Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand

Today is a bit of a sad day for me. My six week dance class comes to an end. I have had just a ridiculous amount of fun doing this. I've also been consistently sore (seriously, how much does a person have to work out to stop feeling stiff all the time!), but I just can't bring myself to care.

It's really taken over my mind in a lot of ways. I've found myself dancing in streetcar vestibules in the morning when there's no one else around. I've been dancing in the washroom at work (mirrors are so handy), dancing at home if I'm alone and listening to this Ciara/Chamillionare song so much that I've actually gone from actively hating Chamillionare to a state of general apathy. Scary stuff.

Of course, loving an MTV dance class still doesn't explain why I can't stop listening to the Justin Timberlake CD. If you listen really hard you can hear 21-year-old me weeping somewhere because of that last line.

Anyway, dancing = good. I may never be great at it, but it's so much fun that I find it hard to care.

Today's sing-a-long song: "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John

HRH

Always setting a good example

A rare double post today, but for very good reason. Today my wonderful parents celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary! They're both pretty private people so I won't go into gushing detail about them, save stating that they're amazing people, wonderful parents and I couldn't love them more. I just wanted to take a moment to recognize how happy I am for them that they've been able to share the last 40 years as best friends... and had two fabulous daughters in the process (modest too!). I raise a glass to you both tonight.

Today's sing-a-long song: "Time in a bottle" by Jim Croce

HRH

As heard on the Queen St. Streetcar

C: Listen to that guy's cough. It's tragic. It sounds like he's hacking out all the sadness in his soul.
M: Could he maybe hack out his sadness a little quieter?
C: Seriously, don't you hear it in the cough. Its sounds so heartbreaking.
M: Sounds like phlegm to me.

HRH

Beauty lives on

I've just completed an epic update of The Royal Beauty. It dawned on me last week that I had all these great products that I had told no one about. Bad Chelsea. Now that I have more free time I'll be better about keeping this site current. There is no end in sight to product goodness.

HRH

40 years of evil

I am trying to write this post with a cat sitting on my wrists. A seriously shedding cat I might add.

I feel that I should report on the goodness that was this past weekend. M, Mike and I made our way to Kingston to celebrate 40 years of Golden Words. There was drinking, more drinking, a burnt throat earned through me not being patient enough to wait for my poutine to cool and many good times with friends not often seen.

My expectations for the event were totally exceeded. The current GW staff gives me much confidence that the paper remains in nice, evil hands.

Today's sing-a-long song: "Hey boy, hey girl" by The Chemical Brothers

HRH

Confession

I have a new Internet addiction, which isn't actually new at all. I'm just fessing up. I can't get enough of PopSugar. I first found it as a gossip site, but it has turned into so much more. PopSugar is just one part of what I will call the SugarEmpire. Like many sites it collects links, advice and ideas. What I love about it is the content and the way that it's organized. It starts with gossip, when then you have FabSugar for fashion and makeup, BuzzSugar for entertainment (music, TV and movies), YumSugar for cooking, baking and entertaining, FitSugar for health and fitness, GeekSugar for tech, GiggleSugar for humour and DearSugar for advice. It's pretty much all the stuff I'm interested in, put together and written in a way that I really connect to.

There's a whole community beneath the articles that I'm just starting to get into. Between this, Facebook and this very blog, it's amazing I even talk to people anymore.

HRH

When the soundtrack of life gets serious

In order to tell this story I have to admit to something awfully nerdy. I don't imagine that it will come as a shock to anyone, but I listen to movie scores on my ipod quite a lot. The Star Wars movie scores in particular. Stunning revelation, no. Appallingly geeky, oh my yes.

So this morning I had to stop by my bank to make a transfer between accounts that I had forgotten to do, and thereby make the clearing of some bills, well, a lot more clearable. I usually do this kind of thing from my computer, but I was no where near one when I remembered that I'd forgotten. I'd also forgot to put on my wedding rings today, so you can tell that the level of focus I have today is darn near spectacular.

I get to the bank machine and start my transaction, my ipod on, listening to the soundtrack from The Revenge of the Sith, the track Padme's Ruminations in particular. I start my transaction, prepare to transfer money from one account to another and I get the message that my PIN is invalid. The music coming through my headphones turned seriously dark and dramatic as the error message appeared and the track changed to Anakin's Dark Deeds. I had a double "What the hell moment" as I was confused by the error and also a little taken aback by how well the moment of confusion had been scored by my ipod.

