Emily Schuman of Cupcakes & Cashmere at Holt Renfrew in Toronto

This title of this post could also read “Best Weekend EVER!” OR “Best Chanukah gift EVER!” OR… well…I think you get the picture.

Two weeks ago on a Thursday afternoon, I was having an awful day thanks to a very rude technician who had given me a test. However, the day slowly started turning into one of the best ever: a great meeting with my advisor was followed by the news that my first ever article (my master’s thesis) had been submitted to a journal for publication. High on all of that, it was hard to get some work done, so I thought I would calm down by taking a few minutes to surf the web. BIG MISTAKE…because then I saw this on twitter:

Needless to say, I was over the moon. I have been reading Cupcakes & Cashmere almost every weekday for the past three years. The blog inspires me to no end. This was an event, and I had to be there.

Thankfully, Via Rail understood how important this was to me and decided to put on a 50% off seat sale which, along with a 10% promo code that I qualified for, allowed me to book the three hour train trip to Toronto.

Ultimately, I chose to make a weekend event out of it.

The trip over was uneventful – mostly because waking up at 5:30am for a 6:45 train trip is awful and that time of day is too early for the world to exist. However, the parts of the trip later in the morning by the water were pretty:

When I got in to Toronto at 9am, I walked around, did some shopping, and enjoyed the holiday atmosphere. Around noon I started walking up to Holt Renfrew and ended up sidelined at an Indigo bookstore where there happened to be a live performance by a broadway singer (from the show Rent) going on – a great event to stumble upon!

(I also got my hands on a new issue of Italian Vogue – SCORE!)

But then, it was off to Holts. I wanted to be there early because I had seen the long lines from pictures of Emily’s signings in the states. I ended up being the first person there (that’s right, I was first in line!) and one of the organizers kindly gave me a number to hold my spot so that I could walk around instead of waiting for an hour for the signing to start (such a well organized system!). This allowed me to spend some time walking around as well as enjoying the decorations that had been set up for the signing.

Fittingly, the signing was set up in the cashmere section of the store

The store was also taking care of us by handing out bottles of sparkling water, and mini cupcakes.

Finally, it was 2pm and Emily was there!

And it was time to meet her!

Meeting her and giving her a card with a small gift to welcome her to Canada: maple leaf shaped soap. “Did you make it yourself?”, she asked. Seriously – that’s how skilled she is (I would never even consider the possibility of actually making soap!).

I assumed I’d be standing and she would sign and that would be it. Therefore, I was so surprised when she told me to take a seat and actually took a minute to talk with me while she signed – a first for any book signing I’ve attended!

Talking about all the people and me telling her about my trip over. In all honesty, I don’t remember much. I blanked and that really makes me sad!

Not my best picture – it seems that my worst smiles happen when I am truly happy!

After, I got a free make-up application from Estée Lauder. Then I walked around the store. Holts had really got into the holiday spirit: they were handing out complimentary hot chocolate with mini marshmallows (using gorgeous silver tongs!) and had carollers in the shoe department.

So, while they sang about a few of their favourite things, I checked out a few of mine:

Waiting to board the train for the trip back home, I was speaking with my mother and lamenting the fact that I was so far back in line for the train car. “That’s ok,” she said. “You were number 1 when it counted.” So true! What a wonderful weekend and fabulous Chanukah gift to myself!

Wishing you the best of everything!

Champagne Moods

P.S. I found out that I made the cut for Holts official video of the event: