last week, i was asked to write an article for YYZ Living Magazine, a highly-stylized Toronto-centric magazine aimed at those who work hard and play hard. they’ve mostly covered fashion in the past, but they’re also interested in technology & gadgets, travel, the arts, design, and culture. they’ve asked me to write a travel article for them avec photographs for their upcoming winter issue. when it hits the stands, i’ll update all my delicious munchkin readers (yes, you).
YYZ Living is famous for their posh, glitterati parties – so much so that the organizers of LG Fashion Week (#LGFW) asked them to throw the #LGFW opening night party at the Thompson Hotel’s rooftop lounge. being a writer got me an invite.
i dressed up because i wanted them to know that even dorky writers can be fancy (huh)
reggy was my arm-candy, and lauren brought her colleague her snap photos of us. she mapped out this above photo, the gal’s got an eye for posing. i’m gripping her suspenders while “riding” her leg as she and reg entertain tonsil hockey.
MILKSHAKES. IN THE YARD. EVERYWHERE.
playing dress-up is fun sometimes, although i did feel dwarfed by all the fashionistas and starlets circling the room like lions.
back in april, the fine people at Miik generously gave me this lovely red dress (made of bamboo!), and it’s now become my signature dress. i don’t own many dresses, so i work with what i got. i kinda wear it all the freakin time. maybe i over-wear it.
as you can see here
and here
and, uh….here
for the record, i know nothing about fashion (ssh! don’t tell the YYZ people!).
if it’s clean, and i can squeeze my rump into it, i’ll pretty much wear anything.
i go clothes shopping maybe twice a year (and that’s usually only because i’ve busted yet another bra). i’ve always been more of a tomboy. i come home at night and run for my hoodie and yoga pants drawer. i’m a second-hand-chuck-taylors kinda gal.
and the moral of the story is: no matter what carrie bradshaw would have you believe, writers are slob dressers.
now if you’ll excuse me, i need to go ejaculate my neuroses into a Word document.
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October 20, 2011 | Categories: Christine Estima, events, LGFW, miik, toronto, writing | 1 Comment »
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: having a social life.
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: rain, no matter how nice it makes the grass smell.
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: walking through High Park with one of your best friends, checking out geese, turtles, and swans.
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: a Stepford wife prancing about in come-fuck-me heels, and sporting a face that looks like a campaign poster for neglected horses.
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: sucking on a popsicle and getting popsicle-tongue 
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: having to tell someone to calm the fuck down and speak to you the way you’re speaking to them (because that’s how adults behave).
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: watching people lose their cool and completely wig out. (high-larious!)
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: censorship
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: being told that your writing is on par with Michael Ondaatje
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: time lost.
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: waking up leisurely to the sun, having a Timmy‘s cuppa, hopping on your bicycle with the front wicker basket and yellow flowers, and writing in your journal at The Common
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: every time something funny happens to me, i always want to tell you . . . and then i remember that we’re not talking.
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: http://youtu.be/hdJUuJWf2XM
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: having trouble coming up with another one of these…..ummm…….
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: The Big Chill and Taste Of Little Italy
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT: …..errr……..seriously, what’s another thing that’s not great in my life right now?
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: so many opportunities falling into my lap, and people coming into my life at just the right time.
THINGS THAT ARE NOT GREAT:……….
THINGS THAT ARE GREAT: life, and it just keeps getting better.
* * *
some great street art and graffiti hauls this week.
i am continually inspired by the artists in toronto, defying conventions, fucking-the-lot … jail be damned.
Vicki calls this “the god of high park.”
well done, mr partridge. you sir are a rembrandt.
found some retro video game love on dovercourt. see it?
jarvis and i found this pillar next to ronnie’s local in kensington market.
“don’t cry. bike!”
“make good choices.”
that’s ALL i’ve been doing lately….well, in actual fact, they’re not necessarily ‘good,’ but hey, they’re choices.
* * *
Rich Lam’s photo (via Getty) of the Vancouver riots.
He shoots.
They score.
