Wednesday, June 30, 2010

OOTD; Inventory Whilst Looking Kind Of Hipster


Grey sweater from H&M (worn as a dress); Black leather jacket from New Look; Black tights from American Apparel;
Grey toque from H&M; Leopard sunglasses from Urban Outfitters; Bracelet from Club Monaco;
Rings from H&M and Rings Eclectic; Necklace by Pyrrha;
Pyramid and rose studs by Mimi And Marge; Black flats from Aldo; Black men's laptop bag from H&M;
'Waters Edge' nail polish By L'Oreal Paris;

Boring outfit, but that’s what I came up with at 5:30 in the morning; the store I work for had to do its semi-annual inventory, and I was chosen to participate. It wasn’t bad; all I had to do was count stuff, and that’s pretty much it.
Afterwards, a co-worker and myself had coffee and talked about life, work, and the future. It was actually pretty deep, but I’m known to spill my guts in the local coffee establishment.

I know I haven’t been posting lately; I worked eight days in a row last week (which is illegal, but no one stopped me) and had the intentions of writing a bunch or articles over the weekend, which I had off.
Friday after work I came home to some bad news, and Saturday was spent in bed, then telling myself not to be a loser, to get up and deal with problems instead of running away.

I’m not sure if my problem is solved, but I’m going to stop moping.
No one likes negativity.

One thing this past weekend taught me was that every once in awhile, someone will come through for you.
“Don’t worry; I’ll take care of it.”
That’s what my dad told me Friday night, and Monday morning he did. We used to fight, we used to yell, but when it comes down to it, he’s there for me.

Anyway, not to get too deep and in your face, so let’s get to some nails of the day.


I know. I bought drugstore nail polish. Two bottles even.
I absent-mindedly wandered into Shoppers last week and noticed a display of L’Oreal Paris nail polishes, and the one I’m wearing, ‘Waters Edge’, immediately caught my eye.
It’s that hipster colour that everyone’s been wearing, that shade that OPI won’t seem to create. So I had to look into alternative methods, mainly L’Oreal Paris.

I also bough ‘High Tide’ because it was so weird; I kind of shimmering pale blue/grey. It’ll look awful on, but it was too strange not to buy.
There was also a bright blue that was really pretty, but it looked too much like
‘What’s With The Cattitude?’ by OPI and I couldn’t justify it.

Onto more materialism; I have a mini jewellery haul!


My Pyrrha seal finally came!!!
This is the one I’ve wanted for forever but the store didn’t have it in stock. Then I learned I could special order it.
It’s the swan, which represents
“A lover of poetry and learning, someone who enjoys the beautiful things in life”.
I showed my co-workers and they all agreed it was very me. I take that as a complement.

I also bought
these La Vie Parissienne earrings in gold.


I want to start wearing more gold jewellery, even though I recognize that I look better in silver. It’s hard; everything I own is silver save four necklaces and a couple rings. Which sounds like a lot, but for me it isn’t.

QuestionOfTheDay;

Share a time that someone came through for you, melted your heart, made you smile, etc. More of a statement really, but you know. Pus it in the comments.



Love.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

MovieRave; Exit Through The Giftshop

I don’t force my friends to see these little independent and foreign film with me; they just know it’s easier to go see it than argue with me, plus I’m usually right (Except for ‘The White Ribbon’. I’m sorry, Sara). Case in point I scoffed at the idea of seeing ‘Robin Hood’ and wanted to go see the documentary ‘Exit Through The Giftshop’, the first film by street artist Banksy.

I got my way. But my friends really enjoyed the film, so all’s well that ends well. And they got popcorn out of it.


The film is taglined as ‘The incredible true story of how the world's greatest Street Art movie was never made’, and follows a man named Thierry Guetta. Guetta, a Frenchman who moved to L.A., has one passion in life: filming absolutely everything. He falls in with a new up and coming art movement called ‘street art’ and film the artists responsible under the guise of him making a documentary.

He films and becomes friends with the infamous Banksy, and Banksy decides to turn the cameras on Guetta and his foray into the art form he loves so much.



This movie is hilarious; documentaries are often serious, and dark, but the subject matter of ‘Exit Through The Giftshop’ is art. How can you take art seriously?

The film shows the highs of art, new artists being creative and making a difference, and the lows, rich socialites and collectors spending millions of dollars on something they view to be ‘the next big thing’, all the while being completely tongue in cheek.

If you want to add another layer to the film, many critics are saying it’s not a documentary; is ‘Exit Through The Giftshop’ an honest look at an eccentric Frenchman’s life, or just another Banksy hoax? It is Banksy, after all.


