PxNxW

I am loving the weather and atmosphere these days. Sometimes I start getting wanderlust or wanting to move, and then days like this happen and I’m reminded of the moody, magic beauty of the Pacific Northwest. It’s all Gus Van Zant movies and Nirvana songs and teenagers drinking and screwing and holding satanic rituals in wet cedar forests and rainy and moldy and gloomy. I know it seems flakey (and probably a little too “current”) to describe things this way, but I can’t help myself.

I am trying out a long dress! I haven’t worn a long dress like this since I was a teenager screwing in the forest (JK! Hi Mom!)! I used to have a similar plain black maxi tank dress that I also wore with docs. The past few years have been all about reviving and paying homage to my inner adolescent ghost.  

Dress: Asos
Jacket: Asos
Boots: Doc Martens
Ring: Asos
“Crystal” necklace: local shop
Other necklace: House of Harlowe
Umbrella: asian dollar store (I buy them in bulk, practically) 

The photos were a collaborative effort between Andrew and I.

SIX FEET TALL

I’m really taking this “updating more often” thing seriously. VERY SERIOUSLY. I built this outfit around a bump-it today, which I maintain are not just for Jersey Shore cast members and Texan prom queens. I wore it out to get some painfully fresh and delicious Sushi from Zipang (and if I’m being real, to buy toilet paper, because it may or may not have been the kind of day where you desperately try to look around your apartment for those little packets of Kleenex that your mom gives you).

These shoes are damn hard to walk in (newborn foal status), so they only make the very odd public appearance. They seem to be a little off-putting to Andrew too, since they make me just about 6’ when I wear them (he is 6’1”). 

Eyeglasses: KISS
Sweatshirt-dress: Cheap Monday
Blazer: H&M
Leggings: H&M
Shoes: Maurie & Eve 
Bag: See by Chloé 
Nailpolish: CHANEL (black pearl)

Lipstick is MAC Lady Danger (which I discovered thanks to a tip off from Anna @ D16)!

The Ace Hotel & Swim Club, Palm Springs

I promised a little bit about our stay at The Ace in P-Sprangz, so here you go! For the bulk of the vacation we stayed with our parents in a two bedroom condo they rented out for a month in La Quinta. It was really nice and comfortable but we liked our stay at The Ace in Seattle so much, and I was itching for some poolside bar service, so we decided to stay for one night (also, my dad is ridiculous and cranks up the A.C so much at night that I can’t feel my fingers). 

The people at Ace bought up a mid-century five building complex, formerly a Howard Johnson hotel and converted it into a true desert OASIS. They even converted the old Denny’s into The King’s Highway and The Amigo room (a sweet delicious restaurant and excellent bar). 

We had a look around at the rooms online, and even though our first instinct was to go with cheap and cheerful, we decided that for one night it would be okay to go all out and get a King-sized room with a patio & fireplace.

Naturally, we spent a lot of time by the pool. There were two of them. One was about a 5 metre dash from our room’s door, but they didn’t have bar service, so we frequented the main one (much to Andy’s chagrin, he doesn’t drink and the other pool was always empty). The pools were both open really late, so it was nice to swim the night away after we returned from a really filling Italian dinner.

The King’s Highway restaurant brewed stumptown (my favourite), so I had way more coffee than I should have. Look at the beautiful créma on my Americano!

The complex was largely smoke-friendly (a stupid rarity in this stupid world), so I was obviously really happy.

All-in-all, it was an excellent stay, a magical vacation-within-a-vacation. Part of me hates that I love the Ace franchise so much (I mean, it’s a ridiculously calculated marketing ploy aimed directly at my specific demographic; the Urban Outfitters of hotel chains, really), but a bigger part of me doesn’t give a f**k and I know I’ll definitely be back!

ANDY ANDY ANDY

Hello. I’ve been back from my trip for a few days, but if I don’t BLOG IT right now, I’m going to forget about it forever and that’s precisely the kind of thing I’m trying to avoid these days. So I’m drinking yerba maté now and here we go.

