Monday, February 28, 2011

Moody Mondays

Cramps over came me with full force today,
So I decided to call it a night in.

Alerted the kettle,
switched the faucets above the bath,
pulled out the exotic teas,
and filled the water baby with piping hot liquids for my tummy.

I haven't made a full meal for myself alone in ages,
so I wrapped up a bulb of garlic in tin foil,
set the burners ablazing with pots of noodles and tomato sauce,
and cooked myself a beautiful pasta dinner.

Sometimes you have to remember that even when its just you,
you should pull out all the stops...

I sprinkled on chili goat cheese and cilantro, made garlic toast, and
pressed play on my library "film fest acclaimed" movie find.
Curled up with my water bottle, and called it a night.

Sometimes its worth it to love yourself first...

Night my lovelies <3

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sisterly Love

Yesterday my lovely sister and I spent a wonderful day together tromping through the unexpected snow storm, painting and attending a theatrical concert.

We met up around halfway through the day at my place (after my relaxing morning of yoga and tea times), and since we had a couple of hours to spend till our concert that night, we pulled out my paint set and set our imaginations a blaze.

We started in on the same canvas with no idea what we were going to create and ended up making a beautiful under the water scene, which we are going to give to our mom.
I also made painted an awesome hot air balloon, which I am going to add some more detail to on a later date.
It had been a long time since I painted, and so my man got me a lovely paint box, with paints and brushes included for Christmas :) It was really sweet and super inspiring!

After we washed off our paint brushes, we laced up our corsets and I downed my rock creeks, to ready ours selves for the Emilie Autumn concert.
The buses were slow because of the crazy amount of Vancouver snowfall, but we still managed to make it down to the Rickshaw in good time for the show.

I really didn't know what to expect going into this concert as I had only seen one photo of Emilie Autumn and when I tried listening to her music on youtube, I couldn't stand the gothic angsty songs.... but since I had received free tickets from a friend and I knew that my sister was into her, I decided to give it a whirl.


There was Victorian corsets, silk dancing, fire spinning, tea and cupcakes being thrown into the audience, and rat games. The show was phenomenal! If you have the chance to see them in the flesh I totally recommend it as they ooze stage presence!

We capped off our night with a enchanted snow walk and "Josie and the Pussycats" playing in a warm bed room.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well and enjoy the Oscars today (we are all dressed up and heading down to the local movie theatre to catch them on the big screen!)

Happy End Of Feb To You All! <3


Thursday, February 24, 2011

Feeling Full and Fancy Free

(When I paused the movie "Footloose" to go grab some tea,
this is what happened :)... )

With another week under my utility belt,
I'm feeling better about my "post birthday" state,
and feeling the full force of lovely friendships and gatherings.

1.) Sunday adventures :
Last Sunday I had possibly one of the fullest (and cheapest) days in a long time.

I awoke with my love after a drunken night of "Naked Lunch" and poetry,
and dragged our heavy heads, out of bed for some yoga making times.
Now if you've been following my blog for a bit, or know me in real life,
you would know that as much as I would love to have yoga be a daily,
or even bi-weekly part of my life, I haven't gotten there for a while now...
but my man is a daily yogateer and more importantly a regular POWER yoga bum...
So I fought my insecurities and joined him for what
I knew would be an intense early morning power yoga practice at our local studio.
It started with a rough start, but as the class continued,
it got easier to follow along, and was actually a more pleasurable challenging class.
One part in particular stuck with me throughout the day,
which was when we got into groups of 3
and we asked to assist each other in supported hand stands...
Yea... freaking right... was what my mind was first thinking,
but as we got into it, I watched those around me making their way into perfect hand stands.
And all that fear disappeared, and I was able to focus on my posture in the pose.

When we all came down and back onto our mats,
with open hearts and happy faces,
I was much more happier and thankful for the oppurtunity
to try something I didn't think that I could do.

 After class I met up with my sister, and childhood best friend Monica,
for an adventure date downtown.
Our first stop was the Pacific Cinematheque for the Disney classic "Pinocchio",
with a pre film redition of many Disney tunes, by a band
and words by a  historian on the topic.
It was great to see such a childhood classic on the big screen!

