For me, I tolerate summer until I can get into fall because it’s my favourite season. Fall fashion is the best there is (I’m all about the boots and sweater life) and the weather is pretty perfect… being a born and raised Vancouverite, I don’t even mind the rain. A crisp fall day where it’s still sunny, but still has a chill in the air is perfect for stomping through crackle-y fallen leaves (#basicbitch #Idontcare).
My fall uniform
This summer, like every summer, I set out with the best intentions to enjoy the season. It’s not as if I hate summer, it’s just that I hate being sweaty and my hair does not take kindly to the humidity. And sleeping is a bitch too, I prefer a million blankets and duvets on my body as it shivers because I refuse to close the window, even when it’s -5 degrees out (Celsius, join the rest of the world on the metric system America).
And this summer, just like every summer, I failed at my intentions. Here’s a few of the things I wanted to do this summer, but didn’t…
Swim
This weekend was rainy and windy and stormy in Vancouver… it was perfect. On Saturday I just wanted to stay at home with my books and some bad movies, drinking coffee all day before transitioning over to wine at night (or more realistically, late afternoon). In the morning, I went into my drawer to pull out a pair of sweatpants that had been neglected all summer and found another neglected item of clothing, the cute bathing suit you see above that I bought from Forever 21 in June with every intention of using it. I forgot all about it! It sat alongside another one I bought from ModCloth that I used a few times. But I could count on one hand the amount of times I spent in a body of water this summer and it made me sad. I love swimming and pools, but I only swam in lakes/the Pacific Ocean a few times and hit up no pools.
Bard on the Beach
Every summer I vow to see a play at Bard on the Beach. It’s a Vancouver summer tradition to have various works of Shakespeare performed in Vanier Park, which has spectacular views of the the ocean. I have yet to go, mostly because my friends have already been and don’t seem to want to go again. This should probably be a sign, but I just want to feel cultured. Also, the Bard on the Beach founder (Christopher Gaze) received an honorary degree from UBC at the same convocation when I graduated, I should probably check in and see how my fellow alumni are doing.
Go Camping
I camped all the time as a kid, but I haven’t been in a shamefully long time. I wanted to go this summer, or at least some kind of vacation. That never happened, but bonus points for me because I did book a week off work in anticipation of this happening. I then cancelled the time off two days before when I realized I wouldn’t be going anywhere.
Drinks on the patio
To be fair, I drank a good amount. And many of those times it was on a patio, I just wish I did more of this. My shift at work ends at primetime for leaving work to go get some beverages, but I didn’t take advantage of this enough (which would’ve been at least 1-2 times a week).
Beaches
Question: Guess which one of these was taken this summer? Answer: None
Vancouver thrives in the summer. This place is beautiful all year round, but summertime is our time to shine. We have so many beaches and beautiful sunsets, I rarely spent time at any of them. Last year I took approximately 1 million photos of various Vancouver sunsets, this year I took maybe one or two from random spots nowhere near the ocean.
Leave your Summer 2015 to-do list regrets and incomplete action items in the comments.
As previously mentioned, I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Bachelor/Bachelorette. I had watched the past two seasons and wasn’t that entertained, still I decided to give Bachelor in Paradise a chance. This decision was mainly because it’s summer and there’s not much on TV to choose from, but also because I was wooed by the previews and their promise of drama. And lets be real, the “she’s no longer a virgin and she might be pregnant” line on the commercials had me hooked.
I have a few thoughts on this season so far…
Joe is way too stupid to pull off the lies he was trying to pull off
Sam is the actual worst
Couples are boring
Ashley S is still insane
While you wait for the Sunday and Monday episode to grace your TV, I want to introduce you to two Bachelor in Paradise-related blogs to keep you entertained.
Here’s the thing, I wasn’t the biggest Ashely I fan. She’s full on batshit and I need her to stop crying. But her blog is endearing. Or at least entertaining. I read almost all of it. I have no shame.
Sidenote: Why Jared? Is he really that hot? Am I not seeing something that these ladies can see?
The second blog you need to read was recommended to me by Andrea. Betches Love This do a full recap of each episode that is much more compelling and hilarious than any episode could ever be. I know that probably doesn’t mean much when talking about the Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor in Paradise, but it’s true.
We need stuff to do this weekend, do you have any Bachelor-related blogs we need to check out?
So I have a two and a half week break from school, which I am about 5 days into. I spent the first two days in a drunken stupor as we went out on the Friday, and it was my dads wedding on Saturday. The previously mentioned dress from “What is one to wear to a parents wedding” worked like a charm, and shockingly (or not) I was the only one in yellow.
After that, I am trying to fully get into break mode. I have a list of projects that need to get done around my house, because I am an obsessive neat freak, and like things to be organized beyond all normal reason. For example, today, I moved all of my spices into matching small mason jars and labeled them with my label maker. When I showed my roommate, he said “how is this different from how it was before”. I responded rationally, with a high pitched screech, “NOW THEY ALL MATCH”. So you are now getting an idea of the kind of list I am making.
I thought that a good way to hold my self to my list of things I need to do is to publish them to the inter webs.
Not everything I want to do is organization related. I also want to do some other kinds of things, like read. For example, my goal is to start and finish The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt. I originally bought this because I had heard about it, it looked like a decent sized book for the price, and the authors last name is Tartt. And who doesn’t like tarts? I don’t know but I want nothing to do with them. Anyways, on further inspection it looks great and I am excited to read it.
