Ultra-high maintenance!

October 21/11.

I've been a high maintenance woman since the age of 13 when I first discovered makeup. There was no turning back. It started off innocently enough when the braces came off and I traded in my horrifying pointy-edged glasses for blue-tinted contact lenses, then turned to just a touch of Erace concealer to hide the dark circles. In no time flat, I was hitting the hard stuff. Makeup became my drug of choice and I was full-out addicted. Like any drug, I liked the way it made me feel. And look.

Decades later, makeup is still my heavy duty addiction. I wasn't blessed with Angelina Jolie looks, so I do the most I can with what I've got and have a helluva lot of fun with it! The natural look? Not for me. Never was. My husband, Sam, has often asked, when I will let the natural hair colour grow out and stop with the glam? Are you freaking kidding me?? Answer? Not in this lifetime! (on this, the eve of our wedding anniversary, it's hard to believe he has witnessed the "makeup transformation" pretty much every day for 28 years, and hasn't jumped ship yet. Ai carumba!)

I have a close friend, (who shall remain nameless, at her request). We constantly joke about our mutual passionate love affair with makeup. She has been known to throw me into hysterical laughter by referring to my makeup headquarters (the floor of my bedroom), as "The War Room." (appropriate, because it's a major battle, every day to go from blank canvas to "masterpiece"! - and believe me, masterpiece is ever-elusive, but I keep trying!)

For fun, thought I'd show the products it takes to pull a rabbit out of a hat every day. (or, as my late Mum always used to say, "Miracle time!!" - We shared a wild love for makeup). I won't go as far as to show before-and-after shots, (though I've been known to DO that in the past), but I don't want to lose readers here!! People would be running for the hills!

Tons 'o makeup!

Makeup never STARTS with makeup. It begins with a shower, to get that blank canvas look. Here are the "few products" I enjoy using to reach that stage!

(left to right), Scope white mouthwash, Exact liquid white soap, Johnson's baby oil (to remove waterproof mascara), Oil of Olay vanilla bodywash (the scent is simply fantastic), Pantene frizzy to smooth shampoo & conditioner, Finesse hairspray, St. Ives facial scrub, Bodycology brown sugar vanilla body mist (can't get enough!), Skintimate raspberry shaving gel, Quattro raspberry razor, Bath Retreat vanilla body butter, Secret deoderant, Johnson's baby powder, Arm & Hammer whitening toothpaste, Oral B toothbrush, contact lens disinfectant, blowdryer, (don't leave home without it!), saline solution, Oil of Olay moisturizer (best product EVER!), Ponds moisturizer (for under eye). - That's ALL it takes!

After THAT, comes makeup!!

(left to right) - Cover Girl Advanced Radiance Age Defying base foundation in Buff Beige (terrific product); RCMA CS-1 concealer, (better known by me as "Industrial strength bag cream" - best stuff ever! - only available at Hiscott's); plus concealer brush to apply (Lauren Hutton's Good Stuff collection); Cover Girl Ultimate Finish Liquid Powder Makeup 420- Creamy Natural; Ben Nye pressed eye shadow ES-56 Espresso (also only at Hiscott's); Annabelle under eye Kohl eyeliner - Black, 73 (GREATEST Kohl liner on the planet); eyebrow brush applicator (Annabelle A-14); eyebrow brush (Clinique - Brow keeper liner, warm brown, 01); Coty Airspun loose face powder translucent extra coverage 070-41 (have to order it from eBay in the U.S. - worth it!); Lauren Hutton's Good Stuff blush brush; Visine, (gotta get the red out!); Mac mineralized blush - Dainty; lipstick, Rimmel Lasting Finish, 010 - Dizzy; lipstick, Rimmel, Moisture Renew, 260, Amethyst Shimmer; Gosh On Stage Cool Lip Jam gloss, 104; Cover Girl eye enhancers eye shadow, Brown Smolder, 740 (fab colour!); Cover Girl loose powder puff, (a must!); Revlon eyelash curler (can't live without it!); Maybelline Lash Stylist waterproof mascara, Very Black (no longer made, naturally. Sam located a dozen of them on eBay. Worth every penny); Mac Blacktrack fluid line gel eyeliner (great product!); eyeliner brush (bought from art supply store for $2.00) Dynasty, 352R - Made in Thailand; eyeliner brush (also from art supply store), Dynasty, 331R - Made in Thailand. (So, as you see, NO big deal to achieve that "natural" look!)

On top of the above, can't forget

Velcro rollers, clips, round hairbrush. I keep hoping for a good hair day.

