The Crazy Goddess is back!

Second great news today! And it took me completely by surprise.

(I have been a very lacking fan, I admit)

My musical red-haired Goddess, Tori Amos, is coming up with a new album this May! She did one a while ago...but it really wasn't her usual fierce style. It was frankly, not her best. (Even her hair had gone more orange then red...lol)

But now, she seems to be back to her different and vicious views on religion/Jesus/women/society sprinkled with a bit of controversy and craziness. This is the Tori Amos I know and love. The one that won my ears with her rants about Cornflake Girls.

The album will be called "American Doll Posse" (and that alone is so cool , and here is the image they had with the press release...(Note the suburban housewife gone mad look...the Bible in one hand with Shame written in the other, the blood dripping down her left leg...) Oh my! I can't wait for May 1th to come. This will be a very special Beltane!

At Last!!

Yes, it must be my day of luck! I have received the pearl earrings I have wished for for so long!

I don't know if a lot of people are as obsessed with Vermeer's painting, Girl with a Turban... Made into a movie a few years ago with Scarlett Johansson?

Well, I am in love with those huge pearl drops, and couldn't find anything similar anywhere....

And then I found this site: http://www.sapphireandsage.com/ I just HAD to get them. Exact replica! How wonderful! And they came in today! And they are the most beautiful little pieces of acrylic you have ever seen.

Of course, I couldn't resist taking a picture of myself wearing them, and making my best (if very lacking )impression of the girl in the painting.

Good Resolutions....

Apparently (okay, I got that from Bridget Jones' Diary...), humans can live happily if they give themselves small, short-term goals to pursue. So I think I will do that this year, it's kind of a cool idea.

Goal no1---I will eat more healthily, more veggies, fruits, proteins, etc. And I will learn to cook food that is good for me, and that isn't pasta or hot-dogs. (First goal, learn to bake bread.)

Goal no2---I will clean up around the apartment more often, so as to not get discouraged when Saturday morning comes.

Goal no3---I will stop seeking love, for I am perfectly happy alone. So whatever needs to happen will happen.

Goal no4---I will stop feeling guilty when I get celebrity crushes. This is just who I am, and I should accept that.

Goal no5---I will work out at least 3-4 times a week. (Not at the gym, outside in the fresh air.)

Goal no6---I will comb my cats at least a day out of two, so they don't get all those hairballs and knots.

Goal no7---I will paint and draw more...I've been neglecting that this year....

And finally....instead of gaining the obligatory 10 pounds during my two weeks Christmas holidays...I will actually loose 10! I'm all resolute now! I have combined Goal 1 and 5 this week, and I plan on doing so next week too. Of course, it IS the holidays, so resolutions don't count at family holiday dinners. (Where I eat and drink an obscene amount of calories but wouldn't want it any other way!)

Happy Holidays everyone!

2006 review....

It isn't December 31th yet, but I suspect I won't have much time to blog when it actually is....plus I'll be too busy thinking up a list of New Years' resolution, so there you go.
This years......

I got upset because Alanis Morissette went Blondie! (Why! Why? Um...is she still blond?)

My disgust with Jehovah's Witnesses reached a new high point ever since they told my father he couldn't speak to me anymore. Damn those indoctrinated bastards!! Wake up dad!!!

I discovered the wonderful world of the DaVinci Code---read the book (many times), waited impatiently for the movie to come out in theaters, walked miles under the rain to see it the night it came out, got obsessed with Audrey Tautou and Paul Bettany, resulting in my discovering many other awesome movies (Do see "Amélie"!). Waited for what seemed like years to finally be able to buy the DVD. And now I can relax at last!

Got my hair red, because of Tori Amos.

Switched to healthier food and litter-stuff for my kitties. Also discovered awesome natural-care woman for them.

According to my blog entries...nothing really happened this last summer, it's all a big blank..Hmmm

So back in September...
Heard about and read Inkheart, am still in process of reading the second part, Inkspell. I also can't wait to see what the movie will be like.

Ooooh!My nose was lucky enough to discover Guerlain Vetiver...and I will admit here, to my greatest shame and endless humiliation, that I only went and smelled that perfume because I read that genius actor Paul Bettany wears that. (Shame, shame, shame on me for being such a fangirl!) I really did fell in love with it though, or I wouldn't have bought a bottle.

Laundry machine price went up 75 cents, which is surely the biggest and most important drama this year.

Discovered that coffee in a cup will taste like chewed paper if additioned with fake-sugar. Am still taking fake-sugar half the time in spite of it.

