Perfume for Travelers: Issey Miyake Parfum Roll-on

The best summer-traveler purchase has to be the roll-on travel perfume bottles from Sephora. When I travel, I usually pack the 1.6 oz bottle of Issey Miyake delicately sealed in a zip-lock bag. Without fail, it leaks and by the end of my trip, my whole bag takes on the odour of a tom cat's urine on your front door; stale with a sense of ownership.

This roll on travel bottle is small and compact, comes in a handy little protective case and is perfect for stowing away in your carry-on. At $26 it's a little pricey, but for the convenience, it is a winner for me! Issey Miyake is not the only fragrance available: Stella McCartney, Vera Wang, Marc Jacobs - there are many to choose from.

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Unibroue Beer Tasting: Sugar Bowl

Chad and I stumbled across a local gem in our little neighborhood. In an effort to escape the rain, (a common event in summer...) we decided to try out a little pub called 'Sugar Bowl '. Upon entering the establishment, I instantly felt at home; the warm wood-paneled bar and 1970's tables, it had a homey and friendly feel. The waitress was peachy-Edmonton keen and willing to get us set up with the best of their extensive beer list. To accompany our beverages, she recommend the paprika popcorn. Feeling a little daring, we agreed and were pleasantly surprised by the sugary-spicy puff balls, that were lightly seasoned with paprika.

To our benefit, we had happened upon a Unibroue beer tasting event hosted by an Edmontonian beer legend, Jason Foster. Unibroue's Blanche de Chambly is Chad's and my favourite summer wheat ale from Quebec. We were treated to free tastings of the following beers:

• Blanche de Chambly
• Ephemere
• Trois Pistoles
• Noir de Chambly

The favourite of the evening for me was the green apple aroma of Ephemere and Chad's was still the Chambly. He may not have found a new beer to replace the Chambly, but we found a cool bar stumble distance away from our Edmonton apartment.

Kampai!

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The Denim Dress: Denim is Back with Madge leading the pack.

Is anyone else having 80's flashbacks?

I used to wear a lovely acid wash denim pinafore with white desert boots and I would tie a lace scarf around my head that would give me the perfect "Samantha Fox" tarty-ness with a chic Madonna edge.  Honestly, I don't know how my mother let me out of the house dressed like I was, but I believe she had a matching outfit. What is even more scary is that Madonna and her daughter Lourdes has just released their "Material Girl" line. So it is very possible to dress like I did when I was 12 years old. I'm sure I could squish my love handles into a lacy denim dress once again and still rock it...
Madonna's "Dress You Up"



My desert boots:

A version of my acid-wash dress.

 

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There is no pleasure in having nothing to do...

There was once a time not too long ago, that I didn't have much time. I always felt stretched between multiple places and people. As a teacher, I always had a play to direct, prop to buy, staff meeting to attend or English essay to mark; working in the private system means that you have to say 'yes' to everything - there is no union to protect your job. At one point, I was studying courses at university as well, so every weekend I would write essays on top of all my other responsibilities. Chad was equally as busy with his residency and medical study; we rarely had time together to enjoy Vancouver or to just spend time with each other. As a couple we got so bogged down on pleasing so many other people that we rarely had the time to dedicate time to being a couple and enjoying our life on the west coast together.

I photographed this sandwich board quote on my second last day in Vancouver. It was taken outside a cafe called Ouisi Bistro near 16th street. I really wish I had seen this at the beginning of my time in Vancouver. Saying 'no' to the demands that other people place on you is empowering. Finding time to spend with the one person you love or doing the things you love should be your number one priority. Work can overtake your life; as a teacher you feel compelled to say 'yes' for fear of being considered an apathetic or told you aren't doing a good job. Chad's call shifts meant that we often only had 2 weekends free a month. So the weekends we did have, we often felt too tired to go camping or hiking or on a mini-trip somewhere.

Maybe you already make the time to do things that you love. But if you are like us, I want you to try to dedicate more time each week to doing the things that truly make you happy. 'The fun is having lots to do and not doing it!' Just DON'T do it.

Saying Goodbye Part 2

Saying Goodbye

I moved around a lot as a child and as a result, I haven't lived in any place for too long. So it is strange to say, but the place I lived the longest after Adelaide is Vancouver. The ocean, the mountains, the friends will be missed.








The entire set can be viewed on my flickr site. See the links in the side bar.

