A Good Thing

They say that once you find something good, you don't mess with it. That's what this outfit is like for me. It fell together one day, and like a flash, it felt right. And so whenever I wear it, it's always the same, right down to my jewelery. The only things that might fluctuate are my shoes and my makeup.

 Top - Thrifted from Value Village

Dress-as-skirt - Gift from my aunt

Shoes - Gift from my grandmother

Earrings and necklace - Made by my mother

I love this dress for how it flows and moves. It's light and airy, but can still keep me reasonably comfortable on these cooling fall days. My top has many lives, as part of regular outfits and sometimes as a pajama top. I'm attempting to pare down my wardrobe - as always - and this kind of multi-use is important with doing that.

Another perk to this outfit is that it very well hides the fact that I've gained a lot of weight this year. I'm really not happy about it, and I know what I should do about it, but there's a huge gap between wanting and doing and achieving for the moment.

I've been a dedicated mineral makeup convert for quite a few years, and the only products I wear that aren't from Earth Angel Minerals on Etsy, are my mascara and eyeliner. For the curious, my eyeshadow in the above photo consists of a base of Dark Grey on the outside of my lids, and Matte Snowflake on the inside of the lid and up toward my brow. Over this I brushed Moon Goddess (a purple shimmer) and Borealis (a white shimmer). I've come a long way from being obsessed with golds and greens. Anyhow, time for me to kick back for a few hours. Cheers!

Mustard Greens

Tomorrow I have an interview at a local bakery, which if I'm lucky will lead to a good job. I've got my fingers crossed! They were looking for someone with two to three years experience but I'm hoping my Basic Pastry certificate will help me out there. Clearly I'm good enough to at least call in for an interview. We'll see how it goes.

Blouse - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Belt - Second-hand shop

Shoes - Bayshore Mall, years ago

It's raining like mad outside, has been since last night, and it's supposed to keep raining for several days. My front door has been leaking too, which is rather unpleasant but at least it's nothing extremely serious and it should be fixed soon enough. I just wish it would stop precipitating long enough for me to go biking again! If it's not snow, it's rain, and if not rain, snow! Bleh!

It was a gorgeous day yesterday, but I woke earlier than usual to spend time with my friend and her baby, and after a large sushi meal that evening all I wanted to do was nap. I slept right through the time I'd planned to go biking haha, but ah well, I guess I needed it. There's a whole summer ahead for me to enjoy outdoors. I hope you are all having a good week. Cheers!

Fruity

It's hovering just above freezing outside and it feels like Spring is on the way. Too bad it's still going to be months before winter's grip finally releases us and the weather starts to really warm up again. At times like these, I dress extra colourfully, to try and keep myself cheered up in this time of drab greys and whites and muddy browns out there. I guess my baking desires are along the same lines because I've been making strawberry tarts over the last few days.

T-shirt - Can't remember

Skirt - Gift from Heather

Shoes - Thrifted

I've had a lot of spare time on my hands - for reasons I won't go into because they're bumming me out right now - and I can only sit around playing video games for so long before I start going loopy. I cleaned the heck out of my apartment yesterday, which really needed doing. I don't know why I avoid it for so long, when it doesn't take that much time. Really it only takes about as long to clean this place, mopped floors and all, as it does to make a tart from scratch.

I made the mini tarts a few days ago and the full-sized tart this evening. Its recipe was from my Cordon Bleu pastry book. We saw the Chef make it during class but we didn't make it during our practical because it's so simple. I fought a little with the crust dough, and I'm not exactly certain why it was misbehaving, but it seems to have turned out well enough. I had some left-over dough and baked up a few mini tarts today too and the one I ate - with extra whipped cream - tasted just fine.

Not counting an apron, I baked dressed like this. I unfortunately managed to burn my right arm taking the tart crust from the oven but I'm getting used to having burns at some degree of healing somewhere on my arms or hands most of the time now. But now that my baking is done and the kitchen is all cleaned up, I think I'll crack a beer and go back to playing video games for a while. I hope you all had a good start to the week. Cheers!

Spread Thin

I'm working two jobs now - part-time at the restaurant and full time in the pastry department of a bakery - and so my spare time is spread pretty thin. As is my sanity. I'm still not exactly certain what I'm doing with myself or where my life is going or what's going on. I'm still settling into the bakery and I'm not certain whether or not I'm actually going to enjoy it there.

