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Life&Style

A beginners guide to online shopping

 

By Allie Davison, Staff Writer

s much as I like heading
A to the mall, browsing

through the racks of pretty
clothes, and then heading home,
excited to wear my new purchases,
sometimes I’d much rather not
leave my house. And thanks to that
new, up-and-coming invention,
the Internet, I don’t have to! I love
being able to window shop online
without that noisy sales person
wondering if I’m actually going to
buy anything. Sometimes, it’s nice
to just look. Here are the top five
places I love to browse and buy
clothes online.

Threadless (www.threadless.
com) specializes in super awesome
shirts for women, men, children,
and babies. They have classic
T-shirts and hoodies, as well a
few different styles of tops for
ladies. Threadless’ designs are
all developed by members of the
public. Anyone can submit a design
and, if chosen, get their art worn by
a countless number of people. Their
prices range from $20 (T-shirts) to
$36 (hoodies); however, they have
frequent sales that bring the prices
down to $10 per tee. Their shipping
to Canada is reasonably priced
(about $9 for every three shirts)—
with only $6 shipping on orders
over $75. My favourite Threadless
product: The new Muppets shirts!
There are nine to choose from, with
each style featuring one or more

of everyone's favourite Muppets!
Huzzah!

10

ShoeDazzle (www.shoedazzle.
com) is my favourite site for online
shoe shopping. I can get sexy
heels, fashionable flats, or warm
and fuzzy boots all for only $39.99!
Here’s the deal: after signing up
for ShoeDazzle and doing a quick
shoe-taste survey, you are given a
showroom of shoes to pick from.
Everything on the site is $39.99
and shipping is only $9. It’s pretty
excellent, in my opinion. The site
also offers high-end purses and
jewellery for the same price. New
for the holidays is the ShoeDazzle
holiday shop, where they’ve got
some great gifts in the beauty,
home, apparel, accessories, and
travel departments.

ModCloth (www.modcloth.
com) has practically every clothing
item for ladies imaginable. They
have jackets, dresses, skirts, shirts,
pants, undergarments, and other
fashion accessories—ranging from
completely adorable to sultry and
sexy. They offer a huge variety of
styles and prices to choose from,
and I especially like the uniqueness
of their stuff. I love browsing
through their dresses (they have
over 2000) and wishing I could have
them all. And if that’s not enough,
another cool thing about ModCloth
is their ‘Be the Buyer’ program,
which allows shoppers to vote on
potential products. The items with
the most votes get featured on
the website. It’s super cool seeing
something you've selected available
online.

Winter beer is here

By Dylan Hackett, Staff Writer

like beer. I love winter beers.

After sharing the tastes of

the finest winter beers on the
shelves a few short weeks ago, I
thought it would be right to inform
the Douglas population of the latest
wave of seasonal beers available
for holiday imbibery and gifting.
Ales with thoughtful labels filled
my fridge this week and I hope you
enjoy their names as much as I did
the flavours!

Nelson Brewing Company
FACEPLANT Winter Ale is an
organic can of liquid craftwork from
the true winter town of Nelson, BC.
The Kootenay brewery’s exclusive
use of mostly local organic malted
barley, flaked barley, golden sugar,
hops, and molasses earn it points
with the Greenpeace crowd, while
the black lock-in can-ringer—
designed to prevent dolphins from

Frog allows you
to excite. This
ale has citrus, is
ever-so-slightly
plum-like and a
tad nutty with

a roof-of-the-
mouth aftertaste
of banana. That's
not to say the Beeracle isn’t bitter.
Its initial bite is much like that of
Dead Frog’s Lager. Beeracle’s malty
flavour comes in strong at the end
of the bottle, so pour the rest into
you're a sleeve midway through

to capture a swig of this flavour.
The carbonation is moderate, but
the bubbles are very small and
tickly. As a bonus, Beeracle’s label
includes a beautiful Christmas
poem, “The Story of the Christmas
Beeracle”, which might be lost to
the those in party-mode (the ideal
situation for Dead Frog’s variety
mixer packs). I recommend this to

 

“...winter ale serves the purpose of belly warming when whiskey
and the fireplace are too far away.”

getting tangled—earns bonus points
with the cetacean population.
This saves the environmentally
conscious consumer from having
to take time from socializing to rip
apart the binding plastic from their
typical six-pack at an upcoming
ugly Christmas sweater party! This
dark-brown ale tastes of sugary
molasses and has a slight fruity
undertone. The bitterness comes
almost as an afterthought as you
face plant into its candy sweetness.
Nelson’s offering is the most
accessible of this bunch; it leaves
your lips slightly sticky and isn’t as
thick as you'd imagine a molasses
and golden sugar-enhanced beer to
be. The carbonation is quite light.
FACEPLANT can be purchased at
almost every BC Signature Liquor
Store in town for $11.75 per six
pack. Be sure to savour this 6.0%
beauty in a succession of sips slow
as molasses.

Dead Frog Brewery’s
Christmas Beeracle comes in
a charming 650mL bottle and
is brewed in not-so-charming
Aldergrove (I jest). This guy
comes with a “Happy Holidays”
gift tag on the label; the perfect
stocking-stuffer for a thirsty college
student. The Christmas Beeracle
(brewmaster wit at its best) is a
beer that might sting you with a
bad malt to hop ratio (at least for
craft beer fans who drink in a realm
where hops reign), but after the
third sip you’re bound to dissect
the full flavour pallet that Dead

any standard beer drinker looking
to try something slightly different
this holiday season

Howe Sound's Father John
Winter Ale is a roundhouse kick
to the taste buds straight from
Squamish. This 7% 1L monster
tastes like plum, vanilla, and
pepper, finished with a malt liquor
zest. This winter ale serves the
purpose of belly warming when
whiskey and the fireplace are
too far away. I may sound like a
shameless press release, but the
words ring true from top of the first
glass to bottom of the third. This
massive container could intoxicate
a village, and is a true winter
warmer that captures the flavour of
the holidays better than any other
seasonal offering I’ve tasted. The
beer’s label depicts a jolly St. Nick,
corncob pipe and beer gut intact.
This beer smells like brandy and
also shares the colour of a finely
aged cognac. When confronted with
the lofty goal of finishing a bottle
of Father John’s, one must welcome
a slight buzz. Prepare your fridge
for an enjoyable Christmas Eve
treat this year with Father John’s as
an accessory to the festivities. The
variety of the flavour will give the
drinker mistletoe-friendly breath.
Winter Ale is currently in limited
availability, but will make its full
run to the shelves for December.

I hope these vivid descriptions
prompt you, dear reader, to buy
at least one of these fine brews to
enhance your winter cheer.