Sunday, September 17, 2006

Just an idea *ping

This blog is for my fiance Kerry who left today at 2pm to drive North to Barrie for work meetings.

It really is dangerous to leave me by myself with no cable in an unknown city. Let me re-iterate that, not dangerous in the self-harming way, more in the self reflection and indulgence way.

I haven't been in this condo by myself yet for this long so I went for a walk by the lake and then ended up at Shoppers Drug Mart (SDM) where I intended to buy toilet paper. This is the part where I actually explain the title. Fortunately for convenience sake and unfortunately for my bank account this SDM is brand new. I observed some life lessons during the 30 minutes I was encapsulated in consumer bliss.

I came to the conclusion that women have to make more choices in everyday life than men. It's true that as women we choose to choose, however we are also given more choice and required to decide more frequently than men. Let's take hair conditioner for instance, men generally speaking look at price first, quantity second and smell third... purpose is purpose and regardless of their hair the conditioner is just something they use.

Ok, so because I'm a woman I'll generalize my choice process by speaking for all women. Firstly I look at the bottles, which colour appeals to me most. Then I look at the brands... reliable brands that do the job or, the exciting brand I've never tried. Let's face it, if I'd tried every brand of hair conditioner that would just be outrageous. It's quite the commitment depending on the size of the bottle and the length of your hair. Really, what if it sucks? Then you're stuck with a conditioner that you will try to hint that your significant other or roomate use. They will, they'll realize it sucks... or if your other is male, he will use it anyhow, but at a pace that a 2 year old would eat broccoli.

Back to my point, so you find the bottle you like, the colour you like, the brand you trust. That leaves the smell. It's strange how some conditioners can smell great in the bottle and crap on your head, or not at all when you let your hair down and expect to smell yummy $5 a bottles worth of frangrant bliss. Now another thing I failed to mention is ingredients.

What the hell is in hair conditioner? Even if it says on the bottle that it's "Honey Nut Conditioner" do you really think there's honey and nuts in that bottle? That's where my shopping trip started to get longer. I was then not just looking for a conditioner, I was looking through the ingredients for one that actually had the very "thing" stated on the front of the bottle, listed as an ingredient inside the bottle.

So for interest and research sake, here is what is in Life Brand "Honey Nut Conditioner" in order:
  • Water
  • Stearalkonium chloride
  • Cetyl Alcohol
  • Hydroxyethylcellulose
  • DMDM Hydantoin
  • Parfum
  • PEG/PPG-18/18
  • Dimethicone
  • Benzophenone 3
  • Citric Acid
  • Bertholletia Excelsa
  • Yellow 5
  • Red 4
  • Violet 2

So I researched some of these ingredients and now I'm scared to use conditioner. *pout I'd include links to the toxic reports on the chemicals above however I think you'd read them and be scared too. Really I'm doing you a favour by not including the ones I found. This really is a trainwreck.

I'll get to the point. In order to make decision making easier I think that stores in the future could do a lot more to help out their consumers. For instance all I wanted was toilet paper, easy decision:- more paper for least dollars. I didn't want to stand and do the math in the aisle, hmm well if Royal has a 12 pack and each roll costs .34 cents. My god it's a grade 10 math exam. Can we not make this easier?

I think I had a point somewhere.

The Sunday Morning after

I honestly hope there's calm after this because the last 7 weeks have been a rollercoaster ride! I'm happy I haven't lost my mind, I'm estatic that I've dealt with stress by seeing the humour in the situation. The irony, the beauty and raw human nature and emotion.

Since July 20th I have:


  • Purged and packed all my belongings into neat labelled boxes and shipped them to Toronto
  • Unpacked damaged boxes and cursed the moving company
  • Learnt 20 new partner (staff names), likes, dislikes, scheduling concerns/preferences, life events, passions, phone numbers
  • Learnt my new phone numbers and address
  • Moved into a small but amazing condo with my fiance (who has been incredibly supportive through all this)
  • Navigated through the TTC (toronto public transit system)
  • Connected with my regular customers, memorized their drinks.... grande 2 pump sugar free vanilla, lactaid, 1 sweet and low, no foam, extra hot latte.... ( x 7,000 customers in a week)
  • Memorized street names, Starbucks locations and store manager names
  • Went to V-Fest, Ben Harper, Hawksley Workman and possibly more ear drum killers! Yahhh!

  • Lived through Toronto International Film Festival without having time to go and see a film... but I got to hear about them ALOT
  • Was asked countless times which stars I've seen.... to which I replied with fictious stars and stories. No, no I didn't I told the truth
  • I saw Angelina Jolie and baby on Bloor street when I was going to the bank. When people ask what was she like, I reply... like a regular person, walking around with a baby strapped to her chest, but with a big old gucci bag... or at least whatever it was one of those bags
  • I prepared my store for an impromtu visit from the man who started it all. Howard Schultz, chief global strategist and founder of Starbucks Coffee Company
  • Met Howard Schultz as he toured my store, he's awesome
  • Oh and finally, this one has been my sanity amongst this madness... I'm a stepmum and I love it! Kendra is a sweetie, Ker and I are so lucky
  • Booked a 5* all inclusive vacation to Mexico with Ker. Going to meet up with the parents *grins, no really it's a good thing

All in all, life is amazing and I have it all in perspective.... I think I'm finally on the down side of this learning curve.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Films, Concerts and Stars Oh My!

TIFF - This is the event that starts this Thursday that's got me insane with preparation and also excited, nervous and bloody exhausted with the thought of thousands descending on my store to 'Star Watch'.

Virgin Music Festival - This is the event on the weekend that will be huge! Starsailor and Sam Roberts to name a few! Mmmm music, grass and beers....

Stars - Russell Crowe, Brad Pitt, Ethan Hawke.... oh and some famous chicks too will be walking the red carpet.



I posted some new photos from the CNE here.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Too Cute


This is Kendra my step daughter, she's a cutie!