Winter Coat: Soia & Kyo

It's that time of year again... Canada is slowly entering it's menacing cold icy weather and I'm about to be frozen to death during my walks to school. But have no fear! I just ordered a new coat for the season!

My previous winter coat was Soia & Kyo's Betty in Black back from their 2009 Winter collection.
Soia & Kyo makes the best wool coat out there that can withstand the Canadian weather.
Canadians know what other Canadians want :)



Gorgeous coat, thick wool, snug fit. I loved the design of Betty. Double breasted Military Chest. Collared and buttoned sleeves. All lined with a touch of green, yellow and black plaid.
I ordered Betty the winter it came out because I just couldn't resist. $400 for a coat is quite a hefty price tag for a student. So I resisted the urge to buy a coat last winter.


I made a trip over to Simons to check out Soia & Kyo's 2011 collection. I can tell you that I am very disappointed with their new collection. I can't possibly describe how the quality has gone down. Everything was THIN. If they thought I was about to dish out $400 for a thin wool or down coat, they were wrong. The only reason I would spend so much money on a coat was because I would spend $170 for a thin coat, why not pay double for something that'll keep me warm? Good thing last year's collection is on sale and the material description matched Betty's.

Old Material Description vs. New Collection Material Description.
80% wool vs. 51-60% wool

The more wool... the warmer the coat is.... Sorry, but 60% doesn't cut it for Canadian winters.


My new coat this winter is Soia & Kyo's Polina in Black from their 2010 Winter Collection.
Just placed my order not long ago. $195+ tax + free shipping, I think it's quite a good investment... as long as it isn't thin... I'm hoping it isn't, seeing how it has the same product description as Betty. (edit: Just went on the Soia&Kyo website and Polina is not available anymore... good thing I bought her this morning!)

Statement collar, belted, also double breasted wool coat. Beautiful and classic!
This might be the last Soia & Kyo coat that I'd be buying in while... unless they up their game again.

Prepared to take the winter months on!

Soia & Kyo Link

New Fixation

As I was stressed the last month and a half from school, I spent alot of time trying to cope with it. My method of coping this semester was watching a ridiculous amount of shows.... and I got hooked on a new one. I grew up watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch- cartoon and the TV show. So a new show about witches in the midst of all this vampire hype? I'm in! (and might I add I'm a Harry Potter fan too?)

The Secret Circle

This show is my new fixation! I am infatuated with Thomas Dekker, who plays Adam Conant on the show. He has this bad boy meets cute good guy look. Did I mention his husky voice? He looks adorable with Cassie (Britt Robertson) and Diana (Shelley Hennig.) But I'm rooting for Cassie and Adam to be together. I know how both Cassie and Adam's families are written in the stars and are destined together is a little cliche but I like corny stuff. This show is getting better each episode. More mysterious, darker and more stories get unraveled (Obviously.) Now I just wish they did more magic....

Update - Lots of Ranting

So I've noticed I've been neglecting my blog recently and all I've been posting were updates every once a month or so. I was terribly stressed at the amount of university workload and trying to balance that with my job.

I am a chemistry major at McGill. I thought I could have stuck with it for a year and then switched out to biochemistry or pharmacology. Or rather sucked it up for the next three years and just graduated. But my boyfriend saw the amount of stress and how unhappy I was in my major and really encouraged me to do what I was interested in and not what people expected me to do. I've now decided to switch my major to Linguistics. I was interested in the Linguistics major when I was at the Open House last October but never acted on it. I was unhappy and under constant stress for the last month and a half. I withdrew from a large part of my classes this semester and I also dropped most of my classes in the winter semester and am now trying to register into arts classes.

- RANT -
My entire life, I based my academic decisions on what people expected me to do. I am now letting myself be liberated from them and allowing myself to explore outside the comforting realms of science. I told my mom and stood up against her when she said I should continue in chemistry (and then switching to pharmacology) because it would most probably land me a job easier. I'm pretty pissed off at her. She had never pushed my younger sister to do anything she did not want to do like she did with me. My sister explained to me how my mom knew I was able to push myself to do something I didn't like. Well, not anymore. I want to see her get a university degree. When I told her I was quitting my job and when my dad gave me an option of just working during holidays (winter break, summers..) and I said I didn't feel like it. My mom said that I had to if I wanted to earn my money. No. I am now quitting my job and need you to provide me the money to spend. I grew up with them telling me to not worry about anything financially as long as I got my education. My mom got a little too comfortable with my sister and I paying for our own things. And now she tells me I have to earn it when I want to focus on my studies? Sorry, not happening. You're the one that wants me to get an education. You're paying for my tuition fees and my living costs.


