Always In Style...

Pictured below: Me and my friend Annie with Project Runway (Season 1) Winner Jay McCarroll at the Toronto Hot Docs screening of the film '11 Minutes' made about his first runway show.
MmmmHmmm.

So I've been thinking a lot lately about style, and two of it's inherent accomplices: grace and character. Because it suddennly hit me, almost out of nowhere, the other day as I was driving around the city, that kindness, grace, and compassion never go out of style. Perhaps this realisation came to me in sharp contrast to my recent experiences with a handful of female, middle-aged, Canadian film & television actresses with whom I have intermittently come into contact with recently (through a temporary job that I have been workding); And though I don't enjoy having to be negative about this, I must say, there is no other word to describe their behaviour towards me other than B-I-T-C-H-Y. To be fair, it was really only three quarters of these women that deserve that word as a descriptor, the other quarter should be described as delightfully opinionated and even FRIENDLY! (Alas, she just proves that it is in fact possible to be part of this particular demographic and not be Cruella DeVille's twin!)

In any case, I've found myself further ruminating on the notion that true style has so much to do with the grace of your character. I've come to the conclusion that adopting compassionate and respectful habits will ultimately give you way more style cred (in my books at least) and probably staying power... Or at least, it oughtta.

One 'style icon' who gets major cred in my books is Jay McCarroll, who won the first season's competition on the reality T.V. series 'Project Runway', which pits emerging fashion designers against one another in creative, time and market-sensitive fashion design tasks. I have oft been heard announcing that among my 'top ten best memories of my life' are the few weeks in Spring (2006?) when my friend Annie and I used to wake early on Saturday mornings and go to dance class, only to then spend the rest of the day lounging in her apartment watching the first season of 'Project Runway', while drinking beer! Counter-productive? Maybe. Totally fun? Absolutely.

Both Annie and I seriously fell in love with the show as well as Jay McCarroll - not only was he a totally fun and funny character to watch, he was a totally delectable designer too! So you can imagine what a thrill it was when we found out that an entire documentary film had been made about Mr. McCarroll and his first runway show post-Project Runway. We went to its first screening in Toronto, during the Hot Docs festival last week, and actually got to meet and chat with Jay a little. He was lovely. And he referred to me as 'the next Miss America', after I asked him a question in front of the entire film audience during the post-screening Q & A! I think he meant it in the best possible way... whatever that is.

The long and short of all these anecdotes and reflections is this: I love fashion and all that glitters, but the kind of style that I really admire is the kind that balances the "pretty" with the "please" (as in, the ability to be respectful, polite and kind.)

Baby's First Garden!

It was SUCH a beautiful day today here in Toronto! I awoke this morning (after a rare 'good sleep night'), lounged in my sunny bedroom for a while watching a documentary film on my laptop while laying in bed, followed by some invigorating sun salutations (yoga) and pilates. (Sorry, just had to brag about that. Don't worry, Laura already made fun of me and my "perky pants" self this morning for that keen-ness!)

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself on this irresistably sunny day. So when Laura invited me to join her on a field trip to the garden center, I though, "sure, why not?" I've never really gardened before. (Save for those days as a child, when I used to play in the dirt while my grandmother tended to her huge vegetable garden!) So I was excited about this new adventure!

And gardening didn't disapoint me. I feel totally satisfied with the dirt under my fingernails and the (perhaps not blatantly visible) progress that we made on the beautification of our front yard today! Do what you will with the photographic evidence:

Our front yard, PRE-gardening.

(I swear, the previous owners of this house must have NEVER raked the leaves... There were layers, upon layers of leaves to deal with before we could even think about gardening. We filled SEVEN giant, oversize-garbage-bag-sized garden waste bags with leaves and mulchy-ness!)

MID-GARDENING MAYHEM:

Featuring: My Ass

And Henry meets his first worm:

"Worm Learning" - Awwwwwww!

Finalement,
The Saturday Afternoon Gardening Adventure concludes...

And quite frankly, I don't care if you're impressed with us or not. 'Cause I sure am impressed with the work we did today! AND, I'm super-excited to return home from St Louis at the end of this summer and find the lilies and gladiola that I planted today in bloom!

But until then,
I'll just enjoy the immediate gratification of the pansies we potted today:

Me & the fleurs.

(My) Life Is A Rainbow

So here I am, perched happily amidst the cushions on the "window seat" (i.e. bay window) in our living room (playing with the camera on my computer, obviously), listening to some uplifting tunes compiled on a mixed CD for me by Devon (the best way to listen to music really - when it's specially selected for you by your best friend!!!), alternately attending to some email-related tasks and allowing my mind to wander as I gaze out the window over my shoulder...

Thinking about the kids drama classes that I've been teaching for the last 9 weeks that wrapped up this week... Feeling so bittersweetly proud of myself and my "students," and all the that fun we've had, and all that we've accomplished together over the last 9 weeks... But also a little bit weepy about having to part ways and say goodbye...

I am reminded of my classes at the community centre that I worked at when I first moved to Toronto, EIGHT YEARS AGO NOW!!! Those "kids" are teenagers now! Holy crap! Gosh, that was a special time and place in our lives... I am filled with wistful pride as I remember how devoted some of my "students" have been to me. The thought of it all just warms my heart so completely. It is so gratifying to think about being "successful" with my intentions of sharing my passion for the arts and for life with these young people. And also, I've loved them all. So, so, SO VERY MUCH. And I think that's been clear to them as well.