Turns out I had simply mistyped my PIN, but having the sound of a choir and orchestra at full volume every time I make a mistake might make the act of making mistakes more amusing than annoying.

HRH

Clarins Gentle Eye Makeup Remover Lotion

Like I've said before, the more you know about a company's given strengths the better. A company that excels in eye creams and treatments, is going to be pretty good with eye makeup removers. Prime example is Clarins. They've been longtime experts in eye treatments, so when Dawn asked me if I could recommend a gentle eye makeup remover, Clarins was a natural choice.

Thankfully our makeup mule picked up a bottle of it for me as well as I was dangerously low. As predicted, it does a great job. It did an amazing job of removing the evidence of a heavy eyeliner day, something that is always a problem for me and my affinity for the black stuff, with a minimum of sting. I find it a tad oily (as it is oil based) so I can only use it on my eyes. If you think about it you use a different cream on your eyes than you do on the rest of your face. It seems that the same holds true for makeup remover.

HRH

A rose by any other name

While this past weekend was pretty much a lovely one for me, I have to report on an incident. One that got me so angry that I actually couldn't eat. If you know me, you know it must have been serious.

We had the experience of some rather interesting company at dinner on Saturday. Some of the strangest topic choices I've ever witnessed at a wedding, which through a chain of events I haven't quite put together yet, ended up with an older feminist very openly criticizing me for changing my name when I got married. A woman, who had only known me for two hours.

It genuinely shocks me that this is an issue. I've taken so much flack for changing my name after marriage and I'm baffled by it every time I experience it. I had a colleague shout at me that I was selling out my family, but he gets shout-y about things like lunch, so I didn't take it to heart. Another friend who was recently married has also experienced the name-changing backlash. She had so much of it, that when she told me that she was taking her husband's name, she told me in a whispered confession of guilt.

I may have my history wrong, but I'm pretty sure that those who were advocates for equality for women, were working for a world where women were free to choose to do what they wanted, free to do what was best for them as individuals and to not be forced into a mold set out by a patriarchal society. Isn't forcing women into the same kind of mold (albeit a different shape) just as bad? It is to me.

I did enjoy, as she went off about how I have abandoned my own identity for a man's (with my husband sitting RIGHT beside me), pointing out that had I married I woman I would have also changed my name. And it's not because I don't love my own family, I just feel, that for me, its important that I have the same last name as my spouse. My name is an identifier, not my identity. Sure, if it really mattered to me I could (in theory) push for my spouse adopting my last name. In practice, I don't think anyone had any illusions about which name we'd be taking.

Does it bother or offend me if other women keep their names or hyphenate? I honestly could care less. All that matters to me is that they have chosen to do what they want to do. I applaud their choice, whatever it may be. I'd like to think that people are pleased for me in that I have made a choice that I am happy with.

I can't even begin to understand the rationale behind the treatment I got, but I think I'll just mark it down as some people are just argumentative jackasses and drink too much wine sometimes.

HRH

Just one more song

Last night, M, Beltzner, Dawn and I attended the wedding of our undergrad partner in crime, Jon Krashinsky. Jon is one of those characters who leaves an indelible impression on you. He is just so fantastically alive and that delicious mix of mischievous yet inherently good. While our paths have crossed occasionally over the last eight years, it's as though it's only been a few days since we were last together.

It was really wonderful to see him so happy yesterday and to see how totally head-over-heels in love he is with his wife, Kelly. He's found the best thing ever, the thing that I wish for everyone in their relationships; someone who you can really be yourself with and be loved for it.

While his wedding was a great chance to spend a couple of moments with him, it was also a gathering of other friends from Golden Words. Kind of a warm up party for the 40-year reunion next weekend in Kingston. I don't know what it is about that time in my life or what it is about the people that were part of GW while I was there, but that bond, it's just awesome.

There was a moment while Matt Blair was DJing and he kept on playing songs we danced to night after night at the Trash, that I felt kind of like I was 21 again. Let's just ignore the horrible old lady implications of that remark and bask in that feeling a little.

I know that life then wasn't ALL about laughing at Press Nite (TM) and getting lost in the music at a club. There was drama, lots of it and stress too, but it was different. Not better, just different. I don't know. For me the day I really committed to the paper life started its uphill trajectory. I'll always feel fondly for the beginning of the really good.

