Anthony Hopkins Does My Wallpaper

Does this not look like Anthony Hopkins?

Maybe this would help?


Nice of him to humour me with his best Hannibal Lecter, no?

We've recently had our place redone and Sir Hopkins installed our wallpaper. It's not easy finding someone for this job. It's quite expensive and installers are hard to find. Who knew? When Alex (ok fine, his real name) came to our place to do the quote, he came armed with an impressive portfolio and a British accent. Do you think they are brothers? Perhaps Hopkins is prepping for a new role and this is just research?

He did a great job and the results will be revealed in a future episode of ChickChat TV!

The ChickAdvisor Shop Crawl Part 4!

Ciao, Bella! This round of our popular signature event takes us to Little Italy. Though College Street is better known for the food than the shopping, it does have a tidy collection of beautiful boutiques that make it a perfect destination for our night out!

On Thursday October 9th, Join us for a night of exclusive shopping followed by an after party!

Part 1: Shopping 6-9pm. We will be taking College Street by storm. Get exclusive discounts from the following boutiques:







Girl Friday - 20% Off
Designer/Owner Rebecca tells us she'll have her new fall/winter coat collections in just in time for the crawl in addition to her signature dresses, Dish Denim, shoes, bags and accessories. Girl Friday was a big hit from our last Shop Crawl.






Balisi - 20% off
Balisi was also a major hit on our last Shop Crawl. Their College Street location is all about SHOES! They carry bags and a few clothes as well, but here you'll want to snap up a pair (or two) from their colourful collection.





American Apparel - 10% off, plus $5 gift card when you spend $50 or more
Leggings, T's, Uber stretchy tube dresses, athletic wear, underwear and every day staples for the Hipster wardrobe. You shop there anyway. Why not get a discount?










Lilliput Hats - 20% off
These coveted one of a kind hats are famous all over the world. They are made in-shop and have an unbeatable selection. Hats are a popular trend this fall. Snap one up at an unheard of discount.

Red Pegasus - 25% off
This little gem of a store has everything from Lug bags to greeting cards, candles, earrings and even a few really funny gag gifts. Pick up a necklace, a birthday gift or a mullet shampoo...

Ziggy's at Home - Discount TBA
Home decor, scented soaps and candles, lighting, house warming gifts, and much more. The only problem with this store is you might not want to leave.

We are expecting up to two more boutiques to be added to this list. :)

Part 2: The After Party at Vecchio Frak (9:15pm - 11ish- whenever you go home-ish)


Vecchio Frak makes some of the best thin crust pizzas in the city! Enjoy complimentary food and beverage, a goodie bag from our sponsors, prizes and someone will win a cash prize for the best outfit purchased the night of the Shop Crawl.

Sponsored in part by: Maybelline New York
If you didn't get a chance to try their popular Colossal Volum' Express mascaras from the recent Product Review Club offer, don't worry. You'll be getting one at the Shop Crawl... in addition to some other loot!

Tickets are $25 and must be purchased online in advance here:
http://chickadvisorshopcrawl4.eventbrite.com/

We sell out every time so don't wait or you will be disappointed!

Hope to see you there!

Check out our video from Shop Crawl #2

Read more about past Shop Crawls

Pet Peeve: Blog recaps

A lot of blog networks require their bloggers to publish weekly blog round-ups of each other's posts, titled after their network. How clever. They then require their bloggers to publish a short recap for each participating blogger's recent postings, which is painful to read and reeks of spam. Not only does it clutter an otherwise pleasant blog with unnecessary verbal diarrhea, it makes the poster sound as dull as the blogs they are touting:

Link Whore's Publishing Weekly Blog Round-Up

Whoo hoo! Look what fellow Link Whore Publishing members are talking about this week!

Dolly from Dolly's Ramblings is raving about those new pants she bought last week. LOL!

Sarah from I Love Makeup just tried out a brand new eyeliner... and she loves it!

Jessica admitted on Donuts for Life that she's gained 5 pounds.

TotalLoser.com just posted a new how to video on applying mascara. Can't wait to check that out!!

Betty from ThisIsMyLife is visiting her Aunt Bee in Detroit. Sounds like fun!

Blah, blah, blah, mundane, blah, blah, blah.

You get the point.

