Seriously, I’m thoroughly impressed with your individual style as a blogger. Some people might think it’s so simple, but it’s not. It’s authentic. I’m writing a book called FAKE that’s actually about authenticity and how hard it is to really be yourself these days. You seem to nail it and you also make it public. Refreshing.
I work for big corporate companies, as well as small ones. I self-contract as a writer, social media consultant and a life coach (had my own practice for five years). My point is that I study A LOT of blogs, both personal blogs and blogs for business. And I work with people on being authentic. You are a poster child for how I believe people should live – out loud and free.
One last question: what do you think is the number one reason your blog is so popular? Just curious how you would answer this as a blogger.
Sorry you thought that question was social media probing question, as if I wanted “free” info and sorry that you feel the need to be paid for such a genuine wonderful question.
Actually, I was looking at it from a life coaching stand point. I interview and ask a lot of questions to successful people and they are usually very happy to talk about their success in a pay-it-forward sort of way. I’ve never had anyone from corporate executives, to television and radio personalities mind when I asked them what they think makes them a success.
The reason I ask the question directly is more because of curiosity since I can make all kinds of assumptions but was wondering what your take was . For instance if you compare your blog to Dooce she is obviously a more skilled writer and photographer, but her slick presentation also gives off a sense of hiding and doesn’t have the same appeal as yours. I don’t feel as close to Dooce as I feel to you. I think your popularity has a lot to do with the fact that you are willing to be thoroughly and utterly human and authentic even if that means not looking pretty and not always writing the perfect blog or sentence. That, and you are consistent and offer tons of images. But if I had to nail it to one thing I would say you are willing to look bad, willing to keep it real, and in doing so the audience appreciates this more than a polished blog.
Good points about the photographer part. Didn’t mean to be “wickedly insulting” actually I can say for myself that there are many better writers than me, but many of them don’t have the balls to be simple and to the point.
I really didn’t mean it as an insult, more as an observation on how “polished” some bloggers appear and I struggle with that all the time. I know I’m not going to make it on my writing talent alone (in many areas) but I value my simplicity and ability to get to the core.
In my opinion I think speaking to the masses is much more important than being polished.
dooce is big cos she was fired for blogging and she rode that wave. it’s harder in canada. also i am a fuck up lazy and if i worked 5% harder than i already do i would be rolling in it more. 2011 is the year of raymbo.
I know dooce’s history … I also wondered if it was harder in Canada.
I think you are rockin’ it. I check you more than any other blogger – arguably I check you more than facebook, since I don’t check facebook daily. I also show you off to people – which I think is what differentiates you from Dooce. I tend to read Dooce and that’s it. I rarely tell people about Dooce, either because I assume they know, or because I just don’t find her as transparent, and thus, not as interesting.
Also, I realize that Raymi is your blog persona and you are Lauren. But you seem to make it feel like Raymi is you.
Not as in “shallow” at all…(is that what you thought?not sure…anyway)
In life coaching (and when we talk about social media consulting) the word transparent means “real and authentic” – people call me transparent all the time (in real life) because I talk about everything from my itchy ass to my crazy mother to the great sex I had….
yeah i am totally an open book. it’s just interesting to get feedback and opinions about this person called me that i spend way too much time with, i didn’t know i was a personae until they told me so and when i do bad things i can blame it on her. it’s like encouraged schizophrenia.
I wondered about the pressure and all the oddball feedback you must get. That’s a lot of shit to carry. Way more than a reality TV show where they only shoot for 6 months and then everyone goes home. With your kind of personal blog it never ends, even when you’re on vacation…and btw. I’m thoroughly impressed that you kept your breakup off your blog. nice work on keeping it real there too. I know people thought the opposite, like if you were “really real” you would have blogged about it, but I think it shows a sensitive side that makes it more real. Fuck the voyeurs, they get enough of you.
