Vinyl and SOUL

I’ve been seeking a creative outlet. There’s this need under my skin to get really hands on with some kind of project. Literally, almost anything has entered my mind at least once: from sewing, cooking/baking, writing, refurbishing old furniture... You name it, I’ve probably been considering it.

Blame Nylon. The magazine, not the material. The January 2012 issue has a feature about fashion inspired by the 60s and showcased a TON of 20-something talent. Whenever I see young people accomplishing stuff, my initial reaction is: “COOL!” Followed by a introspection as to what I’ve been doing with myself and my life.

With work, fitness and random commitments (plus the fact that the internet is a black hole that sucks up ALL OF MY TIME) it’s easy to neglect passion and creativity by plugging in.

If there were post-New Years resolutions to be made I would add ‘spend more time with love and art, and less time with Stumble’ to the list, as well as calling myself on my own bullshit. That’s a blog for a different day.
To get creative, I’ve decided to try and paint up a pair of my old canvas high tops, so that will be probably end up posted here. Sometime soon?
I'm also looking for volunteer positions right now, trying to write some blogs for LGBT Youthline, get involved, be informed. I want to take care of the world.

Today, when I was shopping for shoe painting supplies (and taking Kacy shopping for her vegan food stuffs) I was feeling retro. A handful of days ago I inherited a pile of my dad's old vinyls, and I've been listening to Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest hits, daily.
I have a new love, and it's name is vinyl and SOUL. (Ooh. That was the title of the post. Now it's like we're in a bad movie where they use the title in a really dramatic manner. If you've ever seen Face/Off... You know what I mean.) Oh, right. Then I dressed like a hippie for kicks. More 70s than 60s, but it's all good baby.



Oh jeez. Put that away before you hurt somebody.

Vest: Thrifted
Shirt: Thrifted
Pants: Thr-- I'm seeing a pattern here...
Bag: Matt and Nat
Boots: Aldo (On SALE!)

The only thing I have to say about this outfit is that I would like MORE. Next time I'll add a necklace, a couple rings, some sunglasses or something. For now, simplicity works. Also: those pants didn't fit a couple of months ago. SCORE.

Veganarian

My l'il sister Kacy is trying out a funny balance of Vegan + Vegetarian as part of a New Years health kick. I don't entirely understand her motives but I admire her courage. (She's downstairs cooking us dinner right now. This is the girl who texts me excitedly when she properly makes rice for dinner at school.) As long as she doesn't become one of those preachy douchey Vegans, I'm down with her choice. She says that a lot of her choices are related to the hormones and processing in meat products, so I told her she will have to kiss EVERYTHING A MCDONALDS GOODBYE. Which I suppose is the point of the whole exercise.

Kacy tends to hibernate for 12+ hours every day when she can, and she's hoping it might afford her a little more energy, which is a decent try, anyway.

I can't judge her because I ate vegetarian for about a year in my teens, more as an identity thing over a moral/nutritional thing. I also cooked veggie stylez a lot at school because it was inexpensive. (And I'll probably do it again!) Either way. That's what's happening right now.
I got so excited that she was making dinner for us. She's wearing the glasses because she A) wants to look cool B) onions make her cry C) all of the above.

It's funny to watch the people in my family move independently of one another. Off to work/the gym and cooking each other dinner.
I'm in the midst of trying to decrypt the application process to University in a different city. My older sister just got a new job related to her desired field. (CONGRATS JILLIGAN!) I guess this is what it feels like to be part of a family as it grows, changes and evolves.

Whether Kace is in a phase or not, for some reason it's fostered some pride to me that she's trying something new and different under the banner of self improvement. I advised ma that she should be happy her kids are expanding their horizons and trying new things of their own volition. Mama, being classic mom, doesn't GET IT.

Which is yet another entry on the list of things that my parents don't understand about their children. Maybe just for now, or maybe not ever. I've been wondering lately over the fact that my parents STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND ME. Something I thought I let go of more or less when I graduated from college, became an adult (more or less), that kind of thing. We are all growing, moving, changing. Independent colonies broken off from the original mother(andfather) land.

