Volcano Ballerina

Last Saturday morning, my man and I left our Washington State hotel and headed South on the I-5, towards the warm breezes and sunshine. I had a wonderful notion of having a picnic in some sunny, scenic spot with wine, cheeses, bread, greek salad and olives. But the scenic spot came before I had a proper chance to stock up and the wonderful aforementioned menu was replaced with: bag of Tostitos, salsa and a giant can of Bud Light from a nearby Chevron station.



Our spot however, was more scenic that I imagined. We stopped at the Mount Saint Helen's Vistor's Centre.



Mount St. Helens used to be a perfectly cone shaped volcano until May 18th, 1980 when the pretty volcano literally blew its top off, leaving a scooped-out side and blanketing the surrounding region with catastrophic ash and lava flows, wiping out areas in a 230 sq.mile radius. Ash plumes rose 16 miles above sea level for 9 hours and was found as far north as Edmonton, Alberta. Indeed my parents remember waking up to a blanket of ash in Vancouver, BC when this happened.





This was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed.



But as you can see now, Mount St. Helens has fully recovered. Yes, it has been ancy lately - as we sat by quaint a pond, the volcano watching over us, I knew that it could easily errupt again as last year steam was seen escaping from a fracture in the dome.





That threat aside, I felt perfectly at home in the wetlands and surrounding forests. I felt a bit "fairy ballerina-esque" all day. In fact, the minute I bought this dress I knew I had to wear it with ballet shoes. And, voila!










Dress: Chili Pepper; Jean Jacket: Express; Shoes: ASOS; Bag: Mango; Peacock earrings: ASOS

Before I forget, I want to thank MizzJ for this awesomely thoughtful award :)

AND give you guys a heads up to a most awesome giveaway going on at Style Symmetry's blog - three chances to win some great swag!! To enter, please visit her blog here. Both Style Symmetry (Eyeliah) and MizzJ are the coolest - helps that they both live in Vancouver like I do. Go local fashionistas!

Inspired By: The Beach Boys

What can I say about The Beach Boys that hasn't been said before? This dynamic American band has been around since 1961, capturing all that is California with its beachy, surfy tunes focused on cars, girls and freewheeling lifestyle. I love the BB's thanks to their wonderful harmonizing abilities - aside from The Beatles, this type of group harmonizing and the sharing of singing roles is hard to come by. Of course, I also love The Beach Boys because they epitomize summer fun fun fun to me and who doesn't love that?



That's not to say The Beach Boys was all lighthearted fluff - Brian Wilson, who formed the band along with his brothers and his cousin, battled with drugs and mental illness on a daily basis. In fact, if you've seen Walk Hard, you'll recognize that Brian Wilson is parodied a lot in that move, most notably in the scenes where Dewey Cox went batshit crazy and wanting more and more sounds in his recordings (like a dijirido). Wilson went through a similar phase, branching out and becoming very expiremental...and just plain mental. It's actually very interesting, so I recommend you learn more about the story of The Beach Boys if you want to find more about their turbulent journey.

That aside, whenever you listen to The Beach Boys you can't help but pretend youre soaking up the sun, sea salt and waves on an endless vacation.

Wouldn't it be nice....









111









Dress: Rachel Pally; Bangles and earrings: Forever 21; Agate necklace: Cupcakes and Cashmere (via Etsy); Sandals: Chinese Laundry

I'm on a boat, Motherf*cker!

This is a pre-scheduled post because as of right now, I am cruising down the I-5, probably just pulling into Portland, Oregon (or cruising past that and straight to the mall to raid Sephora and Twelve by Twelve...no sales tax, baby).

Last weekened was our annual sailpast. It's a longstanding tradition at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club where we take our boats out and one by one sail (or motor, for you non-purists) past the commodore where he salutes us. You can't salute him though, for some reason. I learned that the hard way, but when you are all standing in a line like that - you have to line up tallest man to shortest woman alongside your boat - it's really hard not to!

Anyway, as per usual I got stinking drunk, spilled a whole whack of red wine down my Suzy Shier sailor pants and had to change into my Forever 21 dress. Woot for blue!

Good timez all around.


Run! We are late!!


You can see my apartment...try and guess which one?


My father, Captain Sven and Lt. Nerd Face


A great excuse to buy ASOS deck shoes


A wonder that no boats ever collide


Once a year, we are the preppy couple


An ad for beer or for Tommy Hilfiger?


Totally thought this was a great idea at the time


Hmmm don't really remember this part but I know that's tequila!






Somehow can take good photos when wasted...must be the camera!

Anyhoo, thought I would leave you all with some food for thought - it's question time!

Question A) What designer do you find overrated? Please feel free to express yourself and don't worry what people think. I for one just don't "get" Alexander Wang. Like, I don't really feel for his stuff and why so pricey, yo?

I also don't get why Marc Jacobs (I do love MJ though) can sell this dress for $1,500:



It's hideous!!!

Question B) which "fashionista" do you think is the most overrated? You know, say people are always praising Peaches Geldof's style and you have no idea why...

Happy Weekend, see you all Tuesday with a Inspired By post on The Beach Boys, yay!

