fall(ing)

[via postsecret]

Finally, the summer is over. Fall, with cool mornings, clothing in layers, smells and colour-changing leaves, is upon us. It's sneaking up and bringing with it pumpkin lattes and a desire to make slow-cooker soups and stews. No more jetting off to Saskatchewan, or rushing around worrying about weddings and birthdays and fitting it all in. We're back to a slower pace. Relaxed. Sweaters worn to football matches. Scarves in the morning. Seeing your breath. I love this time of year so much.

The weekend in the Okanagan brought two rounds of golf, ten visits to wineries, fifteen bottles to bring back with us, and many, many hours spent together in a car. It was camping in the rain (B spilling his beer in the tent) and our first bed and breakfast. It was fresh fruit and coffee which ranged from very, very bad (McDonalds in Revelstoke, I'm thinking of you) and very, very good (oh B&B with your locally-roasted, grinded in house deliciousness). It was my first darts victory. Poker and beer. B being forced to put up with my dance party tunes while the radio was out of commission in the mountains. It was fall romance, despite the rain.

B likes my blog because so often I'm probably annoying people by talking about him. Ego stroking at its finest.

I've had some rough times lately. Summer drama. The things one goes through when one decided that maybe a friend is no longer a friend. Wanting to keep that person around for the good times, but realizing that you have to take the bad with the good. When she started telling people I love (and who I can only assume love me) that she thinks I'm depressed and that the Boy and I are not good for one another -- he's changed me -- I started questioning what she's telling those who don't have such close ties to me. To us.

"I don't think you've changed, and I've known you my whole life," says the Little.

I joke about it with B. I've ended more than a few sentences with, "Oh, it's just because I'm depressed." And we giggle.

"She doesn't read your blog, does she?"

If she did, there'd be no question.

I am obviously ready to own a dinosaur

Elle [9:12 AM]: UofC scientists found a dinosaur that's half the size of a domestic cat. I'm so over getting a puppy... I now want a tiny dinosaur. Rawr!
C [9:13 AM]: omg! that is soooo great!
Elle [9:13 AM]: I know. Too bad the damned thing is extinct. The nerve.
C [9:13 AM]: i know. shit. you could try to pull a jurassic park and find some dna in a mosquito and then clone a mini dinosaur. but it sounds like too much work.
Elle [9:14 AM]: clever, C, clever. I would just have to make damned sure that that DNA is from a little dinosaur and not a big one. It's like, one day I come home from work and am like, "oh Rex? Where is that little guy?" And he's not home because he's A GIANT DINOSAUR TERRORIZING THE CITY!
C [9:15 AM]: it's true. you'd want to be double-sure you weren't getting giant one. the cost of food alone would be astronomical.
Elle [9:16 AM]: There's got to be some kind of dinosaur DNA store. I want an extended warranty. If it turns out to be a big dinosaur, you'd better believe I'm taking that sucker back.
C[9:17 AM]: "uhhh...sir....yes, i'd like a refund on my dinosaur"
Elle [9:18 AM]: DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A MINI DINOSAUR TO YOU?!
C [9:18 AM]: hahahaha
Elle [9:18 AM]: And then the dinosaur eats him. So I consider keeping him for a little bit longer, because he'll eat anyone that pisses me off. And that saves on food.
C [9:18 AM]: true
Elle [9:19 AM]: but in the end, he's a HUGE DINOSAUR and that's a lot to deal with. RAWR.
C [9:19 AM]: wow, you have this all worked out. You are obviously ready to own a dinosaur.
Elle [9:19 AM]: You'd better believe I am. As long as it's little.
C [9:19 AM]: let me know how that goes
Elle [9:20 AM]: I will. I'll just have to keep it away from Josephine [C's cat] because as much as he'd be half the size of her... he might just eat her. It would be quite the hair ball.
C [9:21 AM]: then i'd be pissed. i'd kick your dino to the curb, man.
Elle [9:21 AM]: I wouldn't blame you.

The one in which I am an angry bitch

Dear Spike TV/Nick Coles;

Seriously? You allowed this knob of a writer to completely bash incredible women on your site, while slowly backing away with the "this article does not represent Spike TV or its affiliates" mumbo-jumbo. The fact that you knew enough to include that little gem, shows how much you knew the article was wrong, degrating, and inappropriate.

Sara Ramirez, Drew Barrymore, Salma Hayak, America Ferrera, Mandy Moore, Liv Tyler, and Tyra Banks are not "the Top 7 Butterbodies" Nick Coles asserts them to be. He says these women have an obligation to be stick thin, no matter how unhealthy that actually can be, and that by parading any of them as "curvy" we're giving women an "excuse to be fat". Fuck you. Excuse my language, but I would like to smack Mr. Coles upside the head.

These women are under enough pressure from the media and society as a whole, being the celebrities that they are, they don't need to hear it from you. I wouldn't even consider any of them "fat", but I guess that's just me. These women may have the means for personal trainers, but it doesn't mean they have the time. Filming TV shows, movies, making appearances, going on press tours, it's not easy work. It means long days. You know how some days you are exhausted and want to head home and spend some time either relaxing or with your family? Yeah, they probably do the same.

The fact that you even equate celebrity with the need to be stick thin disgusts me. When celebrities do give in to the Hollywood need-to-be-thin thing, the media turns on them and suggests eating disorders, calls them skeletons and demeans them yet again. It's jerks like Mr. Coles who spawn these issues with body image and eating disorders -- Nicole Richie, Kate Bosworth and Calista Flockhart are all good examples. Not to mention the fact that holding celebrities to these impossible standards has an effect on young girls' body image as well.

But do women lash out about the men in Hollywood and the male celebrities who clearly let their bodies go? How much backlash did Joaquin Phoenix, Jack Nicholson, Jack Boy George, or even Jared Leto receive when they were not "celebrity thin". If you truly believe that "celebrities are not like normal people" and "its their job to look fit and hot", what excuse do you give for the men? Why don't you feature them in your article? Have you seen Phoenix lately?

Quite frankly, I feel sorry for any women in your life who suffer the ridiculous standards you hold them to.

Love, Me
xoxo