Okay – I’ve got some poems and an article to write and all I want to do is get high and watch movies.
i re-found you not too long ago i left you a comment right?
i buckled and broke breakup silence when a cunt left me a comment “muahaha what happened where’s phil” something like that. my immediate response was caps lock yelling I WASN’T DUMPED and a photo of myself in a burlington kitchen where i was having a very private public rebound. i cannot believe that made headlines. my new tagline should be if you date me you will be in the newspaper.
i have been emailed for years for blog tips. when i finish this book everything you could want to know “how” to do it will be in it. i just cant retype 4000 personal emails anymore. my job is talking to people everyday all day, email phone blog real life. i am all talked out and hyper like the micromachine man motor mouth. i live and work like monsters are after me and i get death threats praaactically every day on youtube videos. i will definitely without question go out in flames one day many years from now. i seriously hope not.
adventurehouse brunch made by lucas. we are making an adventurehouse tumblr because we are regressing into arts and crafts and activities land. no real jobs here. just kidding he has a real job. i think? something to do with the symphony. what a show off.
i am an old lady and it takes me awhile to recover from my life sometimes. i got up and attempted to get some ice cubes from the freezer with my wet bare hand, they stuck, stung, tore at my skin and then i dropped the oldschool ice grid to the ground bent over to pick it up majorly clumsily opposite of black swan (no not the white one, i wish) and then i came up into the open freezer door, loud and painful simultaneously to this heroic act lucas got cooking onion stinging up his eyes and started wailing. melodie walked in on this precise moment and said, i’m getting out of here. the freezer was attacking me. we are winners in adventurehouse.
and lucas looked like an ewok. whenever one of them wears a sweater the other one will wear it the following day and i’ll secretly be like come on guys get it together but secretly love it. whatever’s lying around the house in whichever room one will just put it on and then that sweater goes on an adventure through the house.
bentler owed me dinner for being an unaccountable shit show on new years eve. i guilted him. not that there would be any chance in hell of me crawling out of my own party reverie that evening, hearing how his night went was pretty humourous and thrilling in a scary way. black out for 5 hours. pass.
i tried to get him to take me to canoe. lucas helped me manipulate him via bbm. what do i say i’m pissed how do i win? how many moments have you had like this? texting is a fine art. anyway, i said remove my name from your contacts please. DEAD. to me. it worked.
he was like how can i make it up to you? yeah i’ll believe it when i see it. monday comes, that’s yesterday and i only remembered about it about afternoon time and i hadn’t heard from him so i am already assuming he’s going to bail. i bbm about spice route, how i liked it there, we can wing man each other (i am not approaching this as a date we are both now forced to endure for the sake of our “friendship” i want to use this free ride to my advantage and at least both of us can maybe cruise and have fun with it) but the beauty of bbm, the meaning or description is lost and he replies confused which i then interpret as the beginning stages of weaseling out of our dinner so i say if you bail we are not friends. i can’t help it, i sabotage everything in sight and i have zero trust in men. zero. my expectations are so low.
we’ve already smooshed and i don’t waste my time. my nights are very precious to me, my time even more so. so having dinner that is not going to end in marriage proposals is bogus to me. like, that’s friend shit. fine ok i guess we’ll be friends. i pegged him as a player day one. he hates that. what guy looks like this, arrives in his gorgeous white car with flowers on time, opens a door, says everything right, pays, pays attention to you and isn’t a player? why the fuck are you wasting your time with me you can do better, superficially speaking.
but, you cannot top the magic what is my brain. so they at least wanna stick around for some of that. i am a good friend, confidant, adviser, trustee and so on. you’d be a complete idiot if you turn that down. in friendship world it is reciprocal. you show up. if you can’t make it you have a better excuse than black out. you show up then you black out. i’m not a chump. one friend who owes me money i told him basically i paid you $50 to not be my friend anymore. i don’t even need the fucking money, at all, period. you do. i’ve loaned you so much shit, covered costs, you stole from me huge time and you have the nerve to call me to hang two months after this instance where i covered your bag of blow (charming, i know) and spotted you (this was years ago) anyway scumbag, you prove you want to be friends with me and not my money. you can’t? then fuck off. this, in my psychotic neurotic mind equates my prideful mexican stand off with bentler. i want absolutely nothing from this man and expect nothing. i am jack nicholson in the departed-level insane. isn’t it breathtaking?
