I added Mary Bratko the Wedding Girl to Canada Blog Friends today and I'm celebrating the timely addition of such a worthy upscale Toronto event coordinator to the index of Canada's best bloggers. Mary is having the time of her life because she loves her job as a GTA wedding planner and that's really obvious in her blog, WeddingGirl.ca It was a pleasure to profile her for the index.

Bad Weather Hair when planning for an outdoor wedding in mixed weather conditions, some hair stylists will take precautions against the elements. They could use stiff hair paralyzing sprays or accessories, or they could just let go and let whatever happens happen... Have you ever seen pictures of a bride and groom in a rain storm? Tell me how did the bride's hair hold up?

Lenzr photo contest was inspired by Lady Gaga’s legendary NYC performance in the pouring rain, this contest asks to see people making the best of their bad weather hair. Sponsored by a Vancouver hair school, (where it rains a lot) the match offers $500 worth of AVEDA Pure Plant and Flower Essence Lifestyle products as prize. This is a great reward - you don't know how good these hair and skin care products are until you actually get to try them out yourself.

Hair Styling Trends for 2012 is another match on lenzr and this one asks shutterbugs and fashion devotees to gaze ahead and help predict the future. Submit original photography showing what you believe will be popular hair fashion trends in 2012.

Sponsored by a fashionable and new thinking Winnipeg hair school, this match will make a gallery of visual predictions - it will be thrilling to look back and see who was right. PRIZE Win $500 worth of Pure Plant and Flower Essence Lifestyle products. There's more information on both Aveda Contests on Price Network and I wrote about the Aveda hair rewarding matches on Roberrific on Squarespace blog.

Last but not least, the Aveda Institute scholarship video contest could be the best opportunity for a young stylist ever hosted free online - the match will yield five winners! Enter before March 31st 2011 and one could be one of five applicants to win free tuition at an Aveda Institute hair school across Canada, in Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria

The Toronto Christmas Market is a massive holiday spectacle that will attract over a quarter of a million people into the red brick denizens of the historic Distillery District at 55 Mill St in the city's harbour portlands - the oldest part of what was once called Muddy York. I took a walk around the place on Friday morning, before the crowds showed up, to capture some great shots of the cobblestones streets and wooden vendor shacks all lined up and waiting for their tenants.

Toronto Christmas Market

The old fashioned clock is fitted with a selenium solar cap that makes a small electric current to power an elecromagnet that holds open a reed switch which when closed, in the absense of the sunlight powered magnet, another current opens a circuit to power the bulbs behind the clock's enormous faces. These entire white frontispieces are illuminated , or rather they become the light sources and they generate an immense glow that lights up the entire courtyard. Toronto mortgage broker

The clock has been damaged by delivery trucks reversing three times in the last three years, and now it has metal barriers erected around it's base - but they are quite low to the ground and I wonder if they are not perhaps too short. It seems to me most delivery trucks have rather tall rear bumpers. Beep beeep beep - we could be back where we started.

The Premier Antiques Show and Sale in the Metro Toronto Convention Center boasts, ‘Decorative arts, Canadiana, vintage designs and accessories, fine jewelry, and objects of art.‘  Its absolutely packed with treasure!

I wrote about the extravangaza on Premier Antique Show Oct 28 in Toronto on Dumpdiggers, which is my 'antiques blog' about digging and collecting artifacts and antiques as investment in the future. You really are betting on the future when you buy relics and objects that are only valuable if people know and appreciate the history - a distressed population doesnt buy antiques.

This show and the others in the Premier series showcase the best stuff on the pro tour; The Premier brand shows are like the PGA of Antiques here in Canada. I wrote a piece describing my obsession for order, context, and how Antiques Shows are like Museums on Acid on Treasure Net discussion forum  

In near future, it may come to pass that cloud computing yields an advanced inventory management crowd sourced application for mobile phones that will sort through everything present at antiques shows and tell users where to find all the bits and pieces of a particular time period or genre. So users can query the database and the program will direct these curious shoppers to the exact stalls filled with relevant goods for sale. So its possible to complete sets or make collections more complete or even just find the missing buttons from a vintage jacket. The woman in the photo is Julie, a vintage clothing merchant at Toronto antiques show.

She had many fine items on display and was modeling dresses to younger ladies when I came around the corner and spotted her in pretty much the exact center of the busy show. She was busy but took the time to show me a vintage needle point clutch purse that is valuable because of the jade handle and torquiose beads. It has a very high thread count and spotless interior lining - possible a new addition because its in such great shape. This is the vintage stuff that's handmade and you can tell because of the organic ingredients wherein nothing is synthetic , or polyester even the metal is plated and polished - the interior is lined with white silk.

Lauren Howe, Miss Teen Canada World came to visit Toronto’s Distillery District and went on tour of Toronto's beautiful tourist hot spot. Lauren was very happy to be at the district, she took photographs with tourists and signed autographs. For a change, it wasn’t hot outside due to the heavy rain. But the rain did not the stop the events of the day, Lauren did an interview with Farid Omar from Digital Journal, discussing her platform and what her titles truly means to her. She also went on a photo shoot around the historic area. She also took part in a segway tour which talked about the history of Distillery District and it's impact on the process manufacturing and lean manufacturing industry. Next she enjoyed a delicious lunch. Lots of photos were taken of her exploring the Distillery District and stopping by all the shops and café’s.

Lauren arrived ready for her photo shoot, her hair looked beautifully blown out and her makeup was perfectly natural. She was photographed doing everyday things and being herself. She talked about her favorite foods and fruits. One of Lauren’s passions is healthy eating. She believes in looking your best and doing what is healthy for your body. She made tiny desserts and fruity drinks featuring a great chill from a stainless steel ice cube tray. Because of her strong passion for science and biology, she is always thinking about how a meal affects your mood and the importance of exercise. In her senior year of high school, Lauren was the captain of the field hockey team. She definitely enjoys being active outdoors, love exploring new places and meeting new people.