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June 23, 2011 | Categories: asshole, biking, blogger, book, Christine Estima, clusterfuck, creative writing, dating, events, ex boyfriend, GIFs, graffiti, love, men, miik, photography, relationships, social media, street art, street culture, toronto, tweet up | 4 Comments »
breaking down last week’s photo into subsections:
me and
nat, booty-bumping.
for some reason, even though this was only last week and it’s on my phone, i don’t remember taking this.
wendy looks like she’s doing the robot off to the right.
domo origato mr roboto
TORONTO STREET ART!
ah
short round. one of my favourite characters from
Indiana Jones. even though the
Temple of Doom was the most racist and xenophobic of the trilogy (yes, trilogy, i refuse to count that fourth film. i mean, DAYUM, way to ruin 80s nostalgia), i always loved short round.
“I, VERY LITTLE! YOU CHEAT VERY BIG!”
it occurs to me that i’ve always had a fascination with street art but never fully realized it.
two years ago i was documenting it. wasn’t even sure if i was conscious of my appreciation for it then…
in fact i was documenting it FOUR years ago— look at these photos i took in 2007 while i was living in london:
i took this on my camera phone in 2007 on Whitecross near
Old Street in London. it’s a
banksy original. i think this one resonated with me a lot because I WAS CERTAIN i’d seen this image before. so today i did some digging….
this postcard i’ve had for donkey’s years is copyrighted 1985.
another 2007 phone snap of a Banksy original. i took this off Camden High Street in
Camden Market. if you back away from this particular piece, you see that she’s sweeping the yellow lane divided under the wall sheet. banksy also repainted the yellow line to make it veer into the wall.
another 2007 snap of a Banksy original, this time with my actual camera. i was on holiday in
Bristol (for those of you out-of-the-know, Bristol is a city in south western england, not far from Bath). i found this piece on Park Street. the residents of Bristol had to petition the city to KEEP the piece from being removed. it’s now protected under law.
i saw this stencil spray painted on a metal container in London’s
Soho in 2007, snapped this with my phone. i thought it might’ve been banksy at first, but it’s not his style. it’s quite clever though.
i was walking through the
Ealing Broadway area of London with my friend Jonathon in 2007 when I found this post-it-note stuck to a pedestrian crossing button. snapped it with my phone. to this day, it’s still the screen background on my phone.
this was probably taken in early 2008 on my phone. i was on a double decker bus headed for my flat in
Elephant & Castle, and this was chalked into the ground not far from
Waterloo Station.
okay this one isn’t street art. i took this in january 2007, about 7 days after moving to London. it was the very first picture i ever took with my phone. i was shopping at the
east street market near elephant and castle, and there it was….words we find funny in north america have different meanings over there.
okay back to toronto
after work on friday, i decided to revisit the old graffiti alley behind queen and spadina. i used to visit it quite often about 6 years ago when Swing Alley was there.
so i guess my fascination with street art can be traced back at least six years then? gosh, who knows. maybe i’ve always had it the love.
this skateboard with the words “vote with your $$$” appears all over graffiti alley. they’re actual skateboards nailed into the poles. i think
it’s a gregory alan elliot piece.
there it is again!
i see
gregory alan elliot quotes all over the city. remember way back in february when
i found this in kensington market? he’s kinda everywhere, and i like finding his pieces, i think they give the city something. too bad so many other graffiti writers keep messing up his stuff. you can see they’ve either written or crossed out his stuff, in some cases breaking the signs in two.
looks like a young jean chretien with an axe to grind.
tit for tat, just like that
this one is cool cuz if you look closely, the artist incorporated the wires that were already attached to the wall, and made his caricatures part of the wires. brilliant
i finished my first week of employment at a staff writer. i still haven’t officially revealed who i’m writing for in any online forums. i get the sense that it wouldn’t be a big deal with the company, because they have a big online presence and what not, nonetheless, i’m going to refrain from mentioning them online. better to err on the side of caution in these instances….. even though i DO have that disclaimer at the bottom of this blog that my opinions here are not the opinions of any employer.
oh who am i kidding?
my opinions ARE the opinions of my employers.
AND YOURS AS WELL.