once we got our oopsie out of the way, the competitor tough love in me moved on. shut the door. we’d bbm every so often tales of our exploits. realizing we’re the same fucking person. too many guys out there i am discovering i am very similar to. dogs, studs, players. so i killed my pof account yesterday. too many men, overwhelming. not to mention, pieces of work i’ve been building up correspondence with and this was the ready to meet week for some choice potentials. date machine gun. i have it down to a science. i’m going to write about one of my dates for sofi. is that even interesting to people?
it was really cold and i was apparently being demure. i enjoyed being eye-fucked and stared at a lot. when you walk with a hot person and you yourself are not too shabby, make sure to watch everybody watching you, their eyes bounce from you to them and back again until they settle on what they desire. i won more than bentler.
my old life setting. four years. i don’t think i will get over it until i am in another thriving wifey relationship again. i hope i do it for the right reasons this time.
this makes me feel haunted. i doubt other people feel the same when they look at these. when i go on dates in yorkville with men they do not know what i am feeling inside when they are arm candy shuffling me along the sidewalk, stare-and-be-stared-at’s row on cumberland.
the way i felt at the time i was living it too. i was a charlatan and i could never take the attention but once in awhile i’d go shopping at whole foods and i would look amazing but i was too shy to enjoy it and now that i am blond i fit in too much. in oakville, oh my goodness, christmas shopping felt like a jungle and you’re the lion.
i helped him get these. i advised. did i call them oliver twist or charles dickens? he repeated whichever it was last night when i took the photo of my legs, are you going to get mine too?
and then i showed him my world. he invited himself up practically. i dashed into the lcbo at spadina/king in the nick of time, we had 5 minutes to closing, he’s like what should i swing around and you fly out of the car i say yes in one fluid movement it will be my opus. i would never say something like that on a date because you never know what it will be like when it leaves your mouth. it was the right thing. he laughed. i bought two different kinds of malbec, one a masi because it’s what i chose for the table in collingwood blondetourage wakestock weekend and i am sentimental like that. another, cheaper, was actually better. i wanted to drink wine alone, or with roommates or maybe see my newest crush.
i showed my adventure family my piece of fish ghost from piece of fish past so they could judge and disapprove of him. they know all about our history.
sometimes i bring men over like a cat would a bird that its caught and killed. like a trophy. what does this say about me? i need constant approval. to my new crush i told him during an a-ha! moment, i am one who needs to be wanted. constantly. in short, it is very exhausting. i told one date we can meet at the shoe and i will be the one trying very hard. fuck man, do i ever know the lines.
trimmed the flowers off to make it take on the shape of the chair cushions. bentler kept asking if it was for him. no it’s for my friend leslie. i was flattered he liked it so much though.
then of course i woke up with a trimmed down washboard stomach. good grief do i ever fluctuate. WHER THE FUCK WERE YOU LAST NITE!? so glad my face is blurred out. i’m sorry i’m so neurotic but if i weren’t there’d be nothing to read here.
not even sucking it in and i know i’m not a twiglette but it’s weird to feel around your waist and it’s gone and there’s no smoke ‘n mirrors except this fuzzy one.
ok paris hilton gets credit cos she started this entire mess i feel. she’s like a hello kitty pink bubblegum selfish amazing slut nightmare and look, a pink bentley. why not?
you just want to hate this shit but the soft pink pants secretly make you understand. men are stupid for blond and soft pink. it’s like being with a cloud. a cloud care bear.
this one gets a baseball game wave, standing ovation, and lots of bowing. good show michelle. jolly good. these are all my favourite blonds by the way in case you weren’t paying attention.
