Girls Weekend

Ah the days gone by of wild weekends away with friends, exploring a new city, finding the cool places to shop, partying in hotels and running down the streets yelling “Ou et le Club Super Sex?” Sounds good, or at least it sure sounds like it was fun… shared hotel rooms made for some interesting experiences but all in all the memories were worth every minute.

So contrast that with last weekend, 10 women in a Collingwood chalet with 10 sewing machines. It was a quilting weekend (I didn’t quilt though), everyone packs up their current project(s), makes one meal for the rest to share and leaves the kids at home. The chalet is rented twice a year in the low season and the entire reason is to get away and stay focused on your projects. While I had no quilting projects to be done I have had a never ending pile of mending sitting beside my sewing machine for ages – so I packed up the dresses, tops, pants & skirts that needed a new hem/buttons/seam and hoped for the best.

The good; I actually fixed 2 dresses, 2 pairs of pants, 2 tops and a skirt – all items I really like and have wished to wear many times over the last few months! The chalet was huge, big bedrooms, comfy beds and a fully equipped kitchen – plus a hot tub and steam room… nice touches to make it all a little more relaxing.

The bad; despite a setting where the only thing I had to do was get to the projects on hand (that was 7 of 17 projects I have sitting in my pile)… I still procrastinated by reading the magazines someone else brought (Woman’s Day!?!?!?).

The ugly; This persistent cough that I took up with me and came back home with, the barking was driving me nuts and I had a headache the entire time from the rattling. I somehow left my apartment with not a single toiletry which meant a trip to the downtown Loblaws first thing Saturday morning which turned out to be a good thing because around 3 there was a shooting right beside the same store - next time I’m remembering to check my packing list before I leave home… then again I must be getting better because I remembered socks and pants this time!

So I still have dresses to take in, skirts to knock off and other stuff to get done… anyone up for another sewing weekend?

Flowers

Not that I’ve received any flowers in recent history, but an epiphany happened last week… I truly dislike certain flowers –and for the most part they’re cheap flowers. Now perhaps this is crazy girl talking but it’s not the first time I’d be described as such!

So where’s the problem some might ask… the problem lies specifically with a couple of varieties, namely daisies & chrysanthemums/mums. You might think if one is lucky enough to receive flowers then one shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth but I’m going to be picky here… I think that those cheap flowers look cheap & sad, like nobody took the time to pick out something that suits me. I may have grown up with black-eyed susans and other wildflowers but these days they make me think of things unkempt/untidy and they're something I’d prefer to visit in a field than have on my table. As for mums – they’re the flowers of funerals and thus I’d prefer not to see them in any other context.

Sorry that this rules out the common Dominion bouquet but I’m actually fine with that… I’d far prefer occasional fabulous flowers than the 10-day bouquet. Strangely for this apparent hate on for those simple blooms I truly enjoy roses* which are far less imaginative or sometimes even difficult. I love almost any other kind of flower… all I ask is that they make a statement.

*I also enjoy the roses that grow up and down my street in the last couple of weeks they’ve all disappeared as their gardeners have chopped them back in anticipation of cold weather.

Take a deep breath...

It’s official I’m a working girl… 3 months into my new job and what’s fallen off my plate? Blogging, laundry, friends, my family… all of which are crying Booooo now – sorry!

So what have I been doing? Working like a dog, taking classes, going out on dates, going to football games and kids birthday parties, traveling and trying to catch up with old co-workers … stuff.

Let’s play the game of catch up starting with - I know what you did last Sunday… The TTC Type and Tile Tour aka the TTTT. Hosted by Joe Clark who is a sign enthusiast but is helping to raise awareness of the issues of wayfinding in a system I use everyday. Read an interesting interview here, not with Joe but a former TTC guy Bob Brent.

Okay so maybe it’s semi-professional interest but wayfinding has always been a bit of a thing for me. For instance, I can remember being in the hospital in Fredericton performing the bedside vigil for my grandmother and taking a break to wander – where did my mind go while walking down the hall (aside from family memories)? To the way the hospital has coded their space so that you know when you enter and exit certain areas, the use of colour and images that help you identify your location in the building. I was especially struck by how you almost didn’t need a map… I challenge anyone to try that on the TTC, in Women’s College Hospital or the underground PATH system.

