosed dress addict I had to try on at least one.

Shopping outfit #1

Top: American Apparel

Jeans: Rag & Bone

Shoes: Fairweather that I got on sale last weekend for $10

Necklace: Dynamite

Bracelet: Ricki's

Tried on this Vintage Chiffon dress in this lovely peachy, coral color in both medium and large. I decided that the large looked too tent-like so I went with the medium.

Close up of the medium.

Sunday I took a drive to Wal-Mart and went super causal, it is Wally World after all :-)

Shopping Outfit #2

T-Shirt: Lucky Brand (I totally love their graphic tee's and always pick some up when I am in Florida at the Premium Outlet Malls)

Pants: Old Navy Camo Capris. Very old but I still wear them from time to time.

Some Lace and Layers

 Top: Dynamite mentioned in this post

Jeans: Jessica Simpson Kiss Me Jeggings seen here and here and here. Yes I wear these a lot!

Necklaces: Dynamite (both)

 Shoes: Nine West seen here

Happy Friday Everyone! Have a fantastic weekend and see you on Monday oxoxoxoxox

Working with Stripes

I just bought this amazing striped skirt from Ricki's last week and I am obsessed with it. Normally stripes on the bottom half are a No-No for me as they can make you look wider but the pattern on this skirt is really flattering.

 I paired the skirt with a white T-Shirt and a Black Blazer with the sleeves rolled up for a less stuffy look. (Clothing info to follow)

 Skirt: Ricki's

T-Shirt: Joe Fresh

Blazer: RW Co.

I love this look! It is great for work and will take you into cocktail hour if need be. The design of this skirt would work on many body types and will go with just about anything. I am going to try to pair it will something red for an upcoming post. Stay tuned!!!!

Have you ever bought something that you thought wouldn't work and are pleasantly surprised when it does?

Peplum. It's not for everyone...

I dashed out at lunch to get some Farm Boy deliciousness, my fav salad bar around the corner.....

That's Tomato Basil soup (yummers!) with some Greek salad, Thai noodle salad, Edamame bean salad, red cabbage (so good for you) and a Vitamin Water.

After that wonderful bite to eat, I ran over to Ricki's to see what they had worth getting. I was pressed for time so I didn't get to really have a good look at everything. I have been loving the Peplum trend and spotted some cute Peplum tops in a beautiful red.

 This is the XL. It was a little too big.

This was the Large. I love the color but I honestly don't think that this style does anything for me. I am big on top with a short waist and Peplum just accentuates those flaws IMHO.

Oh well, you win some, you lose some.....but in this case I win by not spending any $$money$$...YAY!

Dig It

I am so digging the color green right now, more specifically an emerald green. I came across this dress on ASOS.com and immediately loved it. It is the ASOS Skater Dress With Ballet Wrap And Short Sleeves in green and it is $38.29 CDN. I find v-necks very flattering for us bustier gals and the wrap dress is the perfect figure flattering shape if you are a more boyish body type.

I have SO MANY dresses already that I really shouldn't get this but I likely will :-)

Polka Dot Continued....

Wanted to follow up on this post for the Polka Dot Dress that I purchased at Cleo over Easter Weekend in Kingston, Ontario.

 Fully Polkie!

 Love the detail of the fuchsia lining.

Down from above. Shoes are Nine West.

Neutrals

You have heard about my new obsession with Jessica Simpson jeans and how I love the way they fit. I had picked up a pair of the Jessica Simpson Forever Skinny Jeans in White and today being the gorgeous day that it was, I thought it was time to break them out of hiding! I love the look of white Pants or Capris  There is something so crisp and polished about a fresh whites, before I go spilling food all over them of course!

 Sorry for the lack of clothing brands! The top was purchased long ago in Virginia, cardigan was also bought long ago and I can't remember where. The Bracelet is from Ricki's and the Necklace is from Dynamite (love this, wear it all the time and get tons of compliments on it). 

 Down from above

Shoes: Aldo beige heels

Morning Basics

Happy Friday Everyone!

Like many of you, I have some morning essentials that I need to make it through the groggiest time of day (for me anyways, so NOT a morning person). I also wanted to show some pictures of the Flower Peasant top I picked up at Dynamite a couple of weekends ago. It's finally starting to warm up in Ottawa so I took the opportunity to wear a Spring-Type outfit.

I have my Lady Grey Tea in my special mug that my Roomie made me for Xmas, a multivitamin and Fish Oil Omega Supplement and the all important Coach purse in Red that I would die without! Seriously, I can fit so much in this bag if I need to and it still looks great; not all bulging and sloppy. 

Click the Fish Oil link for some valuable diet information!

Can I just say the look on my face in this picture is hilarious! I don't know what expression I was going for here but it makes me giggle. Flower Peasant Top from Dynamite, lace tank from Ricki's and Seven for All Man kind Jeans.

Side View 

 Look down from above (shoe info to follow)

This is a close up of the top. I love the fun detailing and the tassels on the ties. This top is super flirty and feminine, perfect for Spring!

Aldo Wedges in White: I bought these last year at the end of Summer so they were on sale. Not sure how much I paid for them but they were a deal, I remember that! I love to wear them with boot cut jeans and the bamboo platform is my fav part of this wedge style shoe. Nail color is OPI - Quarter of a Cent-Cherry

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and thank you for stopping by!

MelMac oxoxoxoxo