It’s that time of year again: the Christmas trees and tinsel comes down and brides everywhere start girding their loins & donning their sturdy shoes for the full contact sport that is Bridal Boutique Sale Season.
 
Now, these events are NOT for the feint of heart or the casual browser; no, no… only the heartiest of souls with the strongest of convictions (a sturdy gait and a healthy hip check help as well) should attempt these outings. And it’s best to bring reinforcements (you have a bridal party… here’s where they’ll come in really handy!)
 
More than just the bog standard trunk sale, a bridal blowout (usually held at a hotel or events centre due to their sheer size) sale is ideal for the bride who’s willing to fight for an affordable dress. And when price tags can creep upwards of the 2-grand mark, it’s worth looking into attending if you have an idea in mind for your dress to end all dresses.  With prices that start at $199, it’s certainly worth a shot.
 
Amanda Lina’s annal event starts tomorrow (Thursday, Jan. 6) and runs until Sunday (Jan. 9). I attended this sale a few years back when one of my BFFs was getting ready to say her I Dos.  And, though she didn’t find her dream dress there, there were plenty of happy ladies who did.
 
Want the deets?
 
What: Amanda-Lina’s Sposa Boutique Bridal Blowout Sale
Where: Double Tree by Hilton (655 Dixon Road Toronto, ON)
When: Jan. 6 & 7 (12 – 9pm); Jan. 8 (10am – 6pm); Jan. 9 (11am – 5pm)

Oh, happy day! My very first eBay purchase has walked back into my life and made me as giddy as a schoolgirl.
 
Originally thought to be lost (presumably last winter when we moved into the Rockstar House), I stumbled upon my gloriously inexpensive ($8 – beat that!) and fabulously glam stilletos (my heart weeps with the fact that they’re too big to actually wear out of the house) while searching for – of all things – the carrying strap for my yoga mat.
 
Yes, I really am that disorganized. Ask LX (my fiancé) about the pile of clean clothes that lives (albeit, in different incarnations) on the armchair in our bedroom, or the boxes that I’ve yet to unpack but proclaim weekly that I “really need to do something about.”
 
Who cares! Behold… aren’t they lovely?
 

 
You may now return to your regularly scheduled lives.
 

So how did this quest begin? Well, I’m about to be a bride (obviously). And I’m notoriously… erm… frugal? Cash conscious? Eff it – I’m a cheap bitch. Oh, I can spend the hell out of other people’s cash. But, when it comes to my own purse strings, let’s just say that Girl Guide badge in knot tying has come in quite handy.
 
But I digress.
 
I’m loathe to admit that I fall into that most stereotypical of clichés where women are concerned – I love to shop. I’ve also got a nerd streak in me a mile long that keeps me tethered to my computer for long stretches of time. So the concept of the two of these earthly delights combined as one had me giddy even before my first visit. I could shop AND still be sitting in front of my computer? Dear lord – this was better than man landing on the moon. Okay, not really, but it was really REALLY good.
 

A Boba Fett watch – one of my earliest eBay purchases; a birthday gift to my fiancé.

And, just to keep the clichés a-rollin’, my very first purchase via that bastion of treasure & wonder was a pair of shoes; a sassy-as-hell pair of black stilettos that have since wandered off (pun entirely intended) in to the wild blue yonder. Now, ordinarily, a pair of missing shoes (especially a really sexy pair) would be cause for some seriously colourful language and more than a little angst. But the fact that I paid a mere $8 for those beauties has kept me in off the ledge and I’ve since gone on to many more glorious purchases. I’ve discovered clothing, jewelry, shoes, tech, camera gear… everything you can imagine (and a few my imagination never would have conjured and I’d really rather I hadn’t discovered) right at your fingertips – literally.
 
Ah eBay – retail therapy in the comfort of your own home. Genius.