friday favourites 15.07.11

well, after my week off, i'm back to fill you in on the little things that made my time better in the last little while. i have an abiding fury with canada post, owing to the fact that i'm stuck depending on them, which has tainted much of my week, but given that i got to celebrate dom's b-day [see my earlier post], which involved getting together with friends at cagibi [which is remarkably similar to what we do almost every wednesday, but involved more drinking this time] and listening to the electro stylings of dj tyg, it's certainly a week that had its high points. several of them, in fact...

1. a cosmetic find :: i wasn't even looking, because i assumed i'd missed the boat long ago, but i managed to score a tube of nars' much-coveted, no-longer-available "strawberry fields" lip gloss. as far as glosses go, i'm a sucker for cheery, saturated magentas, so it does seem like fate that this gloss and i eventually found each other. it's a perfect summery shade, the kind of thing that sort of yells at the sun "hey! i can be all bright and stuff too!" and in fact, that's what i did. you can see the results here. if you're in the montreal area and think this looks appealing, you should consider checking the nars counter at the bay downtown. no one said i got the last one.

MUCH MORE AFTER THE BREAK AND YOUR CAT OF THE WEEK...

i think you're awesome, too

2. my love, justified :: i was kind of horrified this week that i felt compelled to write a letter to fluevog telling them i was unhappy about something. long story short, i've basically lost two heel caps off very lightly-worn shoes in the last couple of weeks. i didn't want to be nasty, and i wasn't, but i sort of felt rattled that after a very long time of being a dedicated e-vog-gelist was i was suddenly feeling a bit shaken.

the response, as i gleefully pointed out to dom, is the kind of thing that should be shown to people in business school. it was prompt, but at the same time, it showed that the person who received it had followed up to get me answers. and those answers make good sense, which is really all i wanted. there was a solution offered and the entire tone was gracious without seeming obsequious or phony. well done!

and fyi, they're having their annual summer sale right now, so it is a great time to check out what they have available. 

3. schadenfreude :: if there is a better feeling for a thinking observer of media than watching rupert murdoch twist in the wind, i can't think of it. oh, wait. but this is really so much bigger.

further proof that gingers have no souls

don't get me wrong. i'm so disgusted by everything i hear about this scandal that i'm finding it difficult to eat while watching the news. i mean, i knew that murdoch's empire was rotten, but this is bad even by the standards of a corporation that allows something it calls a news agency to knowingly propagate lies in the name of inflaming popular rhetoric, so that meaningful issues cannot be discussed in a rational, comprehensive way [assuming they can be discussed at all]. ahem. i'm getting carried away.

it's just that all of the disgust i can muster isn't going to change what's happened. so you'll forgive me if i just sit back and hope that the rot is profound enough to bring down the whole castle. this morning's news that executive rebekah brooks- who was the head of "news of the world" when it was engaged in the worst of its phone hacking and who was subsequently promoted [let's all think about that for a second]- has fallen on her sword is just the latest thing that makes me hope that, just maybe, there is some justice in the world.

4. a job well done :: those of you who follow me on twitter saw this picture, which is what happened when my superintendent came in to paint the recently rebuilt ceiling in my bathroom. apparently, he decided to test the wall to see if it needed some grouting and accidentally ended up pulling most of the wall down. well, to be honest, it was kind of an accident waiting to happen.

but now look at my bathroom.

not only is it freshly painted, but it's freshly tiled and grouted and it's cleaner than it has been ever in this century, thanks to the use of a lot of elbow grease [by the superintendent] and a cleaner that i was told not breathe too close to. [strangely, my asthma has been better the last couple of days.]

i think i'm a little intimidated by it. i feel like i might not be clean enough to bathe there, which is kind of a difficult problem to solve. but damn, it's sparkly and white and large parts of it are newer than the hair that probably still inhabits the drain. not too shabby. not shabby at all.

those are a few of my bright spots this week. feel free to share yours. this week, of course, i'll be reserving time in my schedule to sit down and watch as much coverage as i can possibly stand of mad murdoch's woes, but i promise not too get too smug. i have a feeling he'll weasel out one way or the other.

speaking of smug, i have to say that this is becoming a problem for me. i've recently started forcing myself to button down and keep detailed lists of things i need to do, so that i can track my own progress and not forget to do things for three months like i normally do. the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment this brings should, at best, qualify as "normal", but i've been kind of lax for the last little while, letting myself get intimidated by random things i haven't been getting done, so i feel like i've been oh so very productive lately. i've reached that stage where i can't help crowing about things i've gotten done, which is probably incredibly irritating for people who have to be around me [dom]. so i'll add a note to my list that i have to not be quite so proud of myself. after all, i've been quite productive, but i also accidentally used dish soap in my mopping water.


regular readers of the blog might recall that i have a real love for things purple, so this just seemed like the purrrrfect kitteh of the week photo...

thanks for reading and have a great week!

