Checking up on the comms that I"m still a amber of and looks like the majority of them died sometime 2010-2012. Sadness.

Please to see a few of the perfume-y ones are still alive and kicking though. :)

I finally got my password back. It wasn't exactly a struggle (though more than you'd think, considering LJ is not, you know, a spy agency), and it had more to do with my ambivalence about coming back here than anything else....but there you have it.

I missed LJ. I really, really did. I missed having actual conversations with people, and thinking about things, and posting without worrying about someone at work or that dude I met that one time who friended me reading my personal shit.

Mostly I missed keeping up with the friends that I made online in the first place. With all the new social media out there, and the wonder of Facebook, somehow I've let those people who I connected with via the miracle of the interwebs slip away. And that blows.

So yeah. If you're still here, I'm catching up. Reading back entries. Don't be alarmed if I comment on an entry from June, but feel free to label me a sucky friend, because I am.

Shipping from Montreal to US/Canada: 7$. Spend over 50$, shipping is 4$. Spend over 100$, shipping is free.

Canadian orders have tracking by default. If you want tracking/expedited shipping for US orders, the breakdown is: 16$ to ship. Spend 50$ and shipping is 10$. Spend 150$ and shipping is free.

If an item is not paid for within 24 hrs (or other arrangements are not made), it goes back up for grabs.

Higher end makeup is listed first, then drugstore-type makeup and then freebies at the bottom. Cut for pictures!

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Shipping from Montreal to US/Canada: 7$. Spend over 50$, shipping is 4$. Spend over 100$, shipping is free.

Canadian orders have tracking by default. If you want tracking/expedited shipping for US orders, the breakdown is: 16$ to ship. Spend 50$ and shipping is 10$. Spend 150$ and shipping is free.

If an item is not paid for within 24 hrs (or other arrangements are not made), it goes back up for grabs.

All have been tested once, unless otherwise indicated.

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Not much to say, so point form version:

- Health/weight thing continues well. (See: http://maewitch.livejournal.com/203039.html). Am down 12 pounds now, and a full pant size. Also, sadly, down from 36D to 34D.

- Work is crazy, but a lot more enjoyable since I was promoted to Visual Merch.

- Ramping up for the Fall season at Pretty Indulgent. (If you haven't checked it out in a while, we got a new Line, Margarita
Bloom.)

- Have a weeding to go to in a week, and just realized it's actually formal dress. Need to buy a dress ASAP.

Feeling a weird rush of nostalgia for 2005. Back when I was just discovering BPAL and LJ was pretty much it (before anyone had heard of social networking).

Simpler times.

In the last few years I've pretty much let my health and body go to crap. There were a lot of contributing factors, including dealing with illness this past year, but if I'm honest I have to say that there were some lifestyle choices that were fully in my control - and I abdicated responsibility for those.

I stopped exercising, with a few aborted attempts to restart, about 5 years ago. Except for that brief period when I was at home and trying to cook and eat more consciously, I've made the kind of easy dietary choices that depend heavily on take-out, frozen dinners and Starbucks-as-meal-replacement.

And last week I decided enough was enough. My new job (doing Visual Merchandising) is actually plenty physical, and doesn't help with my fatigue problem, but I committed to doing at least 20 minutes on the elliptical, twice a week. And I tried to do some basic things like squats, pliés, push ups and crunches whenever I have a few minutes free. Like when I'm watching tv.

I also started being very conscious of portion sizes, calorie content and general nutrient content. I basically limited each meal to about 400 calories (give or take), and integrated a balance of different food groups. For dessert at dinner (to not deprive myself) I ate a couple of spoonfuls of chocolate ice cream. Oh, and I cut out the Starbucks, except for a once-a-week skinny vanilla latte.

Overall, probably between 1400-1500 calories a day total.

I found these to be really helpful in planning out my meals:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/sampmenu.htm

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/fd_exch.htm

Anyway, I started this about a week ago. I thought it would be much harder to stay motivated and to control my eating habits, but so far so good. I've lost 4 pounds, and feel slightly more toned. No changes in energy levels yet, but I am 20$ richer for ditching the Starbucks habit.

I'm open to suggestions for color and cut.

Right now it looks like this, more or less:



Without conditioner and unbrushed for like, 3 days.





Sorta styled.

In case you missed it, Pretty Indulgent just debuted a series of Montreal/Quebec based perfumes, created by the ever-amazing Beth.

I am, like, RIDICULOUSLY excited about this. =D

http://www.prettyindulgent.com/collections/black-phoenix-alchemy-lab

I really like the way this chick does her makeup. It's kind of sloppy and sexy, and probably works in large part because she's just so gorgeous to begin with, but....I like it anyway. Dig that she uses no high-end brands - it's all NYX, drugstore and cheap mineral makeup.

http://killercolours.blogg.se/

http://solomag.se/killercolours/

I've started a small destash. I've posted it for now on Specktra: http://www.specktra.net/forum/thread/174180/high-end-to-drugstore-traincase-stila-tarte-nyx-coastalscents-free-nail-polishes-canadian-based

I'm too lazy to re-post it in a separate entry here, but I'll probably do one big sale post in a few days.

So just an FYI that I'm having a little promo on the site.

Spend 45$, and use bday10 for 10% off! Or double-up - spend 90$ and use bday20 for 20% off!

Applies to sale items too, and ends Saturday at 11:59.

This has been a bad week for me, in terms of processing Willow's death. I'd gotten to the point of not getting teary when talking about it, and then for some reason, in the last couple of days, I've burst randomly into tears.

