If you read this blog fairly often (or even don’t) then it’s no secret that I am hugely influenced by Jane Aldridge’s blog Sea of Shoes and beyond that, am totally obsessed with it. (I’m so sorry I ended that sentence with “it”, Niles Crane would have my head.) Anyway last summer I saw her post entitled “‘Charity’-for Branded” in which she and her mother had seen an article in Australian Vogue about a furniture set that had been drawn on by children and they wanted to recreate it for charity. They took one of their old chairs, covered it in canvas, took it to a children’s hospital so they could all colour on it and then the money from the auction of the chair would go back to that hospital. The outcome of that chair:
The second I saw this I knew I wanted one. No, mine won’t be drawn on by children since I don’t know any and I won’t be auctioning it off…okay, I suck and they’re much more noble, I’m sorry, I just want a chair like that! Moving on, I knew it had to be a nice chair or else it wouldn’t look right, and I don’t have gorgeous chairs lying about my house that I can cover in canvas so the search began for a cheap, but workable, chair. That’s where one of my favourite stores comes into play, The Elegant Garage Sale. The title says it all, it’s basically a well put together junk store by Bayview and Eglinton, but they have some real gems there and usually at reasonable to shockingly low prices. I found a chair for $50.00, had the wood painted and it reupholstered with white canvas:
My chair!
This was all done last summer, the reupholstering done by October, and until now it has just been sitting in our living room covered in plastic. Until now because now it has a home! It will be moving out of the living room and into My living room come October (only took a year plus…) So I’ll be posting updates of how the chair is coming along here. It has to be drawn on on the seat, the sides, the back and the actual backside of the chair since the canvas extends that far. So far my sister has helped, my mum has promised to and friends who have been aware of the project since the very beginning either want to help or feel quasi-obligated, which is fine by me.
I’m not sure if a stranger would be able to tell the age of the person who has done the majority of the drawing, but I like to think they would guess a number far lower than 20. My mum says a lot of it looks exactly like the drawings I used to make when I was little which is either a compliment to my little self or an insult to my older self… So much more to draw and therefore more to come!
Yes, the quote above is in reference to Tila and myself. Wherever Tila and I go we collect fans…probably because we’re famous princesses. We went to Zelda’s one Saturday night and had the best time ever. I thought for a while about when the last best time would be, but I think “ever” is right; just had that much fun. Zelda’s is both a restaurant and bar, but we’ve only been upstairs to the bar to join in on the drag fun! The Saturday we went we watched some Lady Gaga and much else…but as most fun nights go, they’re not always the easiest to remember in great detail. There was a competition for a sport (that isn’t really a sport) which I somehow set off due to my “Samantha”-esque vibe…it didn’t end well for me, but in my defense I have a twisted ankle and it was a “very fun” night. Tila and I were back-up dancers…found a fourth for our SATC group (which would be how the whole “Samantha” thang came up)…and there may or may not have been some silly “naturist” moments. I’ll leave it at that. And “that” is probably already too much. Whatevah, whatevah, I do what I want! …Sorry.
Speaking of a twisted ankle… After we went to SATC 2 Tila and I hung up (put away) our high heels. We both have twisted ankles. Both left. Both ankles we potentially made worse when we sacrificed them in order to wear high heels to a movie. I know, this is all makes total sense, you totally get where we were coming from. Well ever since we decided that we were bound to flats until our ankles were truly ready we haven’t been too excited to dress up. It’s just not the same without beautiful shoes, and we both have issues finding flats all that exciting. As a result of wearing flats we’ve rebelled (not really…), but I’m naked and Tila sparkles. Actually ever since we’ve been much more sparkly. Yesterday I wore a full sequined sweater to get breakfast…I need my high heels back. Men buy speedy, shiny cars, we hike up our skirts and cover ourselves in sparkle. (Yesterday I saw two sequins go down the drain in the shower, that’s the point I’m at.)
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- Gaga
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- Show stoppers
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- Big fans
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- Forgotten ankle
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- Obligatory pose 1
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- And 2
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- Trying to show the necklace
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- Zelda’s Pt. 2
I was wearing a necklace I love, but don’t often wear which I’ve tried to show without showing too much. You know what I mean. It’s apparently an unknown Québécois designer and there’s a bird in a cage and what I think are “jazzy squiggles”. I don’t know what it means or if it means anything, I just like it. I’d wear it in a smoky bar, with a smokey eye and a big hat. I’m sure that scenario will happen one day… (Oh P.S. Got it at The Bead Goes On!) Also, the last picture is from the following Monday when we went back to Zelda’s to play Bingo. Just a regular Monday night…there were some pretty great winnings, not on my part, but on those of others that I won’t go into detail about because it’s naughty. I wore a vintage black pleated, strapless dress that I got for about $20 on Queen street; it’s long enough not to worry about being a lady, but I never feel too covered up in it. Dress love. And I yanked out the LV from when I was 15. I think it works.