Andrew and I spent 9 days in the Coachella Valley, in California. Both of our respective parental units wound up spending a lot of days there all at the same time, so naturally it provided a good opportunity for a cheap, low-key vacay.

Palm springs is a weird place! I almost feel cautious writing about it because I feel like I write for a mainly American audience and everyone reading is like “no duh”. But for a Canadian, America is always a weird and wonderful and slightly scary adventure. P-Sprangz is a sunny desert ghost town full of overly-tanned old white people waiting to die. In a sense, Andrew and I weren’t received well. Andrew’s theory was that we reminded them of their mortality… But, like, I smile at old people all the time here, and I am often RELIEVED to be in the company of old people because where I come from, they’re usually sweet and friendly and smart-as-whips. Palm Springs old people are bitter and mean and scowly. At times it was like a non-stop sense-of-entitlement parade, complete with pushy-elbows, queue-hopping and other rude antics. But, because of that factor, it meant (for me anyway) not really talking to anyone other than each-other and our families, and not having to engage in the usual Vancouver looks/fashion contest OR uncomfortable, wince-inducing interactions with half-friends and other humans in my general demographic/age bracket. PHEW. 

Like, at Andy’s parents’ complex, we were always the only one in the pool. Do you think I care about having matronly upper-arms, dog-wet hair or mascara drips? Not on your life. At least not when the only person other than your boyfriend and brother who might see you probably has grey pubez and a metal hip.

Having adopted the purposeless, meandering lifestyle of our parents, we didn’t get out much. For the most part we were pleased as punch to bake in the desert sun, play Sudoku (Andrew), read young adult ficiton (me), go to bed early (Andrew) and smoke American cigarette after American cigarette (me — so much for my “tobacco vapouriser”). My favourite of our rare and elusive outings was a visit to the Living Desert zoo! I got a good 25 minutes in the Goat-Petting enclosure and I’ve been riding out my Elvira-from-Tiny-Toons, animal-touching high ever since. A lot of the animals were rescues from extravagant douche-bs who decided to keep exotic pets and probably surrendered them when the recession hit and they couldn’t afford to feed them anymore. There were some exotic cats with 3 legs (and one who was declawed). Tiny tears. 

Palm Springs makes you yawn — often. NOT THAT I’M COMPLAINING!

The lack of a nearby ocean in such a warm climate was a disappointment only really assuaged by the wonderful 20th century eye-treats that awaited you as you drew nearer to Palm Springs proper (we were staying in “La Quinta”, where the only buildings were of the big-box sprawl, “faux”dobe variety). I live in what feels like the newest city in North America, one that routinely scraps anything that would possibly give me a warm feeling of nostalgia for the kind of antiquated things that were still around when I was a kid, so this was pretty special to me. It’s pretty meaningful to see heritage plaques slapped on buildings built after the 1920s. I really wish Vancouver had done that.

The second photo down is of a fallow house that I daydreamed of owning, and the last is of my favourite of the many old motels you see when you’re entering “downtown” (hah) Palm Springs. Any reviews I found of it on the internet were terrible.

Adios Palm Springs, we’ll be back to carry on our love/indifference relationship soon!

Also: Most of these photos were edited with K. Miller’s photoshop actions, and please stay tuned for a post about our dream of a stay at The Ace Hotel and Swim Club, Palm Springs.

Desert Outfitz

Lately I think my fashions have been taking on a slightly more demure/relaxed/less ridiculous bent. I dunno why. I just turned 29, so maybe that’s it! It’s seriously such a huge deal for me to even be wearing NAVY and TAN!! Part of me dies inside a little every time I pick out something “pretty”, because my inclination is to always dress like a teenage boy circa 1989, but then I can’t seem to help gravitating towards more “mature” pieces. Blech! Anyway, this is what I wore today. To go shopping with my mom and beau, and to go for the worst sushi I have ever had in my entire life for dinner. BARF BAG.