And of course, L'Oreal Superior Preference Hair Colour - #38!
It's terrific!

Check out lots of old Global TV pics (below), wearing SO much makeup it's insane! (LOVE it!) For 18 years, I had professional makeup artists to help me. Tried to learn from them, but could never quite achieve the same results they did. (Dana Joon, best in the biz, where are you when I need you)?

1.) At Talo hair salon when I changed my colour to strawberry blonde, and got a new cut. Wish it could look this way again!
2.) With the late, great John Candy in the Global green room after our interview.

3.) Co-hosting the Variety Club Telethon. (I can see sports anchor Bill Bird on the phones in the background).
4.) Dressed up in blue to cover an awards show. Forget which one.
5.) With actor Roger Moore. - Took years to finally score an interview with him!

6.) Anchoring an entertainment segment on the Global news set.
7.) My fave hair and makeup ever, in the Global makeup room. (with my idol, Marilyn Monroe behind me). Dana did my makeup here to cover the Junos one year.

Who knows? Maybe the products I use, will inspire others to get creative! - (or go crazy). In turn, if anyone has products to recommend, would be happy to hear about them! I keep the cosmetics industry in biz!

He walks!!

October 2/11.

After 40 days of sitting in a wheelchair with two fractured ankles, Kevan is finally on his feet! That was my big surprise when I came to visit him on my usual nightly "Henkell run."

(left to right) - Bob Ablack, Kev, Stan Endersby
Cousin Kevio was sitting in the Bridgepoint cafeteria with two old friends. He didn't have his crutches with him to demonstrate he could get on his feet, but his pals offered to help him up to prove to me he can stand!

I was cheering! Kev is on on the road to recovery! - YAY!!!!!!!!!

Bob is a film/video colourist, but also a drummer, who once played drums with Rough Trade at Grossman's! And Stan, is a singer/songwriter/guitarist. He performed in bands including The Tripp and Livingston's Journey, and also worked with Bob in Just Us, back in the sixties.

Stan Endersby, fourth from left, playing guitar, Bob Ablack on drums in
Just Us.

On the three-minute drive home from Bridgepoint,

made another stop on Broadview Avenue at Riverdale Park,

to practice my "auto-shoot camera skills", (or lack thereof), still looking for that elusive shot with perfect cityscape lighting.

The next day, I tried again for the gold-hewed backlight I'm after. This time, shot on a side street - (Sparkhall Avenue), without the perfectly framed cityscape, but managed to "get the gold"! - Sort of a Close Encounters/alien effect!

Also dropped by the Enviro Day event at Riverdale Park on Saturday to check it out.

It's a very busy community event where people can discard old electronics,

tires, paint cans and household hazardous waste including cleaning supplies or solvents and motor oil.

Lots of people in the neighbourhood found it a great opportunity to safely dispense with a lot of tough-to-get-rid-of items,

It sure was a beautiful day to get outside.

Blue skies, smiling at me. Nothing but blue skies, do I see!

But you could really feel the temperature dropping. Fall is in the air! (I'm still in a bit of a Burton Cummings haze!)

Among the weekend's errands, a stop at Value Village to drop off some clothing. (apparently, they already have a full supply of Halloween costumes now in stock!)

Then over to No Frills for groceries,

where I helped an elderly lady who was having trouble getting her adorable (but rambunctious) little white dog back inside her car! What a cutie!

It's impossible to predict what might suddenly hit me in the heart and make me sad these days. Inside No Frills, caught sight of this lone box of Just Right in the middle of a cereal display. It brought tears to my eyes. Has been almost a year since Mum died. A year ago, I was still buying her boxes of Just Right all the time (her fave), and she was doing fine. Only days later, she passed away. I quickly departed the store in search of light & levity and headed directly for Shoppers Drug Mart,

to buy some makeup and hair colour, (L'Oreal #38!)- which always makes me happier, right?

I was happier still, once the hair colour was DONE!!

That always makes me feel a whole lot better! (doesn't take much to bring a smile to my face, - but tears can hit me just as quickly. I never know when or where!) Sigh.

Addictions?

August 6/11.

Feel like talking about addictions. Or is it obsessions? Hmmmmmm.
I'm into those too, but, nope, today, I'm feelin' - addictions. I have plenty of them. Kinda kidding...not talking drugs...I looked up the word addiction and there are many definitions. I'm leaning towards the ones that say compulsion, spiritual obsession, pleasure, brain reward, motivation.