Fluent in French and English, Lauren was proud to represent Canada in the Teen World competition in Houston, TX. The big show consisted of three events, swimsuit, evening gown and costume. Lauren was very excited about the Costume portion of the show. The costume is a representation of your country in dress form. Lauren wore a strapless white dress with red maple leafs on it. She also wore a snow like sash to represent to the snowy months of winter we get in Canada. The beautiful 18 year old is very excited that she had the chance to represent Canada in an international setting. She competed against 24 other young women for lavish gifts from sponsors, a scholarship for secondary schooling and the international title. Lauren Howe was the fourth runner up and won Miss Teen Congeniality.

After touring the district on a segway, Lauren went for lunch at the Pure Spirits Oyster House and Grill. The meal was a delight, but the company was even more exciting. Lauren spoke about her role models and what she wants to do in school. She hopes to get a degree in business and sciences; and in the future, run a pharmaceutical company. Lauren will be attending Mc Gill University in the fall of 2011 to begin her secondary education and road to success. While enjoying her freshly made Thai salad at Pure Spirits, she spoke about her admiration for Oprah Winfrey and the fact that she has over come so many obstacles; on her way to becoming one of the most powerful women in the world. Lauren relates to Oprah because they were both bullied at a young age and seeing Oprah’s success has been a great inspiration for Lauren. She has a lot of love for the Canadian music scene and is a huge fan of the band Down with Webster. She loves to play the piano and sing along to their song, ‘Your Man’.

Stay up to date with Lauren’s journey on the Miss Teen Canada World Blog.

Lauren Howe is 2011 Miss Teen Canada World - July 16th 2011. Here she is standing with... moments before winning the crown in front of a very large live audience at Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Exhibition Place, Toronto Ontario. Previous to this evening's spectacle and her spectacular achievements, this contestant was listed on the program as Miss Teen Ontario and she was also known for her great blogging in that capacity. The

Arob12 wrote about Lauren Howe as Miss Teen Canada World - he's already chronicled her victory on his blog.

There were over seventy competitorsarrive in Toronto on July 9th united in a common quest to put on a good show as they compete for the crown .

Well there was some attention from fashion and modeling moguls and film and television producers and commercial directors and so many opportunities for young girls are still happening online because of their blogs and the massive impact our Miss Teen Canada Blog Network makes on the internet. Here's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some young person to get discovered - nobdoy can ignore all the fashion and beauty media we make online today because of our 75 blogs and very loud voices on Facebook and Twitter. Here's where our real talent gets discovered and more than one person really can live the rest of their lives as celebrities because of our network - thats my fantasy. You all have your dreams and that's my dream - to build a network that gets particpants discovered and helps them build careers or get accepted to better programs etc because of their involvement.

Lauren Howe becomes the 2011 Miss Teen Canada - World

She was selected as the brightest, boldest and most outwardly and inwardly beautiful girl of this year's competition. Read how she felt the moment they called her name, http://www.missteenontario.ca/miss-teen-canada-world/

Here are the Saskatchewan finalists gathered in a squad at the hotel - the picture was taken as they took a break from rehearsing the components of the big show. There were more finalists from Saskatchewn than ever before - they were second behind Ontario for the province with most girls entered into the 2011 Search.  All week they really got to know one another, as there was a lot of dancing and rehearsals and coordinated moves to practice. OBSERVATION Its my belief that the girls in the front row of the big show are the ones that shine the brightest... My own observations would also include the fact that the winner is usually among the girls in the front row of the opening dance number.

All week they paractised the opening and closing dance numbers of the show. And yes of course they went out and explored the city too - they went out to many diverse shops, cafeterias and eateries and places near and far away from the hotel home base. They even visited Queen Street W legendary vintage shops, fashion, art, cafes, and even sidewalk vendors and buskars - lots of great photos of hippie characters appear in the girls blogs after this day.

They met Queen West Girl and then went bowling and ate strange dinners between strolling, boating and of course shopping in the city - they went to some major Toronto tourist attractions including the CN Tower and Style Exchange on Queen W where they bought Marc Jacob at 50% discount. Chaperones and administration, hotel security and nervous parents watched as media people hovered and snapped shots of the particpants from all across our great nation coming together.

They all bunked down at night at the Royal York hotel, two to a room, on their own floor of this historic and venerated 1930's era hotel under the watchful eye of security, and of course many of the parents stayed in the hotel too (except one couple who were nicely accomodated in a downtown Toronto bed and breakfast that's right on Toronto's waterfront - cute) The girls were down there too, and on the hippobus which went all along the lakeshore and took in the sights and sounds of Toronto in the summer. The weather was perfect that day, and it was a magical expedition.

Lauren Howe (center) was outstanding right from the start. She shined bright in the interviews , as seen on the video during the show, and by all accounts she was cordial courteous and confident. This year I wasnt able to get the time off work or to play a very big part in the actual Search, but I did get a chance to visit the participants and speak to a gathering of good bloggers when I visited Miss Teen Canada World on Registration Day this year - on the 9th of July. I spoke to the bloggers about their valued particpation in the Miss Teen Canada - World  blog network and how that could grow into a great tool for their own personal exposure and collective media focusing tool. The benfits of being in this event dont end just because the pageant week is over and Lauren has a crown - the blog network could bring much needed media attention all their singing, dancing, magic acts and media hooks - it would work especially well if they aspired to become filmmakers or photographers.