In Berlin!

Hey all.

So after many adentures yesterday I made it to Berlin safe and sound, and to the hostel with only slight troubles in finding the right train. It's not my fault, they make it difficult.
Yesterday I stayed outside and enjoyed the sunshine for much of it. I ended burning my arms, shoulders and face a little. Of course my legs stayed white. I don't know why I'm shocked this happened.
It happens every year.

Then while at a cafe, drinking a beer (which I ordered in German! Look at me go), reading Dracula on my ebook, I ended up talking to another journalist. Originally he's from Palestine, but has lived in Germany for thrity years. We talked about a great many thing for a few hours.

Then later that night, after a relaxing afternoon and lots of window shopping, I met some people at the hostel bar and danced, bar hopped and drank my night away.
It's quite easy to lose track of time when bars stay open all night, so I didn't make it back to the hostel until six a.m.
That's alright because I was able to enjoy a freshly backed croissant while the sun came up.
I love the bakery's over here. They are everywhere! Not even joking.

Anyway, after passing out for three whole hours, I checked out of the hostel and made my way to the main train station in Hamburg. Now that I've used it a few times it's becoming surprisingly easy to navigate.

Once comfortably seated on the train, in excellent seats that had two seats facing two seats with a table in between, I stretched a bit and was quite excited for my next bit of the journey. Everytime I get on a train or plane I become very excited, one of my favourite parts of travelling.
I was then joined by an elderly couple as they decided to sit across from me and then give me no leg room (at all, my legs were tucked under my seat the whole time) and give me stares of haughty indifference. It was like they knew I existed, didn't really care to aknowledge it though.
Oh well, they chose to sit there.

Once making it to the Berlin main station, it took some time to find a train to the hostel. The station is absolutely massive! It has five or six different floors that all lead to some mode of transportation, be it taxi's, the U lines, the S lines, or the ICE trains. Just amazing. I did get pictures for those of you wondering, and I know you are.

So after a small issue that was easily resolved after finding a map (it was hiding), I made it to the hostel with ease. And then I showered and passed out.

Anyway, tomorrow it will be time to check out Berlin, lots of wandering to be done here.
I will probably be going to check out the Brandenburg gate, I saw it last time, but I would definitely like to see it again.

I'm off to bed now, becaue it's closing in on two a.m. over here.

Peace&Love
Chow

Back in Germany Baby!

It has been, well, probably a month since my last update.
I'm blaming that on the fact that I've graduated :),
been working full-time (yes full-time you non-believers, I was not sitting around doing nothing all day and you know it!)
and I was planning my glorious trip of the year.

Speaking of such, here I am again back in Germany, and no ones surprised I'm back.
Already it is clear I am a foreigner. Not because of my lack of German speaking, but because I'm wearing shorts. At 8 a.m. And I'm the only one. I don't even have goosebumps!

The travelling over here was pretty easy. The only issue was the severe lack of sleep, that made me start passing out in the Brussels airport. Thanks to the volcanoe, I was stuck there for about seven hours instead of the quick 50 minute change over I thought it was going to be.
Funny, I wasn't aware until I arrived in Brussels, went through customs, and the guard told me the Hamburg airport was closed. He thought it was funny.
The guard was right, my plane was cancelled, so I switched to the next flight.
Which also was cancelled after being delayed. Good thing they have a flight to Hamburg every few hours.
Finally, after switching flights again, I boarded the plane to Hamburg. I would've cheered out loud but everyone else seemed pretty grumpy so I just cheered quietly inside my head.

Once in Hamburg it took no time to grab my backpack, hop on the train (I love taking the train, this is the only transit system I'm familiar with), and find my hostel.
And by this time I was wide awake. After almost 24 hours of travelling in which I had two short naps, I was surprisingly alert. And by that I mean ridiculously overtired. So I made myself go to bed. At eight p.m. :)

All in all, good trip though. I had the best luck of having an open seat beside me on every flight, so on the first two I was actually able to stretch out. Not that I take up a lot of room anyway so it was pretty awesome.
I noticed there seemed to be quite a few open seats on all the flights. Almost every other time I've gone, planes have been packed, so I'm wondering if flying is really starting to become too expensive, or if it's just a passing trend because of the economy, fuel prices, volcanoes, and airline issues. Either way, I enjoyed the comfort of it. (Still a little jealous of those lucky ducks with footrests in first class though. Reclining footrest chairs!)

Now it's 9 a.m., and I've already showered (which felt amazing, by the way, being clean is quite nice), and walked to get breakfast and coffee.
Everyone be shocked and amazed.
So now I think I'm going to check out the city and enjoy the nice weather, and get stared at for enjoying said nice weather. Apparently they think it's cold.
I will try to keep updating, and I will try to keep it interesting, because I know how you like to be entertained.

