On Being Social Media'd Out + How That Relates to Hot Chocolate

Hi friends. As some of you may or may not have noticed, my posts have been increasingly less frequent. When I realized this, many excuses came to mind like being busy with my new job, having no one to take photos of me, Calgary being too cold and so on. While those things may be true (especially the last one!), it finally dawned on me the REAL reason for my lack of posting. I'm social media'd out! And while I did just make up that term, it really is the best way for me to describe what has happened. I'm not saying this as an excuse or a complaint. In fact, it's really the exact opposite. In my job as a marketing coordinator, a large part of my daily to-do list is doing social media. This varies from long term strategic thinking and planning to day to day posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and even the odd blog post. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this about my job but it is now part of my job. I think a large part of me took to social media and this blog as a creative outlet when I wasn't getting that in my daily life. Now I do get it, each and every day and I couldn't be more thrilled. I'm not ready to let go of this wee little blog quite yet but I do have to admit to and be okay with the fact that I won't be posting on it as regularly as I had initially set out to do. In the meantime, if you miss me too much (and I won't hold that against you!), please come visit me at the Triple Flip blog! While I may be writing to tweens, it's still me coming up with the ideas and I bet you'll enjoy a thing or two over there.

Oh yes, why am I posing with hot chocolate you ask? Great question, I would've asked the same thing! The answer, in short, is because that is just how awesome my job is. I get to make delicious hot chocolate recipes, bribe my mom (with hot chocolate, of course) to take photos of me doing it and then call it a blog post. This is my job! This hot chocolate post will be up on the Triple Flip blog on Tuesday, December 3, so take a look if you want to learn how I made them.

j.

Working with Eleven Year Olds

 

plaid shirt & sweater {Old Navy} - jeans {RW&Co} - booties {Steve Madden}

It's been a long while and for that I am sorry! 

Things are off to a smashing start at my new job, I really couldn't be happier. A couple weeks ago, I organized a double photo shoot, which is two girls in the morning and two girls in the afternoon. While this may sound like a piece of cake to you, I can assure you that it's not. I can also assure you that I now know why my coworkers looked at me like I had fallen from the crazy tree when I suggested this plan. Anyways, they let the new girl play crazy (joke was definitely on me...) and I had two sets of eleven year olds come in and model a couple outfits each. Now, I had been around models here and there when I was in NYC but this was just a bit different. First off, these girls weren't models because we use real customers and fans of the brand as our models. Second of all, they were eleven. Each set of girls were best friends, which makes it really fun, but it also makes it challenging. Challenging in the sense that fighting over which washroom to change in and competing for best pose are normal occurrences. If you've spent any time around eleven year old girls, you may have an idea of what this double photo shoot was like. Don't get me wrong, the girls did great and we got a ton of awesome photos. But it was four straight hours of high pitched chatter, references to One Direction, and lots and lots of giggling! Besides needing an endless supply of energy, I did learn a few things throughout the day. First, never give them the choice of what to wear (and if you can tell that one girl didn't love her first outfit, make her second outfit really special). It's also quite important to keep them focused and on track - never let them look at the photos during the shoot and don't be afraid to kick mom out of the room (politely, of course!). Help them let their guards down by letting yours down too - if you want them to be goofy, you better be goofy yourself! And last but certainly not least, brush up on your tween pop culture because once they tell you they don't listen to One Direction, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry or The Biebs, you will have NOTHING. Nada. Nilch.

As crazy as having back to back photo shoots was, they were a ton of fun...so fun that I'm having another one on Friday! (only a single one though....I did learn from my crazy)

j.

Calling All Booties

 

 

top & jeans {RW&Co} - booties {Dolce Vita via Century 21} - watch {Target}

So, I have a bit of a thing for ankle booties. What exactly is a bootie anyways? Is it a cross between a boot and a shoe? (I'm trying really hard to not make a joke about something called a "shoot" right now...). I'm sure there are varying definitions, but in my head a bootie is exactly that. A nice mix of a shoe and an ankle boot. This pair happens to be one of my faves. Partly because it has a hidden wedge heel so I a) feel taller b) can still walk (because of the wedge) and c) feel like a secret-keeping rebel (because of the hidden wedge heel, of course). Also, a fun little tip to spice up a pair of boring old booties is to swap out the regular laces for a different colored pair. Trust me, instant transformation, even more instant satisfaction.

I'll let you in on a gross little secret. I have upwards of a hundred pairs of shoes. I've never actually counted - partly because I'm scared to know the truth but mainly because there are just too many shoes - but I know it has to be close. Many of these shoes are booties (or ankle boots, or whatever you want to call them). They just seem to be the perfect complement to any Fall outfit. Warm feet without hot legs (this sounded much better in my head). Can be worn with skinny jeans, skirts or dresses. Oh, the possibilities!

Anyways, things are starting to get a bit weird so I'll stop. But do yourself a favor if you don't already have a pair (or ten), and go invest (at Target) in some ankle booties for the Fall.

j.

Fancy Sweatshirts + Fashion Fails

sweatshirt {Old Navy} - chambray shirt {Forever 21} - skirt {Mexx} - tights {Gap} - booties {Topshop}

At work we've been talking about the fancy sweatshirt trend that we see popping up in both womenswear and kidswear. I am quite excited about this particular trend. Partly because it gives me a valid excuse to dress like a fourteen year old girl but also because it gave me a valid...errr okay just an excuse, to buy myself a fancy sweatshirt. As many of you know, the quickest way to my heart is by putting words on a piece of clothing. The actual word "heart" on a piece of clothing...didn't stand a chance.

You know how sometimes, you get really excited to wear an outfit but for one reason or another, something just doesn't quite jive right. Most of the time it just sneaks up on you but with this outfit, I saw it coming. I knew as soon as I pulled on my skirt that the cotton tights I had chosen were a bad idea. It's kinda like how when two magnets get near each other they're compelled to stick together. Well, consider my tights and skirt a pair of really strong magnets. Every time I walked or really even moved my legs at all, my skirt would inevitably get stuck to  my legs and bunch in unfortunate ways. I really should've just switched my tights or skirt (how 'bout one with lining...), but I was running late, had a vision, couldn't find any other tights, was too stubborn to change skirt because of stupid girl stuff, I didn't. So anyways, to wrap up this marathon of a story about tights, without better judgement, I wore something I knew was bound to malfunction. And so it did. And so I received not one, but two stink eyes as I walked by with THIS happening. And this, my friends, is known as a #FashionFail.

 

you're welcome :)

j.