Dream much?

Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.
Louisa May Alcott

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Albert Einstein

He who has imagination without learning, has wings and no feet.
Joseph Joubert

Hope is the dream of a man awake.
French Proverb

A strong imagination begetteth opportunity.
Michel de Montaigne

Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions.
Albert Einstein

Got me thinking...

Seeing the play "Secrets of a Black Boy" has got me thinking. Thinking about my attitude and behaviour in past relationships. The play was insightful and I truly enjoyed it. If you have not seen the play, do so!

It was only fitting that today I happen to stumble upon this quote. Take it for what it means to you...

" A man would prefer to come home to an unmade bed and a happy woman than to a neatly made bed and an angry woman." - Marlene Dietrich

So, I ask this - Is your bed made or unmade?

Secrets of a Black Boy plays until October 3 at The Music Hall
www.secretsofablackboy.com

Designer Feature

I found this interior designer online, sooo cool. I love her design style. Her name is Holly , she is based out of Toronto.

Holly Dyment Design
(416) 921-7810

Nanette Lepore Spring 2010

Just a preview! Yes, yes I know it's fall but it doesn't hurt to take a peek at Nanette Lepore's Spring Collection 2010. Enjoy!

Dress it Up!

2009 Toronto Clothing Show

The Clothing Show is Canada’s largest vintage and new independent designer show. For over 30 years The Clothing Show has been serving up a delicious mix of unmistakably inventive local “must have” lines of apparel & accessories. New additions include Menswear & Eco sections, in addition to runway shows and a gallery of work by local artists.

Shop from more than 300 booths from the Boutique, Accessories, Streetwear, Vintage and Sample Sales Sections and find a vast selection to suit anyone's fancy. Whatever your delight, The Clothing Show is the one stop, full weekend shopping experience for everyone!

Check out the Century of Fashion Competition display in the Vintage section. Collectors bring out their best museum quality pieces to produce the most historically accurate depiction of each decade in the 20th century.

The Clothing Show happens each spring & fall at the Better Living Centre, Exhibition Place. This year the dates are:

September 25 3pm to 9pm
September 26 11am to 8pm
September 27 11am to 7pm



Some Featured Designers and Vendors



Promise to Repeat



Filou Designs



Snoflake



Directions and Ticket Info:


View Larger Map


Adult tickets - $8.00 advance / $10.00 at the door

Seniors tickets - $4.00 advance / $5.00 at the door

Children under 12 are always free, when accompanied by an adult

Group tickets - $7.50 for 15 or more, in advance

Word on the Street Festival

Sunday, September 27, From: 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM

On the last Sunday of September, Queen's Park turns into a bookworm's mecca. Close to 250 of Canada's best poets, authors and storytellers are on hand to participate in readings, performances, workshops and other events. For the shopper, there are more than 200 magazine and book exhibits.

There's entertainment for all ages, from lessons on getting published at the Wordshop Marquee to sing-alongs at the TVOKids Stage. Best of all, all events are free.

Luckily I can walk to the event, can't wait to check this out!

Get some culture this weekend!

The classic opera about the empty marriage and betrayal between a Japanese geisha and an American naval officer is back on stage. The Canadian Opera Company presents Madama Butterfly, an elaborate production with hand-painted costumes and sets, that illustrate the beauty and tragedy of Imperial Japan.


Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
145 Queen St. West, Toronto, ON, M5H 4G1

Saturday,September 26, 7:30 PM

Visit www.coc.ca for more details and ticket information.

A little chuckle...

"Inside every older person is a younger person - wondering what the hell happened."
-Cora Harvey Armstrong

Happiness

One of the most important ingredients of happiness is a poor memory. There are many things in life I would like to forget, but how to have a good laugh isn't one of them!

-Anonymous

There's cake in the kitchen!

Middle Management are responsible for a new take on an established style of music. As the first white collar lyrically focused hip hop outfit, the duo from Toronto have set out to pioneer a genre of sound and style for the next decade of rap.

