men - take note

all man things, all the time

i have SUCH man envy. when i was a little girl, i tried VERY hard to pee standing up (much to my parents dismay... they had to reign it in when i had peed all over myself at a family event) (to new readers: i have no shame). i like textures that are typically directed towards men in design - clean, fresh, sharp. i get squirmy around soft things (like fleece, and that gross weird feeling of those super soft socks that girls wear), but i love crisp cotton sheets, and the cool feeling of leather.
needless to say, when i stumbled onto kaufmann mercantile, i was in love. and when i realized it was primarily for men, i said, 'too bad gender roles! i'm coming for you and all of your manly things!' and then promptly chose all my faves.
they're beautiful. gotta catch them all.


some of my faves

mos for bros.

it's one of my favourite months of the year.
it's movember folks. 
you know what that means?
my sleazy friends convince me why i should give them money to grow a moustache - when i, in fact, despise moustaches (december 1st is the best day ever).
as i did last year, and the year before that.
but, i love them all..... so i donate.
so, when i went out this year, this is what i got.....
adam.... cousin from another aunt (trust me - logistically, this makes sense).... who doesn't want to be further acquainted with men in tight rubber gloves. unless it's because they're ALL doing dishes together (cause then, it's just nice cleanliness we're talking about!).
my 'big brother' ryan, who uses terms like 'the bomb' and is my little niece's dad. and is raising money like a real man should.
the man whose only explanation was to send me a photo of his handlebar moustache 12 days in (he's the guy other guys tape photos in their lockers of) - graham.
and last but not least, the guy who approached me, before i even had time to throw out my request. my vancouver friend tyler. he likes spelling, and tweeted me (along with other giant celebrities - like me) right away.
clockwise from top left: ryan, tyler, adam and graham. sweet. sweet. staches gentlemen. even if  half of them are fake.

i adore them all for participating in this fantastic month. so thank you men.
and everyone? find someone with a moustache. and donate to them. it could save a life. you know you want to.

the first and best man in a girl's life

I’m happy to say that I have a fantastic relationship with my dad – it wasn’t always that way, and most of my closest friends are constantly shocked to see how we ended up… based on my years living at home, and the things we put eachother through. nevertheless, I am lucky to have a strong, wonderful, compassionate, talented, likable man as my father.
so when i found this post, on an amazingly wonderful website, i was awestruck - how could strangers possibly understand the relationship that a little girl has with her dad? and yet, they did. not only does this website understand the relationship that a girl has with her dad, but it understands how important a dad/daughter relationship is... and notes what dads can do to establish and mold that bond that no one can replicate.
a few of my favourite ones, as i read through:
2. Always be there. Quality time doesn’t happen without quantity time. Hang out together for no other reason than just to be in each other’s presence. Be genuinely interested in the things that interest her. She needs her dad to be involved in her life at every stage. Don’t just sit idly by while she add years to her… add life to her years.
6. Buy her a glove and teach her to throw a baseball. Make her proud to throw like a girl… a girl with a wicked slider.
18. Tell her she’s beautiful. Say it over and over again. Someday an animated movie or “beauty” magazine will try to convince her otherwise.
20. Take her camping. Immerse her in the great outdoors. Watch her eyes fill with wonder the first time she sees the beauty of wide open spaces. Leave the iPod at home.
22. She’s as smart as any boy. Make sure she knows that.
41. Take it easy on the presents for her birthday and Christmas. Instead, give her the gift of experiences you can share together.
146. Take lots of pictures together. You never know when one of you won’t be around to smile for the camera anymore.
126. Take her on a date. Show her how she should expect to be treated when she turns 30 and can start dating men other than you.
121. She can run just as fast as any boy. She will forget this fact from time to time. It’s your job to remind her.
113. “Kids are like bowling balls. Sometimes you just gotta let ‘em go, and hope they don’t end up in the gutter.”
106. The storms of life will come. When they do, offer her your umbrella.
103. Brush her hair when she’s a little girl. It will be one of her fondest memories someday.
97. What’s that you say? You need daddy to paint your nails? Absolutely!
93. She will cry. Often. Always have tissues. If a tissue cannot be found, your shoulder is a great substitute.
I have a father who has been using the past 5 or 6 years to make sure he does all of these things – he calls me just to talk, we spend father/daughter weekends together, he has heart-to-hearts, and makes sure to say, ‘I love you’ at the end of every phone call, no matter how menial the conversation was. when we were little girls, he let us paint his toenails, and wore his pink, blue and green toenails like medal of honour (despite the harrassment he received on the baseball field when he removed his socks to display our art to the team). he brought us camping, took us on dates (my baby sister and him had a standing tim hortons date every day for a year when he took a year off of work in 1995), took tons of videos of us growing up, and let us weather our own storms.
and perhaps most importantly, he told us we could run, throw, hit (a baseball), and play like any boys we knew. and that we were smarter than any boy - because we were strong, independant, and beautiful women. and despite how much many of my teachers and friends probably despise that feminist streak in me now, that has stuck with me. he never ever wished he had 3 boys instead of 3 girls - because he simply did those things with us that a dad would do with his sons, as well as the things a dad can do with his daughters.
these are things we should all do with the people we care about - but specifically, if you are the father (or mother) of a little girl.... focus on these things specifically. they have a whole life ahead of them... they need to be prepared with a wicked slider, and a confidence that can't be shaken.
(found via unbrelievable; more on the author’s website, here)

