Online Shopping and Manicures

I spend an extraordinarily large part of my day online; I get most  of my news, and plan my life through social networks. I think  it would makes perfect  sense for me to extend my online activities towards also shopping online. I’m already in front of a computer screen, so why not simplify my life even further. Despite always being online, I am the kind of girl who likes brick and mortar stores, having the option to price match and return items without blinking an eye, this is why I’ve been so hesitant to shop online.

Rayanne invited me to be her guest for a Bing.ca event, where there was a demo of their new online shopping portal. Who can pass up the opportunity to have a free manicure and cocktails in exchange for a little bit of learning, maybe even some shopping? Having it at a snazzy venue like Sassafraz doesn’t hurt either.

It has been a really long week, and I had been looking forward to last night(November 25th 2010) immensely. It was a low key (but still exciting) event where ladies were there to be pampered and find out ways to make their lives easier by using online shopping as an alternative (especially at this time of year) to malls and crowds. I got my nails done with the trendy “You don’t know Jacques”

my fancy manicure

and then went to go watch a demo of how it works. All I can say is WOW, the tool is so clever, in between historical price watching, being able to see if it’s a good deal on a sliding scale as well as cross border comparisons, they have really thought of everything. The representatives from Bing were truly knowledgeable and showed genuine love for the product. I even made the ONLY guy in the room Anthony Wolf show me how to online shop for men and picked his brain for fashion tips this holiday season.

I have to give a huge high five to the organizers of this event. On occasion, I’m invited as a blogger to events that I walk away feeling a bit underwhelmed. Last night was really fun and gave me a lot to think about in terms of my shopping habits. It took away all of my hesitation towards online shopping, and I will certainly use Bing as a go to for camera gear price comparisons and to buy those cute shoes I forgot to buy in-store.

Thanks to the ladies at High Road for having me.

Tiff 2010 Festival Music House night 4: Diamond Rings, Born Ruffians,Zeus, Beast, Gord Downie,

First, a huge thank you to Casie for the opportunity to cover this event. For those of you who know me, it’s pretty obvious I’m a huge music fan, more specifically local and Canadian music. The Tiff Festival Music House had been showcasing some incredible Canadian talent during the Toronto International Film Festival, and I knew I couldn’t miss the last night of the series. Diamond Rings, Born Ruffians, and Zeus are some of my favourite bands. Better yet, they are all beyond incredible live.

I got there in the middle of Diamond Rings set, but within seconds, I was in my own zone dancing along to his catchy tunes. Dressed in a bright pink tank top, skinny white jeans, high top sneakers, gold chains and the best application of blue eye shadow I have ever seen, it’s nearly impossible to have a bad time when he’s on stage.

For me the primary reason for coming to the event at the stunning Roosevelt Room was to see the Born Ruffians play. These 4 gentlemen are not only easy on the eyes but also remarkably talented musicians. They started their too short of a set with Oh Man, a new song from their recently released album Say It and continued to crank out the new tunes, by then the audience was getting bigger and slightly rowdier, which is what a Born Ruffians show should always be like. I took lots of photos and some video and tried not to look crazy being the only person in the front row that knew all of the lyrics. They closed with Foxes Mate for life, which is a quintessential Born Ruffians show closing song by then my throat was hoarse singing along and my mouth hurt from smiling.

Born Ruffians

Lots of schmoozing happened and I bumped into some old pals . Wound up with lots of ridiculous not so internet worthy photos.

Eventually Zeus took the stage. The room was almost packed to the gills and their guitar heavy but still catchy songs kept with the overall spirit of fun and camaraderie. By then, my camera was dead and my body well lubricated. So I danced some more and called it a night shortly after they ended their set.

I couldn’t have asked for a night to be any more fun then this was. It makes me glad I do what I do and inspires me to keep doing it.

Canadian Music Week Night 1/5

Canadian Music Week /Festival has been a test of endurance. My overly ambitious plan of seeing nearly 20 bands play in 5 days was only slightly dampened by the weather. Stay tuned for the 5 installments of my Canadian Music Week experience and of course, the inevitable show reviews.

With the mantra in mind of ;“Slow and steady wins the race”, I decided to kick off my week with a quiet night close to home. Having never stepped foot in the Painted Lady, the familiarity of yet another small bar on Ossington sunk in. I made my way to the back of the room just in time to catch the beginnings of Wilderness of Manitoba. Their choruses of beautiful harmonies and melodies have never sounded better; Will Whitman and Melissa Dalton’s voices truly compliment each other in all the right places. I have seen them play on more then one occasion, but this is the first time I have ever truly tuned into the intricacies of the Wilderness of Manitoba’s songs until that night where it hit me that this band makes some of the most beautiful music on the planet. It’s not just Will and Melissa who can take all the credit the band is rounded up by the equally talented Scott Bouwmeester, Stefan Banjevic and Sean Lancaric. Who really shone in the new material, which was mentioned with the promise of a new LP being to be released in the early summer. Their current album: Hymns of Love and Spirits is the perfect album to play while enjoying the fleeting moments of sunshine in the day.

I also stayed to catch Australia’s Dead Letter Chorus, a band that had a decent amount of buzz leading up to their showcase. I have come to think of the music scene in Australia as this perfect compliment to that of Toronto. Canadian Music Week / Canadian Music Festival is primarily a platform for newer artists to build an audience. What better opportunity to do so with Dead Letter Chorus. There is just something about the band that I didn’t like,maybe it was Gabrielle Huber’s almost too sweet voice. Maybe it was the fact that four well dressed under groomed men playing instruments as a backing band are a dime a dozen. Truthfully they played a really dynamic set. They had great stage presence and audience interaction but it shouldn’t take until the last song that was coincidentally written about the Great White North for me to even get into a band.

I decided to call it an early night because I knew that the next 4 days would take a lot out of me. In retrospect that was a great plan, that and bringing a few pairs of earplugs.

(this post is also found onTunesinTO