Month: October 2015

Wearing Navy and Black Together

~ sweetlifestyle ~ 4 Comments
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Photo by Lauren R

In an earlier post, I talked about how navy is my black for the simple reason that navy just goes better with my coloring.  Well, wouldn’t you know it: after all of these years, I somehow managed to buy a black dress this fall!  Let’s be clear, though: it works on me because it is mesh and because it has a blue lining underneath it.  I guess you could say this is MY version of an LBD.

After I bought the dress, I noticed that lots of stores and designers were showing black and navy together.  Take a look:

Elie Tahara @neimanmarcus.com
Risto @neimanmarcus.com
Alice & Olivia @saksfifthavenue.com

The combination of navy/blue and black works for several reasons:

  • The two colors are close enough to look good together –  in almost any shade of the two
  • Navy and black are associated with being formal
  • Both are classic, timeless colors
  • Navy and black are season-less and therefore versatile
  • The colors not only go well together, but adding neutrals, mesh, or bling provides even more options
Photo by Lauren R
Photo by Lauren R

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Pumpkin Bars… If You Can Find The Pumpkins!!

~ sweetlifestyle ~ 2 Comments

IMG_2160Further to my last post on Canadian Thanksgiving, I thought I would write a quick one on pumpkin bars and the fact that making them (and anything else requiring pumpkin puree) this year might pose a challenge!!

You see, canned pumpkins, the main ingredient in the bars, are made from ‘pie’ or ‘sugar’ pumpkins.  Pie pumpkins are the smaller, denser, darker version of the larger, thin-walled pumpkins we use for carving jack-o-lanterns at Halloween. These pie pumpkins are made into puree and canned in the fall and are available all year – technically.

This fall, pie pumpkins are in short supply due to the heavy rains this summer in the Midwestern United States where most of the pies are grown. The problem is serious enough to cause some concern for Americans as they plan their upcoming Thanksgiving dinner menu which undoubtedly will include some variation of pumpkin in several dishes.

According to Bloomberg News, Libby’s, the largest producer of pumpkins, says they have enough product to make 45 million 8 inch pies, which is half of what they normally produce. They think this is enough to get through Thanksgiving but, after that, there could be a shortage that will have to wait until next year’s harvest to be satisfied. Continue reading →

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Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!

~ sweetlifestyle ~ 6 Comments

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It’s Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend!  It’s the first long weekend after school has started and many students (and parents) look forward to this break.  But, what is Canadian Thanksgiving, how does it differ from American Thanksgiving, and why is it in October??

I grew up in an American compound overseas and then went to school in the US for seven years, so I have celebrated American Thanksgiving at least seven times.  It is truly a big celebration!  The memories are very real and I know that the fourth Thursday in November means a few things for our American neighbors:  the start of the holiday season, the busiest travel weekend of the year, family and lots of food, being grateful, parades, and the Dallas Cowboys game on TV.  In Canada, our Thanksgiving is a little bit different (although we do have Oktoberfest parades, fall festivals, and Canadian Football League games).

For starters, Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October (which happens to coincide with Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the US), not in November.  It is not necessarily a busy travel weekend and we don’t all celebrate on the Monday – we can celebrate any day of the weekend, hence the ‘light’ traffic.  And, believe it or not, only federally regulated companies are off for this holiday in the Atlantic Provinces, where Thanksgiving is an optional holiday. Continue reading →

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