Happy Birthday Marissa!!

Today is Marissa's birthday, and she was a little reluctant to acknowledge it. I'm so glad that she did though, because we had such a great time last night. Mexican food at Bandidas, drinks at Krista's, dancing at the re-opened Cobalt. I haven't laughed so hard in ages!

A Roll in the Hay?

I love this photo of Anja Rubik from Vogue Nippon. Usually bridal "fashion" is so boring - it moves at the speed of a narcoleptic tortoise. But isn't this hot? Note to brides to be: texture, short, deep V, booties, lacey veil. I don't know who the dress is by, but I know someone who could make you one...

Fundamentally Pretty

These beautiful pictures of Julia Stegner are from Self Service F/W 2009.
I wish I could do that with my hair - it's very FLDS!

El Nino = Shorts in January!

Out for dinner on Saturday for a friend's birthday. Red suede shorts. Polka dots and leopard print.

Big news: I can do push-ups now. When I started with my trainer, I could do three in a row. This week I did three sets of ten. I was so surprised. I literally high-fived my trainer, irony-free. Then as a reward I baked chocolate chip cookies. Oops, rewarding with food, not a healthy eating practice. Oh well. Just keep reminding myself that if I was a little smaller these shorts would actually be comfortable!

Don't Hate

I read this article the other day from the Guardian, basically about how much the author hates fashion. If you give it a quick scan, this post might be more interesting. Of course, I disagree with almost everything she says. I am totally sympathetic to people who don't care about fashion, think it's silly, don't follow it, don't feel it has a place in their lives. That's fine and understandable. But this woman really hates fashion and I found myself wondering why she gives it so much power over her. She's a journalist, so hopefully fairly intelligent; she's in her mid-thirties; she presumably has a life. But she seems to be so tormented by fashion, so manipulated by it, so haunted by it's negative effect on her life, that she's filled with hate. I mean, get over it. It's just clothes. Sure, she thinks that there is a great soul-crushing corporate machine that exists only to separate women from their money by making them feel so insecure and desperate that they file miserably into mall to buy slutty, dangerous shoes and mini-skirts. I don't deny that there is less-than-savory marketing and negative images of women in fashion, but aren't most of us smart enough to take what we like and leave the rest?

One of her points is that fashion is for vapid, bimbo drones who aren't even smart enough to realize how miserable they are. Smart women don't like fashion, and there is no creative, artistic, intelligent fashion. You can't have fun with fashion, or use it to explore your individuality. Because it is killing your soul, and you are too dumb to know it. We should all be like her, smart but consumed with hatred, knowing that if you let your guard down for even a moment, and say, enjoyed what you wore, you would be sucked into an anorexic vortex of destruction.

The more I though about the article, the less I cared about the parts of it that pissed me off. I was really left wondering how a person gets to that point of being so bitter and upset about something that most of us find frivolous and fun. I thought it was us fashion slaves that were supposed to be the insecure ones... Having read many of the hundreds of comments on the article, I did get the impression that regular readers of her column are treated to a litany of the things she hates, so I guess I'd rather be my brainwashed self than her enlightened self.

Gotta have faith

I managed to take some pictures outside today, just as the rain started. Got these Minnetonka moccasins at the thrift store today. They are super comfy, but not rain-proof. Also got this super chunky ID bracelet. I love it. It says FAITH on the outside, and S. YANG on the inside. It fits my husband perfectly, so it must be for a man, but I like it oversized and heavy on me.

Lusting, all of a sudden

How could I not have a perfect denim shirt? More accurately, how could I have gotten rid of my perfect denim shirt? Temporary insanity. Now I want one badly, but knowing me, I'll be retardedly picky and hold on to memories of perfect denim shirts past, and not find one I like. Right colour, right fit, right snaps, right weight... so many variables.

Cut up good

Viktor & Rolf via Dazed&Confused

A little premature...

But after the sun yesterday I felt like florals and pastels. So sue me. I didn't wear the little top to work; I do draw the line at outfits that make me look like a crazy person in front of clients.

Blue Monday

Have you heard about this Blue Monday thing? Apparently the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year. A combination of bad weather, Christmas bills, resolution back sliding and general shittiness. At least we get the worst day over with early in the year. However, I had one of the least depressing days in a while! I don't work Mondays, I'm not feeling too sick anymore, I made it through an intense workout, and it was SUNNY-ish. I puttered around the garden, planting a few wildflower seeds, and was over-joyed to see that life is coming back. Everything looks dead and brown, but there are little buds everywhere: on the lilacs, the hydrangeas, the rhubarb, daffodils poking through the dirt. It was wonderful to see. I just hope we don't get a cold snap - screw the Olympics. Vancouver isn't a winter city. We could host the fall or spring Olympics...

Then I did a bunch of chores and cleaning with no procrastination. I put on a CD - remember those shiny round things people hang in fruit tree to scare off birds? They play music! Specifically OutKast. There was a reason we all loved Hey Ya. It's a rad song. Just try not to shake your butt: I challenge you.