With their exciting self produced beats and lyrics everyone who has ever worked tucked in a dress shirt can relate to, Bslow and Kmac are opening the door to bring hip hop to the true masses; because regardless of race or region, we all have to go to work.

Cake in the Kitchen is quickly becoming the underground anthem of office birthday parties throughout Toronto. Check out the video below.



To contact them or order a CD send an email to middlemanagementhiphop@hotmail.com

Say Cheese!

I love fashion photography. The lines, lighting, how the clothes seem to come alive in some shots. One of the most legendary lens men is Steven Meisel. He is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex. He is now considered one of the most successful fashion photographers in the industry, shooting regularly for both US and Italian Vogue, and lately W.

His campaigns range from Versace, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana to Calvin Klein (for whom his campaigns were very controversial). Meisel also shoots Prada campaigns each season — having done so since 2004. In April 2008 he shot friend Madonna for Vanity Fair, and later in the year he shot her for the 2009 spring campaign by Louis Vuitton at Splashlight's Skylight Studio.

Meisel's influence and training seems to also extend past models. He used his influence among the fashion elite to create an issue of Vogue that would show only black models. The issue was released in July 2008 with the purpose of addressing the racism seen lately in fashion magazines, runways, and advertising campaigns.

In The Mood...

Madeline's Restaurant

Located at 601 King Street West,just east of Bathurst in downtown Toronto.

Madeline’s is a new restaurant created by Chef Susur Lee. Named after his mother, the cuisine has European influences and the concept is family style. Designed by Karen Gable and Brenda Bent, the dining room combines French and Moroccan elements to create a Byzantine atmosphere. I always see this restaurant and just recently found out the name. The colour scheme and the exterior make the restaurant appear to be low key. Looks like a great date spot, and walking distance from several night clubs and lounges.


Open: 6pm - 11pm, Monday to Saturday
For reservations or private dining, please call 416.603.2205


Here are some recent reviews:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“A culinary genius” with food nothing short of “dazzling”
- Zagat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the 10 “hottest chefs alive”
- Food & Wine Magazine

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Lee remains one of the few chef’s on this continent who’s food resembles no other’s. Taste Lee’s cooking and you remember it.”
- GQ
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Studded Love

I have finally found true love!!!

Kerrie Luft Footwear

Very interesting! Reminds me of a staircase...


Kerrie Luft

Jason Wu Spring Collection 2010

This picture excites me! Can't wait to go to Fashion Week here in Toronto - Oct 19 to the 24th.



Super EXCITED!!

Scotiabank Nuit Blanche

Every year I always say that I am going to check out the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, and I don't! This year I am going to try a little harder to attend.

Scotiabank Nuit Blanche is an annual all-night art festival in Toronto. It is a celebration of contemporary art, which is produced by the City of Toronto in collaboration with Toronto's arts community. There are four City-produced exhibitions, separated into three zones and by five curators. There are a total of 46projects including 31 commissioned works and 15 open-call projects. There is also a series of independent projects by Toronto schools, neighbourhoods, community organizations, galleries or individual artists.


-By Dan Mihaltianu, Canal-Grande, taken from ScotiaBankNuitBlanche.ca


-By Tom Arban, Gladstone Hotel, taken from ScotiaBankNuitBlanche.ca


-By Alize Zorlutuna and Robb Gray, Twilight Orchestra, taken from ScotiaBankNuitBlanche.ca

More Details:
Free all night
Oct 3rd - 6:55pm to sunrise
www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca

Inspirational Quote

Failing is life's way of teaching us how to handle success. Victory without struggle is meaningless. After all, if we didn't have any struggles or failures, we would never genuinely know the meaning and joy of success.

-Anonymous

Embrace Success!

I read the book "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle last year. This book is such a good read that I often go back to it. This is a passage that I read most recently.

