Finally: an H&M in Ottawa!

As evinced by my past overnight adventures in the world of H&M collaborations I and H&M collaborations II (psst those are links), in addition to a good bit of my wardrobe consisting of their seasonal creations, I clearly, obviously, duh-ly love Hennes and Mauritz. Yet, for horrific reasons unbeknownst to me, Ottawa has been the last city on the planet without the store.  Kingston has had one for a while, as well as Barrie.  Those two places are heehee worthy, but then a few months ago I was passing by the outskirts of Montreal, where you'd normally see one-of-its-kind waffle houses and stores with four dollar bras, and saw the glowing red letters yet again. That was when I knew that enough was enough.  I let a single tear slowly run down my chin (which is like the most uncomfortable feeling in the world), and considered moving.  Then, it was announced: H&M is opening a store in Ottawa, at the Bayshore mall.  What whaaaaaaaaaaaat.

Of course, just waiting for opening day wasn't enough.  By some stroke of fashion luck, I wound up at the VIP Unveiling Party on October 15th (2 days before the store was to open), and let me just say, it was a night to remember. 

Before leaving for the party, I quickly threw some absolutely essential items into my Fall 2013 H&M bag and then took everything out to take this picture...

Acqua di Parma Gelsomino Nobile perfume, H&M dress, H&M necklace, Chanel lipstick, H&M bag

Then, when I was done haphazardly strewing my belongings about, I met up with my bestie and got the party started.

All in all, the event was magnificently put together, from the decor to the entertainment (Oh Land performed an amazing set), to the impeccable organizing, to the lush red carpet.... and in order to do the evening justice I have split my more specific thoughts into two fairly labelled categories:

The right thing to say:  It was so lovely to see some of my favorite fashion bloggers, the atmosphere was magical, and we loved our swag bags.

What I really want to say: I ate a lot of food that looked really fancy, I thought Oh Land was just a gorgeous girl with purple hair and only realized it was Oh Land when they started performing on stage, I drank more than a couple glasses of champagne, and the waitress let me have as many desserts off her tray as I wanted. I ate a lot of desserts also.

Oh, another highlight for me was realizing I have less than zero social skills, when my girlfriend decided to walk over to the guys from the band and ask them for a picture.  Obviously, as is always the case, my brain went into full loser mode, and I followed her over averting my eyes from anything at all. Yes, that looked as awkward as it sounds and let me just say it's not easy to not look at anything at all ever while you're standing still. The thing is I didn't want these guys to think I liked them because every girl in the world likes them and I didn't want to be annoying. Plus, it's not like I liked them, I was just there with girlfriend and would just be taking a picture or two.  Of course, everyone hit it off well because they're fun people and likely attended kindergarten where you first learn the art of small talk (I skipped those years, instead playing with an Airedale Terrier named Jennifer behind the house), so everyone was all "yeah we like touring, it's been fun" and "we love your songs! you're such cool guys!" and I was all "how do you feel it is, politically, if it isn't like so in Sweden, but only in the North American continent, if you were to consider such a continent, even?"

Let's forget that part because I still feel queasy when I think about it. Well, actually, not only do I think about that part but also the part where I acted out the scene later as we walked out, mimicking my conversation topics, and their reactions, with a hideous exaggerated manner...only to (OBVIOUSLY) find them standing right there, by the doors, smoking.  Wonder Years, are you still casting?

Back to the topic at hand, though, I really can't praise this super fun night enough.  We had such a fun time dancing, shopping, and meeting the exciting people that make up Ottawa's fashion and entertainment scene. 

I'm going to skip over the part where I was outright asked if I was anyone important, and then reminded that I was not anyone important, and then asked if I could identify anyone in the room who was important because press pictures needed to be taken.....and then reminded again that no, I could not point to myself...and I'll just say, lastly, that it's about time, H&M.  Welcome to Ottawa.

hehehe

girls girls girls!