Peace&Love

Chow

"Hey now, you're an Allstar"

Good Evening All,

I opened my facebook page tonight and noticed a poll being done by InStyle Magazine:
Do or Don't buy clothes one size too small hoping they will motivate you to lose weight?
http://www.facebook.com/InStyle?v=app_68682102181
I voted Don't.
Personally this is not an issue I've really had to deal with, but for those looking for motivation to lose weight I do not believe this is a healthy way to get motivated.

I think it's better to buy clothes that fit now and make you feel good, instead of buying clothes you will take home and have to stare at, yet not be able to wear. Chances are that won't make you feel any better and you may just end up stashing them in the back of your closet.

It seems like it would have negative mental impacts, something along the lines of saying to yourself that you are not good enough to even buy yourself clothes you can fit into.

If you go with your actual size and learn to feel good about yourself first, then with a positive mental state goals are usually more attainable or at least obstacles may seem less daunting making the whole experience more tolerable.

These are just my thoughts on the matter, though I am really no expert.
Check out the link above and weigh in (pun intended) on what you think.

Peace

Chow

"Until the day you finally wake up, and you're not, afraid" Spill Canvas, Battles

I have my ticket for Fabricated April 16th and oh boy am I excited for it.

LG Fashion Week is happening in Toronto right now, one more day to go. Looks like it is only getting better year after year.
So I saw many things for all the Fall 2011 collections. A lot of dark. The occasional colourful collection did strike through such as Joe Fresh, but I feel it was dominated by black.

Texture is HUGE. Fur especially, I don't think I saw one collection without fur, it is everywhere. If you don't like the idea of fur, texture came in many forms this time round, there was fringe, rope, sequins, scrunched and bunched fabric.

Definitely a few knits, and knits are on the chunkier side, but also on the loosely knitted side.
Accessories are big. Literally, necklaces are long, and bracelets are cuffs. The silhouette itself is still very feminine and there is quite a bit of draping but everything seems to be pulled together with layering and honkin' accessories.

Coats cover your (ass)ets. They are fairly long and almost always end after the hips. Long dresses seem to be coming in, with draping fabric not to the calves, not to the ankles, but all the way to the floor. Nothing to poofy, just long and lean.

I noticed a lot of flapper hair. Not only that but eye make up is dark/bold/big. Very few eyes were left untouched by the smokey effect, as well as many dark lips, red or otherwise.

If colour is more your thing, I saw a lot of reds, roses, and blues.
Adding shine in some way was there too, be it just of the gleam of leather (which was well done), or from sequins or safety pins in some cases.
Tans, golds, and light browns are also very in.

Almost every collection had some dropped v neckline and a tunic of sorts.

Here's IZMA, one of my favourites. I do really enjoy the shiny-ness of everything and the inside of the jackets. I also adore all their fur. Lurve it.


Peace

Chow

"But I set fire to the rain"

I'm not sure I like cracked nail polish.
I wear polish to create a nice finish. Cracked nail polish is not a new idea, but OPI is bringing it back.

Not much else is going on. Spring is here. Spring is still hiding somewhere under the slush, but I know its here.
School is back in full swing, practicum is over.
Had a great time, probably going to keep contributing.

Peace
Chalsie

More on the Lifestyle side of things..

I'm not usually one for agreeing with taboos, but I think on a certain level a lot of taboos are put in place for a reason.

The story Globe and Mail has printed talks about a mother opening up on her blog about the fact that she thinks she favours her son over her daughter.

That is not something I have a problem with, simply because of personalities and the way one personality may compliment another, makes it almost impossible for a parent to not find it easier to get along with, or deal with one child over another. That doesn't mean you may love them more or less though, just in different ways.

The Globe lightly discusses whether or not it would be a good idea for parents to break the taboo of talking about family favouritism, and I'm just not sure it's a good idea.

I think it is a good idea to realize that on some level it may always be there. But to openly discuss it, may make it less taboo, therefore, going too far and it becoming just another fact of life.

When it becomes such, then family favouritism won't seem as scary, and that makes it okay. Which it's not, it can be and almost always is very damaging to all children involved.

I think that by removing taboos it lets things flow over into the okay category.

I'm not saying there are certain ways to raise your children, and I'm not saying anyone should be denying that this exists, I'm just saying that even though it does, parents should not just accept it and let it be, but to work at it so it doesn't become worse and the impact on the children can be lessened.

Here's an article from Psychology Today, I don't necessarily agree with all it discusses but it has more insight into the matter.

These are just my thoughts on the matter.

Peace

Chow

Thai Nguyen

Fall RTW 2011
It starts out with beautiful and elegant wedding dresses (you wouldn't be able to wear them for anything else).
Moving onto dresses of all lengths, all draping, in earthy tones with simple, understated details.
I adore the use of ribbon, in almost all the dresses, a girly touch.

To see the collection visit Thai Nguyen

Here's my favourite, image courtesy of WWD.com

Peace

Chow