Had a few strangers wave at me, still have not resolved this mystery.

Have discovered I am in fact, a solitary introvert....who still adores to go out in the crowd and watch people. Adding to the probability that I will end up an old lady living happy and alone with her books and cats.

Developed an ongoing fascination for actress Helena Bonham-Carter, her unbelievably cool hair and fashion line.

Got caught on buses with un-hygienic-smelling people. Managed not to throw up on them.

Fixed holes left by cats' claws on my screen-door with hot glue. Screen door looks like crap.

At last! Got completely satisfied with look and feel of my own hair.

Survived a traumatizing bee attack un-harmed.

Missed Loreena McKennit signing event due to laziness. (Put "Stop being lazy" on resolution list.)

Got my bank account card cloned, thus gained a new paranoia.

And hopefully.....Will have held a wonderful, magical Christmas Dinner on December the 16th. (Yeah, because I still believe in positive thinking.)

My Musical Muses...

Meet the two talented ladies who have inhabited my CD player for the last weeks....

Lorreena McKennit and Nelly Furtado.
Two completely different styles of music, two incredibly different artists...but I'm just addicted to both their new CDs.
They are definitely two of my Top5 albums this year. (The DaVinci Code soundtrack is also part of that list, of course.)
An Ancient Muse makes me travel in far away countries and back in time whenever I want to. Loreena has some kind of mystical talent to create music like that.
And Nelly F.'s Loose simply make me wanna dance like a mad woman every time I hear a tune of hers. Especially Maneater and Promiscuous. I suspect it must be possible to actually *see* where the CD is worn out by the thousands of times I listened to them.
(She also motivates me to work out, which is always a positive thing, especially in cold weather.)

And so I officially nominate them Lily's 2006 Muses.

Apartment is: pretty nice looking, with the Christmas tree and lights. Although I tend to neglect things a bit when I am stressed out, and the whole bank account, cloned card ordeal made me nervous enough...so...yeah, now that it's alright, I should start picking up every dish and piece of clothe I left wherever they chanced to fall...I'll do that tonight.

Recipes found: WAY too many! And now choosing is the problem.

Cats are: Pretty happy. Timine just adores my Christmas tree, in fact, he seems to like it enough to constantly try to eat it's ornaments. I suspect he does it only when I'm there to get upset at him too.....who said animal couldn't be manipulative and looking for attention? They'd need to see Timine when I just got cocooned up on the sofa with a cup of tea and he innocently hops on the chair near the tree. The *look* he gives me when he starts to gnaw or claw at a glittery gold apple ever so delicately is just unbelievable.
I just love that cat.

Count Down...

Only 5 days before my Christmas Dinner. Panic starting to slowly settled in, mixed with lots of anticipation...I mean, I even spent 30 minutes last weeks unscrewing the door from the second room to use as huge table top. (Because my own little single-girl table sure as hell won't have place for 8 guests.)
I'm so not used to have people over, it's really like the event of the year for me and my cats. 8 people! All at the same time!

Good thing I won't have to prepare all the food, everyone agreed to bring something. All I have to do is make cranberry sauce, Honey-glazed carrots and some kind of hot beverage...mulled-wine or something of the sort. I need to find a great recipe though.... and will probably make little present thingies for guests. What will those be? Chocolate coffee grains? oh my God, I should have thought about that way before today.

The biggest problem now still is...what will decorate the center of my table-door. It needs to be classy, yet organic and traditional-looking to give a bit of ol' Yule spirit. There is so many options...so hard to choose from.
And I want my apartment to look nice and put together as to not give impression to my family that I've turned into some sort of hopeless bachelorette with cats... even if I really am. Ehehehe

Bastards!!!

Like I need this right now!

My bank card got cloned!!! It's like everything else, you always think it only happens to others...and then a cashier tells you while you have your arms full of bags, that your darn account has been deactivated! (Lucky I still had my credit card, I wasn't about to leave those nice dishes I had finally found for Saturday's party.)

What kind of stupid pathetic bastards do that? They could at least be considerate and *not* do this kind of stuff around the holidays! Don't we have enough to do for the next two weeks? Don't *they* have Christmas dinners to prepare and gifts to wrap?

Now I need to go to the bank tonight, get a new card, learn a new password that I will keep forgetting...and get the 280$ that they took from me back.

And they have officially made me Miss Paranoia Monster starting today. I will need to figure something out about the usage of that card...because I will never feel safe again. I used it way too much anyway....Thinking about taking all money out of bank and hiding it under mattress like an old lady....

Oh MY GOD!!!Awesome!

