Lain's Log

Fun tymz!

June 8/12.

Can't believe another week has gone by without an entry.

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans, or something like that. (Thank you John).


Yesterday, went to the Running Room on Yonge around Rosedale. After 23 painful days, my foot/heel, finally - healing! Not going to make the same mistake again by wearing Keds on the track! (In fact, had to laugh when I told the salesman here that I wrecked my foot by running in Keds and he asked, "What are Keds?")  Doh!

Ended up buying a pair of Saucony shoes, (kind of garish green laces, but whatever), - they are very light in weight, but comfy, and according to the sales fellow (who apparently only knows about GOOD shoes), are perfect for me. He asked me to run on the wood plank floor to try them out and then shouted out to me, "Oh! You're a FRONT runner!" (WTF?) He explained only about 12 percent of runners are front runners and that's likely why I hurt my heel. Alrighty then. He swears these shoes should work for me. (at $130, they better!)

Recently, several unusual Docs
(no, not The Nutty Professor!) have been giving me some strange and rather unique advice & methods of dealing with high stress levels. (some work, some don't). But running seems to help. Hope I can do it again soon....maybe today. See you in Riverdale Park! - (Meet you there, Jerry).


While on Yonge Street, stopped in at Paperboy Cards & Gifts.

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a "bit" of a greeting card fanatic, always have been, and lately, have developed a yen for sending fun cards via snail mail. Found some good ones in here, including one for my newest cousin, Sienna, who will be turning one next week! (as well as some other funny messages to be mailed soon!)

Across the street from the card shop, spotted these young girls having their picture taken while standing in the middle of the road. Not sure what they were doing or why, but it caught my eye.

Later, had dinner with my good friend, Pam Pickard at The Friendly Greek. Always great to catch up with her!

We strolled along the Danforth under gorgeous evening sunshine and came across The Simpsons in the window for It's My Party, celebrating Pride Day bigtime. Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and the gang have been my pals for over 20 years. Why? Because they never fail to make me laugh.

Friends like that?

Always welcome! Ha ha!

Went inside and bought some PRIDE merchandise for my daughter, Kate, (rainbow sunglasses & boa),

cuz she is really into PRIDE DAY! (Here she is, in all her glory, at last year's big event)

and also spotted some awesome KISS masks that my son, Max, would love! (Maybe for Halloween this year?)

Earlier in the week, was finally time for a haircut/style & lowlights. Drove along Bloor past the ROM,

right down to Honest Ed's, (across the road from my salon, INI).

Upon arrival, master stylist Paul Taylor was a tad worried about my hair trainwreck, (as usual).

He always has his work cut out for him (no pun intended), when it comes to me.


But in the end, (2 and a half hours later),

he always comes through for me! Thanks Paul! Love it. (the hard part is making it look the way YOU style it!) Can you just follow me around through life with your trusty blowdryer and round brush???

While at the salon, met a lovely young woman named Krista. It was her first time at INI and she had her hair done by the talented (and very funny),  Angela. Beautiful new cut. I think she'll be back! Krista was interested in my past career at Global TV, as she goes to U of T and studies journalism. Good luck!

On the way home, noticed a HUGE sign, blurting the news to the world that a new Louis Vuitton is coming to Toronto this summer. Doubt I'll be shopping in THERE anytime soon! (Not with Honest Ed's so nearby)!

And sales at the Carrot Common mall!

In between everything else, finally wrote my Rick Springfield profile for Forever Young (after they gave me the details - 800 words and a deadline of June 7th). All done!

Now just want to see it come out in print!

Meanwhile, the Trevor St. John article (ex-"Todd Manning", & ex-"Victor Lord Jr." on One Life to Live),

about his new movie, In the Family,

also done and up and running on tribute.ca

Read about Trevor St. John here!

On Saturday, my sister, Carrie, our cousin Kev and I had lunch with the great Auntie Ray at her condo dining room.
At 92, she is a marvel and we all adore her. We had a terrific time visiting.

Carrie entertained her with one of Ray's dog toys. (she always had dogs in her life, but can't own one in the condo, so she has lots of stuffed animal toys to play with).

She also played our late Uncle Ev's harp for Ray.....

oh, now come ON! Is there ANYTHING this girl can't do?

But I think Auntie Ray's son, Kevan, is her favourite person in the whole world, (and can't say I blame her!) He's right up there on MY list! Carrie's too! Has been our whole lives. He da bomb.


This past week also featured a visit to the park, where I watched some kind of track and field event,

wishing the coach would get me off the damn bench so I could go join the real world and play! SOON!

And it was a special occasion for our son, Max, who at 17, is almost finished with grade 11 and got the chance to glam things up at Rosedale Heights in his suit and

John Lennon hat.

for the school's big Music Night, which was absolutely amazing. He played 17 numbers, four on drums and the rest on marimba,

and was called up to play the grand finale encore song - dead centre and FABULOUS! Congrats to ALL the great musicians and to the teachers and conductors who pulled it off magnificently! Rosedale is such an incredible school!


I'm tired out now! Think I'll go lie down in the park! Talk to you soon!

