.You wanna take my picture.

I'm becoming a little obsessed with photography these days so when my dear friend showed me photojojo.com I bounced in my seat with excitement.

Fuji instax mini 25 camera. $140.00 (includes film) Yes, INSTANT pictures! Woop de woop!


This little cutey. $24.95


AND THIS
Pinhole camera and sun print kit. 25.00. I made a pinhole camera in grade 12, but I've never heard of sun printing, never the less, I like a whole ton.

Bloor Street Hair-apy.

As I strolled along Bloor St West I caught a glimpse of myself in a store-front window. The humidity and sun exposure had turned my hair into a contender for the world's biggest frizz pouf award. Considering I have a hot date on Saturday this problem needed to be remedied. Since I had no other obligations other than my own narcissism I headed to the Runnymede public library, notebook in hand. "Today," I said to myself, "I'm going to find book bound beauty secrets to fix this mop, then I'm going to hit the streets aka local Bloor St salons to see what the professionals have to offer!"

I first focused on the fact that my hair is thinner and flatter than your boyfriend's bum. "A professional assessment is the best way to start a proper hair care treatment," says Carolyn Ansley, co-owner of 'Blo' blow dry bar, located just east of Runnymede on Bloor West. "It's essential to know what type of hair you have, yes, your hair may be fine but you also have a lot of it, which is different (and requires different care) then having not a lot of fine hair."

When I consulted 'Seventeen's' "500 beauty tips" I came across some useful tips such as:
-For fine hair avoid products with alcohol, they flatten thin hair
and some unusual advice;
-If your hair is fine perm just your roots to add body, it'll look fuller, not curly.
When I asked the professionals at Blo about this I was told that my dreams of perms were a tad extreme and outdated. Carolyn instead recommended Orlando Pita T3 refresh dry shampoo to "add light weight body to fine hair." To book a hair assessment and a 'blo' out call 416.402.3487 or email carolyn@blomedry.com. Assessment and blowouts go for $31.00 a session.

My next focus was preventing and treating damage and split ends. Once again the beauty bible offered me some cool helpers:
Start taking a multivitamin with folic acid everyday. It helps maintain healthy hair.

When I came across tips such as:
If the ends of your hair are fried shampoo just your roots every other day
and
Mix a few drops of honey with your regular shampoo and rinse well, it'll leave your hair feeling extra soft and smooth. I wondered if it mattered what kind of shampoo and conditioner would work best for damaged hair.

"Avoid anything not salon grade. Usually these shampoos have a lot of detergent in them which can actually strip the hair and leave it more brittle and prone to breakage," offered Justin, a stylist at 'Trade Secrets' at 2206 Bloor St W. "With store grade shampoos and conditioners you also need to use more product to get a good lather, where as with salon grade requires more water to create a proper lather. You pay more, but really, you need less." He also suggested looking for products with thermal and UV protection to shield hair and prevent damage. "Avoid excess heat, air dry your hair as often as possible and use a quality leave in conditioner."

Justin recommended Revlon's 2phase leave in conditioner, 250 ml for $16.95. When he mentioned it contained grape and tea tree extracts I couldn't help but think it must smell pretty yummy. He also suggested 'It's a 10 Hair Mask.' It detangles, improves elasticity, adds shine, de-frizzes and more." At $39.95 with the guarantee I wouldn't need much often I was sold... well, once pay day rolls around that is.

I headed to 'Evoke' hair salon at 2213 Bloor W and was steered to the Moroccan Oil when I asked for a quality damage control product. Having heard so much hype on this product I asked the very knowledgeable receptionist, Hilary Potter, what the deal was with this so called magic oil. "Moroccan oil contains Argon oil with makes your hair really soft and shiny," she said. "However, any product containing it is going to give you similar effects, however Moroccan oil has a special blend that makes your hair super soft."

Keeping my cherished red head friends in mind I asked her if there were any products out there to help prevent colour fading.
"Being a victim of red loss myself I'd definitely recommended something with pigmentation in it. The Davines "Sunline" is great because it has a complete hair care system for every hair colour and the pigmentation in the red line is so strong that if you were to leave it in dry hair for half and hour you would see a very visable colour difference in your hair, just as if you had coloured it a brighter shade. This line just used as a conditioner and shampoo is also awesome for protecting and treating damaged hair."

