Passing on the Davinci Code

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After our 'last stand' in the US on the long weekend, I'm feeling chock full of yankee capitalist goodness. (Shopping, fancy dinners and a Madonna show where the cheapest tshirts were $45US)

Now let's make sure we're full up on Canada, shall we? I just found out that Souvenir of Canada has been made into a documentary. Deafinitely have to head to the Fifth Ave and soak up the Canadiana. The shorts on the site are pretty funny...I laughed out loud at Cushions and don't quite get Maple Syrup. But at any rate, I'm a Coupland fan so I have to check it out.

I have been really taking notice of what a kickass city Vancouver is, no matter if you like to complain about your unfriendly neighbors, underwhelming weather and agressive panhandlers. I've been on a couple of walks around Stanley Park and the seawall lately and have been driving around in the convertible. Sometimes I wonder 'Why are we leaving?', then it pours rain and I remember.

Gearing up for Sydney

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Now it's real!
Less than 30 days until we go...had a garage sale today that was good for 275 bucks. Been selling lots thanks to Craig's List and Flickr. We've had people over to buy $10 placemats, people who bargained us down then turned out to drive a Beemer and a Mini Convertible and lots of lookeloos who turn up but can't part with their dough. It takes all kinds and we'll take their money. We've gotta start all over overseas and it won't be cheap. The best one was the guy who balked over paying $8 for a panini grille that cost over $50...the comedy was when he sped away in his super beat up old Honda Civic yelling "You should have offered to sell it for fiiiive!!" Nutbar.

Madonna show

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Best bits:

Madonna being raised out of the floor on a cross

The disco-licious rendition of I Feel Love mixed in with Future Lovers

Best song: Isaac. Hands down.

Riding the S&M carousel horse for LIke A Virgin

She did John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever dance, step for step in a white disco suit on a dance floor lit up exactly like the disco from SNF

Lame bits:

The tuneless version of Let It Will Be, complete with Madonna's spastic dancing

No encore! I would have bet she'd come back out and do Vogue or something

Funny bits:

Seeing the little slip ups - she sang the first line of Like a Virgin at the wrong time, flung her mike off the stage (it was quickly hustled back to her)

She sang I Love New York in front of a line drawing of the Manhattan skyline that looked kind of like she was in the opening sequence of Fraser

She had a huge smile on her face during the Like A Virgin carousel horse riding - looked like she was having a really good time

It was like an amazing Vegas stage show: dancing, moving stages, acrobatics, rollerbladers, 4 costume changes. She barely broke a sweat, hit every note and she's got way more energy than anyone I know. I wanna go again!

This photoset really shows what it was all about.

the kid is hot tonight

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On the way to SFO, Mike Reno was sitting on the plane 2 rows in front of us. I've had Working for the Weekend stuck in my head ever since.

last trip to the US for a while

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I'm so used to being able to get to the US anytime I want. I'm also used to all the trappings there as well: Target, Sephora, H&M, access to a US address for eBay. I'll have to get used to living on an island.

Things to look forward to this weekend:

Hanging out in Berkely and SFO

Having a fab dinner or two with Headcrash and Kim

Going to the preview of Cars at the Pixar theatre

Doing some shopping on Filmore St

Checking out some touristy stuff in LA
and of course

Madonna at the LA Forum on Sunday night!

What is your best-ever bargain?

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I have so many best ever bargains...the Chulo Pony sample sale just today. (I got a super cute dress for $35) From our trip to Hawaii in March, the pair of $580 Christian Louboutins for $160. My absolute favorite bargain is the $4.99 talula top that I got at the Aritzia warehouse sale about 5 years ago. It's my staple summer top that has been worn over and over again - a pink halter that goes with everything. Weird thing is that I don't have a picture of myself in it. Still...5 bucks!

SlaveToCraigsList

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It's funny selling furniture and your household crap stuff. You realize how many nicks, scratches and flaws there are when people come to take a look. Nothings perfect. I'd like to think that our home is short on crap and long on groovy. I wonder what it will all be worth once we liquidate it. It'll be weird when we have a wad of cash in our hands that represents what we've been working on putting together here. It's just stuff though, right?

I found jeans!

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So I tried on lots more jeans in Chicago and still no luck. I finally found a pair of jeans this afternoon at Front & Co. of all places - $24 bucks! Woo hoo! Esprit. Finally a brand that works for me. Yay!

Ripping style

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Now that Craig's got a computer with 200 free gigs on it, I've been working on ripping all my CDs with the eventual goal of putting them on an external hard drive to hook up the stereo. The cool thing is that I'm rediscovering all kinds of music that I've had for ages, but haven't looked at in a while. Who knew I had 8 Joe Jackson CDs? Whatever happened to Pulp? Why are there 2 original Blue Lines CDs in one case? Why do I have tons of jewel cases with no CDs in them? Argh. I've created quite the playlist of songs to revisit while I'm sitting at the computer feeding it CDs: Boards of Canada, Deftones, Cocteau Twins, Bran Van 3000, Hooverphonic, No Doubt, Haydn, Duran Duran, Dot Alison, Fatboy Slim, Lloyd Cole, Groove Armada, Peter Gabriel. It's all good. So far I'm at 40 gigs and I'm up to the Ls.

Travel and shopping

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What more is there? I'm in Chicago St. Charles, IL. The burbs. Staying at a Mariott across the street from a giant suburban strip mall - but it's better than a crappy strip mall - almost upscale. It had a H&M, DSW, Anthrpologie, Pottery Barn and a giant Crate & Barrel + loads of other shops. I said to myself that I wouldn't even go in to the C&B since there's no point in buying housey stuff now but I couldn't help it. I wound up getting a couple of little things for Mother's Day that I'll take back with me for Mumsy. For myself, I found a couple of tops at Forever 21 and H&M. Cheap!

Had to get the shopping in today cause tomorrow and Friday, I'll be working.

I'm feeling seriously American right now. There are no sidewalks here, this hotel is directly behind a Krispy Kreme and I'm watching Adult Swim.

Lululemon's more fashionable cousin

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I finally worked out that this new store is pronounced oh-cocoa. Run by a couple of lululemon's people, this store is less sporty and the clothes are cuter. Tops, walking shorts, capris and skirts are all made out of hemp and soy based fabrics. Sooo earth friendly. Anyway, today I bought cute denim looking hemp linen bermuda shorts. And they took my lululemon gift certificate that's been burning a hole in my pocket since xmas. Nice!