Basically, the film delves into what constitutes as an artist (“Thierry broke all the rules. But there aren’t supposed to be any rules in art.”), while remaining entertaining throughout.


Love.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Haul; Silver And Fakeness


Mimi And Marge Silver Pyramid Studs; Mimi And Marge Silver Ring; Wrap Bracelet from Club Monaco (Total Chan Luu knockoff);

What I bought before I dalinaced off to New York City. The pyramid studs have replaced my spike ones, and I have two in one ear and one in the other, since my coworker bought them two pairs and gave me one <3


Expect more fake Chan Luu's; it makes me a bad person, I know, but for $34.00? I can't not, I just can't.


Love.


Tuesday, June 8, 2010

OOTD; West Vancouver + DS Ramblings


Tank top from H&M; Black blazer by Only; Black leggings from American Apparel;
Pyramid Studs by Mimi And Marge; Earrings by Alexis Bittar; Neckalces by Alexis Bittar and Pyrrah;
Bracelets by Chan Luu and Humanity; Black flats from Aldo;

Long time no OOTD. Time to remedy that.
I wore this to work in the company I work for’s West Vancouver location. So I had to look classy on the outside and dead on the inside to fit in, naturally. Jaykay, I don’t hate you, West Van.

I chickened out in buying a Nintendo DS this day. By the time I post this, hopefully I will have bought one.
I didn’t know how expensive they were; I assumed that since they’d been out for a while they’d be about $80 or something, but alas, it’s like $120 - $140. Plus then I have to buy Pokemon Heart Gold, obviously.
I think I’ll justify it by saying that I need it for the many plane rides between Vancouver and Toronto that I am about to experience.

I’ll be working a lot at the West Vancouver location, which I actually don’t mind; I love the girls there and I like going to a new environment. It’s almost like a vacation, but it’s still work, if that makes any sense.

Oh, and do you love the hipsterness of the tank top? I bought it, then announced the next day to my coworkers that I’d bought the most hipster top in life.
They did not disagree.


Nails of the day was another gradient, which elicited many complements from my customers, as well as a woman stroking my hand. So uncomfortable
I used ‘Done Out In Deco’, ‘Parlez-Vous OPI?’, and the famed ‘Lincoln Park After Midnight’ all by OPI. I decided to leave out my other sparkly purples and keep it all creams to give it some kind of consistency.

Hopefully I’ll get some MovieRaves up soon, since there’s a couple that you need to see.

QuestionOfTheDay;
What colour DS should I get?


Love.

P.S. ‘True Blood’ starts soon. So fucking excited, I can’t even…

Sunday, June 6, 2010

NYC; Recap

So I’ve had a busy two weeks; I meant to write a bit about my trip to New York City, but upon arriving at YVR and consequently Vancouver, I learned I was working the next five days in a row.
I never do that. Unless it’s Christmas, which it’s not.
Not that I minded tons, but being on your feet for eight hours (and one six hour) days makes it hard to concentrate when you collapse when you get home. I need to get insoles or something.
Regardless, I have a ‘weekend’ (two days off in a row), and said New York write-up is here.

~

We left Tuesday, May 18th in the night; the flight wasn’t until past ten, but we always do the North American ‘come three plus hours early’ thing.
I love how deserted YVR is at night, but I kind of love airports in general. Maybe they represent adventure, maybe it’s the abundance of Starbucks and that reminds me of home. Anyway, love those airports.

We flew Cathay Pacific Airlines, which I love. Basically, they go from Hong Kong to Vancouver to New York to Vancouver to Hong Kong and so on and so forth. Apparently there’s money in that route.
There are TVs, adequate food, and the flight attendants are always nice. I watched ‘Nowhere Boy’, which isn’t even out in Vancouver yet. I enjoyed it, but I would have enjoyed it more without the two kids screaming in Chinese behind me.

Sidenote; That was the third flight in a row I had kids behind me. It’s like the airlines find the person who can’t stand children the most (me) and put kids behind them.

We arrived in New York at about seven in the morning, but couldn’t check in until about three. Figured.
My sister was dressed in her airlines best in a shirt she usually sleeps in, Lulu Lemon pants, and no make-up. She knew we probably wouldn’t get the rooms until the afternoon, but she was willing to take the chance of an early check in.

