Ready to fall asleep

We'll make this post quick. Firstly, we would like to congratulate the winner of Bliss Boutique's first blogger giveaway, who just happens to be...

Trish (tamyo1229@gmail.com)!

Don't worry, we've already given your e-mail to the good people over at Bliss Boutique, so expect an e-mail soon! We'd also like to say thank you to everyone who participated in this giveaway and for making it a fantastic! For those who didn't quite win, there'll be more chances to win soon enough--so make sure you keep checking back for a giveaway some time around Alyssa's birthday (cough, cough).

Also, for those who live in Calgary and are interested in the fashion scene, PARK is hosting a Fashion Industry Mixer on February 9th, from 7:00 to 10:00 PM at The Gerry Thomas Gallery. There's a $5 entrance/donation fee at the door, so invite all! Unfortunately, we won't be able to make it to Calgary (due to an unfortunate thing called midterms), so we'll have to live vicariously through all you who decide to attend. 

Let's have a tie-dye party

Do you love tie-dye, body chains, and leather?! Well, if so, you're in luck! Because that's exactly what I have here for you. If you're not the greatest fan, I guess you're stuck with just reading this nonsense. 

Before I get carried away, I'm just going to slip this in there... if you already know this, then skip ahead. If you didn't, then keep reading. I'm just killing you with all the intrigue, aren't I? So, for those who haven't already... enter the Bliss Boutique giveaway here! I'm sorry for the constant nagging, but hey, who doesn't like a chance at winning free clothing (and cute clothing too). This might be a low blow here, but for all my fellow Canadians, why don't you spend a minute or two entering to make Bliss Boutique's first giveaway a great one! 

Okay, now on to the big kid stuff. 

I'm sorry I've been kind of lagging with all the outfit posts and what not, but it's been getting particularly busy, as Kurtis said. For those who are still reading our blog though, thank you for tagging along! We couldn't appreciate you guys any more than we already do! 

End sappy message, start photos. 

PS: A huge thank you to Sugarlips Apparel for sending me this groovy now-I-wanna-tie-dye dress! Oh, and you should probably check out their new collection. It's SO lust-worthy. I waaaaant everything!

bluebells striped dress c/o sugarlips apparel ($49 $40.25)[link]

black soft slim leather jacket c/o sheinside ($79) [link]

body chain c/o beginning boutique ($50) [link]

jeffrey campbell boots from holt renfrew

Empathy

Really busy week coming up. Actually make that 3 weeks. Got a lot to do with 3 midterms and a paper due soon. One minute it is Winter break and the next you are writing exams. It doesn't seem like it but life moves at warp speed. I will have to make this post relatively short because I don't have much time so I'll just get right into it. When I was in Paris, it was raining all the time and I didn't pack properly. Thank god there is a Uniqlo there. For those of you who don't know, Uniqlo is like a Japanese H&M except 20 times better. The clothing fits East Asian people perfectly and the quality is great for the cost. Sadly, there aren't very many Uniqlo stores outside of Japan and China. They recently built a 5 story Uniqlo in New York but other then that, I'm not sure if there is another one in North America. The one in Paris is very nice as well and I spent a good amount of time and money there. The outfit I have today is basically made up of Uniqlo items I purchased there. The wonderful raincoat, the plaid shirt and black pullover are all Uniqlo. The grey jeans are Naked and Famous and the dress boots are Kurt Geiger. I have been looking for a jacket like that one for a long time and I'm really glad I found it at a great price. If you ever come across a Uniqlo, go inside and enjoy!

Tokyo Police Club

I was introduced to Tokyo Police Club by my sister's boyfriend Chris Miller. He also has a blog, which I recommend all the men to check it out: Up North. Anyways, this band not only has an awesome name but is a Canadian Indie band from Toronto! They released their first EP in 2006 called A Lesson In Crime, followed by another EP in 2007 called Smith. From there they released their first album Elephant Shell in 2008 and their second album Champ in 2010. They also released a cover album last year called Ten Songs, Ten Years, Ten Days. 

