extraordinary.

Most Mondays are pretty mundane. Wake up, survive, work and head back to bed. I'm a strong believer in enjoying the weekend, which means staying up too late, lots of fun and having a glass of wine (or two!)

This past Monday was something totally out of the ordinary.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to a Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Stay Extraordinary after party hosted by Diet Coke at the Hoxton. At first, I thought it was a scam. "I'm just some girl from B.C." I thought, not giving it another glance seriously.

When I realized that this was real, I was over the moon. A little invitation showed up at my door a week later, fittingly inside a movie reel-like box. The invite said listed Estelle, famous for her song "American Boy" with Kanye West as the performer of the evening and told us to dress to impress.

Le sigh. What shall I wear?

The answer? My trusty LBD - little brown dress that is.

Emma, my darling friend who is in the marking and business program at Ryerson University was my plus one for the evening, and we decided to dress to the nines. Once inside the party, we found that the theme was Old Hollywood 40's glamour, with complimentary pearl necklaces and bow ties, black and white Audrey Hepburn films projected on a wall and an open oyster bar.

Sticking with the theme, cocktails named after famous belles of the ball (I'll have one Elizabeth Taylor and one Grace Kelly s'il vous plait), all with a touch of Diet Coke.

After a few glasses of wine, a trip though a photo booth section and a simulated red carpet walk, Emma and I somehow found our way into the VIP section...shhhh, by accident. Across bar was a live feed of Twitter messages mentioning the party, and I realized that I was invited as a Toronto blogger to come to this event. Literally everyone from the area that I follow on the social networking website was there, and also tweeting about it.





Approximately three minutes to Estelle taking the stage, I realized this might be the moment. After all that time, work, sweat, tears and fighting against the grain, I think we may be on our way to making it.

I have to say, thank you so much for following my musings and my thoughts on my blogette for the past few years. Without my readers, I would be nothing. This blog was a same project of expression, and now has gotten me into a TIFF party of all things!

Merci, merci, merci.

The coolest moment of the night - besides being five feet away from Estelle - was the bathrooms. Joe Fresh partnered with Diet Coke this past summer and had a station set up in the rhinestone bathroom to test the products. Emma got her nails painted this fall's it-colour, ivy green.

Mid-manicure, Emma told one of the girls that I was a blogger. I was floored and my heart swelled. What a compliment now to say that in a public setting.




Emma was the perfect girl for this party, as she worked the room, knows so much about the industry, marketing, PR and more. I am a very lucky girl to have a good friend to share the night with. Thanks for coming with me E!

After swiping our Diet Coke goodie bags filled with a vintage glass six-pack of the soda, a magazine and more, we teetered along King Street reveling on what we had just witnessed. This was the reason we moved to this city. It wasn't easy at first, but now we are experiencing the things professionals are invited to.

Amidst all the glamour we felt surrounded by, we fished out change and took the subway home. Some things never change.