10eighteen Cafe // London ON

Good morning beautiful people!
There has been a cafe I have been going to since they opened and I LOVE this place. I usually come to 10eighteen cafe to edit photos, have consultations or just eat that delicious looking charcuterie board (seriously so good). It's located at 1018 Dundas St here in London ON.

Rêve Champagne // Urban Outfitters Fragrance

This year I'm all about bettering myself. The first step to following my new perspective on myself was buying this amazing little fragrance.  I think I paid about $22 for it, it fits perfectly in my purse, and it smells amazing!
Seriously, what more do you need?
Here is a weird fact for you, I don't think I have ever purchased a perfume until this. I was always gifted them at Christmas, or my last one was just given to me because I kept using it every time I hung out with my girlfriend before we went out.
This purchase was obviously way over due !

Arriving in Style

This outfit is 100% mine, the bike.. unfortunately not! I borrowed this bike from one of my girlfriends who I work with. She rides this thing every single day and clearly is getting more and more fit by doing so. If I chose that lifestyle though, I would literally be huffing and puffing the whole way to work. So for now, I'll just stick to my little Elantra.

Little Black Off The Shoulder Dress

A little off the shoulders action in my little black dress with colourful embroidery from Forever 21. Also featuring UO sunnies and lace up flats from Old Navy.

Denim & Sunflowers

On My Way To The Adult Life

1 hour until an interview. What do I wear? 

Here I have an outfit dedicated to H&M - Well at least the skirt and turtleneck. The clutch can be found from Chapters and Shoes from Forever 21. 

Walking Through Ruins

Over the past couple of weeks the weather has been overly gloomy, meaning no time for some sweet golden hour shots. So on this day in particular, my one photographer Sean and I rushed from work to start shooting at Sunset. But by the time we got to this Ruins location, the sun was basically gone. 

Those are the struggles of a photographer. But regardless we still got a few shots from the night! 

Pumpkin Hunting

October is probably my favourite month, for the obvious reasons; leaves, pumpkins, colours, apple cider, cozy sweaters, booties, etc. I could talk about it for hours. 

Here I have a look dedicated to when I went pumpkin hunting with my younger siblings this past weekend. I was photographing family sessions in the morning, so I needed something practical (The Runners) yet sophisticated on top. 

Lookbook // Beach Date

My favourite part about outfit posts are finding locations. Like, can you guess where we are? We're outside of a Cat Hospital? It's so beautiful! 

Anyways, on to the outfit: here we have a thrifted dress paired with beige suede open toe booties. I would wear this out to an early in the evening dinner date. Maybe an on-the-beach type of restaurant. This is easy to switch from casual to dressy. Just by switching the shoes makes a HUGE difference. But I opted for the more fancy side of things. 

Feature // Fashion Stylist Sara Haney

Photographer: Shannon McCabe

Sara and I met through my very first fashion show with Evelynn by Nicole Snobelen and have been either going to fittings for photo shoots or working together to put photo shoots together! She is literally the sweetest person I have ever met and has a great eye for her career in fashion. 

I really wanted Sara to collaborate with Fresh Collidings as she is one of my daily fashion inspirations and I was so happy when she agreed to write an article for me! 

"Style is a way to say who you are without having to speak". I couldn't have said it any better than my inspiration, world famous stylist and fashion mogul, Rachel Zoe. My name is Sara Haney, but some people know me as Blondehanes. I am a 21 year old freelance stylist, paving my way through the world of fashion. Learning all of the aspects, from design to modelling, and trying to have my hand in anything fashion related. London living, fashion is harder to come by, but having great connections with other young entrepreneurs and fashion labels definitely helps. Currently, I am working in retail as one of the managers of Le Chateau, modelling for Evelynn by Nicole Snobelen, being a Brand Ambassador for Ezzylynn, and styling photoshoots when I get the chance to. When I'm not doing any of the above, I'm probably thinking up my next outfit. Over the past year or so, I have transformed my Instagram account into a fashion centred styleblogger account. With personal touches of family and friends here and there, I have branded myself to be an insta-fashion blogger. I created the hashtag #whatsarawears to distinguish my photos and add to my self branding. (Thank you profs in fashion merchandising for all of the lessons on branding yourself). My personal style depends on my mood that day. I can go from boho-chic to glam and bright in a matter of days. I love to shop at thrift stores, Winners, Le Chateau (obvi), forever 21, Zara, H&M, Kate Spade, Jcrew, and anything else that has a great window display. My amazing and willing BFF/BF Simon graciously takes my #OOTD photos that I can post for people to see. For the foreseeable future, I'll stay in retail management, until I can be styling full time. So I guess you could say I'm living my dream job, but only part time. Maybe I'll be the next Rachel Zoe on the red carpet, I guess you'll just have to keep tabs on me and see where this industry takes me! Thanks for reading. xo

Sara

If you would like to follow Sara of Instagram and keep up with all her outfit inspirations, you can go head over to her account @blondehanes !

Review // The Early Bird

A while ago when Anna and I went on excursions to restaurants we found this super cool place called The Early Bird. It was really unique and artsy with all different kinds of posters/wall art and colours all over the place. Anna and I loved it in there! They also had some really yummy plates on their menu. I ordered the pirogues and Anna decided on the pull pork sandwich. Such good choices! I can definitely say I've been there a few times since then!
You can find The Early Bird over at - 355 Talbot St, London, ON N6A 2R5

xoxo. Maria

Review // Fire Roasted Coffee Company

Last night was a busy night. I was photographing assignments and catching up on work, but Anna and I still had time to venture off and try something new. We ended up going to two new places to try out their specialities. This blog post is dedicated to when we went over to Fire Roasted Coffee Company over on King st. in London, On. They have THE best hot chocolate ever. I had the Sel De Mer, which was a creamy hot chocolate with sea salt. It was super yummy. They also offer little chocolate truffles, cookies and other snacks. Along with many other delicious drink options. Plus, the inside of the coffee shop is just super cute all on it's own. It seems like the perfect place for me to come back to and relax while I'm editing a bunch of photo shoots!

xoxo. Maria