Standing at the entrance of Capilano Golf and Country Club in West Vancouver, ready for a wedding!

Saturday afternoon Tommy, (my date), and I got all dressed up for a wedding on the hill. I chose a red bandage style dress from BCBG Max Azria with yellow Zara faux snakeskin heels, (5″), a vintage Pierre Cardin snakeskin clutch and vintage Rayban sunnies while Tommy went for more of a “running for prez” kind of look. Nothin’ like a navy jacket and tie! You’ll notice I’m wearing a rather low-cut dress, like I mentioned earlier about my crop top, this isn’t something I do often. But sometimes it has to happen, for me this was the dress that said, “BAM! I’m here!” Now back to my regular programming of t shirts and blouses. 

The groom led the bride onto the dance floor for the first dance… that dress was heaven.

Love weddings!!

Xo StyleStruck

This evening was spent biking along the beautiful sea wall around Stanley Park! Such a wonderful way to spend the evening!

Wearing: Silk Zara blouse, leather Zara belt, vintage cut offs, Zara flats, Guess back pack, H&M sunnies.

Tonight couldn’t have been more lovely, riding a cruiser with the wind in your hair, stopping for ice cream and photos, fun, fun, fun! 

Amazing!! In the distance, the North Shore, (West Vancouver).

Hope you had a lovely summery weekend!

Xo StyleStruck

What would you put with chairs like this? Help!

Xo StyleStruck

Thursday night a crowd gathered around the entrance of the Marciano store on Robson St, waiting to be let into a fabulous party co-hosted by Niki and I to celebrate Guess by Marciano… There was wine, cocktails and delicious h’ordeuvres being passed around as a DJ played the latest tracks, and what seemed like hundreds of people to mingle with. Amongst the crowd there were fashion editors, stylists, both corporate and freelance, club promoters, marketing pros, CEOs, real estate agents, models, bloggers galore, PR people, fashion aficionados and mega-shoppers! Not to mention, the lovely representatives from Dress for Success, the non-profit we partnered with in putting the event together, (Dress for Success received a portion of the profits from the evening’s sales). Thank you to everyone who came!! The night was such a wonderful experience and I feel so lucky to have been a part of it! 

Niki and I with the Guess? Canada head honchos, all the way from Toronto for the event!

Andrea Pahn, founder of Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics was on site to give girls a mini mani with her brilliant polish!

With Liz Sperandeo, a member of the board for Dress for Success, and a Dress for Success volunteer. Guess? asked Niki and I to choose a non-profit to work with, and who better than Dress for Success?! “Dress for Success® Vancouver is a registered Canadian Charity that helps low and no income women to transition into the workforce by providing professional attire.”

Second from left, stylist Dani Barnes of Dani Barnes Productions.

The swag!

Lovely fashion & lifestyle photographer Christine McAvoy!

Dessert: amazingly delicious mini cheesecakes… No I did not have three of these…

The outfit: Thank you to Guess for Marciano for allowing me to choose an outfit for the evening! In response to some of your questions, yes I got to keep it. : ) Head to toe Marciano, (except for the watch, that’s mine). I love this colour! Reminds me of a Tiffany’s box!

Cheers to a fabulous party!

Xo StyleStruck

This is not a guide for impressing your boyfriend (though you will), it was written to help women fall in love with sports.

This hilarious and practical guide to the world of sports for women provides outlines of the rules as well as superstitions and customs of the four major professional sports. SHE’S GOT GAME, ($14.99) is a must for any woman who doesn’t want to be clueless in the bleachers or on the couch.

Sporting events raise so many questions. What is March Madness all about? What on earth is a pop fly? If they just had the fourth down, then why is it the first down now and not the fifth? What’s a down anyway? What do I wear? Will I wipe out if I wear heels? Should I wear makeup? And how do you say that player’s name?

Melissa Malamut brings a lifelong love of sports, a girly-girl’s sensibility, and insight from fashion editors, friends and her own experiences to this guide. SHE’S GOT GAME is packed with all the rules and history of the games, personal anecdotes, and do’s and don’ts. In this incredibly well-researched and engaging book, Melissa gives you everything you need to feel at ease and fall in love with sports.

NBA Finals Talking Points
The Girlie Girls Guide to Basketball

The NBA has a Dress Code. Why Wouldn’t You?
*       Pro basketball is the most stylish and dressiest sport. It’s really the only sport (maybe with the exception of hockey) where you can get away with high heels. Even stilettos.

