Sunshine And Shopping

Photo: Tostie14 on Flickr

I can't even tell you how amazing it has been to soak up the California sun for the last couple days. San Diego is such a cool city. Sometimes I fantasize about what it would be like to live here.

Yesterday, we hopped on the trolley and hit up Fashion Valley. It's unlike any mall that I have ever been to in my entire life. Imagine: Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom and Barneys all in the same place. Not to mention an absolutely massive Victoria's Secret and Sephora, plus pretty much any other store that you could possibly imagine. We hit every one of them. Despite the current state of the economy down south, shoppers were out in full force. Elbows were flying as people all seemed to be in search of the ultimate deal. The sales and bargains were abundant- from the denim, shoes and handbags in the department stores to Louis Vuitton, Coach and Gucci.

Photo: Senora Cartera

Barneys proved to be my most successful stop of the day. I found the MARC by Marc Jacobs Dr. Q Lil Riz bag that I've been lusting after. To my delight, it was marked down to more than 50% off, and so was the matching wallet. Knowing full well that the chances of ever seeing that combo at a price so low again were slim to none, I did what any Marc Jacobs loving girl would do. I bought them. The perma-grin hasn't left my face since my big purchase.

After a yummy dinner with the girls this evening, we ordered some chocolate covered strawberries to go. Then we put on our pajamas and all got together in one hotel room to watch Britney: For The Record. Not surprisingly, I got totally emotional. I just want to give Britney a big hug.

Photo: Daily Mail

Tomorrow, the "vacation" part of my trip ends and the "business" part begins. Please forgive the lack of updates this week as my time in front of the computer will most definitely be limited.

Je Ne Sais Quoi

I know, her hair often looks scraggly and at times, her head is full of God awful extensions. She sleeps around with married men named Balthazar. She's been known to strut around in tights, just tights. She breaks rules, sometimes more than one at a time. And yet, she is a fashion liberalist. When it comes to Sienna Miller, there is a certain je ne sais quoi that I find absolutely irresistible. I love how she layers. I love her quirky accessories and crazy boots. You have to hand it to Sienna - she may not have much sense, but she always makes an impression.


**Photos in this post are not property of Work In Progress. If your photo has not been credited and you would like it to be, please e-mail me.**

The One With Shando's Going Away Party

On Thursday, my very lovely friend Shando is leaving on a jet plane bound for Australia. We're going to miss her more than you can imagine, so we wanted to give her an extra special send off. Being that none of us are fans of the club scene, we decided to kick it old school- by throwing her a surprise party at Commodore Lanes.


The guest of honour was more than a little shocked when she walked into the bowling alley to see all of our smiling faces, with balloons, a giant card and a chocolate cake with her name on it.


Never having been known for my bowling skills, you can imagine my delight when I freakin' killed it, winning two games in a row. I was rolling strikes like there was no tomorrow. This is what I looked like when I found out that I won:


We drank pop, bowled our hearts out, watched the Canucks win in overtime on the tv screens and put away massive pieces of cake. The evening was reminiscent of somebody's 12th birthday party, and I mean that in the best possible way. There was certainly no shortage of laughs or good times.


Shando has been such an incredible support and inspiration to me. Trust is essential to true friendship. We need friends with whom we can share our lives, thoughts, feelings and frustrations. We need to be able to share our deepest secrets without fear of being judged or betrayed. In true friendship, there is no backbiting, no negative thoughts, no turning away. Shando has personified these ideals. She has given me infinite amounts of love, support and comfort over the years. I will definitely miss her face, but I am so very excited for her to begin this next chapter of her life and wish her an amazing adventure.

Solo Sunday

It's Sunday evening. I feel...off. Maybe it's just that I can't stop thinking about all this stress that everybody else seems to want to laugh off. So much is changing and the butterflies in my stomach won't stop fluttering around. I don't have any makeup on and I haven't washed my hair today. I was in the bath tub with New Moon for almost two hours this afternoon. I didn't leave my apartment until 5:30pm and even then, it was just for a quick walk down the street to the store so that I could buy some new vanilla scented candles and Reese's Pieces. I needed to try and cheer myself up with those little pleasures that are always relished. What I really need is a hug.

For The Record

Photo: SocialLite Life

With her new album, Circus, set for release in just a couple weeks, Brit is ready to show the world her side of the story.

Britney Spears has joined forces with MTV for an indepth interview as part of a 90-minute documentary about her return to the pop-music spotlight, which is quite possibly the biggest comeback in pop history. For the Record is set to air on November 30 at 10 pm on MTV, two days before Circus is released on December 2 (her 27th birthday).

Photo: BritneySpears.com

Looking adorable as ever, she is said to talk about about the hardships that led up to this comeback. I've only seen clips online at this point, which all remind me of just why I fell in love with her in the first place. Britney seems to be using this film as an opportunity to own up to the mistakes that the world has watched her make.

The singer appears very open and reflective. She shares personal stories along with behind-the-scenes footage, as cameras follow her to rehearsals, recording studios, on press tours, to her hometown, and the video shoot for her latest single, Womanizer.

As you all know, I'm a big fan and supporter of Ms. Spears so, of course I'm more than a little anxious to see this film in its entirety.

You can also check out Britney's official website and blog here.

It's All About Me

I've been double tagged by JaG and Zona, which means that I must share six interesting things/habits/quirks about myself with all of you. I have to say, as far as quirks are concerned, I have many to choose from. Here we go:

• I'm an extremely fast drinker. Whether it's a glass of water or a cup of tea, if I pour it at the same time as you, chances are, I will be done before you take your second sip.
  
• I'm obsessed with ice cubes- especially crushed ones. I've always dreamed of owning one of those fridges with the ice maker built right in.
  
• I often compare situations in life to episodes of Friends. I have been known to insert random Friends quotes into regular conversation. (This happens more frequently when Jess is around.)
• I make wishes at 11:11.
• I have a crazy memory. When someone tells me a story twice (forgetting they've told me before), if they change details- I notice. I remember almost everything.
  
• It drives me absolutely insane when people use the wrong "your" or "there" or "to" in a sentence.

I tag anybody who wants to play along.

I Want One Just Like This...One Day

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Oh Boy!

Photo: men.style.com

Scott Sternberg founded Band of Outsiders in January 2004. The former Hollywood agent began by re-cutting and re-contextualizing vintage fabrics to create classic menswear with hand-sewn seams, thoughtful detail, shrunken proportions and using, Sternberg recalls, "whatever I could afford without having to buy hundreds of meters of fabric." Ron Herman in L.A., Jeffrey in New York and Barneys subsequently bought the collection. From there, the limited-edition line has grown to include a full women's line called Boy. It's hot. Something about it reminds me of how Annie Hall might dress her daughter.

Band of Outsiders has a great west coast aesthetic (especially in his choices of fabric) that he pairs with a slimmer, more European, silhouette. The result is very chic and playful. I know the prepsters on the East Coast love his choices, but to me, there is a subtle cheeky west coast thing hidden in there–very subversive and very cool. A string of recent ads feature quirky actor Jason Schwartzman.

Photo: New Light Of Tomorrow

Sternberger cast actress Michelle Williams to model Boy's Fall 08 line. He took all the photos himself with a seventies-era Polaroid camera, set on capturing her informally and giving the shoot an "un-stylized" feel. This collection was said to be inspired by the Scottish countryside, it's at once romantic and rugged. I can't help drooling over Boy’s shrunken blazers, a simple yet sexy asymmetrical black dress, and Manolo Blahniks made especially for the collection.

Photos: Boy

He chose another blonde thespian, Kirsten Dunst, to be his lookbook model for Boy's Spring 09 collection. Kiki brings a carefree but cool style to the book, which shows her poised on her phone, smoking, and dancing in his designs.

At his show for New York Fashion Week, an ethereal soundtrack played loudly but did little to muffle the excited voices filling the room. Editors pawed looks from the new collections, which were on display and available for copping a feel on racks lining one wall. Draped across lit white boxes were partially transparent men's button-up shirts and track jackets. A film starring some of Sternberg's celebrity friends wearing his designs was featured instead of a catwalk. The reason? The designer told WWD: "I don’t make runway clothes. These are clothes you wear on the street, so I’m just super-uncomfortable with it. It puts it in totally the wrong context — I want to do something closer to where the clothes are, and let people actually touch and feel them as opposed to seeing them on a 14-year-old anorexic model."




I give huge kudos and medals of creativity to Sternberg for doing something altogether different and fun with his approach to showing his lines. I'm in love with his vision.

"I Wish I Had A River I Could Skate Away On..."

Aching... that aching she must have felt.
That aching she makes us feel-
for everyone in our lives.
For everyone we love, wholly and truly.

How I've seen, and how it's been proven,
again and again, over the last few weeks...
that it's the little things that are important...
the only things that are important.
It isn't how you speak on the phone,
or how we write, or scream and yell
and try to understand...
but it's the way we smile at our friends,
and the way we say goodbye to them
at the end of the night...
how we stop and say hello when we catch each other's eyes...
how you say you think of me,
when that song comes on...
and I melt, from across the world...
from across the room...
It is the little things that make me love people.

I want to act from my soul.
To tell people, without reservation,
without butterflies... how I feel,
and how I really see all this.

When we look at each other from across the world...
from across the room....

I want eye contact and honesty.
I want rooms that don't spin when I close my eyes.
Rooms that tell me to stay in... you will be here soon.
I want rooms, only rooms, that you are in when I fall asleep.
I want comfort and reality, and the future I have in my mind.
I don't want to feel like sighing anymore.
There was only one person who listened when I sighed.
He always kissed the corner of my lip, or my eyelid,
when I sighed the way I do.
I still want that, sometimes... and sometimes I know why I left it.

It's about loving what is new, and what will be okay.
It's about working on becoming new friends again,
because I miss the way we spoke before.
And it's not about trust, or honesty...
well, it is...
but it comes down to loving the other person
for what and who they are, naturally.

It's about real life,
and the little things.

from across the world...
from across the room...

from your eyes to mine.

Influence

Photo: TV Spread It

Earlier this week, I was in the book store, like a junkie, desperate to buy the next installment of the Twilight series (I'm totally addicted now, thanks Amy!) While I was there, I also picked up the new, glossy coffee table book by Mary- Kate and Ashley Olsen called Influence . The tiny twin tycoons have put together a book about the most interesting, challenging, creative people they know - the ones who have helped pave the way for them and their generation. Criticize them if you want, but these two girls have been embraced as fashion icons by designers as aggressively urbane and sophisticated as Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld, Calvin Klein's Francisco Costa and Christian Dior's John Galliano.


Their book is composed of interviews the twins conducted with people they admire such as Lagerfeld, Galliano and Diane von Furstenberg, photographers Peter Beard and Terry Richardson, and writer Bob Colacello.

One of the most interesting interviews in the book is with Colacello, who was editor of Interview magazine during its Andy Warhol heyday. Colacello gives the girls much more than their questions alone would elicit. And at one point, he muses about fame and celebrity and how both have become confused with infamy. It's a topic that gets at the heart of the public Olsens.

The book also includes exclusive photographs of Ashley and Mary-Kate from world renowned photographer Rankin, and a wide variety of other never-before-seen materials and interviews from Mary-Kate and Ashley's personal collections. I have quite enjoyed the book, myself.

Naturally, the girls have been doing the talk show circuit over the last few weeks to promote Influence. Tashina recently posted a clip of Mary-Kate on The Conan O'Brien Show, which is worth checking out. You can watch it here. You can also take a look at a clip of their recent appearance on Oprah's show below.

GIVE

A warm bed and a hearty meal — these are comforts of home which many of us take for granted year round. These are comforts that many people living on the streets are not afforded on a regular basis, if at all. Vital lifelines are being provided by Union Gospel Mission’s Emergency Shelter and Meal Programs, which is an organization working extremely hard to make a difference.

As we become more aware of that nagging, uneasy feeling that there is something not quite right about the orgy of consumerism most of us know as Christmas, we begin to see that it's up to us to do something.

UGM offers life-changing programs and services: meals, chaplaincy, drop-ins, after school programs for children, family services, outreach, alcohol and drug recovery, employment and education services. Their desire is to give hope and help while creating brighter futures for men, women, youth and children in communities across Metro Vancouver and the city of Mission.

My beautiful friend Leah, an amazing and devoted UGM staff member, sent me the link to this commercial (in which she stars.) Union Gospel Mission offers you some new Christmas gift ideas. Please visit http://www.ugm.ca/christmas to find gifts that matter, for people who need it.

This Modern Love

Photo: Hotel Lyric on Flickr

The other day, someone asked me the most amazing question. I haven't stopped thinking about it. This person said,"You could have one solid relationship for the rest of your life-stable, reliable and calm, but not passionate. Or you could have a bunch of relationships for the rest of your life, and most of them would end in heartbreak, but you'd have had incredible and passion-filled adventures...which would you choose?" I think many of us get trapped into thinking that we need to find our knight in shining armour who's also a reliable, stable force. I guess it's that need to feel like we'll always be loved: to feel safe. I'll be honest, commitment has always made me a little nervous. I tend to be more comfortable with having an adoring peanut gallery. (Keep the letters and cards coming...) Nevertheless, I am devoted and loyal to those I love.

When thinking about this particular question, the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona's conviction that it is better to have made passionate love and almost died at the hands of a jealous lover than never to have loved at all, comes to mind. Obviously that's extreme; however, I do think that heartbreak is part of life. The lessons learned through my own personal heartache have been paramount.

