Rebel Angel Guest Post

Hey everyone! I'm doing a guest post today - my very first ever - over at Sian's awesome blog, Rebel Angel. You can go check it out here! I'd be so happy if you did. And because this happens to be the dress I am wearing again now, have an old photo.

Oh, and I finally caved and joined Twitter. You can find me here. I'm trying to follow as many wonderful bloggers as I can, so if you have your own account, let me know! I hope you're all having a great day! Cheers!

Electric Ladyland

This has got to be one of my favourite summer outfits. It's bright, and colourful, and cheery! What else can I ask for in an outfit than butterflies and crazy colours? I don't wear the belt if I'm just bumming around the house, but I feel it's kind of necessary to make it at least slightly office-appropriate. It's definitely not something I'd wear to a meeting!

Tee - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Shoes - Fairweather

Belt - Ardene's

I was a bit miffed to realize yesterday that less people actually READ my blog than just look at the photos. The reason I bring this up is that not just one, but two people complimented me on my "skirt" yesterday. I was wearing pants. I listed "gaucho pants" in the items and even mentioned someone thinking it was a skirt at first and... Eh. I just think it's rude not to read the post entirely. Especially when you leave a comment that pretty much proves you didn't read it. Ah well.

I'm pretty bummed out today. I'd mentioned before how my friend Becky (with whom I went hiking on the Solstice) is leaving Ottawa. Last night we went out for dinner one last time and said our goodbyes. I had been sad about this already, but when I found out she most likely wouldn't be making it out to Motion Notion next month, I was crushed.

I'd been so looking forward to seeing her one last time out there, and spending some magical friend festival time together. I'm really more distressed about all this than I thought I would be. She's a very dear friend and I will miss her deeply.

On a less sad note, at least my toes are cheerful! Bright orange and green. They make me think of happy little pumpkins. I might wind up bringing my nail polish with me out to Alberta, I do believe I'm currently too addicted to painted nails not to. And apparently my pinkie toes are now escaping these shoes, hm.

I forgot my food at home today, and I am so hungry without my morning snacks. I hope I can make it back home, eat, and get back to work in time without also getting caught in any rain. It certainly doesn't look too nice outside. But I refuse to buy disgusting, greasy, over-priced takeout. Or to wait 20 minutes in a line to buy said takeout. It takes less time to walk home!

Anyhow, I hope you're all having a good Wednesday. Cheers!

Bare Essentials

In this post, I am going bare! Err... well, bare faced. I didn't wear an ounce of makeup on Sunday, and you know, I actually think I look not too bad. I hadn't been planning on actually going out in public when I got dressed that day (which I think is pretty apparent), but I wound up spending hours running around from store to store, and then going out for wings with a friend that evening. For a split second I contemplated putting makeup on since I'd be at a restaurant and all, but then decided eh, screw it. And I'm cool with it.

Top - Hand-me-down

Gaucho pants - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

Sandals - Thrifted from Value Village

I have very dark circles under my eyes. Whether I'm tired or not it makes no difference, so I usually try and cover that up with well, coverup. None of that here though! I might look like I haven't slept for 48 hours or like someone's been giving me Irish Kisses but ah well, t'is my face.

For some reason all the side-shots I took made it look like my breasts were horrifically lop-sided so this was the best I could do in that regard hah. I was trying to show how these are in fact pants but they're so loose and flowy it's hard to tell. Actually, the friend I went to dinner with had thought I was wearing a skirt straight until after dinner haha...

I last wore these back in December and this was another one of those cases where an item fits quite differently. These used to sit much higher up on my waist, but now my waist is smaller and down they went. They're hitting a funny spot on my calf now which isn't too flattering though. I'm contemplating hemming them up to my knees perhaps, but I don't know if that would ruin the whole gaucho pants thing.

I've managed to take outfit shots 3 days in a row now which is surprising for me, hopefully I can keep this up and get some more tonight. I'm so busy at the moment though, leaving in less than two weeks for Alberta and visiting my parents for the Canada Day long weekend and all sorts of other things. I can't wait for it all to be done so I can just relax!

I hope you're all having a groovy Tuesday. Cheers!