Then we ventured to the Vancouver Art Gallery to check out their new exhibits :
We - 12 Manifesto's  for the city was on the main floor,
which was very informative and exciting. It was nice to see what is going on in Vancouver to bring some knowledge about big topics to the people,
as well as see some intrest being sparked about all the
cool happenings going on around us.
Ken Lum's work and Unreal were both an interesting look on human nature,
and were some of the best work I have seen at the art gallery in a while.
It was really refreshing to see some out of the box work being
presented at the gallery, for a change.
To cap off our night we hit my favorite Indian food restaurant for dinner, and then went back to my house for a couple of rounds of travel scrabble, and Disney pixar monopoly.
It was a really great day!

2.) Burlesque Show :
As I mentioned, I had my first Burlesque performance in quite a long time, a few days ago.
And as much as I would love to say that it went off without a hitch, I can't state that.
Although what I can say, is that even with all the improvization we had to do on the spot to make our act work (because one of our members had to leave early), we really rocked in and the audience totally ate it up!
Even when the chocolate in my bra melted and I was cover with a big brown splotch on the side of my boob, I just shrugged it off and licked my fingers clean :)


I was very lucky to have wonderful friends who got there early and saved two tables right at the front of the stage, where they hooted and hollared for me loudly as I bared my body on stage. I am really blessed to have these people in my life :)

3.) Knit bombing : Although I have yet to do my own knit bombing (was going to try the other night), I am very excited about this phenomenon that is happening in the city right now. This is just some I got to check out the other day on my street :

Feel free to send me some pictures if you find some great examples in your city!

Well thats all for now folks as I need to get out in this sunshine before its too late!
Tata for now!
    Love Nymph

Friday, February 18, 2011

Productivity comes with a smile

A smile has come back to my pouty face, as I have come back down to the real world, and begun to get my things in order, instead of beating myself up about doing nothing. My Horoscope kinda pushed me into that direction this morning by stating :
 
If you focus all your energy in a single direction today you might just achieve something remarkable. There can be no more doubts and no more wondering if you are making the right move. Don’t think – act. And make it fast.

1.) Organized my online life :
Since I don't have a computer to call my own,
I end up racking up a large "to do" list 
pertaining to the Internet. 
This is what I completed tonight :

-Updating my myfavs for my phone to include my partners new number
-Booking off a night at the Pacific Cinematheque, 
which means individually copying and pasting each "spares" email address 
and sending out a mass email that has to be compelling enough 
to get them to want to cover the shift for me
-Registering my new Kryptonite bike lock online,
so that if I do happen to lose my keys I am not at a total loss
-Buy tickets to an awesome show tomorrow night called "Howl" at the Rio
where they are featuring the movies Howl and Naked Lunch
as well as showcasing some local talent in the city with live Jazz and Spoken Word

-Renew movies from the library (small but very important)
-Renew my subscription to the magazine Nylon, 
because as much as I don't need it I loved receiving it in the mail
(maybe I am just a mail whore... I can live with that!)
(This was actually the cover of the first Nylon 
that I bought back in 2004)

2.) Focused on one of my new goals for 2011 :
 Which is to start my own Etsy shop with my mom!
My mom has always been a very crafty inspiration for me, 
and I have always been boiling with creative ideas.
So I thought what better way to showcase that talent 
and start working towards doing what I love for a living,
then to start up my own Etsy account :)

We knit, sew, quilt, and embellish the boring! 
And are looking forward to bringing some spice into the lives of others!
We brainstormed a name tonight, and made list of all the possibilities we could create, 
and it just makes me all rosy in the cheeks thinking about it!
Stayed tuned for more information!

3.) Wrote a couple of snail letters :
(which just made me think about how cool it would be 
if I could find a rubber stamp with a snail on it! 
And of course I look on etsy and there are tons of them!)
This is just one of them :

The first one is to my sister who lives only a 30 min bus ride away from me
but also shares in the joy of a good letter, full of stickers and childhood references!
(It also has a surprise in it, but I can't mention it here for fear that she might read it...)