I suppose my track record speaks for itself. Up until this point I have, for the most part, chosen passion over logic. At some point, I hope to strike a balance. Ultimately, I kind of want it all. Is that too much to ask?

Okay, it's your turn...so tell me:

You could have one solid relationship for the rest of your life- stable, reliable and calm, but not passionate. Or you could have a bunch of relationships for the rest of your life, and most of them would end in heartbreak, but you'd have had incredible and passion-filled adventures...which would you choose?

Sweet December

Photo: Just Jared

One more thing to look forward to next month- the lovely Jennifer Aniston will grace the cover of Vogue magazine's December 2008 issue looking beachy, bronzed and beautiful. I can't wait to read the article and check out the rest of the photo shoot.

First Lady Fashionista

On Tuesday night, future First Lady Michelle Obama wore a red and black chiffon Narcisco Rodriguez dress from the spring 2009 collection, which (despite criticism and mixed reviews) I thought was beautiful, bold and absolutely perfect. She paired the dress with a black cardigan and kitten heels, adding a touch of sparkle with diamond bangles and earrings. Her daughters, Malia and Sasha were adorably coordinated in red and black. Is it shallow to be obsessed with Michelle Obama's wardrobe? Maybe, but I can't help it.

With her classic and sophisticated style, Michelle Obama exudes charm and comes across professional and sleek. It is her wit and intellect that make her truly extraordinary-and nothing is more important to Michelle than being a good mother. She works hard everyday to instill in their girls the same values that her and Barack were raised with. Her fab fashion sense is just icing on the cake. Michelle's attire has come into focus since she hit the campaign trail, and now the race is on to determine which designer will dress Obama for the inauguration in January.

Michelle's pitch is far from sophisticated, playing heavily on her humble beginnings and traditional values: "I was raised in a working-class family on the south Side of Chicago. That's how I identify myself, a working-class girl," she has told the voters, time after time.

With her 5'11" supermodel height, she dares to straighten up and throw those shoulders back. She likes fashion but she doesn't let fashion wear her.

On the heels of Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe debacle, Obama styled herself in a bright yellow J. Crew ensemble, which cost less than $400, for her guest spot on "The Tonight Show." Michelle Obama has also been wearing some relatively new names on the fashion scene, including Chicago designer Maria Pinto. Michelle's penchant for sexy but safe pieces is what makes Pinto's collection a perfect fit.

A lot of Michelle's other fashion strategies are detailed, such as changing up outfits with new accessories (belt, brooches and pins are a regular part of her repertoire), mixing and matching separates, combining high and low -- tricks many well-dressed women know, to be sure, but that few pull off with as much success. She frequently dresses in pieces from places like The Gap and H&M, because she knows that every outfit doesn't have to be a masterpiece created by the likes of Oscar de la Renta (not that a splash of Oscar ever hurts!)

Not since the days of Jackie Kennedy has there been such fashion focus on a First Lady, and for good reason. Michelle Obama has proven repeatedly, that she has what it takes to make it to fashion icon status.

Photos courtesy of Vogue.com

One Step Back

Photo: Ten Gossip

In an election otherwise full of great triumphs, the gay rights movement suffered a stunning defeat. California voters approved Proposition 8, putting a ban on same-sex marriages that overrides a recent court decision legalizing them, and throwing into doubt the unions of about 18,000 same-sex couples who wed during the last 4 1/2 months. The measure's most fervent proponents believed that nothing less than the future of traditional families was at stake, while opponents believed that they were fighting for the fundamental right of gay people to be treated equally under the law.

I just don't get it. In my opinion, Prop 8 isn't about "restoring" or "protecting" marriage. If that were the case, there wouldn't be such things as divorces or second, third and fourth marriages. Hate-mongers and the righteously confused continue to think that the "gay agenda" is to indoctrinate and recruit. There is only one subject on their minds when they mull over this misguided fear, and it certainly is not marriage. It's not the idea of love, family or companionship either. It's sex. Why do (most) people want to get married? To spend the rest of their life with someone they love. What makes 2 men or 2 women wanting this different from a man and a woman who do? In my eyes, what the passing of Prop 8 does preach is the tolerance of discrimination. Love cannot be legislated and discrimination should not be written into the Constitution of the State of California.

How can a country take such a huge leap forward in equality and yet step back from it at the same time? Thoughts?

Raul posted an entry on this topic as well. Please read it here.

UPDATE: Read Melissa Etheridge's thoughts here on The Daily Beast.