sally's outfit

good monday morning peeps! hope you all had a wonderful weekend. the weather out here in tdot has been BOMB! but my wardrobe is hurting! so of course i had to do a little shopping. i'm in the process of making a necklace and decided to go to Salvation Army to find me some pieces for my project. instead i walked out with a cute outfit. the jeans are full pants that were cut into shorts. i still need to hem them but you get the idea.
cost: $1.99 (top) + $3.99 (jeans)

it's all about the high waisted jeans, which can easily be found at any thrift store.

high waisted jeans look sweet in crop tops...now for the search :)

2012 UPDATE: I revamped those old suckers here:

picture perfect

yesterday was spent editing prom photos. here's a vid of what happens behind the scenes

aunt's apartment

i had the pleasure of having dinner at my aunt, mama mimi's house this friday and was amazed by her frugal creativity. this was my first time over to her new pad luckily for me i had a camera handy and snapped these beauties:

that is correct. TEAK! my fav! a matching hutch and dinning set.

my aunt crocheted this entire table work.

i love her cute primary coloured balcony.

imagine my surprise when i found this rose from mother's day alive and growing roots. they were cut and she just stuck it in a pot. you can see in the photo on the right the rose stem is green with life. and those other plants are seeds from the oranges and lemons she was eating. i just love the detail and care her apartment exudes. these are all my aunts, but mama mimi is the one beside my mom. and yes those roses they're all holding are the ones from which she planted.

ok. back to her apartment.

her perfume collection neatly organized.

and finally a glamour shot of her daughter, my cousin Ligaya, fiercing it up in her blossom hat.

thanks for the dinner and lovely inspiration mama mimi!!!

sex and the city 2

the universe is giving me this big hoorah for NY. last night i saw the canadian advanced screening for Sex & the City and was smiling from ear to ear, beginning to end. the night started out lovely with drinks and eats on the patio with my lady friends Cat and her girlfriend Heather. we arrived for the early events and they did it up! we took photos with a half necked man, won prize bags full of free goodies and opened the movie to the track Empire State of Mind and of course i had to scream along :)
i can now officially say i am effing AMPED to go to NEW YORK!
ladies go see this movie. go with a group or girls, dress up, and make it an event. this was all made possible thanks to my girl

Meghan who happens to be my brothers girlfriend slash
fashion blogger slash inside hook up slash THANKS MEGHAN!
cost: $ free

condom supplies to last till 2012, chocolate, whitening toothpaste, electric toothbrush, $25 GC to LaSenza, LaSenza underwear, a Candace Bushnell book, and my new fav hair removal, Nair, no strip microwave wax (the best),

and some eye candy they photograph you with and have printed and framed for you when you leave. oh to be spoiled!

Loves Longest

I came across this article on essence.com through recent follower Ms.ABright and had to do my very own blog entry. Thanks Alisha!
Mr. & Mrs. Fisher are the longest married couple celebrating their 86th anniversary this month. they have a twitter account: twitter.com/longestmarried where they had Q&A on valentine's day. this question intrigued me the most: "What made you realize that you could spend the rest of your lives together? Were you scared at all?"
Answer: "With each day that passed, our relationship was more solid and secure. Divorce was NEVER an option - or even a thought"
cost: $ priceless

we live in generation 'instant gratification'. where not only are our phones, laptops, clothing and rides upgraded on the daily but our relationships as well. it's important to be reminded that anything worth while involves patients, love, and most of all commitment. use instant grat in your favour. love you boo boo!
cost: $35/year (skype)

diy hair clip-ins

20 million years later i discover the wonderful world of clip-ins. great for summer highlights. i'm going to start making more vids for complicated projects ie apt. renos :)
cost: $13.99 (hair) + $5.99 (clips)

bday part 2&3 :)

my birthday usually falls on Victoria weekend, followed by my mom's bday, which means triple the fun. every year i go bowling and every year i don't get any better. lots of fun all the same! guest appearance by FlyLadyDi :)

my kryptonite...icecream cake from dairy queen!!!! the agony! i could eat the entire cake in one sitting. and a bbq isn't a bbq unless you have tiki torches. and of course a little Maya finessing with random curtains :) i think the theme this year was fuschia

happy birthday to me!

