Summer Side of Life

Lately I've been lying outside in my back yard thinking about how much fun I used to have during the summer (instead of having fun this summer...hmmmm, is there a lesson here?). I've also been reading a lot of end of summer blog posts and back to school blog posts and getting rather nostalgic and weepy (well, maybe not weepy). Then, the other day I stumbled upon this huge box filled with photos my mom took when I was small, most of them ranging from '95 to '99 and there were plenty of happy summer photos. Some of these are from my mom's photo collection (they used to call her The Crazy Camera Lady from Hell, because she was always making everybody pose for pictures) and others are just pictures I found that hit a soft spot for 90s summer nostalgia. I am definitely not ready to go back to school since it appears I am reverting to childhood.

[side note: sorry the picture sizes are all over the map, I had a heck of a time trying to format everything]

Some photos of me and my brother and various long-forgotten friends, Baby-Sitters Club Movie, Sweet Valley High, 90s beach Barbies, 90s Vogue, Sarah Sovereign

I spent the other day at the park with my friend. It was such a beautiful and clear day and I was feeling nostalgic as hell, so I took about a million photographs. I was also running around the field and shouting at one point, just to give you an idea of how stir crazy and antsy I'm getting about the summer ending and having done nothing of note with it yet. My friend was wearing an awesome Star Wars t-shirt, which then I guess helps tie this in with my 90s summer tribute. I had just learned how to tie one of those turban-style headbands on my head and was feeling like I should be a fortune teller or at least sitting around a camp fire late at night telling ghost stories with the Midnight Society (anybody else remember Are You Afraid of the Dark?).

I keep trying to think of what the perfect summer day would be. As if I could plan it. One that felt like something out of my childhood, yet still edging into the new and uncharted waters of my final teen years (well that sounds drippy, but I figure you'll get what I mean). But,c I think it's impossible to plan a day like that. They are far too similar in nature to beautiful summer days themselves: rare, fleeting and very difficult to appreciate until they've passed. So until summer ends and my final year of hi!school begins, I hope I will have the patience to appreciate the beauty of the summer before it's gone.

 Are You Afraid of the Dark? and some of my summer soundtrack:

Summer Side of Life - Gordon Lightfoot

Story I Heard - Blind Pilot

Round the Moon - Summer Camp

Late Great Cassiopeia - The Essex Green

Tornado '87 - Rural Alberta Advantage

May your rest of summer be magical.

Loose ends and invisible roads

This is most likely going to be my last Quebec City-related post for at least a while. One really amazing experience I had in Quebec was getting the chance to see Cirque du Soleil perform. I didn't even see the truly spectacular shows they put on under the big top (which cost a pretty penny) - I saw a free performance in lower Quebec called Les Chemins Invisibles (invisible paths). I saw it twice, so the second time I focused more on photographing and taking videos because it was just too good not to remember. I thought it was amazing for 3 main reasons: 1 being its location and set design (it was held under an overpass with beautifully grafitied supports and the set was made up of a stage in front of shipping containers stacked on top of each other onto which was projected a video background with amazing visuals); 2 because of costume design (from far it just looked like everything was cool and went together well, but when you looked really close, the amount of detailing and all the subtleties of the costumes was mind boggling. My favourite was the King's costume) ;and 3 was because of the music (They had a live band, with a drummer inside a shipping container, an awesome guitar and piano player who skateboarded around the stage and a truly mesmerizing singer). Actually, the music is so good that if I they had it on a soundtrack (I checked - they don't), I would buy it. I even videotaped an entire act just so I could have the music.

The stage was huge and very complicated. In the centre was a tower-like structure with many different floors, including one with a table and phonograph. On the very top was the king's throne, encapsulated by snaking wire-like lights.

Very interesting details were all over the place when you looked closely at their costumes - like the many hats this man wore and the alligator (or maybe it's a crocodile?) draped around his shoulders.

The king's costume was my favourite. I would kill for some epaulets like those. And maybe a crown of Barbie legs and a steam punk-esque monocle goggle thing, too.

The singer played a role in the show as well, interacting with the other performers and acrobats.

The guitarist was very 1970s punk, with a kilt and everything.

The singer's costume really reminded me of that futuristic spacey pop star look from 1999 and Aqua (although her singing far surpassed anything produced by Aqua) and the king's crown was so awesome - I didn't realize that it was made of Barbie doll legs right away; it reminds me of this Stephen Jones hat.