"The ego doesn't know that the more you include others, the more smoothly things flow and the more easily things come to you. When you give little or no help to others or put obstacles in their path, the universe - in the form of people and circumstances - gives little or no help to you because you have cut yourself off from the whole. The ego's unconscious core feeling of "not enough" causes it to react to someone else's success as if that success had taken something away from "me". It doesn't know that your resentment of another person's success curtails your own chances of success. In order to attract success, you need to welcome it wherever you see it."
- Passage from A New Earth Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

As in past posts, you will see that I am ALL about success!! I want success for myself but I also want it for others. I must admit I always do my best to offer a helping hand and/or a boost of motivation. I love to see success all around me. It is always a refreshing boost of positive energy. So, embrace success ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE you see it, not only because you want it for yourself but because you want it for others as well!

Talented in Toronto...

Claire Lawrence is an independent jewellery designer and metal smith. All the pieces that she creates are handcrafted in either silver, gold or platinum. She also uses a variety of other semi-precious stones. Her pieces are amazingly crafted with fine attention to detail. From rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings to even cuff links for men. Anything that you order will be crafted to PERFECTION! She always keeps me amazed. Honestly, the girl is that good! And she is located right here in Toronto!!

Here is a little taste...








Claire Lawrence Designs
647-628-2736
Clairelawrencedesigns@gmail.com

Model Feature

Elite Model Joan Smalls wrote a journal during this year's annual Fashion Week in Newy York. She details her castings, fittings and fashion show appearances this season for Essence Magazine. The Black and Puerto Rican model has appeared in campaigns for Ralph Lauren, The Gap, Coach and Ports 1961 and walked the runways for Oscar de la Renta and Diane von Furstenberg. See her journal at www.essence.com

Need we say more..

At a fashion event in New York City for Fashion Week.

Atacoma Black

WHAT: Shoe Fetish
ADDICT: Me
ADDICTION: The Atacoma Black Wedges
DAMAGE: $480 USD


This is definitely the women's shoe of the season! A very cool hoof-like silhouette is combined with classic desert boot features. The high, elegant wedge has a panel in contrasting material at the bottom.

I am dying to get my toes in these!

O.Noir

O.Noir is a new restaurant in the T-dot and so far I love the concept. O.Noir translates into "in the dark". It is a spot where patrons dine, drink and converse entirely in the dark: no flashlights, no matches, no cell phones, no lighters and no cheating. I paused with a HUH?!?!

The intent is two-fold. They say for one, eating in the dark heightens the senses and two, guests learn what it's like to be blind - just like the waitstaff. Orders are taken in a lit lounge at the entrance, where diners can also enjoy drinks before their meal.



O.Noir is owned by Moe Alameddine. The original "dine in the dark" is located in Montreal. The restaurant concept was inspired by Jorge Spielmann, a blind pastor in Zurich, who blindfolded his dinner guests so they could share his experience.

Very interesting and I am really excited to try this restaurant out! This is definitely on my weekend agenda!

O.Noir
620 Church St
416.922.6647
www.onoir.com

Hours:
Open seven days a week, with two sittings per day: one at 5:45 p.m. and one at 9 p.m

Dinner Price Range: $50 - $75

SHE is a work of art

I think you want to check out this upcoming event 'SHE is a work of art' presented by JMK Art Collective (comprising of Jason O'Brien, Mark Stoddart, and Kwame Delfish).

It will be an evening of poetry and art showcasing major female talent in the Toronto area. The artists featured include Jemeni, True, and Motion.


Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West
Toronto

Reception: Friday September 11 7pm - 11pm
Art Exhibition: Saturday September 12 & Sunday September 13 12pm - 6pm

For more information:

jmkartcollective@gmail.com
416-436-8336

I know this REALLY great guy..

Presented by Rachel-Lea Rickards (Da' Kink in my Hair, Inside His Head). The idea was born out of selfish need to meet quality men in a forum outside of regular clubs. Something more intimate, personal, and decent. The genius is the men come pre-approved, if you will. The female participants must bring a 'good guy' as part of their admission fee. This is the second edition, back by popular demand.