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Get thru the night! - (& watch out! I have nails now!)

February 18/12.

Ever since being diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago, I've done a lot of things I never imagined I'd do. Cancer messes not only with the body, but the mind, heart & soul. (just in case you didn't know). No excuses. No prisoners. Shit happens & you roll with it, day by day. Some of it, - fantastically fun - ("Intensity Entity"), - never felt anything LIKE it. Absolutely WILD! - Some of it, emotionally painful - (tons 'o tears). The rest of it, just funny as hell. (Carrie? Prickles? Loretta? Franelle? Joanne? Bruce? Bill?) Bring on the laughs! The more, the better. ONLY way to let your freak flag fly! Won't reveal EVERYTHING I've done to cope. Just too frickin' out there. No one would believe it anyway! (unless you've followed this blog from Day ONE). Best concept I CAN give comes from John Lennon. "Whatever gets you thru the night, it's alright, it's alright." Agree with you there Lennon! Go with what works!
Mmmmmmm hmmmmmmmmm....What's helped? Let's see. Mega-blonde hair colour, piles of makeup, tight clothes, lacey La Senza/La Vie En Rose lingerie, high-top boots, wild & crazy emails, radiation table-top fantasies, "Me days," 3 Stooges marathons (an absolute MUST),  Jerry Lewis, House, (Hugh Laurie!), fab voice-over course with Jason Deline, (with demo recording still-to-come on February 21st), Friendly Greek take-out, Henkell, (duh), hot HOT showers, Body Shop vanilla-scented cream, trying to learn digi-photography, Howard Stern, Robin Quivers, the Wack Pack, NewsTalk 1010's Mike Bullard, Jim Richards & Dave Agar, Carrie's "Prickles the porcupine" puppet & videos, family, friends and - the famous flying fickle finger of fate! (not sure if Dick & Dan got fickle finger manicures!) - More to come on that in a sec.

 ("Say good night Dick." - "Good night Dick.") - Sock it to me!!


To quote Norman Bates from Psycho - "We all go a little mad sometimes, haven't you?"

Uh, yep, indeed.

That being said, did something today I've only done ONCE in my life. (for my wedding day). Had a manicure! WTF?  Anyone who knows me must be freaking to read this tidbit of info. UNHEARD of.

Before shot


Being the "calm, cool, collected" individual I am, (NOT!) - I've made annual new years resolutions for DECADES to stop biting my nails. Those "promises" always lasted exactly ONE day. Then, 364 days later, I tried again, with the same result. Over & over & over. But for SOME reason, THIS year, something snapped or zapped. Don't know WHY, don't know HOW, but it did. Had so many OTHER stresses in my life, I just stopped biting! Started to think, "Hey, maybe I can actually get my nails done!" (ha ha! - ya, this is the BEFORE pic...NOT great, but the best my nails have been since, well...ever). I know, a joke, right??

Then, in a grocery store line-up the other day, saw a woman with nails like this! (even BETTER than this actually). I told her she has GORGEOUS nails, and said I've stopped biting and want MINE to look like HERS. She advised me, "Go to a manicurist and ask for Shellac. You'll NEVER want to bite your nails again!" After that brief conversation, all I could think about was Shellac!

Made an appointment for 3:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Urban Nails (said to be the BEST salon on the Danforth!) I've been there several times to buy gift cards for other people, but never frequented the place for myself! - (what's the point, when you have no nails?)

Upon entering, encountered the stunning Christine at reception. Perfect hair, makeup, clothing and so very charming. I told her I wanted to meet Kevin Nguyen, (who I'd read about online. He owns the place).

He turned out to be two feet away from me, working on a client!  Asked him if I could take pics at his salon and run them on my blog.  He was very nice, said OK, and even offered to take pics for me! (Gave him the blog address so he can read this later).


After checking my nails, (with a bit of a sigh, LOL), Kevin "assigned me" to Kelly. She turned out to be the loveliest young woman from Vietnam (who grew up in the same town as Kevin!) They worked together at a salon in Cabbagetown and then he launched his own business and she works with him at the Danforth location, three days a week (Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays). She has a nine-and-a-half-month old baby boy and looks after him the rest of the week. Most members of her family live in Toronto now. She moved to T.O. in 2003, with NO skills in English. You'd never know it. I clearly understood every word she said and she is just a delight. I told her, when I come back to Urban Nails, I want to request her, personally. Such a sweetheart. I recommend her highly! - and great at her job!

Kevin kindly came over several times and took pics of Kelly working on my nails. This is the high-speed curing light, to dry nails in just two minutes! Coolio! They also turned on the massage chair, which shocked the hell out of me! Incredible! I think I need to BUY one!

Since my nails are so short, I chose the most natural, light pink Shellac shade. (next time, when my nails are a bit longer, I'll go a little more vibrant).

After shot

This may not look like much of anything to those who've had great nails all their lives, - but for me?
Almost life-changing! Gak! (and I'm NOT trying to give you the finger - of fate, or otherwise!) Thank you Kevin & Kelly! As Arnold Schwarzenegger would say, "I'll be back!"


http://www.urbannails.ca/


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