Very first attempt at vlogging

I've wanted to try vlogging for a while... It seems like a cool idea, and something that would be fun to do! So today, I posted my first video. :-) It kinda sucks, especially since I don't have video editing software that accepts the format my camera records in, but hey, it's my first one!



Oh, and I got a new haircut!

Comments (or suggestions), as always, are appreciated! :-)

Peace,
Idzie

Idzie's Ins and Outs going into 2009

You know how in pop-culture magazines (I only ever read those when my grandma finishes hers and passes them on to me. Honest!) they have an "In and Out" feature thingy for each new season (and possibly each new year... I haven't really payed attention to that)? Well, I thought it would be fun to have my own Ins and Outs, things I've personally changed or gotten rid of in my lifestyle, the types of clothes I'm currently wearing, as we head into the year 2009. So here goes!

Fashion and style

Clothes

(Still*)In:
Mini skirts worn over jeans
Scarves!*
Anything plaid
Hats of all styles (well, not all styles, but a lot :-P)
Vintage fabrics/clothing (that look vintage, not just secondhand that looks new)
Floufy hippie style shirts
Arm warmers/hand thingies
Leg warmers
Emo holes in hoodies
PURPLE!!

Out:
Camouflage patterns
Anything remotely preppy or gangsta

Other

(Still*)In:
All natural hair products
Shea butter soap*
Perfume oil
Shea butter lip balm*
Organic, all natural hand cream
Hair dye! Especially purple

Out:
Make up
Lipsil
Regular hand cream
Anything with parabens (toxic chemical used as a preservative in TONS of health and beauty products)

Entertainment (books, music, movies)

Books

(Still*)In:
Anything by Derrick Jensen
Books on unschooling
The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn
Nation by Terry Pratchett
Hero by Perry Moore
Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
The Coyote Road

Out:
Books never go out of style!

Music

(Still*)In:
Led Zeppelin*
Ayreon!
Rise Against
More political music, including punk and folk
Progressive metal
Folk metal
Folk

Out:
POP
Hip-hop
Rap

Movies

(Still*)In:
Everything Is Illuminated
Driving Lessons
Juno
27 Dresses
The Dark Knight (sort of. I mean, it wasn't as amazing as everyone thouhgt IMO, but the Joker was frickin' cool!)

Out:
Dumb action movies that they love to play at cadet events (yay!)

Lifestyle

(Still*)In:
Vegetarianism!* :-)
Veganism
Buying mostly secondhand clothes
Walking in the woods
Spending lots of time with my family
Walking around in the dead of night...

Out:
Trying to fit in
Conformity

Political opinions/worldview

(Still*)In:
Anarchism
Anti/beyond-civilizationism
Animal rights
Environmentalism
Human rights

Out:
Government
Politics
Corporations and their products
Faith in all of the above

Hobbies

(Still*)In:
Photography!
Writing poetry*
Blogging!
Talking a ton about the things I believe in

Out:
Cadets!


I think that's about all I can think of for now... I look forward to the new year, and to all it has to offer. I plan on exercising more (I'm a terrible couch potato), and finding some new activities to fill the void left by Cadets. I hope to see greater social change, and more realization that government is not and never will be the solution. I hope to see tons of dialogue between diverse people, all trying to come up with solutions for issues of climate change, corporate control, and human and non-human rights. A lot to wish for, but hey, that's what a new year is for!

Wishing everyone the best in the coming year and beyond,

Peace,
Idzie

Christmas celebrations

So, my biggest gift this year was a digital SLR camera. It was counted as a gift, since my parents are paying for close to half of it, so even though I'm paying for a huge chunk I had to wait until Christmas to get it! I was so excited to be finally getting a really good camera, and I took GAZILLIONS of pictures on Christmas eve and day! I think the best way to tell the story of the holidays is through those pictures...

Just after supper on Christmas eve, a supper spent with my my mom, dad, and sister at our house, I got to open my brand new Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS. My dad was pretty excited about he camera too, and this is one of the first shots, taken by him.

