Spreading the word...

I know that the event that I am going to hook you up with here is not in Canada, but as someone who deeply loves the LGBTQ people in my life I feel strongly compelled to do a shout out for Rachel and her fundraising goal as described on her blog:

I JUST NEED A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME

Please take some time to click on the link and read Rachel's blog entry. If you are on Facebook or Twitter please consider helping her efforts by posting or retweeting and by all means consider supporting her with a donation. Even a small one will help.

Thanks!

Rather than thinking "if and when", start doing, take action, stop talking about "if and when" Catherine Pulsifer

Greet everything in life with a big 'ol bear hug

I wanted to put up this post over 2 weeks ago but I've been crazy busy. OK now that I've got that out of the way...

Yayyy Sister Christine. About two weeks ago she received our country's highest civilian honour, The Order of Canada. And I, and many, many others in Guelph could not be more thrilled. She is an amazing woman who, quietly and without the need for attention, awards or kudos, has done untold amounts of good for our community. I met Sister Christine in the early 80's just after she had opened the Drop In Centre. She spoke to a group of us at a CFUW meeting. She was feisty with a suffer-no-fools attitude and a direct communication style that amazed me, scared me and endeared me to her at the same time.

After being given the skinny on how to follow the protocol of the occasion prior to the award ceremony, Sister Christine bucked that protocol and gave the Governor General two kisses and a bear hug. Apparently she said "It doesn't bother me what the protocol is. You just do what feels right." We could learn so much from Sister Christine.

Like... greet everyone and everything you do in life with a bear hug.

Like.... tell people around you they are beautiful just because they are (Sister Christine told the GG that she was beautiful, just 'cause she is!).

Like... just do what's right.

Like... awards are nice and everything, but when we "wear" or flaunt them for our personal gain, as if they make us special or better, it is time to give our heads a shake and get back to doing good work just for the sake of doing good work. Like Sister Christine.

When asked what Sister Christine was going to do with her Order of Canada medal she replied "Oh for God sakes I don't know. I'm certainly not going to wear it."

Now that's "perspective" that I can aspire to!

Photo Credit: Fred Chartrand, The Canadian Press

The Summer 2009 "Must haves"....!

According to Flare Magazine these are the 2009 Summer season MUST HAVES:

Teen Flo blazer with the sleeves rolled up: Price $395

Bebe pale pink satin tailored blazer: Price $200

Louis Vuitton silk clutch: Price $1,510 (Huh?)

Balenciaga patent bag: Price $1,145. (Huh again...) At Holt Renfrew. Just in case you were going to run right out and buy one.

Rafe leather bag: Price $380

Christian Louboutin leather shoe (the cute little fringy number pictured above): Price $1,365. These shoes must be priced at a dollar per piece of fringe, I suppose.

Aldo leather shoes: Price $125 (umm slightly more affordable)

Alexis Bittar 18kt gold and turquoise bracelet: Price $685

I kid you not. These are this summer's must haves according to Flare Magazine. I've got a better idea. Come and shop with us, accentuating and expressing your own unique and wonderful personal style, save a PILE of money and take a vacation or do something special and different with someone you love. Now that sounds like a "must have" to me!

Tuxedo Junction we are not

Ok , here's another cute story. In the "owning a consignment store is never a bore" category today I'll share this.

Not long ago a woman came in to my store and walked right up to the cash wrap. She told me that two of her really good friends shop regularly in my store. She further explained that she had mentioned to them that she wanted to consign something and they both highly recommended my shop and that's why she was here today. She asked what we take. I did my spiel "women's current style clothing, footwear accessories", blah blah blah. Then she says "wonderful, I'll bring in my husbands Tuxedo that he's not wearing anymore. It's a classic and will never go out of style."

Uhhh, 'K.... I ask her if she was thinking of consigning any women's clothing. "Oh no" says she. "I just want to sell my husband's tuxedo." This is where I point out to her that because we sell womens' items we would be unable to help her with the tuxedo. She looks at me as if I've just grown a second head and says "but my friends said you would look after me!" I offered that I could, perhaps, recommend another store or two that might be able to help her with the tux. To this she responds "I really just don't understand why you won't take the tux." At this point all I could do was smile. She pressed me again. I smiled. She walked away and browsed the store for about 10 minutes. I think she was trying to find the tux section. After she was done browsing she came back over to the cash wrap and said "I really wish that you would reconsider taking my husband's tux on consignment." I smiled. She left.

Now, if she had tried to consign the shoes in the picture above, well, then I would have told you a different story!

See for yourself where all this stuff goes on: Visit Guelph's Womens' consignment store ...And Venus Smiled

Michelle Obama makes royal gaffe...

And if so, I say bring on more gaffes. This story amuses me to no end. As it goes Michelle and Prez were meeting the Queen in London. As Michelle and the Queen were chatting the Queen rested her hand on Michelle's back. So, Michelle, who, in my opinion, oozes warmth, intelligence and sexiness, does what? She reciprocates by placing her hand, no doubt, affectionately, right smack dab on the Queen's back. See pic above. Bloody lovely! But wait - apparently this goes against royal protocol. Obviously, though, Michelle either forgot protocol or just didn't bloody care and went with what moved her in the moment. I know I'd find it hard not to reciprocate such a lovely gesture. If the Queen put her hand on my back I'd probably give her a big hug and kiss. No doubt I'd end up in shackles over that. Or in a room with no view (of the future anyway) in the Tower of London.

On another note about Michelle, take a look at the pic below:



Check out the cardigan. I love it! Now, if Stephen Harper's wife would do something interesting I'd blog about her.

Clare says: "Owning a Guelph Consignment store has never, ever, been a bore."

Visit ...And Venus Smiled

Where the heck have I been?

I've been a poopy blogger of late. Been very busy - what can I say. I'll get myself sorted out and get back into the regular post mode. In the meantime here's a great blog for you to enjoy:

2 Girls, 1 Year, No New Clothes

What a great idea!

Cheers,

Clare

Clare says: "Owning a Guelph Consignment Store has never, ever, been a bore!"

Red My Lips: The power of lipstick

From Cleopatra in 60 BC to Gloria Swanson to Marilyn Monnroe we gals have had a craving for lipstick. Red lipstick was for we women in the '20's the symbol of our new found voice and power. And then there's the coining of the term "Leading Lipstick Indicator" by Leonard Lauder (of Estee Lauder fame) who noticed that the sale of lipstick soared while the sales of other items soured during tough economic times like the Great Depression. Lipstick sales doubled after 911. Statistic say that 92 million American woman do not leave home without first applying lipstick.

While all of the above are certainly entertaining points about our love affair with lipstick nothing moves me as deeply as this story from the book I am currently reading "Sex God" by Rob Bell:

"Which takes us back to something that happened during Colonel Gonin's stay at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp: It was shortly after the British Red Cross arrived, though it may have no connection, that a very large quantity of lipstick arrived. This was not at all what we wanted, we were screaming for hundreds and thousands of other things and I don't know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of a genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on a postmortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity.

Because sometimes, the difference between heaven and hell may be a little bit of lipstick." (Page 30)

Perhaps even God wears lipstick.

(PS - And no there is not a typo in the title of this post ;^)

Give peace a deadline

P:5Y is a global collaboration to create world peace in five years. It launch dates is February 14, 2009 and target date February 14, 2014. The co-founders of P:5Y, Amber Lupton and Nathan Otto believe there are four cornerstones to making world peace achievable and these are the RICE:

Reposition: War is limp, peace is sexy

Include everyone

Collaborate

Easy to Use: Make peace practices user friendly

Read more about it here: P:5Y: World Peace by February 14th, 2014