Also on my list is my continued desire to perfect my homemade ice cream, so I bought more cream and homo milk and have done a fair amount of research. I will share my results with you as soon as it is as good as Rain or Shine Ice Cream (my favourite spot).
Now for the nitty gritty. My list is;
Organize front closet
Organize storage locker
Clean out closet (and shame boxes of shoes under my bed)
Clean out china cabinet
Clean and organize bathroom
Finish painting kitchen
Clean out garden
Yikes. With this much stuff to do, I may end up with painting all of my furniture just like Jen did.
I have already though organized my kitchen cabinets, fridge and spices. So its not all bad. And my fabulous reward at the end is going to Bumbershoot to see Ellie Goulding. There are other acts, but I am there for the Ellie.
Anyways, I know this break is going to go way too fast so its important to set out what you want to get done, otherwise it will go to waste. I know this from experience in laziness.
I have what I have come to call “angry skin.” I made this up in my mid-twenties after realizing that I have never been able to stick any one of the skin identifiers, like sensitive, combination or oily. I was all those skin types in my twenties alone.
I started the decade off with acne and shine, the pimples my mom promised would go away after my teens stuck around. Actually, my late teens were pretty ok in terms of acne, I discovered Proactiv and that shit worked like a charm. I used to work at Clinique at this time and had to tell customers it was their 3-Step Cleansing System. It wasn’t, I apologize if you bought the system because of my heavily made-up, clear skin.
So acne hit me in my twenties, I went to a dermatologist who claimed he could fix it right up with this mild version of Retin-A. My face began to dry up and break out in rash, so he decided that I needed something more powerful and gave me full strength Retin-A. My face counteracted his chemical attack by shedding the top layer of it’s skin, leaving my face red and drier than the Sahara. It was all very sexy and not at all painful. Vaseline was literally the only thing I could put on my face without me crying in pain and also protected me from the slightest gust of wind that would come along and burn me. I only used the cream once or twice, but the Retin-A aftermath stuck with me for years. I sought help from the dermatologist who only told me to keep applying the cream because it meant it was working (I most certainly did not) and another doctor who told me that I couldn’t see a different dermatologist because he claimed that doctors talk when playing golf together and it would get around that I was going behind my dermatologists back (no joke!).
Do not let your doctor prescribe you this
Anyways, I finally got help when I went crying to my university hospital after a particularly awful day where I had to write a final exam where pieces of my skin flaked off onto the paper. At this point my face was one big flakey mess, not only was I losing skin by my eyebrows were falling out (thus the necessity for eyebrow tattooing).
It took about two years for my skin to finally produce oil again and another two after that before it looked semi-normal and I could forgo make-up to cover up the scars. My eyebrows never grew back and my face still breaks out in rash during weather changes, but I figured out how to care for it with experience.
I tell you all this because apparently this is common. Not the Retin-A, face falling off part, but the gross skin. And I don’t mean the dry-face in the winter problems, I mean full on rash on your face looking like a lizard shit.
I’m here to tell you that I’ve found the solution.
It’s oil.
For years I was afraid of products with oil. After trying to counteract the oil causing my pimples in my early 20’s, this makes sense. And my oil glands are working just fine these days, so adding more seemed counterproductive. I was wrong.
Meet my favourite…
Ugh, another person raving about argan oil?
Yes. Argan oil goddammit. You’ve probably seen this stuff advertised everywhere for every part of your body, including your hair, but I swear to god this is a miracle for your face. I love Josie Maran’s 100% Pure Argan Oil found at Sephora. Not only does it keep you moisturized, it doesn’t look oily and helps with anti-aging. I use it nightly and sometimes during the day (I prefer a moisturizer with sunscreen during the days). I’ll have a 50ml bottle last me for 6 months. I’ve been using it for a few years now and it helps prevent dry skin. But it’s not just for winter, I’ve been using it in the summer and it doesn’t clog pores or caused any breakouts that I wouldn’t normally be dealing with.
Bonus! You can also use this same stuff on your nails to help with cuticles as well as your body and hair.
Last year, I also started using the Josie Maran Argan Cleansing Oil (also from Sephora).
I typically only use it in the morning as it’s not as good at taking off your make-up and I’m too lazy to use makeup remover first. You apply it to your dry face, then use water to wash off. I find it’s really gentle and not drying at all, but doesn’t leave your face oily. This size bottle lasted me almost a year, a dime sized drop really goes a long way. I only say these things because the prices may seem daunting, I promise they’re worth it and you really do get a lot out of the bottles as you use such little product.
To be honest, after using a million products on my face in my twenties for various reasons (many having to do with free stuff that Clinique lovingly gives to their employees), I’m totally cool with these two staples with a few added products.
For dark circles and wrinkles I still love Clinique’s All About Eyes
This is applied after your moisturizer (or argan oil), under your make-up.
For anti-aging, I like Regenerist Mirco-Sculpting Cream Moisturizer by Olay
Since this is a thicker cream, I prefer it at night, usually when the weather is colder.
Finally, for the odd pimple I like The Body Shop’s Tea Tree Oil to dab directly on the spot.
Share with us your skincare favourites and any tips you have for dealing with your angry skin.