The objective of this is of course, to collect links for the publishing network and their bloggers. The traffic goes up for the Network and the bloggers who join these ridiculous rolls get more links and therefore a higher technorati score. But at what cost?

P.S. I do not blame the bloggers who are forced to publish this nonsense, it is the networks that are to blame.

To the Bloggers: Just say no!

How I Met My Husband

Ali and Alex ~ honeymoon in Spain May 2005

I have been a very naughty blogger.

The truth is, writing is not the easiest thing for me so posting on the ChickAdvisor blog as often as I do is already quite an accomplishment. With the amazing coverage the company has been getting Alex and I have been invited to speak at a number of events and I have another coming up on Feb 20th. I'm not complaining, we're thrilled. Just doin' a little 'splainin' for my absence is all.

A really interesting speaker that came into one of my classes last week said you should always keep up with your blog and write about the things you are learning and what is happening in your industry. So... I will attempt to write here more than once every 4 months ;)

I'm finally finishing my degree in April so I expect to have a more reasonable schedule shortly. In the mean time I'll leave you with this story that few people know but is quite unbelievable: How I met my husband... and business partner, Alex.

Alex and Ali at the Founders and Funders Dinner in Toronto photo credit: Istoica

Part 1: Kicked off Campus

I am originally from Winnipeg. About 8 years ago I was studying at the University of Manitoba and took on a part time job doing field marketing for a company with several clients including a new online textbook retailer for university students called ProfessorJones (now defunct). I promoted ProfessorJones on campus together with a small team I hired, and we handed out cd roms, put up posters and encouraged fellow students to buy their textbooks online instead of paying through the nose at the University bookstore. After a couple of weeks of intense promotion, we were kicked off campus because the university bookstore was upset about the competition and pulled out an old contract that said they had exclusive rights to sell text books on campus. The university paper wrote up a nice little ditty on the brouhaha here. They quoted me for it.

I didn't think anything more about that job until several years later...


Part 2: Living in T.O With The Roommate That Wouldn't Share

Shortly after my stint with ProfessorJones, I moved to Toronto by myself. I was working in the insurance industry as a claims adjuster, which I hated. I was very young, unconnected and underpaid. I knew I had much more to offer than assessing the value of a torn asshole from a slip and fall in a grocery store - yes, this was one of my files. One of the last. Despite the fact that I could hardly pay my bills, I put away 10% of my income every paycheque. After 3 years I had just enough to quit but didn't have the guts. I decided to downsize from living in my own jr 1 bedroom to sharing a 2 bedroom with a roommate. I found a beautiful apartment in Bloor West Village but didn't know anyone I could share it with. I told the landlord that I loved the unit but needed to find a roommate first. He mentioned that another tenant had a friend who was also looking for a roommate. We met later that week and realized we could stand to live together.

Part 3: Love at Second Sight

New Roommate had two guy friends help her move in. One of those guys was a somewhat grumpy but athletic looking guy named Alex. Our apartment had no air conditioning, we lived on the top floor with no elevator and it was 30 degrees outside that day, so understandably, Alex was no fun. We were equally unenthralled with each other.

Two months later we all joined a beach volleyball team and it turns out, Alex was not only the best player of the bunch, he was also a lot nicer than our first meeting. We found we had a lot in common. I didn't know much about him, but there were definitely mutual sparks. The Roommate saw the sparks. The Roommate didn't like the sparks. The Roommate said she didn't want her Roommate and her good friend to date. And so we didn't.

Part 4: Love Over a Bowl of Paella

Six months later, Alex threw a Paella night where he invited a bunch of friends over to share this traditional Spanish dish. He invited Roomie.... and me! By this time I realized Roomie was selfish in many ways and no longer cared if she was offended by me getting to know someone she had no intention of dating herself. He invited for 7. I came at 7. Everyone else came at 8. ... The Paella was delicious.

Part 5: Destiny

Two months later in casual conversation, Alex said, "well at my first company, ProfessorJones, we blah blah blah..." I nearly lost my lid. I said, "WHAT?! ProfessorJones?? I worked for you!!!" We immediately went online where he showed me his articles on ProfessorJones and I showed him my notorious affiliation.

He convinced me to quit my job and go back to school. We got engaged 5 months later and married 9 months after that. This May, we celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary. Our anniversary as business partners follows shortly after.

Do you believe in God - Fate - Destiny now?