*       You can wear anything from team gear to your work suit. Fashion-conscious females in the basketball business suggest jeans, a cardigan and heeled boots, stylish flats or city sneakers. The season goes from winter to summer but the climate controlled 72-degree arenas never change.

Tips for Female Fans
*       Best time to leave the seats (or the couch) to not miss the action: Obviously halftime. Time in between quarters is short (only about two minutes.)

*       Best time to leave the seats (or the couch) for the shortest lines for the bathroom/food: Beginning of the second quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter. You may miss some game play, but the lines will be short and you’ll avoid the halftime rush.

*       When to cheer/not to cheer: You cheer on your team throughout the game whether they are on offense or defense. But when a member of your team is shooting free throws it is customary not to cheer so he can concentrate.

Lingo – Shout it loud – Love this!! 
*       And one! – Shout when a member of your team is fouled while shooting and he makes the basket. He now has the chance for a three-point play by earning a foul shot.

*       Denied! – Yell it after a member of your team blocks a shot.

*       Airball! – When the other team shoots and the ball misses the hoop, backboard and rim completely. Touches “nothing but air”. Slowly shout, “Aiiiiiiiir-baaaaal!”

*       Brick! – Shout it after the other team shoots an ugly looking shot that clanks off the rim or backboard Terms to know

*       Travel – “Too many steps” A violation if a player takes more than two steps without dribbling (bouncing the ball to the court) or moves his pivot foot (one foot must be planted to the ground when not dribbling). The team that commits a travel loses possession of the ball.

*       Double dribble – When a player stops and then restarts a dribble or uses both hands. The team that commits this violation loses possession.

*       Swish – “Nothing but net” When a shot goes right through the basket and touches nothing but the net. Makes a noise that sounds like “swish”.

*       Bench points – Points scored by non-starters.

*       Shot clock – “The 24 second clock” is the time a team has to make a basket. The ball must at least hit the rim before the clock expires or they lose possession. If the shooting team gets their own rebound (takes control of the ball after a missed shot), they get a new 24 second clock.

AMAZING! I coulda used this aaaages ago!! Hope you enjoyed the read!

Xo StyleStruck

Just in case, RSS as defined by Wikipedia: RSS (most commonly expanded as Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.

1. At this point, RSS feeds are relatively spam free, unlike email, (making email a very ineffective way of distributing information, in my opinion). An RSS feed allows the subscriber to control what they receive, meaning they’ll be much more likely to receive your updates.

2. RSS feeds are an ideal tool for press rooms. Journalists can access updates on your company’s happenings without their inboxes constantly being filled with press releases. This is also a good way to let journalists be aware of what’s going on with your company/organization when perhaps a press release isn’t necessary. 

3. A hassle-free way of ensuring your partners are informed. Add an RSS feed to your extranet, (again, just in case you’re not familiar with this term: an extranet is a computer network that is partially accessible to chosen authorized users outside of an organization/company). Generate content that will inform and update your partners on the latest company info like press releases sent, media coverage received, financial information, top-management decisions, etc.

4. Create specific categories of interest for your RSS feed that people can subscribe to. This is especially effective if your company or organization offers a variety of services or products, or if your site covers a variety of topics. Make the information that people desire from you easily accessible. 

5. Planning an event? Create an RSS feed for it! This is a sure way of informing your attendees/subscribers of changes to the event, what to expect and who will be attending. 

6. Create an RSS feed to give awareness to all coverage your company/organization garners. Not only is this a great way to generate a further buzz around your company, but a simple way of keeping your employees and customers in the loop. 

7. Use an RSS feed to provide up-to-date information on promotions! Give limited-time promotions to your subscribers so that they benefit from following your information stream. Also, publicize that you’re offering these promotions to your RSS feed subscribers as a method of attracting more subscribers.

Hope my thoughts are useful!

- SS

Meet Marie! The sweetest kitten…

Xo StyleStruck & StyleStruck Jr

I love being able to see all of the talent and work that goes into a photo, at this particular shoot there was about ten people collaborating to create the finished piece. The shoot was done at Judas Goat in Gastown, I think the black, white and greys look amazing with the bright yellow accents, looking forward to seeing the published shots!

Xo StyleStruck

Thursday, June 24, join Niki Blasina and I at the Marciano store on Robson St for a marvelous party!