And now I find my mind wandering to memories of when I was a student of various children's art classes, or a young pre-teenage volunteer assisting remarkable artists in Vancouver, where I grew up... I caught myself thinking about this 'chain of role-modelling' that I seem to find myself a part of, and how remarkable and beautiful I find it to be... To realise that I am so very much who I am today because of the incredible teachers and role models that I had as a young "apprentice" in the arts world of Vancouver, and to now be able to see myself as a role model and teacher for other children, teens and youth... It is basically just a total honour to find myself as a link in this precious chain of creativity, arts appreciation and personal support!


Well, there's more mind-wandering to be done before the sun sets here at my bay window perch, and so, I shall...

It Feels Good To Be Me Right Now

As I walked home this morning, from last night's party (um, yeah... anyhow), the sun was shining brightly. I found myself longing for the sunglasses that I removed from my bag last night before I left the house, to make room for that bottle of tonic water, thinking to myself: "I don't need to bring my sunglasses, it's night." As I walked home from the bus stop this morning, breathing in the almost-intrusively fresh and crisp spring air, I let my heavy winter coat slide down off my shoulders because I was so warm...

And again, I felt the j-o-y of Spring creeping up on me...

Or maybe I'm just happy.

I suppose general happiness for the sake of life feeling good is a total possibility for me at this point... Which, I have to say, is awesome!

As I walked home this morning, with a smile on my face, I thought about how thankful I am to have so much friendship and fun and laughter and love in my life...

I had a really great weekend; On Saturday morning I took the bus out to Peterborough, so that I could rent a van and drive my friend Nikki (who's been living with her parents in Peterborough since she got back from travelling in Asia a few months ago) to Montreal, where she is moving to. So we rented the cargo van, loaded 'er up and drove to Montreal. Where we then un-loaded the van and pretty much collapsed into bed (after consuming the last of our 'road-trip red licorice' and the bottle of red wine that we wisely brought with us, of course.) Only to wake up bright and early on Sunday morning, to take a walk, consume some espresso and croissants, and then send me on my merry way, driving back to Peterborough. Where I returned the van, and proceeded to bus it back to the T-dot. Just in time to shower, and head out the door to my friend's party.

Good, good times. Very.

If it meant spending 24 hours in close quarters (think automobile and bedroom full of boxes) with this fabulous girl pictured above (no, not me, the one on the right!), you'd volunteer to drive to and from Montreal over the course of 24 hours too! I guarantee it!

Ah, for the love of fun-having...
I am thankful.

SpRuNg!

Spring is totally here. Just TRY and tell me that it's not. I don't care if that damn dirty snow is taking it's sweet time melting outta sight. No one can deny me the joy that I feel now that it is actually light out when I wake up in the morning, and now that I had to take my jacket off while driving today because the sun was so warm beating through the car windows, and now that there IS that umistakeable feeling in the air... the egde of J-O-Y that is stirring within us all, as we celebrate the EXIT (of) WINTER.

And I too seem to be sprung from the existential captivity of the soul that winter seemed to have me trapped in... I'm all settled in to the new digs, loving life with the new roomies... I even hosted an easter dinner, which I COOKED, all by myself, including A TURKEY!

Don't believe me? Check out the photographic evidence:

Step One: Get over your fear of the dead bird.

(Cooking Fact: Recovering Vegetarians are not ideal candidates for cooking dead animals. Even tasty bird ones. It's true.)

This is not fake at all, despite the Swiss Chalet jokes we cracked all evening, this is the real deal; I cooked that dead bird!
(Another Cooking Fact: Meat-eating roomates come in handy when you have no idea how to 'carve a turkey'; Just hand them the knife and ask them to make that cooked dead bird into sliced dead bird - mmmmmmm!)

The Best Part: The People
Ah, such good times...
Seriously will go down as one of THE best memories of my entire life, seriously.

And in other news, the rest of my life, outside of my home, seems to have totally picked up lately... I'm loving my part-time afterschool teaching gigs, and my volunteer Tuesday nights with the teens, and I'm excitedd to announce that a few weeks ago I auditioned for, and was cast in a kids show that will have me performing in a Six Flags Amusement park in St Louis, Missouri for June, July & August this summer!

Yeah, St Louis - the city I never knew I would be excited to spend time in!

But I am excited. Very. And I'm also falling more and more in love with my neighbourhood (the historical "Junction City" neighbourhood in West Toronto). And I'm working on creating a new one-woman show that I am hoping to perform and tour in 2008/2009... And my roomate Laura and I are also plotting to open our own business in the neighbourhood, maybe even in late 2008... we'll see... dum da dum, dum dum...

Oh yeah, I've also (THANK G-D, becauseIdesperatelyneedthemoney) got a temporary, eight day gig as a driver for this 'REEL Canada' film festival, through my roomate Louis. 'REEL Canada' brings Canadian films in to Canadian high schools, like a one-day film festival, including guest speakers and workshops... And it's MY job now to pick up and drop off those special guests. I've only done two days now, but it's been pretty fun. I get to meet some interesting people, and I kinda love being around teenagers in these high schools all day too... :)

Well, that's all for now kids.
I promise to try and update more frequently in the coming days/weeks/months...

But until then, get away from your computer and go play outside!

Happy Spring!
XOX