And the other is to my newish pen pal who because she only lives 
2 blocks away from me hand delivered my letter to me last night.
Hm mm I feel like I need to explain...
She's a partial friend to an ex of mines group of friends,
and even though we have met at a couple of parties we never 
really talked much even though I always thought we would get along.
So one day new Christmas I bumped into her walking with a parcel, 
and inquired about it, telling her how much I love mail (goodness I really am a mail nerd)
and she told me that she would send me things...
and so it began...
But she is unlike an other pen pal I have had in that she just sends me the tiniest of notes, 
and then odd clippings from different magazines, 
or old postcards, 
or old calendars... 
I am quite enjoying the oddity of this relationship 
and can't wait to see where it takes us.

Care to share anything that you have been putting off doing lately?
Or any goals that you want to conquer?

Love Nymph
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo etc...

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Down and up?

I guess I am feeling how one usually does after the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season is over...
With my Birthday come and gone for another year, I am feeling kinda at a loss.

Its such a big event in my life, that every thing else (no matter how much I am looking forward to it) seems kinda bland in comparison on my day planner...

I also have a confession to make to you blog readers and friends (which really is the same thing)...

I have not been going to the gym as of lately...

*slaps wrists* Bad Nymph

Its just that I have fallen into this stupid vicious cycle where I have no energy so I don't want to go to the gym, and I have no energy because I haven't been going to the gym...

This cycle really will not end until I suck it up and start attending the gym again, no matter how many EXCUSES I can make up for me not to go...

As for tonight,
all I could muster was crawling into my bed
and my knitting, and turning off the world for a night.

I promise I will be back tomorrow, bright eyed and bushy tailed, but for tonight I leave you with this poem I wrote for the occasion...

I decided to take it easy,
Since my mind was feeling queasy,
Pounding thoughts down the production line,
Leaving little for the cares of mine.

What about me?
And mine?
And the things I love that take time.
About caring for the condition inside my head,
When I know I should be at home in bed.

Saying yes is not always the answer,
and life isn't about finishing first.
So take the time you need to ponder,
and relax to quench that thirst.

Hope you enjoy,
      Night.

Valentines Magic

As I have already expressed the rest of my weekend was utterly amazing,
but Valentines really took the cake :)
It was a dreary rainy day but that didn't stop us 
from making out own magic in the kitchen...
Dressed in our Valentines finest, 
we proceeded to make heart and boot shaped 
sugar cookies.
 
Now I know you understand the hearts, 
but your probably thinking,
"Whats so romantic about a boot?"

Well my loves, 
truth be told my favorite nickname for my man,
is to call him my "old boot"
as he is over half my age older than me,
and I love rubbing it in his face.
So you can imagine how excited I was to pop into Ming Wo
to find a boot shaped cookie cutter
amongst their airplanes, and giraffes.
 I made the sugar cookies, 
and he made the vanilla and lemon zest
sugar icing, which made our cookies to die for!
We followed up our cookie making with a cuddle fest,
on rose petal covered sheets,
whilst watching "The Notebook", 
before heading to a show that evening at the Rio.

For our lovely Valentines evening enjoyment
a local band "Said the Whale" was to be headlining, 
What a night!
Not to mention there was a computer error,
that sold too many tickets for the venue 
so the theatre was so crowded
that people were sitting in the isles and standing by the stage.
 But that didn't stop the vibe from being,
totally uplifting, and full of love.
It was a gong show of awesomeness.

Hope you all had an equally amazing Valentines!
Love Nymph
xoxoxoxoxoxo etc...

Circus Birthday

And what a gorgeously debaucherous birthday it was...
Oh how I love my life...
as my beautifully warm apartment was filled with equally beautiful
and warm spirited carnies,
With love and fun on their coat tails...





I think the pictures kinda speak from themselves....
Best Birthday Ever!

Thanks for checking!
Love Nymph!
xoxoxoxoxo etc...