Personally, my favourite EP/Albums are A Lesson In Crime and Elephant Shell. From there, I recommend listening to "Nature of the Experiment", which is my favourite song by them and "Be Good" from A Lesson In Crime. On Elephant Shell I recommend "Centennial", "Graves", "Your English Is Good", "Listen To The Math", and "Tessellate".

Tokyo Police Club might seem like another Indie band but they add their own flavour to each song. The drumming and the vocals really make their band different from others. Below is a link to their website and a Sound Cloud streamer. Unfortunately, I cannot find a link to the other albums but this is their latest album Ten Songs, Ten Years, Ten Days. Hopefully I have shown you something others haven't and please let me know what you think!

Shop the ordinary peoples update!

Hey guys! I just wanted to let everyone know that I made an important change to the ordinary peoples shop! I've actually been thinking about this for a while, but today I decided to act on it and donate 15% of every purchase made to a selected charity! The charity I have chosen for now is the HELP children non-profit organization, which aims to help educate children in impoverished areas (namely, Malawi). To read more about their goal, click here.

I really think that with the help of you readers, that we can help make a difference somewhere in the world. It may be a rather small contribution, but it's better than nothing! 

I've also added a bunch of new things to the site, so check out the shop here.

Midnight city

There are only a few more days until you can win a $50 gift card to a fantastic Canadian Boutique! So you should probably click here to enter the Bliss Boutique giveaway, because y'know, everyone likes free stuff (especially when they're fashionable stuff). 

I apologize for the un-imaginative intro, but really, that's all I could work off of at the moment. Blogging first thing in the morning is always a struggle--I'm definitely not a morning person. 

Anyway, I apologize for the lack of posts recently. Midterms are kind of coming up (first one is on my birthday... that's cool, right?) and I'm starting to feel the pressure. I also have a paper due in a week and I'm still not quite sure what we've accomplished in class. It's all philosophy, despite the anthropological course title. Regardless, it's an interesting class... just ridiculously confusing considering that we discuss how there may be no true reality (hence our perceptions of reality are all subjective and science is voided), or how language shapes our perceptions of reality (so if you speak french, you perception is different than mine, for instance). 

So there's my little ramble for this post that has nothing to do with fashion. Meanwhile, here are some fashion-related photos to balance out this post.

PS: I haven't bought the new Zelda (Skyward Sword), and I really don't know what to do with myself.

black velvet skirt c/o romwe [link]

soft black slim leather jacket c/o sheinside ($79) [link]

jeffrey campbell boties from holt renfrew ($100)

yellow boxy bag from romwe ($50)

vintage belt 

f21 crystal necklace ($10)

knit head band from crow's nest knits

Currently watching Storage Wars

Just about to study while kind of watching Storage Wars. My family (minus mother bear) can't get enough of this show. Call us weird, but hey, if you love thrifting, you have to love this show. That reminds me, I haven't gone in so long... no wonder I feel like there's been something missing from my life. 

Anyway, I hate Thursdays and Tuesdays. Labs make these days ten times worse... So, for now, I'm just going to post cute photos of my dog. Those always make me feel better. Plus, she's in a fake burberry hoodie/dress my grandparents bought her from Taiwan!

Man, this is a good episode of Storage Wars. Darrel is mad. He's a jerk, so he totally deserves it.

PS: Midterms are coming up so fast! Nooooooooooo.

Also, Vol. 9 "Year Two" of Alexis magazine came out just recently and they were kind enough to include me in a collage they did of bloggers from around the world! I've never been in a magazine before!

Ugh, I hate when Dave wins.

Here's some music while I'm at it. I'm in love with this playlist.

The Electric Dream

In 3 weeks, spring break will be here! I can't wait for a break from school already... Right now, my biggest problem is procrastination. Apparently I haven't grown out of this phase where I just wait till the last second to do my everything. Not my assignments but big things like essays are so hard to do early. Maybe its just me. I have no interests in writing essays but I guess thats just school. I never had an interest in any subject except for Physed. To show my great procrastination skills, I've decided to blog instead of write my essay which is due in a week. The look I have today is something I just made up randomly for this great All-son Brand jacket I bought at Urban Outfitters for $20! Great find by my mother and I couldn't have been happier. It fits a little huge but it works well with any casual shirt or t-shirt. I layered it with a American Apparel hoodie, which you can never have enough of, a H&M denim shirt, Naked and Famous jeans, and John Varatos boots. This outfit works perfectly with the weather we are having currently. It was 2°C the day Alyssa and I took photos. Anyways, I hope you have a better time doing your homework than I am.

