Happy New Year I want – I got readers. Thank you so much for reading this blog and being so supportive. I really appreciate you all.

I feel like I should reflect on the crazy things that happened to me since the last time I wrote a year in review post for the 2008. I had one lined up for 2009 but just never got around to publishing it. So, this round up will be for 2010 and include highlights from 2009.  Let’s start shall we.

• My namesake dresses, The Anita Dress and the The Clarke Dress created by Greta Constantine for the 2010 seasons. Words cannot describe how much I love this gesture by Kirk and Stephen. I love you guys and the GC crew. The House of Constantine: OUR GIRL ANITA CLARKE post was an emotional one for me too. There are two the Anita dresses in my closet now: the original red sample and a new black one.



• I want – I got debuts at the Holt Renfrew Blogger Windows – I had my own window display for a month across the country. I’m still amazed two years later and very grateful. July 2009 was a beautiful, dreamlike time. My dear, dear friend Jaime Woo captured the unveiling day party I had on video. It’s such a special moment.
• Now Magazine names me one of Toronto Fashion Heroes for the fall. – Continuing my really fortunate year. It’s another honour that brings tears of joy to my eyes.
• 2009 was the year of speaking engagements which was cool because I enjoy talking in front of crowds. I’m a little strange. I had gigs at PodCamp, Fashion Camp, The Style Council and Queen’s Busiiness Forum on the Fashion Industry. I spoke to small groups of marketers thanks to Matchstick and did a post fashion week panel at The Drake for Spring 2011.
• I love to play model occasionally and in 2009 I was Grace Jones. How to dress like Grace Jones in Eye Weekly was an amazing time and I thank Rea McNamara for including me in her vision.
• The Women of the Year 2009 award/posting/thing/? by She Takes on the World was a strange and nice ending to the year. Thanks to Gail for nominating me.



• 2009 was a precursor to the increasing press coverage in Toronto media that continued into 2010. I ended up in articles, guesting posting, party shots and interviews. It’s at the point where people are saying things at the office to me; it’s amusing. I broke into the Chinese market with articles at the China Textile News Weekly Magazine and the Ming Pao Daily News. A lot of my press mentions can be found on AnitaClarke.com if you are interested. It’s sort of a chronological dumping of press mentions and other things.
• Paws For The Cause was a riot. I was part of the video for the campaign and I died laughing when I saw it. It was such a great experience. At the event, where they had the video on repeat, people kept saying I looked familiar. Totally hilarious. I ended up in the society section in the Globe and Mail print edition, har har.



• I participated in the Buy Design advertising campaign again. It’s always such a good time. The 2010 edition was all about the dirty 30s.
• The Worthy 30 by Shinan Govani in The National Post was a great fun even if it didn’t help my dating life at all. It’s nice that I’m not an anonymous name in his column anymore. He also hosted a beautiful and absolutely delicious dinner party in2009 for the launch of his book BoldFace Names, which I still have to read. It’s on the shelf.
• I wrote a piece on Toronto fashion bloggers for The Agenda, I still can’t believe this esteemed institution wanted me to write for them.



• Thank you Josephson’s Opticians and Brill Communications for letting be a part of your 75th anniversary celebrations. A full page ad in Toronto Life is fun indeed.
• Hanging out on set during the Greta Constantine FW10 campaign shoot with Tara Gill was super fun. Mikhael Kale’s Fall Winter 2010 lookbook shoot was a blast too.
• I meant to do more Studio Tours but transcribing hours of conversation sucks. I will get the 2 in holding pattern done at some point but enjoy my first attempt with Dean Davidson.
• I helped launch the fall winter 2010 Hudson COLLECTION at Holt Renfrew. I discovered how amazing Hudson Jean are thanks to The Mint Agency and I’m a total fan.