(deal with it.)
i am enjoying the work but it’s not a cakewalk, i have to write a lot of content in a day and i’m struggling to get it out in a timely fashion. i have to let my perfectionist-nature slide somewhat. i’ve been described in the past as a line-by-line writer. i labour over each sentence, and i need to relax in that area whilst still delivering well-written copy. there’s a learning curve, surely i’ll get the hang of it.
but it’s fun! i love being able to write all the livelong day, and i’ve consistently been the last person to leave the office, locking up sometimes as late at 9pm. the day just flies by, and i’m not in a hurry to get home. everyone in the office is totally chill, and the act of writing is my zen anyway, so it feels almost criminal.
growing up in small hick town in rural quebec, aiming for a job like this seemed impractical and beyond reality, especially if you’re on the wrong side of fortune. glad i never listened to anyone else’s ideas for what i should do with my life.
in my last post i asked
“what colour does a smurf turn when you choke it?” perhaps Gargamel here can answer that for us.
rob ford, remove me. i think the “remove me” refers not to the stencil, but to the man himself.
but if we have the stencil removed, is that not like an act of voodoo? symbolically removing the twat from office?
bazinga!
testing testing, is this thing on?
this is untamed brilliance.
queen of hearts, king (of spades? not sure), and the macabre-like Joker.
bike riding weather is upon us. i rode my bike in to work the other day, left the house at 8:20am, hit the downtown core at 9:30am, and walked through the office front door at 9:45am. it was a great ride, so sunny and quiet.
gosh . . . cycling, street art, hipster music, funny clothes, writer, vegetarian, café-loiterer . . . i would fit the hipster moniker to a T if it weren’t for the fact that the hipsters of Toronto don’t accept me. i’m not awkward enough, or neurotic enough. or ugly enough. there’s like these qualifying hipster targets you need to hit if you want to be amongst the gods. i attend all the same events, underground meetings, artistic rendezvous’ and hang at the culturally-iconic-hotspots, but i can feel them unfairly judging me as an interloper into their exclusive society. they don’t believe i have the brains nor the brawn to withstand the requirements of being amongst their key players. when i say awkward neurotic and ugly, i don’t really mean those as slights or backhands. i mean them in endearing ways (and i blog that sans-irony…for once). the endearingly ugmo-neurotic-awkward hipster is a fine specimen of society that everyone loves and wants to get closer to in order to understand. and they all know each other, they can pick up each others scents like a lioness in heat.
unfortch, i am of an undefinable ethno-cultural minority dominated mostly by Ginos and thereby refuse to leave my pits unshaven or allow my body to physically fall into disrepair. so while i have hipster-leaning-proclivities/sensibilities, the elusive Toronto Hipster does not in fact understand me well enough to accept me.
i make scientific studies of things that really don’t matter.
maybe i AM neurotic enough to join the club.
last night at the
Foursquare Toronto event, my friend Chris said that men don’t ask me out because they’re intimidated by me. that’s not the first time i’ve heard that. it’s probably the 50th time actually.
to me, that means i’m doing something right.
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April 17, 2011 | Categories: banksy, foursquare, graffiti, hipsters, london, miik, street art, street culture, toronto | 1 Comment »
>
breaking down last week’s photo into subsections:
me and
nat, booty-bumping.
for some reason, even though this was only last week and it’s on my phone, i don’t remember taking this.
wendy looks like she’s doing the robot off to the right.
domo origato mr roboto
TORONTO STREET ART!
ah
short round. one of my favourite characters from
Indiana Jones. even though the
Temple of Doom was the most racist and xenophobic of the trilogy (yes, trilogy, i refuse to count that fourth film. i mean, DAYUM, way to ruin 80s nostalgia), i always loved short round.
“I, VERY LITTLE! YOU CHEAT VERY BIG!”
it occurs to me that i’ve always had a fascination with street art but never fully realized it.
two years ago i was documenting it. wasn’t even sure if i was conscious of my appreciation for it then…
in fact i was documenting it FOUR years ago— look at these photos i took in 2007 while i was living in london:
i took this on my camera phone in 2007 on Whitecross near
Old Street in London. it’s a
banksy original. i think this one resonated with me a lot because I WAS CERTAIN i’d seen this image before. so today i did some digging….
this postcard i’ve had for donkey’s years is copyrighted 1985.
another 2007 phone snap of a Banksy original. i took this off Camden High Street in
Camden Market. if you back away from this particular piece, you see that she’s sweeping the yellow lane divided under the wall sheet. banksy also repainted the yellow line to make it veer into the wall.
another 2007 snap of a Banksy original, this time with my actual camera. i was on holiday in
Bristol (for those of you out-of-the-know, Bristol is a city in south western england, not far from Bath). i found this piece on Park Street. the residents of Bristol had to petition the city to KEEP the piece from being removed. it’s now protected under law.