Cœur De Pirate

Despite living in Canada, I cannot speak French fluently. Unfortunately, this is true for most of the Provinces (except for Quebec). I was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta and learned French for 5 years (from grade 4-9). I stopped taking it because my French teacher in Junior High was insane and I was never inspired to carry on. Now I regret it  after having gone to Europe twice, I realized how important it was to know another language. However, one of my friends who is originally from Montreal said that many of the French teachers outside of Quebec are not very good. If you want to learn French, go to Quebec, which is probably the only real bilingual Province in Canada.

The reason why I am telling you this is because the next artist I would like to introduce to you is a French artist. Cœur de pirate is the stage name for Béatrice Martin who is from Montreal, Quebec. Her debut album self titled Cœur De Pirate was a big hit when it released in 2008. In 2009, her song "Ensemble" was featured on a popular Youtube video, which drew a lot of publicity and introduced many Americans to her music. Some of my personal favourites from this album are "Comme Des Enfants", "Fondu Au Noir", "Printemps", "Francis", and "C'était salement romantique". "Comme Des Enfants", however, will always be my favourite because it was the song that I stubbled upon and couldn't stop listening to it. Béatrice's music is unique from others because of her amazing talent as a pianist and vocalist. Every song has her own touch to it and this is what makes her one of my favourite artists. 

Even though I cannot understand a word she is saying, there is no denying that she is a talented woman. Her second album titled, Blonde, came out on November 11, 2011 and has received much praise from critics and fans alike. I haven't kept up to date with her in a while so hopefully I will have a chance to listen to her new album soon. I have posted a link to her debut album and her personal website below. Just click on the two pictures respectively. I hope you enjoy listening to her music as much as I do. Please let me know what you think!

Ignorance is BLISS

It seems like all Kurtis and I can really talk about in our posts as of late is the weather. But considering how bipolar Edmonton is, I guess there really isn't much to talk about other than the lovely warm spell we're getting. So much for interesting small talk, hey?

Anyway, as you may or may not have noticed, Bliss Boutique has been so kind as to let The Ordinary Peoples blog hold their first every GIVEAWAY! Click here to enter, because you don't want to miss out on this! Plus, they're Canadian! 

As for the dress that I'm wearing in the photos way down below, the people from Bliss Boutique, being as wonderful as they are, let me pick an item from their new collection! So I picked this dress because it's oh so adorable. I can already tell that once my love for grunge fades over a bit, that this polka dot dress will be quite over worn (I just typed out warn--this means I should get some shut-eye). Also, since I never have to take another English course EVER again, I won't be troubled by my lack of eloquence in this post.

PS: Kurtis told me I looked like a librarian with this outfit and glasses. That means I look smart.... right?

PPS: I can't get enough of these Jeffrey Campbell boots.

PPPS: You can now visit us on Facebook here!
PPPPS: There's an impostor (just kidding, it's not really that serious) Alyssa on a Vietnamese lookbook-like site. I was told I should put a note up on the blog to make sure that everyone knows it really isn't me, but there's been no damage done!

Also, the word of the day today is heuristic. I just read it in one of my Anthropology readings.

heuristic |hyo͞oˈristik| 

(adjective)

enabling a person to discover or learn something for themselves

a “hands-on” or interactive heuristic approach to learning

(noun)

a heuristic process or method.

polka dot dress c/o bliss boutique [link]

glasses c/o proopticals [link]

bag from romwe ($50)

jeffrey campbell boots from holt renfrew ($120)

necklace from anthropologie

cardigan from f21

Also, here's some Star Wars-themed music for all my fellow Star Wars fans.   Jedi Theme (Coyote Kisses Remix) by Tristan Kuracina