So as you may or may not have seen on the blog before, Jen and I are big fans of wine. We love the good stuff, but we also really like the cheap stuff. We also come by this honestly. Jen is Italian (need I say more?) and my mom calls our favourite wine store church.
On a wine shopping trip
As a couple of lushes on a budget, we have found some steals and deals and wanted to share the knowledge with you. Here are my top ten picks.
So to start us off, I am a big fan of Cab Sav. It is my absolute favourite, and so many of these on the list are Cab Savs. Starting off with this gem, it is an Australian Cab Sav Shiraz blend, and is a good buy for the price.
My favourite white wine is Sauvignon Blanc (I also like chardonnay, by none I like qualify for the budget. Oops!) This pick is cheap and decent for a Sauvignon Blanc. I definitely prefer some higher priced ones, but this one is just fine.
Who doesn’t like rosé? Jen and I may or may not have brought this into a movie with us one time. For a rosé, it is definitely on the lower end of the budget, but is still plenty yummy on a summer day!
Last but not least. This is my absolute favourite (budget) wine. I never buy one at a time. It is consistently good, and tastes amazing with pasta. I never get sick of it. Seriously, my love.
I hope that this helps you get borderline buzzed, and makes you fall increasingly in love with wine.
What kind of wine do you like? Do you want to see more wine suggestions? Let us know!
A few posts ago, I outed myself as a gossip fiend. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my own personal gossip habits, those of others and why it’s so interesting to read and chat about. It might be because I’m trying to justify it in my brain, or it might be that I did an anthropology BA in university, but I wanted to share with you some thoughts I have on celeb gossip culture, why it’s so damn interesting and how being interested in gossip doesn’t make you an idiot or shallow or any of those fun adjectives people like to throw at you to make them feel better about themselves.
This might get long, I have a knowledge to share and I’ve been dying to pass on this wealth of information. It also makes me feel like all my time wasted online is finally good for something. Apologies in advance if you’re not a fan of reading a lot of words, but I think it’s worth some time. Take a break if your brain can’t handle more than 500 words at a time.
An introduction to the wild world of gossip:
The celebrity gossip game has changed a lot in the past 10 to 12 years. The internet, social media, blogs and gossip sites changed the whole gossip landscape. It’s hard to imagine that just a decade ago we didn’t know every single move our celebrity crush made or what was going on with our favourite stars. The Rat Pack could womanize and booze with little to no consequence, most celebs could get away with being stupid or doing dumb things because they weren’t posting racist comments on Twitter. “Friends” weren’t posting photos of actresses snorting coke in a hotel room on Instagram.
So it’s a bit of a double edged sword this social media explosion. On one hand it has brought us closer to our favourite celebs, we get to find out how witty and hilarious they are via Twitter (looking at you @annakendrick47 and @chrissyteigen). But on the other hand, they’re also responsible for their own downfall. An idiotic comment on Twitter can lead to backlash (what up @aplusk), that can never truly be forgotten (even if the post is deleted), is also replicated a million times before their publicist can issue a statement. I actually imagine that publicists hate social media, they no longer have control over everything we see and hear about their clients. It just takes one night of drunk tweeting to unravel the perfect image that they perfectly created.
In May of this year we marked the 10 year anniversary of the Tom Cruise couch jumping incident. This is known to be one of the events that changed the gossip game. Case in point, I don’t need to elaborate on this, we all know what I mean when I say “Tom Cruise, couch jumping.” The reason this was such a game changer was because this was just at the beginning of the 24 hour news cycle, previously we had to wait for weekly tabloids to get our gossip fix or Entertainment Tonight, and occasionally the local news would cover a celebrity if they had a few extra minutes in their newscast. The Tom Cruise story hit just at the time that Perez Hilton and other gossip blogs went live. YouTube also launched around this time, as well as the ability to record via DVR/TiVo. All these things made the ability to watch Tom jump on Oprah’s couch much more accessible to the person who wouldn’t normally be tuning into her show. We could now watch the clips on YouTube and they were passed along on gossip sites, dissected and commented on by people all over the world.
Another huge event in 2005 that confirmed that online gossip was a game changer was the first photos of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt together in Kenya with Maddox (remember when it was just Maddox?). The photo didn’t break on a news site or in a tabloid magazine, it actually first made it’s appearance on Perez Hilton.
This was huge. Not only did it confirm that these two were dating, but fuelled the rumours that Brad cheated on his then-wife Jennifer Aniston with Angelina while filming Mrs & Mr Smith. This also left us with the legacy that is the Jennifer Aniston is a sad/single/baby-hungry lady storyline that tabloids have been pushing on us for years.
Aside from the Jen/Brad/Angelina storyline, it also cemented the importance of the celebrity gossip site in our culture. We now got up-to-date information as the stories developed instead of waiting for the news to report it or for the weekly magazines. The weekly tabloids you see in the grocery store line-ups now only exist for your grandmother or as something to browse when you’re in a long line and you left your phone at home. These magazines are often outdated before they even hit the stands, so they’ve now resorted to running diet stories or pointing out women’s cellulite since they can’t give you any news you haven’t already seen.
Why I read gossip (aka The Gossip Game)
Why is gossip so interesting? I’ve thought about this a lot. I mean, a lot. I think for me it’s because it’s a peek into someone else’s life, it could be a bit of jealousy as well. It’s fun to read about someone doing well, but I can admit that seeing someone screw up is just as good (if not more fun). I won’t even try to deny that the Ashley Madison hack didn’t give me great pleasure and that I wasn’t a bit disappointed there wasn’t more A-List names on the list of clients (but relish in the fact that Josh Duggar and that Christian YouTube blogger were caught).