Saturday, February 12, 2011

Lessons of a birthday weekend

In this midst of my 24th birthday weekend
(my birthday was actually yesterday, but I haven't had anytime to blog), 
there has been a lot of lessons to be had :

Trying to have expectations on how exactly a birthday should go is absolutely stupid!
Yesterday started off amazing with breakfast in bed, with fresh tulips by my side, 
a romantic movie on the telly, and knitting in hand. It was amazing! 
We lazed around for hours just being content by each others company.

Then when we decided to head out to do a crap load of errand (totally by my choice), 
the day started looking down. 
I hate making decisions, and I can sometimes be quite a baby about things not going the way that I plan them to.. IE. not finding exactly the tights I am looking for, for my Circus birthday today, or taking a long time deciding in stores...
The conclusion was getting into downtrodden moods for no apparent reasons...
I know every one reading this can relate to what happened to us yesterday. 
Walking around in the rain trying to find the perfect birthday restaurant, having not eaten since 10 am... and getting more and more angry with each other for no reason as the lights start to go out on my birthday evening.

Luckily! We ended up finding the perfect place... an Italian heaven right here on my very own street where we started our adventure. Live music, pasta, large glasses of white wine, mood lighting and an amazing waitress who grabbed a whole gang of her coworkers to sing me Happy Birthday, and bring me free dessert. 
Its funny how simple things like this can be just the key that one needs in order to turn around a gloomy evening. 
We ended the night off with ciders in a candlelit room, watching the movie "Heathers". Which I know this might lose me some of my awesome cred, but I had never seen it before, and well to be honest still need to watch the ending of because I have a chronic habit of falling asleep during movies, no matter how excited I am to watch them.

He left this morning early to work, and I am left on day two of my 
4 day birthday weekend with yesterdays lessons under my belt. 

Today (because I got all my errands done yesterday hahaha! )
I am going to spend in bed with my book and movie friends, relaxing, crafting, having a bath, maybe go out to my mans coffee shop a block away for a London fog... but most of all not being silly about stupid emotional shit cause I that does is try to ruin a night, day or weekend, and I won't stand for it.

Oh and I say relax all day to a certain point because I will have to start decorating for my over the top, under the big top, Circus birthday party this evening. Where I am turning my living room into a circus tent, my room into a photo booth, myself into a sexy ring master, and my friends all into carnival freaks. 

Yes I love my life, and treat my birthdays like national holidays.
Hence why it is so important for me for me to take the lessons of yesterday and 
take a breath every once in a while, 
and take comfort in the fact that everything in the end,
is going to be peachy keen. 

*Photos from tonight's party will be up within the week, so keep posted!*

- Love Nymph
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo etc.


Monday, February 7, 2011

Creativity

This word keeps coming into my life this week,

With blog posts like this one,
And video journals like this one,
and horoscopes like this today in the 24 newspaper...

Aquarius
"Keep exploring. Writing a diary can be very helpful. Don't waste your time with gossip.
Your ideas deserve better. Look into publishing your words"

I wholeheartedly agree that if you should create something everyday in order keep your mind alive and active. It can be such a simple task that so many tend to neglect, 
especially with all the technology that we now have at our fingertips, 
sucking us to their vortex of status updates and online photo albums... 
at least those are my personal traps....

Here are some creative ideas :

Re-vamp a piece of furniture that you have always hated 
but never found the time to do anything about..

Before :
After :
*note: looks kinda shitty in this picture but actually 
matches my wooden bookcase that it sits on :)

Send valentines to all the ladies in your life (and special men! )
- Ive been creating unique valentines for each of my pen pals, family members,
and every lady at my work as well. Its a simple way to spread some love as well.

Making a meal! 
 
(Picture taken from my date last night)
Cooking is such an amazing craft, and such a rewarding one to boot!
Why not take the time and put the pleasure back into creating a meal, 
especially with a loved one! 

Even going to a show can be creative!
Especially when you gain inspiration from its beautiful performances!
-Because I am going to be performing later on this month, it was amazing to go to a Burlesque show the other night to give me some ideas, on how I want to put my character, costume and overall appeal! I went home so full of energy that I couldn't fall asleep and instead practiced seducing myself in the mirror :P 

*Just a little Note : The performer below is Catherine D'Lish, a world renowned Burlesque dancer who wowed the Wise Hall, Saturday night with her classic martini glass number. Where she proceeded to strip down to nothing but a jeweled g-string and pasties, and spin around in a giant martini glass full of bubbly water! I couldn't stop staring from amazing, and there was a resounding amount of "OMG's" from the standing audience! It was truly the best burlesque I have ever witnessed! 



