Labyrinth in 60 Seconds

I've got a Friday treat for you. A coworker of mine and his wife have entered the Virgin Radio 2011 Fake Film Festival. In 60 seconds or less they need to recap an entire movie. They've chose the classic Labyrinth with David Bowie. I nearly peed my pants watching this. So please take a look and if you enjoyed it like their facebook page and comment on Virgin's site, they need all the exposure they can get to help them win. Enjoy!

Dresses a la Jersey

My sister is getting married this September and is shopping for an "edgy" wedding dress. Something that goes with a feathered head piece, or maybe some kind of disgruntled bird atop her head.
I took a hideously early lunch today and went with her to an appointment with a local designer Jason Matlo in his small live/work studio on the edge of Yaletown. She tried on a couple of absolutely gorgeous jersey dresses. Not enough things are made from jersey.

 
That's the one we went in for, but we ended up liking this one even more.

Can't you just picture a headpiece of two angry birds fighting on the side of the bare shoulder? Brilliant.

My new necklace

A few months ago my sister dragged me to Micheal's because she need to buy some feathers and flowers for her students ballet costumes. I went mostly because it's right next to a Tim Hortons and my sister got Tim Cards as gifts from her students. Free bagel with cream cheese! Yes!

Micheal's is like my kryptonite. I'm not a particularly crafty person but every time I walk into that store I get these grand delusions of myself becoming the next Martha Stewart, and I know that despite never doing any of this before that I'll be a master homemade card maker, a scrapbook genius, a candle making dynamo! I've always been weirdly drawn to stationery and pens and the like. Even journals, which I buy fairly frequently because I love the idea of having a journal and writing all my thoughts and observations. But I never do it. It just sits there forlornly on my bed side table until it gets shoved into the forgotten recesses of my closet.

I wander around filling my arms with the tools of my new crafty trade, realize that it will cost me well over $100 and who am I kidding, I'll only do this once and then forget about it. I put it all back and find my sister and demand that she hurry up so we can get the hell out of Satan's store before I buy a cow shaped paper punch.

This last time however, I was not so lucky. It was raining and Sunday and I was feeling crafty and like I needed to do something. Cramming my bagel into my face I wandered into the bead section. They were on sale. There was a huge wall of any colour bead you could imagine. I went straight for turquoise section. It took me almost an hour to figure out what I wanted. But I was determined to make myself a necklace.

I think it turned out really well. It's really long so I can loop it around if I want to. It only took me about an hour to make too. It wasn't cheap though. Even with 40% off, the beads and all the extras (wire, clasp, etc.) came to about $60. I supposed you might pay the same in a store, maybe. But it just goes to show you how expensive being crafty really is. Plus, I'm pretty sure that it's some bizarre unknown stone painted to look like turquoise. Micheal's you crafty bitch.......

My Roommate the Artist

Check out this amazing painting my roommate did. Talented? I think so.

Oh, by the way, my living room smells like goji berries. Are gojis berries? I think they are. Whatever, as far as I'm concerned they will forever be berries and no one will be able to tell me different.

Heavenly Scents....and Lofty Cents

I've discovered a new love. Well really it's an old love that I've rekindled. Scented candles. Not the bargain basement dollar store variety that smell more of musty envelopes than spiced apples, I'm talking about the quality, gloriously scented, fancy tinned candles. The expensive ones.

Voluspa makes some really amazing candles. I don't think they can be referred to merely as candles. They're art. The tins come in such amazing colours and designs, it hard to tell if you're buying it for the scent or the tin.

I bought two, a large 3-wick Goji and Torocco Orange, and a slightly smaller 2-wick White Currant Quince. Both smell amazing.

Within half an hour of lighting one, my entire living room smelled delightfully of citrus. I was on my couch watching tv and I kept inhaling as deeply as I could. If it weren't for the flame I probably would have stuck my nose right in the heart of the thing. I love walking into a house that smells great.

I paid $30 for the large one and $25 for the small. Expensive for a candle but these are so highly scented that I don't mind paying the price. They really do fill the whole room with fragrance, and so far it seems that they have a fairly long burn time. I've noticed that the wax along the edge of the 2-wick candle doesn't seem to get enough heat to melt so I've got a couple of ridges that I'm not happy about.

My guiltiest pleasure so far though has to be the two Jonathan Adler candles I bought impulsively while killing time before my hair appointment. I found them at the cutest little store in Gastown, Orling & Wu. They have an eccentric sort of bohemian collection of home accents. I mentioned to the sales girl that it smelled really great in the store, fresh and warm, and she pointed me to this little red candle. I pick up the box and do you know what it was scented with? Tomato Plants. Tomato plants!! If you've ever grown tomatoes you know that smell, it's fresh, green and sun-warmed. It was so true to life. I knew I had to buy it, despite the gulp inducing $48 price tag.

There was also a devine grapefruit candle. I had good intentions of giving this one to a friend for Christmas. She used to sell Party Lite candles so I knew she'd appreciate it. But being a student my friend was short of cash this Christmas so we decided not to exchange gifts. Hooray!!

I've since been living in beautifully scented splendor and I can't wait to see if I've got enough money this paycheque to buy a few more. Fingers crossed!