Aside from these superficial and admittedly self-indulgent reasons, I love the game behind gossip. Gossip isn’t simply “this person went to this restaurant and the paparazzi happened to be there” or “this person is dating this other person,” there’s so much more to it that I love. It’s looking at how the story was presented, like the outlet that broke it (I’ll get to that later) and the source of the information. Gossip isn’t just the story that you’re reading, or the photo you’re looking at, you have to look further into it instead of taking what you’re seeing at face value. For example, remember when Kaley Cuoco and Henry Cavill dated for a hot second? It was just around the time his first Superman movie came out and she was starting to cash in huge paycheques for Big Bang Theory.
No one really knew who Henry was, he was just the current Superman who had been in a few British shows and movies. He hadn’t made a splash Stateside and as the Sony Hack later revealed, he was (is) kinda boring. His press tour during that time was ok, he did some interviews and was featured in a few men’s magazines but wasn’t generating headlines. The movie was by no means a flop, but studios need to guarantee revenue when making these huge summer blockbusters, so if they have to garner interest through some personal life publicity they’ll take it. Enter Kaley Cuoco. She was (still is, I guess) on one of the top shows on TV, cute and blonde, as well as scandal-less. So why not set up some dates between the two and let the paparazzi know where they’ll be.
These two “dated” for about two weeks in 2013, giving off the impression they were so in love. They were also featured on countless blogs and entertainment news sites. They were seen shopping for groceries and showing up at random spots. Then they broke up just as fast as the affair started, she was then dating her future husband a month later.
I bring these two up because they perfectly encapsulate the fake Hollywood relationship for publicity. I mean, they might have actually been dating or at the very least having sex… let’s all admit that we all would in Kaley’s situation. But they’re a great example of a couple that get hot and heavy super fast and fade out just as quickly, with speculations about what could go wrong.
What went wrong was that they no longer needed the publicity.
Another thing their relationship demonstrates is the use of paparazzi. Celebrities are always bitching about paparazzi following them around and taking their photos, but I’m willing to bet that 90% of the time they (or their publicist) is calling them. The above photo of Kaley and Henry was taken outside a Whole Foods, and while I get that they’re in LA, I don’t think the paparazzi are wasting their time outside Whole Foods in hopes that a celebrity is going to show up to do some grocery shopping. This is why celebs have assistants, they only show up when they know the celebs need to be seen.
I know a lot of people are against the paparazzi, and I am too in many situations, but I think we also need to look at who is getting papped. And this is why I think it’s so important to think about your gossip. It’s the D-list celebrities and reality stars that you see photographed outside a random nail salon or in a pumpkin patch. Celebrities that don’t want to be photographed aren’t often caught by the paparazzi, mainly because they don’t call them for a photo opp but also because they know not to go to a particular club or restaurant if it’s trendy and they don’t want to be photographed. Those are the places that the paps hang out at waiting for a shot, so if you’re seeing a Real Housewife or Kardashian bitching about TMZ hanging outside their gynecologists office, just remember that their lady doctor’s office is generally not where some paparazzo trying to make a living is going to hang out hoping that they can get a shot.
But think of the children!
The children of celebs is one of the few times I think the paps are out of line and I won’t click on the story if I know they were taken against the parent’s will (other times: funerals). That being said, I also don’t agree with the whole Pedorazzi thing that Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard were trying to do a few years ago. Partly I hate the word Pedorazzi, but also because while I think paparazzi shouldn’t be following celebs in their vehicles to get the first shot of their newborn (depending on the celeb these shots can be a huge payday for the pap), I also don’t agree with the parents bitching about this when they accept money from Us Weekly and People Magazine for the first shots of their kids. Or even posting the shots of their kids on social media, because once you give someone a shot you’re making the kids fair game. And that’s super shitty for the kids.
I bring this up because one of the big supporters of Dax and Kristen’s anti-children paparazzi shot was Jennifer Garner.
Jen and Ben were one of those weird couples that were very vocal about how it was an invasion of privacy to have their photos taken while dropping their kids off at school, but in the Fall and Winter of 2012/2013 they were papped a lot at schools and farmers markets. Very random events in their lives were caught on camera. The thing is, they were a notoriously private couple when they needed to be. They never walked red carpets together, they went the opposite of how Ben’s very public relationship with Jennifer Lopez was. Suddenly we knew a lot about them. They keep their shit locked down pretty tight, and suddenly we were seeing photos of their boring family events all over the place… what could’ve changed?
Argo was released in 2012 and was an award show contender.
One of the things about awards like the Oscars is that while a lot of it has to do with the talent of the actors/director/writers, it also has to do with the campaign. Academy Award nominees campaign their asses off during these times, as if they were running for President. They try to appeal to the every man (literally, the “every man” is who is voting for these things is old, white and a man), so this means showing off that they’re all about family, wholesome and a safe choice. These old white guys aren’t going to vote for someone that would bring controversy to their award and the movies that they’re making, they want the guy who the public will love and will continue to support with their box office dollars.
So, Jen and Ben campaigned their asses off to get Ben his Oscar. I feel like Ben was always destined for politics, Jen would’ve made a perfect first-lady and this Academy Award campaign proved that.