Side note: Watching the Tonys…I was ridiculously happy to see the Crane brothers together again. Biggest highlight for me so far. That and Lea Michelle’s performance, but not in a good way. Not in a good way at all… Oh, and now that it’s over: third highlight being the show ending on an infinite string of “Na Na Na Na Na”s. Love the Tonys.
Yeah, of the “World” variety. Be jealous. I’ve been there…too many times, but this was Tila’s first time since she was very wee so it was a special couple o’ days. Rode some rides, ate some food, had a princess make-over, the usual. Oh? What? A princess make-over? Does that mean you’re a princess now? It does. So we were the oldest there by a few generations, so the very little girls were staring at us because we had actual boobs (well, one of us) so that must mean we’re real princess, so one of them thought I looked like Cinderella…all part of being committed to princess-dom. Alright, I’ll give it to you straight: “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is a beauty salon where little girls are magically transformed into little princesses”. We’re hardly little girls, we’re not girls, we’re certainly not little princesses. But since “everyone’s a kid” in Disney (said the lady at the concierge) we made my mom call and after some discussion, in which I think they tried to talk her out of it, we were in, little or not. Then we get there and find out the oldest “little princess” they ever had was 96. Although I feel like that falls into the realm of so-old-you’re-cute-again or so-old-you’re-treated-like-a-child-again or…okay, you know what I’m getting at. And what I’m getting at is Tila and I are extremely courageous. Heroes. Pioneers. We’ve paved the way for young adults everywhere, perhaps even males. Enough ego for one post, so anyway, I’m also throwing in some random non-princess make-over pictures I think are cute. Cause I’m cute. Like a little princess. Done for real now.
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- In “Canada”
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- In “Morocco”
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- Before
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- The works
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- Glitter!
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- Hello, Princess!
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- The works part 2
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- More glitter!
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- Hello, Princess!
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- Tricked into a photo shoot
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- On a white chaise
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- Casual Princesses
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- The prom we never had
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- Complete with bling
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- Our fourth to the group
Like the matching outfits? We couldn’t fit into dresses. Now imagine two 20 something girls, dressed the same, with the same hair, matching necklaces and sashes, one of them waving like a princess to young children, following around my poor mother. All day. If your imagination is up to par, whether you know my mom or not (it’s way funnier if you do, though) this is a hilarious image.
(To come: SATC and Drag. All in the life of a princess.)
P.S. Sorry the Disney-taken photos are blurry, I had to steal them via screen shot because I didn’t really feel like paying $14.95 per picture to download them. Ah, Disney…Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems, you know.
Unfortunately this won’t be a graphic post rivaling the snippets of erotica at the end of Cosmo. (One day though…) But for now let’s talk about something my mom would only be too proud to know I was blogging about…contraception!
Some of you know what my mom does, some don’t: she’s an OBGYN. …Google it. As a result I’m the kid who knew a bit too much about things I probably shouldn’t have known about in elementary school and for the most part I wished I didn’t know most of it. Anyway, let’s get to the point.
Contraception is…ugly. It is not aesthetically pleasing. Lots of silver foil and plastic and numbers that mean nothing to us, even the “fancy” condoms are still just…condoms. It’s easy to forget your pill, it’s easy to forget to bring a condom, and I hate to say it, but for many people I know (and you know) it’s just not a big deal if one or the other (or both) are forgotten. Without even touching on pregnancy we all know there are other consequences. So what do I suggest? Make it pretty! Sorry guys, this post really isn’t for you, but then again you’re not getting pregnant so…I don’t care.
Nicole Miller
Now if you’re anything like my friends and me we can’t stop looking at pretty things, and when one is acquired we’re only too fast to show it off. Well if pills were kept in a case that had the same effect perhaps it would be at the front of one’s mind as opposed to way in the back. We’d want to keep our pill cases with us just in case the chance to came up for “What this? Not a compact. I know, so cool.” Sounds silly, but you know it would happen. Lucky for you there are fashionable alternatives at your disposal! These pretty pill cases were designed by Nicole Miller and unfortunately are no longer in production, but can be found on ebay every so often.