Dancing to the songs that are now considered retro (ouch!) and having M, Mike, Dawn, Jon, Blake and Matt there to party with was the perfect slice of nostalgia that I needed to prepare me for next weekend. And not to sound like too much of a lame oldie, but for a bunch of 30-year-olds, we've still got it.

Today's sing-a-long song: "Hey boy, Hey girl" by The Chemical Brothers

HRH

Pout Plump in Mulberry

Plumping lip gloss. I am tres skeptical. Always have been. Mostly because I've never encountered much evidence beyond the tingling of my lips after application. So while I'm not a believer in it, I still use it. Why? Because most lipglosses out there are trying to be plumping and there are a lot of pretty colours available.

My most recent acquisition is the Pout Plump in mulberry. My first foray into the red tones. The colour is lovely and while I doubt that the plumping spices are actually making my lips bigger, the tingling sensation is handy because it let's me know when the lip gloss has worn off my lips.

Bottom line. Lovely colour, nice gloss, don't expect huge Angelina Jolie style lips from it.

HRH

Pout Cheek to Cheek in coral nymph/bronze siren

I went in for lipgloss and I came out with a bronzer/blush. I can be such a sucker sometimes, but it is my weakness. Shhttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3581016
Blogger: The Royal Word - Create Postow me how to look healthy and full of life without having to endure the annoyance that is the sun and I'm sold. Put it in cream format so it's easy to work with and easy to correct mistakes and I'm bringing it home with me.

And that's how I brought home Pout's Cheek to Cheek. I love it so much that I didn't use another blush product for a week after purchasing it. It works best when you use a foundation brush to apply it, mixing the bronzer and the coral blush together. The result is a beautiful glow. Just the kind of glow you want to greet the return of the sun this spring.

HRH

Wah, wah, wah

Stupid hormones. Stupid, stupid hormones. You would think that being able to identify that it is my monthly peak of hormones causing me anger in the blood that it would have some kind of efficacy in actually reducing my levels of grrr. You'd think. You'd be wrong.

I can't seem to decide if my loathing will be directed internally or externally this month. I've seen indications that it could really go either way.

I nearly vowed not to have children today, just to spite someone who was being all self-righteous about being a parent and "oh won't I see one day." It got my back up mightily quick. It's never good when someone triggers the spite reflex in me. It's powerful and scary. I lost 40 pounds fueled on spite remember.

Later in the day, as I was trying to figure out what I was going to wear to a wedding this weekend, all the grrr turned inwards. It truly is a shame that I can't find some way to translate the speed and efficiency with which I dissect and attack myself into something beneficial and potentially lucrative. I'm so very good at this that it seems to be wasted just using the hate to knock down my own self-esteem. Surely it can be used for good somehow?

The internal hate process starts with not knowing what to wear for a late winter/early spring wedding, moves on to me trying on all the dresses I have, almost none of them work. I then don't have the right shoes to wear with the one or two that might be passable and since it takes me four months to find a pair of shoes in my gargantuan size, it's unlikely that there is hope for Saturday. I HAD the right shoes at one time, but they were destroyed by my trying to dismantle a table in three-inch heels and a suit. I freaking LOVED those shoes.

Then the hate-on starts. I'm stupid for not having the right clothes and even more stupid for having worn/purchased the presently useless dresses that currently live in my closet. If I was smart, I would have bought the right one. There's going to come a point where it's going to be painfully obvious that I keep wearing the same dress to every function I go to. I guess we'll know it's 2006/7 by the fact that I look exactly the same in every photo.

I'm also super-stupid for breaking down a table dressed like I was.

I have pontoons for feet and I suck because I can't find shoes and am foolish for thinking I can find cute shoes in my size at a price I can afford. I'm even more of an idiot for blogging about this because I'm just drawing attention to the dress dilemma (and yes, I know that everyone will be looking at someone else's dress that day, as they should, but that doesn't excuse me showing up to an event like this looking like a hobo). If I can't find something right to wear, why don't I at least have a dress that matches the colour of most walls so I can blend into the background. While we're at it, let's toss in some cruel self-judgments about my body, cause old habits die hard.

And then the anger. There are so many more important things in this world than what freaking dress I'm wearing, but I can't, for the life of me, stop fretting and obsessing about it. We're heading to an exciting, deeper level now, because I'm flawed and wrong for letting something like this upset me as much as it does. And at least we have synergy, feeling ugly on the inside and the outside.