The lesson here is that while it might seem like it sucks to have your kid’s photo taken and we should be angry about this, put it in context. Look at the evidence. Why are these paparazzi suddenly following them around? I don’t mean to sound like I’m defending the paparazzi, but I also don’t want people to think they’re 100% to blame.
The medium is the message
As I previously mentioned, and as you can tell by this post, I read a lot of gossip from various sources. One of the reasons for this is that I like to see various perspectives on a story that interests me. Also, different sources will have stories that others simply won’t touch. There’s a few levels of celebrity gossip reading that exist. First off, there’s the curated content like Oh No They Didn’t (ONTB). ONTB is a LiveJournal site that allows users to post a bunch of different stories as told by other sites. It allows the person posting to include some commentary and others can comment as well, but for the most part it gives the story and directs you to the source. This is a good place to go to find a bunch of different gossip on various subjects as they don’t limit themselves to just movie stars but also have reality tv, sport stars, musicians and random z-list celebs.
There’s other sites like Lainey Gossip (one of my fav’s) that not only presents the gossip but offers an intellectual discussion about the context and how it relates to the world of celebrity. She also has some of her own scoops and blind items.
Blind items are weird in the celebrity gossip world. They essentially exist to protect the blogger (or magazine writer, National Enquirer has had these for years) from legal ramifications. Typically they’re not 100% sure the story is true or the source doesn’t want to be named, so they post it as a blind item so the readers can guess who it is and sometimes the blogger drops hints or reveals the answer later on once the story actually breaks or it’s no longer relevant. Crazy Days and Nights is notorious for their blind items, which they reveal daily and have a bi-yearly reveal day on New Years Day and the Fourth of July to reveal their juicier times. While Blind Items can be entertaining, I caution to take them as a grain of salt as they’re often based on hearsay or unreliable sources.
Popular entertainment magazines also have an online presence. People Magazine and Us Weekly are two popular ones, they’re different from gossip sites because they were established before the internet was a thing and they continue to publish weekly. These two are great sites to visit for your surface level gossip, I’ll often go to these sites as if it were a news site, check in what’s happening and then if I see a story that I’m interested in I’ll go to another source to get more details.
Since People Magazine is established in the industry, they’re often celebrity friendly. They’re the magazine that celebs go to when they need to break a story about a divorce or baby, they know that People will treat the story gently. Usually these stories are fluff and full of quotes from the celeb that they’re “over the moon” with their new baby or “continue to raise their children as friends” when they’re divorcing.
Us Magazine is another magazine who is friendly with celebs, but isn’t afraid to pull some punches. They’re also more likely to be the magazine of choice for your Bachelors and Bachelorettes, reality TV stars and Kardashians. They’ve always got the scoop on these d-listers and are the source for your post-baby body flaunting.
What’s interesting about these two sites is that they also love to cater to middle America. This summer has been full of Duggar family scandal, but People in particular has stayed relatively neutral on the family. They’re reporting the stories and statements, but never speak negatively of them. It’s honestly frustrating. They do this because they need to pander to their audience, who is typically middle-class white women who are probably slightly religious and love TLC. This is also why they’re all over this Affleck/Garner divorce and while they’re not necessarily being totally Ben-friendly right now, they’re all about making Jen look like best mom in the world right now. Jen’s publicist deserves a raise or a goddamn medal.
A few of my other favourites for celeb gossip is D Listed, Celebitchy, and The Superficial. These sites aren’t necessarily breaking new content, but they’ve got some of the best commentary. Michael K over at D Listed is honestly one of the bitchiest and funniest writers on the internet today.
Please stay away from Perez Hilton, as much as it pains me to say, but he’s gone downhill since he stopped being bitchy and became fame hungry. I didn’t like him very much in the first place, he was mean and offensive, but now he longs so much to be a celebrity that he’s constantly sucking up to everyone he posts about. I give him credit for changing so much of the gossip game, but he’s a shadow of what he was and only has fluff to offer nowadays.
TMZ, while they break a lot of stories, I can’t look at. Their site confuses me and there’s so much crap to sort through to get to the real gossip.
And finally, stay out of the comment sections if you want to continue to believe in humanity. This is true of comment sections on news websites or YouTube videos as well, this is where the stupidest people of the world go to comment and only 1% of it is creative, smart or well thought out. Comment sections are where the trolls live and will only make you sad.
Consumers Warning
Celebrity gossip can be a great way to get your mind off your own life. If you’re having a shitty day, it helps remind you that at least you don’t have millions of people judging your choices. I fully understand that celebrities are people too and don’t necessarily deserve some of the gossip slung their way, but I also know that 80-90% of gossip has at least some truth to it. I also believe that they wanted to be famous and reap the benefits, so while the benefits are really good they also have to deal with some downsides.
Would you trade your privacy for this attention in return for fame and fortune?
But if you take anything away from everything I’ve written here, I want it to be this… don’t just consume the gossip. Think about it. It doesn’t have to be a mindless activity (although that’s cool sometimes), it should be something that makes you think about why something was revealed, look at the way the story is framed, how each party is represented and most importantly the why. Why was that particular outlet chosen to break the story? Why did the paparazzi get that shot? Why would this be considered news? And don’t forget this as well… What is this trying to sell? Every single player in the gossip world is trying to sell you something: an image, a product, a magazine, site hits. I think that as long as we’re critically thinking about the gossip we consume, it’s not harmless to us.
