A ring just for you!

For the past couple of months I’ve collected jewels, gems, buttons, beads, and stones, all with a plan in my head to make my own jewelry. I am a huge fan of big eye-catching rings and really anything unique or different from the norm. I decided that since I know exactly what I love and what I want, that’d I’d make my own and that it’d be cheaper too. So, Friday afternoon I came home and sat down with everything that I had collected and started creating! I made things that I loved and that I would be proud to wear around. I posted a few pictures on Facebook for my mom to see because we were going to a fashion show in the morning and wanted to be stylish (obviously). I then ran out the door for dinner with friends, where I gave them all a piece of my collection to test out.

By the time I got home I had quite a few messages in my inbox and posts on my wall about people wanting my creations. As the weekend progressed, I kept getting more and more messages. I was super surprised, but totally pumped! I love creating these rings! (I’m also doing some earrings and necklaces too). So how awesome is it that I get to do something that I love, and that I get to share them with other people too!

This is one of my rings (the picture was taken on my Iphone so not the greatest of quality), and I am creating more and more by day! If you’re interested in buying a piece of my collection, leave me a message here or send me an e-mail at caitlinlafleche@gmail.com to see the rest of my collection.

Now here’s the thing: I’m having difficulties picking a name for my little business and that’s where you come in! I’d love suggestions and ideas, and whoever’s idea I go with I will send a special creation of your choice, and a few other little tester presents:)

May the contest begin! Post away my friends!

KOOL KRYS: Do it for yourself in 2010

My first blog of the New Year (yes I’ve been so busy I haven’t written until now) is one I’m pretty pumped to write. Why? Because I believe it’s important in a New Year to surround myself with positivity and people who motivate me. If I had to give you a list of the top five people in my life who do this, Christina Stefanski or KOOL KRYS as she will be known in this blog, is one of them. 

Ever listen to music that actually makes you constantly smile? I was sitting at my desk today at work listening to the Hip Hop tunes of KOOL KRYS while working on a design project, and I actually had to stop myself from doing some sort of ridiculous (and I’m sure embarrassing) pumped up, happy dance. Let me tell you, I’ve never really been into Hip Hop until I met Krys, and so me dancing to Hip Hop or even knowing a thing about it seemed like a pretty ridiculous concept two years ago. Then sitting in PR class one day, this happy bubbly, and confident girl standing in front of me tells me she’s a rapper. Little did I know that she’d be a great friend of mine only a short time later and that her music would someday be part of my everyday routine, having a profound affect on my life. Yes, her music means something to me, and yes that’s a big deal for me. I’m not sure what I’d ever do without music, ever since I was a teenager it’s gotten me through the toughest days, almost like a close friend, therapeutic really. Krys’ music is my therapy, when I’m losing myself a little, her music brings me back. It’s about living life for you and doing what makes you happy and healthy.

Listen to her music, it will give you the positivity and motivation that you need for 2010, I promise. You can download her new album Perfume  here! Or, check out her myspace page, I recommend the song Do It For Yourself, it’s my favorite.

But here’s an even better idea: Come out to her album release on Saturday February 20, at Babylon (317 Bank Street) 11 pm, I’ll be the ridiculous dancing girl up at the front cheering on her great friend.

Happy 2010 to you all, I hope your year is full of things you love and people who make you happy:)

I wish you a hopeful Christmas I wish you a brave New Year

Merry Christmas to you all! I’m home in Peterborough visiting family and old friends, and having a good old time. The week has been full of smiling and laughing, whether it be going for beers and pickled eggs with my gramps, shopping with my Nan, hugging friends who I haven’t seen in far too long, or just sitting around with my amazing parents.

I truly do wish you a hopeful Christmas and a brave New Year, celebrate with the ones you love.

And now one of my favorite reasons for being home:

Coming home to see the girls that have been my best friends since I was nine, it really doesn’t get much better than this. Merry Christmas to the girls who have always been there! Love you!

Local Ottawa ladies you should know!

On December 8th, I attended a Girl Geek Dinner (click here for more info) at the Arc Hotel. What an amazing night! I had the opportunity to network with a lot of fantastic and inspiring women from around Ottawa. Here are a few of the ladies that I met that are definitely worth getting to know:

Vivian Cheng of Blend Creations, an industrial designer who together with her husband creates some of the most unique and beautiful jewelry I’ve ever seen, right here in Ottawa! Check out her website and follow her on Twitter!

Natasha D’Souza of Virtual EyeSee, a social media guru with her own social media agency. Take a look at her blog, learn a bit more about her, and follow her on Twitter.

Treena Grevatt of Betidings,  created this site designed for people to browse local events, collect events in their own personal calendars, and post events that they’d like to share. Treena was getting sick of hearing about awesome events after the fact so she decided to create this incredible site. Log on and sign up for an account, I did and I’m loving it! Follow Treena on Twitter.

As an awesome sidenote: I won two tickets to see Guys and Dolls at the NAC at the Girl Geek Dinner!

The marvelous Kelly Rusk presenting me with my tickets!