Edmonton images taken with Hipstamatic

I have fallen hard for the iPhone app 'Hipstamatic'. Here are some gems so far:

We are on the wrong side of the road, but it definitely looks a lot like Australia...


The LRT footbridge over the Saskatchewan River.


The Legislative Building from my car.


If I didn't know better, this is the Mighty Murray River.


Weird building downtown.


Amazing Clouds downtown.

Edmonton: City of Dust and Festivals

Officially, I have been an Edmonton resident for one week today. I think a YEEHAWWWW is needed to celebrate this fact! All I need is to git me a darn-gosh cowboy hat to complete my celebration!

My first impressions were one of mild disappointment. The prairies have always reminded me of Australia; the sky is big and blue and much wider than Vancouver. The dust and dry air, hard water and evening thunderstorms take me back to a yesteryear of lifetimes ago of growing up in Adelaide. The brown river flowing away from the ocean is the only give-away that I am not standing on the banks of the mighty Murray river (that, and the fact that there is flowing water...). I feel like I have moved half-way across the globe to a city that looks just like home. This is not what I signed up for! Criticisms aside, it has been an easy transition so far. I really can't complain - it is summer, we are walking distance to Strathcona and the river. The Farmers Market features a delectable assortment of yummy goodies and I always seem to catch a random festival or event when I wander around the streets of E-town. Let's just say I wore my Canada-day T-Shirt proudly on July 1st and the fireworks were lovely.







We were lucky enough to find a fantastically over-price apartment close to the university to make me at least feel like I still lived in Vancouver. Our oasis is doing its job of keeping me sane and materialistically happy. My days are spent traveling by car between one big-box store car park to the next big-box store car park, purchasing homey items to fill our new abode. Latest purchase: flat-screen TV. I actually enjoyed the social experiment of going without a TV for 2 weeks. Chad and I would sit on the couch together and stare uncomfortably at the walls, or out the window. Conversation was stilted and awkward. One night quite late, he looked at me and said, "I might go out, 'cause there's nothing to do here."

When the TV came, it was like having to compete with a mistress. There was a spring in his step, a reason for coming home. I wonder if I can purchase a 'naughty flat-screen TV' outfit from the local sex-store to entice him into realizing that there is more to life in our apartment than 'Miss Samsung and her 46" pleasure platform.'

Mostly, I am excited to see how the next 2 years play out. I am optimistic that there is something interesting to find here in Edmonton.

The Beginning of my Narcissistic Blog Life

Welcome to my new (old) blog! I am resurrecting my old blog, "Russian Undies" from near extinction; last post, 2006. This simple act has made me realize just how busy and all-consuming the last 4 years of my life has been. Teaching is not a simple profession. I feel as though I have given a kidney to the school I taught at since 2006. By some divine intervention, I've been recently forced into an early retirement or temporary absence from my drama teaching career. I've recently moved to Edmonton from Vancouver to once again follow a boy. This has led me to question and evaluate who I am, what I am doing with my life and how I am going to tackle the next chapter.

My close friends, (obviously envious of my new-found freedom) have spent the last couple of months creating interesting new career directions for my life, one of them being that I become a 'blogger'. At hearing the word, my mind is cast back to the first season of 'Californication' when Hank Moody is asked to start a blog by his best friend and literary agent 'Charlie'. When making the suggestion to Hank, Charlie covers his mouth and swallows the word, like he has is trying to keep vomit from spilling forth into his mate's whiskey. I can sympathize. Blog writing is weird! Yet, I read the blogs of other people. Blog's have become a powerful medium of self-expression. 'The Book of Awesome' for example came from the blog "1000 Awesome things". Simple concept, catchy idea = successful blog.

Simply stated, a blog is a public diary of one's innermost thoughts and ideas that wont necessarily have an audience. Already, I feel like I am not really telling you something new or exciting. Boredom is probably attacking you right now, like a homeless man asking for more money. This lack ofknowledge of your audience makes it very difficult to write something meaningful. Bridget Jones said it best: "It's only a diary. Everyone knows a diary is just full of crap". So it lends me to the question of what do I want to achieve by writing this blog? Do I want to make it like the 'Sartorialist' and capture the fashion and soul of Edmonton? Or maybe my angle is like 'Vancity Allie', who reviews and shares her west coast life of food, travel and entertainment gossip for all to envy? I'm not sure. But keep reading, because something interesting might just come out of this hair-brained idea...