cute city.

i'll take one of each please.

pb&j. mmmm.
click.

extra mustard.

i'll write you a postcard, i'll send you the news, from a house down the road...from real love...
sew cute.

red bull!

:: girlz lyfe :: (not into the 'krazy kool' spelling of the site name, but fun stuff there nonetheless)

dear montreal (it's me again)...

my brother, who is great and does not look anything like anyone i know (at ALL), is pretty much certain he is moving to montreal in like a month. please post all amazing apartment links/job posts/cool things he should know about here.

luuuuuv brennie.

NOTE: the above photo is not of my brother.

donnie darko soundtrack.

so good.




thanks greg for the reminder.

tough guy.

hey australia!

to all my lovelies gearing up for a bbq in 30 degree weather at my house in melb... this is what we do for kicks in -20 ('feels like -30') degree weather at my cottage in muskoka.


...that's a scarf wrapped around my head. and YES, i know my feet are ginormous.

KI (KIS) the vital force in Chinese thought.

Scrabble is the worst. ki, qi, re, ree (as in 'REE' the female Eurasian sandpiper(?!)), dido... all words. leo? as in the star sign? not a word. repentant? not a word. this game is bogus, and i just spent two hours getting beat by my bro who apparently knows a shitload of tiny Chinese words that get you triple word scores.

dear casio.

thanks for my watch. it makes cool beeping noises and is very shiny. awesome! (note: it looks much larger in this photo than it is in real life, it is actually quite dainty and feminine, ha!)

luuuuv brennie.

i know juss juss whatchou are ah are...

:: Womanizer ::
:: Lost ::

wicked tunes. mtl 2008/9.

dear montreal...

i have had a really randomly lovely time over the past few days. saw my cousin, she is crazy and wonderful and so hospitable. chilled with my bro, it has been indescribable to have real time with him to catch up and reconnect, i am super grateful that there will always be at least one person on the planet that pretty much knows me and gets me and i have very little explaining to do to maintain that kind of friendship with him.

partied with incredibly sweet, fun and just all around good people... thanks to Z and G for being the ultimate mtl hosts, Burger, Cactus and Apple for making long car rides super fun, C and Z for hosting some great gatherings and DC for being one of the best dudes of life. i also appreciate all the heart to hearts... thanks.


also, shout out to the late night delivery crew that kept bringing me poutines. so amazing.

some places feel like home (or like they could be home) and montreal is certainly somewhere i can see myself down the road. until then... j'<3 montreal!

luuuuv brennie.

lyrics are my favourite.

i was scanning for an image to accompany the 'band aid' link in my xmas song post and came across this chick's blog where she posted a whole bunch of lyrics from the misheard lyrics archive. go here, love this shit :: 'scuse me while i kiss this guy ::

Robert Palmer: Addicted To Love
The real lyrics were:
"Might as well face it, you're addicted to love."
But I misheard them as:
"Might as well face it, you're a dick with a glove."

U2: Mysterious Ways
The real lyrics were:
"She moves in mysterious ways"
But I misheard them as:
"Shamu the mysterious whale"

National Anthems: Oh Canada
The real lyrics were:
"Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee..."
But I misheard them as:
"Oh Canada, we stand on cars and freeze..."

INXS: I Need You Tonight
The real lyrics were:
"Your moves are so raw
I've got to let you know
You're one of my kind"

But I misheard them as:
"Your boobs are so long
They've got to hit your nose
You're one of a kind"

Neil Diamond: You Don't Bring Me Flowers
The real lyrics were:
"You hardly talk to me anymore, when I come through the door at the end of the day."

But I misheard them as:
"You hardly talk to me anymore, when I Kung-Fu the door at the end of the day."

AC/DC: Back in Black
The real lyrics were:
"Forget the hearse cause I'll never die."
But I misheard them as:
"I've got a purse but I'm still a guy."

Band Aid: Do They Know It's Christmas Time
The real lyrics were:
"The greatest gift they'll get this year is life."
But I misheard them as:
"The only gift they'll get this year is flies."

Stone Temple Pilots:
The real lyrics were:
"Feeling like a hand in rusted shame..."
But I misheard them as:
"Feeling like a ham and mustard shake..."

sick ride.

p.s. have i shown you my car?

merry christmas, friends.

a few classics for you this holiday season...

