Valerie Stachurski - Social Media Lover, Klutz, Lover of Arts And Everything Charming. Enjoying All The Fantastic Events And Fun Things To Do In Toronto. Follow Along To Get The Not-So Sophisticated Version Of Everything That Is Happening In The Big City!
Contact: v.stachurski@gmail.comRead more about me »
Ok I am very excited for this BUT it definitely conflicts with my Mad Men love affair. It premieres this Sunday at 10 pm on Showcase. That is not right. Who does that to someone? AMC and Showcase, that’s who.
Summer is done, but that’s no need to pout. If you aren’t going away this long weekend, consider coming out to the C Lounge on September 5th to enjoy a fun event called Drink – Play – Fashion. Attendees will get to preview some of the collections from designers who will be at LG Fashion Week this October. Check out the above link for the Facebook page info. These events are a great way to show your support for local designers. Looking forward to it!
I think that this is a blog necessity. Everything that Oscar Wilde ever said was pure ironic genius. A book that may be of interest to all the Toronto socialites and culture fans is The Picture Of Dorian Gray. This is HANDS DOWN my FAVORITE book EVER written. I have read it at least five times and each time I am more and more delighted by Wilde’s twisted yet truthful outtake on society. Lord Henry’s witticisms still ring true for today’s generation of up and coming big wigs on the social scene. Ultimately, Wilde manages to expose the heinous underside of high class culture in the most charming way imaginable. If I start on my Dorian Gray tangent I won’t stop. So what I am going to propose to do is post one fantastic quote by Oscar Wilde a week. But he did once say that “consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative” sooooo…..
I have been thinking about this quite a bit recently. Toronto is filled with a group of people that can only be described as “blog-stars”. Once you start adding up the advantages of having a strong online presence in Toronto, people from other cities would be shocked. For example, I am from Ottawa and have never seen anything like this over there. I know of maybe 2 people who write blogs there and no one cares. But it really can’t be denied. VIP treatment is handed over in this city to people who have strong blog readerships and possess the ability to influence large groups of people. In the mere six months I have been here I have been invited to amazing, exclusive VIP parties, received free product and am sent press releases with regards to things that are happening in the city.
That said, people are usually surprised to find out that the majority of Toronto’s online celebrities maintain full-time jobs that are completely unrelated to the blogs that they write. Massive Toronto fashion blogger Anita Clarke from I Want I Got works in IT at a financial institution as a QA analysis when she isn’t maintaining her incredibly informative fashion blog. I mean, she doesn’t mess around with that thing. I Want I Got is a huge site. I have enough difficulty doing 5 entries a week on this blog while working steadily
Beyond the mere aspect of finding the time to maintain your blog while you work full time as well, I was wondering how much power employers have when it comes to a blogging employee. For those of you who may recall, I was working for a wildebeest, she-devil at a travel magazine a little while ago. You can refresh your memory on what that woman put me through here. Before she went crazy pyschotic on me, she took me out for lunch during my first week and asked me about myself. I told her that I write a blog in my spare time. She asked what kind. I said just a personal blog and I go to a few events in Toronto and I write about them. She said, “Well, that may be a conflict of interest”. I asked her how it could possibly be a conflict of interest because I didn’t sell travel ads on my site after all. Nor did I know anyone in the same business of online travel magazines. She didn’t have a response for me. But you could tell she did not like that I wrote a blog one bit. In fact, it could have been the major turning point for her when she suddenly started treating me like dirt on the bottom of her shoe.
Did she have any grounds to stand on there? Could I be fired for writing a blog? Now, I can see a problem if I started writing some really racy stuff. If you Google my name (Valerie Stachurski) you can see my bio at the travel magazine, and a few entries down, you can see my blog and my LinkedIn (hasn’t been updated in 6 months – I should get on that). So if one of her clients were to Google me while I worked for her, they could see that I wrote a blog. But I don’t find anything particularly controversial in this blog at all. The raciest thing I ever wrote was about a few dates I have had with women and I how I didn’t think that road was for me. Ohhhhhhhhh noooooooo. Someone dabbled in bi-sexuality? Off with their head. And fire her immediately. Pfffffft.
As far as I am concerned, blog writing when you have a full-time job falls into what you do with your personal life. Unless you are bashing the company you work for and the people you work with openly, you are free to write whatever you want. I would love to explore the legality behind it though and if anyone has any information for me, it would be much appreciated.
In addition, as I have mentioned numerous times, this blog has opened employment opportunities to me as well. I believe that one of the main reasons I have the job I have today was because my employer loved the fact that I wrote a blog. Writing a bog and being on Twitter demonstrates my ability to get connected with people. It also shows my creative, original side. Many people don’t have the effort in them to devote themselves to maintaining a blog. The work that goes into it can make it seem like a whole other job. So writing a blog shows I am not afraid of work.
Also, have you SEEN some of the blogs written by people in this city? In my opinion, any employer would be lucky to have that type of creativity and brains on on their team. I mean if Lexus considers Toronto bloggers to be VIPs, that could be a big indication of what’s to come.
So celebrity blog or full-time job? I say both. And I think the smart employers in this city are in full agreement.
I am so lucky to get these invites. Thanks to Rock-It Promotions for putting me on the VIP list for the world premiere of the new CT 200h Lexus. Wow. I had soooo much fun. It was a GREAT night, complete with cocktails, Lexus testing, and a great free concert by The Stills. All the online Toronto movers and shakers were there and once again I got to meet a lot of Twiiter people in real life including @pliving, @theambitiousc and @kevinjn to name but a mere few. Love them. There was a wedding going on at the Distillery and we pulled them into the front of the stage. So cute. I teared up a bit, they looked so happy. It was amazing.