I guess the difference between teenhood and now is that now I can appreciate WHY we fail to connect on some subjects: music, tattoos, politics, clothes, careers, and so on and so forth. This is in contrast to just fuming about what I assumed was ignorance but was really just differences in time and upbringing and culture and other things. What can you do? Just wait until you're on your own, I suppose.

P.S. If anyone has any suggestions for workout songs or healthy recipes they'd recommend, I'm in the market!

12345678910 11 12-- RESET

I worked out for the 1st time this year. I didn't WANT to really, but by the end, was glad I went.

Getting onto the wagon after the holidays (a la resolutions or OTHERWISE) is kind of easy to START, but difficult to maintain. You get into this ass kicking mentality, but by the end of the month the gym is empty again, you feel slack and winter is crushing your drive to get up and GO.

Personally, in addition to this, I'm feeling a little disheartened because of the weight I gained over the holidays. (Self control? What does THAT mean?) But what's done is done, and I'm ready to pick it up and relearn and start again. Refocus. Thinking of summer. Shorts and bathing suits and new tattoos and the PRIDE festival and the beach. It's more fun than the reality that is the FREEZING COLD OUTDOORS.

I feel like I've been out of routine forever, but it's only been ONE week.

Today's Workout

FLASHBACK: To Jill in her recent CPR certification course where the trainer tells her and the rest of the class that if a heart is going 180+ beats per minute (BPM), it's going go fast there's a possibility you can give yourself a heart attack.

CUT TO: Me running 7.5 miles per hour for 30 seconds on the treadmill. I have never run faster than this. EVER. People could be chasing me with an axe and I'd be more sluggish. This is officially an interval sprint.
Jill and I have been using intervals (alternating between running HARD and running less hard) in our cardio to keep ourselves challenged.

CLOSE UP: The heart rate monitor on my wrist, showing a solid 181 BPM. Surrounded by old people with white hair and I'm about to collapse and be the one to have an exercise induced heart failure.

Today, I almost gave myself a heart attack. Good start to the workout year. Lesson of the day: moderation.

Retrospect

THINGS I DID IN 2011: Started this blog! Survived one (and many subsequent) hot yoga classes. Ran my first 5K. Ran my first 10K, and ended up published in a magazine because of it! Got a new tattoo. Volunteered at PRIDE in Toronto. Got a new job (or two), including my first paid writing position. Graduated from college with honours. Discovered what direction I think my life is heading. Wrote a novel in a month. Attended my first poetry slam. Got punched in the heart and made it through. Visited California. Karaoke'd my heart out in front of a roomful of people. Learned the art of waking up at 5AM for early morning shifts. Dressed with a little more flair. J'ai travaillé sur mon Francais. Discovered my hometown doesn't totally suck. I became legal EVERYWHERE. I feel as though I grew by the bucketful, which is awesome...

But that was last year. Out with the old and in with the new, and what have you.

My resolutions are pretty simple, but they're easier said than done.

• Stop comparing myself to other people.
This one is nearly impossible, and I know that. However, if I want to be a better person, one of the things I need to do is stop getting upset for things that are out of my control. I need to realize that I am an individual, and so are the ones I love, and what makes them different doesn't make them better or me worse. I have a really hard time with this sometimes and it punches my confidence right in the gut.

• Continue my fitness regime, and taking care of myself.
Being honest, yeah, this past week, I've fallen off the wagon a little. But I'm more determined now to get back on. To make time for fitness which not only stabilizes my body, but my brain. To make it a priority instead of a burden. Choosing better foods and really LISTENING to myself and my feelings also fall under this category. If I want to go out, I can go out. If I want to sleep (and I have the time) sleep I shall! That kind of thing.

That's pretty much it. Nothing sweeping or crazy. I just want this to be the year when I feel like most of the pieces come together. When I get out and RUN FOR IT. Seriously. The year when I stop being the thing that is holding me back the most.

I have a bunch of stuff that I would LOVE to do this year, but that's a list for another blog.

QUICKMAS

Just a quick post. I'm writing this because I can't sleep even though it's Christmas day now (technically) and if I sleep morning will come faster! (Deep breath here.) So this is just going to be a wee tiny post. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

(If you don't celebrate Christmas, please take away from those two words all the well wishes and perpetual love you want this time of year! And if you don't want my well wishes and perpetual love, get the hell off my blog.)