Pillpaks
There is also Pillpaks which have alarms on them and also come in cute girly styles. But if you decide that you’re unique and therefore your birth control should be too then run (don’t walk!) to Squirrel’s Nest shop on Etsy where all the cases are hand-made and custom orders are on the menu! You can look through sold items to get an idea of what you want and even ask for a repeat of a past item.
A Squirrel's Nest Case
The handcuffs case was by far my favourite because how can you go wrong with sparkles and handcuffs? You can’t. Well, it could be not orange. Alright, onto condoms! Ladies, we are not going to keep condoms in our wallets and then chortle like neanderthals when we take them out…that’s for their species. If we are going to keep a condom on us it has to be sexy as does the presentation when we reveal that we’re carrying.
The Classic
That’s where Just In Case comes in. This one actually is a compact…with a secret compartment that holds up to 2 condoms. The classic style is the “little black compact” which is definitely the most affordable, but we we’re talking about pretty right? In that case, we want bling!
Just in Case Bling!
It’s definitely quite the price to pay for sexy condom concealment, but it’s just so sparkly! Imagine you pull it out, light shines off of it in all directions, you snap it open then lift the secret compartment to smoothly reveal a condom…I’m putting this in a movie. Okay, so now you have a bunch of fashionable ways of keeping the things you need close and presentable! So let’s take those pills and whip out those condoms! And as always kids, have fun! (That’s a tad creepy…)
So I’m directing a musical, The Rocky Horror Show, so of course I’m pretty…”into” musicals. Okay, mildly obsessed. A bit fanatic. I get fixated on things easily…(SeaofShoes), but musicals are a true love. I know, they’re usually kind of corny and even if they’re not it’s still a musical. They just make me so happy. Even the extremely upsetting ones. It’s because it’s true love! The music, lyrics, characters, eee! I often blast a musical as I shower and play…every part. I am releasing far too much information on this blog, I just want you all to understand that it’s not just a lame theatre thing it’s…okay, the only word I can think of over and over is “love” so: love, love, love, love.
A Very Potter Musical
I swear it's cooler than it looks...
Recently I have been introduced to two musicals that I thought wouldn’t be my style, but I am obsessed. They’re on a playlist together on repeat. The first is an internet sensation that was brought to my attention by our Magenta in RHS when our rehearsal was cancelled last week and I had nothing to do, but didn’t want to work. A HUGE thank you to her for sending me that link asap because it was a much better use of my evening! The musical theatre program at Michigan University put on a student written and run production of their fan musical, A Very Potter Musical. Can you guess what it’s about? I have to admit that I’ve never read the books, only seen the movies, but I loved it! Way more entertaining than any of the movies, as far as I’m concerned. Now I obviously don’t really know the story, but from what I gather they somehow worked it out in their 2 act show. Yes, lots and lots is cut, but deal with it. Draco and Voldemort are by far the best in terms of character and actors, hilarious. The title of this blog is actually one of Draco’s quotes from one of my favourite parts. WATCH IT: A Very Potter Musical
On to the next musical! The Toxic Avenger Musical which is currently playing in Toronto.
Toxic!
My mum told me she heard it was great and would get tickets for the night I came home which I agreed to because I figured why not, even a bad show is interesting, but I honestly expected it to be horrible. 1. My mother is anything but a theatre buff (some of you know what kind of buff she is…hehehe). 2. With a title like that…none too high expectations. 3. I had never heard of it, I realize that sounds bad, but you’ve all said it when you’re looking for a movie to see in theatres so hush. We get in the theatre and I immediately look at the cast list…Jamie McKnight. If anyone saw the awful production of Hair that Canstage put on 3 years ago, he played Claude and started out the show naked with his back to us, it was love at first sight…of his backside. So the second I saw that name my expectations grew, just a bit. Then I realized it was a 5 person show…they sunk again (I dislike it when one actor plays several characters…usually). In the theatre, lights out, music up, “White Dude” and “Black Dude” enter and sing…I love it.
"Black Dude" and "White Dude" as some of their many characters.
The songs, the actors, the voices, immediately amazing. It sounds silly to say they were all so into it, but they were and more! They were excited, and having fun, and playing, and joking, and proud! Ah! It was so wonderful to watch! Everyone excluding the two leads, the romantic ones of course, play multiple parts and it’s done so well! There’s a lot of making fun of theatre as a convention which I love and the quick changes were so impressive and all the characters were so different and…I could continue forever. I highly, highly recommend it. It doesn’t close until January 3rd so you can see it over Christmas break and the most expensive tickets are $41.50 so the ones down from there are reasonable and there are $15 rush tickets! All the songs are pretty great, but this one is definitely one of my favourites: Choose Me, Oprah!
I wear black 