The house feels really weird and quiet, and I still reflexively reach down to give her food. At least I don't hear her anymore.

I've posted these pictures on my facebook, a bit on twitter and on bpal.org, so if you've seen those, nothing else of interest here. I'm just ridiculously proud of Androo and pleased with the results, so I can't help over-sharing. :)

For background - I've been collecting BPAL perfumes for over 5 years, and it's been a bit of a challenge to figure out a storage solution that is both aesthetically pleasing and fully functional. I was using boxes lined up on my vanity for the BPAL perfumes, as well as a shelving unit on the side to store more boxes of other perfumes as well as bath and body type stuff from BPAL and other brands. It worked well enough, but lacked a little finesse.

I also really wanted to have something wall-mounted, but with a door that would protect the delicate oils from the sun. I designed something that I thought might work, and working from that, Androo created something far beyond my expectations.

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Lovely, delicious books. This medical leave has given me some time for much-need self-reflection, and reading non-fiction again is a big part of that. (When I'm stressed out, I tend to read purely for diversion - fantasy, romance, whatever. As long as it's well-written and fun, that's all I ask.)

I ordered Modern Paganism in World Cultures, since it's one of the few academic-leaning books I could find dealing with Balto-Slavic Paganism, and Witching Culture, since I'm intrigued by a folklorist's approach to the subject of modern magic use.

And also, just because they're gorgeous and awesome, I tracked down as many of these Time Life "Enchanted Worlds" books I could find.

Can't wait to get them. Mmmmmm. BOOKS.

I think I read Mary Daly in 1995-96. I was reading a lot of radical feminist, animal rights and ecofeminist texts at the time, and they informed a great deal of my nascent socio-political leanings. I haven't gone back to re-read them since, however.

Imagine my horror now, as I look back at this particular bit of wisdom:

In Gyn/Ecology, Daly asserted her negative view of transsexual people, writing, "Today the Frankenstein phenomenon is omnipresent . . . in . . . phallocratic technology. . . . Transsexualism is an example of male surgical siring which invades the female world with substitutes."[19] "Transsexualism, which Janice Raymond has shown to be essentially a male problem, is an attempt to change males into females, whereas in fact no male can assume female chromosomes and life history/experience."[20] "The surgeons and hormone therapists of the transsexual kingdom . . . can be said to produce feminine persons. They cannot produce women."[21]

Daly was also the dissertation advisor to Janice Raymond, who contributed this:

"All transsexuals rape women's bodies by reducing the real female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves .... Transsexuals merely cut off the most obvious means of invading women, so that they seem non-invasive."[16]

Z Budapest's statement is right out of that playbook.

So if you're not aware of the issues surrounding a particular incident at Pantheacon, this should get you up to speed: http://wildhunt.org/blog/2011/03/transgender-inclusion-issue-intensifies.html

My very brief, immediate thoughts:

I can understand creating ritual to honor the sacred aspects of a particular lived, shared experience, and I recognize that by its nature such ritual can and will be exclusionary. I can also understand a theology and mystery tradition that provides context and meaning for those rituals, and that experience. The value of Dianic Wicca is not something I question.

But perhaps this is an opportunity for Dianic traditions to grow into something more than they currently are. Every religion or religious tradition faces this kind of fundamental criticism at some point in its evolution, something that shakes up its very foundations. The choice after that is: do you insist on orthodoxy/orthopraxy and encourage a splintering off? Or do you allow yourself to be transformed - or rather ACT to transform yourself?

I empathize with the first instinct, and the second is often far more difficult to do. But....we're Witches. Transformation is what we DO.

So I was sad to read this in the comment section of the entry linked above, courtesy of theconsciencevote:

"I attempted to contact Z Budapest about the words attributed to her. Although she didn't respond personally, I received a message from Bobbie Grennier. I re-post them here (both were public) without comment.

My message: 'There are words attributed to you regarding an issue at Pantheacon involving transfolk and Dianic Wicca. As someone with a deep respect for the Dianic tradition, I would really like to know if you did say/write those words, or if someone appropriated your name for their own purposes. A lot of rumour is flying around, but no one seems to want to ask the alleged source. Please let us know if those are your feelings, or if someone is trying to put words into your mouth.'

Bobbie's response: 'At the moment, Z is very focused on Merlin Stone's passing. There are other Dianics who can answer your questions. I'm sure they are engaged in discussions we aren't aware of. The Dianic Tradition has been very clear that they are a woman-born-woman tradition only and that's not going to change. The Dianics are very clear on their tradition and no amount of bullying will change their minds. We're not interested in the rumor mills and have no interest in addressing them. The Dianics have gifted the Pagan community with a great deal over the years, and that's what should be focused on.'"

That contrasts very sharply with the earlier response from Rabbit of COYA: http://wildhunt.org/blog/2011/03/statement-from-caya-coven-on-rite-of-lilith-at-pantheacon.html

The Polish word for Easter is Wielkanoc, which translates, literally, to 'Great Night'. It marked the end of darkness and winter, and the start of new life.

The tradition is to eat a ritual meal consisting of bread, sausage and painted eggs (called 'pisanki') - a cold meal, not using fire/heat. On Easter Monday, the mood lightens considerably as family members sneak up on each other and douse each other with water. If you live near running water, you can also throw in the eggshells from yesterday's meal, and hope that you're graced with blessings.

To what religious tradition do you belong, or how do you define your religious practice/identity?

If you are a magic-user, what sort of magic do you practice?

(Please feel free to elaborate as much or as little as you want. Answers will be screened and unscreened only at your request.)