Adventures in Halifax

I’m a pretty lucky gal, work has been taking me all over Canada these past few months. Recently, I spent three days in Halifax and absolutely loved it. Having a few friends from the Maritimes who are quite fond of Halifax, I was sent with a list of places to go.

My first stop was Greco Pizza for a donair and garlic fingers in donair sauce. I had no idea but Halifax is actually really well-known for its donairs, and my friend Sarah had been raving about garlic fingers  to me for a while (she earlier had a kiniption fit when I originally called them garlic sticks and accidentely posted it). Both were absolutely delicious and I won’t lie, I made a couple of trips back, that donair sauce is wicked!

Another stop off on my list was the Black Market Boutique, an amazing jewelry store recommended by my friend Christina. This store was absolutely amazing and very affordable. The jewelry was eclectic, funky, and beautiful. If you’re ever in Halifax you’ll have to hit this up, it was my favorite.

I was also told to eat at the Five Fisherman restaurant by my wise friend and colleague Patty, because of their awesome all-you-can-eat mussel bar, and let me  tell you… I completely took advantage. My main course was so beautifully presented I didn’t want to eat it, but let’s be serious I ate every shrimp and scallop, and then had dessert too! (I don’t mess around). If you have the opportunity to go you must order the Pudding Chomeur for dessert, it was to die for!

Besides this, I also had lobster at Salty’s right on the harbour with a perfect view of the Atlantic, more mussels at the Lower Deck, and an amazing home-brewed beer called Cocoa Hop at the Hart and Thistle A Gastropub and Brewery where the bartender was awesome and knew her beer.

The trip was full of good eats and great shopping, and I couldn’t believe how friendly and welcoming everyone in Halifax was. Mostly, I loved not being able to do anthing but smile every time I walked outside and smelled the salty ocean air.

Next stop: Moncton, New Brunswick, to ring in the new year and  to celebrate a beautiful day of love for two great friends!

Pope Benedict XVI tries to bring the Vatican into the Internet age…

To communicate with the youth of our times Vatican officials and Catholic bishops are now taking lessons from Facebook, Wikipedia, and Google executives. I think it’s pretty awesome that they’re catching on and making the effort, but I can also see this ending badly. Looking back at my friends and I as teenagers, we had a hard time taking religion seriously at our tiny Catholic highschool. Now I can see why, our religion teachers never leveled with us or were realistic about what we did in our spare time or what the youth of our generation were dealing with. They were way too old-fashioned for that, and we were way too smart to not ask questions and be critical (which they didn’t like).

Although Pope Benedict is getting fresh with the times, he should probably remember that it’s not always the source of communication but more so the approach. You can use Facebook and Twitter to show up on the radar as much as you want, but it’s still all about your content.

And let’s be serious: If you’re going to go anywhere near tweeting about topics as ridiculous as condoms aren’t the answer to Africa’s AIDS epidemic, you’re flat out cut.

Click here to read the article!

What do you think about this?

Shepherd’s Ooh and Aah Fashion Show in support of Youville Centre

If you give a hoot about fashion in Ottawa, then you already know about the annual Shepherd’s Ooh and Aah Fashion Show in support of the Youville Centre that took place on Thursday, October 22. I consider myself very into fashion, and can’t believe I hadn’t discovered this fashion show until this year.

First, one thing you should give a hoot about is contributing to society and helping out those who aren’t as financially fortunate or have had as many opportunities as most of us, and that’s  what this night was all about. The Youville Centre is a post-secondary institution designed for teenage at-risk moms to finish their highschool education, while their babies are taken care of at the daycare in the centre at the same time. The centre provides an opportunity for young moms to get their lives back on track and become great parents in a place where they feel safe and secure.

As I recall being in highschool was hard enough as it was, I can’t imagine having a baby in with the mix, and just that in itself makes me a huge supporter of the Youville Centre and the work that they do there.

This year the Shepherd’s fashion show brought in a whopping $42, 000 which will pay for the centre to have counselling services for the girls for another year. This is obviously a big deal.

So you might be wondering how this fashion show brought in this much money?  Well,  it clearly had some great publicity and promotion, also the show is an annual event, and there are a lot of very generous and giving people in Ottawa. But what made the show incredible? The unbelievable and beautiful clothing from Shepherd’s Fashions. If you’re not familiar with the store there are two of them in Ottawa, one in the Rideau Centre and the other in Bayshore mall. I had walked past Shepherd’s on the third floor in Rideau Centre many times but never gone in. I will admit that I wasn’t sure that the store was for women my age but more for an older clientele, but boy was I wrong. The clothes are classy, elegant, and most importantly: timeless. My breath was literally taken away by many of the outfits the models came out in, and you can bet that the second I had the opportunity I was in the store pricing things out. Marlene Shepherd (owner) has done wonders for Youville Centre, and people couldn’t praise her enough throughout the whole evening.

