Snakes in a Kitchen

Tomorrow makes it a week my having lived in my new apartment and it's really starting to feel like home now. I still have some boxes to unpack, but most of it is photos and nicknacks, nothing particularly crucial to my ability to live in my home. I have a lot of organizing ahead of me, but at least I don't live in box-central anymore. My snake babies don't seem to have been at all affected by the move either, and that's relieving.

 Top - Gifted from Heather

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Ball Pythons - Mother Nature

Even my toes are multicoloured! I really don't look like what most people probably think a snake enthusiast should look haha... I stopped worrying what people thought of my appearance a long time ago though, and it'd be hard to go back to blandness.

It's hard to believe I've had these boys for about four years now. They're such sweeties, as are all my snakes. My animal room is all set up for them now, and I just need to unpack my sewing machine and set up my craft station and the room will essentially be finished too. I love that I'm a lady who sews and keeps snakes, who loves shoes and collects animal furs and other odd 'morbid' bits and bobs. A personality made of bright juxtapositions. Speaking of which, I have more boxes of bones to unpack. Cheers!

Zounds!

This outfit surprised even me. I wore it to go to the Orchid show with my friends and it took about two minutes before one of them exclaimed... "Hey, Célynne's wearing pants!" The only reason I was comfortable like this (and I still felt rather naked) was because my blouse covered most of what bothers me being seen. Also is it just me or do the people who make jeggings assume we are all 6 feet tall? Because these are a size Small and I've still got oodles of material pooling around my ankles and knees.

 

Blouse - Purchased from Cookies and Crème Vintage on Etsy

Belt - Déjà New consignment shop in Ottawa

Jeggings - Hue

Shoes - Hush Puppies from Sears

My weekend was a whirlwind. I attended a friend's baby shower on Saturday. It was the first time our girl group had been together in its entirety in years (well, our 6th musketeer is out in Alberta!) and it amazed me how much we had changed and yet stayed the same. One friend brought along her seven (!) year old daughter and it blew my mind once again that my friends are parents and wives and husbands. I keep forgetting we're adults.

 
I'd be lying if I said seeing these things - marriages and babies - happening in the lives of my friends didn't make me sad. While I am overjoyed that these wonderful people are achieving these happy points in their lives, I'm also mourning them a little. Anybody who's had friends have kids knows what I'm talking about. No matter how hard you and they try, it's always going to be different, and very much so.

 

It's everything from having less time and less money, to new priorities and new people. Parents spend a lot of time with other parents. Because us single folks can only take so much diaper-talk and I gather parents can only take so much of hearing about the life they can't live anymore. I'm okay with their choices and where their lives take them - their life is theirs to live after all - but I'll miss the way things used to be nonetheless.

I knew 2012 was going to hold a lot of changes for me - felt it true in my bones - but I never thought I would be going through such an intense personal transformation again. Imagine sitting in front of a huge pile of building blocks, with the task of building who you want to be, but without clear plans on how to do it. (Maybe your snot-nosed cousin tore up the instructions?) You work your way up, only to realize you made a mistake, or you don't like something, or you get a better idea. It's a fluid work in progress with more than one outcome and none of them need to be final. Right now, I'm taking blocks down, turning them around in my hands, and trying to imagine the next thing I want to build with them.

 

There have been a few false starts and I haven't built up much further than my personal foundations, but at least those are solid and dependable now. My structure will have a dependable base upon which to be built, and that gives everything I put into this a better chance of success. I'm also learning to trade building blocks with others, for parts we each might need. Yeah, I'm really digging this metaphor! I hope it makes some sort of sense haha... Anyway, I hope you all had a great weekend and that your Monday is going well. Cheers! 

Baby Steps

So I had a bit of a "fashion epiphany" this morning. I'm actually quite excited and pleased with this sudden realization. Of course it feels like everybody has been in on this for ages and I could just never get it. What am I going on about? Styling.

Yes, I know, styling seems like it should be obvious right? But up until this point, I just really didn't understand it at all. I'd look at beautiful photo shoots, and read words praising the styling. Yes, I thought, the outfits were wonderful, but I didn't understand how throwing on some matching items was styling. It was like a foreign concept to me, or a word to make getting dressed seem more upscale. But now I see the light!

 I understand now why so many fashion loving folks also love shoes and purses. It's not just because they're shoes and purses, but it's because those things are part of styling an outfit! I probably sound like someone being amazed they just learned how to count to 10 haha, that's how obvious I feel this must be to everyone else.

 

But I was reading a lovely post by the Styling Dutchman about finding your fashion voice. She talks about the growth, progression and change in her style through the years to where she is now, completely comfortable with her style. I recognized my own fashion and style journey in her own. I think it takes a lot of effort and exploration in styles before you can really find pieces that are you. I'm still flubbing up sometimes, buying something spontaneously and then realizing it doesn't fit my style and I don't feel like me in it.

It's funny because I still have these odd moments where I stop in front of a mirror and see myself as a different person than I'm expecting. It's like I keep forgetting I'm an adult who wears adult clothing. Or maybe I'm just a little crazy. ;)

 
Anyway, I was having the hardest time deciding what shoes to wear this morning. And I found myself wishing for a purse that matched my particular coat, and for some cute boots to go with feminine dresses and SUDDENLY, I realized what styling was. Yes. Simple thing. Big impact on me hah.

But now that I've had this realization, I want to take advantage of it and do my best to actually style my outfits! And first thing on my list of items is some nice booties... Does anyone have any suggestions for good online shoe stores? I just wish I could actually find heels that didn't kill my feet while walking. So I'm stuck buying uglier comfy shoes. Anybody got any tips on how not to kill your feet while wearing heels? XD

In other news, my parents are now completely moved out. And I have given my notice to my landlady and I will also be moving out in 2 months. Less than a year I lived in this place, sigh. I look forward to moving somewhere that is more what I want in a home for myself, but I'm tired of moving! The longest I've lived anywhere in the last 8 years was only a year and a half. Not to mention the longest I've lived anywhere my entire life was just about 3 years. Yes it was all in the same city for the most part, but still. Ah well.

The week is halfway done, and the weekend is on the way! I'm going to a party in Montreal this Saturday, so I am super excited. Hope you're all having a good week. Cheers!