So I sort of wish this was my most depressing day of the year, so it will only get better, but that's pretty unlikely. Third Monday or not, I'll take a good day whenever it comes. How about you, did you have a blue Monday?

Lazy Post

How did I get a cold? I know weather doesn't really make you sick, but I feel like it's more than a coincidence that I got a cold following a week of the crappiest rain even. The kind of rain that feels like there aren't even spaces between the drops. Just wet. And, now, despite my vigilance, I feel like poop. Hopefully this is the last day of it.

I keep fantasizing about spring. So shall I give up my longing for a perfect pair of black platform wedge booties? I should. I tried these ones on at Aldo and they just aren't right. They're OK except for the stupid inner tube around the top. It ruins the whole shoe. They don't need padding - they're not moon boots... Weak Aldo.
And I'm not reckless enough to go hunting down Acme or Velvet Angels or Jeffrey Campbell ones. I'm not going to scrap over sold-out boots that cost a mint.

Black and Purple

The Best of the Season

Christmas Eve

Our new Christmas tradition: rice pudding with sour cherry sauce, from Karl's Danish family.

From the ferry going to visit the grandparents on Christmas Day.

On the beach at my grandparents with the dog.

Christmas dinner view.

My mom in her new rowboat on the lake.

Chilly hike to Newton Lake.

Out in the boat, surrounded by dozens of playful dolphins!

Flea Marketeering

Perhaps because my closet is overflowing, I seem to be hunting for accessories lately. And jewelry is smaller than shoes, so - even better right? Excuse the pictures; they were taken after hot-tubbing at Mary's!

Horn bead choker - $3 at the flea market

Chunky turquoise ring - $15 at the flea market.
Other ring - free with the patience to hunt through old jewelry boxes.

Some days I totally get into the flea market and it is good to me. Some days I can't handle it and get so frustrated. I have learned NOT to go there hungover.

Come on pilgrim...

you know he loves you.

The Footwear Zodiac

Well, what do yo think, shall we declare 2010 the Year of the Clog?

I remember getting a pair of clogs in grade nine ('93-'94?) from Bootlegger, Pelican Cove brand. They were tan suede with black soles, and despite being pretty uncomfortable, I wore them with baggy overalls, a striped rib-knit top and a beaded choker, or in the summer with jean shorts that I opened up on the sides and sewed in panels of plaid fabric. Ahh, the embarrassing old days.

Got the above ones this week at Value Village for a proverbial song. They're Brown's Couture, and make me dream of the summer.

These are more your utilitarian work clogs. I'm not sure yet what I'll like them with, but I look forward to trying a few things out. Dresses, jeans, leggings...? I think they're equally ugly/great with anything.

Oh, and how I with these were mine. They're Miu Miu, so evidently they're not. See Fashion Toast for the perfection.


P.S. Is it just me, or do clogs make people's feet look big? Because if my feel look big...

Back to Work

Today was my first day back at work, and it was embarrassingly hard not to have snack breaks and naps every couple of hours. How quickly one gets used to sloth.

I got these pleated mid-night blue velvet pants yesterday - at $5.99 how could I not? My first thought was that I might make them more tapered, but I'm kind of liking the excessive excessiveness of them. More of a statement, you know, and less of an attempt to be part of a trend. But they would look cool narrower... What do you think?



I was feeling very bloated and crampy today and the pants were like a wonderful soft tent for my belly to hide in.

A bride gave me these earrings as a little thank you, and at first I was like, ummm? But they've grown on me. I think they're vintage beads. So very unlike anything I'd pick for myself, but maybe we need other people to give us a nudge every once and a while.

My two cents (by borrowing two cents from someone else)

Seems like everyone is weighing in (hardy har) on the V Magazine Size issue out soon. As I was trying to come up with an intelligent way to express my mixed feeling, I conveniently came across this post on a blog called good morning, midnight. Please read it. I really agree with what the author says: fetishizing fat does nothing positive towards increasing the public's acceptance of different body types. Obviously the models are gorgeous, but overall this just looks like a cheap novelty. I have a subscription to Elle Canada, and in the last year there have been several great editorials with Crystal Renn that made me really hopeful about the fashion industry finally presenting an alternative to size zero models. I guess we'll see if V Magazine ever uses a curvier model again in regular shoots or if this really was a one-time gimmick.

A Foul Weather Friend

As hard as it was to break from tradition and come home from the island a couple of days before the very last minute, we really needed to acclimatise back to real life. Clean up, undress the tree (we may trash it up and let it die on the porch for a month or so), get groceries. Watch MORE hockey. I even got to go for a pedicure with Mary, hence the seasonally inappropriate footwear. I usually hate going downtown on Sundays because it's the one day of the week I don't have to be there but it was fine today - haven't been there for AGES.

The foul weather friend is this sweater. I've barely taken it off since I got it last month. It's the thrift of the century. OK, I exaggerate, but it is great. It even gives me the perfect place to use my gold heart pin that I don't get to show off enough.


I was also pretty happy to find this little top... OK, slip... with animal print trim and a racer-back. The fabric is nice too: silky but matte, not that gross polyester satin that reigns supreme in thrift store lingerie sections.