Woke up this morning to wonderful news!!
Loreena McKennitt...the absolute Canadian goddess of Celtic and world music will be sitting 15 minutes away from where I live....this Saturday! THIS Saturday! And I didn't even know!

She will be at a huge music store to promote her latest album, and I simply WILL be there. There is no way I'm missing the chance...it's bad enough that I missed Tori Amos last time she had a show in Montreal.

Thinking of making an ink drawing just for this occasion...a tree maybe...a Celtic tree...with lyrics to The Mystic's Dream...and hopefully have her sign it....Perhaps even get a picture....
Oh my GOD! I feel like such a desperate fan girl! But this woman is pure talent, an incredible soul, she had travelled the world and created music that will haunt me forever and in so many ways. (And her hair is really very pretty too, ehehehe.)

I do wonder if she is popular enough here, that there will be a big crowd...blocking me....Oh no...

Positive thoughts...all will go well, all will be fine....

***December 11th update----Of course, I did not go. I didn't even make a drawing for her to sign. I'd like to say that something huge got in the way...we *did* have an ice storm...but the simple tragic truth is: I felt just too damn lazy to figure out which buses to take to get there...and I didn't fancy travelling alone. Blah! I'm a lost cause!!)*****

Bravo! Little brother!

Well, my efforts to turn my brother into a decent future-men seem to finally pay off. For a while, I've been scared that he would grow up to be one of those stupid teenagers on buses I've been angrily ranting about it an earlier blog. Or worse, one of those adult men who still think the epitome of beauty is Pamela Anderson.

For some time now, I've been talking to him about how beauty can be found in difference, that every hair, eye and skin color have their own wonderfulness. That a girl can be beautiful in different shapes and heights...but he kept getting crushes on barbie-like blond girls with blue eyes girls at his school...even if they were, let's say it politely, a little disagreeable. To him---even the most beautiful girl, if she had brown hair, was simply on a lower level.

The surprise I got the other day, when he came home from school and started talking about a new girl. This one apparently had dark brown hair...but not only that...wait for it....it was a also short hair! A short, funky cut, and he couldn't stop talking about how cool it was. She also had small brown eyes, and dressed slightly emo. He kept telling us about how funny she was, and that she had a big, beautiful smile, and that she talked softly. Little bro was smitten! She even went out with him...I'm still trying to understand what "going out" means to 12 years olds that don't actually go out...
Well, it couldn't have been very serious dating, because she broke up two days after to the great despair of my poor baby brother.

Well, still....good try!
I realise though, that boys will be boys, because it is still WAY too easy to lure him into seeing a non-action movie, like say..."The Prestige", with the simple promise that he will get to see Scarlett Johansson's...um...sizeable assets in a corset throughout the movie. Well, at least she isn't a tooth-pick woman!

Christmas Madness

So....Is Christmas coming sooner every year or are we just forgetting that it's like that every new year?
Every time I step into a mall, I feel like it's December 24th already, and it's been like that since the day after Halloween. I'm not complaining, mind you. Anything to prettify the gloom that is November. I love to see the huge Christmas trees and Santa's village, and Christmas music is kind of fun. You almost expect snow to be falling prettily when you walk out of there.

But now I'm totally in the mood to decorate my apartment and to buy gifts for everyone. Problem is....I promised myself that this year, I would control myself and not have lights on my balcony before December 1th. I find it rather pathetic, although it's every one's choice, the get all your decos out two months in advances, right when you throw away your pumpkin.

I had also convinced myself to make every gift I give myself....but I plan to do that every year without success. I would so love Christmas to go back to family and love, and home-made gifts from the heart...But ya know....I guess marketing does work....even for me.

So this weekend I don't think I will be able to keep myself from dragging the old Christmas tree from the closet. It would be too hard to resist. It's all I can do not to do it right now...

I will still try to make gifts though...will be very fun...haven't done anything productive or art-related for quite some time now.

In other news, I'm planning to make a small dinner with close family around Christmas time. It's been ages since I invited people to my apartment. And it's so much nicer now then it was at first. Am very excited about this....but really need to plan carefully, or will not happen at all.

BEE!!!!Beeee!!!!

Oh my God! My knees are still shaking and my heart is beating as if I've been running a mile!

I was taking a shower and washing my hair...and what do I see on the bathroom wall when I get out...well the title sells the punch really...but...A BEE!!! Technically, it's a wasp, but terror chases sense away pretty fast.

