In Honour of Spring

It was above zero degrees Celsius today in Calgary, somewhat of an anomaly for this time of year. In honour of this, I’m posting one of my favourite warm-weather outfits from a gem of a blog called Copenhagen Street Style. As most of my good (and fashionable) friends know, mustard yellow is one of my favourite colours for clothing. Love her cardigan and as a fellow glasses-wearer (I’m blind without them), I have to call out her awesome specs as well.

 

Sadly, the crew at Copenhagen Street Style is no longer actively blogging, but I highly suggest looking at their archives- people in Europe (and Denmark in particular) have incredible style.

Are You Making Ens Meat?

Every morning while I eat my breakfast (peanut butter and bananas on toast today, thank you for asking) I peruse the Calgary Herald and more often than not, end up at the comics. They’re usually good for an internal smile or two, but rarely do I actually laugh or point one out to who ever I’m sitting with (often just the dog). Monday morning was a completely different story. F Minus is written by Tony Carrillo and here’s the little gem that caught my eye:

Funny right? Maybe not for all, but I went through a very similar epiphany about a month ago and so I though this was hilarious. There have been a number of phrases that I had been saying wrong until seeing them in writing or having them pointed out to me, so I completely identified with this comic. Below are three of the more embarrassing (and hilarious) things I thought I was saying right:

1. Nipping it in the bud vs. Nipping it in the butt

A minor mistake that I was still making before two of my friends corrected me (after laughing, of course) over blackberry messenger in January. Yes, this January. As my friend Eden put it “No Michela, nipping it in the butt is something else”

1. Prima donna vs. Pre-Madonna

I always thought this referred to someone acting like a diva a la the original material girl, rather than a reference to opera singers wanting to be the center of attention.

1. Making ends meet vs. Making ens meat

I have no idea why, but for the longest time (seriously, I think I finally figured this one out a couple of years ago) I thought this phrase was talking about making this thing called “ens meat”. In my mind, ens meat was what you had when you had enough money, were able to pay the bills, etc. So rather than your “ends meeting” you were making this figurative “meat” and because of it were doing all right financially. Apparently this is not correct…

Are there any phrases that you unknowingly butchered for years? (please tell me I’m not the only one!)

 

Until Spring Arrives

My current online obsession is being fueled by Sandra Hagelstam’s blog 5 inch and up. It has all the things that make me swoon: incredible style, killer shoes and gorgeous pictures. I’m loving this cozy look, especially since Calgary is still averaging -20 degree weather (yuck). Lots’o layers make for a toasty and stylish outfit indeed.

Via 5inchandup.blogspot.com

Talk Nerdy to Me

There are a number of things in my life that are inherently nerdy, and not in that nerdy-to-be-ironic kind of way. These are things that I do and have an interest in because I love them; I’m definitely not into doing nerdy things because it seems like the cool “in” thing of the moment. While time to time these things will get an inevitably eye-roll, or a delightful mocking, I love them and love to embrace my true nerdy side.

Lord of the Rings

When the movies came out from 2001-2003, it seemed that everyone was a LOTR fan. Indeed, this is when my interest started. I consumed everything to do with the series: articles, interviews, imdb pages, dvd special features and the actual books (radical, I know). I just watched all three movies a couple of weeks ago, and know that I will again and again.

The moment I knew I was still a LOTR nerd past all the movie-hoopla? Walking with my Swedish lover while talking about Brad Dourif (the actor that plays Wormtongue), he explained him as “Wormtail, that guy who helps the king in Gondor from the Lord of the Rings.” Nerd alert: “Actually, it’s Wormtongue, Wormtail is the guy from Harry Potter who was friends with Harry’s dad and then betrays him. And he’s from Rohan, not Gondor. Rohan was always my favourite because it’s the horse kingdom.” I still get to relive that rant over the phone, listening to it in a slightly higher, ditzy and completely mocking voice.