The Lady and the Serpent

I finally got tired of the rain ruining my chances at taking outfit photos. So Saturday evening I hastily cleared out the chaos that was the animal-room and set up to take some pics. This room is kind of like a giant closet. With animals living in it. And an oldschool gaming corner. You can peruse my shoe collection, play Secret of Mana on my SNES and admire my tarantulas all at once!

Dress - Smartset?

Shoes - Walmart

Hemp Necklace - Made by me, Cosmic Spider on Etsy

I was actually surprised when I went searching for the old outfit photos that I haven't worn this dress since back in February. I was also pretty surprised at the change in my face. I hadn't realized the weight loss had affected my face so much. It's odd because at the time I loved the photos so much and thought I looked so good, but now I look back and compare them to now and... I am never letting myself get so heavy again. No way. I didn't look bad exactly, I just didn't feel happy with the way I looked either.

Between the summer of 2010 and now... I have lost 35lbs. And since early 2008, a total of about 55lbs. The changes have been both huge and small, obvious and nearly unnoticed. It was hard to ignore my clothes falling off my hips and sagging on my thinner frame, but the changes in my face it actually took until recently to notice.

Myself and the first of my tarantulas, little Thor.

I still catch myself in front of the mirror sometimes, staring intently at myself almost in awe. I know that probably sounds horribly self-centered but I spent so long despising my doughy body and round fat cheeks that it almost feels unnatural to look at myself and like what I see. The inner me and the outer me haven't quite yet meshed in terms of how I look and how I think I look. Knowing it's me being reflected, but not expecting what is reflected, and being surprised at how much it pleases me.

I love how my cat Caramel is lurking in nearly every photo.

By no means am I over my body-hate or insecurities. I still worry about the pooch of my belly and the way my breasts hang. But I actually like my legs now - okay, maybe not my stumpy ankles - and am willing to wear clothing that show my thighs. I have more confidence and a greater self-worth and I'm not so self-conscious.

I'm not too sure where I'm going with this. Maybe I'm trying to say losing the physical weight is just half the battle. Because you can still be carrying it in your mind, and that's the hardest place to lose it, seems to me. You could be 90lbs soaking wet and still feel fat in your mind... which sadly is a serious problem for too many a person these days.

Holding my ball python Galen.

A friend of mine is out of town for the week so I'll be heading to her apartment everyday to keep an eye on her pets. She's got a rabbit, two rats, a corn snake and a small boa. It works out because when I'm gone for 2 weeks she'll be coming over to keep an eye on my own babies.

And before I forget, Kileen over at Cute and Little is having an awesome giveaway! A chance to win $100 of mineral makeup from Fresh Faces. There's a ton of ways to enter and the makeup all looks good. And if you've not checked out her blog yet either, I totally recommend it!

Is it bad I'm almost glad it's Monday? My weekend wound up being pretty stressful, with a large part of my Sunday afternoon spent driving around trying to find a glass pane to replace a broken one on my other python's terrarium. Plus a scare about being locked out of my car with everything in it on Saturday. Ah well. In less than two weeks, I take a plane to head out to Alberta to be with my boyfriend again. So I guess I'm just happy when each day is over now because it means I'm one day closer to him.

I hope you all had a stellar weekend! Cheers!

Friend Friday Mishmash

TGIF! Boy does that mean a lot to me today. This has been one long, frustrating dragging-along week. Not to mention ungodly humid and hot... 100% humidity? Really?! Even my flat-as-a-pancake hair has been frizzed up and fussy this week. Anywho, may as well jump into this week's Friend Friday questions!

1. Since you began blogging do you notice a change in the types of  things you gravitate towards while shopping?
Blogging has changed what I shop for most definitely. I used to just go about willy nilly and bring home anything that caught my fancy, but now I go shopping with goals in mind, and these are usually things I'd never have thought of purchasing before I blogged. I used to avoid florals and couldn't understand the use in having so many cardigans. Now I'm drowning in flower patterns and constantly on the search for a new cardi!

2. Do you find, as a fashion blogger, that you dress differently from your family and friends? Do they comment on that?
Oh most definitely, but that's mostly because my family are all country-folk. Fashion and style aren't really what they think about when they get dressed in the morning. And then most of my cousins haven't quite yet progressed past the collegiate-clothing stage (hello sweatpants and baggy tee) and my relatives do tend to take note of the fact I dress with more thought and effort than the rest of them.

