Life Archives - Page 4 of 17 - Alicia Fashionista

Life

The Truth About Adopting A Dog

November 16, 2016

Reggie is currently curled up at my feet, resting his head and one paw on my ankle. His scruffy face towards mine, but his eyes keep fluttering closed. My left leg is seemingly falling asleep, but I don’t want to move on account of cuteness. We just got back from a morning walk where squirrels, one dog, and 2 birds “taunted” us.

Two and a half months ago, we brought a dog home that we knew little to nothing about. And though we’d considered and were open to either getting a new puppy or adopting, we ended up with Reginald. The truth is, that dog adoption is really tough. The process of searching and applying for dogs is emotionally taxing. And the difficult questions on those forms could not possibly prepare you for the whirlwind of cute, but hard work, that is about to enter your life.

As I mentioned in my last post about Reg, adoption happens very quickly once you are approved. These organizations want these dogs in loving homes as quickly as possible, and for good reason. Seeing the toll that his uncertainty took on him is really upsetting.

6 Comments

Life

A Really Good Book Club

November 3, 2016

I used to read constantly. I remember powering through tons and tons of book a year and priding myself on reaching at least 10 completed books each summer through the children’s reading program at our local library. Then, school happened and reading was often required, which, thanks to my stubbornness, kind of took half the fun out of it. Don’t get me wrong, I was able to discover some childhood favourites like The Giver, White Oleander, and The Sky Is Falling. But, life got busier and busier and I let my bookworm side disappear almost completely for a time. Then, I met Adam, who is a major reader (every day, probably burns through one to two books a week, depending on the book, of course), and helped sparked my love for reading all over again. It’s so beautiful to step away from real life (and screens, tbh), to get lost in a really good book.

I’m always looking for something new and wonderful to read, and love trading books with my girlfriends. After Alex and I added some new chapters.indigo.ca decor pieces to get our shared studio/office ready for fall and winter, we got to talking and came up with the idea to start an online book club! How freaking cool is it that we could all read the same book and discuss our thoughts, but on opposite ends of the earth? I think that’s pretty rad!

So, we decided to start #areallygoodbookclub, because I think it’ll be fun and you’re all pretty awesome! If you’re interested, join us on Twitter Thursday, November 24th at 8 PM pst for the first #areallygoodbookclub discussion. To begin, we randomly picked a read from the Indigo Chapters fall selection, Jodi Picoult ‘Small Great Things’. I’ve never read Jodi, but hoping that I like her writing style. If not, I suppose you’ll be hearing all about that on the 24th!

Oh, and if you’re in Vancouver, we have TWO extra copies of the book to give away, so leave a comment below or message us if you want to come pick the books up from our Gastown office (first come, first serve basis). Details, including links to purchase these adorable decor pieces are below!

2 Comments

Beauty Life

Test The Water

October 12, 2016

Have I ever told you the story of how I discovered Simple Skincare? I was in a local drug store on a mission for a new face moisturizer. The only person in the cosmetics department was there in association with quite a high end makeup brand and when I posed the question, she, of course, showed me what that particular company had to offer. I looked down at the price tag and decided to just be blunt. “Do you have anything that’s kind to skin, but at a lower price point?” I asked her. She smiled kindly and guided me to a green and white display an aisle over. “I’d recommend Simple Skincare,” she said, scanning the rest of the shelf, “and…that’s pretty much it.” she concluded.

For her to have such a high opinion of the brand gave me a ton of confidence in my purchase and to this day, their face moisturizer is what I use daily. Their products seem to really work well with my skin because I also use their cleansing wipes to remove my makeup everyday. Somehow, their formula removes all of the product from my face, without irritating or drying the skin. They’re also gentle enough that I don’t get a ton of lash breakage (which is a HUGE problem for me when removing makeup) or any breakouts. A little trick, I find that I get the best results when I add moisture to the micellar makeup remover wipes with some warm water (though it’s not necessarily needed). Seriously, cannot recommend them enough!