Top - Thrifted from Value Village

Jeggings - Fancy Sox, by Hue

Shoes - Thrifted from Value Village

The work isn't what worries me, but the people. A lot of folks seem to be leaving recently, and most people I talk to haven't been there more than 6 months, even those in 'senior' positions, which is a little worrying. Especially since my first shift was pretty rocky, spent with the crankiest woman I've met in a long time. I've already had issues with management and I'm very wary. I really hope it all works out and that people don't ruin what seemed like it would be my dream job. It all just makes me doubly appreciative of the great crew I work with at the restaurant. I hope you're doing good and the month has treated you well. Cheers!

Still Clothed

It's been ages since I've bothered to take outfit photos, but it's also been ages since I've done more than just throw something on. Wearing the same thing over several days until I've deemed it dirty enough to wash has become a bit of a bad habit. I'm just really not leaving my apartment much, or doing anything that warrants actual outfits or worrying about being seen wearing the same thing. It's been a long time since I last wore this dress though, and maybe that's why I actually made the effort to document this actual outfit.

 Scarf - Gift from grandmother

Dress - Thrifted from Rebuilt Resources

Top - Thrifted from Value Village

Shoes - Thrifted from Value Village

It does have to be noted that the shoes didn't actually leave my apartment with the outfit. It's winter after all, and the only appropriate footwear at the moment are snow boots. But I couldn't possibly be sock-footed in the first outfit photo of the year. I feel wonderfully colourful in this too, especially with the royal blue scarf my grandmother got me for Christmas. The joyful colour kick is definitely welcome these days. I hope you are all having a good week. Cheers!

Gone Dotty

This is the dress that started a revolution. My style revolution, that is, many years ago - in 2007 to be exact. It is the very first dress that I felt good in. At the time, I was 18 years old and living in a shitty relationship, working a student summer job between college semesters. We were broke most of the time, in that rent-or-food kind of way. I had tried the dress on a while earlier but even at $20 I couldn't afford it. Later I was with my cousin Charlene and after telling her about the dress, she bought it for me. I'm still thankful for that. And while I'm not a huge fan of polka dots and the black-and-white thing is a bit boring for me nowadays, I still like this dress even if I don't wear it all that often anymore.

Dress - Fairweather '07

Red tank - No idea

Shoes - Thrifted from Value Village

I discovered recently that my rebellious PS2 is still willing to read my God of War 2 game disc and I've been ravenously playing - and yelling at the screen - the last few days. A friend of mine joined me last evening for a few hours of gaming and it was funny being the one actually better at the game for once haha. I have to admit I'm looking forward to going home and playing some more. It's still so hot out anyway, all I really want to do is sit around with a fan pointed at me, so I may as well have a gaming controller in my hand!

Quinoa has been making a lot of appearances in my kitchen lately, some more successful than others.  It cooks up so quick and easy, it's practically fool proof, I've been using it in place of rice and pasta a lot. This Thai peanut sauce, shrimp and steamed broccoli bowl on quinoa was a success. The pineapple quinoa I tried making the other evening, not so much (I was having ingredient issues). Hit and miss! I'll definitely be making this again though, it was way too easy not to.

Annoyingly I won't be able to take photos on my terrace for the next little while. I got home from work yesterday to find that the crew working on the outside of my building had set up scaffolding on my terrace, to do some brickwork. I can still get out and use my seating area off to the side, but my open space is all taken up by scaffolding. I hope it doesn't stay there long! I'm not too fond of the idea of men wandering around on my terrace. My doors are locked and they can't get in but still, privacy, you know? Although maybe if I'm lucky they'll do away with the wasp nest that the insects have started building in the outside frame of my window. I sprayed the crap out of it with oven cleaner (I have no insect killer) but that didn't seem to do much more than stun the buggers. Then I fled in terror. Anyhow, I hope you're all having a good week so far. 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!

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!

Green Green Green

I love this dress ever so much, but it's a wiggle dress, and I always get frustrated if I have to walk more than a few feet anywhere. My natural stride is very long and wearing this dresses forces me to take awkward small steps, which I'm not used to. But I keep it and keep wearing it - albeit not often - because wearing head to toe bright green is too awesome to stop doing.

 Dress - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

Belt - Déjà New consignment shop in Ottawa

Shoes - Lulu's

The intense urge to chop off my hair has subsided, although the desire is still there sometimes. My bangs have finally grown out to a length where I don't feel like a total freak and they've actually been behaving quite well recently. The best description for what my hair has been doing is looking like it should be on the head of someone cruising the coast of California. Not sitting in a stuffy library. Would that I could obey my hair!

The buttons on the back of the dress are a light blue colour now but I have a feeling they used to match the dress. Their thread matches perfectly and I think the buttons may have just faded over time. I've got the matching belt that goes with the dress too but it's a bit too long and wearing it just makes me look like a giant tube of green and that's a bit too much.