Dress: Asos
Satchel: Asos
Shoes: Jeffery Campbell
Necklace: House of Harlowe (ahahaha!!)
Sunnies: Chloé 

Spectacles: KISS
Jean Jacket: Thrifted Gap
Dress: Anthropologie
Necklace: House of Harlowe
Bracelets: Kate Spade
Ring: I bought it at Vintage shop, but I’m fairly certain it’s new
Bag (not that it’s visible): See by Chloé (in white) 
Granny Shoes: Tender Souls (by Kenneth Cole)*

* I cannot sing the praises of these shoes enough. I normally cannot walk in heels. Like, at all. Not even a little bit. My feet were… the opposite of ruined? By my mom, who forced me to wear “sensible” footwear as a kid. Basically everything other than Birkenstocks feels like murder. These have a thick wooden heel, and a leather sole filled with flaxseeds (?) and are actually very very comfortable. Also, they have quite a bit of details not visible in the photos, so the above link is worth a peek to see them in proper light.

Long time no see! The above picture is from today, and shows me defeated by a giant bowl of Vegetarian Singapore Laksa, at Richmond’s glittering Chinese shopper’s paradise, The Aberdeen Centre.

I was just backing up my computer, and deleting pretty much every photo or document I’ve created in the past year from my hard-drive (one of my favourite things to do, clean slate, CLEAN SLATE!), and I figured I would take a minute to say hi.

To anyone still reading this; thank you for being so patient! I’ve had a whirlwind couple of months. Between an icy, boozy month in Newfoundland; a much needed January detox (lots of running and around four weeks of an almost entirely raw, vegan diet); putting together, finishing and submitting my portfolio for Emily Carr and a fun and busy birthday February… Well, I’ve had my hands a little too full and have been unable to put some much needed attention and time into this blog. 

Also noteworthy and very important, I finally broke about a 4-year stint of having totally black hair. 

As I speak, Andrew and I are preparing to leave for a week or two of retirement fun in Palm Springs, and when we get back we need to move all of my stuff to the exciting new apartment that’s being completed for me downstairs (!! I’m sure I’ve driven my landlord nuts with all my “progress check-ins” and “input” over the past few months).

While my break was much needed, I really want to start documenting and making and playing show-and-tell here more often. I’m currently pretty excited about the pretty, lilliputian Olympus E-Pl1 I just invested in (sadly enough, especially after I discovered this Korean company, JnK Handworks, which hawks custom leather straps, gear and skins[!!!] for a variety of cameras, including the e-pl1). I have a feeling I will be more apt to start snapping photos again if it means not lugging around my tumorous Canon 5Dmii and its heavy aresnal of lenses and accesories.

So, uh, I dunno! Happy Impending Spring… and WATCH THIS SPACE, I guess! 

Hello, fullnils followers! I have been so busy lately. I spent the past week running around holiday shopping, drinking too much (trying to cram all the hangouts I can in with friends I haven’t seen in far too long) and getting violently ill (24 hour virus or bad clams, the jury’s still out on that one). I have been crocheting like a fiend and painting holiday cards. Also I got my extensions put back in! I had mad plans to share my holiday crafts and outfits with you, but I got too busy and sidetracked. And now, I leave tomorrow for St. John’s Newfoundland for a festivus with Andrew’s family. When I get back I have to pack to move (!! I got the boot from my sweet pad because my landlord’s partner is expecting and needs the space! Thankfully there is a bigger, better garden suite in the works with laundry and a dishwasher that I can move into as soon as it’s finished), and scurry to get my portfolio sent out to Emily Carr for feb 1st! Andddd then it’s off to Palm Springs to visit my own family. I’ll try to fit in some updates, but it’s gonna be a mad dash, so bear with me. 

Anyway, Happy holiday season, dudes! Eat well, sleep well and imbibe lots (if that’s your thing). 

I finished Alexa’s cowl in a record three days, and we had our first snowfall on Friday night. These two things combined put me in a ridiculously, uncharacteristically good mood. 

a note about comments…

Also, I received my first trolly/sexually harassy comment the other day. It saddened me. Please don’t sexually harass me on my blog. I get enough of that shit on the street (most women do, so cut it out!), my mom reads this and doesn’t like swears or lewd comments (even though I have a bad swearing habit) and it makes me disappointed in the human race. Given that; if you still insist on being a total bottom-dwelling cretin, I will delete your comment and ban your IP.