I have never been to a wedding. Ever.

But a funny memory came back to me just today. On one of my trips around Europe (and while spending many hours sharing public transportation), a girl I met was telling me about the few weddings she had been to. She started laughing in sheer horror when she told me of one particular wedding she went to where the bride and groom had hired midgets who were spraypainted gold and were dressed as cherubs and were serving food to the guests. Can you get any more trashy? We laughed at how ridiculous it was and whether there was a market out there for this. But more importantly, wouldn’t this be some sort of human rights violation spraypainting people gold? It’s just so wrong.

On typing in “tacky weddings” into googlemac, I came across tackyweddings. I present to you all things heinous, trashy and hilarious at weddings. Entertaining if you are suffering a bout of boredom at work or the like. I especially love the couple who dressed up as Shrek and Princess Fiona for their wedding - it’s so bad that its good.

Have you got any tacky wedding stories?

Come on, do spill.

We all have those ‘moments’ now and again. Where you just want to curl up into a ball and have a good cry. You’re not really sure why but you just do. I have always found it interesting how different people deal with different things in their life. During my studies in psychology, I delved into these different coping mechanisms and started noticing how different people react to situations. My question is, why do some people turn adversity into a positive while others use it as a catalyst for more suffering? Is it about a person’s perceptions? And how do we become more optimistic - can we train ourselves to be?

When it comes to my question, I know people in my life on both ends of the spectrum - one who can turn any negative situation into a positive (which always amazes me), or those where any slight hardship would set them off on a spiral of depression. And sometimes can be on the verge of attention seeking (I’m sure we all know one person like this). I am a private person when it comes to my family and illness (and there has been alot) and I have never been one to gain sympathy out of a situation. In fact, it makes me feel uncomfortable. I don’t mind others sharing that about their family and hardships if they choose to because that’s how they deal with it. But I have anyways wanted mine to be private.

smile, your coffee loves you

I like to think I am generally a pretty positive person. I stop to smell the flowers, so to speak. I take the time to look at life with my own eyes, and also through a lens. Photography makes you appreciate the small things. I have been living in different places for the last year and a half and have made the most of every city I have lived (even if it’s not ideal). I have been more and more intrigued by, as the Dalai Lama puts it, “the art of happiness” and find it fascinating. How do we become a forever optimist? How do we see the positive in every situation?

I believe that everyone has their own way of coping with the bad things in their life and embracing the good things in their life and whatever works for you, is just perfect.

eiffel tower, las vegas style! mmm strawberry margarita.

Vegas is even crazier than on the movies, I tell ya. It is so over the top, overly luxurious, un-freakin-believable. You have to laugh but be impressed at the same time. It is a piece of craziness plonked right in the desert. Every casino offers you FREE drinks (the drunker you get, the more you spend). Every hotel has a massive casino where you will struggle to find the exit (the more lost you are, the more you spend). The hotels are insaaaaane. One of our amazing moments was drinking wine on the 64th floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel with a view right over Vegas by night (even the bathrooms were surrounded in glass so you could look out). Pure extravagance.

I spoiled the French boy with a burlesque show at the Flamingo which turned out to be amazing. He spent our last night at a poker table until 6am in the morning. So yeah, all in all, a crazy fun time full of casinos, margaritas, 45 degree heat (feels like a blowdryer), street entertainers, the biggest buildings ive ever seen. Madness.

On the 6 hour bus trip back to LA, I chatted to a guy and was saying about how crazy the consumerism is in Vegas, how much money is lost there, the addictions, and how I can’t imagine actually living in a place like Las Vegas. He turns to me and says “Well, actually, I do”. Oops, I will just put my foot right back in my mouth now where it belongs. Sorry dude.

It took Jean-Marc Vallée 10 years to write this film. Two hours of beautiful entertainment brought to you from Quebec. It is a complete emotional rollercoaster as you watch Zac (Marc-André Grondin) grow from a gorgeous young boy who is trying on his mommy’s clothes to a young smoky-eyeliner-wearing boy who retreats to pink floyd for solace from the unforgiving world. To call this a coming of age story or a coming out story would be selling it short because it is much much more. The family relationships and dynamics are so interesting, minus any icky clichés. You can’t help being drawn to and growing to love all of the characters. The movie is (appropriately named) C.R.A.Z.Y

I really recommend this film if you wish to be entertained, intrigued and teary all at the same time.  It really gets under your skin, in a good way. So, enjoy.

Oh, and here is French-Canadian actor Marc-André Grondin from the film all grown up in all of his gorgeousness. Il est trop beau.

I have just come back from a week of wine tasting, bike riding, margarita tasting, and mexican eating in Santa Barbara with a girlfriend of mine. A beautiful spot and a breath of fresh air from the concrete jungle here in LA. Plus, my friend and I figured out that this particular rendez-vous was our third continent together! Not bad at all. Next time… shall we meet in, say,  Africa?

Me and the French boy are off to Las Vegas this weekend for 4 days of debauchery!

And going by the weather forecast, it is going to be smoking hot!

107°Fahrenheit aka 41.67° Celsius for those in the mighty metric system.

Phwoooooar.