 I'm ever so happy it's Friday again. I only had a three day work week, but it's still felt absolutely interminable. I'm out of patience and just want to scream and tell my work to shove their requests where the sun don't shine. Being here is just wrong for me, in every possible way. It's toxic to my mental and physical well-being and I do not like it. Knowing how close I am to finally being free of this places makes it so much harder to still be here.

I'm spending Saturday and Sunday in Montreal, where I will finally get to meet an awesome internet friend. We've known each other for years and only live about two hours and change apart, but our lives never really crossed. She and I have plenty of fun plans involving visiting the Fluevog shoe store, going to the Archeology Museum and then eating delicious crêpes, among other fun activities. So excited! I hope you all have a really great weekend. 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!

Out of Focus

I took these photos late in the evening after getting home from my grandparents' and the light was so low that they all came out really fuzzy. Ah well, it'll do! I just knew I didn't want to waste the chance at some outfit shots, and good thing because I haven't been taking any recently. My outfits only ever seem to get documented in spurts.

Shrug - Thrifted from Value Village

Dress - Thrifted from Value Village

Shoes - Chinese Laundry

Lizard broach - Gift

I'm trying to take it easy this week in preparation for the upcoming weekend. I'm attending the Electronic Brain festival out in Québec. There's going to be over 60 continuous hours of music from two stages and it's all set up on top of a forested mountain! Three nights and days of awesomeness! I'm going to dance myself silly. And hopefully take a ton of photos. I never take as many as I wish I would.

Hopefully we get some descent weather. I've been to more than one festival that resulted in spending copious amounts of time hiding from rain in a tiny tent so I am prepared for that, but I would really rather avoid it! I think the worst would be having to set up camp in the rain. Come on sunshine! Or at least... not-rain! I can deal with cloudy skies if it means being dry. Anywho, I hope you're all have a good week so far. Cheers!

Disconnected

It's only when I am at home without access to internet that I realize what an integral part of my life it has become there. It's not so bad when I'm out and about, because I've never had a device that allowed me internet access away from my PC. Even when I had a laptop, it usually stayed at home. So when I spent this weekend with no internet or phone access... I was not too happy. It's still down and I have no idea when it will be up again. It's ridiculous. I've already racked up an extra $25 on my cell phone bill. There's a reason I have a land line! Ugh...

Top - Thrifted from Value Village

Dress as skirt - Hand-me-down from Aunt

Shoes - Sears

I spent my entire Saturday waiting around at home for a technician that never showed up. This still bothers me now, on Tuesday morning. I couldn't listen to the radio online like I so often do, couldn't check the weather, or look up store hours, or browse recipes for dinner, or find out anything and AGH! I don't know how people ever functioned without the internet haha...

I still had a good weekend though, and did plenty of reading out on my terrace. Sunday morning also involved a two hour kayaking foray down the Rideau Canal with my women's group which was great fun, and stopping for a beer and taco salad after definitely hit the spot. I even got a tan, an actual tan and not a burn!

The nights have been warm enough that I've been sleeping with the patio door open. It's annoying hearing some of the night noises again but I get used to the sounds of the city pretty quickly. Once it's hot enough to warrant a fan, its sound helps drown out other noises anyway. Today is heavy and humid and my hands are swollen up and tender. I should move to Arizona. I hope you all had a really great weekend. Cheers!

Mane Musings

If this outfit looks oddly familiar, it's because I wore the skirt and shirt together styled quite differently back in February. The first time around, I knotted the blouse and wore the skirt higher up so it would hit me roughly knee-length. This time I wore the pieces to give a longer silhouette. The belt was necessary or else I would have just been wearing a giant flowing sac!

 Shirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Belt - From Heather

Skirt - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

Shoes - Lulu's

Not too long ago I contemplated hennaing my hair a crazy red. The urge passed (mostly because I don't think hazel eyes and red hair jive). Then this morning I read Kate's post about buzzing her hair, and it got me wanting to cut my own. Short. Very short. Which it used to be, in my mid-teens. Now with summer coming, I'm not looking forward to all this hair being heavy and humid and hot on my skin. Last summer I spent most days with my hair up in a tight bun because I couldn't stand having it down, it was just too hot and sticky. Short would be nice and refreshing.

