Last week I was invited to an ‘Exclusive VIP Invitation’ for the launch of McCain Ultra Thin Crust Pizza. The event was held at the swanky Thompson Hotel Rooftop Patio and the reason that I decided to make the trip from Ottawa to Toronto wasn’t just to taste this new pizza – but it was because of who was hosting the event – Tori Spelling.
Now I am not a huge Tori Spelling fan – but I am a huge Beverly Hills 90210 fan and the thought of being in the same room with Donna Martin had me giddy dammit! After all, you only need to read my blogger bio where it says ‘Her love of all things celebrity began sometime around the introduction of Beverly Hills 90210 when her desire to become the next Kelly Taylor and attend West Beverly High was born’ to understand that I would travel any amount of distance to be near anyone who was a member of that cast!
Of course after I decided to attend the event came the most dreaded task of 'what do I wear?'! As a woman who works mostly from home and has a vast wardrobe containing mostly Lululemon, I immediately asked my friend Marilou Moles who writes the fabulous fashion blog Twenty York Street for help! Well, that was the best thing I could have done since Marilou promptly organized an outfit and accessories for me! She brought me to Ottawa’s Kania Couture, a little boutique in the heart of downtown Ottawa owned by designer Stacey Bafi-Yeboa and gave me the celebrity treatment. Marilou and Stacey brought out several different outfits for me to try on before we decided I would wear Stacey’s brand new design, the ‘Sweet Pea’, which was a one piece strapless jumpsuit that I fell in love with!
So now that I had my outfit it was on to accessories – where another Ottawa designer, Isobel Walker of FrAsh provided me with a stunning turquoise and coral necklace (this part is important) as well as a bracelet to give to Tori if I had the chance.
So there I am all decked out in this gorgeous outfit and I fly into Toronto for the day to attend this McCain event. I’m lucky enough to meet up with a group of my blogger friends and we sit on the rooftop patio and enjoy champagne and McCain hors d’ouevres while we chat, when out of the corner of my eye I spot this yellow dress and realize Tori has arrived! We all quickly gather inside to get a good spot to get a look. Tori (who is very pregnant) is sitting on a chair in a lovely yellow dress while she is being introduced by the president of McCain.
Tori takes to the podium which just happens to be right.beside.me. Like – I could have touched her if I wanted to. Tori gives her speech about the product and how she loves it because its low cal and her kids actually like it and I kind of feel bad for her because really – there’s a room full of women just staring at her, because – well, she’s Tori Spelling! So she finishes her short spiel and is looking a bit awkward because everyone is still just staring at her so I decide to lean over and say ‘You look really fabulous’ – because she does. She’s easily 7 months pregnant and she looks great and I thought it would be nice if someone actually spoke to her instead of just staring at her like she’s on show. This was a pretty good idea since she seemed thrilled that someone actually did speak and let out a big breath followed by ‘thank you!’ She then looked right at my FrAsh necklace and said ‘I love your necklace!’ So I tell her that the designer actually sent a gift for her and I asked if I could give it to her and she seemed genuinely surprised and flattered. But then she’s whisked away to do some press so I ran to my purse to get the jewellery.
The event was pretty short and Tori was definitely the draw. After she gave her speech she went to the photo wall for pictures and servers began to bring around trays of the McCain Ultra Thin Crust Pizza that, while tasty, I couldn’t help note seemed to be a little overdone. But – it was pretty good and definitely something I think I would buy to have in my freezer. It was thin and crispy and something I would serve on those nights where life just gets busy or even as appetizers during a party. And not something that would be on my radar had I not gone to an event with Tori Spelling hosting.
So – did I give Tori the bracelet that FrAsh had sent for her? Of course I did, and I even took off the necklace and gave that to her too, since she really seemed to love it and I figured that designer would want Tori to have it. She was very thankful and posed for pictures but the event was very quick and she had a lot of press to cover. I managed to tell her how much Beverly Hills 90210 meant to me as a child of the late 80’s and I think she either thought I was crazy or she was flattered – hard to tell. Either way it was kind of surreal to come face to face with Donna Martin.
Scene and Heard
Confessions of a Pop Culture Mummy
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