Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press via CBC.ca

Me 1, BF 0.

Did you watch the game of all games? 16.6 million Canadians did! The BF and I, along with some friends, congregated around my beautiful flat screen TV to cheer Canada (and the U.S. on). For us Canadians, we HAD to win. After all, it’s our game, our home ice, and our ladies had already taken gold two days earlier. Most of all, it was redemption for that shocking loss last Sunday (when I outed the BF as an American at a pub full of angry Canadians). The first goal was brilliant and I totally take credit for it because it was at the exact moment that I had asked the BF to get more lime juice for the guac. Needless to say, the BF did not get lime juice for me again. The second goal made me jump up with glee while the BF huffed and puffed. As the last minute started to tick away on the clock, I prematurely, in my head, started celebrating. Bad idea. Very bad. With 24.4 seconds left, the gold just within our reach, Parise scored. The BF jumped up, and I swore, over and over again at the TV. WTF. Overtime. Sudden death. Crap. Time to start pacing. Honestly, those were THE most stressful minutes of my life. Luckily, Sid the Kid put me out of my misery and scored the winning goal. Thank you Team Canada!

AP Photo/Francois Mori via CBC.ca

For the last two weeks, I’ve been a skilled coach potato, moguls-speed skating(both long and short track)-figure skating-snow boarding-judge. I cried when Joannie Rochette won her bronze medal, four days after her mother died. I cringed when Lindsey Vonn fell. I marveled at Shaun White’s performance. The closing ceremonies started off a bit like High School Musical but ended with some great performances by Neil Young, Nickelback and Alanis Morisette (how great did she look!!) I especially loved the tongue-in-cheek, Vegas style number with Michael Buble. Every Canadian stereotype was paraded into the BC Place, from gigantic inflatable beavers to dozens of dancing Mounties. See world, we can poke fun of ourselves and still be proud to be Canadian!!! Hope you enjoyed the Vancouver Games. Come back soon, eh.

Robert Skinner/Canadian Press via CBC.ca

Did you have a favourite Olympic moment?

Happy New Year to those welcoming in the Year of the Tiger! The tiger is the king of the animals in Chinese culture, and is the move revered amongst the 12 animals in Chinese zodiac. This year is to be a year of “grand beginnings and new directions.” The BF and I will be having an epic feast with my family and I’m ready to collect my “lucky money” (in red envelopes). Note that only single people can collect “lucky money.” Once you’re married, you start passing out the “lucky money” – a fact I remind my married younger sister all the time.

And of course, Happy Valentine’s Day to all! Especially to the BF.

The Grammys is touted as ‘the biggest event’ in the industry I work in. Unfortunately, the last few years, it’s been a bit lackluster. Every year I say I’m not going to watch but every year I tune in, just so I’m lost during the water cooler conversations at work the next day. I tuned in Sunday night, on breaks from Brothers & Sisters (love that show). Here’s a quick summary of my thoughts:

-Lady GaGa rocks – she can sing, she can write, she can design, and she can truly ENTERTAIN
-Pink sang upside down, twirling from a piece of fabric, all in a wet, nude body suit. Need I say more?
- Beyonce covering Alanis. Awesome.
- Oh Taylor Swift. Yes, she’s America’s sweetheart. And yes she can song write (which many top selling artists can’t do), but she can’t sing. Well, she can sing, but off-key.
- Didn’t understand Jamie Foxx’s performance though it was cool to see Slash.
-Taylor Swift won over GaGa? WTF.

The one thing I do love about the Grammys is the fashion. It’s less about elegance and old Hollywood, and more about funky, outrageous and avant garde.

My favourite of the evening – Rihanna. Fun, flirty and feathery. Love it.

Who’s outfit was your favourite?

Hair Color Ideas for Short Haircuts

Get beautiful hair color ideas for short haircuts for a head-turning look! Choose the best hair color shades and coloring technique for your short hair style and get the scoop on the latest hair color trends for 2010!

Short hairstyles need to be trimmed regularly which make hair damage less of a problem, meaning you can afford to experiment more with different color effects, especially with bold, bright shades.