If my life were a video this is where we rewind… this time back 3 weeks. There was an interview with a University of Winnipeg Professor of Women’s & Gender Studies to talk about being raised by a feminist. Interesting conversation over the course of dinner about what it means to be a feminist and how being raised by one affected me and what my choices in life might be… the more she asked questions about what feminism was the more I felt like I was railing against the idea of being feminist. Then I asked her a question about how she sees feminism in general and the conversation shifted from a very focused conversation on my own personal perceptions of my family dynamics to global impacts of feminism – and shocker of shockers there I was saying “if I was in a country where my rights, freedoms and opportunities were impinged because I was a woman… well I’d be the first one screaming from the rooftops that change needed to happen.” So where does that leave me now… I guess it means that I think I can do anything if I only apply myself & so can you!

Rewind #3… we went to France. Mom, Dee and myself went to France, 13 days, 7 cities, 1100 Euros of shopping, 3 trains, 1 car rental, 2 bus trips, 1 winery, 5 markets, 1 fashion museum. First the fashion museum in Marseille, I can’t believe I’m going to say this but I was disappointed. There was a very good exhibit on show but there was no permanent collection on display, in fact when I asked some questions not only would I have to have booked about 3 weeks in advance to see any of it but it only has a few thousand items in the collection and they’re primarily from the 1980’s onward. When I went to Philadelphia a few years ago their collection was more impressive – though to be honest I still stand by the Dugald Costume Museum (which just moved to Winnipeg) was one of the most interesting collections I’ve ever seen… historical and modern all at the same time.

Rewind even more & Fast Forward… multiple dates with the Argos. Fred, Paul, Bill and I decided to go in for season tickets – right in the end zone. The per game cost was about $18 and what I thought was going to be a fun time turned out to be a renewed love of the CFL… I was cheering with the best of them! I cheered for Winnipeg when they came to town (and no my seat mates didn’t give me any grief) and I’m looking forward to both the playoff game (Toronto got to by into the semi final) and the Grey Cup under the Skydome. Let me tell you after some late season games back in Winnipeg I’m grateful for the warmth of the ‘dome, braving it out like a trooper be damned I’m not going to have to freeze my ass off!

Rewind #4, even further all the way back to July… the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Festival highlights include dancing with my mother for almost the entire set of Michael Franti & Spearhead - we were not the only ones dancing… in fact it was like the entire crowd stood as one when they played, the kind of music you just can sit back and listen to – it gets into your veins and makes you move! The other standout for the festival was Olabelle who sang such a haunting version of the song “Down by the Riverside” that it made me follow them around all festival hoping just to hear the song again, of course I brought that home with me to have for keeps!

Rewind #5 and to go even further back your into my sitting at home thinking about working days. The lazy hazy days of summer that allowed me to cook amazing, yummy meals, bake bread, sit still and enjoy life. It was a broke but amazing time, I now think back to those days wondering how I managed to do nothing at all for so long… I also think about how little stress I had and how much my body loved not having the adrenaline coursing through my system.

Back to today and I’m a business suit wearing manager handling many, many tasks that I didn’t think I’d signed up for (since when am I even close to an IT manager?) but am handling the best I can. I have days where I’m in over my head and others where I wonder how the hell I got here… and then days like today where I want to crawl back into bed. It’s good for the most part and I’m surprisingly good at many parts of what I’m doing, I guess that’s experience talking when things work out well.

I’ve been to 2 kiddie birthday parties in the last few weeks, both of which were a ton of fun. Saffron and I have had a couple of playdates lately and I have to say there’s nothing much like getting kiddie hugs and kisses – well that and running together that’s fun too! My friends seem to be in the midst of another baby boom and in the next year there’s going to be a few additions to the kidlet content of my circle of friends.

I’ve tried my hand at dating recently, with the requisite ups and downs – I have to say that some days I wonder if I just shouldn’t just allow myself to focus on my career, not to say I don’t want other things but I feel like I’m just pushing the issue. Then again it’s hard to see the people I love hitting the life stages that I myself would love to be in… I feel like I’m stuck in limbo waiting for the timing, the chemistry and the rest of it to all fall into place.

This week in Fashion – Purple Boots

Many years ago… many, many years ago I came upon a pair of purple boots. They were a soft leather fitted low/mid calf boot with chunkier heels – ON SALE at an Aldo outlet… they called to me with a siren song.