An excerpt from the press release sent by Guess to the media list: “This exclusive event, hosted by fashion bloggers Olivia Lovenmark, the fashionista and social media/public relations obsessed blogger behind Vancouver style blog StyleStruck.ca and Niki Blasina the pop culture enthusiast, public relations professional and creator of AHauteMess.ca, is the perfect setting to unveil the summer collection. A portion of the evening’s proceeds will go to Dress for Success Vancouver, a network of support for economically disadvantaged women that provides career development tools and professional attire to help women in work and in life.”

If you would like to attend this fabulous event, please RSVP right away to guessrsvp@guess.com by Monday, June 21 to secure a spot! The party will start at 6:30pm!

Xo StyleStruck

Pictured above at Pink Door. But there was a glam dinner on Saturday night! If you go to Seattle, you MUST go to Pink Door for dinner! It was a magical restaurant, better than I could have imagined and so perfect for a first night in the city. The door is hidden, unmarked in an alley near the Public Market, and when you descend the stairs down into the restaurant, you walk into a dimly lit room with light pinky peach walls that are adorned with dozens of scalloped-edged vintage mirrors and many vintage chandeliers of all sizes hanging from the ceiling. That dinner was definitely one of the best I have ever had out. Our server was wonderful, the music and ambience were just perfect and the food was amazing! Five stars. After dinner the boy and I got caught in a rain storm, which apparently appeared out of nowhere while we were enjoying our triple-layer mousse cake. So we ducked into a busy Irish bar across the alley for a drink while we waited it out. It ended up being one of the most fun nights, very impromptu and spontaneous and just right for a weekend away. 

From the top: Looking out over the harbour, (wearing a Zara jacket, Trina Turk shorts, Zara silk floral blouse, yellow pashmina, Zara leather flats, vintage Raybans and vintage Pierre Cardin snakeskin purse). Pike Place Public Market, Tommy outside the market with a carriage horse, fresh peonies inside the market.

Sunday morning was spent eating a decadent breakfast of eggs benedict with crab cakes at Boka, the restaurant adjacent to our hotel, Hotel 1000. Afterwards we wandered through some fine home stores nearby, (Tommy really is a girl’s dream when travelling, if we pass a shop he knows I might like to go into, he takes me in and then sits in the designated “boyfriend chair” while I try things on. I hope he knows how much I appreciate his patience, especially when my “ten minutes” usually turns into more like 30, or 40 minutes…), and then walked over to Nordstrom Rack, (where all of the discounted designer Nordstrom merchandise go). I’d been talking about wanting to go there for weeks, and after much searching through the racks, it did not disappoint! I left the store with a pair of dark Sevens with rhinestones on the pocket for a third of the retail price, a pair of white Trina Turk jean shorts and a Jason Wu pleated silk skirt which was marked down from $1650 to $100. That’s a savings of $1550. (WHO WOULD PAY $1650 FOR A SKIRT?!) For lunch we visited McCormick and Smicks, a popular seafood restaurant that has about 85 stores across the country. I tried an oyster, I don’t know why, but I was feeling optimistic and adventurous and so I slid a fresh, or raw, oyster into my mouth. Ewwww. Never again. But the salmon burger was delish! Afterwards we went to the market, a very popular Sunday destination. (Pictures above, and below). 

After the market we wandered over to the actual Nordstrom department store where I found a charming pink Tasha bib-style necklace made of pink ribbon, lace and beads. Very pretty, and conveniently it went perfectly with my outfit for dinner on Sunday night, or maybe I planned my outfit around the necklace.

Monday was our last day in Seattle so we really made it count. We did a big walk downtown, visiting a number of shops including Barneys, Victoria’s Secret and a FABULOUS designer consignment shop that Tommy spotted where I found a white eyelet Diane von Furstenburg wrap dress, that just like my other DVF wrap dress, I swear was made for me. It was like heaven in a dressing room, that moment when you really like an item and reeaally want it to fit and work for you, and then IT DOES! Oh happy day. We went back to the Public Market again for delicious freshly-baked Nutella-covered crumpets, looked through a vintage book store and finally drank a mango cosmo, (me) and a pale ale, (Tommy) at Boka before packing up our bags and getting into a taxi destined for the bus depot. It really was a wonderful weekend away of exploring and relaxing.

(Above, wearing: Zara jacket, Guess army jacket, black Target tank top, vintage necklace, white Sirens jeans, Coach wedges and a giant Cole Haan black leather bag).

Sad to say goodbye to Seattle! Now back to Vancouver life, I’m accompanying my friend Steph to a tattoo appointment this afternoon. Never mind that needles make me squirm. 

Xo StyleStruck