yesterday may 20th was my burfday! and it was a perfect day! i started off by painting my nails pastel pink, threw on a fuchsia dress and made my way downtown. i had lunch with my bestie Cat at Fresh and had an oh so good bbq veggie burger. then i met up with the famous Shannon from thosegirlsarewild.com and had my fav mint-chocolate chip ice cream. then headed out to have sushi with the mamas! yeah! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME :)

photos courtesy of shannon!

detox

how was my 7 day juice you ask? AWFUL! by the end of day 3 my stomach was tied in a knot. when you're juicing make sure to implement lots of veggies and not just fruits. the veggies being juiced were carrots and beets, which happen to have a high sugar count. so by day 4 not only was i on a sugar high, i had to drop another $50 bucks this time on organic veggies and let me tell you, organic and non-organic is night and day when you're juicing. you can taste the freshness. but too little too late. by the end of day 4 i was too lethargic to move so i went to bed. i woke up 12 hours later to cold sweats and the shakes. i got out of bed feeling like crap and attempted to walk. i had to go down stairs and get something in my gut, which was a daunting task. i ended up needing to slide my way down the wall, looking like a crack whore. "so this is what it feels to detox". anyways. i couldn't take it anymore so i made my final juice on the morning of day 5 and started back on solid fruits and veggies. 5 out of 7 is good enough for me. THEN i was advised to go for a colonic (google it) since my body was bouncing with toxins. so i did finally did yesterday. I CAN'T EFFING SIT! screw this healthy living crap! everyone but me seems to be having a 'dandy' experience. my whole search for health has been a nightmare! 10 pounds smaller with a missing butt was it worth it? HELL NO!!!
ok that's not fair to me...i guess it shrunk my stomach down to size which means i can eat smaller portions. and now that i'm working my way to a normal diet i'm EXTREMELY mindful of what and how much i eat.
summary: juicing is wasteful and therefore i'd recommend a juice fast lasting 1-3 days MAX

Day 3 Juicing

my only advice to anyone wanting to juice: buy fruits and veggie that yield juice! i attempted to juice blueberries and spinach and it's a joke! you get like a drop and the rest gets trashed! the best juicing fruits and veggies: watermelon, apples, pears, oranges, cucumber, celery, beets, carrots...think heavy and hearty. the other thing i didn't realize till now is how much waste juicing creates. my suggestion, team up with someone or torture yourself, and make muffins and cakes with the pulp. it's best to separate the different pulps when juicing. and if baking isn't an option, set up an outdoor compost, which is what i did. oh and something i also didn't read anywhere, take fibre supplements! you'd be surprise how much is stuck in your hot bod even when you're not eating.

Pear Delight
2 pears, 3 celery sticks, 2 carrots
juice with pears is the closest you'll get to eating solids...lots of texture and oh so good!

Day 1 Juicing

i've spent 2 days (since monday) prepping for my juice, which i started today and i'm already looking forward to finishing this madness. saturday i got all the veggies and fruits i'd thought i needed. $50 worth and that will probably only last me 2-3 days. this cleanse is dang expensive! i didn't even go organic! so i bought me a veggie wash for $6. when you're doing the cleanse it's best to start off with a salt water flush. make sure you use non-iodized salt and book your morning off. i'm so looking forward to solids...

my morning juice was:
Bone Building Tonic – high in calcium:
5-6 carrots, 4 kale leaves, 4 sprigs of mint, ½ apple
delicious!

happy belated mother's day post

monday and tuesday have been insanely busy for me. but now that the dust has settled i wanted to give a shout out to my mom and other moms out there...HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!
myself and the cousins took our mothers, 6 of them, out for sunday morning pedicures. it was so cute to see them all being pampered and having a good time. we then headed home and celebrated with mini panini's, mimosa's, and cake. me and cousin michael had a diy card show down. he kicked my ass in design. i kicked his with a personalized poem. here's mine:

and here's michael's:

that's correct. he printed his on rice paper!

i love how wacky the colours are :) like mother like daughter

they're all so cute!

here's a vid of my mom. so cute!!!

twitter and me :)

i finally started a twitter page!
follow me at: http://twitter.com/mayasworld

Gays for Glee!!!