Knitting

It was summer of 2005; I was going through an “I don’t want to be on family vacation, I’m a TEENAGER” phase and was driving my parents crazy on our camping trip in the remote-ish town of Christina Lake, BC. A delightful book called Stitch and Bitch caught my eye, and before I knew it I was teaching myself to knit. I know now that that book probably saved my life, as I (almost) stopped being a moody 16-year old, and instead focused on the difference between knits and purls.

As none of my friends really went out in high school, I spent much of grade 11 nerding and knitting out. During one of my nerdiest times, I would often spend Friday nights watching the CMT country countdown and knitting. As others hurled after a late night of partying, I purled the night away in nerdy bliss.

Dinosaurs

I recently came across this article and was reminded of one of my original nerdy obsessions. Who didn’t love dinosaurs when they were little?! Crazy kids, that’s who. Dinos were the ultimate in cool; I bet there are almost no people my age that didn’t have a love affair with them at some point in their childhood. However, as with lots of other things, I took it to the next level and consumed books, tv specials, movies, dinosaur paper dolls, and anything else that had to do with these prehistoric giants.

This has carried over, and occasionally I reveal my true dinosaur-loving tendencies. I was mocked endlessly in first year university when I casually dropped the species name Struthiomimus in a conversation with my friends. Whoops.

Horses

My love of horses has evolved since it began some 18 years ago: I no longer make weekly trips to the stable to ride, my walls are free of horse posters and my bookshelves have more than just horsey reference books and The Saddle Club on them. It’s no surprise to anyone that I was obsessed with learning as much as I could about them and at one point read Horses for Dummies for fun.

Much to the chagrin of my boyfriends (past and present), this love has landed largely on a number of clothing articles, most infamously on a knit piece dubbed “the ugly horse sweater.” I think I have about six items emblazoned with either horse motifs or the animals themselves.

The infamous ugly horse sweater and my dear friend Evert.

This list is by no means the limit of my inner (and sometimes outer) nerd and to some, these things may not seem nerdy at all. But as the ultra-trustworthy Wikipedia definition states: “a nerd refers to a person who avidly pursues intellectual activities, technical or scientific endeavors, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests.” Obscure for some, amazing for others.

I know I’m not the only one! Do you have any nerdy tendencies?

 

Love This Look

This stylish gal was spotted at London Fashion Week and I’m absolutely loving her simple outfit. The best part is I already have the pieces to recreate it. I’ll post my version soon!

Photo: Craig Arend

Hell Just Froze Over…

…because I don’t outright hate Lady Gaga anymore. People who know me well know that I strongly dislike her music and flat out refuse to dance every time “Just Dance” comes on at the club. Let’s not get too carried away now, I will never just dance to that song, but recently my opinion of Gaga has changed.

Her newest single “Born This Way” is catchy, fun and does indeed have a great message (stop the presses, I know). But what put me over the edge was Gaga’s recent call out of 10-year old Maria Aragon’s cover of the single, praising and launching her to international viral fame. During her recent concert in Toronto she even had the pint-sized Winnipegger join her on stage for a rendition of “Born This Way”. Only the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz wouldn’t have been touched. I’ve put aside my opinion of her music and really respect what she did in this situation. A very down to earth and relatable move, and that’s coming from someone who once wore a meat dress.

For your viewing pleasure, here’s the video of Gaga and Lady Maria performing in Toronto:

Early Summer Love

I found this on Vogue.com’s Most Wanted list for spring break, but considering I won’t have such a break this year (damn you real job!), I’m loving this retro bikini for summer 2011. Now I just need to find an extra $225 laying around! Ha, right.

Photo: Marko MacPherson

Laura Urbinati high-waist bikini, $225.

 

This Sh!t is Bananas

So by now you’ve seen it. The ridiculous news that Del-Monte has started individually bagging their bananas. The company is even going to far to say that the bags are eco-friendly because they prevent unnecessary banana deliveries due to perfectly timing the ripening process.

Umm, what?

Except for their tendency to bruise rather extremely easily, bananas are one of the most perfect pre-packaged foods out there! Don’t mess with mother nature man. And for those of you who like their bananas yellow instead of delicious bruised-brown, there’s always the Banana Guard! (Got one of these puppies for a dear friend, and he loves it!)