out of the closet

my name is michelle. and i (might be) a shopaholic. 

no, that can't be right. i'm not. in fact, i know i'm not. i can talk myself out of anything (thanks mom...). i regularly go to stores and leave with nothing at all. i can watch other people spend money on things and not feel the need to do the same. i can look at something and honestly say "i think i can wait til this goes on sale" or "i don't really need this". i am confident that i am neither a shopaholic, nor a shopaholic in denial. and yet, somehow, my closet is exploding.

i finally decided to tackle the piles of clothes that arrived on my doorstep a few weeks ago. long missed but not forgotten. no longer did i have to "suffer", wearing the same 8 tops and 2 pants that i bought when the weather got hot. no longer would i have to whinge about not having the appropriate attire for an event. only my sneakers are still missing (claimed by the floods). which, to be honest, pains me more then i'd like to admit.

so you can imagine my surprise when i realized that my clothes wouldn't fit in the closet. the entire closet. the closet that my oh-so-wonderful man vacated his 1/2 of tonight so i could have more room. (the closet that is significantly smaller then the one i had in perth...). and it still doesn't work. i need a divider to break it all up and shelf units that hang (amongst other things).  maybe i need a walk in closet with all the trimmings...mental note. i look at the piles of clothes left over, sitting sadly in the corner of our room (on the floor), waiting to be sorted and given a bit of love and attention again, and i feel awful. not awful about the actual fact that my clothes is sitting on the ground in piles but about the fact that i have so much stuff in the first place.

but here's the thing: i don't know how it came to be. i like to shop, of course. i don't know many girls who don't. but i don't go crazy. i am surprisingly practical. i've moved every few years since i was 18 and go through a ruthless sorting when i pack/unpack. and, to top it all off, i go through my closet every few months and get rid of things i don't wear anymore - a habit i've retained since childhood, when my mom made us do this at the start of every season so that we could see what we "really needed" for that season/school year (and so hand-me-downs were used before new clothes were purchased). it's a skill i am glad i have (and one i think local charity shops appreciate as well).

and yet, the evidence is there. i have too many things. way too many things. things of all colours, sizes, shapes, cuts and materials. things for warm days, things for cold days and things for every day in between. things for sports. things for lounging. things for sleeping. things for movie night. things for parties. things for special events. things things things! 

the worst part is, i don't know what to be more embarrassed about. the fact that i have too many things, or that fact that i feel like i'm still missing some *sigh*. john thinks it's both funny and sad. he doesn't understand how could i have this much stuff and still feel like i don't have enough. the question i can't answer and the answer that men will never understand. 

i suppose i'll just have to go through it all, sort it out, decide what i really need and what should just go. or maybe i should just get a bigger closet...

xo

NYC

for some reason, i'd really like to sing "you down with NYC (yeah you know me), you down with NYC (yeah you know me)". can't explain it. just feel like it.

about 10 days ago, i packed a small suitcase and ventured to the big apple to visit my sister, who has been living in brooklyn for some 3 years now. as i was previously situated 1/2 way around the world, visiting wasn't so easy. but now it's only a short, 1.5hr flight away. how fun!

my sister happens to be a pediatric resident at the moment. which loosely translates to not having any free time. and unfortunately for me, she had to work for 2 days of the 3.5 that i had in town. but not to worry, i managed to make the most of it.

thursday morning i made my way through the nyc subway system to canal st and broadway. canal street reminded me of bali a bit (oddly enough)- dozens of little stalls that people on the street are trying to lure you into, full of useless crap and souvenirs no one actually wants. i wasn't that excited about it, so my exploration of canal street lasted all of 10 mins. and then i just started walking.

i walked up broadway, from canal street to rockafellar centre (which, if you don't know, is some 40 city blocks). i stopped to poke my head into some shops and grab a quick bite to eat, but otherwise i just kept walking. i roamed by a variety of nyc landmarks: grand central station, the ny library, the flatiron building, radio city and the empire state building. i'd been told (by my sister) that i should consider doing the "top of the rock" tour instead of the empire state building (which is more expensive and takes longer to get into), so i did. i paid my fee and waited for the elevator to take me to the top of rockafellar centre (or 30rock, for you nerdy fans like me). what a great view! you can look out onto the city and see the empire state building, central park and just about everything else you'd like to see. i sat there for a while, contemplating the skyline (but mostly resting my weary feet) before i made my way home.