I didn’t buy them when I first saw them, instead I went home and told my boyfriend about how I’d seen these boots that I was lusting after and like any reasoned man he responded “but they’re PURPLE boots!” Yes I know he was speaking to my reasonable side, he knew I had no money, he was acting in a sane and rational manner – too bad it was the exact wrong thing I needed. I actually went back a month later after all that lusting and true to outlet form the boots were gone… and then a few months later so too went the boyfriend.

I have thought about those boots for years. I have tried to find something that would fill the gap left where those purple boots would be… and over the years I’ve purchased; green boots, raspberry boots, red boots and I even tried with a pair of pointy toed purple boots I found on a boxing day sale. Indeed none of them filled the gap left – I was torn between logic and desire (like I'm the only one with this kind of struggle!?!?) to find purple boots. I keep going back to the phrase “but they’re PURPLE boots!” - and of course a statement like that implies a certain level of insanity to even consider buying something so impractical…

So here’s my toast to impractical footwear, may boys who don’t understand be banished forever from my life.

So much stuff... so little time

I have posts to write on the festival, the forest and family... I'll get it done shortly :)

PRIDE - Complicated

There should be some sort of disclaimer here about being LGBTTIQQ2S inclusive.

Today was the PRIDE Parade in Toronto. Most years I’ve gone on my own to support the community, cheering loudly for PFLAG and the community organizations that support same-sex life partnerships. This year it was a bit more of a family affair with my mom coming into Toronto for the weekend - mom, D and a long time family friend and I all stood on Bloor near the parade start (taking advantage of the shade and the raised pedestals on the Xerox building).

Over the years the crowd has changed from mainly supporters… now its supporters, gawkers, corporations, families out for a day of entertainment and what I like to call twitterers. It doesn’t have that fun “we’re here, we’re queer – get used to it” vibe these days… the best way to describe the 2007 parade was corporate and convoluted. Sure mom thought the whole thing was excellent but to be honest $3 waters that you can’t take into or out of the concert areas and the crush of people was enough to make me feel like the event wasn’t for the community anymore.

While walking down Church after the parade today some of the TNT boys were enjoying exercising their exhibitionist streaks, not minding the buzz of cameras clicking or the hoards of people stopping to stare… but I was more than a little distressed when one woman smacked her 8 year old son upside the head, hustled him off telling him “not to look at that nastiness.” First if you bring a kid to the PRIDE parade it’s not just balloons, bands and placards it’s people taking a bit of time to share their true selves with the rest of the world; and second there’s going to be a lot of stuff that will need to be explained in a respectful way to kids. If you’re going to hit Church Street afterwards it’s going to be up close and personal, these are teachable moments but they’re not all going to be easy – the worst thing anyone can do is let make judgments on what everyone else should be doing and how they should be acting. It’s a parade about accepting everyone as they are and I just want to sometimes yell “GET WITH THE PROGRAM PEOPLE!!!” Anyway I’m still trying to keep it from bothering me.

I loved, loved, loved the queer ballroom & swing dancing (who the heck says it always needs to be the same guy leads/girl follows thing?) on the community stage, the vendors (as usual) were an odd assortment of ribbon tiaras, glass dildos & leather fetish gear and the community tents were from a huge diversity of organizations (yea elementary school teachers!!!). Though none of us purchased any merchandise or picked up any pamphlets… though I heard that some parade marhers were handing out copies of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which I think is awesome, who couldn’t use a brush up on that little document?

PS: If you were wondering about LGBTTIQQ2S, it means Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Transsexual, Intersex, Queer, Questioning, 2 spirited, Straight/Supportive… which I’ve decided just doesn’t work! In the interest of space, sanity and clarity the new term is INCLUSIVE (use it, spread it around).

Tuesday Cooking

It's been another creative Tuesday in the kitchen. This time inspiration hit in the form of fresh peaches...

2 c chopped fresh peaches

1/4 c chopped red onion

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

1 tbsp fresh cilantro

2 tsp lime juice

1/2 tsp lime zest

1 tsp minced peeled fresh ginger

1/4 tsp salt

It was most excellent over broiled Halibut but I'll assume it would be pretty good over most fish and chicken.