me ee ee ow. another goal for next halloween. it’s like a two-for deal. awesome plus awesome. look awesome without the suit on, look awesome because of the suit. if not for the awesome the suit would not exist. dude, the matrix was a great movie eh.
and her twat boyfriend. of fucking course she goes with this guy (i love him, i am in personae, shh don’t get hurt feelings now) so she can be madonna except her pedigree is better to begin with therefore more entitled.
i love her the most when and because she does this. the black thick liner. we know i do that too. maybe it started the most when i started modelling and being nikola and i never stopped and then royal tenenbaums came out and we were all fucked then.
her body is insane. this scene made me so relate, being very perverted about your time alone, greedy, just so adore it and do a lot of artistic things, whimsical dreamy possibilities are endless girly plotting at your finest when you are alone. melodie and i are practicing being ladies with aprons on in the kitchen and speak to one another as julia childs. we curtsy. we are hilarious.
her graceful beautiful mother. when i heard that gwyneth couldn’t get out of bed for a week, she could not get up when her father died i was heartbroken by it. so sad. i can see her being plagued by sadness to begin with, he was her hero. it makes me choke up.
she is a doll. i love dolls. she is a perfectionist control freak through and through i have such a raging biggie for those types and i cannot help but to fuck with them.
then we have elle. played by southern belle reese witherspoon. total perfectionist. she brought a slow cooker on to the ellen degenerous show and served her some southern pulled pork she made from scratch (insane! she is incredible) and ellen served herself first and started chowing down while reese sat there and went hmmph, all dainty, full on stepford wife mode, like ms. manners and ellen blushed. women like that who make you feel like a slob, you just want to impress them so hard.
absolutely amazing. so much so they made a fucking musical around this fictional character. do gay dudes cry at legally blond? is it still playing, and in toronto? i kind of need to see it.
i feel so fantastic after my work out today. i was a fucking animal. i assaulted the elliptical then the treadmill. hello old friend i thought. i’m a fast runner on that shit. before i forget, next thursday is a cougar pre-drink/dinner party at BOOM. if i cook for you it’s free. also if you come you are eligible to win a prize. a family day prize. hint hint. casie is going to do an interactive training session with me this friday morning at the motion room if you want to nab a spot for that experience, let me know. my body is really starting to transform now. next week i start more weights. i am going to reward myself with a tropical vacation if i turn into christina ricci in black snake moan by my birthday. disney cruise anyone? totally not fucking with you.
starbucks are a bunch of evil geniuses. their showcase kills me. i only ever get the reduced fat banana chocolate chip loaf (that tastes like disgusting) or an espresso brownie which i inhale by the time my americano soy misto is ready. i cheat on cherry bomb with starbucks sometimes, also poor john’s if i anticipate a line at cherry. i get tangled into talk with the poor john’s chick too much (which i love but can’t afford when in a rush to tmr, which i typically am because i am always, always late).
some new orleans photos. that was just december 3. time flies. leslie and i ate here two years ago. they were filming a movie out front, this is canal street. i saw the clip of the scene in a trailer for the film a few months back. street car action scene. the food here is great.
even the power lines are lazy and sultry. magnificent. i love southern hospitality, southern belles. slow laid back don’t make a fuss. work days end at 3 and it’s mint julips and men dressed like 1920’s bankers they go mm hmm in lieu of a you’re welcome. when i first met bunny, hearing her accent was a trip. a genteel girl, no hint of crass even though she’s actually kinda punk. we had a hot moment.
anyway, new orleans is a place for muses. it is a muse. everyone is out there, decadent. a bit dark beneath the surface, born snake charmers. hustlers. genuine people. the scene is other-worldly. friday is disneyland drink fest crowds everywhere you get swept up into it drink in hand in and out entire bars to courtyards of drunks from every corner of america everyone engages with you back on the street again cobblestone u-turn through another bar full of patrons treating you with class and manners escorting you through ornate rooms with piano players and yet more servants there waiting for you, just you, special you. after suffering conservative toronto no eye contact universe soaking up that attention is intoxicating. everyone is drunk and friendlier. dancing in doorways pissed at 1pm. you can forget who you are here.
