Tag: style

The Daily EO: March 30th, 2013

I walked from Yaletown to Gastown to get my nails done.  They convinced me not to go with the plain French manicure as I always do, but instead to do something different.  So I ended up with a French-like manicure with silver sparkles on it.  It might be too much.  I’m not sure, but I missed out on pretty sparkly nails and the like due to retardedness in all things pretty growing up.  So, I am catching up I supposed.  (and using the word retarded in the proper sense here – as in my progress in pretty things was retarded by lack of knowledge and confidence.  But do crimping irons count?  I was really into that!).

Emile walked down and joined me and we headed to South Granville to do some furniture shopping.  Afterall, I am still sleeping with a mattress on a mattress on a floor.  But did we buy anything? No – why?  Because we are cheap now.  I used to be a person who bought things when I wanted without concern – but Emile broke me.  Alas.

We then walked back from South Granville to Yaletown to look at my latest favorite shop – Cross Design.  Which inspired me for a new look in our living room – not new new, but new and fresh.  I’m tired of our things – it’s time for a change.  But yet am value conscious – see above – so could be trouble here.  I am thinking greys, whites, Provençal with a splash of red?  Hello, Craig’s List.

Bought berries in Yaletown and then back home to Gastown.

Dinner was with old friends – our next door neighbours when I was a kid – where we participated in a strange family tradition where our berries and cream were served before dinner.  “Uncle Rod” lived next door my entire life before I went to university.  He’s 81 now and a little balder and doesn’t see as well, but Uncle Rod was thrilled to see me after almost 10 years.

March 30th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary:  12+ kms, nails that sparkle in the sun and reconnection.

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The Daily EO: February 19th, 2013

My insurance claim has finally come through, so I finally can purchase replacement items for my things that were stolen.   This is good.  Because the bag that I have been dragging my things around is somewhat embarrassing.   The first thing I went shopping for is sunglasses.  I went to The Bay because I didn’t want to spend a fortune but I didn’t want to get drugstore sunglasses either.

But people disorganize things, so when I finally found the ones – and a lovely plaid pattern on the arms – they were not in the correct section.  But that is okay – I found them anyways.  But when I turned over the tag – it said $230.

Now for some of you reading this, you may feel that $230 is quite reasonable to pay for sunglasses, but it is about $100 more than I want to spend, and $150 more than the insurance company is willing to reimburse.

But now nothing else compares.

February 19th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary:  Plaid arms mean Burberry, Susan – you know that.

 

The Daily EO: February 14th, 2013

After spending all day Wednesday wearing contact lens and having my hair down (as usual), something needed to change.  I wear my contact lenses 24/7 for two weeks, then I rest my eyes for 12 hours and put in a new pair.  This tends to work well except when I spend 6 hours typing handwritten data into spreadsheets.  Between my hair hanging in my face while I typed and read and my eyes going buggy, I was rather annoyed with myself.

I did use a green paperclip to hold my hair back, but that looked awfully bizarre especially when I left my office to walk around.  So today, I pulled out my old terribly scratched up glasses with a 15 year old prescription and used a bobby pin to more artfully pin back my hair.

Trying to rock the sexy librarian look did not work out.   My glasses made my face greasy, my lenses were foggy, the bridge of my nose hurt, the sides of my head ached and not just one person said “Hey, I didn’t know you wore glasses”.  That combined with me frothing at the mouth and losing sleep about the inventory I was working on, I was about ready to go home.

When I finally did get home (at 9:30 pm), Emile said “Hey, wearing your glasses today!”

February 14th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary:  Sigh.  At least glasses hide the bags under your eyes.

 

The Daily EO: January 22nd, 2013

Tuesday night I ambled 1 block north of my place to get my haircut.  I like this system.  I previously drove 175 kms to get my haircut and that was a little annoying and time consuming.  But really, finding a good salon is hard – and I passed through Toronto enough to co-ordinate it usually with something else.

But now, it is a 1 block away.  And now, it isn’t just one block away, it is also an Aveda Teaching Salon, so I can get my hair cut for half price.  It takes longer and you can’t always be guaranteed of what who you’re going to get.  But everyone is supervised by an Aveda Instructor, and well, hair grows back.  And if you don’t agree, well, I probably will not find you sitting in a chair across from there.