i saw this stencil spray painted on a metal container in London’s
Soho in 2007, snapped this with my phone. i thought it might’ve been banksy at first, but it’s not his style. it’s quite clever though.
i was walking through the
Ealing Broadway area of London with my friend Jonathon in 2007 when I found this post-it-note stuck to a pedestrian crossing button. snapped it with my phone. to this day, it’s still the screen background on my phone.
this was probably taken in early 2008 on my phone. i was on a double decker bus headed for my flat in
Elephant & Castle, and this was chalked into the ground not far from
Waterloo Station.
okay this one isn’t street art. i took this in january 2007, about 7 days after moving to London. it was the very first picture i ever took with my phone. i was shopping at the
east street market near elephant and castle, and there it was….words we find funny in north america have different meanings over there.
okay back to toronto
after work on friday, i decided to revisit the old graffiti alley behind queen and spadina. i used to visit it quite often about 6 years ago when Swing Alley was there.
so i guess my fascination with street art can be traced back at least six years then? gosh, who knows. maybe i’ve always had it the love.
this skateboard with the words “vote with your $$$” appears all over graffiti alley. they’re actual skateboards nailed into the poles. i think
it’s a gregory alan elliot piece.
there it is again!
i see
gregory alan elliot quotes all over the city. remember way back in february when
i found this in kensington market? he’s kinda everywhere, and i like finding his pieces, i think they give the city something. too bad so many other graffiti writers keep messing up his stuff. you can see they’ve either written or crossed out his stuff, in some cases breaking the signs in two.
looks like a young jean chretien with an axe to grind.
tit for tat, just like that
this one is cool cuz if you look closely, the artist incorporated the wires that were already attached to the wall, and made his caricatures part of the wires. brilliant
i finished my first week of employment at a staff writer. i still haven’t officially revealed who i’m writing for in any online forums. i get the sense that it wouldn’t be a big deal with the company, because they have a big online presence and what not, nonetheless, i’m going to refrain from mentioning them online. better to err on the side of caution in these instances….. even though i DO have that disclaimer at the bottom of this blog that my opinions here are not the opinions of any employer.
oh who am i kidding?
my opinions ARE the opinions of my employers.
AND YOURS AS WELL.
(deal with it.)
i am enjoying the work but it’s not a cakewalk, i have to write a lot of content in a day and i’m struggling to get it out in a timely fashion. i have to let my perfectionist-nature slide somewhat. i’ve been described in the past as a line-by-line writer. i labour over each sentence, and i need to relax in that area whilst still delivering well-written copy. there’s a learning curve, surely i’ll get the hang of it.
but it’s fun! i love being able to write all the livelong day, and i’ve consistently been the last person to leave the office, locking up sometimes as late at 9pm. the day just flies by, and i’m not in a hurry to get home. everyone in the office is totally chill, and the act of writing is my zen anyway, so it feels almost criminal.
growing up in small hick town in rural quebec, aiming for a job like this seemed impractical and beyond reality, especially if you’re on the wrong side of fortune. glad i never listened to anyone else’s ideas for what i should do with my life.
in my last post i asked
“what colour does a smurf turn when you choke it?” perhaps Gargamel here can answer that for us.
rob ford, remove me. i think the “remove me” refers not to the stencil, but to the man himself.
but if we have the stencil removed, is that not like an act of voodoo? symbolically removing the twat from office?
bazinga!
testing testing, is this thing on?
this is untamed brilliance.
queen of hearts, king (of spades? not sure), and the macabre-like Joker.
bike riding weather is upon us. i rode my bike in to work the other day, left the house at 8:20am, hit the downtown core at 9:30am, and walked through the office front door at 9:45am. it was a great ride, so sunny and quiet.
gosh . . . cycling, street art, hipster music, funny clothes, writer, vegetarian, café-loiterer . . . i would fit the hipster moniker to a T if it weren’t for the fact that the hipsters of Toronto don’t accept me. i’m not awkward enough, or neurotic enough. or ugly enough. there’s like these qualifying hipster targets you need to hit if you want to be amongst the gods. i attend all the same events, underground meetings, artistic rendezvous’ and hang at the culturally-iconic-hotspots, but i can feel them unfairly judging me as an interloper into their exclusive society. they don’t believe i have the brains nor the brawn to withstand the requirements of being amongst their key players. when i say awkward neurotic and ugly, i don’t really mean those as slights or backhands. i mean them in endearing ways (and i blog that sans-irony…for once). the endearingly ugmo-neurotic-awkward hipster is a fine specimen of society that everyone loves and wants to get closer to in order to understand. and they all know each other, they can pick up each others scents like a lioness in heat.
