HAPPY HOLIDAYS

i know i said i'd blog a step-by-step entry today but i wanna find a really good glue i can recommend before ya'll go making wallets that fall apart as soon as you open them. in the mean time, here are some photos of my fams and our christmas gathering. i'm sure we weren't the only party with ugly sweaters. can you believe vintage stores were sold out of the christmas sweaters and those that weren't were charging $40 for a USED UGLY sweater?!

creative christmas

this year was all about conservation and creativity. i have 7 close cousins and a budget so i took to the internet for ideas for handmade gifts. i came across designer marcella foschi at design boom who took cassette tapes and revamped them into wallets. so of course me and my thrifty self knocked the idea. i did make a couple modifications such as bigger zippers and mismatched zipper heads. and since i personalized them i looked for cassette tapes specific for each cousin. i'll post a step by step this sunday. aren't they delicious?

i used different coloured zipper heads


this was for my lovely cousin Jeigh who appreciates the meaning of 'Flash Dance'

this was such a perfect find for my man 'Sexy Eyes' and only for you Boo Boo :)

i'm home!

i just landed in the marvelous city of Toronto and am now greeted with a SNOW STORM! this is insanity! here's a quick shot i took outside my mom's crib:

stylin and profilin

what do you do when you feel you have nothing to blog about? when i got back home to Vancouver i had no idea what to do with myself. i was still in vacation mode, which is not cool when your vacation is over. i haven't shot a fashion shoot in a minute so me and my lovely Ghassan went back in the lab and shot this weekend. i love fashion and all but i prefer to stick to photography. however, living in Vancouver, BC and wanting to produce images you see in NY, London, Paris and the like, requires an eye which i can't seem to find out here. SO, i have been styling the last few shoots which have been quite the 'learning curve'. here's a sneak peek:

photography by me
makeup/hair by Ghassan
dress provided by Bohemian Gallery (you guys are THE BEST)
shoes provided by me from ALDO (circa 2006)
bow handmade by me

BRICK CITY

now New York city is brick COLD! so cold i didn't even want to take any photos. but then again NY is my second home so i never really feel compelled to take many photos when i'm there. and to make matters worse i forgot my holga. but any who here are a few:

MTA gets you any where period. those New Yorkers are hustlers! every time i took the train there's someone dancing, singing or selling stuff just to get a piece of the pie.

that's Fly Lady Di on the left, who's appeared in international magazines for her accomplishments as a painter and Melly Mel on the right who dances around the globe. she was part of the amazing Beattles 'Love' show in Las Vegas. these two girls are a ball of talent and we're all from Ontario!

how's that heater doing Melissa?

i'm deprived in Vancouver, Canada! i have to travel 45 mins to the one black hair supply store just to get moisturizer and if you do get your hands on this stuff, they charge you twice as much as what you'd pay in New York or Toronto. i walk down 125th in Harlem and there is store after store and aisle after aisle of all the hair products i can dream of.

of course.

dare i say this restaurant has "the worst food ever!" it took me 3 visits to realize and remember Tom's Restaurant sucks! the food is awful but with so much hype from Seinfeld who cares?

i made it!

3 missed flights and 2 days later and i made it to the sunny shores of DR. i wish i took more photos but i felt kinda self conscious acting like a tourist in the local towns so i only brought my camera out when we got to Cabarete. great vacation since i got to see it all...poverty and wealth. kinda heart wrenching but the beautiful thing was everyone kept talking about Obama! nothing but love for him everywhere! here are a few pics:

that's the main street in Cabarete. cute tourist, friendly town with boutique hotels without the crazy resorts.

the official beer of DR

the hotel we stayed at just minutes from the beach. only $45 a night and it was uber cute!

the view from our room

the walk to the beach

i had 15 giant, itchy, mosquito bites! not cool

no rain for us until the very last day. lucky!

HORSE SHOES!!@!#$@

oh my gad! so it starts off with me missing my flight from Vancouver direct to NY (my bad). the friendly people at United Airways get me on their next flight out as Air Canada (my original carrier) wanted to charge me $1150!!! are you kidding me! so now i'm in San Francisco on a stop over, trying to get to NY so i can get to Santo Domingo!!! but knowing my luck, this time tomorrow i'll be in paradise...right?!

the sunny side

in just a few hours i'll be boarding a flight to the Dominican Republic with a quick stop to NY to pick up my hubby. and then back to NY to take in the sights with my good ol' holga and possibly do a wee bit of shopping ;)
I start off in Santo Domingo for a few days then to San Franciso to see my hubby's family and then to Cabarete to surf and soak in the sun. oh i can't wait to hit the beach!!! Any whozers, i'll keep ya'll posted with pics. some throw backs

St. Thomas

Greenwich Village

a little here a little there

we all know about global warming and hopefully we're all doing our part to help mother earth. but learning new tips always helps so here are a few:

this is the best ever! it easily replaces my man and his snoring. all you do is boil some water on the stove and put it in a hot water bag (i don't know what it's called). you can buy it at your local drug store. since i live by the way of the frugals, i turn my heat off while i sleep since this puppy last all night! *make sure to not put directly on skin. i put this on my belly and the next morning i had a freckled belly which lasted for 2 months!

instead of buying bleach buy oxygen bleach a.k.a. hydrogen peroxide. hydrogen peroxide biodegrades fully into oxygen and water AND it removes stubborn stains. i bought mine at my local grocery store. i'm always mindful of what i throw down the drain or the toilet cause believe it of not, it ends up back in our taps. so if you do laundry or your parents still do it for you go out and get it.

keep your dishes clean and green with bio dish soap.

baking soda and vinegar replaces any type of cleaner you got in your cupboards. i use this stuff to declog my drains (just add boiling water). also great for cleaning bath tubs. *i would advise against using on too much baking powder when mopping since it leaves the floor all powdery.

try to get 100% recycled toilet paper. we use so much of this stuff in North America unlike the good ol' soap and water.

stop buying bottled water. instead opt for a reusable container

whenever possible, try reusing rubbish. i recycle my cereal boxes and others into backing for my prints and packaging for gifts. i'll post more on this for christmas wrapping.

A NEW DAY!

if Barack Obama winning the US Presidency isn't a testament to dreaming big, i don't know what is. absolutely anything is possible. i was bawlin' my eyes out last night while glued to watching live footage of CNN. he won a whopping 349 to 163. no fine margin here folks! this is not only a big deal in the US but the rest of the world! it's SURREAL, it's a step forward for humanity, an example of what's to come for every country, a symbol of hope...ARGHH!!! i'm just so happy and thrilled that good will always prevail.

OBAMA!

it is 8:10pm here in Vancouver, Canada and Obama was just announced the projected President with 297 electorial votes! you have no idea how emotionally involved i've been with this race and it paid off! my man OBAMA WON! anything is possible if you have the Audacity of Hope! I LOVE YOU OBAMA!!!