my sister joined me that evening for a drink on a sweet rooftop terrace in manhattan, where the drinks were pricey, the food was tasty and the view was worth every cent: a glowing empire state building towering above us and the rest of the city glimmering around it.

the next day was another solo adventure day, so i decided to roam around different areas. i still walked for longer then i can remember doing in yonks (save the day before, of course) and took in greenwich village (or just, "the village" as it's known to locals), the west village and soho before i dashed up to time square. i'd hoped to catch a cheap show but as it turns out, there's no such thing in new york. i did sign up for a few lotteries at the theatre box offices (which is exactly what it sounds like: put your name in a hat and wait around a while for them to draw names for cheap seats. i never won. *sigh*). it was about then that i realized my poor little feet were aching pretty badly, so i returned home.

saturday was another glorious day in the city. after running around prospect park (a nifty park in brooklyn) i ventured the the farmers market before finding a mani-pedi place. i was slightly disturbed by the 7yr olds getting pedicures next to me (with mom and dad in tow, of course) but i decided i didn't care enough to look up from my trashy magazines. i was then informed that this was a pretty typical thing in brooklyn. i can't wait for these kids to get older...

then i found my weary sister (coming off her 24hr shift) and hit up manhattan again, where we strolled through central park, which is just massive (100 city blocks i think i read). it's so strange to walk through a park and feel like you've been there before - because you've seen it so many times in movies and tv shows- when in fact, you've never set foot in the place prior to that moment. we then ventured to f.a.o. schwartz, because who doesn't want to try the floor-piano (if you don't know what i mean, you're too young), which, as it turns out, has a line-up and a time limit (i didn't bother waiting). i did see a 20 000$ barbie foosball table (i can't seem to spell that right now. it looks wrong) and nearly waited to get my photo taken with spiderman but it was too expensive.

at the end of the day, we managed to get tickets to zarkana (cirque's newest production) for cheap (ish) thanks to a friendly box-office guy. the show was amazing. a bit weird (aren't they all?) but amazing.

the next morning found me getting ready to leave, sadly. i enjoyed new york. the sights, the sounds (not the smells so much) and of course, visiting my sister. next time i won't have to walk my feet to the bone or feel the need to take it all in. but really, the trip was great. too short of course, but isn't that always the way with holidays?

until next time nyc. until next time.
xo

christmas in july

a tip for the future: if it ever happens that you are living in australia and make a sudden, last-minute, life-changing decision to move home in the middle of february, you should really, really think about what you take with you.

here's the thing: in late january when we decided to move home, i wasn't really thinking straight. i was somewhat exhilarated, somewhat terrified. i was emotional and apparently stressed, though i didn't really think it at the time. i suppose, in fact, that i just wasn't thinking straight. so when i was packing my bag- a MEC duffle/hockey bag- all i could think about was how cold montreal would be. so i packed whatever warm things i had (which, it turns out, wasn't actually that much), added some workout clothes, pj's and underthings...and not much else. i had only really planned to be without my clothes for a few weeks, a month or 2 at best. i was wrong. so terribly, terribly wrong.

perhaps it was our own fault, going with a cheaper company. but when we moved to australia from hamilton, it only took our things about 2.5 months to arrive. in fact, only days after we settled in perth did we get a phone call asking us to clear customs. well- not so this time! i have been back in canada since feb 1st and we finally got out things. today! (today!) 6 months later. which, i might point out, is not so convenient when you packed for a month. in feb. in canada.

how a shipment from australia can take 5.5 months to get from australia to montreal is beyond me. did someone row it across the pacific, then cycle across the country with it? the most  frustrating component was that the moving company just didn't seem to care. such little information about timelines and location of our stuff. at one point they couldn't exactly tell us where things were, just that they were in the country. nor could they explain why they hadn't been delivered yet. unfortunately for us (who were very keen to berate someone about it all) the montreal-end of the company was surprisingly helpful and pleasant to deal with (damn them!)

