megfowler.com

(dad and meg a while back. but note the ever-present shades on top of my noggin.)

I’m wearing sunglasses on top of my head. In the fall. In Vancouver. FOR THE THIRD DAY IN A ROW.

AIIIYYYYEEEEE!

If you know me, you know I like wearing sunglasses on top of my head. It keeps my fine, floaty hair from blowing into my face when it’s down, as well as giving me that OH HELLO ARE WE AT THE BEACH? SoCal look that I love, or at least discovered I love once I had the opportunity to wear sunglasses on my head in SoCal.

I would like another opportunity, by the way. I’m just saying. And I’d like it right around now. Just saying.

But I digress.

Writing my love list today is my way of smiling in the face of angst. What angst, you ask? Well, I’m on Day 12 of WHY AM I COUGHING SO MUCH AND WHAT IS THIS SUBSTANCE STUCK IN MY THROAT. And I’m beyond tired of it. It’s becoming an effort to focus on anything, because all I can think is

(I left the sentence above unfinished as a joke to indicate that my brain was blank, and then I got three emails pointing out that I didn’t finish a sentence. How You Know Your Sense of Humour is a Bit Esoteric, by Meg Fowler.)

This love list doesn’t have a particular theme, but I’m thinking I need to do a few theme lists. If you have any suggestions, let me know. How about “Things I Love to Stock a Kitchen With” or “Songs I Love” or “Books, Albums and Movies I Love”? I’ll think on it.

For now, however…

THINGS I LOVE

SUNGLASSES ON TOP OF MY HEAD (did I mention that already?)
My new fluffy boots (I guess I’m a convert. Now do I buy true Uggs? Please to advise.)
Half an hour without a cough
This lotion. HOLY GOODNESS.
Being on the radio. Seriously. Addictive.
The hotness of Paul Bettany
Scrabulous in French!
The hook in “I Got It From My Mama”, which is a tragic song, and no it isn’t on my iPod, of course not
Being no. 3 on Google.com for ‘blatantly hot ass’ (I got it from my mama!)
Unbroken fingernails
The extra dot in my eye (my right eye)
Men in tortoiseshell or horn-rimmed glasses
When the upstairs baby smacks herself in the face trying to blow a kiss
Our Christmas tree goes up in just over a week!
Curry!
Tom Brady
The endless photos all my friends send me of their children in pumpkin patches
Dark, dark jeans
Pashminas!
My plant at work that pokes passers-by in the eye
Singing drives
Hockey Night in Canada WOOO!
My fireplace!
Daily attempts to click my heels in the air like a leprechaun

Now, give me your lists! Focus on the love! Give up the love! LOVE! LOVE!

You know what to do.

On sunshine.

It’s so shout-worthy.

I love sunny days in October, all blue skies and red trees and silvery leftover puddles melting into leaf-stained sidewalks.

I love it when it’s just a bit cold out, when breath becomes visible and cheeks go all rosy after more than five minutes outside.

And I love it when the fluffy-not-rain boots you bought make you feel as though you could be ambling through the streets of Aspen instead of just heading to Whole Foods to buy a $7 tomato.

Granted, this is a beautiful city no matter what type of weather we face.

I know I go on about the monsoons, but there’s something lovely and fresh and impossibly lush about the city after a good downpour.

Still, there’s nothing like sunshine on the water, or parks filled with runners and stroller-bound babies in weird fleece hats, or golden rays stealing unexpectedly into the living room just to remind you that the coffee table could use a dusting.

I definitely like you with the lights on, Vancouver.

Here’s a haiku in honour of a bright day in the ‘Couv:

o flame-coloured trees
backlit like saints in stained glass
hope canucks win soon

It’s that time again.

The annual MegFowler.com Beauty Survey!

I can call it annual because this is the second time we’re doing it. In two years.

That’s annual, right? YEAH.

It was great fun to read the responses last year for two reasons:

1. Some of you are product freaks like me, so I discovered some VERY fun new things, and…
2. Some of you just mocked the hell out of the whole thing, and I enjoyed that, too.

So, do tell:

1. Your all-time favourite shampoo and conditioner:
2. Your all-time favourite face wash:
3. Your all-time favourite moisturizer (face):
4. Your all-time favourite moisturizer (body):
5. Your all-time favourite sunscreen (face):
6. Your all-time favourite sunscreen (body):
7. Your all-time favourite fragrance:
8. Your all-time favourite masque/face treatment:
9. Your all-time favourite shower gel/body wash:
10. Your all-time favourite foundation:
11. Your all-time favourite bronzer:
12. Your all-time favourite mascara:
13. Your all-time favourite blush:
14. Your all-time favourite lipstick:
15. Your all-time favourite lipgloss:
16. Your all-time favourite hairspray:
17. Your all-time favourite hair product:
18. Any products you love that don’t fit the list:

If you have a question about someone else’s recommendation, you can ask it down there, and hopefully they’ll come back to tell you about it. If I give them a cookie.

