This week Les Zurbaines invited Montreal fashion and lifestyle bloggers to Get Fit and Get Chic at Victoria Park. We were fed, pampered and gifted in high style, while practicing our social skills, without the help of a computer!

I decided to take advantage of all the fabulous services Victoria Park had to offer, starting with a manicure and a fruity beverage.

After getting chic, I decided to get fit with a trip to the gym. A girl's got to stay in shape to keep on top of the Montreal scene. Don't forget to always stay hydrated when you work out!

I topped off my evening with a consultation with one of the experts at the Medispa. Always drink plenty of liquids to keep your skin fresh and healthy!

After all the exercise and esthetics, as well as a few rounds of those marvelous health drinks they kept handing me, I definitely felt like I'd upped my chic / fit factor. I don't know what was in those organic elixirs, but they made everyone else at the party look hotter, too!

Withe the Oscar nominations fresh in my mind, I'm ready to role-play. Thankfully I have Winners' Spring / Summer 2010 offerings to give me some inspiration. My first look? Pure movie star. Get me a drink, Cabana Boy!

Meryl Streep may be nominated for Julie and Julia, but I'm taking her Out of Africa look and amping it up to Super Sexy Safari. I suppose I can't run away from hungry lions in these heels, but I will look fabulous while trying. Rawr.

Double denim hasn't been this hot since The Outsiders, but it's back in a big way. Still not sure it's for you? Well, that's what we said about thigh-high boots and Lady Gaga's pantless look, and now we're all wandering around looking like pirates and doing our lunges in preparation for the summer (at least, I am).

And look what I found! Julia Roberts' polka-dot dress from the polo scene in Pretty Woman. Now you can wander into expensive boutiques and reprimand snobby salesladies: "Big mistake. Huge."

But not at Winners. The only one being snobby there is you, movie star!

The Canadian Olympic Freestyle Ski team has been training for years to put on this uniform, but I beat them to it when Columbia Sportswear gave me a sneak peek at the suit the moguls skiers (including our girl, Jenn Heil) will be wearing when the show the rest of the world how it's done. Don't I look sportsy?

The key to the new suit is Columbia's Omni-Heat technology, with a dot matrix of reflective material on a moisture-wicking base, so heat stays in, and moisture stays out. Importantly, the technology delivers the heat without the bulk..great for freestyle skiers who need freedom of movement, and also for fashionable lady skiers (like us!) who like to look sleek and sexy on the slopes (instead of looking like we just ate the Michelin man).

Aerial skiers will also be wearing Columbia's Omni-heat technology as they twist and turn in the air, like they did during the Canada Post Freestyle Grand Prix at Mt. St. Gabriel over the weekend. I was lucky enough to have team member Rémi Bélanger and coach Daniel Murphy with me in the VIP viewing area to explain the subtleties of the sport. So, first you go down a ramp at about 65 km / hour, then you fly about 5 stories in the air and twist and flip, and then you land, hopefully on your feet and not your head. If all goes well, you get to fist pump (one arm or both, your choice).

And if you're unlucky you end up as a snowball in the background of a picture of a Vitamin Daily blogger modeling her new futuristic jacket. Yowch!

After a full day of watching the aerials, some tips from the coach, and armed with my very own Omni-heat jacket, I was ready to do some fist-pumping of my own. Ski-jumping couldn't be that difficult. Right?

Wrong.

You can watch the Canadian Freestyle Ski team wear their Columbia Omni-Heat suits at the Olympics, this year. And then, in Fall 2010, you can get one for yourself. But don't try aerials unless you've had training.

Evelyn Farha looks forward to the day when the Farha Foundation no longer needs to exist. Until then, the 11th annual Maskarade Ball provides Evelyn the opportunity to honour the life and legacy of her son, Ron Farha, and support those who are still living with HIV and AIDS. And the fashion world stands behind her in force.

This year's event, themed The Futurist Ball, will feature an auction of original "futuristic" creations by top designers. I caught a glimpse of avant-garde designer Phillipe Dubuc giving an interview behind a showcase of ultra-modern auction items by Esty for BIRKS and ALDO.

MC Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau will lead the bidding on (from left to right) creations by Ha Duy, Denis Gagnon, Patrice Soku, Phillipe Dubuc, Yso, and Pink Tartan, as well as Harakiri, Travis Taddeo, Niko, Montauk, and Geanina (not shown). Then, masked merrymakers will dance until dawn to music by DJ Sandy Duperval, Geanina, and Martha Walsh.

Founder and designer of Pink Tartan, Kimberly Newport-Mimran, will be serving as this year's Honourary President, alongside husband Joe Mimran, Creative Director for Joe Fresh Style and founder and designer of Club Monaco.

I had a chance to speak to the creative couple about their decision to join forces with Farha. Mr. Mimran explained that the two of them have been active in AIDS-related charities in Ontario for some time. Now that Joe Fresh and Pink Tartan have received such a warm welcome in Montreal, they wanted to become part of the city in a more active way. He mentioned they would be visiting more often.