Returning to my hit and miss Seventeen guide I found this last bit of info pretty self-testable and less daring than a perm.:
To minimize frizz run cool water over your wrists. Hair frizzes when your body and scalp temperatures rise.

With all this expert advice by Saturday night I'll have a sexy new, healthier set of strands. Now the only question remains, what DO I wear?

Sex and the Shitty.

I'm about to drop a whole lot of spoilers, so if you haven't seen Sex and the City 2 and you want to without knowing all the "juicy" details, then don't read on.

***

As the opening credits started rolling, tuned to Alicia Key's "New York State of Mind" I couldn't help bouncing in my seat. For an entire year of my university career I'd come home, round up my roommates and pop in a season of SATC. What heartships would Miranda, Charlotte and Carrie face? Who would Samantha fuck? How many relatable scenarios would ensue? My girlfriends and I would compare our current love interests to the men on the show. Who was your Aiden, who was your Big? We would laugh, cheer and cry along with these characters that we loved so because they were just like us...with better shoes, jobs and wardrobes.

The first SATC movie tied up all lose endings; Carrie married Big. Charlotte finally had a (non-adopted) baby, Samantha got back to her wild ways and Miranda, well Miranda did some shit. "What could they do next?!" I wondered aloud as the movie got going. The previews had tipped me off to Cosmo quotes, a trip to Abu Dhabi and...surprise, a re-appearance of everyone's favorite nice guy...Aiden! "Woooo,Carrie's going to sleep with Aiden! Karma's a bitch!" I excitedly thought.

The movie started out with the girls getting ready for Stanford "Stannie" Blance's wedding. Ten minutes in I was wondering why I was just watching scenes of the girls shopping in some over priced boutique. To be fair, yes, they always did this, but there was always some irony involved when Carrie bought shoes and admitted, "These Monolo's cost about two months rent." There were no longer quotes like, “Men cheat for the same reason that dogs lick their balls... because they can." Where was the witty dialogue I had come to love and expect from these characters?

The girls discussed the upcoming "gay" wedding. "My best gay friend is marrying her best gay friend!" Charlotte said. I wondered if Charlotte was always that annoying. "Here come the gays!" Carrie said before the scene cut. "Here come gays? I don't get it.." I whispered to my viewing partner. "Oh wait, like...here comes the bride..." Needless to say ten minutes into the movie I was disenchanted.

Flash forward from a series of nothing scenes involving highlights of how fabulous the girls were living to Carrie talking to Big about their couch in a scene so awkwardly acted it was almost painful to watch; Charlotte being stressed over being a mother; Miranda doing some shit, Samantha not having sex once, to a scene of the girls walking through the desert to middle eastern themed music. "Look at us! A couple of gals in Abu Dhabi!" Carrie said. As the girls cheered I groaned. How was it possible for a movie to continue on without any forward action in their personal stories? The word "half-assed" kept coming to mind. When the girls donned abayas and burkas to run through the streets I went to get popcorn. If my friend wasn't mildly enjoying the movie I would have left altogether. In my absence I missed a group of women shedding their abayas to reveal the entire Versace spring collection and discussing a Suzanne Somers 'novel'. Excuse me while I barf up my coffee all over my keyboard, reminiscing about this makes me feel somewhat ill.

All of the somewhat funny lines were highlighted in the previews and Aiden was only involved long enough to kiss Carrie and have her run away to realize that , surprise surprise, she desperately loves her husband, Big. Hold on, I'm about to vomit all over again.

In short Sex and the City 2 is like trying to get a guy hard again after blowing his money-shot load all over you two minutes prior. Instead of continuing the story they just fill two hours with shoes, furniture, vintage clothing and gold plated sunglasses. Gone are the days of ground breaking statements such as "He's just not into you," replaced with comments about eating french fries under a burka. As a friend so aptly put it "There's no story, it's just a marketing circle-jerk."

I will even admit, friends, that I went to see it twice in hopes of finding some redeeming qualities. I only came out feeling dejected and cursing the creators of this foul smelling movie. Damn you for playing on my love of these characters and what happens to them. However, like I said, I saw it twice. Play on my love of all things Sex and the City once, shame on you. Fall for it twice, shame on me.