put a bird on it

My blouse, that is. Ever since I saw that Portlandia skit, I inwardly groan when I see a bird on something. Not that I'm quite over this blouse, but the birdification of every surface is unavoidable.

Ha ha, when I looked that video up on Youtube, I also found a great Put A Bird On It (all the seagull ladies) Beyonce video spoof. Some people are so smart!

Two fun things

1. This rainbow house is in San Francisco, and is either a good reason to save all those almost-empty cans of paint, or to get a job at a paint store. Oh yeah, happy Pride Week!

2. The video below is a TED Talk about wearing only second-hand clothes. It's a fun five minutes.

peach and tangerine

This looks like a perfect summer outfit. I'd love to find a calf-length silk skirt, especially in this honeydew pink. Sure I could make one, but that kind of takes the fun out of it. I'm hoping for a sunny day tomorrow: get some house and garden work done, then see where the sun takes me!

Dress Day

I've had this cute vintage tulip print dress for years, and I can't even remember where I bought it, and even though I only wear it once a year or so, I can't bring myself to give it up. It's perfectly cute and easy to wear, and has pockets and little buttons on the straps. I think it's earned it's place in my closet.

Tonight's Entertainment

I'd never seen Popeye. Glad I did; not the best movie, but Shelley Duvall is the best! I couldn't find a good video of He Needs Me, but this is a good one too. She's so cute.

I never watch music videos, but I had a few minutes to kill and for some reason the TV was on Much Music, so I thought I'd see what the kids are into. This Kings of Leon video was on the countdown, and it struck me as quite reminiscent of the Smashing Pumpkins "1979", made for a new generation. It sure does make me happy that the idealization of my teens didn't look like "Back Down South".

Kittens!

Lame blogging, I know, but I feel so uninspired to wear anything cute, because I wake up hoping for warm weather and then I'm sadly disappointed by cold and rain. Unlike the rest of the continent, which is having searing heatwaves. Look, Vancouver will take the excess eight degrees from everywhere else, then we can all balance out around the 27 degree mark. Doesn't that feel fair and reasonable?

The Secret

THIS is the fitted white cotton sleeveless blouse with lace details I've been coveting. Isn't this how The Secret works?? I'll expect to find you in my closet tomorrow morning, lovey.

Blue stripes

Karl and I both had the day off today, so after lunch we went for a nice long walk on Main Street. We browsed in a bunch of neat shops, but didn't buy anything except for a bicycle part for Karl's bike. I realized that we've become people who walk around the city saying "Remember when that was a..." or "Didn't that used to be the..." pointing out landmarks that are no longer what we think of them as. I guess the older you get, the more the world looks that way.

crazytown

OK, I just got a manicure that makes me 100% cooler! It might not jive with my new non-toxic ethos, but LOOK AT IT! It's not something I would ever have thought I wanted, but I was given a gift certificate for Kaen Studio, which specializes in Japanese beauty treatments including the raddest nails in Vancouver. Mine are so tame compared with some of the masterpieces I've seen, but I love them. I just told Momo, my artist, that I like lavender and mint green and let her go to town. The technique is called BioGel, and it's just on my real nails, but it makes them super strong and lasts up to a month. I certainly won't be getting it done regularly, but as a special treat, it's pretty cool.

painterly

I guess I'm not the only one with my eye on portraits lately. These images from the Christian Louboutin lookbook are based on classical paintings.

Pistachio

Finally a few good, hot days in a row. Now I remember summer! No sweater required walking to the bus in the morning, windows open at night, big floppy hat in the garden - all good things!

Reality Check

Last week my mom gave me a book called There's Lead in Your Lipstick, which is about all of the toxins in beauty products, and it's really worth reading. I was reluctant at first, feeling like I didn't need to know about another pile of things that are killing me that I should really spend more money on, because life seems to throw a lot of that my way these days, but it was so fascinating that I couldn't put it down. It's really well laid-out and accessible, and teaches the basics of label reading and gives suggestions of less toxic alternatives. As I read it I was running to the bathroom after every chapter to thrown out something else that was full of dangerous crap.

There are many references in the book to a website done by the Environmental Working Group called the Skin Deep Database, which allows you to look up almost any beauty product and see it's safety rating, which is really helpful The advice that the book and the website give as an underlying philosophy is "fewer products, smaller amounts, less often" which is something I can work on, I think.

I've already made a bunch of changes, and I'll continue to work on being more aware of what my skin is soaking up. In some cases, choices I've made over the last few years were reaffirmed, such as natural toothpaste and hair products. There are some things that I will continue to use sparingly, infrequently, feeling guilty every time: lipstick and nail-polish. A few of the changes were no-brainers: toxic synthetic perfume out, lovely natural perfume in. A few are works in progress: I'm cautiously optimistic after a few funk-free days with the natural deodorant, but the old stuff is still on stand-by. One was not at easy as it seemed: I'm perhaps the only person allergic to the most natural soap ever, and have an itchy full-body rash to show for it. As a result I'm going soap-free until it clears up, then I'll try something else. There are a bunch of products, mostly makeup, that I'm going use up before I replace, but I'm going to be more conscious of when I really need to wear them.

So when do I need to wear make-up? I never look like I'm wearing much, but I wear a range of products most days. I can forgo lots of things on the weekends, but at work I like to look pretty put-together. The big thing for me is mascara, because my lashes are so invisible, I feel like I look weird without it, but I'm trying to tell myself so what if I look weird? Going to the gym, for example: some girls look great at the gym, full hair and makeup, smelling great... but I went without a stitch of makeup yesterday and felt fine. There are two pressures at work, I think. One is my own vanity. I want to look nice, in case I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I'd rather not think, Eh, should have worn mascara, but I think that's something I can get over. The second thing is this feeling that I owe looking pretty to people. It's that What Not To Wear ethos: how dare you go out in public like that? But who cares? In some situations, like the gym, or grocery shopping, or a weekend outing, I'd rather assume that no one is freaking out if I'm not fully painted. Anyway, I know I'm rambling, but I guess it's an evolution, finding what products work for me, and what I'm comfortable with.