wilder-ness

Deer photo by Juergen Teller, remaining photos by Sam Taylor-Wood.
I've been exposing myself to photography in the most high-minded way possibe: The wiki list of photographers - and random clicking on names that intrigue me.
It's like a Russian Roulette of cultural exploration.

Stupidity Personified

Now Vancouver is uncharacteristically cold, the university campus is full of people wearing duffle coats and toques (/tooks/ = beanie, for you unfamiliar with Kanadaspeeks) and I have once again proved shitty at running my life. Yesterday I biked to school in -5, which is severe cold for us costal wimps. My toes were so numb I had to crawl into a corner and massage them back to life. Then last night/today I got distracted with two papers I had to write, forgot to eat, got three hours of sleep and fainted (coincidentally) in the hospital as I was visiting my friend.

But all my assignments are done now, and it is something to say that I am still alive. I did it! The semester from hell is almost over.

As discussed earlier, all we talk about in Vancouver is the weather, so it is on my mind a lot. Here are some things I would like to make me cozy and warm. Is the fox fur stole not wonderful? Though, with other clothes for now. Crazy girl.
The street style pics are from Pregnant Goldfish and they make me want to transfer to McGill and live a more meaningful existence. Though I will have to stop bitching about the cold first.

You know what song you should listen to? "The National" by Hannah Georgas. I'd link you, but then I'd be late for work and that would be a certain tragedy. People would cry.






A.P.C duffle coat that I am LUSTING over, Pendleton blanket.

Object lesson in how Vancouver is not Milan, or New York

Saw this picture on The Sartorialist not too long ago, and that clinched my decision that YES! I too could be one of that cool race streetstyle blogs revere above all - The Biker. For the Biker is not only stylish, but is going places, and quickly. And has chosen an outfit that does not hamper their mobility, but instead inspires envy in all of the everyday Sidewalk People they whip past. Extra points if The Biker (as in the above picture) manages to wear a helmet and still look put-together and badass.
I no longer wanted to be a Sidewalk Person.
This morning I tossed aside my rain pants, pulled on my combat boots and headed out to conquer the world.

Only, I forgot this small fact. I live in Vancouver. Not New York.

It rains in Vancouver, if you haven't heard. I mean, I'm sure it 'rains' in New York, but it RAINS in Vancouver. In my class today, we had a twenty minute discussion about the meaning of "It must be raining." Now, it was a semantics class, but in Vancouver we take discussion of the weather to a whole new level. It is a legit conversation topic, thanks very much.

But I was not thinking. I was convinced that I could defy basic rules of practicality and sanity, and so I had to bike home in a rain/sleet storm on a bike with sketchy brakes and suburb roads that looked like rivers full of leaf muck.
And so, this is what I looked like.




Scroll back up to the top picture again, if you will, just for effect.



My poor darling Fluevogs. Thankfully designed by a fellow Vancouverite, who obviously foresaw the need to make the leather impervious to water-stains.



This is my "next time I will do the smart thing and wear rain pants" face. (And peace, because I never know how to pose my hands.)

So hopefully I learned my lesson. Though I don't know if I can ever resign myself to complete practicality. I'll just have to be a strategic dresser.

I'm sitting in a coffee shop with wooden beams and a high ceiling, floating on a caffeine high and feeling like there's something profound hooked at the back of my brain and I can't quite reach behind and pick it off and see what it is.
It's five o'clock but already dark and so I guess it's winter now.
Lately I've been itching to go shopping, to run into the salvation army and buy an armload of sweaters in every color, to storm urban outfitters and carry off every eternity scarf and those fun fingerless gloves that you can never have too many of. Like a viking marauder of knitwear, but I'll pay for it and I won't be wearing a silly hat.

Because I want to include more Ryan McGinley, here's some of his Olympic photography. Remember the Olympics? Almost a year ago already, but it was fun.





I like his photos because they inspire me to get off my ass and go do something. Right now I really want to go snowboarding. Nevermind that there is no snow yet. It will come.

Mapplethorpe rivals me in last names

I don't feel sad about you anymore.




Flowers are for memory as
it rains I
remember
but past is
past
That's how it
goes.

(photos by Robert Mapplethorpe)
.

verve is a good sounding word

I'm not a purse person. It took me three years of university to finally ditch my MEC backpack for something a little more fashionable, and even then, not really anything daring or expensive.
So when I say I want to drop a grand to get this versace bag, it must be love. or lust. or something.

But seriously, I need help finding something unique like this but in my price range (i.e. under $200). Does anyone know any designers that might be good to check out?

eleven.

flowers are for remembering.

thanks to all the veterans.

Ryan McGinley

It helps to move.

(photos by Ryan McGinley, t-shirt by Markus Lupfer, shoes by Volta)

I've always found that Etsy has some of the jewlery around... there's nothing like the unique handmade pieces that shops like Dolly bird are full of. And the prices are reasonable, considering that they are all made of quality materials and you are getting a one-of-a-kind item.
I think the copper ring is one of my favorites, such a neat color. And I have an addiction to rings set with raw stones.

mud

picture from Iowa spirit walker


my thrifted Fluevogs that need knit socks to fit properly.

I'm feeling stompy boots and long knit cardigans and running around in fields with that wet green smell of mud and long grass.
Wind whips your hair into your eyes and it's that winter cold for the first time.

Sometimes living in the city makes me wistful for wide open spaces.