Another reason the show was amazing was the insanely decadent and delicious food supplied by Creative Kosher Catering. David Smith, kosher caterer and party designer, had the most beautifully displayed and fantastic tasting food I think I’ve ever seen. It also helped that he donated in-house catering parties to auction bidders, and did it by announcing it on stage while pumping up the audience dancing to Love Generation by Bob Sinclar up and down the catwalk. The audience were literally all on their feet dancing, and the atmosphere in the room was so full of love and joy it was hard not to tear up.

Lastly, the door prizes, silent auction, and live auction were absolutely incredible. Maybe I’m biased, because I totally won $500 worth of MAC makeup and couldn’t stop smiling for about three days after. After this, I thought it only appropriate to bid on a beautiful red purse in the silent auction, won the bid, and I’ve never ever gotten so many compliments on an accessory in my life.

Hands down, an amazing night! I’ve never seen more fashionable women in my life. Every woman there had their own classy and beautiful sense of fashion and I couldn’t help but stare and admire. SO if you love fashion like I do, and if you feel like giving to a good cause, keep Shepherd’s Ooh and Aah Fashion Show in support of Youville Centre on your radar!

 

Quebec City love

Le vin tue lentement. On s’en fout ou n’est pas pressé! (Something I loved written on the wall at a little French restaurant in Old Quebec!)

After a week in Quebec City with work I’ve determined two things: 1) I love wine and all food bad for me and 2) I desperately need to learn how to speak French, (I know… I should be embarrassed to have a last name like Lafleche and not speak the language). Being there I realized how beautiful the language is, and also how much my career will suffer if I don’t learn to speak it.

Living in Ottawa and working in communications (especially in government) you need to be bilingual.  I have until September  to learn how to speak French, or I’m looking for a new job.

I have no problem admitting that this terrifies me. Don’t get me wrong, I have faith in myself and when I set my mind to something I do it, but that doesn’t mean that underneath the calm and cool exterior that is Cait Lafleche (joke) there’s a 23-year-old freaking the heck out! (Let’s be honest people confidence is key, but there isn’t a person in the world who hasn’t questioned themself at one point or another).

However I’m quite aware  that I need to set my doubts aside before they completely blind me, and so begins my French learning journey. For starters I ordered French for Dummies, which is very basic and a lot of things I already know but good to have anyways. I’ve gotten all of my friends who speak the language to send me e-mails and messages throughout the day only in French, I started reading French magazines and listening to French radio, and I’ve decided to sign up for an intensive French course at Algonquin in January.

I know I can do this, not only for my career but for me. I like to challenge myself and do things that I fear I can’t (like running the Beat Beethoven 4 K race this past weekend, and kicking his butt), and learning this beautiful language is one of them.

If you have any advice or tips on learning the language, please let me know!

As for Quebec City, I was astonished at the beauty and culture. The chocolate croissants, sugar pie, duck dishes, and wine basically made me the happiest girl in the world!

 

10 funniest people on Twitter

So it’s been a while… Mainly because I’ve been away with work a lot, which I’ll tell you all about later. For now, I thought I’d do a quick update with an article I came across tonight that I enjoyed. Click here to read the 10 funniest people on Twitter! (They make me giggle!)

Short and sweet I know, but I’ll be back!

DELICIOUS!

Besides writing about and reading PR blogs, I’m also addicted to reading food blogs. I don’t know why I do it to myself, because it makes me so ridiculously hungry and envious of amazing cooks. My favorite food blog belongs to my mother, probably because I’ve had her meals many a times, and she is a phenomenal cook. Check out her blog here!

I’ve been doing some cooking as well… Which would make most people I know fall over laughing. However, I’ve been really experimenting in the kitchen and this weekend while visiting my hometown Peterborough, I cooked a meal for my grandparents who were uber impressed (and they weren’t just being nice).

I cooked stuffed peppers and an put together an awesome salad! For all you non-domestic people who get laughed at for stepping foot in a kitchen this is actually an easy thing to make.

Stuffed Peppers: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Start with some uncooked ground beef, mash it up in a bowl and throw in a bunch of garlic (I used garlic puree, but anything you have will do), some cut up onions, cut up mushrooms, pepper, a tiny bit of beaf broth, some diced tomatoes, and about a cup of uncooked rice. Mash all together. Stuff into peppers (that you cut the middle out of). Put in big casserole dish, throw beef broth on the top ( a step I missed and the top got crunchy) as well as just randomly around the dish so the peppers have something to soak in. Add some diced tomatoes in there as well. Cover in tinfoil (another thing I missed, it took extra long to cook). Cook for about an hour.

*Eat plain yogurt with your peppers. My Turkish friend and her family use plain yogurt with most of their food, and I thought it tasted particularly awesome with stuffed peppers.

Salad: Cut up garlic and onions together (a trick I learned from a friend, instead of putting the garlic in the dressing put it right in the salad) then add tomatoes (I had an assortment of different coloured ones), add cucumber, iceberg lettuce, and then avocado. For the sauce: Mix together olive oil with freshly squeezed lemon juice, throw a dash of orange juice in for sweetness, and some pepper.

** Keep in mind I’m not domesticated so yes I will say things like “mash it” (instead of mix it)  and “throw a dash” (instead of a tablespoon). Who do you think I am? Betty friggin Crocker?