All this for a self-righteous comment and a fashion obstacle. Sheesh. Someone give me a slice of cheesecake, a bag of chips and wake me up in a few days when this crap has passed.

Today's sing-a-long song: "Volcano Girls" by Veruca Salt

HRH

Bobbi Brown Violet Face Palette

I love things that are idiot proof. They are the things I tell all my friends about when I'm trying to show them the easy way to enjoying beauty products. So when someone like Bobbi Brown puts out another palette, I feel it is cause for celebration.

Primarily because her stuff works so perfectly. It's goldilocks of pigment. Just enough to get the effect, but not so much that you're walking into clown territory. The palettes are super easy to use and produce fantastic results. Her most recent one is based in violet tones. I already have the pink toned palette (I enjoy using it for weddings and brides) and the violet one is a perfect partner.

Fear not the purple and enjoy a fresh look for spring. This palette is the perfect way to be trendy, but not over the top or age inappropriate.

HRH

Evolving into an adult

Today was a very exciting day in my life. It was the first time that M and I had guests over to our current apartment for dinner and we were all able to sit at a table and eat like civilized human beings.

Living in a attic apartment creates all kinds of design challenges. The biggest of which has been finding a kitchen table that more than two people can sit at. Inspired by the success that Dooce had in finding a dresser on ebay, I decided to see if I could find a modern kitchen table. Just to get an idea of what was out there. Lo and behold when I typed in "modern kitchen table" I got a table and chair set, inspired or knocked off from the Harry Bertoia wire chair design. It looked perfect.



The glass table would give us a space to eat on, but wouldn't eat up all the visual space in the room, same effect with the wire chairs. Best of all, the seller was based in Toronto and offering local pickup only. Oh and the price. While this was a knock-off, it still would retail for up to $2000. The seller got it for half of that and we got it off the seller for more than half of what he paid. Super score.

After we bought it on ebay, M and Mike drove out there in two cars and collected it for us. Sadly, because life has been crazy, but good busy, we haven't had a chance to actually sit down at our mid-century modern table and see how it works.

So this evening we had Dawn and Chris over for dinner (as their spouses are both out of town), saved them from another night of toast for dinner and had them test everything out.

I am proud to report that the test was a success and, to make it even better, I got to use many of the plates and dining accessories we got from the wedding in the way in which they were intended. On a table, looking lovely.

More and more this house is starting to look like actual adults live in it. It's all rather cool.

Today's sing-a-long song: "When I grow up" by Garbage

HRH

essie 3-way glaze

Throughout the years I have become pretty proficient at most things makeup. My perpetual undoing is nail care. Every time I go in to get my nails done my manicurist just shakes her head at me. The shape is always a disaster and polish usually lasts about 2 hours on my hands before I've totally ruined it.

Still I keep on trying to get it right and any product I can find to help me along in my quest for a posh polish I must rave about. And this brings us to today's beloved item. The 3-way glaze by essie. Bottom coat, top coat, clear polish, strengthener, it can do it all. And do I ever need it to! It's extended the life on manicures and pedicures by days and keeps everything super glossy. It's my new best friend in my battle against ratty nails.

HRH

Air Guitar Nation

I come to charge you with some tasks. First watch the trailer for this movie: Air Guitar Nation. M and I were guests of Maple pictures this evening for one of the first screenings of this documentary in Canada.

If you love rock music, heck even if you don't love rock music and you have at least one funny bone in your body you HAVE to see this movie. I believe it goes into wide release in Canada on March 22. Until it is out again to be seen, I will be biding my time listening to endless guitar solos and possible attending the Canadian Air Guitar championships next Thursday at El Mocambo. Freaking awesome.

*throws up the horns*

Today's sing-a-long song: "Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner

HRH

Dangerously inspiring

Every time I see one of the new ads for the Canadian Armed Forces I literally have to restrain myself from jumping off the couch to enlist. Yes I know it's a brilliantly constructed ad, that it's made to look like a video game, but that's not what draws me.

I have admitted before that if I were an inch or two shorter I would have perused a military career (imagine my dismay when I learned that I was too tall to be a fighter pilot, totally oblivious to how hard it can be for anyone of the proper height, let alone a woman to be able to fly jets in the Canadian Air Force). For a long time in my teens I was going to RMC and that was that. But things change with time and research.

I've also toyed with the idea of being a Navy Diver, but floating around a ship wreck on vacation is dramatically different than what that job really entails. Search and rescue also looked pretty cool, but again, another exceptionally hard job.