Life Studio

The Studio 504

September 16, 2016

When I initially left my nine to five, I set up shop in our home because that made the most sense financially. Which, was a wonderful option for a few years. I would get dressed and ready for the day first thing every morning, I’d never turn on the tv or let myself get too distracted. And then, inevitable, that all went out the window. The walls began closing in a little and small household chores seemingly haunted me all day long. I remember sitting in my sweats at 11 AM, looking up at the deep, deep, Netflix hole I was in (I think I was on the second day of an Orange Is The New Black binge) and thinking “Oh my goodness, I need to find an office space…NOW!”

It was fate that one day, a friend posted her old shared studio to help them find a couple new people to fill the space. Being that the only other person there was a photographer, I KNEW this would be the perfect office/studio! We hit it off right away and I moved on in, which was really great. Then, when I decided to try full time blogging back in January, Bethany was kind enough to help me out with unknown finances and we were able to work out a deal that Alex shared my portion of the space!

Having Alexandra in the studio with us has been so wonderful for the quality of work I complete when I’m there. We shoot for each other and are able to have brand strategy meetings together. The trouble was, that we never seemed to sit at the desk anymore and it kind of ended up a dumping ground for shipments and random photo shoot crap. We knew that something had to be done, especially since it was a shared room!

I was on a home decor mission and could only function in life by redecorating every single space I’d step into. I was browsing Article one day and we came up with the crazy idea to fix up our area and ditch the conventional desk concept. The vision was a cozier chair and a chic table/chair set up instead what would inspire us creatively and double as a great shooting space for photo and video!

Life

We Adopted A Dog – Meet Reggie

September 12, 2016

I’m definitely the dreamer in our relationship and Adam is the logical voice of reason. He’s still fun, of course, but I’m always full of crazy ideas and he sometimes has to bring me back to reality. And at almost 10 years together, I’ve most definitely tried to convince him that we should get a dog for at least half of that time. Most notable was the French Bulldog campaign of 2013, which Adam shut down after a few months. We’ve always taken our time and been very calculated about big steps in our relationship, so I suppose it all has worked out for the best. Yes, Adam, you were right…

We’ve talked very seriously about actually getting a dog in the last 6 months though, as we’ve been making changes to the apartment and felt that our lifestyle was ready for a pup. I have been obsessively checking a number of local shelters for ‘the one’ and was surprised to find out that the dog adoption process is incredibly competitive here. You’d find a dog that seemed to be SO perfect for you and he/she would already be adopted, or your application would be turned down due to one little thing. It was just emotionally taxing, but I suppose that’s how you weed out those who weren’t actually serious about dog adoption.

A few weeks ago, Reginald popped up on my Facebook page. He was angelically sleeping in the photo and his description sounded like exactly what we’d been looking for. I carefully filled out the application and sent it off right away. After they reviewed it, we were, for the first time, moved to the next phase, which was meeting him. We were just beyond nervous and I’d kind of convinced myself that we probably wouldn’t like him because we’d been let down so many times before. But, as soon as we saw him with his foster mom at the other end of the path, we both knew that he HAD to be the new member of our family. The perfect size, incredibly chill, but still active, and just a real sweetie. We scrambled to send applications to strata for approval and crossed our fingers that the wonderful team at CAARE would pick us. Much to our delight, our lives were changed for the better when they awarded us an adoption trial with Reggie!

2 Comments

Life

Why You Need Artifact Uprising In Your Life

August 31, 2016

I’ve always loved taking and documenting photos. Back in the day, I had enough free time and patience to scrapbook. I was always really good about taking tons of photos at all events, big or small, and getting them printed (perhaps a precursor to my blogging life). I have tons of organized photo albums, and then somewhere along the way, it stopped. According to my documentation, 2008-2014 didn’t really happen – eek! So, I’m slowly but surely trying to bridge that gap!