So, I have had all good experiences there except one that was only okay.  Firstly, the girl – we’ll call her Sara – should have been a Swedish masseuse.  Her head massage hurt, her combing hurt and her cutting hurt.  And I wasn’t too too crazy about the haircut.  (she cut it bluntly by sight across my ears).  So, every time I made an appointment subsequently, I ask who it will be with and have been able to not get Sara by just selecting another person when I’ve had the choice.  I didn’t really want to complain about her and the haircut wasn’t terrible.

So, when I showed up and they said “Hi Susan, you have a hair cut with Sara at 6:30, I see”, I was taken aback.  I then had to actually say it was with someone else.  And then I drop to a whisper to explain that I didn’t want Sara tearing at my head again.

January 22nd, 2013 Extra-Ordinary:   Rescheduled hair appointment for Friday night without Sara – and no charge.

The Daily EO: November 20th, 2012

I was in Yorkdale mall about 6 1/2 years ago with my best friend Lisa (www.screaminglisa.com).  She had come east to Ontario for my wedding shower – she was my maid of honour – and we were doing a bit of shopping.  Neither of  us – and I hope she’ll forgive me saying so – are fashion mavens nor do either of us fit into size 4 jeans or size 8 for that matter.

We spend some of our time mocking those who are fashion forward types and worried about being cool for the sake of being cool.  So when she saw someone who was wearing these absolutely brand new trend of “skinny jeans”, she pointed them out and said “I think they make even super skinny people look fat”.  I agreed with her because frankly, I was busy walking around in my mid 2000s jeans with a low rise waist with boot cut.  I mean, she was right, they didn’t look particularly flattering.  We wanted to hide the body – not show it off.

But here I am nowadays with probably about 6 pairs of skinny jeans/pants AND a pair of GLO-E-US riding boots.  I don’t know, perhaps there people in malls saying my skinny pants make me look fat.   Hmmm.

Regardless, I am not 20 any more, I don’t really care about what some yahoos might think, but I do like the trend of skinny pants.  Why?  Because skinny pants show your shape – from your wide hips to your thin calves – and I like that.   There are a pant that just tell it like it is.  They call a spade a spade.  So by pushing them on us, the fashion world is saying “Bring us your hips people!  We want to see some curves.  Or no curves.  We don’t care!  Just show us what you’ve got!”

That’s good.  Because “not fashion” bodies is what most of us have.

November 20th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Yep, I’ve got hips, and a waist and that is just fine with me.

The Daily EO: November 17th, 2012

Have you ever seen a teenage angst movie?  Those are the ones where the most popular guy in school is challenged to date the “weirdo” girl who is gorgeous except nobody can tell because she wears glasses and loose clothing.  Then the popular guy falls for the girl, the girl takes off her glasses to become Grace Kelly and then the popular guys’ idiotic friends tell the girl about the bet.  Then the break-up  – the girl puts her glasses back on and retreats to her studio or poetry writing place or whatever and then popular guy does the grand romantic gesture and wins her back.  (“You had me at hello . .  .”)

We had are year-end party today and was sad to say I couldn’t take my glasses off.  In fact, I wear contacts, my lashes are tinted, my hair is kept cut, my nails are delightful, my wardrobe is much improved, my bags are covered by mineral make-up and my skin has mostly cleared up (Vancouver air?).  The point is, I look like this all the time – there is little room for reasonable improvement (you know the kind that can be done in an afternoon).  I will not be whipping my glasses off and shocking those around me with my greatly improved appearance.

The difference between party me and normal me is narrowing: it basically comes down to eyeshadow and a little black dress.  A shame really – because if I consistently maintain and boost my ordinary appearance, I am just approaching the top-end, not increasing the scale.

November 17th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:   Considering downgrading my regular appearance to look comparably gorgeous at the year-end party.

The Daily EO: November 10th, 2012

Ah.  The Saturday of a long weekend.  There is nothing that feels freer.  (except being unemployed and not knowing that it IS a long weekend).  And what a day here in Vancouver.  Cold, but the skies were clear and the sun was shining.  Perfect day to hit the streets with tea and sunglasses and walk the length of downtown. I stopped into a Starbucks – one of the hundreds – and had myself a free tea thanks to a giftcard.  Yum.Now, in the interest of full disclosure.  I got lost walking form Gastown to Yaletown. I did.  It’s true.  It’s a long story, but I was responding to emails and answering my phone etc while I was walking and not truly paying attention.  And, when I attempted to get myself sorted out, I had the misfortune of using maps on my iPhone.  The app thought it would be helpful to keep turning the map based on the direction I was headed, but really, all I wanted was to know which was south.  As I knew how to walk that direction.  So, yep, that was me, with several false starts meandering around “almost Yaletown”  staring at my phone.   From here on out it is using my brain to get somewhere!