'i want you to trust me and know that every time i look at you, all i see is wonderfulness'

i don't often do this. but i can't POSSIBLY put into words more beautifully, what kat writes. so i'm not going to. i'm literally going to copy, paste, and source the shit out of it.

We snagged, just for a second there, didn’t we? We bumped our heads together like idiots and we both came up concussed. Everything was going so wonderfully, I was so delirious for you, but then… well, it’s life happening, not some romantic dream. And I hope, I really do wish it with my eyes squeezed tightly closed and my hands balled firmly into fists at my sides as I concentrate, that next time we see each other we forget what’s “real” and indulge in our reality instead.
Because our reality, right now, it’s just about falling in love. Let’s put the real stuff aside—the past, our insecurities, all the baggage we’ve imported from all our journeys—and let’s just be. This is our moment to be fanciful, and we might not get another one, at least not together. I don’t want to have to “deal” and “cope” and “work” yet. For now I just want to kiss you and lose myself in all the small moments when you wrap your arms all the way around me.
Things are complicated, I know, but let’s soar above that, at least for a day. Let’s make getting to know each other about all the wonderful things that made us fall into each other’s embrace in the first place. Let’s not mar it with all the ugly crap we’ve filled our pockets with over the course of the years we’ve already lived without each other’s company. And then, once we’re madly in love, and only then, we can unleash it all upon each other, so that we’re equipped to deal with it the way that lovers do—patiently and compassionately.

You know how it is when we’re laughing? That’s how I want it to be all the time when we’re together. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not idealistic or selfish—if you’re having a bad day I will be there to hold you and hold you until you don’t feel sore anymore, and I’ll do it without complaint or request. I’ll do it because I care about you deeply. But listen: we’re not ready for the heaviness of the past yet. We can share and laugh and rub away each other’s daily miseries but I don’t want to delve into the backwardness of all that came before. Not yet, at least.
I want you to trust me and know that every time I look at you all I see is wonderfulness. I see lights and rainbows and everything good and awesome about this world all radiating out of you at once. Yes, I’m intense and yes, I’m romantic, but can’t you just take my adoration for a second and let it make you as happy as it makes me? Relax into me, because I’ve got you on a pedestal now, and there’s no one else in the room but us. And this is half the reason I don’t want to share the dirty stuff with you—because every now and then you make me feel so warm it’s as though nothing else ever existed.
We could be best friends, you and me; we’re so alike in so many ways. And now we have to decide whether we’re going to knock our likenesses against each other and explode into tiny bits that splatter against the walls, streaking downwards and pooling in insidious puddles, or if we can make those likenesses build each other up, like great cities or rolling mountains. I’d like to think that we could be a team, that we could conquer everything together. That we’ll draw from each other to be stronger and better. That we’ll still be holding hands through all of winter’s blizzards
(seriously - i didn't write this. kat did. and she's amazing. and she wrote all of this)