• Opinion,  Travel

    Travel Nostalgia

    I am at the tail end of my summer vacation. My partner and I stayed “local”, spending 2 nights in Montreal and 1 night in Ottawa, and the rest of the week in and around southern Ontario. We drove – my first long road trip. It was a great trip!   One of my favourite activities is traveling to new places and gaining new life experiences. Immersing myself in the local culture, food and, of course, shops. As we are all painfully aware, that hasn’t been an option since the pandemic started – at least not with extreme inconvenience and precaution. Our vacation was wonderful, but I am missing international…

  • Opinion

    2020 Roundup

    What a year it was… one I will never forget. Phrases like unprecedented, social distancing, virtual event, lockdown, and “can everyone see my screen?” dominated our lives. Who knew that face masks and lanyards could become fashion pieces?? But in some ways, it feels like it was necessary. Lessons learned the hard way… Goals I started 2020 with a few personal goals. Traveling. Reading. Investing. Health & wellness. Rewarding myself with an LV bag. And then the pandemic hit. Traveling went out the window – although I did manage to squeeze in one vacation beforehand. As did the investment goal, with house prices skyrocketing in Toronto (city dwellers opted to…

  • Opinion

    Apparel Industry

    In addition to my passion for fashion, I am a Chartered Professional Accountant and I have full-time employment in Finance for a large commercial real estate company. So I thought I would combine the two for this post  The pandemic has had a significant negative impact on the apparel industry, which may never fully recovery. Let’s explore the reasons and what has led us here The Numbers In Canada, manufacturing employs ~1.6 million people[1]. A small fraction is employed in the production and administration of manufacturing fashion goods, which contributes ~$43.6B CAD (~4%) in total market value[2]. Manufacturing jobs, in general, have decreased in North America from the 1970s through…