Project:#LIFEOFSTYLE Welcomes Project:Priceless

My handsome new hubby and I had the distinct privilege of being invited to the much-anticipated #LIFEOFSTYLE party, hosted by Twenty York Street, THANN Skincare, Beyond Events, and Frash. #LIFEOFSTYLE was—aside from being one of the most talked-about events in the city this year—the launch of new sites for Beyond Events, Twenty York, and Frash. Frankly, I think these titans of fashion were just looking for a good excuse to party!

Mr. Fadi Ghaby, owner of THANN Skincare and ML in Sukhoo Sukhoo Couture.

We started off the evening by stepping into the lovely front entrance of The ARC Hotel on Slater Street in downtown Ottawa.

Author/Guest Blogger Jordan with uber-cool new hubby, Brian.

We’d never been in before, and were delighted with its uber-modern styling. After dropping off our coats, we headed into the LOUNGE, a moodily-lit club-like space that was already hopping with people.

Our first stop was at the incredible display by Little Cakes Cupcakes, with beautiful trays of perfect mini cupcakes, overshadowed slightly by the tower of something called ‘cupcake shooters’: little vials of cupcake and icing layered together that you immediately fall in love with. Crowning the tower: shooters of straight sucre a la crème icing: a mapley-brown sugar-heaven flavoured mixture that was unsullied by any crumbly cake, left to shine by its glorious, creamy self.

We shook hands with Mike Whitton, known best by his twitter handle, @ThatMikeGuyOtt, the man about town. Mike tweeted live from the Project: Priceless wedding ceremony and reception; yet, despite being the bride of P:P, I only got to finally meet him here at #LIFEOFSTYLE!

Our evening soon became a whirl of people and treats. While we chatted with local radio celeb Stuntman Stu, a friend of Project: Priceless, we munch on baby beef sliders made in-house at ARC.

Super delicious beef sliders courtesy of The Arc Hotel.

I got to chat with Brian of Start Up Dance, who apparently was a member of my Brian’s highschool breakdancing troupe. ‘Start Up Brian’ had lovely things to say about ‘P:P Brian’, and all this was sweetened by the cones of raspberry mousse I munched on from Reggina Pastry.

The eternal cool boyz: Startup Dance's Brian Tong

and party maker Eric-Deejay. 

One of our all-star photogs, Adam Pap, busily snapped pictures of us while we chatted with the brains behind Local Tourist Ottawa and Foodie Prints…as I hunted down and demolished more cupcakes. You can probably find me in the background of shots taken during the fashion show by Juliana Giraldo, stuffing a pina colada cake into my happy face.

Majic 100's Power Couple: Stuntman Stu and Connie B.

Kim Sullivan of BOOM 99.7 and guest.

Stacey Bafi-Yeboa of Kania Couture and Ikram.

Paparazzi to the stars: Arne and Jennifer.

ML with Designer Kim Dargy and Jason of Banana Republic.

Pino, Creative Director of YouGotSquared with the beautiful Juliana of MIIKALI.

The Great Joe Hashem and lovely guest.

It really was a ‘who’s who’ and ‘what’s what’ of Ottawa, that night at LIFEOFSTYLE. So many local celebs were present, like Fashion Editors Janet Wilson and Julie Beun from the Ottawa Citizen, Le Brande Diva, Ottawa At Home Magazine, Where Ottawa, Ottawa Magazine, DNA 11, Splendid Events, Urbanite Jewelry and Alan Viau (lots, lots more!).

The Asian-inspired display by THANN Skincare.

 I took a moment out to get a complimentary hand massage with some THANN skin care products, loving the new jasmine scent and the liquorice body butter.

Miraculously, it’s one of the few product lines that doesn’t leave Brian with a closed throat from allergies, so I got to walk around all night smelling like exotic spices.

The in-demand oyster bar courtesy of Whalesbone Catering.

We deliberated for a while before venturing over to the oyster bar, provided by the always-impressive Whalesbone. Neither Brian nor I had ever tried one, so the oyster shucker Josh explained the basics, and like old pros we noshed on a couple of lemon-soaked shellfish. We both rather liked it, though one seemed enough. Later when we regaled my father with tales of the endless oysters, he advised us that it takes about twenty to really get the knack of them. How to tell him, the tiny bit of courage I summed up for eating just one was all show for my new husband, whom I love to impress!

ML of Twenty York Street with Kimberly Dunn, Wendy of Beyond Events

and J of 20YS/YouGotSquared.

The Beautiful People of Ottawa came out to show that this city does have style and fun!

The Yummy Mummy Club Ottawa

Famous Bloggers: Loukia, Connie, Candace, Kelli and Krista.

By eight o’clock, the place was packed to the rafters, with Start Up Dance performing along with a beatboxer that had people mesmerized. We chatted with up-and-coming models, local bloggers, and a ton of Project: Priceless fans who fanned the flames of our egos all evening.

Gorgeous Live Tweeter: Blogger Kate of Petite Adventures and Twenty York Street.

Hot Zone Hottie: Blogger Alex of Le Paz/Twenty York Street.

 

Tweeting like CNN reporters in a tropical storm, Brian and I both saw our tweets up on the big screen a dozen times, and I even won a blouse from Mikali for being the most prolific tweeter.

Brian and Jordan by Adam Pap.

Of course, the big question before #LIFEOFSTYLE had been, what to wear. I feel I’d be remiss if we didn’t dish on this one. In the end, I decided to wear anything that went with my most precious pair of shoes: a pair of sparkly red-and-ivory striped platform heels from Miss L-Fire in England (sold locally at PomPom). I actually found a dress on consignment for under twenty bucks, which suited my style and was fun to wear; proof again that fashion is an inside job, and not about labels at all. Brian, the biggest clotheshorse of them all, had a vest made special by our wedding clothier JR Creations for the night. Decked out in his best suit and pocket watch, he looked every bit the GQ gentleman. Of course, we were all outshone by Marilou of Twenty York!

Twenty York Street with the famous Newlyweds - Project:Priceless.