:: mariah (aka the best christmas song EVER) ::


:: band aid ::


:: hanson ::

talented folks.

listen to :: howl at the moon ::


:: spun rivals ::

la rouge.

not the club in toronto, but perhaps in lipstick form? i am awaiting the processing of an invoice before i make any purchases, but i need something red. call me festive (or not).

also: must buy leggings and i.d. make-up here since AmApparel and i.d. (at Sephora!) prices here are actually reasonable (to calculate Aus $ prices, multiply by 3 or 4 - serious).



also, in other news, i fell asleep at around 4am after a good long talk with Ted, calming me down and helping me make sense of certain things. skype is a pretty neat tool.

finally, i am trying very hard to open my mind and to take into account that everyone is in a different spot... and that i can't assume just because something works or makes sense for me that it will fit well with others' wishes or needs.

the trickiest trick to living a full life in my view is to strike a balance between my happiness and compassion for what that happiness in its real form does to others in my life. i know i left, i know it upset some, mildly affected others, perhaps pleased a few but on a whole was of no consequence to most. i want to say here that i am going to make a concerted effort to focus my love, attention, and relationship building activities towards the people who have cared all along, and to stop focusing on things that are fleeting, trivial and past the point of making sense.

i jumped back in, both feet, to this muddy water that i left behind. it is not new, this whole process of 'coming home' - the saying goes you can never go back there. maybe that is only true if you aren't willing to step back and look at the patterns and change them.

rainbow butt monkeys.

band names get pretty weird, but that one was a classic. 2:05am, and their first(only?) single is playing on tv. hello 1996, how are you? i've missed much music.

:: Circles ::

sleep, where are you?

i can honestly say that insomnia has never been one of my issues. ask anyone who knows me, i tend to fall asleep when my head hits the pillow, and can sleep through thunderstorms, early-rising roommates, loud tvs, cecilia's ticking clock in her room and even trains going by on the railroad track that my memere and pepere lived next to when i was growing up.

i've been in bed since 9pm, hiding out mostly, but it's 1am, and still no sleep. i've resorted to turning csi back on, but this is really gonna throw a wrench in my plan to get up early and get on the treadmill tomorrow...

come back, sleep, i thought you were one of the things i could count on.

multi media girls.

love line drawings, mostly kept black and white with punches of colour. where was this chick when i needed inspiration for assignments like this in illustration classes with sheila? still can't believe i spent four years attempting to be cool like this girl.

:: Nikki Farquharson ::

tunes.

schwartzman. new song. coconuts. microphone.

:: microphone by coconut records ::

i love you, man...

can it be true? another jason segel movie?! hoo-ray! (and paul rudd is pretty great too)

:: i love you, man ::

too terminator?

i want a leather jacket... this one is too manly, right?

with money comes cuteness.

pay me already so i can spend my money to dress like this girl.

this dress, please. but if that is not meant to be, then the BOOTS.....


coat... oh, look, the boots.

cozy!


:: Surface 2 Air ::

new years?

i have been saying 'new years in montreal' for months, maybe a year... is this a possibility?


:: neon disco ::

on second thought, i actually kind of want to just hit a house party.

and that's that... really?

it's kind of anti-climactic. i mean, i don't know what i was expecting, but maybe not this. maybe more appreciation on my part, comfortableness, niceness, warmth and fuzziness? i feel out of place and like i am sort of an inconvenience.

i have a bit of a hurt heart, like an old anxiety lump has resurfaced and is back to sitting heavily in the centre of my chest.

a wise, beautiful and lovely man told me to be unapologetically myself while i am here, just speak my mind, be completely open and self-assured. but i am find myself shrinking, my feet slipping and my grasp just missing out on what i am reaching for.

despite best intentions, my first week and a bit back home really has been a testament to how far i have to go, rather than how far i have come.

:: note :: hennie took that photo, i don't know how it relates to this post, but i like it and i miss walking around in fitzroy... maybe that's it.

sneakiest.

"The only reason wallets get stolen is because they look so much like wallets. This one, however, is carefully disguised."

cute! :: moustache wallet ::

delicious.

i need a dog. so then i can do cool things with him, like this for instance:

he's good.

every clip i find... so good.

:: Demetri Martin :3:

oh, the places you will go!

oh, dr. seuss... a lovely couple i used to babysit for gave me this book for my 16th birthday, hard to fathom that 10 years have passed since then. i am in a whole new place, doing things i never imagined i would do, with a very busy few months looming ahead. time and money, the usually suspects, will be the main obstacles but i am hopeful that things will fall into place because that would be amazing...

first stop is oakville... i get home on december 8th. holy!


no doubt a few nights will be spent in toronto...no bicycling to the bar though.



an ideal new years will include my bro, some good friends and a trip to montreal...


noticing a theme? so white back home, oh my!

on jan. 2nd, off to muskoka with the fam to this lovely cottage (imagine it covered in snow as well - google was not helpful in providing any winter images):


then, a few more weeks soaking in some home time back in oakville, getting in as much bonding with my friends and family as humanly possible. next up, a quick 37 hour journey through detroit (why?) and tokyo (8 hour stop-overs are unfun) and back to this beautiful city in time for australia day...


only a few sleeps in melb, then we are going to visit ted's parents in thailand - i have never been and can't wait to experience it and get in a little r&r while thawing out from my trip to the snow...



and finally, the last stop in this busy 'summer' is rarotonga in the cook islands for scoff and leilani's wedding, an amazing way to spend a week in march.



hoo-ray! and very glad i do not have a fear of flying.