3. What’s the weirdest fashion that you secretly like, even if you aren’t bold enough to wear it?
Anything open-backed. I've been seeing lots of pretty dresses with open-back details and I think they're lovely, but I'd never wear any of them. Figuring out how to hide my bra and worrying about whether I have random back pimples (it happens to us all!) is just too much.

4. Looking at current trends – what would you like to try but need to build up the courage to do?
This is more in general than just current trends, but I really need to build up the courage to wear denim shorts. Yeah, I know, jean shorts, what's the big deal right? But I was traumatized as a teen by jean shorts and my thigh-hatred so I really need to work at this whole denim shorts thing. I want a pair! I think they're adorable on others! I just feel like utter crap when I wear them and this needs to be sorted out.

5. Toot someone’s horn – what fashion blogger out there inspires you with her bold fashion choices?
It's more than just her bold fashion that makes her inspiring to me, but I am really loving Tiffany over at A Reason to be Fabulous. Not only does she make a lot of her own clothing and jewelery, she has super fun taste in colours and pattern. She's a styling lady and just exudes confidence.

FIN

I am going to try and take it easy this weekend. I feel like I've been running around like a headless chicken lately. I had a few outdoor activities lined up but they're calling for more crazy rain most of the weekend so they'll probably all get scrapped.

I'd like to promise that I won't post again unless it's to show an outfit, but that might be a while. Everything I wear to work has been seen before, and I don't really wear clothes all that much at home... *cough* Hah. I hope you all have a great weekend! Cheers!

Lost in Limbo

Some of you might be aware that our postal service here in Canada is currently on strike. (Arrrgh!) Of course this happened right after I purchased a bunch of items. And so now my pretty, pretty dresses are lost in postal limbo somewhere!

I can only hope that the packages actually make it since they were both coming from the states and I don't know what's happening at the border... Anywho, since I won't be getting my hands on these in person for quite a while longer, I figured I'd give you all a sneak peak of my purchases.

This dress has been in my Etsy favourites for ages, and when it came on sale, I snapped it up. It's a bit more formal than what I like to wear at home these days but it will be perfect to wear to work. Just what this library needs, some pretty floral frock-wearing!

This lavender cotton eyelet dress is basically what I have been dreaming about for this summer. Light, feminine, delicate... and such a pretty colour! I can't wait to wear it with my new slouchy sun hat for an afternoon stroll.

I'd been contemplating getting one of those baja surfer hoodie type things for snuggly festival-wear but this just called out to me. "I am cute and snugglier!" it said. Or maybe I'm just losing it. I just hope it gets here in time for me to wear it out to Motion Notion next month!

This tunic won me over instantly. The rich colour, the sleeves, the cut... ahh! I have a feeling I'll spend a lot of time rushing around my apartment while wearing it once it gets here, just to enjoy all that flowy-fabric goodness. I've got a billowy peasant-skirt that will go great with this too.

And now I'm excited to wear this stuff all over again and I still don't even have any of it yet! Ah! Is there anything you purchased that you're excited to receive? Do you shop online at all? Tell me things!

By the way, do you all mind these not-outfit-post posts? Do you enjoy these or would you rather I not post about so much other stuff? I want to stay interesting! I hope you are all well and happy. Cheers!

Nails and Noodles

I suppose in theory posting a photo of my toes and then also talking about food is probably not the best subject combination. But since I have no outfit photos for the moment, my toes will just have to do. The hot pink is as it should be, but that other colour is actually metallic purple. My camera decided to make it look electric blue like my other polish. Crazy toe-nails ahoy!

As for the noodle reference in my title, well really I meant pasta. But 'pasta' does not alliterate very well and so noodles was the way to go. Because I made some tasty pasta salad on Sunday and I have to share its goodness.

If this looks suspiciously familiar to you, it's because I actually posted a photo of the exact same dish in this post a few days ago. I knew I wanted to make a batch of something that could be eaten cold and that would last me several days so I could be lazy, and this pasta salad was perfect. (I did wind up using rice wine vinegar instead of white wine vinegar like the recipe calls for but it still tasted awesome!)

I also cooked up a small batch of these tasty lemon-garlic roasted shrimps. I quartered the recipe though, because I knew I was the only one who'd be eating any and a girl can only eat so many shrimp! My own version came out not too bad, if I do say so myself. The shrimp certainly tasted heavenly and I'm definitely going to be making this dish again. Quick and easy, it has my approval!

