“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”

— Coco Chanel

OK gang… I’m back and this time I’m right on track…

It was a hectic month with happenings professionally, personally, and culturally… Toronto is getting chilly… the long nights don’t really bother me much though… I’ve learnt over the years not to nag for the entire six months of Torontonian winter… Instead, I’ve learnt how to enjoy the shorter days in dim lights with my loved ones around or on my own mind, tucked in my winter clothes, with my warm pashmina wrapped around me and sipping hot cups of tea!

So, on to a brief recap of my life in the past month…

Madonna’s concert deserves no word but “Fabulous”… It was indeed a “dream come true” occasion for me… I mean, c’mon, who can seriously dance like her, act like her, sing like her, and steal the two-hour show in a full-house ACC at the age of 50… at some point, when she was singing her classic hits from years past, I got choked up with emotion, honestly!

I’m also happy to report that I started reading again… Intensive reading, one book after another… I finished a couple of books in the last month… the one which I just finished and loved dearly was “84 Charring Cross Road” which made one of my favorite streets in London come alive in me once again… the book is in fact a collected volume of correspondence between a British bookstore owner and an American writer, Helene Hanff spanning over 20 years… I’m now ready to start what I’ve been told is a must-read classic by “Rebecca”…

AGO is ready to reopen next week… after many months of renovating, the gallery will be open to the public on Nov. 14 and give everyone the opportunity to admire the first ever work by the renowned architect, Frank Gehry, in Canada!

Last but not least, Mr. Obama won the president election last night and made so many people’s dream come true… including “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” who had a dream a few decades ago! I’m sure thousands of websites are covering the story of last night’s election, so there is nothing left for me to tell you…

C’est tout for now… and may I reassure you that I won’t be silence again for such a long time… I will update my blog world more frequently from now on… I will share the books I’m reading, the movies I’m planning to see, all the good stuff coming up in the city, and of course what goes on in my mind… Until then, I’m sending you my biggest smile and thanking you for waiting and checking out the world according to Shadan!

Much love,

S

If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; but if you live according to [public opinion], you will never be rich.”

Epicurus (34-270 BC)

Oh, I have so much to talk about since my last post but for now can I just say every time I come to Montréal, I fall more and more for the city? It’s freezing cold but the vibe warms you deep inside… Even tough it’s only a one-night business trip, strangely being here makes me kind of special and in love…

I’ll talk to you very soon… We have so much to catch up my friends!

S

I blew out my first candle last night and this time with my precious ones around me… When it comes to making a wish part, I usually wish for others and not me… The question that comes to my mind is, who then wishes for me? Is it others who do so, or my own fate and destiny regardless of wishes? Whether we believe it or not, our lives are unfolding according to a design that was set at the time of our birth…

Therefore, my lovely readers, I am going to let fate take its course and forget about heading off in a new direction… I reckon I’ve been so far on the right path…

I will blow more and more candles… and I will still wish for you, for him, for her, for them, for us… and for me!

S

“A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in colour and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.”

— Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

– I’m trying to write but I can’t get started. There are no more good ideas.
– Don’t be silly. The world is full of them.
– “How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world.”
– That’s good. Write that down!

“People don’t change when they see the light. They change when they feel the heat.”

— adage, quoted in the New York Times