The Soo Experience

(top: h&m | tank: joe fresh | pants: h&m | boots: target | earrings: joe fresh | necklace: american eagle | bracelets: h&m)

I am SO BEYOND EXCITED. My dearest darling young pup of a friend Amanda has turned 19 is FINALLY LEGAL. To (FINALLY) celebrate, I am taking her out for a night on the town! Unfortunately, in the Soo, a night on the town has limited options. However, we've planned it all out, and I've plotted a strategic bar hop so that she can have a true Soo Experience.

The Soo Experience is not necessarily a great time, but it is definitely a rite of passage. The bars in the Soo are a rare breed my friends. It is a limited, often tacky, and sometimes horrifying selection. It can be a lot of fun, and also, it can be not a lot of fun. However, in this case, I think tonight is going to be a blasty blast. I think the two of us will make sure it's an amazing night :D

As for me, I have not gone out in the Soo in YEARS. I go to Loplops all the time, but that is such a classy bar, with awesome bands, and drinks that are too expensive to get drunk off of. I've also gone out across the river, or in North Bay, or when we go on trips. But I've avoided the Soo Experience for so long that A) I'm anticipating some horrifying flashbacks to my own 19th/ 20th year, and B) I had SUCH a hard time figuring out what to wear.

In the end, I decided on this outfit of all-black-head-to-ankle, with a cute pair of heeled booties to fancy it up a little bit. Amanda and I both figured that with the range of bars we are going to, semi-casual with heels was going to be the best fit. I'm so excited!

Cozy in Class

(cape: ardene's | dress: h&m | tights: h&m | boots: spring | necklace: american eagle | belt: h&m | bracelets: h&m)

I can't believe it's already the last week of school before my next- and last- stretch of placement! Things are getting pretty intense at school at the moment. We're really cutting down to the final wire in terms of assignments and presentations, and the anticipation for placement is starting to build for everyone!

This is a pretty typical outfit for me to wear to school. This year has been the first year in a long time that I've had a lot of opportunity to dress in my own clothes every day without having to deal with work uniforms throughout the week/ every day. It has been sweet freedom! I've had a lot of fun dressing for school, and also getting a lot of use out of my closet! This outfit was especially great, because not only did I feel put-together, this cape was like wearing a super snuggly cozy blanket all day!!

In our Special Ed class this week, a group presenting led an activity where we each tossed a ball of yarn to someone else in the class and had to say something nice about them. In the end, we created a big web across the room. It was pretty cute and they spoke about how it united us as a class and whatnot.

When a girl in my class tossed the yarn to me, she said that I am always extremely friend and have the greatest sense of fashion! And then there was a rumble of agreement through all my classmates, and another girl in the class spoke out about how great my fashion sense is. And then another girl led this weird cheer we do in our section, saying "one cheer for Ange's fashion!" It was both incredibly flattering and incredibly embarrassing and I'm not sure I handled it well. CLASSIC.

Dressing Profesh And Feeling Fresh

(dress: h&m | tights: h&m | booties: ardene | scarf: h&m | necklace: american eagle | bracelets: h&m | earrings: joe fresh)

On Friday, our school hosted an Education Fair. It was hyped up quite a bit throughout our program. We were told that all sorts of school boards and agencies would be there, and to dress really professionally and print off resumes. I prepared appropriately, and it was nice to stroll around with my friends and check things out a bit. But I think it was a little over-hyped. Ideally, I want to end up in either the Soo or Toronto next year, and there was no one there for me! Not a single board or agency! But that's to be expected. I know it's going to be a challenge finding a job next year. BLAH I don't want to talk about it, I don't know why I brought that up!

I bought this dress with the $100 gift card I won at H&M on Boxing Day. I do think it's really cute and professional, but I'm no longer in love with the way it fits me. It's a little too conservative for my taste, and I thought it hugged me in all the wrong places. It has a very high neckline, which could be cute on some, but I decided to cover it up with my scarf and funk it up a bit. It probably takes away from the professionalism, but I just had to do it.

After my classes and the fair were over, I ended up having a really fun day! I had an impromptu hangout with Sarah that began with us playing Settlers with her brother and his wife, led to us having a late night dinner with a friend of hers, turned into us having a crazy drive + dance + sing session, getting pulled over by the same cop twice (because of silly reasons! not my driving!) and laughing a lot with him about it, and then randomly deciding to drive to Quebec in the middle of the night (about an hour away from North Bay). It was a night to rival the kind of thing we did when were ripe little 19 year olds with the energy to last us until 5 in the morning. It's so nice to a close friend that I've been close with since we were 15! We've spent a lot of time living in different cities, and don't get to see each other a ton in North Bay due to our extremely different schedules. But we always have a blast together and it's always like no time has passed at all! So nice :)

My Cutest Ugly Dress

(dress: h&m | tights: h&m | boots: spring | earrings: joe fresh | bracelets: mix of smart set and h&m)

When I first spotted this little treasure on the rack, I was with Mike and Amanda, who both gave it a confident and firm "NOPE." I believe the words Mike used to describe it were "absolutely hideous." And Amanda likened it to something a grandma would wear, obviously.