The story of the yellow tights

There once was a girl who wanted yellow tights
She was tired of black ones and wanted something bright
She went to ASOS(before her online shopping embargo)
And found the perfect ones that she couldn't wait to show



They made her feel like a storybook girl
So she picked up her skirt and gave it a twirl
It wasn't till she caught sight of herself after
And realized why her co-workers errupted in laughter



Not only did her gams look like Atila the Hun's
But one leg already had one of the biggest runs
So with a pinch of nailpolish she put that to the stop
And decided to try again with a different skirt and top





Though she was going for a Kate Spade kind of feel
It ended up being an "Orange Grove" kind of deal
She decided she would only fit in if she found a citrus orchard
But she instead found a briar patch and was consequently tortured







And to make matters worse, she snagged the other thigh
Bye-bye yellow tights, you're just not going to fly





First outfit: Cardigan +necklace: ASOS; V-neck lace tank: Wet Seal; Skirt: Soo Lee; Shoes: Juicy Couture

Second outift:Skirt: ASOS; Jewelry + tank: Forever 21; Cardigan: Twelve by Twelve; Flats: My Fair Lady

Tights from hell: ASOS

Having a bad day

Wow. Once again, I am amazed at how many people get so upset over politics. I know that you can have an opinion and I think you have the right to share it - I also think when you exercise that right you have to expect that not everyone is going to agree with you.

We had our provincial election last night. I did not vote. I was planning on it, but in the end (at the last minute), I didn't. I felt ill, for one (more on that waaaay down this post). For two, I was torn on who to vote for. I wanted our local MLA (rep) from one party but I wanted the premier of our Province from another party. I couldn't vote knowing I wanted both.

Luckily (for me), it turned out that my local MLA got in (fighting my right as an apartment building leaseholder) and the premier got in so it worked out good enough.

But there is SO much animosity out there, on Facebook of all places, with so many people bashing others for not voting the same or not voting at all. I think people should vote but I think it's their perogative to do so. There are many factors at work - some don't care, some don't want to vote for any party (but would otherwise), some, like I, were torn. Whatever, people have their reasons. Luckily we live in a democratic society which gives people the RIGHT to vote, and also the right not to vote.

Yes, it's sad when people get more worked up about hockey than politics but a lot of people are disenchanted with politics and fed up with the whole system. Same can be said about our hockey team. Such is life, live with it.

I don't know what the answer is to make young people more interested in voting - I do believe a lot of it has to do with what is at stake. Take the recent US election - lots of young people went to the polls because for once it was (to them) a BIG deal. There was a lot at stake and a chance for real change. Regardless, I still think people will want their say when they find a reason to.

It just makes me feel ill how mean and petty people get over politics. I made one joke and a bunch of people were jumping down my throat, just because they assumed I voted not for the party THEY wanted - then I admited I didn't vote and they came after me for not voting. You can't win. Too be fair though, there was one person with an agenda against me...my bf's ex-girlfriend whom on all accounts is a major bitch (just trust me on this one...what she did to him was NOT nice). People should be free to share their opinion - regardless of whether they voted or not - and have healthy political discussions without crucifying someone for not thinking the way you do. You can even learn a lot that way.

My only thing about not voting is that I do think that if you DIDN'T vote, you don't have a right to complain down the line.

Enough of that, let's get on to FASHION (ooh how being frivolous is so much easier and offends so many less people).



Three weeks ago, an eBay order arrived and I never bothered to pick it up from the post office. Finally I did and boy was I glad! In it was this GORGEOUS leather jacket, from my favourite seller no less (same one I got THIS bargain jacket at). It's light blush pink, Piazza Sempione (which, judging from their ads, is pricey) and the softest leather ever. No, I mean, THE softest. As in, I didn't know if it was leather or velvet at first. It's like a baby's bum, melt in your fingers kind of soft. I didn't even know it was possible to have leather like this. Yuuuuuuum, like rose gelato!








Dress: St. Jillian by Kay Unger; Leather jacket: Piazza Sempione; Tights with tatoo print rose: Emilio Cavilini; Scarf: F21; Necklace + belt: ASOS; Flats: Tory Burch; Bag: Mango

Another thing that my seller did though, was send me a purse. Not just any purse, a red Prada bag with a certificate of authenticity (and price tag of $660 attached) that is absolutely lovely. Now, I would love to pretend that she sent me the purse as a gift for being a good customer (or for shipping my "rush delivery" dress late)...but I'm quite sure that someone else bought this purse and it was sent to me by mistake. I rather like the purse though, so I will contact the seller and maybe I can buy it from her (depending on the price) otherwise I will just send it back.

Really wish I wasn't such an honest person sometimes (oh God, must you always watch me???!) but I couldn't keep the purse without feeling like a criminal everytime I looked at it. C'est La Vie.

In other news, I have been extremely tired this week. My shoulders, back and neck are aching something awful, my temple is getting sharp stabbing pains, I feel like I can't stretch enough, my face this morning was SO puffy and my undereye circles SO pronounced that I was only able to salvage a few shots for my outfit posting - even photoshop couldn't help them! I am exhausted and tired despite getting 8 hours of sleep. I don't get it. The only thing I can think of is that during the week I try and not eat as many carbs (though I've been bad on weekends).

I totally thought it would help speed up my non-existent weight loss but so far I feel like shit. Sigh, I just can't win. I've been eating better than ever and working out more than ever since JANUARY and have not lost a single pound. Very, very frustrating. Turns out stopping Birth Control only resulted in a 5 pound water loss that I assume came back (I dunno, I stopped weighing myself), I've been tested for everything under the sun. I seriously don't know what to do.

The last two weeks I have been spinning almost everyday and eating just meats, veggies and fruit and some dairy, but NADDA! Sorry to complain...I try not to but it makes me so mad that nothing has happened for 5 months despite my best efforts. I know some will say "oh you don't need to lose weight" but I want to and should be able to. I just want to show off my muscles (I strength-train 3x a week) that are hidden under my pounds of fat (yes FAT - you can't see it in any photos because I crop precisely and choose only photos that are flattering but believe me, I have a good 10 pounds of excessive fat on me) and want to feel good about being in a bikini this summer. Makes me so mad, to think back to January where I thought I would be smoking hot come March. Now it's May and I am still the same as I was in January.

FML.

/rant.