it's not like we had a lot of stuff either (perhaps this was the bigger fault) because the flooding in queensland decided to take what was ours and do with it what it pleased (which as it turns out, was destroy it...) but those 8 boxes were really missing in my life. mostly because i had no clothes (packing in feb doesn't bode well when may hits, and even less so when july comes around). john has had to put up with my whinging- "where's our stuff?" "i just want my stuff", "why can't we have our stuff?" over and over again, so i expect that he is just as happy (if not happier) then me to see it here now.

after clearing canadian customs yesterday, we awoke to our buzzer ringing at 7:15 this morning. delivery! it was like christmas morning. i jumped out of bed, started squealing a bit and jumped all around the house. "my things! my things" (omg, it's just what i wanted! how did you know?). i bypassed the gym this morning, far to excited to start ripping open some boxes, sifting through the bags and sorting my things.

and so now i am happy. i leave for NYC tomorrow evening and have things to put in my bag that aren't long sleeved and wooly. i have my sweet road bike sitting (dismantled) in my living room, just begging for me take it for a spin. i have my camping gear in the storage locker eager to get outside. and, most importantly, i have my sanity.

merry christmas y'all
xo

canada day

july 1st. canada day. the day when canadians don their red and white and flock to the nearest centre for fireworks, entertainment and drinks (not necessarily in that order...). a day where most people celebrate all things canadian. unless you're in quebec. when it is city-wide moving day (take that, canada).

canada day celebrates the day when 3 british colonies joined to form a single country. nova scotia, new brunswick and the province of canada (since then known as ontario and quebec) united to become a country in their own right, whilst remaining in the british empire. the day was originally known as dominion day (according to wiki) and didn't change its name until 1982- the year that the constitution act patriated the canadian constitution and surrendered british parliament rights on the country. doesn't really seem that long ago actually. a bit odd.

cities big and small host their own canada day celebrations. most will have a fireworks display. many will have music and entertainment. ottawa becomes the very epicentre of  canada (yes, i realize it's the capital) and some hundreds of thousands of people will flock to parliament hill. they watch canadian bands sing canadian music, eat beavertails and poutine, drink apple cider and wash it all down with some maple syrup while a canadian host entertains them until canadian fireworks are launched. they put up with crowds of immeasurable size, wait in lines that are ridiculously long and pay exorbitant prices for food and drinks that normally cost only a fraction. and they have a damn good time doing it.

i've only been to ottawa twice for canada day. to be honest, i have no intention of going back. i hate crowds. and this is like the mother of all crowds. *shiver*

montreal did well with its canada day celebration. surprisingly. with la st jean only a week before and the general lack of nationalism (towards canada. plenty for quebec...) i was surprised to see the list of events happening around the city. not only was the old port bustling with things to do and fireworks to launch, but other parts of the city were celebrating as well. the jazz festival played through the day (and week, actually) and people could generally be entertained. (you could even shop, because most stores were business-as-usual on friday. that seemed strange to me because for the most part, on public holidays, you can do sweet fuck all because everything is closed).

many montrealers, however, snub canada day. not necessarily on purpose either. you see, quebec (or at least montreal) has this fun little tradition of making july 1st the day that 95% of leases get renewed. ie, moving day. people take advantage of the day off work and move house. i personally see it as a bit of a slap in the face of the country. a so-called "take that canada. we are so not into your special day that we are even choosing to move (!) rather then celebrate". as such, getting around the city on july 1st can be a bit tricky; trucks everywhere, cones on the street blocking space for moving trucks, cars filled with junk driving slowly and irate, sweaty folk blocking the sidewalk with their wares. good times. fun times.

luckily, we signed our lease in march. so we will avoid the communal moving day for the next few years at least. instead we meandered down to the jazzfest, took in some free music and had a damn good time.

happy birthday canada.
xo