For short haircuts the best hair color option is the all-over, block shade.
Regular highlights can look weird and unbalanced on shorter hairstyles, that’s why the coloring technique called ‘glazing’ is used where random sections of hair are backcombed and a toner is placed on the rest of the hair. The result is more subtle than by other highlighting techniques.

Short hairstyles fall into two categories, bold geometric crops and layered, textured haircuts. Stronger, geometric haircuts suit bold, all-over coloring to complement and emphasize their graphic shapes and strong lines. While textured, layered short haircuts work well with thick slices of different shades. (see examples above)

Light, all-over coloring will create great texture on short hairstyles, while dark shades will add strength and give the illusion of thickness to the cut.

2010 Hair Color Trends

Blonde
For 2010 the high-gloss golden blonde shades move towards muted and matte blondes – think muted mink, sandy blonde shades that are more like rock’n'roll rather than glossy Hollywood red carpet. These blondes are adaptable to any skin tone, making them very wearable and perfect if you’ve never tried blonde hair color before.

Red
Why go red of you’re going to be shy about it? There’s a whole new spectrum of red shades for 2010 out there: vivid, fiery, full-on rends like cherry, blood-orange, vibrant strawberry blonde and deep aubergine – this year red will be more striking than ever. Stronger orange-based red shades work best on pale skin tones, but warmer skin tones can suit red shades too – go for a darker mahogany, auburn and deep plum shades. The deeper shades will suit you if you have hazel, green or brown eyes.

Brown
In 2010 dark hair color shades are really brought to life. From rich marmite brown and deep mahogany to glossy maroon or burnt toffee, the new color palette is very striking. Look for underlying warmth for a lustruous glow when choosing shades this season. Warm skin tones should opt for clay shades, while cool skin tones work best with bitter chocolate and ash tones.

Tags: hair color ideas, hair color for short hair, hair color for short haircuts, 2010 hair color trends, 2010 trendy hair color, 2010 blonde hairstyles, 2010 red hair color, best hair color for short, hair color for short

Marisa Miller shows off her gorgeous blonde tresses styled with tumbling, loose curls. Make sure you curl sections randomly to get that effortless, tousled finish.

It occurred to me that I never shared photos of le condo with you. Bad blogger. Without further adieu, let me take you on a tour.

1) Living Room

Both the BEFORE and AFTER photos are taken from our bedroom on the 2nd floor (we have a 16 foot tall ceiling).

AFTER

As you may recall, the coffee table and rug are from West Elm. We found the Barcelona chair on Craigslist. The lamp is from Urban Barn.

AFTER

Here’s my baby – my 40 inch Sony Bravia. And yes, size does matter.

2) Balcony

No drastic changes to the balcony. We added in our own patio furniture plus bought a barbecue.

3) Kitchen/Dining Area

Unfortunately, I do not have any good photos of the kitchen before we moved in. We didn’t change the area too much. We did buy a new dining set from Ikea, hang new drapes and who can forget the drama that accompanied those cabinet handles?

There you have it. Le Condo! (Well I didn’t show you the upstairs b/c frankly it will never be tidy enough to photograph.) It’s still a work in progress. Many people have told me that I’ll never be done with Project Condo. Is it true? Does one ever really finish home improvement?

P.S. Don’t forget to enter the Stamp Yourself Happy Giveaway sponsored by Barbara Kua Calligraphy.

Hope my fellow Canadians are enjoying Thanksgiving Monday. As Robin on How I Met Your Mother has said, it’s the real Thanksgiving. The BF and I are cooking are first Thanksgiving dinner together and having a few friends over (in fact, the same friends who introduced us to each other!).

For those of you enjoying Columbus Day off, hope you score some great shopping deals.

Check out the BF’s sweet potato pie….can’t wait to dig into it

My lovely friend Christine’s birthday is this week and a bunch of us decided to celebrate last Friday night. The night started here and ended here.

Both S. and I decided to make Christine’s BD gifts (something I’ve never done).

Worried that Christine would pretend to like my clip and then put away it in a drawer, I also bought her Nina Garcia’s latest book, The Style Strategy. Have you’ve read it yet? I just bought myself a copy and awaiting its arrival!

What was your latest DIY project? Did it turn out?

To Christine – Hope you have a fabulous birthday week!