Also, I really want a Lexus now. Like that was just cruel. Putting me in one of those bad boys and letting me play with all the gadgets was not fair. And I am loving that it’s a hybrid. Check out the pictures.
I seriously have the oddest tastes. I am attracted to virtually every type of man. Here are a few men who aren’t very attractive by conventional standards but I definitely wouldn’t mind eating dinner with them.
Zack Galifianakis
I have NO idea what it is about this guy. He is overweight and unkempt. It may be his beard, but man, I really have a thing for him. I think he is dreamy.
Andy Sandburg
Simply hilarious. This guy is one of the funniest people of our generation. He makes SNL a show worth watching with his famous digital shorts, including one of my favorites “Threw It On The Ground”. He’s funny looking, but I think he is majorly attractive.
Adrien Brody
Is he hot or isn’t he? I don’t know. Kinda weird face kinda, huge nose. But he has made my list. In fact, this particular photo was taken from a website called Ugly Males.
Mr. Desantis – My 9th grade science teacher
I don’t have a photo of Mr. Desantis. But let me paint a picture. He was about 45, balding and stole his sweaters from Bill Cosby. And I hated science. But for some reason, I ended up getting an A in his class.
Ray Liotta
This guy was totally sexy in Good Fellas. Now, not so much. But because I loved his character so much in that movie, he makes my oddly attractive list.
Tony Soprano
Let me clarify this. James Gandolfini is not attractive. Tony Soprano is. I don’t understand that anymore than you do.
Please feel free to share your lists. Guys – join in on this too….I mean there gotta be some women who you are oddly attracted to, no?
This new book by Emma Donoghue looks incredible. The Room has been longlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize. This book tells the story of a five-year-old named Jack who lives with his mother in one single small room. Their one link to the outside world comes through a mysterious man by the name of Old Nick. This trailer makes the book seem very compelling and The Room is definitely on my list of books to read.
One of my friends always makes fun of me when I say I am going to a Tweet Up. He calls them Geek Ups. Very creative. However, I can definitely see his point. In high school I think I made fun of kids who had online friends. My dad had online friends too. I think he still does. He called the Internet a fad, then caved and got addicted and made virtual friends with whom he discussed world issues with. Anyways, Twitter is basically a group of people online chatting.But you can be semi-selective in who you care to interact with. It’s like a virtual “friending” application. Forget E-Harmony and Plenty of Fish. If you want to try to find cool people online, get on Twitter. You can filter out who you engage with based on interests and it gives you an opportunity to really enhance your lifestyle. Now you may think that is a bold statement, but consider this. When I’m stuck in traffic, I can tweet which street I am on and ask “what’s the hold up?” I will get an answer. If I want to know where I can buy a certain item, I throw out the question to my Twitter friends. Because we all are connected on some minor level, the people who follow me will have an understanding of my tastes and can reply accordingly. It is like personalized Google for my phone.
That said, when there is a Tweet Up, I always try to go because I love meeting the people I talk to everyday on Twitter. In fact, unlike dates that come from Plenty of Fish or E-Harmony, I am never disappointed after a night out with the people I have met online via Twitter. So I am really looking forward to tonight’s GenY Toronto Tweet Up at the London Taphouse. GenY Toronto is a group for the “wired, creative and ambitious” Toronto crowd who work in marketing, PR and technology. If you don’t do any of those things, come out anyways, because as I said, Tweet Ups are fun and everyone is really nice. Looking forward to seeing everyone!
Eeek. I have been working The Profile Show for PlastiChic the past few days and I can safely say there will be some beeeeaaauuutiful things coming to stores this fall and spring (I already have my eye on a gorgeous coat and the lady wouldn’t let me buy it from her outright – what kind of tease is THIS?). On the other hand, I can also contend to the fact that there may be a few disasters coming our way. Now granted, the Profile Show may not be the hottest tradeshow in town, but there are some good booths there. Besides PlastiChic (shameless plug) there is Parasuco, Mavi, Buffalo, Rip Curl, Lady Dutch, Vero Moda, Kensie, Silver, Nautica and plenty more. There is also Hideous Bridal Gown store and Ugly Pants Suits and Leisure Wear stores a plenty. My co-worker and myself had to share the hottest outfit to be seen.
If that is what they put on display than what are they hiding in those racks? Can’t wait to see someone walking around with this.
Well, I tried to host an event and of course the worse thing that could have possibly happened did happen. My Girl’s Day Out got completely rained out and so on Saturday, I tried to reach as many people as possible to tell them that details had been rearranged at last moment to a brunch at the Rhino. I know a lot of ladies were planning on coming later in the day so a 12 pm brunch no longer worked, so I really appreciate everyone who at least tried to make it. And I really really really want to thank the 7 ladies who did actually come (out of all 400 I invited lol). At first I felt like a complete failure, but the point was to raise some money for women’s cancers, not protect my ego, and due to the generosity of Tanya, Maria, Davida, Sara, Kornelia, Daniela, and Lauren we did manage to pull together a nice little donation. Also, the intimate setting brunch gave us 8 a chance to really chat and get to know each other, which I think is divine. Thanks again ladies for coming, thanks for everyone who tried and thanks to everyone who passed the word along. If you want to host your own Girl’s Night In to raise money for women’s cancers go to the Canadian Cancer Society website to register here and let me know also if I can help out in anyway.