-- JOB RANT -- (You were warned... anger... frustration... more anger... and me jumping from topic to another)
I also recently quit my job. Quitting my job was pretty impulsive but I felt like it was time I got away from it. I'm starting to regret the decision now that I have fewer classes and more free time on my hands. I'll probably hunt for another job. My soon to be ex-manager started changing my availability by herself, assigning me hours when I'm not available, making me feel bad about bringing homework to work and tried to get me to trick me into staying an extra two hours when it was originally a three hour shift. I was really into my job even though I didn't always like it. I felt good when customers were happy and weren't rude. I feel bad calling in and saying I can't make it into work (even if it's not my fault that I got scheduled.) I am no longer going to deal with this new manager's stupidity and telling me that she "understands" that I'm stressed about school TODAY. No... it's not just today, it's the entire next 3 weeks. So I quit from my job. I was next up to be supervisor, everyone else was either new or aren't trustworthy enough or too lazy. I wonder how they will fare when Christmas rolls in. I kinda wish them the worst. Nice co-workers but horrible higher ups. Only one co-manager appreciated us. If the co-manager leaves, I'm sure everyone will too. They're losing all the good workers... just because this new manager wants to be a directeur and starts being anal about everything. Good thing I don't technically need a job.

End of my immature rants...

American Apparel Warehouse Sale Montreal 2011

American Apparel is hosting it's warehouse sale again in Montreal!
September 16th-21st.

5430 Ferrier Street

Montreal, QC

I was super excited to go to the sale. Last time I went, about a year or two ago, it was horribly messy and I didn't have the patience to dig through boxes to find things. I ended up buying nothing that time. But I regret it now, at least that sale had good stock. This time around... practically everything had a defect of some sort on it; whether it be a hole, stain, broken zipper, etc. It was a warehouse sale, none of the ads advertised damaged items were to be the majority of the stock.

Needless to say I was very disappointed. I'm not a die-hard American Apparel fan and would never go out of my way to buy damaged clothing just because it was cheap (unless it was honestly a couple dollars.) But for the price I was paying at this sale, I wasn't about to pay the amount for defect items. I would have gladly done it if it was in retail condition.. hence a WAREHOUSE SALE. It was not worth the trip at all. It took me about 40 minutes to get there from school and it was cold!

I had a couple of things I had in mind that I wanted to pick up. I ended up only buying 2 items but it was worth it. The hour long wait was horrid. It was drawing closer and closer to noon and i wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything this time. I made sure to walk around the entire warehouse before leaving.


After watching Miss A's "Good Girl Bad Girl" MV a while back, I've always wanted to get the petticoat slip skirt. It's so puffy and feminine and it flows so nicely when it moves. I originally wanted it in black, like Suzy's, but they only had it in white at the sale. I have too much black clothing and white is the alternative color in my closet usually. I decided I needed the white petticoat just as much as the black one to wear with my more feminine pieces.


So I ended up buying the white reversible petticoat slip skirt for $20 (Originally $82 CAD) and a plain white t-shirt for $8 (Originally $25 CAD.)

I've wanted an American Apparel white v neck tee for quite a while now. But I could never justify paying the $25 for it. Sure, the quality was really good, but I hardly ever buy things not on sale. (American Apparel "sales" aren't what I call deals.) Anyways I was going to get the organic blend in a size small but then realized there were noticeable stains that were quite large on the back of a sleeve, and that it was probably a unisex small and put it down. I found probably the only XS white v neck in decent condition. Mine had a small brown stain near the V neck. But I decided BLEACH will fix this and grabbed this.

I only bought these two items and do not recommend going unless you want to waste your time. I put down so much stuff while waiting in line to pay. I'd wait for the next sale (which hopefully won't carry as much damaged items.) I should have also looked for some bandeau tops, but the mess in the baby/lingerie/sock area was too much for me to handle. I saw girls waiting in line ahead of me contemplating if they should buy dresses or shirts with cuts and defects. $15 for a dress with a hole in it? $20 for a pen marked skirt? $12 for a lace bodysuit with holes in it? No thank you. Not at a warehouse sale.