how the fashionable urban professional goes to work...

...when it looks like this outside:


First off, accessories are very important, particularly when they help to keep one sane during the pushing/shoving/noiseridden commute:

Check out the fuschia earphones. And the iPod colour should always coordinate with the winter coat:

Would you believe that this coat is 20 years old? (I shake my head in disbelief that I'm actually admitting to this!!) I bought it on a trip to Toronto (at Simpsons, long gone now) when I was 17 and still living with my parents in Kingston. It cost $175.00. My mother nearly had a heart attack, but I had pinched my pennies and I wanted this cost. If my math is correct, the cost has worked out to $8.75 per year. Not too shabby (although you don't want to see the lining and the insides of the pockets!)

This is the pin that lives on my coat, given to me by a dear friend about 10 years ago.

And now on to some little known secrets about the life of Brouhaha.

It is imperative to start off the day with a healthy breakfast, of course:

And have you ever wondered what top-flight lawyers carry with them in those boxy briefcases?

Well, I'll show you. First, some essential tools of the trade:


These are my implements which I use to stab recalcitrant landlords.

Oops - I just realised that I also managed to bust a Christmas surprise. Sorry, Mom (who will truly be surprised when she finds out that the gift card is only worth $20!!!!).

Also, there are other essential secret things, carried, of course, in a Prada bag:

(Dang - did I leave the Prada at home again?!? Damn and blast!)

And of course, one should always have documentation in the event that one is summoned off to a top-secret international mission:

(Besides, you never know when the Bathurst tram might have to change its route due to construction, and decide it's a good idea to access downtown Toronto via Buffalo!)

Other essentials:
... cash and housekeys...

(How do you like my bright money carriers?! Cute, eh? And of course some evil eyes for luck.)

Best also to have extra supplies of medication on hand...

(A friend bought this for me during my last period. Do you think she was trying to tell me something? But look - it's medicinal. Really.)

I keep telling people, "Chocolate is good for you!". This, I think, proves me right.

Getting down to the bottom of my bag of tricks:

This is something that I was given as a gift this past week. 100 grams of chocolate covered stale bread cubes. Calabrese bread, mind you. (At $5.00 for 100 grams of stale bread, I should think it was flown in directly from Italy. I paid $2.25 for a 650 gram loaf of Calabrese bread on the way home from work last night - and it was even fresh.)

And, finally:

But I haven't even shown you how to dress for success yet!! Sigh.

This is my new top which I made from my Montego Bay scarf. It was a big hit at the staff lunch!

And finally, a very rare insight into the deep intellect of Brouhaha:\



(This is what I do when I'm not allowed to knit at the 5th website meeting this month...deep, eh? I'll tell you a big secret - I actually wrote The Da Vinci Code. Yes, little old yarn-addicted me. Can't you tell by this mystical diagram?)

Happy Wednesday... and a very very happy birthday to Bill Nighy, whom JJ suspects I have a raging crush on. Really I don't. It's just his acting. Really...