so i'm stuck at home right now doing the salt water flush and thinking of ways to get the talented Jeigh Madjus some much needed exposure. and i'm like hmmmm maybe Perez could hook us up. so we hit him up and boom! he loves it!!! this is so effin huge! everyone keeps telling me i need get on twitter and i've been putting it off since my phone is a dinosaur but that's all going to change by the end of today. support jeigh on
youtube
facebook
blogspot

"nothing taste as good as skinny feels"

-kate moss
now that i have your attention, let me explain :)
lots of peeps have been asking me about my fashion photography and the answer; i've taken a little break. i was a bit bored with the whole fashion industry. i've kinda been in the machine of it all and i'm finally taking a step back to see if i like the bigger picture and to be quite honest it needs a remix. beauty is more that what we're seeing and fashion including my images are only a fraction of the diversity out there. moving forward i'd like to help change the face of fashion by working with ALL types of beauty. that being said, i've dealt with a lot of flack with people saying models need to eat more, "they're too skinny", blah blah blah blah. i agreed with part of that. a lot of models for one tend to be young. as young as 13 years old so their metabolism works for skinny and in turn fashion, or some just have 'skinny' genes. other models go on super strict diets which are deemed "crazy" by most. Up until this point i agreed with this statement but lately i've had a change of heart. i took a time out to think about what makes sense to me: eating whatever i want and feeling gross, then hitting the gym OR being aware and disciplined with my diet and maintaining an active physical lifestyle. in theory, i'm gonna have to go with the latter. we live in a country where indulgence is the norm. we snap our fingers and are fortunate enough to eat whatever our heart desires even if it can kill us. we just have so much food and it taste oh so good for that minute. but that fact is we have too much food. so much we end up having to throw it out because it went old or we eat so much it hurts. and when someone has the nerve to exercise control we scoff. how backwards are we! i'm all about taking control of my life (control freak right here) and i don't like this auto-pilot mode i'm in. i've been so turned off by food lately. it's either frozen, pumped with steroids or hormones, too salty, too sweet, too saturated. i don't even know what i'm eating anymore i can't take it!
my mission: to life a healthy life by being aware of what i eat and exercising will power. healthy is not a size kate.
soooo.....that was long winded. My point was, I am taking control of my mind and body by going on a juice cleanse. I've been wanting to do it for a while but have successfully put it off. i attempted a fast last year for lent and failed at the raw food diet. that was partly due to lack of research, preparation and i wasn't aware of how painful detoxing can be and threw in the towel after day 3. this time around i'm doing a 7 day juice, with 3 days of prep before and 3 days of weening after.
this cleanse is all about will power, change, and ridding my body of the harmful toxins that have built-up over the years. i've been feeling really yucky inside and i want a healthy reboot. once i have a clean slate i'm hoping to start a healthy new life in new york!
"one-quarter of what you eat keeps you alive; the other three-quarters keeps your doctor alive."
can you tell this has been on my mind for sometime? guess what my next script will be about :)

here are some of my sources:
http://www.benaturallywell.com/blog/2008/07/juicing-for-beginners/
http://www.detoxjuice.net/tag/juice-fasting-for-weight-loss
http://www.doctoryourself.com/juicefast.html
http://www.healthrecipes.com
http://curezone.com/blogs/f.asp?f=1536
http://www.wanderfully.com/wordpress/2010/03/16/4-days-before-juice-fasting-begins-preparation/

the final coming!

i finally got my visa in the mail on monday! woot woot! NY won't know what hit them :)

wasn't too far off from my original posting i did a while back, which i since had to remove. the title was "oh my gad it works" and i kept getting spam comments.

barbeque season

i loves me some bbq! not even the food as much as chillin' with cool peeps on a deck, taking in the sun. that's what i did on sunday with my fams. the first bbq of the summer :) pardon the hot mess of a backyard. it's undergoing some renovations

p.s. i got these effects with Nelly Nero's preset actions. for all the photo geeks out there visit: http://www.flickr.com/people/nellynero

ps at it's best

i had a few curious minds interested in how i achieved the results of my vintage car photo. it's a lot of fiddling with photoshop. if you cruise around on flickr you'll find something called 'actions' which are a set of preset commands made by brilliant minds on flickr. you simply press a button and photoshop will change your original dry digital image into something quite wonderful. i have recently started using actions but for this particular image below i worked layer by layer to create an effect i thought complimented the mood i was striving for. click on the image to get a closer look :)
the original...blah!

a closer look at the color balance: