Rain Is An Excuse To Bake and Cook

It really is. In the last few days I've made three separate cream soups, pizza dough to freeze and then a fresh pizza, French macarons and several cakes. I would need more stomachs to keep up with my production. It's still raining today and I'm cooking up spicy chicken thighs for my father's birthday supper. These outfit photos are a few weeks old but they're nice and cheery compared to the weather so this is what you get!

Shirt -Thrifted from Value Village

Dress-as-skirt - Giant Tiger

Sandals - Thrifted from Value Village

Black forest cake usually has chocolate decor around the side and sometimes on top, but seeing as how I don't know how to properly temper chocolate and I think chocolate sprinkles are tacky as hell, I left it plain.  I soaked the cherries in rum myself so I'm interested to see how this thing tastes. Hope you're all having a good week. Cheers!

Who are you?

I'm not bothering with excuses, I'm beyond really caring about my blog's slow death at this point. I've stopped looking at clothing online and I haven't read a style blog in weeks and weeks. I don't miss it. I also don't find myself desiring any silly object I don't really need either, which is pretty groovy. These photos were the last outfit shots I took at the end of August.

T-shirt - Fairweather

Skirt - Garage sale

Sandals - Thrifted from Value Village

I never thought I'd be a wearer of white, much less a white t-shirt, but I bought a few and I really dig their crispness and simplicity. And I'm even managing to keep the darn thing clean! No mustard or blueberry stains yet!

 Just a few days ago I returned from my trip out to Nova Scotia to visit family. It's lovely country, and wonderful people. I have photos from that but considering I haven't even posted all of those from my Montreal visit yet, who knows if they'll ever even get up here.

Hopefully the month of September has been treating you as well as it has me. Cheers!

Another Life

I can't believe I haven't posted real outfit photos in nearly a month! A lot has been going on at my end of things, and it's also been very hot so I haven't been wearing much in terms of interesting clothing. I think I spent three days last week wearing the same altered men's t-shirt and a black skirt because everything else felt too fussy. This outfit is far from grungy though, and the skirt was actually a gift from the lovely Anne way back when she sent me a package over the winter.

Top - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Gift from Anne

Sandals - Spring

I don't have very many pieces of clothes with either pink or grey so I had a bit of a challenge when it came to finding something with which to pair this skirt! Finally I just decided that these patterned had a good thing going and went with it. I'm pretty happy with the outcome, and it was a comfortable and light outfit to wear on a hot day when I was still working.

For a while I was letting my cat out to chill on the terrace with me while I took photos or whatnot, but the little booger kept sneaking off to my neighbours' terraces and that's not something I could have him doing. So I got hm a harass and he grudgingly lets me put it on him. He'd rather look silly and be outside than sit staring at me through the window screen.



He doesn't stay out there on his own - being tied to stuff spooks him - but looping the leash around a chair leg at least keeps him from zipping off while my back is turned. July was a rough month for my cat because I was away three weekends in a row and very busy during the weekdays. He's happy to have me around so much more now, and I'm very happy to be home with him!

I'm much more tan now than I am in these photos. A few outdoor festivals and visits to a water park and I managed to avoid any serious sunburns though which is great. There's a pale circle around my left wrist where my watch always is that sort of shows how pale I used to be in contrast to now which is funny. Anyhow, now I'm rambling. I hope you're all having a good week. Cheers!

Quick - before it rains!

It seemed every time I would get myself set up, it started to rain. So I would dash inside. Then it would stop raining and I'd pop back out... only to have it start raining again. After the third time dashing indoors, I just gave up and settled with the few photos I'd managed to take without getting myself and my camera soaked in a downpour.

Top - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - From grandmother

Sandals - Fluevogs

The second gecko baby hatched yesterday afternoon and I was able to move it in with its sibling after coming home from work. Once they've had a few days to get used to their container I'll try getting some photos of them together. I'm really interested to see how their colours develop.

I'm going to enjoy the heck out of this weekend because it's the last one I actually get to spend at home for a while. Next weekend takes me out to Space Gathering, and the weekend after I plan on going home for a family visit, and the weekend after that takes me to the Eclipse Festival. I knew I was going to have a busy summer but man! August will bring more traveling, more music festivals, and more camping if everything goes right. I'm so excited for everything! I hope you all have a really groovy weekend. Cheers!

Another Newbie

You might recall a little less than a month ago when I shared photos of my first ever crested gecko hatchling. Well yesterday I got home from work to discover that an egg from the next clutch had hatched during the afternoon! I was thrilled, and I'm in love with the wee thing already. Its clutch-mate (since crested geckos lay 2 eggs at a time) still has yet to hatch, but I figure it'll join its sibling in another few days. Before photos of the new baby gecko though, here's a new outfit.

Top - Fairweather

Skirt - No idea, some mall shop

Leggings - Sirens, I think

Sandals - Thrifted from Value Village

I wore this last Saturday to help my friend Chrissy (who took these photos) start packing up her apartment. In retrospect, wearing a white top while packing was kind of a bad idea and I wound up getting pretty dusty, but nothing a good wash won't clear up. I bought this orange tube skirt and one in pink for $5 each, only to realize they're near transparent. I wore this orange one as a tube top a little while ago actually, so while I can't wear them on their own, they're still proving very useful for light layering. Now if only I'd noticed my leggings were uneven...

Getting dressed that day made me realize how few shorter tops I actually have that aren't long-sleeved. I went through a phase where everything had to cover my butt, which is fine and dandy, but sometimes I want something that doesn't have the ability to stretch near-to-my-knees. Methinks I'll have to do a spot of thrifting to remedy this sometime soon. And now... the gecko babeh!

This photo is slightly blurred - I apologize - but I didn't think it would be very polite to blind the wee thing with a camera flash not hours out of its egg. You can see that the egg on the left is much bigger than the empty one on the right because it's still full of gecko cuteness. The eggs grow and expand as the little geckos do, so once they're empty they tend to collapse into themselves, unlike hard-shelled bird eggs.

I really love this last photo because you can see that the baby is still all wrinkly in its newness. If I'm really lucky I'll go home today to find that the second egg has hatched open. It was still intact when I left at lunch time though. It's so exciting knowing there's a little life in there, I can't wait to see what it looks like. I hope you're all having a good week so far. Cheers!

Happy Repetition

This skirt and t-shirt combo is one I repeat nearly weekly in the summertime. The skirt is both light and well-structured, which is good in this hot and windy city. There's much less chance of this one blowing up in a gust of wind. I wore exactly this outfit about a year ago - plus belt and different shoes - and it's interesting for me to finally be able to look at older photos of myself and not notice as many physical differences. It took a while for my body to figure out where it wanted to be but this seems to be it, and I'm more than happy with that too.

T-shirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Sandals - Fluevogs

I had a really great Canada Day long weekend. My Saturday was spent helping a friend start packing her apartment for an upcoming move in return for a tasty meal and lots of laughs. I think the best moment was when we were taping up boxes and I turned around to see she had taped an empty box shut. We spent the next several minutes laughing over this until we were both red in the face. Good times!

On Sunday my friend Tina and I went hiking in Gatineau Park. We did the King's Mountain, Champlain Lookout and Pink Lake circuits before calling it a day and sneaking off for an afternoon swim in a friend's backyard pool. It felt really good swimming after getting all sweaty on our hike, and I was able to wear a new string-bikini I got. I'm still a little amazed at my willingness to wear it, and I don't know if I'll actually wear it out in public around strangers, but I'm sort of okay with my friends seeing more parts of me than usual now.

I'm still happily hauling around my parrot purse. My mother always said I'd see the light and understand why she carried around huge bags someday, I just never figured it would be with the help of something so gaudy. I love my drunken parrots though! They make a great example for how to spend my free time this summer... partying and enjoying life! (And keeping hydrated and wearing hats to avoid sunstroke!)

Mister Caramel has naughtily been sneaking off to the neighbour's whenever he gets out onto the terrace, so he's been relegated to the inside until I get a dog harness - he's too big for cat ones - and can tie him up outside. The last thing I need is one of my neighbour's getting up in arms about my cat wandering onto their terrace.

 I was officially accepted into the Cordon Bleu's Basic Pastry program here in Ottawa, and I will be starting classes in October. I'm still kind of amazed that this is actually happening. My last day at work will be July 11th, so less than two weeks from now. I cannot wait to leave this building and never set foot here again. While I'm thankful for the things it has allowed me to do, I am also very thankful I am leaving this place. I was talking to my manager this morning and she's found employment elsewhere and will be leaving two days after myself. In her words "This isn't a healthy place." Good to hear it from someone else for once.

In two weekends I'll be heading out into Quebec for another festival, this time Space Gathering. It's a new one for me, but I've heard great things and I'm very excited. I do have to get myself a bigger tent though, just because now that I've acquired an air mattress, my little 3-man just isn't cutting it. (Who are the men they use anyway, there's no way you could fit three grown men in my tent.) It certainly won't go to waste though since I plan on spending plenty of time tenting this summer. I hope you all had a really great weekend and that your weeks are going well. Cheers!

Spiffy Sandals

These are the fantabulous sandals that I purchased while in Montreal. They're Fluevogs, and if you've never heard of them before, for the love of Marie go check out their website! You'll be wiping drool from your chin in half a minute. I was delighted to find out they had a physical store in Montreal so it was great to be able to go in and actually try the shoes on. I'm not a fan of shelling out over $200 on something I haven't even tried on, eh? Good thing too, because I had to size up from my usual 8 to a 9.

Crocheted top - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Sandals - Faiths Low | Reumah by Fluevog

And believe it or not, for a wooden-soled clog, these babies are comfy. I spent ten hours in them this past Saturday, including walking about 2 km's in 'em on hard city sidewalks. Had I attempted that with any of my other heels, I'd have been limping halfway through the day. Most of my heels don't even allow me the ability to stand for more than ten or so minutes, much less walk, dance and be sexy for ten hours straight. I'm in love! And while my wallet still hates me, my feet are thankful. Money well spent, in my book, and I know I'm probably going to be buying myself more Fluevogs in the future.

I wore this outfit to my friend's pantsless birthday party on Saturday. She's moving out of the city for the summer so we all descended on the Love Shack (as she likes to call her home) for good pantsless times. I'm glad I was able to wear the skirt too, it hasn't seen light of day since way back in September last year. As for the top, I've had it years but it's never made it onto the blog. It's actually an Extra Large, but I liked it too much to leave it behind. I shortened the straps a bit, and the under-bust drawstring helps give it shape but I'm still really swimming in the thing. Didn't stop me wearing it though, and braless to boot. Freedom!

My septum piercing is kinda wonky, but so's my personality, so I guess it works! The wee cow earrings were a gift from my friend Becky, and they're turning into one of my favourite pairs. She gave them to me while we were at Electronic Brain a few weekends ago (I'll get around to posting about that, I swear) and I put them on right away. You can see near the bottom my ugly-but-functional strap shortening attempts. Why I did that in the front instead of the back is beyond me.

These are the last outfit photos I've got on hand, so I need to buck up and start taking more again. Summer always does this to me. It gets hot and gross and all I want to wear is outfits like these, but when I go to work in an office five days a week, I'm then rarely inspired by what I do wear and don't bother taking photos. Speaking of work... my last day has been approved, with a date of July 11th. I am excited and terrified, but it will feel good once I'm finally free. Two weeks! I hope you're all having a good week. Cheers!

Insane in the Membrane

So you know how last week I mentioned I had a cold? Yeah well, turns out it was pneumonia. Yes, pneumonia in the middle of summer when I haven't been near a hospital or a seriously ill person in... I don't know how long. Thankfully I'm now on antibiotics and in another week and a half things should be all cleared up, and it won't feel like I'm breathing soup anymore.

Camisole - No idea, had it for years

Dress as skirt - Giant Tiger

Sandals - Aldo

This is me being uber casual. I threw this outfit on a while back when I thought I was going to be heading out with a friend. Then I changed my mind and canceled (because it's okay to do that) and figured since I was dressed I may as well take photos. Considering how few outfits I've documented this month, it's probably a good thing I did. The skirt is actually a little halter-tie dress, I just stuffed the ties inside and wore it as a skirt here. Yay for multi-use items!

My hair and I are still in a love-hate relationship. It seems that most days where it's actually cool enough to wear it down, it decides to misbehave, and then when it looks gorgeous and marvy, it's hot and humid and I've no choice but to stick it up in a bun or a clip lest it get all sweaty and stick to me like a damp towel. Not. Cool. I also find it funny that for all the years I've been shaving my legs, I still continuously nick myself at the back of my left ankle. Always the left one. So odd!

My world feels so upside down right now. I only wound up going to work for one day last week what with being sick with pneumonia and all. Everything is tinged with slight unreality. I could compare the feeling of it to that masked ballroom scene in Labyrinth. Wonder, confusion, awe, fright... and the nagging feeling that there's something important going on that I'm forgetting about. Speaking of Labyrinth... I had my super-awesome artistic friend Nicole make me another custom piece of artwork. Behold!

All unattended children will be given to the Goblin King. Awwwwe yeah. I've got it hanging in my kitchen. Nicole is the same friend who painted my flower-haired Jim Morrison. I'm starting to collect quite a few friend-made pieces of art in my apartment now and it's great. I'll never understand people with so little imagination or personality that they can be happy with sticking up Ikea prints on their walls and not feeling like they're living inside a boring cookie-cutter catalogue house. (The only 'art' I've seen at Ikea that sparked any interest for me is this huge picture of a jungle rope bridge, now that is awesome, mostly due to size and perspective.)

Then again, I know very few people whose homes look anything at all like mine, so perhaps I'm the lunatic for not being content with mass-produced photos of pebbles and nondescript foggy beach scenes? ....Nah! Maybe once I actually get my place cleaned up (it's been too damn hot for housework) I could take some photos of my lair and share it with you all here. Everybody who visits expresses delight and interest in my decor and various knick-knackery so may you would too.

It's barely past 10AM now and my brain already feels like it's turning to sludge and about to ooze out my ears. Two more weeks in this place and then I can finally escape be free. It's going to be a test of my character and personal strength staying here so long, silly as it may seem. Just being here this morning made me want to cry and scream and throw things. It's just wrong I tell ya. I hope you're all doing better than I am right now - which isn't difficult - and that you're all having a good Monday. Cheers!

Humid in Da House

Temperatures are continuing to climb to uncomfortable highs here in Ontario. They're calling for a high of 33'C/91'F feeling like 44'C/111'F today. This is expected to continue into the weekend but hopefully by next week things will be back to a reasonable level. I've had the misfortune of catching a summer cold so both my chest and head are congested and this humid weather is really not helping things. Not to mention I don't have A/C in my apartment so there's no real reprieve unless I'm at work.

Top - Thrifted from Value Village

Pleated skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Sandals - Spring

Last night's sleep was fitful but I don't know if it's being sick or the heat giving me such trouble. Plus I keep having dreams where I think I've woken up and started my day only to have it go catastrophically wrong, but then actually wake up to realize I was only stressed over a dream. I think I had four separate dreams masquerading as reality just this morning.

I wore this outfit mostly to keep cool on a hot day while still being somewhat office-appropriate, but it feels a little like I'm in disguise. While I like the outfit, and how it looks on me, I'm not a huge fan. I think it's because there's so much black going on, and I'm really not used to being so darkly garbed. Even if my legs are pale as ghosts! I accidentally crisped a bit since then so at least not so much anymore.

I haven't really got much to say because I've just been chilling in the shade trying to keep cool and remember that just because it's warm doesn't mean my cold isn't real and that I still need to rest. At least I wasn't seriously sick while visiting Nicole in Montreal this past weekend. We had a really great time - and I bought some super special sandals - and once I get myself organized you can expect some photos from that adventuring. Anyway, I hope you're all having a good week and that you aren't sick like I am. Cheers!

Cosmic Nebula

I waited far too long to make the repairs to this dress. It had been sitting in my mending pile for near on a year. Several holes had been poked and ripped through the thin outside layer, but I managed to mend them and now I can wear my crazy dress again. Admittedly it's rather large on me, but I like it too much to give it up.

Dress- Thrifted from Rebuilt Resources

Skirt as tube-top - Sirens

Sandals - Spring

Life is just plugging along at a thousand miles an hour. It feels like ages ago that a friend and I made these chalk drawings out on my terrace. I'm responsible for the abstract shapes while my friend drew the embracing birds.

I really love these sandals but they're not very comfortable. Which is a shame because it was a whole song and dance just to get myself a pair. They've been sitting in my closet for years and only now am I finally taking them out more often. I'm also having plenty of fun with my makeup most days still. I probably went a little overboard this day, but with everything else going on, I couldn't help it.

I think the only big downside to bright outfits is that it's all the more apparent when you wear them on a regular basis. It's hard to stealthily re-wear a bright dress in comparison to jeans eh? I'm also still getting used to my outfits being totally visible to the public eye. After six months swaddled under drab and shapeless coats and jackets, it can be a little unnerving when every bum eyes you walking down the street.

There isn't a whole lot for me to say right now. I still haven't found that 2nd baby gecko but I haven't given up hope yet. Tonight my friend Laura and I are attending a small belly dance performance. We weren't a large enough group to perform ourselves this time around but maybe we'll be ready come December! I hope you're all having a really great week. Cheers!

Have Some Cuteness

Seeing as I am leaving to head off to the Electronic Brain festival today, I thought I would leave you all with some fuzzy baby-bird cuteness (after my outfit of course). These photos were taken a few weeks ago while out walking around Dow's Lake with a friend also kind enough to take my outfit photos. Said friend is very tall which explains why the view of me is from higher up than usual haha... Why it never occurred to me to take outfit photos by the lake is beyond me.

 

Dress - Purchased from Sally Jane Vintage on Etsy

Belt - Gift from Heather

Sandals - Spring

Is it weird that I actually feel more awkward having someone take my outfit photos than I do doing it by myself via timer? Even if I'm in public, somehow being by myself is easier. I guess because I don't care what strangers think but I for some reason still worry the person photographing me will think I'm a loon. 

That first photo with the seagull swooping down just cracks me up. The baby geese were already practically bigger than it was! We'd brought along old bread and so by the time we left there was quite a feathered frenzy going on. A couple with a young baby were there and I gave them some bread and it really made the kid's day to have those baby geese waddle up to him!

For being such cranky, cantankerous birds, geese are still very lovely to look at. It's just a shame they poop so much! I'm pretty sure these geese parents only tolerated our getting so near because we were handing out bread. Anyway, off I go adventuring! Expect a post with tales of my weekend sometime upon my return. Have a great weekend everybody! Cheers!

Inside Outward

If you could take a peek inside my mind and see my thoughts, things would probably look a lot like the print on this dress. Bright. Cheerful. Bold. Lively. Dynamic. To name a few. There are so many joyous thoughts and plans rushing around in there. It's like a crazy game of bumper cars, with flashing lights and ringing sounds as riders get jostled roughly about. All in good fun though!

Dress - Purchased from Ninth Avenue Vintage on Etsy 

Earrings - Gift from grandmother 

Sandals - Sears

Of course, not everybody enjoys a good bumper car battle, and so not everyone is comfortable with me and my various forms of self expression. Like my clothes. Or my taste in music. Or my past-times. Which is really just a loss for them! I tend to think, about 98% of the time, that I am super-awesome-fantastic and anybody would be crazy not to like me. And while that's extremely egotistical, I'd rather be a happy egotist than an unhappy person overly concerned about others' opinions.

Of course that doesn't mean I don't care about others' feelings. I think this mindset kind of helps me. Being friendly and open and caring is a lot easier if you already think you're the bees' knees. At least it seems so to me. I don't need outside validation to be a happy person. I'm not seeking approval or support. Whether or not someone thinks my dress is obnoxious, or that my life views are naive really doesn't concern me. I don't worry about those things and I try my best to be nonjudgmental about those things towards others. It's harder for me to deal with the rejection of my friendship and love than it is to deal with someone thinking I have bad taste in shoes or need a hair cut. I'm a selfless egotist, perhaps? Or maybe self-confidence is too often called egoism and I'm getting them all mixed up. (Bumper car crash!)

Let's just say that sometimes I do come off as harsh. Beating around the bush is not my style and in some instances my blunt honesty can be a little more than people can handle. I don't intentionally try to be hurtful or unfeeling or self-centered, but in the end my priorities do revolve around myself. It takes a lot of effort and presence of mind for me to take other people's feelings and viewpoints into account when I interact with others. I'm not fond of people or situations that upset me or make me uncomfortable and sometimes I can lash out more quickly than I should. I'm still learning.

Oftentimes it feels like I'm at an emotional learning stage that I'm too old to really be in. I swear everybody else went through this awkward crap in their teens? I'm all thumbs. I blunder through sensitive emotional interactions. I have the hardest time reading the level of someone's emotions. Are they only kind of grumpy or are they enraged? Is she just a little sad or is she about to burst into nonexhaustible tears? And I always feel so clumsy trying to console or cheer someone up. It's frustrating because I would love to be that person, but I'm still busily gluing my own parts back together. Trying to help someone else do that seems beyond my abilities right now. I mean well, but I'm not willing to put myself in a position I know isn't healthy for me.

Anyway, all that nonsense aside, things are good. I've booked a bunch of days off this month for various activities. Tomorrow is booked for a major apartment cleaning, which isn't very exciting, but things spice up after that. Tonight is my weekly belly dance class and beers with my friend Laura. Saturday is my friend Helen's baby shower, and then a night out at the bar with a fun group. Next weekend I'm heading out into Québec to attend the Electronic Brain music festival. I am SO excited for this! So excited!! It's going to be a blast. And then the weekend after that one, I'm going up to Montreal to visit my super-awesome friend Nicole. Plus a bunch of other amazing things because my life is just amazing right now. Emotional awkwardness and all! I hope you are all having a groovy week. Cheers!