P.S. I have not managed to catch up on my blog reading yet and immerse myself back in bloggyland after all these travels! Life has been slightly surreal. But I will. Promise. xx

Right now, the French boy and I are living in a moment which we will never forget. We are living here in Los Angeles when (and where) the King of Pop passed away and we are right here amongst the madness. We woke up to find the first Los Angeles Times splashed all over the city announcing his death, we witnessed the huge lines and crowds of manic fans surrounding his star on Hollywood Boulevard, and while in Santa Barbara we ventured down the dusty road to Neverland Ranch and witnessed the madness continued there. Media everywhere. People crying. Tshirts, badges, hats with his image. His songs blaring from every public arena, shop and car stereo.

It is something we will remember forever, this moment in time.

Above:  A few snaps I have taken in the past week at various locations.

breast implants… EVERYWHERE.

I took these photos at Muscle Beach in Venice on the 4th of July (hence the patriotic colours on the girl’s bikinis). Plastic fantastic! A bit of culture shock for the French boy.

Is anyone else slightly obsessed with etsy? I have just recently discovered the wonders of it. I love trawling through etsy’s marketplace of handmade delights, and I particularly love the vintage stuff. The kind of stuff you normally have to really hunt for. Etsy’s mission is to “enable people to make a living making things, to build a new economy and present a better choice”. Hear hear. I love things that are made with love and when you can tell that they are. Your creativity really has no limits, as you will see on etsy.

(Warning: may make you spend hours online when you should be doing other stuff.)

Here are some of my favourites today… a page full of etsy delight.

credits anti-clockwise from cameo: 1. victorian style butterfly cameo 2. majestic sparrow necklace in brass 3. lil hand painted acrylic ‘true’ ‘love’ earrings 4. bird series spring 5. delicate fly away with me balloon necklace

Oh and speaking of groovy wonders that are non-mass-produced, I happened to stumble across two wonderful shops today here in LA (they are right next door) called the Majestical Roof (indie artists boutique), and Lula Mae (cutesie gifts and unique vintage stuff with super lovely staff). Majestical Roof has been described as like opening a box filled with imagination, beauty, color and fun. They have monthly alternative art markets where everything is made locally (a refreshing change from alot of the mass-manufactured crap you get in LA). Here’s a photo I took of the gorgeous wee courtyard where you’ll find this little gem.

Now I shall get back to daydreaming…

I am baaaaack in bloggy land… after a week of madness and our 12 hour flight. I am sitting here in our apartment for the summer in Los Angeles (it rocks!), with the fan blowing on full (it’s muggy here, but I know those back home in winter right now will kill me if I complain about the heat!), and listening to music while procrastinating unpacking. Security was easy peasy at LAX, we had this young black dude who didn’t seem to care what we were doing in America so no dramas there (after my last experience at LAX) - phew. As we came in, we were encompassed by the cloudy grey smog hugging the entire city and the amount of huge billboards advertising cheeseburgers/juicy ribs/pizza. Welcome to the United States baby!

As I said in my previous post, I love going to the supermarket to discover stuff about the culture I am living in. So off we went to the supermarché and as I had expected, the French boy was shocked by the aisles full of sugary sweet or slimy fat food in huge bulk packs. Everything seemed supersized. He could not get his head around the whole aisle full of jell-o (gelatin desserts in many different colours and flavours!), or the whole concept of SPAM (ham in a can!). I am sure alot of Americans do know how to eat well, but it must be hard growing up with alot of it so sugary/fatty and yet be bombarded with images of perfection at the same time here in California. I guess it often comes down to convenience - big packets/cheaper to buy in bulk.

So, according to various research on StateHealthFacts.org, California: the Percent of Adults Who are Overweight or Obese in 2008 is at 61.3%. At the same time, Californians are not as fat as their counterparts nationwide and tend to have more people with healthier lifestyles (probably has something to do with the constant images of thin, sexy celebrities here and the amount of places offering plastic surgery, or as one place promised today “a smile to die for”). Ha.

What I do love so far about LA is that it is a melting pot. The mix of different cultures and languages. Can hear Spanish spoken everywhere. Haven’t heard any Frenchies as yet I can’t wait to really discover this place. Stay tuned.

Well what a week I am having.

• I (luckily) noticed upon checking my bank balance that there were quite a few questionable transactions on my credit card statement and was shocked to find that someone from Miami, Florida has hacked into my credit card and stolen a grand total of $1700 over the past month. Arrrrrgh. FRAUD!
• I am officially low in iron (which explains so much about my tiredness in recent months) and learned that my particular blood type is less than 3% of the population. The flip side is that in an emergency situation, I am a universal receiver (can receive any blood) but can only donate my blood to the same blood type. So, hey, good to know these things.
• My wee pooch Georgia decided to sneak off with and scoff down half a pot of Nutella and half a loaf of bread that was within reach. She really regretted it when she spent the whole day bloated, lying around like a beached whale.
• I’ve been catching up with friends and family before we go. And I’ve started thinking about packing. I am very much a last minute person (always have been, with exams and everything too). I love the last minute adrenalin.
• It is now LESS than a week until we leave my home, New Zealand, and not sure when I’ll be back again. My visa allows me to be living overseas for the next 15 months, so it will likely be my third christmas on the other side of the globe. It is always a bitter sweet feeling leaving - excited for a new chapter but also sad to leave my family, friends (and my dogs) behind. And especially because New Zealand is so far away - from everything.

But my philosophy in life is that it takes one door to close for another one to open… …and it’s verrrrrrrrry exciting!