The weather is being rather persnickety today. It was supposed to be partly cloudy and rather warm, but instead it's overcast, misty and uncomfortably chill out there. The first day of summer may have lived up to my expectations yesterday but this is not a summery day at all.

I miiight be going to a charity concert tonight, but I work at 8am tomorrow and a 9pm show is not conducive to my getting enough sleep. Then again, my friend Becky invited me and she's leaving in about a week so it would be ridiculous of me not to go just so I can be not-tired tomorrow, right? I hope you're all having a good Wednesday. Cheers!

Happy Summer Solstice!

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a wonderful first day of summer and longest day of the year. I took the day off work and went out into Gatineau Park with my friend Becky for a hike and a swim.

Our first stop was at Pink Lake, to hike the trail around it. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. I never get tired of this lake, I could hike around it a thousand times.

I was so happy when we heard a garter snake slithering his way through the leaves on the side of the path. Of course I had to pick him up and say hello.

And did you notice? I am wearing shorts. Yup. Not a skirt, not a dress, but shorts. This is the first time I have willingly worn shorts out in public like this in a very long time. The last time I wore shorts, I had leggings on underneath, and I haven't been bare-legged-with-shorts in years. The closest to that has been wearing my romper, but that looks more like a skirt than anything.

I'll admit the shorts come from Walmart, but I've been searching in thrift stores for ages for shorts like these and that's difficult. So when I found these, I bought 3 pairs in different colours.

After hiking around the lake, we drove to Meech Lake and had a nice swim. There's nothing better than swimming in a cool lake on a hot summer day. Then we picnic'd on pasta salad and berry lemon iced tea before heading home.

It was a lovely day, and I could not have asked for better. Did any of you do anything special today? I hope you're all having a good week. Cheers!

FBFF - Summer Food

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all had a good week. Mine was very good, and very busy. A friend's birthday dinner, transferring pets into bigger aquariums and terrariums, kayaking last evening... Which by the way, was extremely fun. Even if I am now very sore hah.

I really like this week's FBFF topic... summer food! Because I love food. I could never be one of those girls who goes on a strict diet and deprives herself of tasty things. This a lady who will munch on potato chips and then have ice cream and not feel an ounce of guilt.

I'm supposed to share my favourite summer recipe. Except well... it's summer, and it's hot enough as it is without turning on the stove or the oven. So instead, I shall regale you all with delicious food-photos from Pinterest!

I've mentioned quite a bit lately how a lot of my clothes are too big for me now. I'm contemplating selling them on Etsy. I figure, I already have a shop open, so it can't hurt to try. And I'd much rather my pretty dresses go to someone who will love them as much as me, than to just send them off to the thrift store where they might wallow unappreciated for who knows how long.

I hope you all have an awesome happy weekend. Love from me to you! Cheers!

Cheetah Print and Paisley

I was good and confused when I woke up this morning. I momentarily thought it was still Wednesday, then remembered it was Thursday, and then for some reason thought it was Wednesday again. It takes my brain a good 5-10 minutes to drop out of auto-pilot and actually start thinking straight when I wake up. I'm now fully planted in Thursday though, so all is well.

Top Dress - Purchased from Sally Jane Vintage on Etsy

Under Dress - Fairweather

Shoes - Spring

This is what I wore yesterday. It's been nearly two weeks since my embarrassing stumble in the park, and my hemline is slowly creeping up again. Most of the scratches on my left leg have healed, although you can still see some of the new pink skin, and my knee still needs time.

This dress is very sheer and I need to wear a slip underneath it. However, I own no slips, and the beach coverup I'd been using as a substitute is now so baggy on me that it hangs too low and well... doesn't keep me covered. So what did I do? I wore another dress underneath it.

I've had this brown tube dress since college, but I've only worn it a handful of times. I don't do strapless for the most part, and unless I'm being uber-casual, you'll never see me braless either. And as you can see, wearing a regular bra under this dress just looks... funny.

Something else I've had since college are these shoes! These are actually my very first ever pair of high heels. I bought 'em when I was 18 and working my first office job in the summer between college semesters. I must have gone to the store and tried them on four times before finally caving and buying the darn things hah.