We then hurried out the door to go to my aunt's house and celebrate with my dad's side of the family. Traditionally Quebecois families go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve, then have supper afterwards, but we only eat at about nine or ten now (usually), since none of the family goes to midnight mass. The three siblings, my dad, and his two sisters, take turns having Christmas at their houses, and this year the aunt who's house it was only served dessert (that's why we ate at our house ahead of time). At least it was good dessert!

Emi hates this pic, but I really like it...

Pretty tree...

I love how everyone is enthusiastically discussing something in this pic.

I love how my grandmaman looks in this photo! Although my cousin looks grumpy. As usual.

The table, set up beautifully.

Gifts!

My dad took this one.

I love this shot SO MUCH! I took a bunch of nice pic's of my dad, but this one is probably my favorite.

Tree AND gifts!

I didn't take any photo's of people opening gifts on Christmas eve, since I was too busy opening my own! We left my aunt's at about 1:30 am, so by the time we drove home, settled down, and went to bed, it was past three! Because of that we were all up late on Christmas morning. My dad got up at nearly eleven, and this is the man who usually considers getting up at seven "sleeping in"! But when we'd all finally stumbled out of bed and eaten breakfast, it was time for my mom to open her special gift...

A guitar!

She was very happy with that.

"Thank you so much!"

Then we all opened our gifts! I really don't know why he's holding that clippy thing, since it certainly wasn't a present!

I am in love with this shot. Her expression, the detail, everything! Emi, however, not so much...

Gifts!

I love taking pictures of ornaments...

Naruto! Given to Emi by me. :-)

New locomotive book.

Happiness.

Self portrait, wearing my new fuzzy hat.

Boo Boo! (Also known as Winston)

Playing with her new toy...

Tree! (again)

The reflection in this made me really happy.

More ornaments...

Taken with the zoom lense on my camera. That thing can make something across the street look like I'm practically touching it. This shot, which wasn't at full zoom, is of the tree on our lawn, taken from my front doorway.

After gift gift opening, we watched my dad's two new DVD's. One was Jeff Dunham's Christmas special, and the other was a show by John Pinet. Both were hilarious! Then off we went to my grandmothers (my mom's mom).

I love her tree!

My grandma is NOT good at smiling for pictures, so I had to take a lot of them before I got a few good ones!

EWWWWWWWW!!

My Tofurky. :-) I was extremely happy to finally be able to eat "turkey" with everyone else! Doesn't it look tasty?

"Haha, I can see your nostrils!" "WTF?" *Laughs*

We both had quite a bit of trouble reading my grandma's handwriting... But we were both quite happy wth our gifts!

Sliced Tofurky.

Happy!

I always love reflections.

So, that' pretty much what my Christmas looked like. It always seems that everyone puts so much effort into it all, so much stress and time and enthusiasm, and then POOF it's gone. Time scares me sometimes. I'm going to take a picture (or two or three) of my gifts, and maybe get those up tonight.

I hope your holidays are, and continue to be, wonderful!

Peace,
Idzie

All that glitters is glorious

Last night, and into the wee hours of the morning, we set up the Christmas tree and put lights on it, along with a few ornaments. We've been putting the rest of the ornaments on tonight, but for now I'll show you a ton of photo's, all taken last night, in the beauty of the glittering lights and Christmas music softly playing...

A holiday inspired bed, or so Flora thinks anyway...

Cranberry Chocolate bread from my all time favorite bakery, Premiere Moison

That tongue was just so cute!

Santa says "hi!"

Sleeping among the stockings...

TONS of tins of ornaments

Emi setting up the Christmas tree

The glitteries on my favorite pair of shoes

Those marvelous Mooka soaps I mentioned in a previous post

Emi attemting to fix a strand of lights

And finally, the lights are on

And we watched it's glow...

Winston slept

And the ornaments glittered...

Minni, as usual, thinks the tree is wonderful. And so do I.

It was a truly magical evening. Now, it's quite likely that this will be my last post before Christmas, so I want to wish everyone an extremely happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice (I know that just passed, but I'll wish a belated happy holidays for that anyway!), or whatever else you celebrate. And if you don't celebrate anything, or even if you do actually, I wish you tons of joy, now and into the new year!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Peace, love, and happiness,
Idzie