All right winter, you win. You have broken me. Typically I delay the urge to communicate my distaste for your lingering until after Memorial Day weekend in May. This year no can do. You have crawled deep under my skin.

Yes, it’s that time of year when many people in my life ask for free advice on fashion and style. #EntrepreneurProblems. The question I frequently get asked when the seasons change – or in Calgary’s case, just the dates on the calendar – is what to purchase for spring to keep on trend. Cue the tweeting birds, luscious foliage, and the buzzing bees. Or sloppy snow storm.

It has been a tough past few days. Weeks really. Honestly, this $h*t storm started years ago. Earlier this week, I lost my friend and mentor after her nearly ten year combat with a hereditary terminal illness: f*cking cancer.

Oh what a whirlwind the Hollywood award season has been. The final flourish in the awards show calendar, as always, are the Academy Awards. This special night is reserved for the voter-deemed best of the year. Each nominee is wriggling in his/ her/their seats hoping to take home that golden Oscar. Lucky for us, fashion friends, a big part of the evening is what the stars rock on the red carpet.

I often get asked,” What’s the trend I need to get this season?” or, “What’s the one thing I should buy this year.” To which I often respond, likely somewhat disappointedly to their eager ears, “It all depends. May I ask you more questions first?”

Ever feel like you need to try something out just to be sure you personally don’t like it? I often do and a lot of the time that something is a style experiment something. Sometimes I wear a garment just to see if I can pull it off. Other times I wear something to rule it out. Other times I set goals to see what I can learn.

When it comes to romantic relationships I’m at a bit of a loss. Since I was a young kid I questioned a lot of the traditions and norms set before me. Especially when it came to heterosexual romance. Sophisticated queries like, “But, like, why?” tumbled from my mouth at an annoying pace. This is the reality of someone who doesn’t get it.

Fashion friends, I’ve done the impossible. After thirty-one long mornings, days, and nights, I can proudly – and gushing with sweet relief – say that I have completed my no-spend January. Cue the extensive, raucous applause.

The past few weeks one thing I can’t seem to shake off is the idea of taste. Good taste, bad taste, the taste in my mouth. I think about the people who are deemed tastemakers and things that are perceived as distasteful. I ask myself questions like, “Who decides the taste? Who and why does one challenge set taste?” And perhaps the most paralyzing and completely self centred thought, “Do I have “good” taste?”

It’s confession time. It’s not so much a secret as more of an oddity. My stomach is a bit in knots because I feel a bit like a traitor. See, these days, I’ve been rocking underwear that I didn’t get at a ladies store. Nah. I’m wearing the tight white variety that I purchased in the men’s section.

Fashion friends, as you all know, I am in the midst of a “no spend January.” I’m at the halfway mark and appear to be keeping it together. At least that’s what I’m telling my partner. See I’ve still been lusting over wish list items; it’s just that - and here's the twist - I haven’t been buying them.

Oh what a night. Fuelled by the recent launch of the Times Ups initiative - which promises to give a voice and resources to those affected by workplace sexual harassment - Sunday night’s Golden Globes marked a new beginning. A new beginning that was overwhelming dressed in black.