Still, my heart longed for it. I returned to the store, tried it on, took a #FAB dressing room selfie, convinced myself it was the perfect dress, and triumphantly left the store with the dress in my shopping bag and $30 or so gone from my wallet.

That was back in September or October, and admittedly this is much more of an autumn dress, but it remains one of my favourites. Long sleeves, floral print, and an unexpected ruffle? Check, check, and CHECK. I feel like a 60's folk hero when I wear this thing. It's great.

Yesterday was a lovely day. My friends came over between classes, and we had a super fun ukulele and singing session. Then Alexa and I spent a few hours in the library, doing lots of homework but also being silly geese.

Today, however, sucked. I had lots of homework and a big group assignment. I wasn't even overly concerned about the work but I still felt overly stressed! Bah! It was a long day and I had random bouts of anxiety. I think that being so busy is really starting to catch up to me. But I relaxed as much as I could and had some sim time for myself so things are looking up.

Making a Statement

(top: smart set | jeans: american eagle | boots: spring | necklace: h&m | bracelets: h&m)

Homework has really been picking up this week, but I can't seem to peel myself away from lying in bed, watching Parenthood, and playing around with my ukulele! While we're on the topic- Parenthood is SUCH A GOOD SHOW. I am fully addicted.

All I know is that I need to get myself in productive mode, and FAST. I have six things due from Thursday- Saturday, and I also have an education fair to prepare resumes for on Friday. You would think being in school from 8-4 every day, and having group meetings for projects, would get me in school mode! Instead, I think it's taking away from potential homework time. And then by the time I get home, I'm too lazy to think about school. *Sigh* the next few days are going to be something else, I tell ya.

I went to a dance cardio class with Lindsay and Larissa yesterday. That's kinda productive, right? Just not the kind of productive I'm aiming for currently.

This is actually an outfit I wore last week. I've been whining for several months about how badly I want a statement necklace, and how difficult it is to find one that I really love. It doesn't help that my friend Lindsay has an adorable collection of funky necklaces that I'm always pining over. Finally, the last weekend that I was home, this sparkling treasure caught my eye on my trip to H&M. It was $20, which was more than I wanted to spend on a necklace that I was almost too intimidated to wear- but I'm so glad I did! It's just the kind of necklace I was looking for, and I think it will look great with casual outfits, as well as dressy ones. I think it spiced up this relaxed outfit perfectly.

Now I just need to spice up my homework routine, AMIRITE??

Nothing Like a New Dress

(dress: h&m | tights: h&m | boots: spring | scarf: h&m | belt: h&m)

I had high hopes that I would be able to write a post today entitled "MY BALLIN' NEW HAIRCUT." My friends and I had a trip to the salon planned for yesterday, and we were all going to get some new do's. I was planning on a big change, too! However, we didn't arrange things quite well enough. The salon didn't have time to fit me in, and the cut I planned on getting was also waaaay more than I anticipated. So Linds and Alexa got their hair done, and I was left in the dust!

While Linds was finishing up with her hair cut, Alexa and I went shopping around since we both needed new jeans. And on the bright side of things, I bought a new pair of my usual jeans another size down! I was pretty excited to have gone down another pant size. However, it's hard to be too excited when I'm not seeing the changes in my body that the scale and the number on my jeans band are saying. But that's another post for another time.

A new dress is also a great way to make you feel better about things. When I was home this past weekend, I took a little visit to H&M to spend a gift card I got over Christmas! I saw this dress over the break, but didn't pick it up. It haunted me for a few weeks, so I decided to buy it this past weekend. I picked up a few other things as well, and I have to say, H&M is taking over my closet since it came to the Soo. I'm becoming such a poster child. I mean, check out this outfit! What the hell is that?

Back in the Bay (Again)

(top: h&m | pants: h&m | kimono: brandy melville | boots: spring | earrings: joe fresh | necklace: american eagle | bracelets: mix of h&m and smart set)

This past weekend, I took a trip back home for the Coles Belated Christmas Party, since I worked there over the holidays. Honestly, I was a bit reluctant to even attend the party, and it kind of just worked out as a convenient reason to visit home.

And I'm glad I did go home! I had such a perfect/ adorable/ romantic weekend with Mike. Being apart for long stretches can be insanely hard sometimes. I count my lucky stars that our distance isn't that extreme, and that we can see each other somewhat often. I know we have it pretty great, as far as long distance goes. But this weekend was especially lovely, and we did so many fun things together.

I also spent a lot of time with my mom and of course, Maya, which was lovely. My mom even took us out for dinner and a movie, which was so much fun (THE IMITATION GAME IS AN AMAZING FILM)! The weekend definitely flew by way too fast.

It's so nice to be back in North Bay though!! It's hard to get back into the swing of things, homework-wise. Classes are still enjoyable, but I'm dreading the due dates coming up.

My friends and I have been having a blast though! I spend so much time with Alexa and Lindsay and Larissa, it's shocking we haven't gotten sick of each other yet. I actually wore this outfit for a movie night with Alexa and Lindsay. We have a bit of a movie night tradition, and it's always such a blast going to the theatre together (I SAW THE IMITATION GAME FOR THE SECOND TIME, IT IS SO GOOD).

I'm so incredibly grateful that I made such amazing friends here. It's so crazy to think that we just sat at the same table on the first day of class. We were destined to be besties!