unfortch, i am of an undefinable ethno-cultural minority dominated mostly by Ginos and thereby refuse to leave my pits unshaven or allow my body to physically fall into disrepair. so while i have hipster-leaning-proclivities/sensibilities, the elusive Toronto Hipster does not in fact understand me well enough to accept me.
i make scientific studies of things that really don’t matter.
maybe i AM neurotic enough to join the club.
last night at the
Foursquare Toronto event, my friend Chris said that men don’t ask me out because they’re intimidated by me. that’s not the first time i’ve heard that. it’s probably the 50th time actually.
to me, that means i’m doing something right.
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April 17, 2011 | Categories: banksy, foursquare, graffiti, hipsters, london, miik, street art, street culture, toronto, Uber 5000 | Leave A Comment »
being a blogger has its perks. a bunch of lovely lady bloggers were invited to Miik clothing’s HQ to sample their fine dresses made of eco-friendly and sustainable bamboo (i know, braingasm!). head honcho Michael and co. were totally hospitable and fun, and let us gals run riots through their racks, trying on all the dresses we could squeeze our bodacious tatas into.
(l-r)
nat, moi,
marie,
simone,
val,
wendy, and
natasa aka
Toronto Blogatronics Femme Force. notice the
absence of blondes? yeah, i was pretty chuffed about that.
this was my final choice dress, but as you can see below, we tried on so many different styles
face palm. look at my legs and toes. i was biking all day yesterday, and had my lululemons, leg warmers, and chuck taylors on! so not conducive to proper dress-fancy-photos.
do Chucks and leg warmers go with the dress?
this grey dress i tried on was more work-suitable than party-fun
also, you should visit and “LIKE” the Miik Facebook page for your chance to win a dress of your own! uber simple, just “like” the page and comment on one of the pics of us in the dresses (once they’re uploaded).
you’re welcome, ladies.
you can repay me in sexual favours.
wait, what?
hahaha, totally kidding (not kidding). i’ve been totally lezzing it up lately. at this event, Val saw my pubes, Marie saw my bum-bum & everyone saw my boobs. although, after making out with Allegra a few weeks ago, i’ve decided i’d make a bad lezzer. women are competitive with each other (it sucks and i hate it, but it’s true) and if a gal and i were going to town on each other, i’d just keep thinking “shit, is she better at this than me? i hate her, the show-off!”
BRUNETTES HAVE MORE FUN
blondes have more fungus
back to our new york related programming:
i seriously cannot fathom the level of ingenious and clever street art that abounds in NYC. toronto has some amazing graffiti spots (queen/spadina alley for starters) but we really pale in comparison.
such great socially-conscious graffiti, this time from Williamsburg, pretty much on North 6th between Kent and Wythe
what colour does a smurf turn when you choke it?
this is not an indian
how incredible is this? it’s by brilliant street artist
Roaand it’s massive
public art is always the most democratic, untamed art. it’s livable.
speaking of the Brooklyn Bridge, next time you walk across it, i want you to pay CLOSE attention to the bridge itself and not the view from it….
…i’ve walked/cycled across the bridge several times in life, and this time i noticed just how many padlocks had been attached to it. turns out New York’s young lovertines like to engrave their initials on the padlocks, attach them to the bridge, and then throw the keys into the river below.
the lovers of new york are forever commemorated on this epic bridge…
one day my true love and i will do this on some bridge somewhere in the world….but not today.
the plaques on the brooklyn bridge, which indicate what you’re looking at on the horizon, need to be updated….they’ve had 10 fucking years, come on NYC.
someone carved RIP over the WTC…but just looking at this was upsetting to me.
so okay, i’m back in Toronto after the worst clusterfuck bus ride back from Port Authority. I decided to take the midnight bus instead of taking the bus that left in the morning which would essentially rob me of an entire day. so i had dinner with Randeep at Ella Cafe in Williamsburg, packed my shit up quicker than a bread truck hauls mafia-hit-bodies across the FDR, then booked it to Port Authority.
of course, none of the screens at Port Authority (which in theory would tell travelers which gate they’re departing from) were functioning. also, all the information booths were completely un-manned. i don’t know who’s running Port Authority, but if this was Toronto, these people would be out of a job. what a shit hole.