So, if you find yourself in Quebec City this month, you should really go see Les Chemins Invisibles. I'd be really sorry to have missed the opportunity.

Take a listen to the audio clip I took at the performance. That lady's voice is amazing and hypnotic. I dreamed with this as a soundtrack once and it was the most relaxing and trance-like sleep I've ever had...very weird, but very very cool.

You know, it's not like I'm some modern punk, d!ckhead!

Not sure where the first one's from, Hair Wars, Hair Wars, Fashion Pirate, Molly Soda Melanie Dawn Harter and Kelly Osbourne .

So I am finally home from Quebec. It's weird because there isn't all this stuff that I HAVE to do (il n'y a pas d'activités obligatoires - just kidding, I won't pretend I'm all fluent and whatnot and be all pretentious writing in French). But on the other hand all the free time means I can do all the crafts and projects (and blogging) I want to do and have been putting off. Provided I don't get sucked in by the television, that is. Television and I, we gots a complicated relayshunship. Anyways, one of these projects is dying my hair. I am going to get it cut and bleached lighter blond by my hairdresser, but I think I am going to dye it with Manic Panic or something soon. Thus the hair photos make sense. I don't think I want to dye my whole head, but I don't want those funny-looking piece-y streaks either. I'll figure something out...provided I don't chicken out. But that's only because, as much as I will deny it and try my damnedest not to, I care entirely all to much about what other people think about me. It's ridiculous, because probably anyone who would judge me is not someone I would care about at all..but I'm still human. It's all so vain isn't it? Worrying about what other people think about you? I think we're all a bit too wrapped up in our own lives to really be worrying about anyone else's anyway. Or judging the decisions they make or the way they dress. Well, enough about my insecurities and human faults...isn't rainbow hair cool? :) I like the idea of just dying the tips, but my hair's so short, I don't really know how that would work. And gradation of colour. That's cool, too.

You saw me dancing alone/Without a dream in my heart

So I had thought that being here in Quebec, living in the dorms, I would find more time to blog. Sadly, it is obviously not the case considering its been over two weeks since I posted... But I do have things to post and I am taking the time to do it (i.e. procrastinating and blogging instead of studying for my mid-term exam tomorrow (I'd say my priorities are in the right order)). So my program has a big dance every Thursday night and last Thursday it was "Retro Disco" (here disco just means a dance or a dance club, so anything vintage-y was acceptable attire). My friends and I all braved the Quebec bus system (which is really efficient compared to back home) and found a Village des Valeurs (Value Village) and bought costumes. I didn't really feel dressed up though, because I would wear my costume any day, but I was very dressed up compared to most people. I was really excited that it would be a 50s-style dance, because our councilors had been practicing swing dancing that week, but the only 'oldies' they played were YMCA and songs from Grease - the rest was just Black Eyed Peas and other stuff I don't really like. And most people went in supposedly-eighties 'tight 'n' bright', which was surprising for me, but I guess other people don't really get into things like this as much as me and my friends.

 I absolutely love 50s dances and nostalgic high school prom-y pictures, songs and movies. I like to believe high school was a fun and wholesome experience at some point in time. But, actually I just wish I was in a 50s movie where women are respected and there is a lot of swing dancing.

One of my favourite episodes of My So-Called Life is the halloween episode with the 1950s ghost and all the Blue Moon playing in the background. God I want to have a real retro dance :)

 Pre-dance Ayla and Nathalie in their outfits,Ayla looking particularly fabulous with her neckerchief and Clara Bow haircut.

 

 

 Nathalie and I before the dance. I was going fora 50s-ish outfit, but I had to go with what I could find at Village des Valeurs. I sort of mixed eras with the 30s-ish beads and hair, but I felt pretty awesome, so who cares. Thrifted dress, H&M shoes, homemade head wrap, Forever 21 belt and beads.

 Abbey, me and Nathalie. I absolutely loved Abbey's 40s pin-up girl hair and tried to get her to do the same with my bangs, but I didn't have enough hair. I think she made my hair look pretty awesome, though. This picture pretty much conveys how uncharacteristically crazy I was at the dance. Ayla and I (although particularly Ayla) were insane dancing demons. And despite people thinking otherwise, we consumed no alcohol. It is possible to have fun dancing like a maniac while sober...