Now, as a kid, I was immensely terrified of anything that stings or bites. So bees and wasps weren't on my cuddle list. But as I grew up, I gradually started to control myself and not feel the urge to run away screaming when I saw one. (This might have something to do with my needing to set a good, reasonable example to daycare kids, and not make them as traumatized as I am.)

But a bee *inside* the house, this I've never been faced with in all my life. Oh, of course, when I lived with my family, if one flew in by accident, I'd just beg my (12 years old) brother to do something to save us. And even when one got in this summer when the patio door was opened, I managed to choo it out with a book....

But this time...this time it was different...here I am, just out of the shower, in a tiny room, with only a purple towel between me and the angry looking beast on the wall.
I start to mumble to myself while I quickly dry my hair. What should I do? What should I do? I'm so panicked I even consider calling someone to come and help me. But no, this is insane, I'm a grown up. I can take care of this...Ooooh! I can't! I can't!!!
Then my cats come in and try to catch it, the fools! So I need to act quickly, for the sake of them.

I run to the kitchen , and pick a small empty jar, a chair and a magazine and drag all of it to the bathroom, loosing my towel in the process. (I SO wish no-one was walking by the apartment window right then.)
Back in the bathroom....I watch it and wonder if I could off it with some hair spray...or perhaps hit it with a book....But if I miss...it already looks so pissed off....
I can't take that chance, so with shaking hands and legs, I climb on the chair, and I get it in the jar, whimpering and breathing loudly. I put the magazine under it and travel back to the kitchen, almost crawling on the ground to avoid the windows...and I *finally* close the jar.

NOW I can breathe.
This was so traumatic.

So now, I have a wasp in a jar, slowly dying in my freezer and I feel super bad. But I also feel kind of scared, because I have NO idea how that one got in...and I'd like to know if there are more where it came from.

One of the reasons why I appreciate winter....NO damn bugs!!

Hair Progress...

Lets appreciate the small happy facts of life: My hair no longer looks like a Hobbit's!
Look at the shine! Look how much it grew since the beginning of this blog!

For the first time in years, I went to the hairdresser and didn't need to be ashamed of the mop on my head and invent silly excuses when the lady says variations of...."Oh my GOD girl! WHAT have you done to that poor hair!!?"
This time, she complimented me on how soft it was, and so easy to fix. Happiness!!

Photos to prove that the best way to get decent hair is to completely ignore it and leave it be.
The first one to show the shine I thought I would never get, and the second is the actual color. Can hardly believe hair is natural, healthy, non-streaky or freakish half-and-half color.

Costumes....

I feel I should give a special bravo to the two little guys and one girl who contributed to keeping Halloween traditional...let's applause Mr. Ladybug, Miss Clown, and Spider man...(Although I think that Spider man and Batman costumes might be the male equivalent to the Princesses...hmmm)

Pictured here, is my costume this year. Yes, a black cat. Because I've never been one before.
And my brother David's valiant attempt to keep Halloween the night of gruesome, spirit world and scary stuff alive. I helped him fix this Japanese-ghost-movie-girl costume in 5 minutes this morning. Inspired by a healthy mix of The Grudge and The Ring. I'm thinking it might work as some kind of therapy for him, to be in those characters' skin instead of just terrified by them.

Halloween 2006 Fairie-princess count

Let me say again, that I have nothing against little girls at daycare dressing up as princesses. They are cute as buttons all glittered up like that. But this is confirming my theory that Halloween is slowly becoming The Disney-Princess-Fairies-Unicorns-and-everything-pretty-Holiday....

Whatever will I do?

So everyone who knows me by now will remember that there is no way I will have a cat declawed ever again.
But it does bring it's own little problems to leave a cat complete. (Make that two cats).

You would think that younger Luna would be the trouble-maker...but noooo. Because girls, we all know for sure that it's the boys who are trouble. And Timine, bless his sweet bushy tail, is no exception.

Since last spring, I obviously like to leave the patio door open. With the screen door closed of course, don't want another fiasco like the time Luna decided it was a good idea to jump down the balcony.
But now, I look at my screen door, and it's completely mutilated. Tiny holes everywhere (that shouldn't be there). You see, Timine, all 10 lbs+ of his adorable little self....he likes to sprint full speed from the room to the living room and climb right up the screen door. And then stay there and cry for help, seemingly not remembering how he got up there. It's like he gets a few seconds of crazed black-out where his instincts take over and he becomes totally wild!

What will I do....I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this problem....

Paper-Coffee Update

I'm here today to offer public apologies.
I just realized that the nasty taste of paper that was in those cups of coffee I talked about earlier was in no way the employee's fault.

