[Pretend] Christmas Wishlist

So I went a little nutty at the beginning of the hockey season and convinced myself that I could not live another day without a new handbag.  I have beautiful middle-line designer bags - Marc by Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Alexander Wang...etc. - but I needed my first WAG bag.  This sounds a little ridiculous - ok a lot ridiculous - but after a whole season of watching women flaunt chanels, LVs, and even birkins, one can start to feel a teeny bit self-conscious about a dangling coach tag.

So for my first bag, I decided to go with something not too expensive and with good resale value (ebay and craigslist master over here!).  Since university I have been eyeing Balenciaga bags, so I decided on this one: City in papyrus with giant silver hardware.

Pretty, no? Well after 13 days of it sitting in the box, untouched, I decided that maybe it wasn't the best colour for me.  I was so afraid of colour transfer from my uniform (dark skinny jeans) that I decided to return it.


The replacement: City in black with giant rose gold hardware.

Well, hello there beautiful.

Moving on...I'm clearly banned from handbag purchases for a while, but I would never deny myself the wonderful joy of window shopping.  In no particular order, here are the beauties on my wishlist:
p.s. I will not be upset if any of these show up under the christmas tree, just sayin...

Balenciaga City in Bordeaux from the holiday collection - yes, another Bal! Love them!

Louis Vuitton L in Gris Perle Mahina Leather

Celine Luggage Tote. This combo is from SS2010, but I'll accept any colour :)  Here's Nicole Ricci rocking a similar luggage tote. Swoon.

Unknown. Does that say Miu Miu? Someone please ID this for me. I snapped this photo from Elle magazine a few months ago. TBH, I would probably never use this because it's stark white, but I wouldn't mind having it just to stare at. <3

And just for fun:

Chanel, exclusively for Lady Gaga.  I realize this may be a little inaccessible but I do love it so. Imagine it as a wedding clutch...ahh. :) Read all about it here.

Home for the Holidays

For the last few years I have been flying on Christmas Day.  In my efforts to be fair, for the last 3 years I have spent December 24th with my boyfriend's family, then flown across the border to spend the 25th with my family (sans bf), and finally returned to the US for New Years Eve.  This year, my boyfriend's Canadian roadtrip happened to include 3 full days in my hometown during the second week of December, so I decided to skip the Christmas Day airport experience (which is much more like flying on any normal day and not at all like that chaotic, festive experience in Home Alone) and ensure he puts in some much overdue time with his inlaws.  My family agreed to a "pre-Christmas" - turkey, presents, and all - and it's been planned for this weekend.  My life revolves around his hockey schedule, and now, so does my family's.  #glamNHLlife NOT.

So anyway, I arrived "home" last night, but I suddenly feel a little uneasy using that word to refer to my parents' house...

My country is without a doubt my home.  I am Canadian and have felt even more so ever since being bounced at the US border this summer (yes bounced! TIP: Always print out a copy of your return ticket, try to avoid traveling with a cat, and don't wear bright coloured jeans - no really).

My city is also my home.  When I talk about my city, I talk about that wonderful place where I was born...the city where I learned to use public transit to visit my first boyfriend who lived an hour away and the city where I ran a weekly karaoke program with general psychiatry inpatients who discovered the most innovative (and often most dangerous) ways to manipulate a microphone.  My city is where my nieces and nephews laugh and play and grow, and it's the place where I met my hubby-to-be. 

But my parent's house? It just doesn't feel like home anymore.  I'm not sure why and I'm not sure when it happened, but it makes me really sad.  My [boyfriend's] apartment in the US sure isn't home and I don't have my own place in my hometown (because I'm unemployed and living off kind donations) so where does this leave me?

I totally stole this from a hockey wife's blog and I promise to give her credit once I find her page in my history... This quote so perfectly sums up how I feel right now.  Maybe I should watch the movie...

From Garden State (2004):

Andrew Largeman: You know that point in your life when you realize the house you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of a sudden even though you have some place where you put your shit, that idea of home is gone.
Sam: I still feel at home in my house.
Andrew Largeman: You'll see one day when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it's gone. You feel like you can never get it back. It's like you feel homesick for a place that doesn't even exist. Maybe it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I don't know, but I miss the idea of it, you know. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people that miss the same imaginary place.
Sam: [cuddles up to Andrew] Maybe.

Goulash

After a couple minutes of staring blankly at my computer screen and backspacing awkward intros, I have decided against trying to define myself with a single "about-me" paragraph.  Instead, I should probably just list some of the basics to help you sort through my mishmash of blog posts - my goulash.

Location: US and Canada, a nomad really.  To be discussed...thoroughly.

Age: 25 (well hello worst age of my life thus far)

Marital Status: Common Law (read: living in sin with my boyfriend for almost 2 years - holy propose already)

Education: BSc, plus a little bit of an MA (little bit? Quick, angry version: I had NO CHOICE but to withdraw from a US masters program because I am Canadian.  I may choose to later put this uni on blast so that I might be compensated for the money spent preparing for and writing the GRE, on getting my pre-reqs, and of course, in tuition for the courses I did complete. Woo-saa girl, woooo-saaaa).

Reason for blogging: Too many here.  Because I'm too old to write in my diary? Because I can't tolerate another day of twitter's character limit and want to write about nothing using as many characters as I want?  Because a friend from university once told me I should start a blog and I haven't gotten it out of my head ever since? Yes to all, but really...the main reason is probably my boyfriend.  He plays hockey in the NHL.  Since we met, my life has been turned upside down.  I left my hugemungo family, my incredible friends, my uber-active (but probably not so liver-healthy) social life, my medical school aspirations, and my very well-paying, full-time job.  I love this boy more than anything in the world (yes, even more than my ragdoll kitty) and I don't regret my decision (at least not yet, please God!) but I could sure use a cathartic outlet at times.  I also have a s&*@load of free time to write about nothing.  #hockeywaglife

gou·lash*  [goo-lahsh, -lash]
n.

1. A stew of beef or veal and vegetables, seasoned mainly with paprika. 

2. A mixture of many different elements; a hodgepodge.

3. The term I chose to define the random, themeless blog I am starting.

4. The only word suggested to me on thesaurus.com that I actually liked.  Salmagundi came a close second, while potpourri just reminded me of the christmas-scented shrubby stuff I would use to fill my mother's little glass bowls as a maid child.

5. One of my boyfriend's favourite dishes (yes babe, I know it's spelled Guláš, yes babe I know Czech is the best country in the world, no babe there is nothing that compares to Czech food...yes, you're better at Jenga.)

*1 & 2 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/goulash