Since I am going to be a bad blogger and try to cram everything semi-interesting in my life this past two weeks into one post, this will probably be long and not really all that well connected. Anyhow, a girl at my program is also really interested in art and drawing and shared a sketchbook challenge with me. Its supposed to be completed withing 30 days, one sketch a day, but I haven't been too diligent. Mostly I've been ignoring the assignments and just drawing my friends over and over again.

 Supposed to be Ayla

 

Nathalie, whom I drew on the bus before a very long field trip.

 

More 50s ballad-style inspiration. And Twin Peaks, which I have been meaning to re-watch lately, because the first season is possibly the best thing ever and because I haven't seen it in over a year.

I feel bad because this post is so badly organized and there are probably a billion grammatical errors which are going to drive me crazy, but I just had to post, even though I could only take 30 minutes out of my day to do it. Hopefully, I will find time this week to post again, and maybe a better quality post, but I think for me, the most important thing is just that I post at all. :)

Parlez-vous Français? And a GHOSTWORLD COLLAR

I haven't been a very dedicated blogger as of late. But there's a reason behind it...I'm in Quebec for a summer French language program! Luckily, I do have an internet connection in my dorm room (which is a single room and very tiny) so I should have more time to blog now that I'm actually here. I could only bring so much clothing, though. Which is probably a good thing, because it means I'll just have to be more creative with what I have. There are also really good vintage and thrift stores (and an H&M, which we don't have in my home province) close by. Therefore, I am excited to go off campus. It's also very hot and muggy here in Eastern Canada. I think I am doomed to have a sweaty brow and upper lip for the next five weeks. Maybe that will just be my new 'thing'.


On another note, I finished my Ghost World Seymour collar the night before I left for Quebec. I have to say I am pretty proud of the result.

I silk screened an image I put together on Photoshop of Steve Buscemi as Seymour from Ghost World onto the collar of a shirt I bought at Good Will for four dollars. Then I cut the collar off and opened up the bottom seam, removed excess fabric and slip stitched it shut.

Wearing my new collar.

An Enid-inspired outfit. Miu Miu-inspired Ghost World Collar, Bad Taste "Killer" t-shirt, Heritage 1981 skirt, Roots socks and thrifted Bass loafers (or lounge slippers. Whatever you want to call them).

Outfit Inspiration.

Me again.

Bass loafers. I had been dying to get a pair of Rachel Antonoff Bass shoes or a good pair of loafers and then the other day at Value Village, just sitting on the shelf in the size six women's shoes section, were these babies. Bass for just seven dollars.

The view from my dorm room. There are so many trees and the topography is a very hilly. We have nothing like that in the prairies.

I don't know if any of you noticed the increase in my photo quality. Well, they are much better quality, in case you hadn't... That's because I finally got a brand spanking new camera. It is gorgeous and I am guarding it with my life.

These pictures suck because they are taken using my web cam.

 I took Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth with me to read on the plane and in my spare time. I've always felt that the amount of pressure on women to look a certain way and fit into an accepted standard of beauty (one which few women are "lucky" enough to possess ) was unfair, but I had never really considered the extent to which women are oppressed by said standard. To tell the truth, I have never been extremely conscious of women's issues or considered myself a feminist, but reading this book is really opening up my eyes. As I was reading it on the plane, I found myself getting mad. But a good mad. A mad that is productive.

Some lighter reading for the trip. My friend gave me this book last year and I was supposed to read it and pass it on to my other two friends. I never did, but it's never too late.

A wonky and cool-looking mirror in my dorm room.

This song always makes me think of the prairies. It's a good kind of homesick.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise

It's Canada Day, so I wanted to show some love to some of my favourite Canucks.

Paul Anka

Jay Baruchel and Elisha Cuthbert

Emily Haines

Emily Carr

Neil Young

Joni Mitchell

Natalie MacMaster

John K Sampson

Chris Leavins

(I just found all these images through Google, I don`t own any of them)

I highly recommend you check out all of these highly talented individuals. Especially Chris Leavins, partly because he has his own cat website and partly because he is just so funny. You should also download his podcast for free on iTunes. And watch him as Atticus Murphy Jr. on Todd & the Book of Pure Evil.

The message is a little 'outdated'...but whatever. It's Atticus Murphy Jr