I spent quite a while sourcing the right photo book company and I’m happy to share with you my love Artifact Uprising. Their high quality, minimal style and really quick user friendly system is exactly why I keep ordering from them. Plus, I love when all the photo book match on the shelf!

4 Comments

Life Vancouver

Everything You Need To Know About Diner en Blanc

July 25, 2016

You should have seen us the first time we went to Diner en Blanc. We had absolutely NO idea what to expect and I made all sorts of avoidable mistakes. We overpacked (as in I brought charger plates AND a glass cake stand – eek) and I spent WAY too much money on new items. We made enough food for at least 10 people and then had to drag it back home. We didn’t think of an efficient system for transporting our items, and, I may or may not have consumed an entire bottle of Sauv Blanc to myself, got high school drunk, and was off white wine for 6 months afterwards. But, that’s neither here nor there.

I recently had a few people request that I put together my tips for DeB, so that’s exactly what I’ve done! If you’re wondering what the heck happens when you arrive, what you should wear, how you should pack, and what I’d recommend for food, then please, read on! Hope this helps, and as always, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments below:

8 Comments

Featured Life

Goodbye June

June 30, 2016

Photo by Jenna Hill

My day planner has a page at the begging of each month with about 8 blank lines intended for your upcoming goals. As I’ve worked towards setting realistic expectations for myself, I make sure to only use up the first line with a semi vague but powerful mantra. June’s goal was simply, Move Forward.

Looking back on the last 30 days, I really did. I pushed myself to attend as many events as possible and even managed to still take care of my health. It might seem from afar that I’ve been neglecting my blog, but behind the scenes, I’ve been spending countless hours researching, planning, strategizing, and trying to step up my social media game.

As we hit the halfway mark of 2016 (can you even believe that?) I must reflect and make plans to improve. In terms of this strange and wonderful career path, things have been going relatively well. I am SO happy taking on the Alicia Fashionista brand as a full time gig and haven’t felt these levels of motivation in a long time. That being said, it’s really difficult to bounce back after experiencing burnout AND to get out of the mentality that this is simply a side project. After a bit of soul searching, I realized that I was still not giving things a hundred percent, which is REALLY tough to come to terms with. Finding that old work ethic doesn’t happen over night and it’s going to take some more time and effort to get things where I want them to be. Subconsciously, I think that I sometimes don’t let myself give things my all because of a fear of failing. That way, if things don’t work out, I can just tell myself that I didn’t really try that hard anyway. This doesn’t just apply to my job, it’s also prevalent in relationships, school work, creative projects, etc. I’ve got to break out of the calculated and cautious mindset and learn to be a little more fearless.

6 Comments

Featured Life

Inspo: Cool, Earthy Tones

June 21, 2016

Images are NOT mine and sourced via here, here, here, here, here, and here.

One thing that has really helped get me out of the fog is focusing on big, exciting projects. Last year it was, of course, the wedding and then recently all the travel I’ve been lucky enough to embark on. Now, it is re-decorating the apartment aka #fauxreno. It just to so happens that Alexandra, Bethany, and I are giving our shared studio/office space in Gastown a much needed makeover as well! I can basically only think in home decor these days. One tool that has been incredibly helpful is…PINTEREST! I have been pinning like crazy and it has really clarify different styles and colour palettes I tend to be drawn to. I’ve been creating mood boards and constantly on the search to get the look for less in our place. Thought I’d share the love with some of these inspiration boards I’ve put together. These cool, earthy tones are a big part of the look in our studio/office. Can’t wait to show you the before and after!

Older Posts

Newer Posts

Thank you so much for being here - your support means the world! I just wanted to mention that aliciafashionista.com does participate in some advertising and/or affiliate marketing links. This means that I may get a small commission on sales of some products that I link to, or payment for sponsored posts. These kinds of partnerships and brand collaborations are what make this blog possible, so I want to thank you for your understanding and for keeping my blogging dreams alive! Opinions are always my own and I only promote what I love/think you’ll love too. If you’d like, you can also view my privacy policy.
© Alicia Fashionista, 2015