And yes, men are welcome, too… just skip the makeup questions. Or, you know… don’t.

GO!

1. I never, ever finish a pint of ice cream. I leave it in the freezer until it frosts over like the hinterlands, and toss it out half-full.

2. I don’t cough like a normal person. It’s more of a seal bark. I’ve had the same cough since I was a baby, and it used to scare the life out of people when baby-birdesque wee Meg would let out her horrible, sharp hacks.

3. I have a lazy eye that is only evident when I’m dead tired or incredibly nervous. This is a potentially nightmarish combo if I don’t sleep the night before a big meeting or a date. (Hahaha. I just said “date” like that’s an everyday occurrence, when in reality… hello, Halley’s Comet.)

4. I’ve never made risotto, yet I have tons of recipes for risotto. I even give out my risotto recipes. Apparently, I am a risotto fraud. Or I suffer from risotto anxiety. I’m pretty sure I’m insane.

5. I have to set time limits on eyebrow tweezing, or I become obsessive.

6. I once performed “I Will Survive” in a shark costume. Then I wanted to wear the costume all the time. Even while sitting at a desk reading email, or having a cup of coffee. For some reason, the shark costume made me feel completely at ease in the world. I don’t know what that means.

7. I spell the following words wrong the first time every damn time: tomorrow; irrelevant; irresistible; commitment; homemade; judgment; and conscious.

8. The less preparation I do for a speech or toast, the better. If I bring notes, I’ll spend the entire time trying to remember my point. No notes? Smooth as silk.

9. I don’t like doing word games, like crosswords or fill-ins. I do, however, love it when other people do crosswords and ask me for my guesses.

10. I have zero desire to go back to high school. None. Nada. But my first two years of university were GOLD. I’d do them again in a heartbeat.

11. I literally want to run up to men in the street and groom them. Not like a monkey or anything, but just CUT YOUR HAIR or WASH YOUR FACE or TRIM YOUR NOSE AND EAR FOLIAGE or YOUR PANTS ARE BEYOND VIOLATING or I JUST SNAGGED YOUR EYEBROW ON MY SHIRT. I honestly believe most men are really attractive in some way. I have a broad concept of masculine beauty (ha! pun!) But I think a ton of them sell it out by ignoring five minute personal chores.

12. I never use coupons.

13. Whenever I put on running shoes, I feel like bouncing up and down. Boing. Boing. It’s an irresistible urge.

14. I have thousands of lists yet unwritten.

Update:

15. I like to publish lists one item short. See comments below!

Well, I’m still sick.

And it’s getting a tad tiresome.

My voice loses about three words in every sentence, and I sound like a weird hybrid of E.T., Kermit, and Carol Channing.

I realize that probably addresses some sort of internet fetish, but I’d really rather not think about it.

I’m weary of the cough.

And I’m weary of how it deepens.

But I’m sure it won’t go any further.

Right?

Because who doesn’t need more happy?

So I got these (in that colour, too), because I figured that was better than shelling out gobs of cash for a pair of Uggs without knowing if I could handle wearing fluffy booties or not.

They’re my training Uggs.

Obviously, they are suede and wool, not shearling, but maaaaan. Cozy. Comfy. Like wearing foot clouds. I can tell Uggs are more luxe, but these feel pretty damn good, too.

No, I don’t wear my jeans tucked into them, because I WON’T OWN JEANS WITH TAPERED ANKLES EVEN IF CLINTON AND STACY TELL ME TO.

Not that they would. I’d look like a drumstick. With fluffy boots.

No, I am not planning to wear them with a miniskirt and leg warmers. I have only owned one pair of legwarmers, and they went with a turquoise sweater dress I had when I was ten.

I did look pretty awesome, thank you.

I’m just wearing them with normal, bootcut jeans and a happy sweater, but I actually look FOR ONCE like I’m dressed for the weather.

Also?

Sun came out.

WOO!

Now all that’s left is the SARS that is currently eating my body.

Maybe the boots will cure it?

But there are several hundred of you I’m waiting to meet.

Do share.

1. Used gravelly bronchitis voice to do killer E.T. impression.

2. Performed Solid Gold dance to Hall and Oates in my living room.

3. Lolled on a giant white beanbag in front of my fireplace for two hours, turning regularly to avoid single-side scorch.

4. Started adding Christmas tunes to my iPod.

5. Ran to convenience store in pajamas with large golf umbrella.

6. Did unintentional moonwalk in shower with overapplication of fun shower gel.

7. Drove along rainy coastline singing country music.

8. Swallowed a strawberry whole by accident.

9. Made myself giggle while making cod. Pieces of cod. You do the math.

10. Considered starting a band called “Ladyfingers” until I realized via Google there are like, eighteen of them.