If you want to read further into the world of paparazzi and celebrity gossip, check out this Rolling Stone article from last year.
Still with me? Thanks! Share your favourite gossip sites in the comments, your favourite celeb gossip story or let me know if you think I missed anything or want more opinions.
So Jen and I had an epic night last night. It was epic on our level, so we didn’t meet the queen, or make out with Ed Sheeran (god I wish…) but it was one of our most fun nights ever and thinking back, I feel that there are a few tips we can throw your way to make an epic eve.
Step 1 – Pasta and wine
So in Vancouver, there is a restaurant called Trattoria, and they have this amazing thing, called Trat Tuesdays. All pasta is $11. And their house wine is $5 a glass. I won’t lie, we do this a lot. Secret fun fact, we used to go for $11 pasta after our Weight Watchers meetings. Whoops! Anyways, we usually get the same thing, their spaghetti and meatballs, because they are incredible. I would seriously recommend this to anyone. The only issue is that there is often a pretty significant wait time, but not a worry! Just find a nearby bench and gab until they text you telling you to come on in!
Not my picture. Mine would have had slightly more drool. And a large dent in a meatball.
Gently make fun of the group sitting next to you (preferably under your breath, it is far less fun if they know what is happening). If an approximately 50 year old man has a dye job and haircut similar to Barry Manilow, they are simply asking for it.
The resemblance was uncanny.
Step 3 – Impulsiveness
One of the topics up for discussion at dinner was the fact that I am going to my Dad’s wedding on Saturday and have yet to find a pair of shoes. So after we were finished our scrumptious dinner, Jen suggested that we hit Metrotown (the mall across the street) as there were 30 minutes until closing! We got there in 4 minutes and were shopping in 5.
Step 4 – Decisiveness
We went to three shoe stores, selected 5 shoes, one came in my size, and were purchased within 15 minutes.
It has become increasingly clear that neither Jen or I are very good at stepping out of the shopping box, mostly because of Old Navy. It is the favourite and standby for both of us, and as we had an additional 15 minutes to kill before we were physically removed from the mall, we had time to kill. So we spend 10 minutes shopping, and basically ended up purchasing the exact same thing.
We each got a white t-shirt and some epic leggings, and we were both going to get another top, that I did end up getting but Jen did not. Because she has self restraint, and I do not.
These make me infinitely more excited for fall
You can find the Old Navy Patterned Leggings here. The top I got does not seem to exist online, but I will update it if I find it!
Step 6 – FroYo
So I used to live down the street from Menchies. If you have not experienced this, I am very sorry. Menchies is the FroYo to end all FroYo. It has a single great flavour (Purely Tart) but endless amazing toppings. Jen came up with the idea to go there, 50% because it is delicious, and 50% because we really needed to go to the bathroom, and the ones in the mall closed before we were done shopping. Anyways, stellar call Jen. We also got to witness the coming of age of two boys who were listening to some old school rap, thinking they were real hip and hoppin. So we went back to Step 2 for a hot minute.
Aint that the truth
Anyways, it was a pretty perfect evening, and I was able to come home, and trot my dog around the block in my new shoes without them hurting at all. I hope this is a good sign.
What do you like to do when you get together with your friends? Let us know!
I love comedy and I love funny ladies. I will support most female-driven comedies because I really think women are doing some hilarious stuff and I want them to succeed. By going to their movies or watching their shows, it’s like a vote for them and therefore gets the network and movie execs to take notice and make more female driven stuff.
Abbi and Ilana
I watched the first two seasons of Girls, but gave up on it after the first or second episode of the third. I want to love Lena Dunham, but there’s so much about her that doesn’t jive with me (that’s another post for another day). Last year I caught some previews of a new show, Broad City, that was supposed to be a funnier version of Girls. I had high hopes that it would be the Girls I wanted Girls to be, and Broad City is everything I wanted and more. Check out a preview of the first episode…
The first episode had me hooked. This show is produced by Amy Poehler, one of the best women in comedy right now, and created and developed by Ilana Glaszer and Abbi Jacobson, who are also the two stars. They’re two women in their twenties who don’t have their shit together but get up to some seriously hilarious things while trying to make money, get laid and smoke pot.
I talk to a lot of people about this show and most have never heard of it. And that’s a shame because people should be watching this show. Not because it’s by two funny ladies (even though they are two funny ladies) but because it’s one of the best comedies on the air right now. Abbi plays the straight woman to Ilana, and while Abbi is the most relatable for most people, there’s something so endearing about Ilana (even though I don’t know how long I could put up with her as a friend sometimes).
They’re in between seasons right now, so I recommend catching up before Season 3 starts. You can also check out more clips on the Broad City YouTube channel.
Or you can see my favourites below…
And finally…
These two are the best, I want to friend them immediately.
Who are some of your favourite lady comedians? Any shows/movies you want to recommend can be left in the comments.
I got an ice cream maker from my dear cousin last Christmas, and although I love it, I didn’t really get around to using it a lot. Mostly because when I need an ice cream fix, I need it NOW not in 24 hours plus planning and grocery shopping. But this summer, I have been immensely bored, because summer school is only on two days a week, and the other 5 days, when I should be studying for said two days of school, I want to take on projects. Like perfecting homemade ice cream.