finally fished out my platinum wig for melodiva. died laughing playing around with it. we’re going out on the town as two raymis. get a wig for lucas too. go about our normal domestics in platinum. just another day.
then i did a martha stewart in my princess cave. i am going to get a new little table for my room, one i can tuck my legs under not this file storage unit (on wheels) thing i’m using currently.
before this mel was donning a long princess leia brown braid i attached to a headband and she was swinging it. lucas and i laughed for 3 minutes and i cried and gripped my hair it was hilarious.
mel why is your slipper on my rad? that towel i acquired after may 2-4, guy left it in my room after our weekend away. awesome towel. pants are air drying. wearing them tonite (in two hours!) on a date. i am mega cramp pre-menstrual bloated so i am freaking out over what to wear.
how amazing is it that i bought that wig two years ago never knowing i would one day have hair the exact same match. it’s from malabar and it was about 80 dollars. real hair.
the Michelle Tanner, (one of my personal role models) and we also like stephanie tanner, the sweet valley high twins, elle woods, cher horowitz, and others i’ll come back to later. vana white. holly madison.
if this is the first one you’d see on a camera and if you were me you’d go holy shit that’s me. so got it down. hey dude who bought my tea painting and already paid, HEY stoner! when do you want it? this guy emailed me with the subject title: alice in wonderland fisher price inspired tea party perfect for your kid’s room i guess i wrote that on my flickr stream. what a seller i am. i am working on a piece suitable for a girl’s room at the moment too. available. it’s hot pink and purple and gold. you sort of see it here.
i am getting my ears pierced, notice the earrings? melucas got me three pairs of vintage clip (screw-on) earrings i look good with them. they make my ears red though. i can deal. also we love all disney princesses and we give kudos to those who psychotically emulate (live as) princesses, like those harajuku princess lolita chicks. fascinating. love the commitment.
ok weiner eaters here’s some from the blackberry. i just got a bill for $250 for that thing ugh and the month before $200. this might be the last blackberry photo round-up so enjoy it. -daddy warbucks.
and melodie got the hydro today. we aren’t opening it for a week yet. we don’t want any snow swans diving (get it? swan dive?) off bridges just yet. so buy my diamond painting or that house one, appearing in the parklife blur music video. google it.
jamie‘s raymi painting, when i went as “nikola” and “modelled” and on the left my indifferent declaration. available for sale, it looks really good in person too. comes with frame.
i smirked to myself when i got out of my cab and thought how ridiculous i am right now a walking kurt cobain. i showed my cousin my lily tattoo and said it’s in a way, sort of a nirvana tattoo and he said that it was an awesome nirvana tattoo. we have a strong similarity (nirvana lovers, anything 90’s brother too), like-minded. it’s like having a twin almost.
my left shoulder is pretty sore. this is a good thing. i put my mind and body through an intense workout yesterday james said. when i arrived i said i wanted to f–ing murder someone so lets go. i was late driving from burlington in a blizzard on top of being stuck behind two slow ass snow ploughs and dropping off my cousin. i had been up and ready by 8.
i was talking to lucas here and he goes excuse me sorry i was sleeping bahaha. eyes were closed and he had a mini fall asleep meanwhile i’m talking to a statue. party statue. funniest weekend ever.
discovered a shirt in my brother’s old closet with the tag on it still, keeping with the 90’s theme. he was pissed i got these docs. called me a poseur. he had these when he was a teenager (asshole) so i said yeah i got them to piss you off, specifically. it worked. dude is there a ban on something because you owned it once?
wow so, uhhmmmm, i look like i am from silent hill in the face here. demon raymi. party ghoul. also sort of abular whilst simultaneously blobtastic. gifted!
lucas doing the tom hanks. he came around a corner up in vip and slid on all this confetti as he was speed-chasing after some one or thing and i burst into laughter, lucas that was so fucking tom hanks of you i cannot get the image out of my head.