On behalf of Montreal, we're happy to have you!

The Futurist Ball will take place on  Thursday February 18 at the Marché Bonsecour. Tickets ($250) can be purchased at www.maskarade2010.com/futurist.html

Blink and you'll miss my 1 second appearance on etalk's coverage of the Maskarade 2010 press conference.

With a brief bout of warm weather making this winter seem so much more manageable, my mind is already turning to thoughts of summer. And what better way to welcome in the false spring than a vibrant mani/pedi at my fave nail bar, Rouge, with Revlon's new summer shades? 

Well, what if I told you that polish is going scented for summer? I had my fingers and toes done in a bright bubble gum shade that smelled as good as it looked...a far cry from those morose blacks and purples we've been seeing all winter. Goth begone!

I'm so ready, I've even got my umbrella at hand for April showers (of the cocktail variety, of course).

Revlon's limited edition scented polishes will be available in April ($5.50 each).

With Montreal weather in dark and dreary mode, I hopped a flight to Costa Rica's RIU Guanacaste resort for some five-star pampering.  Do I lie on the beach or by the pool? The tough decisions are endless.

Fear of heights bedamned, I headed for the hills to swing through the Congo Trail.  Cute outfit eh?  It masks the sheer terror.

My vacamates weren't just iguanas and white-faced monkeys.  ET Canada was filming love-birds Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida as they celebrated their 10 year wedding anniversary by the ocean.

After Raine and Chantal renewed their vows (and not a dry eye for miles), I enjoyed a little celebratory bubbly with ET Canada's, Rick Campanelli

Now this is Pura Vida...

With just a few hours to get my London fashion fix, I decided to forgo the Oxford Street masses and make a stop at the new Westfield Shopping Centre (www.westfield.com) in Shepherd's Bush.  Sprawled across 43 acres and with over 265 shops, it's the largest mall in Europe filled with some of my fave designers like Twenty8Twelve and Wolford.

And to think this is just the ground floor!

No need to carry your bags, the Concierge will store them until the chauffeur service pulls up to ferry you home.  Mariah Carey herself switched on the blingy Christmas lights (rumour has it she requested 20 white kittens and 100 white doves but was politely told no).  I didn't see any sign of Mrs. Cannon but I did spot Jermaine Jackson lining up to see Santa (no photos, what am I paparazzi?!)

I gathered my strength with a glass (ok, two) of Moet at the champagne bar. Ah, bliss...

Do you think anyone would notice if I set up a tent and moved in among the shoes at Kurt Geiger? 

Do you remember your first pair of Dr. Martens? It was 1994,  Barrie, Ontario. I was deep in the moshpit watching the Beastie Boys, L7, and Smashing Pumpkins at Lollapalooza, wearing a pair of overall shorts over a bra and my docs and my hair in two braids. Thankfully, there are no pictures. But while many of the bands on the Lollapalooza roster have long since broken up, docs are still holding strong...

And my oh my, how they have changed! You can even get them in heels!

I tried on an old school yellow pair for size

But fell in love with this mash-up of the classic boot with modern gold rivet and satin ribbon detailing.

Maybe it's time to pull out some of my old grunge-rock CDs from my "alternative" years? Let's not get too hasty about the overall shorts, though. That look is as over as Billy Corgan's career.

'Twas just before holidays and all through the Gap

Christmas music was playing all mashed up with rap

   

  

 

   

Happy shoppers lined up with presents galore

And inside their free gift bags, they found so much more!

   

                  

The halls of the Stowe Mountain Lodge were decked for the holiday season when my friend, Carrie, and I arrived for a weekend of snowy mountain bliss.

With a warm fireplace in each room, swishy accoutrements for Fido, and the comfiest bed ever, we made ourselves at home with a quick jump on the bed (no beds were harmed in the making of this photo!).

After stuffing ourselves silly in the hotel's Solstice restaurant we got to meet chef Sean Buchanan in the kitchen and pap his love affair with local cheeses. Look! It's like the fridge knew  Vitamin Daily was coming!

The next night it was off to the town for martinis made with locally made Sunshine vodka and a tasty slice at Piecasso (with a live band in the background), followed by an delish dinner by chef Mark Timms at Norma's restaurant at Top Notch Resort. Even if you don't have kids, make sure you ask for the children's menu when it's time for dessert. I call this pose The S'Morrior (sung to the tune of The Warrior)

When Carrie and I emerged from our adjoining rooms to find ourselves unintentionally identically attired, we decided to recreate a scene from a famous movie, involving twins at a snowy hotel (don't I look evil?).

But with the fabulous Hourglass apres ski bar only steps away, this hotel served us far more rum than redrum.

Photos by Carrie MacPherson. You think I could take photos like this?