friday favourites 11.02.11

today's guest contributor

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^ that note comes to you courtesy of hecubus, our siamese, the home's tiniest resident, but usually its most vocal. i believe that's his way of saying that it's time for another edition of friday favourites, that sweet pause in the week where i take a few moments to think about what's made the past seven days better. 

clinique vétérinaire plateau mont-royal :: animal lovers know how difficult it can be to find a good vet. it's actually worse than finding a good doctor, because a lot of vets are just in the game to make money. i had a truly horrific experience with chats decarie (since closed), where the staff refused to give me straight answers to any of my questions, but kept insisting that i had to purchase more medications and services or i was a horrible pet owner. but that's over now, because, through an old friend of dom's, we found the cvpmr.

breathing easier, as are his parents

it's no accident that judith weissman and her staff are consistently selected as one of the top clinics in montreal. they're friendly, fluently bilingual, professional and, most importantly, they don't try to hard sell you on things you don't need. part of being a good vet is being able to set the "parents'" minds at ease. yes, your animal companions can get sick, but not every sickness is life-threatening. even chronic conditions are manageable and, as the staff there are more than willing to assure you, the most important component of maintaining an animal's good health is knowing when you really need to be worried.

our latest trip there came because our beloved little tuxedo-boy seth seemed to be having some respiratory difficulty this morning. a check-up and a quick x-ray later, we were reassured that this is likely a passing thing, there are no signs of a viral infection or obstruction in the lungs. there is the chance that he may, like his mom, have asthma. in which case we'll both have to make sure to keep our inhalers close by.

we left feeling relieved, cared for and respected. what more could you ask from a vet?


stephane @ videotron tech help :: a lot of people tell me that they have problems with videotron. i assume that they're not exaggerating, but i have to sort of shrug, because i've always been happy with their service. think about that: when was the last time you were actually happy- as opposed to "fine"- with the service provided by your phone, cable or internet company? it's just that, in my case, they're always easy to deal with and whenever i've had a problem, they've helped. (that includes fixing the wiring to my apartment that somehow got screwed up when bell tried to connect a phone line.)

but today, i'd like to give a particular thanks to stephane in the tech support department, who stayed solved a bizarre internet problem for us- something that may not even have related to equipment that videotron provided, in the end- even taking the time to research what might have been wrong and calling us back minutes later, rather than just sticking us on hold, like some other service providers i've dealt with.

fashion's promise :: yes, it's still freezing cold (worse this week than last, overall) and yes, there's still snow everywhere, so you'd be forgiven for getting lost in the darkness that is winter (particularly if you live in the middle of the u.s. these days), but every year around this time, the fashion world does us a solid and reminds us all that milder days are ahead. because february hails the arrival of spring collections. brighter colours and lighter fabrics start to sneak onto racks when we're not looking. sure, if you're me, you're likely to find more things that you like in the fall, but there's something nice about knowing that spring is puckering its soft coral-pink lips and blowing you a kiss. and one company has even chose to remind us that we have enough superhero in us to fight our way through the icy conditions for another few weeks.

this :: a painstaking recreation of joy division's performance of "transmission" on the show "something else". with playmobil. what more can i say?



¡la revolucion! :: is there really anything else to talk about? it's only two short weeks ago that i said i'd be watching events in egypt closely. at that point, demonstrations there were just starting to get full news coverage, but one had the sense that there was something major going on there. something that carried the force of public will. and indeed, just a few hours ago, hosni mubarak finally bowed to the will of the people and resigned.

despite the presence of provocateurs- and reports indicate that these were largely government supporters- protesters did not give in to the invitation to violence, the stuck to their guns by not sticking to guns and they got what they demanded. but there's a lot more going on. first, there's the fact that, by keeping protests peaceful and by acknowledging the wisdom of a provisional government to help bring stability, egyptians have also toppled a lot of western assumptions about arabs. and let us not forget that mubarak for years was a dictator who had the backing of the united states. egypt has effectively shown that the will of a people can bring even the world's great superpower to heel. (it helps that the world's great superpower has a bit more of a level head in charge at the moment.) and of course, there's the fact that this is the first revolution that made significant use of new media in building momentum. that's something that will be analysed for years to come.

it's worth noting that even the traditional media fared well in this. winning high praise from egyptian dissidents, major news networks stuck their necks out (and some almost got them broken) to show what was going on.

but, as obama said, this is all about the egyptian people. yes, there is lots of work to be done and yes, there will be continued problems to face. but it's pretty impossible not to love what's going on there tonight.

so what made your week? what's brought a smile to your lips? feel free to share.

this week, while i'll continue to watch events in egypt, i'll also be taking a bit of a breather and making sure my little black and white boy is ok. i won't lie, i got a real scare this morning, but now i just want to keep an eye on him and make sure that he continues to improve. plus, of course, i'll be concentrating on myself and my continuing job hunt. i've enjoyed the last couple of months' vacation, i won't lie, but i'm aware that it's time to put on my big girl pants and go back to the working world. know anyone in montreal who wants to hire a marketing professional with over a decade experience, great communication skills and organisational ability? wish me luck.