Tired and oily from the make-up from the night before, we decided to go on the harbour tour, then a walk on Madison Avenue in which I saw Courtney Love, and then our rooms were ready. I then slept, which was so sweet.
My sister woke me up many hours later and said ‘It’s time for dinner!’ and I groggily walked with my family to Becco, and amazing Italian restaurtant, and my favourite of the trip. Basically, they have a prix fixe where you get salad and three pastas. They even volunteered to make mine vegetarian without me asking, which was incredibly sweet.
Sidenote; New Yorkers are super into Canadians, I found. The harbour tour guy asked us ‘Washington or Canada?’ when he found out we were from Vancouver, and yelled ‘Au revoir, les Canadienes!’ after us when we left the boat. The waiter at Becco literally yelled “Oh my god!’ when he found out we were form Canada, and was all excited to talk to us about it. It was all really sweet.

The next day we went to the MoMA and saw 'The Artist Is Present', and saw ‘West Side Story’ on Broadway; I wasn’t impressed by the play. The actors hadn’t been chosen for their singing voices, and I felt it was kind of flat. But after the play, at Joe Allan’s restaurant, I had the most memorable New York experience.

I met Michael Emerson aka Ben from ‘Lost’.

Joe Allan’s was super packed; the waitress lead us to our seats, and sat us down. When I looked up he was directly across from me at the bar with a friend, and my jaw dropped. I whispered to my mom and dad and debated talking to him. Finally, I mustered up the courage, plus I actually did have to get up and go to the bathroom, and decide to talk to him.
I just put my hand on his arm, since he was turned away from me, and said
“I just wanted to tell you that I love ‘Lost’, and that Ben is my favourite character.”
He shook my hand and said
“That’s very sweet thank you for telling me that.”
Then he turned around and smiled at my sister.

I was shaking, which is so embarrassing because I’m not a celebrity obsessed person. But he’s my favourite character on my favourite show, and that was huge.
Oh, and guess who else was in the restaurant. Jorge Garcia, who plays Hurley on ‘Lost’. Michael Emerson said goodbye to him as he was leaving, and since we were leaving at the same time as him, he said goodbye to us. My dad told him to not spoil the finale for us and he laughed. Then we all left and my night had been made.

Friday we shopped and I went to the Alexis Bittar boutique in Soho, but didn’t buy anything. Then I went to Topshop and bought a top, some rings, and a necklace. Spoiler alert, that’s all I bought this trip; last time I went to New York I didn’t buy much either. I don’t know why. London was more of a shopping town for me.

The next day was more bus tours and me wandering around SoHo by myself and being asked for direnction by tourists who thought I was a New Yorker (!!!) and meeting Jesse Tyler Ferguson from Modern Family. We were just passing on Greene St. and I called
“I love Modern Family!”
And he smiled and said ‘thank you’.

That night we saw the amazing ‘American Idiot’; you need to see this play. I was blown away.
My dad was in charge of buying tickets when we were in New York, and I’m so happy he picked ‘American Idiot’; if you know the CD, if you like Green Day, or even if you grew up in the nougties you will love this play.
It takes the story of the rock opera described in the album ‘American Idiot’, adds to it, and brings it to visualization. Plus the actors were defiantly chosen for their singing ability (I’m looking at you, Stark Sands and Tony Vincent).
I loved it.

On the last day we had a leisurely breakfast, went to the Museum of Natural History, and at the last minute, and at the assistance of my sister, purchased tickets to ‘Rock Of Ages’, our third Broadway show.
My parent loved it more than ‘American Idiot’; I didn’t, but I was thoroughly entertained by it, even thought Constantine Maroulis was in LA for the American Idol finale and his understudy was performing his roll.
Basically, I think any red blooded male should see this play; it’s a comedic look at 80’s rockers making it in LA in, obviously, the 1980’s. They gave us fake lighters that lit up to sway at the ballads, which was an awesome touch.

Then it was off to JFK, which looks so ghetto compared to YVR, but what airport doesn’t?
Another celebrity sighting: my sister met and took a picture with Nick Jonas in the airport, and he smiled at me. He was so sweet; he was obviously exhausted, but he took two pictures with my sister. He didn’t have any bodyguards around him, which I thought was odd, but my sister was the only who asked for a picture that I saw.
She freaked out for over an hour afterwards, with shaking and everything. And she doesn’t even like the Jonas Brothers.

Then it was home to Vancouver with a crying baby on the flight. But it wasn’t behind me, so that’s OK.
We got home at about one in the morning and went to sleep.
Then we watched the ‘Lost’ finale the next morning, and now my life has no meaning.
But I had fun in New York.

~

More posts to come this week, now that I have time to write. Expect new nail polish, a small haul, and my musing on whether or not I buy a Nintendo DS within the next week.


Love.