Not that I don't love my long hair. I wouldn't have worn it this way for so many years if I didn't! But while cutting bangs in December spiced things up, I'm itching for another change. While I don't do a lot to my hair other than wash and comb it, it's still pretty demanding. It knots easily, frizzes up in humid weather and takes ages to air-dry! I'm constantly brushing it during the day. Maybe I'm just super extra lazy, but I'd like to be able to go out on a windy day without worrying about being blinded by my hair. Or whether or not my hair will fall over my shoulders and into open flame / food / someone's mouth.

Not to mention I look frazzled and disheveled most of the time. My hair may as well be styled in a way that plays that up instead of it just making me look well... frazzled and disheveled. I've spent a few hours going through tons of photos and I've settled on two looks I'm considering if I do take this hair chopping plunge. The first is shorter, and can be worn fussed up or smooth.The second is slightly longer but again is messy and cute. I'm leaning toward the second... it looks like something that would take half a minute's worth of fussing and a handful of hair mousse to fix up in the morning, which is right up my alley.

Some people might go halfway first and cut their hair to shoulder or chin length... But that's not how I do things. It's all the way or no way, so far as I'm concerned. I just know it would drive me mad to have hair flipping around my shoulders and it not being long enough to tie up, and long enough to tie is just still too long to even consider it worth cutting. If that makes sense. And my hair is so thin anyway, it's not really meant to be this long. Anywho. Hair rambles. I hope you're all having a good week. Cheers!

Colourful Soul

This skirt never fails to draw attention whenever I wear it. I guess it's difficult to ignore a fluttering rainbow in a sea of boring! My most favourite t-shirt helps keep the colour going. I'm not usually a fan of t-shirts with designs or images but I love all the butterflies on this one.

T-shirt - Thrifted from Value Village 

Skirt - Gift from Heather 

Shoes - Sears 

I wore this on a day off, out to the mall with my grandparents. While I did find a few things at the Sears, I rarely leave a mall with clothes. It's all too cheap, too expensive, or just not my style. Thank goodness for thrift stores and super awesome friends who send me wicked clothes!

We stopped in at a Lush store, and I tried one of their lip tints; a Million Kisses. I've been using my mineral makeup as lip tints recently but as a longtime Lush addict, I may wind up buying one of their colours too. This one was very bright, but I'm not used to bright colours on my lips in the first place. I could get used to it. I like it looking back on the photos now, when it had had the chance to mellow out a little. It was pretty intense at first.

I received an e-mail from my dear friend Becky yesterday, finally clearing up the details with her return from Africa! She'd at first planned to return sooner but last-minute decided to stay a while longer. She's flying out today though, and arriving back here in good ol' Canada sometime obscenely early tomorrow morning. I'm hoping I can see her soon enough. I have months and months of hugs to give her and we have tons of adventuring to catch up on!

It blows my mind that it was nearly a year ago she first set out across the country to B.C. and then off to Rwanda in the autumn. Our friendship had only just started to blossom and I haven't stopped missing her. There are some people you just click with right away, and she was one of those for me. I've mentioned here before how deeply I care for and cherish her friendship. I can't wait to see what the summer will hold for us. We're both going to be such different people and it's going to be so much fun getting to know all the new things about ourselves again. I hope you're all having a good week so far. Cheers!

Sunny Saturday

Ah sunshine! Such wonderful stuff after all the gloom we've had this week. I am happy to be able to wear this new romper so quickly after purchasing it just yesterday. For a mere $20, how could I say no to such a sweet little strawberry print? Which of course I only now realize I did not photograph up close. Oops... until the next wearing I guess! It was too sunny on my terrace to get decent shots anyway so it'll be a good excuse to wear this again soon.

Romper - Sears

Sandals  - Sears

It's not often I buy new clothes, but I treated myself. The sandals are also new from yesterday, comfy reliable ones in which I hope to be able to trek many summer city sidewalks. I'm going on spontaneous walks on my own again finally... winter had killed that habit but I've got someone to wander around with sometimes now and he's wonderful walking company. It helped remind me I really enjoy it.

Apparently tonight there's going to be a 'super moon'. It's going to be super extra close to the planet, something that happens every 14 months or so. Supposedly it's not going to be an impressive one as super moons go, but it's still going to look much bigger than it usually does. I hope I don't forget to go have a gander! The skies are supposed to be mostly clear, at least.



After he figured out that the chalk wasn't some evil form of punishment for an unknown crime, Caramel decided to join me in the sunshine. He was rolling around happily in the dust, soaking in the warmth and getting all grubby. I don't blame him, it felt so nice. In fact, after I'm done writing this, I'm going back out there to read in the sun for a bit. Then I'm off to my women's tea social for the afternoon. Who knows what adventures the evening will bring me! I hope you're all having a lovely weekend. 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!