Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Gone with the Wind!

Doesn’t it just seem like yesterday we were sitting on the steps, tanning on our lunch breaks enjoying the summer sun and now suddenly we’re all huddled into our jackets trying to walk through gale force winds while the turning leaves whip us in the face? What the heck? Whatever happened to lovely, sunny autumn days where you’re walking through the park with the leaves on the trees all yellows, oranges and browns and everything is picturesque while you parade around wearing lovely suede boots, a stylish fall coat and a smart little hat? Where is the “Fall” of my daydreams? Clearly not here. It went from hot sunny days to dreary, windy days, with no hint of the lovely transition I’ve envisioned in my mind for all my lovely September outfits. The weather report, as usual is a big fat lie. For example, yesterday the weather report stated it would be a beautiful 19 degrees. As we went for our usual 10:32 am coffee run, freezing our butts off, we begged to differ. Mother Nature, definitely does whatever the hell she wants. You would think being a woman she would understand that these “winds gusting to 50” don’t work with my hair and drizzling rain is the enemy of suede boots no matter how much protector you spray on it. Then again I suppose I don’t do too much parading outside anyways. I’m more of a “cab to curb” girl. (Where cab = the bus). The weather is never what it looks like on tv or the magazines, except maybe in places like New York or Paris. Ah, New York in the fall…or Paris in the springtime…sounds like something out of a movie.

Anyways…

NYFW (New York Fashion Week) just ended and LFW (London) has begun. I love seeing the street style photos of the attendees. How I wish to one day be part of that, attending the shows, all the while putting on a show of my own as I dash from one show to the next with a little Celine bag here, with a little Prada shoe over there and a dash of Valentino thrown in for good measure. Ah…to be part of that is my dream. Maybe one day…

For now, I will have to be content parading from work to Tim Horton’s during our coffee runs hoping that one day a street style photographer will capture my image as I dodge traffic and those pesky leaves that keep blowing into my face.

is it still smizing if your eyes are closed?
 Also thanks to my girlfriends (Melis and Mar) who agreed to go along with my cockamamie ideas of a "windy photoshoot".



Monday, September 10, 2012

Insta-interesting!

Hi friends! Are you still out there? I know I know, I abandoned you all, with no explanation and no excuses. I took an extended leave to clear my mind and refresh my creative juices! (Read: I got lazy) So, if you’re still interested, I’m here to tell you more about the adventures in My Totally Fab Life. It’s been busy and a lot of total fabulousness has happened…I don’t even know where to begin! So...let me start with my latest obsession...

Well...like most of the world, I’ve discovered Instagram, which I think makes everyone an instant artist, street style photographer, food stylist, etc… Even mundane, everyday things turn into art with the help of the photo filters and a knack for good angles! I’ve never taken so many pics of food and desserts! This is the beauty of Instagram – the showing off sharing of what you’re doing, eating, wearing. Giving other a chance to “like” and “comment”. It’s kind of like Facebook, without all the status updates and Farmville requests. You can even follow your favorite celebrity and get a glimpse into the fun things they’re up to.

As most of my friends know I don’t DO Facebook. It honestly stressed me out. I had gotten into it when it first started, before everyone really used it. Suddenly it blew up and everyone and their dog was telling you what they were doing, posting pics of everything and collecting as many “friends” as possible. Well the thing that stressed me out the most was the whole Friend request thing. I would obsess over why this person didn’t ask me to be their friend and if I asked them, if they would “accept” me as a friend, etc…It got to the point where I couldn’t do anything without checking my friend list, and obsessing about the time it took for someone to accept a request. I was so paralyzed with the fear of being rejected! Then there were times where I myself did not want to accept a request, and then felt the guilt of not immediately accepting a request. It would sit there everyday taunting me until finally I’d give up and give in. Then I’d be all annoyed about the updates I’d be receiving. One day, I got so stressed that I decided right then and there to disable my account (it even asked why I was disabling and gave me a list of reasons I could tick off. I ticked off “Too much social drama”) Once I did that, a flood of relief washed over me and I felt so free! No one needed to know I was doing laundry! No one needed to know that I liked Jem & The Holograms!(but to be fair, who DIDN’T like Jem & The Holograms? Seriously.) No one could reject my (Facebook) friendship! It was one of my best life decisions. Except of course for the fact that all my friends were and are still on it and I inevitably always hear the line “It was on Facebook! Oh, you’re not on Facebook” (then the requisite eyeroll). Another thing? Unfortunately, my husband still has his account. The only good thing is that if I need a facebook fix, I’ll creep on his peeps (well actually “our” peeps – since he ‘s friends with most of the same people I was friends with!) I was obsessed with privacy (probably be the direct opposite of what facebook stands for) that I changed his privacy settings to the highest privacy setting short of closing the account. Of course, he didn’t actually know this until one day, when he saw his junior high school friends at the grocery store and they were all excited and reminiscing. They asked him if he was on facebook and he said, “Yeah, I’m on there! Just look for me!” They were like “Dude, we’ve been looking for you forever and we can’t find you on there ANYWHERE.” He was like “that’s weird”. So he told me about it and finally I had to fess up and say “Uh..yeah. That is because your privacy is on the highest setting”. (I liked to think of myself as his “administrator”). Anyways, shortly after that, he took control of his account. Now I’ll sometimes check it out, but for the most part, I try to stay off just because I start to get stressed out again. My friends have been trying to convince me to get back on, but I’m still holding out.

I tried Twitter, but I don’t think I’m very good at it, and I find it hard to keep up with all the tweeting from who I’m following. Plus I have all these people from foreign countries whose names I can’t pronounce, or even read, who follow my tweets and I think its just because they want me to follow them back. (Is it possible to have spam followers?) Plus the thing I liked best from celebrity tweets were the twit pics. So the natural progression for me would obviously be Instagram. At first I was weary, but then found that I actually enjoyed looking at other peoples pictures. And they weren’t albums of stuff…just pics here and there. Great for my (self-diagnosed) attention deficit disorder.

Anyways, Instagram. So I’ve been enjoying it and I love seeing the things my friends and family post. Also, there are so many interesting people out there who post some really great pics and you can even follow most of them . Where else can you see what someone like say, Jessica Alba, is eating for dinner? Or who’s wearing what (in almost real time) at New York Fashion Week!? It’s almost like I’m attending the shows myself! It’s pretty amazing. #TotesAmaze (P’Trique is my new obsesh!)

So yes, I think I will stay on this Instagram train for awhile…until of course it starts to stress me out, in which case I will get off and look for some brand new less stressful mode to social network.

PS. I really hope to continue to blog regularly! If I stop again and you notice, bug me!!! I promise I have like 4 or 5 blogs that I've started but haven't finished!