Tired of clubs? Think Online dating is Creepy? Looking to have great conversations and interactions. Want a night where you walk away feeling amazing? Then you'll wan to join us at this Saturday.
Saturday September 12,2009
7-10 pm
243 Queen Street West
2nd Floor
www.allthingsrachael-lea.com to pay in advance
You may also send me an email money transfer but please call to arrange or send me an email to rachael_lea@rogers.com
416-454-3450
$20.00 in advance
$25.00 at the door
Bring two girlfriends with their really great Guys and You get in for HALF Price.

Step out and try something new, cuz whatever you've been doing...clearly just ain't working!

DavidsTea, LuluLemon, and Kiehl's Block Party Invitation‏

David's Tea has recently been added to one of our favorites in Toronto. You too will love them whether you are a tea drinker or not. They serve tea of many sorts. From Coco Chai, Cream of Earl Grey to Raspberry Nectar. Believe us these teas are heavenly treats.

What more than a better way to sip it out for yourself. Join them on Yonge Street as they are teaming up with LuluLemon and Kiehl's to throw you a block party! Each of these shops will be offering you sweet deals! Enjoy! We know we will!

Be Fearless!

How fortunate would we be if fear of failure never stood in anyone's way?

Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated; you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps

- David Lloyd George

I Just Wanna Be Successful

I want the money, money and the cars, cars and the clothes
I suppose
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful

We all know the chorus of this song. And Lord knows I will not knock it. The chorus is definitely catchy! But honestly actions for some need to speak LOUDER than the chanting of the chorus.

Ponder on the quotes below:

* Successful people accept life as it is, with all its difficulties and challenges. They adapt to it rather than complain about it. They accept responsibility for their own lives instead of blaming or making excuses. They say YES to life in spite of its negative elements and make the most of it, no matter what the circumstances.

* Successful people have a sense of direction and purpose - they know where they're going. They set goals, accomplish them, and then set new goals. They accept and enjoy challenges.

* Successful people develop and maintain a positive attitude toward life. They look for good in others and in the world, and usually seem to find it. They see life as a series of opportunities and possibilities, and always explore them.

* Successful people build good relationships. They're sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. They're considerate and respectful. They have a way of bringing out the best in other people.

Now bob your head cause...

I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful
I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful

-Quotes taken from Life's Greatest Lessons by Hal Urban

Art Lesson at AGO

Hi guys,


This super cool event is coming up and it's in Toronto! The Art Gallery of Ontario is hosting an upcoming exhibition September 26 - January 3. A very established and influential fashion photographer holding the top job at Vogue and Vanity Fair. Two hundred photographs will be featured of his work in the 1920s and 1930s. The exhibition will be curated by William A. Ewing, Todd Brandow and Nathalie Herschdorfer.

Edward Steichen: The Right Time & The Right Place
Saturday, September 26, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Art Gallery of Ontario
Members $15 / public $18 / students $12

The gallery is located at 317 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Toll free: 1-877-225-4246 Local: 416 979 6648

Ashley McKenzie-Barnes

A fantastic graphic designer based in Toronto. Throughout her extensive education she has focused on some form of art or design. I especially like her portrait pieces. This very impressive get-it girl has completed her first solo art collection called 'Portrait'. I was lucky enough to see one of her piece's first hand. What a joy! The colour selection just seemed to allow the piece to have such a unique soulful quality.

Ashley is currently a member of African-Canadian and Caribbean Diaspora Toronto-based artist collective, called SixAhWi (www.sixahwi.com). The group works on major art projects together, and showcased their piece entitled “Mas Hysteria”, at the Nuit Blanche exhibit in Toronto.


Go to Ashley's website to view her portfolio: www.vividbeautydesigns.com

I love SHOPPING!

My name is written all OVER these pics! Love them!



















This fashion spread is called “I Love Shopping” taken from October’s Numéro Tokyo. It follows model Ali Stephens as she goes on a shopping spree alongside Allen Tsai. Shot by David Vasiljevic.
Source -Fashion Gone Rogue