after lining up at the wrong gate, i finally found my proper gate where a massive line-up for this bus awaited me. it was kinda stupid, everybody and their mother was on the toronto-bound greyhound that only holds 44 people. in addition, the bus was essentially a milk truck (read: it makes stops at every single shit hole hamlet along the way….like a milk truck woulda done back in the day) so people who were just going to fucking syracuse or some other town-that-time-forgot were also queuing up.
anyway, because of the massive line, they asked all us El-Toro’s and barfahole-ers to step aside and take another bus. essentially, this other bus that they lined up for us would head straight for barfahole-buffalo and then El-Toro-toronto, bypassing the other bus which was stopping everywhere, and arriving earlier than expected.
but waiting for this fucking second bus to arrive meant we only left Port Authority at 1:40am! and when we boarded it, we realized it was one of the older shit greyhound buses with no electrical outlets, no wifi, and no refuse bins.
we did arrive at Barfahole earlier than the other bus, about 90 minutes ahead of schedule. at which point we were told to get the fuck off the bus and wait 90 minutes for the first bus to arrive so we could board it. our bus was now decommissioned. fuck you greyhound.
finally got on the bus i was supposed to be on 9 hours earlier, where a man who smelled worse than the bus-loo’s had boarded it without a ticket, hoping to sneak across to Canada. the bus driver ejected him, and i watched from the bus as he wandered aimlessly around the barfahole bus terminal looking for another bus to stow-away on, presumably to run away from his sad life. he was either indigent, homeless, underemployed, or all of the above.
finally made it to toronto where the sun was shining and the customs officers didn’t give me a shit-kicking.
i start my new job this week. i am going to refrain from publicly naming them in any online forum, but as i’ve said in previous posts, i am employed as a staff writer by a woman-run, woman-directed publication and i’m very excited to be joining the team:)
OH AND I WON THIS CONTEST!
WATCH OUT INCANS AND PERUVIANS ALIKE, I’M A-COMING!
i love how adventure-travel opportunities always find a way to factor into my life. i have been traveling since 2005 and not a year goes by that i don’t use my passport. it says in my little bio in the left margin that i’m an explorer, and that moniker encompasses everything i do in life….backpacking, writing, performing….everything. i love being able to exercise that title to its maximum effort, to keep trying new things, meeting new people, and experiencing all that it has to offer, disasters and triumphs alike. this planet is too incredible to stay in one place your entire life, and life is way too short.
life is either a great adventure…..or nothing at all.
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April 11, 2011 | Categories: banksy, contest, graffiti, miik, new york city, peru, roa, street art, street culture, travel | 9 Comments »
>
being a blogger has its perks. a bunch of lovely lady bloggers were invited to Miik clothing’s HQ to sample their fine dresses made of eco-friendly and sustainable bamboo (i know, braingasm!). head honcho Michael and co. were totally hospitable and fun, and let us gals run riots through their racks, trying on all the dresses we could squeeze our bodacious tatas into.
(l-r)
nat, moi,
marie,
simone,
val,
wendy, and
natasa aka
Toronto Blogatronics Femme Force. notice the
absence of blondes? yeah, i was pretty chuffed about that.
this was my final choice dress, but as you can see below, we tried on so many different styles
face palm. look at my legs and toes. i was biking all day yesterday, and had my lululemons, leg warmers, and chuck taylors on! so not conducive to proper dress-fancy-photos.
do Chucks and leg warmers go with the dress?
this grey dress i tried on was more work-suitable than party-fun
also, you should visit and “LIKE” the Miik Facebook page for your chance to win a dress of your own! uber simple, just “like” the page and comment on one of the pics of us in the dresses (once they’re uploaded).
you’re welcome, ladies.
you can repay me in sexual favours.
wait, what?
hahaha, totally kidding (not kidding). i’ve been totally lezzing it up lately. at this event, Val saw my pubes, Marie saw my bum-bum & everyone saw my boobs. although, after making out with Allegra a few weeks ago, i’ve decided i’d make a bad lezzer. women are competitive with each other (it sucks and i hate it, but it’s true) and if a gal and i were going to town on each other, i’d just keep thinking “shit, is she better at this than me? i hate her, the show-off!”