 

You can also maybe see that my toenail polish appears to be different colours. It's actually the same polish, it's just colour-changing depending on the angle from which you see it. It goes from a light lavender to a gold-green colour. 

I bought this red beaded necklace at a Pow-Wow held by the Nipissing First Nations a few years ago. The little spider earrings are another pair my mother made me. And in this crazy heat - supposed to hit 32'C/90F today - my hair is still permanently up in this sanity-saving twist-bun-thing I manage to create.

My friend Becky and I are going to be going kayaking this evening and I'm super excited. It'll be nice to get out on the water and try to cool down a bit in this heat. The public beaches only open on Saturday so until then we just have to make do.

I hope you're all doing well. Cheers!

Thrifty or Cheap

I love thrifting, but to be able to thrift an item, someone has to go out and pay full price for it first. So I'd just like to give a shout out to all you crazy people who go pay ridiculous prices for items that are nowhere near worth their price tag, and then are kind enough to donate them to the thrift store after having worn the items barely half a dozen times. Because otherwise, I'd never have this cute floral tee.

Tee - Banana Republic, thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Sandals - Aldo
When - Sunday, June 12th

I paid a whole $4 for this Banana Republic tee, instead of the $40-50 I'm certain it originally sold for in stores. I've completely given up on ever being able to purchase clothes for full price in stores anymore. Even items that are 50% off still seem overpriced to me. Maybe I'm a cheapskate, but I like to think I'm thrifty.

A large part of being thrifty, is making use of an item - be it clothing, furniture, a tool etc. - for a prolonged period of time. I've had these leather sandals for 3 years now. I paid $20 for them when they finally came down from the $75-odd original asking price. Sure, they're not the greatest looking anymore, but there's nothing wrong with them. They are comfortable and durable, so I do not replace or rid myself of them.

My mother made these earrings for me out of partridge feathers. They're feathers from a bird my own father shot, which we then had for dinner. Sure I could easily go out and buy much fancier, more colourful feather earrings at the mall. But they don't have any personal meaning to them like these do.

I could have purchased fake flowers to stick in my hair. Instead I snipped some from the bouquet in my living room. Anyway, my extremely badly-put point is... We don't necessarily have to go out and buy new things! There's a world of thrifted, used, re-purposed and DIY objects out there that perfectly serve our purposes.

This whole thought-train was brought forth by my observation of what most people consider "a good deal" or "affordable". A good example would be Modcloth dresses. They range from $40-$160 for the most part. I keep hearing bloggers say how well-priced and affordable these dresses are supposed to be. But I'd never in a million years drop even half what most of those dresses are selling for. (And, I actually think Modcloth dresses are super cute, not knocking 'em, but they're just selling for more than I'm comfortable paying!)

Am I the only one cracked up by the reflection of my arms?

Maybe I'm cheap. Or maybe I'm thrifty. I take pride in saving money. I take pride in finding a good deal. There is no pride for me in spending ridiculous amounts of money on something for no good reason. Someone's $150 flimsy en-vogue dress will have bought me half a dozen dresses and a good restaurant dinner with plenty to spare. And I wouldn't trade that for your expensive froo-froo frocks any day.

Cheers!

Friend Friday - Summer Trends

Happy Friday everyone! This week actually went by quite quickly, which I am very happy about. The only bummer is that friends and I were supposed to go hiking tomorrow, but now it's calling for lots of rain, boo! Hopefully we can figure out something else to do. But yes, since it's Friday, it's time for FBFF. This week, the topic is this summer's trends and which are our top favourites.

I'll just go ahead now and say - like I did in my last FBFF post about seasonal trends - that I really don't pay all that much attention to trends. If I see a ton of bloggers wearing something similar, I just safely assume it is probably a trend and roll with what I like. New trend rule! Whatever style or item makes you happy this summer, are this summer's trends. Voilà!

The White Dress

Crazy Nails

The Colourful Maxi

The Espadrilles

FIN

Technically I was supposed to name five but for the life of me I couldn't come up with a 5th one that wasn't really broad like "bright colours" or "boho style" so four it shall be. Almost all the photos here are from my Pinterest, still addicted, probably will be forever. And before I end things... is not this wicker-horse purse the most amazing thing ever?!

I hope you all have a super great weekend! Cheers!