The challenges of these jobs aside, I mostly lacked a vitally important skill, one my father told me was the reason he left the forces. I'm not particularly good at taking or giving orders. And that is rather key.

My point I guess is that the idea of being in the military has always interested me in some way. Something about it keeps drawing me in, though not enough to actually enlist. We had the RCMP at work awhile back and I swear I almost ran off with them like a kid running off with the circus.

Back to the ad. It isn't the first-person-shooter style of the ad that gets my adrenaline going. It's one brilliant headline and, I think, mission statement that distills what excites me about it all. Fight chaos.

I'm going to try to write this without sounding like a cliche-ma-ton. I think that everyone wants to do something that matters with their life and what matters is intensely personal and subjective. I like having an effect. Carving up a piece of something, sorting it out, making it work, making it better, knowing that I was the one that did that thing. I know I could do that in a greater capacity than I do, but I am what I am and I do what I do, so I try to have an effect in the ways I know how.

At the root of it, I love the idea of making less chaos in the world. Maybe I don't need to be flying through the sky or submerged in the water to do that. It just seems a lot more interesting than fighting chaos through better institutional communication some days.

HRH

Prescriptives Flawless Skin Powder

Every cosmetic company has an area of strength. Something that really sets them apart from the rest of the pack. Professional grade makeup that lasts through anything, you want MAC. Pretty pigments for each season, head to Stila. The sauciest of lips, you're looking for Pout. Makeup with whimsy and attitude, welcome to Benefit. When you're interested in foundation, you go to Prescriptives.

Elaborating on my foundation experience from yesterday, I also got my hands on some of their flawless skin powder. It's fantastic on foundation, setting it for the whole day and also amazing on bare skin, evening out redness and eliminating shine.

Toss in the very chic compact and you have a perfect addition to your makeup kit.

HRH

Prescriptives CustomBlend Foundation

Oh the wonders of the custom world. If you have the money, you can have just about anything tailored to fit the individual wonder that is you. Sometimes, customization is an exercise in frivolity, but other times it just makes sense. One of those instances is with foundation.

The face is a very complicated place. Skin tones can be different, sometimes there's oil, sometimes it's dry, texture and shadowing can vary and that's just on one person. Multiply that by billions and you have the primary reason why, unless you're that lucky one in a million, generic foundation will always look a bit wrong.

For years makeup artists would blend different colours and tones of foundation to make it look like natural skin. Then Prescrptives came along and offered CustomBlend Foundation. It takes about 30 minutes to make. They take into account the type of skin you have, the type of finish you want and the palette of colours involved in making the shade that is truly yours.

For example, my foundation is a colour mixture of yellow, orange and white. It's a perfect match. No more of the line between chin and neck. It has a mattifying agent, but also contains moisturizers. It finishes to a slightly shimmery, dewy texture and provides medium coverage, meaning redness from acne or dark spots are concealed, but my freckles still come through. Yay for deception!

It costs around $80, but it is well worth it. You even get a travel size container with it. Check it out if you're noticing that your skin just looks surreal in natural light.

HRH

The perils of goal setting

Once again my enthusiasm for achievement has bit me in the ass. Okay, not in the ass exactly, but more the arm and the wrist. It was kind of like a double biting snake attack, but a metaphor.

I started out the week with my grand plan to be able to lift cement trucks and jump buildings in a single bound by September. Here we are on Friday and my left wrist is in a tensor bandage and it's still hurting me to lift my arms above my head. Not that I'm letting that slow me down. Two days of cardio and weights, one day of dance, one day of rest. Maybe I will let reason prevail and not work out tonight.

One day they will invent endorphins that make you feel good while exercising, but not invincible.

HRH

Pureology Power Dressing

While I love having long hair and I've come to embrace it's very straight texture, I still long for volume. You would think that it would have occurred to me that using a volumizer would be an effective solution for that.

Well it didn't until a good friend gave M and I a truckload of Pureology products to try out. One night I decided to give the power dressing aside as it said it gave life to layers. I put a bunch of it in my wet hair and decided to go for it. It was a lot more work that just drying it normally, but the result was fantastic, proving to me that sometimes your hair has to go to scary places to end up in a happy state. My hair was still smooth and straight, but it had volume. It moved and bounced and I didn't have to spend 12 hours trying to inspire the same results with rollers.

I now used a bit of it each day, mixed in with my straightening serum. Who knew that long hair could actually have life.

HRH