• Wow, the designers I met and/or spent time in the same room in the last two years. Mark Fast, Haider Ackermann, Roland Mouret, Jason Wu, Brian Atwood, Alexander Wang and the British Contingent of Charlotte Olympia Dellal, Giles Deacon, Mark Fast, Erdem Moralioglu, Jonathan Saunders, Marios Schwab (who actually approached me and introduced himself. I <3 you Marios), Nicholas Kirkwood Tom Binns, Mary Katrantzou and Leith Clark.
• Opera Atelier invited me to the dress rehearsal of Acis and Galatea. It was amazing. Mirvish invited me to Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Musical



• I shook Steve Yzerman’s hand (long, long time crush) but was cock blocked by Philip Sparks in the photo. I wanted Steve to wrap his arm around me. Ha ha.
• TIFF 2010 Madness. It was crazy, the parties, the gifting lounges, shots with Mickey Rourke and free booze. Ubisoft threw the best party of the festival in my mind. So much fun and I’ll plan for vacation time again next year I think.
• I was on CBC Radio Metro Morning talking about Fashion Week. It was totally nerve-wracking at first but I got the groove after awhile. You can listen to the broadcast online.



• The White Knight Gala in the summer was my first trip to the Bridal Path. It was an amazing party that really needs a blog post sometime soon.
• IDS 10 is always a great time. I hooked up with Paul Baik for great photos.
• My outfit to the Absolut George party landing me on the front cover of the Living section in The Toronto Star. Many coworkers noticed this one.
• Chilling with window mate Scott Schumam, Todd Selby and Derek Blasberg was pretty cool. I received free copies of both Todd’s and Derek’s books. I bought Scott’s. I enjoyed both Scott and Todd’s books, they were was far superior to Derek’s which I couldn’t get through.



• HoHoTO and the one time SpinTO are excuses to go crazy with the outfits.
• I volunteered for The Corsage Project and helped girls get ready for prom. It was a lot of fun. It would be nice if some of our big shoe retailers like Aldo, Browns or Payless would contribute to the cause as the shoe selection was lacking big time. Step up retailers and help out.
• I went to the Autoshow thanks to Mini. The post, The MINI Beachcomber Concept – Toronto Autoshow 2010, details my adventures.
• Dinners. I ate well in 2010. Parts and Labour thanks to TOMMY, Trattoria Giancarlo thanks to Holt Renfrew, Moroco Coco Brunch, and Bavette courtesy of Marben Restaurant. Thank you Richard and Simon for the well catered events. Any Parts and Labour catered event and Paws for the Cause where my top foodie favourite fashion events.
• Um, I’m an aunt for the first time. My nephew is the most adorable thing ever and I’m not just saying that. I feel a bit weird about posting his photo here so I won’t.



• In 2009 I spent two weeks in India for my day job in IT. It was a trip of a lifetime and totally insane. I loved it every minute of it. I was lucky to go and experience some real luxury in a far off foreign land. Thank you day job.



• New York City called me twice in 2010. I went furniture shopping with the creators of Bisha in June. It was a blast. See the I want – I got’s Bisha Adventure in New York City post for my adventures. Thanks to Matchstick and Bisha for the trip.



• I love LA. I didn’t expect it but thanks to twitter, Klout and Virgin America I got a free flight to LAX. It was great to spend time with good friends who live in Santa Monica. I feel like I could definitely live in Cali.
• New York City called again in September. This time it was a super nerdy trip put together with Hill & Knowlton for the Intel Upgrade Your Life mini conference. Are group of around 10 tech mommy bloggers (guess who stood out) hung out with Genevieve Bell of Intel. She leads an R&D team of engineers, social scientists, interaction designers, human factors engineers and a range of technology researchers making the next generation of interconnected devices. It was a fascinating experience. I took a lot of notes and I should put them down in a blog post at some point. Genevieve is an amazing person and so intriguing. I got a nice shiny new Dell laptop from the trip which was spectacular as I didn’t have one at that time. This trip included driver service to and from Newark. I was in heaven and flying Porter was so easy.

Stats and Direction

• I want – I got overall traffic numbers are about a 3rd better than last year. Yay. 2009 and 2010 saw good traffic increases. 2010 had a bumpy ride in the summer but bounced back nicely.
• I’ve monetized I want – I got with the Style Collective. You’ll see more sponsored posts like Greenworks and the banner ads. It should be business as usual on the site and advertising isn’t going to change my editorial content.

What a trip eh! I can’t believe it myself. I met a lot of lovely people and my blog buddy, Danielle Meder left our small village of Toronto and went to London. I miss her but I can’t wait to see what 2011 brings her.

I can’t wait to see what 2011 brings me and I’ll be sure share most of it with you dear readers.

Thanks
Anita