Dudes want a brasierre.

About a year ago I watched the movie Kinky Boots and found it an entertaining, enlightening and inspiring movie about a shoe designer catering to...cross-dressers, drag queens and any man who wants to dress like a woman. It is a fun British movie and I do recommend it to those who like a good laugh as well as a great marketing idea.

Today, I came across this article on-line and I was completely and udderly (pardon the play on words) baffled by the trend. At first anyway. It makes complete sense though.

Men who enjoy wearing women's clothing cannot do so comfortably because of their size. Their feet are bigger. Their rib cages and skeletal frames are bigger. Try as they might, men just can't fit into women's brassieres.


This is where I say: I wish I could have thought of that. Seriously!

Was it George Costanza or Kramer that came up with the idea of a man bra some 8 years ago? At the time we all laughed and thought it was a joke.

Designing lingerie for men. Brilliant!

Business 101. Tapping into a market that never existed. Addressing a market need. A niche that needed to be filled, just like a bra cup that needs to be filled. Ugh, okay BAD joke!

I'm not only curious to find out more about this market. For research purposes - of course. I'm intrigued and amused that this is happening in Japan. Don't get me wrong. Cross-dressing and drag queens are everywhere. I just never would have thought Japanese men would be buying into this.

Excerpt from on-line article:

Since launching two weeks ago on Rakuten, a major Japanese web shopping mall, the Wishroom shop has sold over 300 men's bras for 2,800 yen ($30) each...Wishroom Executive Director Akiko Okunomiya said she was surprised at the number of men who were looking for their inner woman..."I think more and more men are becoming interested in bras. Since we launched the men's bra, we've been getting feedback from customers saying 'wow, we'd been waiting for this for such a long time'," she said.

Watch Kinky Boots and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Just for Laughs: Kitty Segway

This is hilarious!! I almost want to get a Roomba AND a cat just so I can partake in the joy of watching this up close.

I wonder what the cat is thinking while riding its Roomba-Segway? LOL

Ch-ch-changes!

Surprise! I painted my kitchen.

Just kidding, this isn't my kitchen. It's a photo I found on Flickr.

I really like this shade of green. It has inspired me to paint my overly white kitchen this juicy, fresh shade of green.

I stopped by The Home Depot today and picked out a whole selection of paint swatches in greens, blues, beiges, browns, whites.


The photo above shows the entrance and partial living room space of the house. My husband really does not like the mocha-coloured walls (says it's too dark) and I'm not a huge fan either, so we have decided to paint the living room and adjoining dining area. I have not yet decided on the colour of choice but more than likely it will be a lighter shade of the existing colour.


Another thing that both my husband and I do not like is this peg-board box that is currently covering the radiators on the main floor. Not only does it decrease the heat efficiency in the house but it is also an eye-sore. There are three of them in the living room/dining area. And one in the kitchen. We are not sure if we should leave them there for now, or tear them out. Tearing them out would cause damage to the floors, walls and surround molding. If we leave them there until next summer we will have to paint them now with the new wall colour.

Can you say Pepto-Bismol? This pink colour has got to go! Two coats of primer are required to effectively rid the pink tinge off the walls before a new colour is applied. I'm leaning towards a deep blue-gray shade.


And for you Toronto Maple Leaf fans, how about a two-toned navy blue and white basement for your viewing pleasure? Seems the previous man of the house had installed his very own hockey shrine in the basement. We are not keeping the colour scheme. We will be painting the entire basement a solid white colour to brighten up the space.


Any thoughts? Ideas? Opinions?

My ultra white kitchen

Welcome to my soon-to-be new kitchen. This is where I will be doing my cooking and entertaining come November 15th.

The kitchen is a good size and I'm happy about that but I also feel that it needs some colour. It is just too stark and white. The walls are a lovely seafoam green but I don't think the colour really goes in a kitchen . What do you think?

Also, I have another dilemma. There are four tiles on the backsplash with a fruit medley painted on them. I do not like images of fruit on tiles. For those of you that are 'do-it-yourself' home renovators, I need your advice and suggestions on how to cover up those four tiles. Do I paint over them? Do I take a chisel and chisel them out and pop in 4 new tiles in white? Is this even possible to do? Ideally, I would love to have a professional redo the entire backsplash in a mosaic of black, gray and white glass tiles (see photo below), but that is out of the question for now.

Halloween Anniversary

I consider myself very fortunate to have my wedding anniversary so close to Halloween.

Why? Because I really enjoy Halloween. It brings out the kid in me. Halloween satisfies my affinity for spooky films. It nourishes my love of all things chocolate. And, Halloween costumes are great fun too! Truth be told, I no longer go 'trick or treating' or get invited to Halloween parties. But I do enjoy seeing all the fantastic, unique costumes parading around the city from children and wacky adults, just like me.

Wait, there's more. October 28th is not just our wedding anniversary. It also commemorates our very first date, eight years earlier. I swear, we did not plan it this way. It just coincidentally happened like this. And I'm sure glad it did.

This year for our wedding anniversary we will keep it simple. Last year we went to a fancy restaurant in Yorkville and had a very good meal. This year, given that we have made the purchase of a lifetime, I think we will swap chocolate bars instead.

The supermarket in our neighbourhood carries an eclectic variety of gourmet chocolate bars from international chocolate manufacturers. Recently they started carrying Vosges chocolates. I have read about Vosges before on food blogs, so as soon as I saw Vosges on the shelf, I pointed it out to my husband and we stood there reading the packaging, seeing all the various flavour combinations and envisioning chocolate divinity.


Here's just a small sampling of Vosges' creative combinations:

Barcelona Exotic Candy Bar hickory smoked almonds + Fleur de Sel grey sea salt + deep milk chocolate

Black Pearl Exotic Candy Bar ginger + wasabi + black sesame seeds + dark chocolate

Goji Exotic Candy Bar Tibetan goji berries + pink Himalayan salt + deep milk chocolate

Red Fire Exotic Candy Bar Mexican ancho & chipotle chillies + Ceylon cinnamon + dark chocolate

Mo's Bacon Bar - New Applewood smoked bacon + Alder wood smoked salt + deep milk chocolate


So, as you can see, I'm completely fine with getting a chocolate bar (or two!) as an anniversary gift. Vosges chocolate is not your standard, nuts and nougat bar. It has pizazz!

(I hope someone called 'John' is reading this...wink...wink.)

Along with the decadent chocolate, I think I would also like to watch a movie to commemorate BOTH my anniversary and Halloween. And what better way to do this than to watch a horror movie - of course! I think I have a few movies in mind that I am interested in watching, thanks to Lindy Loo's blog, but if anyone else out there has a suggestion, I'm all ears.

Speaking of ears, I saw the cutest pair of elf ears at a party supply shop last weekend and seeing that I have shorter hair now, I think those elf ears would be perfect for me to wear on Halloween day when I'm out running errands. Just for fun!


So heads up to you fellow Torontonians. If you happen to be at Fiesta Farms supermarket, between October 28th and October 31st, and you see a petite, dark-haired Mediterranean woman poking around in the chocolate aisle, spending an unusually long period of time reading chocolate bar packaging AND wearing elf ears...don't be alarmed, it's just me shopping for my wedding anniversary in Halloween style.

Trick or Treat!

You're my obsession...I cannot sleep...I must have you!

"El Naturalista shoes express a different way of thinking and acting. Being a naturalist entails respect for a rich, profound philosophy that lays its trust in life and attributes everything to nature. Making El Naturalista shoes out of vegetable-dyed leathers and recycled rubber is part of our holistic approach to shoe design. We provide footwear for people who advance while they walk." (http://www.planetshoes.com)

I was in a shoe store last week with my husband. He was buying shoes for work. I was browsing. Then I saw them. My future shoes! I smiled at them. I picked them up. I admired them. I really liked them. Then I looked at the price underneath. I gasped! I put them back on the counter. Three hundred and something-something dollars for a pair of boots from El Naturalista. There has to be more to this shoe than meets the eye.

I jotted down the name of the shoe company and back at home I surfed the net until I located the main website online. I also found a Canadian distribution site for 'El Naturalista'. What can I say other than I am smitten by all of their shoe designs. From an aesthetic perspective, they look great from every angle. Even the sole is beautifully thought out and styled. The attention to detail is remarkable. I'm obsessed. These are the shoes that a perfectionist dreams about.

Furthermore, they're the product of a Spanish shoe manufacturing company. Spain is also home to the uber stylish and comfortable Camper shoes, which we all know and love. Could there be another Spanish shoe line that is comparable to Camper? Perhaps. But wait, there's more!

In terms of the manufacturing and quality of the shoes, here's what the company is touting:
El Naturalista shoes have been " impregnated with olive oil" (no kidding! sounds good enough to eat) and they are made with recycled cork, recycled rubber, and leather that is tanned using vegetable extracts and ground tree bark among other things. How eco-conscious of them. These shoes also provide reflexology attributes, breathable insoles, anatomic insoles and ergonomic rubber. And they can also help you lose those unwanted 10 pounds with a revolutionary weight loss 'nanosphere' technology. Just kidding! The true test though, would be to try on a pair and see for myself just how great these shoes are. If you own a pair of El Naturalista shoes, please leave me a comment and let me know what your experience has been.

For now, I guess I can ONLY dream about them.

Here's a song that explains exactly what I am feeling right now.

The ritual of good chocolate

I received a bag of these delicious Pavlidis "Giaconda" (Tzokonta) chocolates from my mom, who just got back from Greece. The bag is almost empty. Only in Greece, eh? Pity!