Looks so simple and delightful! So over the past couple of weeks, I have been experimenting. The first batch I made, I got half and half, not whipping cream, and it was too icey. The second batch, I did the correct amount of whipping cream, but it ended up with that fatty residue in my mouth, which reminds me that I am being bad. I choose to avoid that. Anyways, I was originally set on perfecting vanilla ice cream, and while it was fun, I think my roommate is tired of me bursting into his room and demanding that he try the new batch. This has happened once, but I think once was enough.
So I am skipping to the good stuff. Although I cannot wait to make a boozy version (seriously, all of this stuff is just a time waster until I can get to the rill good stuff). I am making peanut butter ice cream.
Why peanut butter you ask? Why the hell not! Also I like peanut butter everything. Reese’s are my favourite, and I genuinely think peanut butter goes with everything, bananas, jam, regular butter… So this is the current one. This time though, I am still trying out different fat content in the milk, but I am pretty sure this batch is going to be a winner. I will write down the recipe of what I did, and hopefully it turns out. If not? Well fuck.
First of all, this is the ice cream maker I have
From what I can see from my endless googling though, you can also make homemade ice cream with ice in a large bowl, and a smaller bowl in the middle (similar to a double boiler method) and you churn the ice cream with beaters.
Anyhoodledoodle, here is the recipe for the ice cream I hope turns out perfectly.
First step is to put the ice cream churning cold bowl thing in the freezer, this is if you have an ice cream maker, if you not, disregard, this makes absolutely no sense. If you are doing it the old fashioned way, make sure you have a lot of ice. Same with the ice cream maker, it that ice cream churning cold bowl thing is not totally frozen, you will have a milkshake type mixture, that while delicious, will not ice cream make. You can though, take life by the horns and dip a straw into that half churned cream and go to town. I definitely did the first time I made it.
Ingredients
2 cups whipping cream
2 cups whole milk
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp Maldon salt
Directions
-Mix the peanut butter and the sugar together until fully combined.
-In another bowl mix the whipping cream and the whole milk with the vanilla.
-Slowly pour the milk mixture in with the peanut butter and sugar, allowing it to blend.
-Put all ingredients in a bowl and cover in a fridge for an hour.
-Once chilled, pour the mixture in the ice cream maker, and let that shit churn for about a half hour
-Empty ice cream into a glass dish and let it chill in the freezer, if you like it hard… If you like it soft, eat it right away 🙂
-Mix in the 1 tsp of Maldon salt so that you get that sweet and salty goodness
-Add some additional peanut butter into the dish to make sure you get a full peanut butter bite or two
-Also I am sprinkling chopped chocolate chips, and using some Hershey’s Shell chocolate sauce
-Serve and enjoy!
Confession time: I didn’t follow my own advice and didn’t let the ice cream churning cold bowl thing cool long enough. So the ice cream didn’t get fully frozen before I put it in the freezer. It was a little icey, but still delicious. The taste was awesome though, and if I was patient enough, it would have been absolute perfection.
What kinds of things do you work on tirelessly to make perfect?
Alternate titles for this post: An ode to the Canadian healthcare system; It’s not a tumour; or My humour is wasted on the medical community.
I recently had to have an MRI. But before I get into that, let me tell you why.
I recently acquired what I like to refer as Skull Water. Basically, I have too much water in my skull. It happens to 1 out of every 100,000 women so it kinda makes me feel special but not really because 100,000 is not a very large number when you compare it to the 7 billion + we got roaming this earth. That’s not going to stop me from using I’m one in 100,000 as my new pickup line though.
This was caught during a routine eye exam and answered a lot of questions about why my face randomly went numb in a few spots earlier this year. What my skull water does is it presses on nerves and can numb certain parts of my face, sometimes momentarily or sometimes for a few days at a time. It typically happens when I’m retaining water due to the heat or hormones. There’s been times when it has been so uncomfortable and horrible that I’d cry out of frustration, most other times it’s just a weird sensation that almost feels like Novocain.
On the plus side, it was the inspiration for The Weeknd’s I Can’t Feel My Face (Note: I can’t verify the truthiness of this statement)
Right now my goal is to get the extra skull water out of my head by peeing and sweating it out. If it doesn’t go away I may need to get a lumbar puncture (aka a spinal tap), but I really hope it doesn’t come to that so bring on the water pills.
Anyways, last month I was at my doctor’s for a check up for this skull water business and he casually asked if I had gone for an MRI for this. I’ve known from the beginning that some of my symptoms are the same as those associated with a brain tumour, but both my eye doctor, this specialist dude and the hours of googling I put in to become a specialist in skull water all agreed that I likely didn’t have a tumour because I didn’t have the major symptoms of a tumour (vomiting and headaches). So after a few months of visiting the doctor to get checkups and to make sure things were going as they should (not getting worse), my doc was all like “oh shit, we should get you an MRI to cover my ass.”
Ok, he didn’t say that but his casual bedside manner was very close to that.
I appreciate this guys candour, I don’t want some doctor to sugarcoat things and be wishy washy about the details, but sometimes it can be a bit much. He essentially knows I don’t have a tumour (thank god), but wants me to get the MRI to double check this, which is what I wanted. It’s just that telling me to get the MRI to make sure he wasn’t misdiagnosing me so he didn’t get in trouble could’ve been rephrased to put more emphasis on my health.