It was mine and mine alone. Mea Culpa. Because it seems that I can successfully mess up even the most well-made coffee all by myself. And the reason? The blame goes to that fake sugar stuff in their little packets. Tempting. No calories.....But can leave a definitely unpleasing taste, it seems.

Cool Cat

By some miracle, I found a photo of the black cat decoration I was talking about earlier this week. It's exactly the same! (But not my photo. Thank you, anonymous person and their cat).

Isn't it very cool looking? It's now standing proudly in my kitchen window, and when I'm leaving for work in the morning, I like to walk pass my window on purpose to see it. That's how much I like it.

The funny thing is, I must be one of the few strange persons who find it hot, because the cashier just laughed and said "Oh, sorry, I just find it so ugly!" Probably meaning: "Good god! I didn't think anyone in their right mind would put out 6 bucks for that horror."
Alright, it's made of the stuff you put in Christmas tree, only it's black instead of gold...but hey, isn't it like a tribute the the Nightmare Before Christmas? You know, with the mixed holidays....I like to think so.

Sounds of Fall

I have to say, I was feeling a bit crappy this morning.
Well it rains, and when you need to go out, it's not always fun. But hey, it's fall....

But as I was walking the two minutes separating the bus stop from work, I suddenly slowed down and looked around me instead of the wet, depressing street under my feet.
The raining had calmed down, and there were only little droplets still falling. The sun was peeking behind the cloud and there was a soft light on the yellow maple trees on my left. They almost looked like gold. It was all so soft and beautiful...and then the sounds. The sound of rain on the trees, and of a few leaves falling trough the branches to the ground (They do make a sound, all you need is listen for it.) The squirrels and birds still carrying on in spite of the weather. It was magic, magic I tell you. One of the many reasons why I love this season so much.

PS. Photo not actual view I had, of course. Unfortunately, I don't live or work in a beautiful century-old, fairy-containing forest.

Smelly people

Fresh air please!!
Now, I like to think that I am a generally good person. I try not to judge people, most of the time. But I'm having a lot of trouble having sympathy for smelly people. In these days and age, there is no reason for a person to go around smelling like sweaty, rotting garbage. No reason! Soap is cheap and water is free. I mean, if you are a homeless person, I would be more inclined to understand, (but even homeless people can wash now...)

I am just coming home from a bit of shopping (found a awesome black-cat decoration, might blog about it tomorrow, it's wicked!)...and I came back on the bus, not fun to walk in the rain with bags and heels.

So I sit on the bus with my bags, waiting for it to go, and it's pretty full, a few more people come in and I see them from afar. It's strange...but...most of the times, I can guess who might be one of the smellies. And these two people fitted exactly the profile. There is no place left anywhere, so I pull my bags on my lap and Mr. Smelly sits next to me with his shopping huge bag. Oh god. The smells hits me like a ton of bricks and I know this is gonna be a very long five minutes. At this point I smile graciously, and just turn my head to look out the window, trying to put as much distance as I can between my offended nose and this person.

Now I'm sure he was a nice man, but my god, is it so hard to wash? Is it that they become used to the smell? Is it something they eat? Can't be, it smells of neglect. Horrible. I take a quick look at the man, he has his arms propped-up on his bag, I quickly turn back to window-gazing. Alternating between breathing very shallowly and taking big gulps of air and holding it as long as I can before turning purple. There is traffic, 5 minutes becomes 10, and the smell is still as bad as ever, threatening to make me loose my lunch every time the men moves.

It wouldn't have been that bad, but I guess it wasn't my lucky day, because they transferred in the same bus as I did . 5 more minutes of hell. So glad I don't live an hour away from the mall.

Now, all I want to do, is spray some Guerlain Vetiver on a fuzzy blanket and curl up in it, basking in the wonderful, pure, delightful smell.

Pantaloonies

Ever since I was aware of her, I've always thought that Helena Bonham Carter had a wonderful and funky sense of style. (Not to mention her awesome hair!)

So I got very excited when I read that she has created, along with another designer woman, her own line of clothes. I think they are supposed to be fancy lingerie, but there are jeans too.
Look it up, because I can't put every picture on here. (It's called Pantaloonies)

But wow! It's so beautiful, it's a happy mix between modern and Victorian, with laces and delicate materials and beads... I know I probably wouldn't be able to afford even a piece, especially since they probably are sold in England only...but it does make me want to go back to my own attempt at design. This is absolutely the sort of clothes I'd want to do.
I'll keep updating about that. Well, if I *do* finish something.