I want to talk about my family's Christmas traditions BUT I took pictures which will at least make the content more palatable at a later date, so we can wait for those. In the meantime: OUTFITS.


The best part is, I think everything except the boots, jacket and hat were thrifted for this outfit.
Hat: Zellers (LOL)
Jacket: Fairweather
Boots: Aldo
I wore this to go to a karaoke evening with my friend Justin last Sunday. I had to wait for a little snow fall to wear the hat without looking like a crazy person, but it was WORTH IT.
I sang Somebody To Love by Queen, which I BOMBED hard from nerves. Then I sang Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash, which worked out better. Sometimes when I sing my voice has an old time country June Carter lilt to it, so that one was a little easier.

I dunno if it's fashionable or stylish even, but I like it. Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals.

Here's what I put at the VERY VERY TOP OF MY LIST THIS YEAR:

The Night Before BFFmas

BFFristmas AKA BFFmas. A time when two friends celebrate Christmas ahead of the actual date. Rebekah and I celebrated BFFmas (Biffmas?) this passing weekend. Friday night, after I worked and she finished at her workplace Christmas party, we got togetha' for a little yuletide cheer. With one weekend to go before the actual day, it was our big chance to get our gifting on and spend time together! We've been busy with work and other stuff lately, not having had a lot of time to see each other.

SO IT WAS TIME TO PARTY HARD!!!

We started out with scrabble.
This was followed up by hot chocolate with marshmallows and gingersnaps while watching this season's Community Christmas Episode. (Taran Killam + the regular Community people mocking GLEE? Sign me up. All the way up.)

The next morning I was extremely pumped to give Bek her gift: a functioning, 1960s vintage rotary telephone, with a handle done by Birks, and a copy of Velvet Goldmine. (A biographical parody of the relationship between Iggy Pop and David Bowie, as played by Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. YES? YES !)

And she in turn got me a HUGE poster for "Les Amours Imaginaires", a film by French Canadian director Xavier Dolan. Which is purple. And FABULOUS. It's something I would never buy for myself, but I love the hell out of it. (That's the sign of a great gift isn't it?) It will look GREAT on the wall of my future Montreal apartment.

Then, she surprised me with a second gift: A hand painted Matryoshka doll, all the way from Russia. REAL RUSSIA. She's beautiful... I have to admit it: I almost cried when I opened this one. It was so thoughtful and totally unexpected.
I can't go into each and every detail of the day because there was a LOT of day to talk about. But it did include: breakfast at Cora's. Thrift store shopping, chicken fingers, and a poetry slam!

The only unpleasant thing in a the whole day: a HUGE unexpected, accidental parking ticket. (Next episode of Life of Wiley: I go to court to fight with the establishment!)

Forget my two front teeth.

OVER THE TOP, DREAM WISHLIST (Just for fun...zies. Yeah I went there.)



1. Black Milk Cathedral Leggings. Robyn wore these on SNL last week and my face melted off at their complete awesomeness. Unfortunately, they're not $75 awesome. Whatever.

2. Purple Doc Martens. UH. THEY'RE PURPLE DOC MARTENS. I don't even have to justify this one.

3. Smashbox O-Gloss Gold. (Golden peach.) It's a metallic (ish) gloss that turns a little peachy, but leaves a gold shimmer behind. Considering I have a complex spending 5 bucks on a lip balm, this counts as a big purchase. When I first found out about this, I went through a period of white noise where the first instinct I had was to run to the nearest Sephora to see if they had it. But when I got there, I thought it was made by a different brand, so I thought they didn't have it. Good thing.

4. Canon Rebel DSLR. I'm not picky, I'll take basically any make and model. I just want a basic DSL with a decent lense to take cool pictures/outfit pictures/do more recipe posts. True story.

5. Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child [Box Set] Why? Because I like cooking. I like French food. I like classical recipes. Basically all of these things come together. I believe that anything worth doing, might just take some time. So. A prep intensive beef bourguignon or some light pate a choux is my idea of a DREAM.

6. Mod Cloth's Coach Tour Dress in Vert. This dress rocks my socks. Straight up.