Only three weeks ago, I told of my first gelish polish experience and despite my nails’ insistence continuing to grow and creating a gap it was time to go back and do it again.

I got a pedicure and a manicure.  The experience of sitting in a massage chair while one technician works on your feet and someone else does your hands should not be missed by anyone.  It feels. . . deserved.  Expensive.  Hollywood!

And as I watched, a long nail technician free hand painted my french nail polish.  Free hand and quickly!  I was amazed:

Oh my god! That is so sophisticated. Like Totally!!

I walked home and stopped in Pacific Center, because with these nails I truly fit in with the downtown shopping crowd.  Nevermind I was wearing Sketchers and a yoga jacket.  But I fixed that, spending way to much on boots (GLO-RE-US!), and getting a great deal on a rain coat that doesn’t have a hood.   I bought some woman’s cord skinny pants at the The Gap, and “Ethan” who rang them through told me they were his favorite pants (he was wearing them).  Hmmm.  I double checked when I got out of the store.  They say “women’s” on them.. . .  I am so disconnected with youth these days.  We used to wear the boys pants.

After a complete day of gym, nails, shopping and planning dinner with friends, I strolled home with my arms laden feeling pampered and satisfied.  This must be what is it like to be on the D-List (A- Listers don’t walk, work out in the gym alone, make their own dinner plans or carry their own packages).  Nor do they answer work emails while standing in the middle of The Bay.  Or go to The Bay for that matter.

November 10th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:

It must be Hollywood! Who knew there was a branch here?

The Daily EO: November 1st, 2012

Sorry for the barrage of posts, but I am catching up.  Sorry to be late!

I have never owned a pair of rubber boots.  Never.  Well, maybe I had some cute ones when I was a toddler, but I am pretty sure I did not.

But I live in Vancouver now and frankly I am tired of having wet sodden feet.  Rubber boots – especially Hunter ones – are all the rage out here.  Skinny jeans and a pair of rubber boots.  Here I am running around in ballet flats and a winter puff coat looking like I might have just moved from Muskoka (where a proper pair of winter boots were worn but I tossed those to make moving room for other things like pots and pans).

A quick trip to Army and Navy fixed me right up.  A bit splashy (ha!), but I jumped in puddles while I walked home. And Emile could stomach the price.  Next, a rain coat.

Hmmm.  My umbrella does not match my boots.

November 1st, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  Dry feet.

Fashionista me? I think that is stretching it.

The Daily EO: October 18th, 2012

Women between the ages of 30 and 45 still want to look stylish and fun yet sophisticated and not slutty.  Why is it that I cannot seem to find a middle of the road priced stores that sell normal sized clothes for someone who wants the above?

Most of my shopping trips involve walking into store that’s either a little too young for me – shorts jumpsuits and reaching around back to the hanger in the pack that is gaping because it is such a “huge” size.   Or a little too old for me – cut too roomy, too high on the waist or too much elastic in general.

If I find something gorgeous, it is usually priced gorgeously.  Or things that I think look so fabulous – like shift dresses, or blousey tops – look not right at all on my curves.  It’s a dilemma, I tell you.

I must tell you that I am both fashionably and make-uply retarded – though I think I’ve mentioned that before.   How to wear a scarf, layering and accessorizing?  Really?  I can barely match my pants to my shirt.  I like dresses because then there is no matching at all – except trying to find the right shoes.  Sigh.

So I sent an e-mail to a personal shopping company today to get more information about their services – well, frankly, to get more information about their prices.  Doesn’t help to use the clothing budget to pay someone to tell me what to wear when I can’t afford to buy it any longer.

Apparently they also offer life consulting too.  I wonder if I need that?  How do you know if you do.

October 18th, 2012 Extra-Ordinary:  I do many things well, yet shopping not so much.   No, I just get a bad case of mall disease and want to come home.