The London Bridge is Falling Down

Tonight
tonight = felix cartal @ the social
tonight - my name is SOPHIA.
peace
love
joy
merry effing christmas fuckers.

Savage Grace

I just finished writing my last exam tonight, and if I don't do as well as I had hoped, at least I will be able to place why...

Every time I attempted to go through my notes or write that blasted essay, I would very quickly give up and grab Savage Grace. It's a crazy (but true) story about, as the book's header reads, "Fatal relations in a rich and famous American family". I know, totally up my alley! The story centres around one branch of the Baekeland family- of Bakelite plastics fame- and the "relations" are truly fatal. A collection of memoirs of relatives and close friends of Brooks, Barbara and Antony Baekeland, Savage Grace weaves together the tale of the self-destructing family as they idly flit about from Paris to New York to Mallorca, and every European and American destination in between.

Savage Grace is a fantastic read. It's tough to get through (I actually gasped aloud at some points), and truly heartwrenching. To sum it up, Savage Grace is absolutely devastating. READ IT!!

Oh yeah, the film is now on DVD...trust I'll watch it ummm...tomorrow.

All I Want (For Christmas) Is All I Need

I don't normally ask for too much from my parents for Christmas...so, in keeping with tradition, here is my very minimal Christmas list!

-Tom Ford fur boots

-Lanvin oversized wayfarer sunnies

-BOOKS (a neverending list that I won't bore you with)

-A Vespa

-Lanvin pilot aviator sunnies (yep, still waiting!)

-Subscription to Vanity Fair :|

-My driving insurance reinstated (the least likely of all)

-Raf Simons Eastpak bag

-Casa Loma membership (this year without it has been HELL)

-A watch- Patek Philippe will suffice

-A nice bottle of Belvedere...or 6

-Curtains to replace the Mexican blanket covering my window

-A new window to replace the one broken by one of my favorite drunk bitches

-Dsquared Wood Cologne

-BB Pinning returned to me :s

-Everything I've ever lost returned to me

I think that about covers it. Feel free to lend a helping hand!!

Merry Christmas my beautiful children

Marbella

It's on evenings like this in Toronto- blustery, slippery, cold- that I just want to hop on a plane and go back to Marbella. Ahhh...IMAGINE...

Bring on the Reinforcements!

My blogs are never very emotional or insightful- for the most part they are pretty silly and lack any meaning whatsoever. I like to keep things nice and light. On occasion, however, sometimes I think emotionally based blogs are warranted! 

I was lucky enough to attend a certain modeling agency Christmas party with my very dear gypsy friend (who is an "employee", if you will). The agency had just moved into a stunning, stark white space in a beautiful building at Queen and Spadina, and the free food and open bar kinda sorta made my life. My friend and I secluded ourselves in a corner at one point and caught up, as she had been in New York City for a number of weeks and in her absence I had done a poor job of keeping in touch. I vented to her some of the issues I had been having while she was gone, and by the end of our conversation I felt infinitely better, and my absolute adoration for her as a person was quickly reinforced. As I was leaving the party, she sternly told me that the next time I was having any issues I was to report to her immediately- that no matter where she was or what she was doing, she would be there for me. A little reminder...but shame on me for forgetting!

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!!

Ahhhhhhh two weeks until this blasted semester is over and Christmas break begins...aka booths and bottles and shit!! WAHOOOOOO

Well, okay, maybe a little study break this Friday....

The Art of the Christmas Window

Eaton's Christmas window, 1964.

My mother fondly recalls Christmastime in Toronto, venturing with her sister after school from her home in Swansea to meet my grandmother at the enormous Yonge and Queen Eaton's flagship store. There they would shop for new dresses, perhaps add some toys to their Christmas lists, and end the evening with dinner at the rooftop Georgian Room. The most magical experience of all, however, was outside, found in the store's elaborate, painstakingly

 constructed Christmas windows.

Valiant effort, Holt's.

Eaton's no longer exists, and neither does its greatest rival, Simpson's ("Eaton's always had the better windows", my mother maintains), and the department store is no longer the civic or even national institution it once was. Some great stores do still survive, however, and the tradition of the Christmas window prevails- albeit, perhaps without that same "magic" of years past. 

Harry, you can do better...

The Bay...AHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Essentially- the modern Christmas window sucks. Have you been 'round Yonge and Queen lately? The Bay's windows look like Circa- the club. They're frightening. The best windows this city can claim are those of Holt Renfrew. And Harry Rosen's? Don't even get me started...

Thanks, Obama.