So I get a referral for the MRI. In the referral they ask if I need sedation, I say no and the nurse calls me a champ. Apparently turning down drugs to lie in a tube is being a champ. Go me!
If you know anything about the Canadian Healthcare System you may know that it’s not the fastest in the world. Don’t get me wrong, I love it and would rather spend 6 months waiting for an appointment to see a specialist than live without. I honestly cannot wrap my brain around Americans who are against Obamacare. And just because you may have to wait for an appointment or procedure that isn’t an immediate need (my mom has been waiting to get on a list for knee surgery for years), doesn’t mean you’re waiting months for cancer treatment as the anti-healthcare politicians would suggest. Even though the skull water isn’t an immediate threat, I did get an appointment with a specialist within a day when my optometrist first caught it.
When I got the referral for the MRI, I settled in for a long wait. Seeing that we were sure it wasn’t a tumour, I assumed it wouldn’t be until later this year I’d get my appointment. So imagine my surprise when the MRI people called and said I could come in week from that day, at 7am, on a holiday. Since I’m not super happy about waking up before 7am (or even 8am), I asked if they had a later date, they said around Christmas… 7am it was! (Note: I’m very aware that this is not typical of the British Columbia health care system and wait times are typically 3-6 months, I got my appointment in a week because someone else cancelled and I called at the right time. I was very lucky)
When the day came, I couldn’t sleep the night before. Mostly because I was in bed early anticipating a 5:30am alarm and so I started counting back how many hours I would sleep if I fell asleep right now. That never works by the way. I also started wondering what they would see in the MRI and what if there was a tumour. I finally fell asleep and an hour and a half later my alarm went off.
My mom took me to the appointment, partially for moral support but also because I needed a ride since transit doesn’t run that early on holidays.
My appointment was for 7am, I arrived a bit before and filled out all the paperwork, finally at 7:20 a guy around my age came to get me for my MRI. I was asked in the paperwork if I had any shrapnel in my body as well as if I had a pacemaker or any other metallic items inserted. Nope, I told the guy. He asked about my tattoos and said they may warm up and that I can alert him via a tiny alarm I’d hold during the procedure that would stop the MRI and he’d come help me. I asked him if this would mean we’d have to restart, he said yes, I decided I’d put up with any pain they could throw at me. I tried to joke with him, but he wasn’t having any of my nervous (and quite hilarious if I do say so myself) remarks.
In all, the guys asked me four times if I had a pacemaker or any medical device that might be metal, I’m not sure what he was trying to achieve with the repetition. Maybe he thought I was the Will Ferrell character in Austin Powers and needed to be asked three times before I’d admit to it?
He took me to a dressing room and told me to change into some scrubs, leaving behind all my own clothes (and bra) in a locker. My only regret is that I didn’t bring my phone with me, I had left my purse with my mom and regret not having my phone because the lighting in the change room was fabulous and my make-up was on point. I wanted a selfie (unfortunately no full length mirror so I wouldn’t get a scrubs selfie even if I had my phone).
After I changed I found the MRI guy again and we went into this room with a long tube. Again, I kinda wished I had my phone so I could take photos even though that would be a big no no in a room with a giant magnet in it.
The whole thing lasted about 20 minutes and you just get on that bed and lie completely still as you get put into the giant tube and random scans are done. I would’ve fallen asleep in there except I can’t sleep on my back and it was too cramped for this girl who likes to stretch out. Also, the noises are kinda annoying despite them giving me ear plugs.
I could see how someone who is claustrophobic would need sedation, there is literally no where to move as you’re strapped down and your head is in this weird cage
It actually got pretty boring in there. I kept trying to think about what they were scanning, thinking it was just my brain but I felt the magnetic and radio waves on my arms as well. My various tattoos didn’t heat up and there was no pain or discomfort involved. I kept trying to think nice thoughts because I’ve seen one too many shows where different parts of your brain can light up depending on what you’re thinking of and I didn’t want bad things to light up. But then of course my brain kept going to the weird dark places.
After I stop trying to control what I was thinking of I started naming the sounds the machine would make. Each sound would last 30 seconds to a minute, sometimes repeating at different parts in the scan, and sometimes it would be silent. One noise reminded me of my morning alarm, another reminded me of a microwave beeping. It wasn’t until afterwards, while at Starbucks, I realized one of the sounds was the same sound the Starbucks oven makes when it’s done warming up your pastry.
Luckily, the experience wasn’t too horrifying so I won’t be having PTSD when I’m at Starbucks or my alarm goes off in the morning.
I haven’t heard back anything from my doctor, I’ll visit him in a week for my monthly checkup, but I’m assuming since I haven’t heard anything in two weeks that I don’t have a tumour.
Hopefully this helps if you’re about to get an MRI, searching around online before the procedure I couldn’t find any info about the little questions I had. So here’s a few of the questions, along with the answers that I now know:
Can you wear make-up during the MRI? Yes
Can you get an MRI if you have make-up tattoos? Yep, it may burn but I didn’t notice it
Can you wear contact lenses during an MRI? Yes
Will I need sedation during an MRI? I imagine if you’re claustraphobic you’d like it, but it really wasn’t that bad for myself who isn’t. It was like being tucked in really well, except instead of blankets it was a metal tube.
Leave any questions you have in the comments! Have you ever had a MRI, what did you think of the process?
The Rill Girls 