BRUNETTES HAVE MORE FUN
blondes have more fungus
back to our new york related programming:
i seriously cannot fathom the level of ingenious and clever street art that abounds in NYC. toronto has some amazing graffiti spots (queen/spadina alley for starters) but we really pale in comparison.
such great socially-conscious graffiti, this time from Williamsburg, pretty much on North 6th between Kent and Wythe
what colour does a smurf turn when you choke it?
this is not an indian
how incredible is this?
and it’s massive
public art is always the most democratic, untamed art. it’s livable.
speaking of the Brooklyn Bridge, next time you walk across it, i want you to pay CLOSE attention to the bridge itself and not the view from it….
…i’ve walked/cycled across the bridge several times in life, and this time i noticed just how many padlocks had been attached to it. turns out New York’s young lovertines like to engrave their initials on the padlocks, attach them to the bridge, and then throw the keys into the river below.
the lovers of new york are forever commemorated on this epic bridge…
one day my true love and i will do this on some bridge somewhere in the world….but not today.
the plaques on the brooklyn bridge, which indicate what you’re looking at on the horizon, need to be updated….they’ve had 10 fucking years, come on NYC.
someone carved RIP over the WTC…but just looking at this was upsetting to me.
so okay, i’m back in Toronto after the worst clusterfuck bus ride back from Port Authority. I decided to take the midnight bus instead of taking the bus that left in the morning which would essentially rob me of an entire day. so i had dinner with Randeep at Ella Cafe in Williamsburg, packed my shit up quicker than a bread truck hauls mafia-hit-bodies across the FDR, then booked it to Port Authority.
of course, none of the screens at Port Authority (which in theory would tell travelers which gate they’re departing from) were functioning. also, all the information booths were completely un-manned. i don’t know who’s running Port Authority, but if this was Toronto, these people would be out of a job. what a shit hole.
after lining up at the wrong gate, i finally found my proper gate where a massive line-up for this bus awaited me. it was kinda stupid, everybody and their mother was on the toronto-bound greyhound that only holds 44 people. in addition, the bus was essentially a milk truck (read: it makes stops at every single shit hole hamlet along the way….like a milk truck woulda done back in the day) so people who were just going to fucking syracuse or some other town-that-time-forgot were also queuing up.
anyway, because of the massive line, they asked all us El-Toro’s and barfahole-ers to step aside and take another bus. essentially, this other bus that they lined up for us would head straight for barfahole-buffalo and then El-Toro-toronto, bypassing the other bus which was stopping everywhere, and arriving earlier than expected.
but waiting for this fucking second bus to arrive meant we only left Port Authority at 1:40am! and when we boarded it, we realized it was one of the older shit greyhound buses with no electrical outlets, no wifi, and no refuse bins.
we did arrive at Barfahole earlier than the other bus, about 90 minutes ahead of schedule. at which point we were told to get the fuck off the bus and wait 90 minutes for the first bus to arrive so we could board it. our bus was now decommissioned. fuck you greyhound.
finally got on the bus i was supposed to be on 9 hours earlier, where a man who smelled worse than the bus-loo’s had boarded it without a ticket, hoping to sneak across to Canada. the bus driver ejected him, and i watched from the bus as he wandered aimlessly around the barfahole bus terminal looking for another bus to stow-away on, presumably to run away from his sad life. he was either indigent, homeless, underemployed, or all of the above.
finally made it to toronto where the sun was shining and the customs officers didn’t give me a shit-kicking.
i start my new job this week. i am going to refrain from publicly naming them in any online forum, but as i’ve said in previous posts, i am employed as a staff writer by a woman-run, woman-directed publication and i’m very excited to be joining the team:)
OH AND I WON THIS CONTEST!
WATCH OUT INCANS AND PERUVIANS ALIKE, I’M A-COMING!
i love how adventure-travel opportunities always find a way to factor into my life. i have been traveling since 2005 and not a year goes by that i don’t use my passport. it says in my little bio in the left margin that i’m an explorer, and that moniker encompasses everything i do in life….backpacking, writing, performing….everything. i love being able to exercise that title to its maximum effort, to keep trying new things, meeting new people, and experiencing all that it has to offer, disasters and triumphs alike. this planet is too incredible to stay in one place your entire life, and life is way too short.
life is either a great adventure…..or nothing at all.
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April 11, 2011 | Categories: banksy, contest, graffiti, miik, new york city, peru, street art, street culture, travel | Leave A Comment »