Well on that note...
I should really get off this computer and finish my valentines, 
so I can head out to poetry slam at a reasonable hour :)

Keep on creating you beautiful people!

Love Nymph
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo etc...


Friday, February 4, 2011

A Bouquet Of Roses

Here are just some of my favorite things :

Having a candlelit scrabble game with my man, 
whilst singing along to the musical stylings of the Be Good Tanyas.

Having a beautiful home, full of love and a foster cat :)

This man :)

Getting new ink yesterday :)

Pounding out letters and valentines to lovely people,
whilst watching old classics from the library :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Happy Friday!

Love Nymph
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo etc.



Thursday, February 3, 2011

Blessed Be

I know that my life isn't always going to be like this... 
Living two blocks from my work, 
a work that I love, 
getting to craft in my free time, 
attending clubs at my free will,
having two wonderful best friends who I can tell anything to, 
having a wonderful relationship with my mother and sister, 
having a man in my life whose love means the world to me... 
 
and feeling just so utterly and significantly blessed that each day just gets brighter than the next... 
and that everyday has that magical sprinkling of fairy Christmas dust...
 
I know it won't always be like this... 
but I am sure grateful it is <3
 
 

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Book Club Virgin

Tonight I popped my book club cherry!
And all by myself for that matter ;)


With 80 pages to go and being the slow reader that I am, 
I worried about how I was going to pull off attending book club this morning. 
Especially seeing as I had to pull through a 8-3 shift 
and then a workout at the gym before the 7 o'clock club tonight.

Never before has my last minute cramming skills failed me so I took every chance I could 
(reading in between customers at the till, and balancing a book on my stationary bike), 
and all the time continued to remind myself that "its just a club".
*Its a nice feeling knowing that the hardest struggle in my life right now,
is having to finish a book for book club... :)

With two pages left to go, I stood outside the Railway Club
and finished reading "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave.

Hurrah!

I proudly walked up my two flights of stairs to the bar, ready to face the unexpected, 
and when I fully arrived I was shocked to see no gathering of people in the place, 
or no sight of the brightly covered books filling the tiny card tables. 

Honestly my first reaction was... "Phew... I don't have to walk into a room of strangers and 
talk about the book I just finished, 
because I don't have any friends coming with me and 
I don't know if they are going to make me talk more than I am comfortable with.... 
Phew!"

But I knew this was just my inner nerves talking,
 what I really needed to think was that I was going to be absolutely fine, 
and its not like they are going to expect me to have studied the book inside and out.
Its not like I am taking a university course on literature for peat's sakes, this is supposed to be fun.

So I walked up to the bartender and questioned about the book club at hand, and was directed to a room in the back with 11 others sitting around clutching the same yellow cover I had in my hand. 

Greeted with warm smiles and welcomes, I sat down right as a round of introductions were just about to start, followed by the age out question "Did you like the book?"
I was comforting and smart to get this question right out there in the open to begin with and see just what we were facing here in terms of likes and dislikes. 

That was followed by a rounds of discussion such as gender roles, drawn out descriptions and the continual melodramatic tendencies of the author, in which I made my voice be heard loud and clear. Which (being honest here again) shocked me. Here I was being scared to even arrive, and I was volunteering my opinion so freely to a room full of strangers.

I loved it!

The other part of the club that I really enjoyed was the fact that we all got to put to vote the book for next months club. It was nice to know that we had the say for our own club as opposed to the leader of the clubs views on what we might be interested in checking out. 

I left with a new book to check out for the next month, 
and a badge of honor on my self esteem.
And I can't wait to see what other gems
I can find in this vast city I love to call home.

Just in case anyone is interested in checking out the next book with me
its called "Lacuna" by Barbar Kingsolver.
Have you read it?
Have you read any of her books?
Any recommendations of books I should check out?