As of 10:40 a.m. this morning, haven't even done anything of any real
consequence. Fed Tru (our cat), put the dishes away and re-loaded the dishwasher, talked to a special person on Facebook (love that pop-up chat! - in fact, IT'S kind of an addiction - mostly really fun) and listened to music, - also a current addiction. Have tons of errands to do, but won't get around to any of those till I get my hair colour done. Hair colour. Yep, another addiction. That, and makeup. (duh).

(Hate DOING it, but love the result!) L'Oreal #38 - my fave shade. I have a friend who was comparing notes with me about colour. Turns out, she uses L'Oreal #37. Weird.

OK - so added this shot after the whole hair colour process and everything else, was finally complete. Whew! What an ordeal.

The friend I mentioned is high maintenance, just like me. We joke that, "starting from scratch", it takes (bare minimum), two hours to look like a normal human being. Shower, shampoo, conditioning, shaving, moisturizer, good old Oil of Olay (naturally), for the face, - and then for the body - all of mine are vanilla now because I'm in an outta-control-vanilla-phase, (which has been indulged by my friend, Dean, who bought me vanilla-scented creams at The Body Shop!! Thanks Dean), then leave-in treatment for massive tangles, comb-out, blow dry, styling, velcro rollers, blow-out, more styling, hairspray, and (as my friend and I love to say), - makeup "applied liberally with a garden trowel". It's the only way to go.

After all that - BING! Instant normal!! (LOL)

(also helps to go for soft focus photography whenever possible).

Everyone keeps telling me to gain weight. They think I don't eat. Ha! That's a laugh. I eat whatever I want, whenever I want. (just happens I don't want it all the time!) But my new addiction is Dare Petits Plaisirs Creme Brulee cookies! Love them! (who knew?) I can't even figure out why I bought them in the first place! - but now I'm on box #3. (on sale this week at No Frills for $1.99) If left alone, I could probably finish a whole box all at once. (so far, my record has been a full row...that was last night).

Don't buy them! You might not be able to stop either!! (or maybe it's just me).

I get addicted to people too. Funny, eh? Several friends have become closer to me during this whole cancer scenario and now, if I don't speak to them daily, I go into withdrawal. Won't name them, since strangely, all of these people happen to be incredibly private, but they know who they are! (what attracted them to somebody so outgoing, free and public, I'll never know, but am glad for having them in my life!) I was even contacted by an old Seneca College pal I've been seeking out for 30 years! Complete surprise to get a message and catch up. Will write about him in a future entry (if he'll let me!)

Thanks for caring gang, and for all the support, love & laughs these past few months. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO convinced you played a role in my (ongoing), excellent, energy-fueled, never-a-dull moment recovery! What else could it be? (on top of the care and concern of countless other family members and good pals, of course! - plus a phenomenal medical team).

I've been oh so lucky. (hey, maybe that's why I love the song Lucky so much!)

And now, on the subject of music...have always loved it (who doesn't, right?), but never moreso than following my surgery. It's been three months of blaring music, everywhere I go. Again, my brain seems convinced that certain music got me through recovery.

Tops on the list is Bryn Christopher - 25-year-old singer from Birmingham, England.

Yep, good looking, but that's not it. After discovering his song The Quest on Grey's Anatomy in 2008, I fell for the guy's incredible voice. Sam gave me a copy of his CD and I started playing it day after day in the car, once my surgery was over and I was able to drive again. The more I listened, the more I loved it. He sings soulfully and with such intensity about love, lust, losing his mind, addictions, obsession. Every day, a new song became my own personal "obsession du jour". But the one I love most is Seconds Ago, a fast-paced, drum-laden track. My favourite lyrics include, "I lost my mind. How it happened I don't know. I lost my mind. Must have happened when I let go." The song suits my mood - breathless.

Click here, and then click on the arrow inside to hear the MP3. Sadly, there's no video for this song - audio only. Listen LOUD!!

PrivatePractice 02x11 (Bryn Christopher - Seconds Ago).mp3

I listened to this song every day, over and over, on the way to radiation and on the way home. (and still do). For whatever reason, it spoke to me and made me feel good. Like everything was going to be OK.

And at home, at the computer, it was these guys. Wes Taylor & Matt Doyle, singing Lucky. Over and over and over. Again, they spoke to me. (Kate too!) We've been addicted to the song! I've talked about it here before, I know. They were in love when they performed this song together and it's the cutest, sweetest, truest version you could ever hope to watch. You can see, and FEEL their passion. (Drag, that they broke up though).



Sounds weird, but I want to thank Bryn, Wes & Matt! Feelin' great and you all helped me feel buzzed and energized.