Pants Again

I must have hit my head or something because I've actually started wearing pants again. This pair is the first pair of real pants that I have bought myself (jeggings don't count) in years now. I'm still not exactly sure how to pick pants out, or how they're supposed to fit, so that's a bit awkward but I think I'm managing.

Jacket - Thrifted from Value Village

Sweater - Thrifted from Value Village

Pants - Thrifted from Value Village

Mocassins - Sears, Hush Puppies

I wanted to find a light fall jacket for myself and I scored great at the VV with this one. While I love wearing my leather jacket, sometimes I want something that isn't so dark. This is perfect until it starts getting seriously cold again. Speaking of which, I can hardly believe it's already October! Seems I say that every time another month rolls around but still. This year just flew by for me so far and I know the rest of it probably will too.

In a week I finally start my pastry classes at the Cordon Bleu. I'm still kind of shocked that this is really happening. It probably won't really sink in until I'm in uniform and standing in front of my kitchen station. It's a forty five minute walk one way though, so at least I'll be getting plenty of exercise to make up for all the tasty things I'll be baking up and eating.

 

I also started belly dancing again. Last week was our first dance class of the season after summer break. Unfortunately I still don't know whether or not I'll be able to continue until I get my school schedule next week. Otherwise I've been laying low and sticking around the home place for the most part, taking long walks on the nice days just because walking feels good. I hope you're all doing well. Cheers!

Glow Worm

This bright yellow sweater really does have an inner glow. Sadly it didn't come across in the photos (seriously, it is actually even brighter in real life). I love my yellow sweater so much though! If it looks familiar for some reason, I was wearing it in the photo with my giant fat cat. The only downside is that it's very thick and very warm, so I can only wear it on particularly cold days, and when I know I will be in cold places.

Sweater - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Yard Sale

Booties - Thrifted from the Salvation Army
Earrings - Friend-to-friend hand me down

Pardon my goofy grin above; the cat was doing something dorky and then the camera beeped at me. The last time I wore this skirt on the blog was way back in May of 2011. I'm pretty certain I've worn it a few times since then, but this low-wear of many of my items is why I really need to do some closet-purging. (Yes, I've still yet to do it, it is painful and I am avoiding it like the plague.)

The funny thing about this skirt is that it's labelled a Medium, but there's enough room for it to be an Extra Large and then some. It has no elastic at all, and I need to hold it up with my elbows as I pull the drawstrings taught or it literally just falls to the ground haha. It's great for hanging off my hip bones in the summer though, and has great movement.

I've given myself the goal of early nights and early mornings this weekend, to try and maximize the amount of things I get done. I've been naturally waking around 9am on weekends lately though, and am comfortable with considering that sleeping in. Am I turning into a true adult now that I appreciate and aim to utilize mornings? Haha... It's just too bad a lot of the things I like doing on weekends involve late nights. Or accidentally turn into late nights

It looks like I'll be attending that crystal bowl performance by myself this evening. I'm trying to build new friendships, but it seems my efforts dash aimlessly upon most people as waves do on rocks. I feel a lot like a child sometimes; nervous, timid, filled with an intense, overwhelming desire to explore and share and be happy and make friends. But most people just give me their glossed-over stranger-smile and fade away, like my bumbling-yet-well-meaning attempts are not worth their time. It's difficult when all your good intentions and desires are treated so cheaply.

I know now not to linger or bother with people who can't bother with me, but it's still frustrating. I'm very grateful for the ever-strengthening circle of family I have around me now, but the love I share with them just drives home to me how badly I want a close circle of friends to love and trust too. I have wonderful friends like Kirsten and Omar who I've learned SO much from, about being kind and curious and tender and loving and what good people are really like, and I need MORE of those people! Too bad it's so hard to root them out from the bad apples...

My weekend is going to be absolutely jam packed with activity, and I cannot wait for the work day to be over so I can get properly started on things. I hope you all have a super groovy weekend too. Cheers!

Big Blue

Happy Friday everyone! Today's weather was really crappy, freezing rain for the first part, and then tons of snow later in the evening. It's no surprise all I want to do is cozy up in my new favourite sweater. I found it thrifting with my grandparents a few weekends ago. It's handmade, too!

Sweater - Thrifted from Value Village

Slippers - Ardene's

We stumbled upon a few other handmade pieces, but some weren't quite properly constructed. I think someone was learning and decided to donate all their not-quite-right attempts to the thrift store. This was labeled extra large, and it is rather big on me, but it's so cozy I had to take it home.

I'm going out for dinner with my grandparents and aunt and uncle tomorrow evening, to the Fish Market. It's going to be the first time I see my aunt in nearly a decade, so that's more than wonderful. I've already decided to wear my lovely vintage dress from Heather for the occasion.

I've had my future, in terms of work and life, on the mind a lot the last little while. I'm unhappy in my career but I'm struggling at getting out of this stage in my life and moving forward. I'm having a very hard time pinning down a goal to point myself towards. As you can imagine, that can be a little stressful. I'm really looking forward to just surrounding myself with warm, loving, encouraging people tomorrow and getting my mind off it. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. May the weather treat you better than it is me! Cheers!

The Last

As the title says, these are the last photos of me before I had my bangs. I really like how this sweater is practically the same green as in the skirt. I have to be careful when thrifting though, otherwise my entire wardrobe would be some variation of that shade. It's like my natural instinct is to collect clothes that let me camouflage into the underbrush haha...

Sweater - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

Tights - We Love Colours

Shoes - Spring

I look forward to the day I can take outfit photos outside again. I hate these indoor shots. The quality is bad, the lighting is bad... bad! I miss natural sunlight, and not worrying about the flash making my tights glow. The only real advantage is the lack of wind. Can't wait for winter to be over and it's barely begun, sigh.

These next two photos are from an outfit that never really happened. But how do I have photos, you ask? Well I picked it all out the night before and tried it on to see if it worked. I decided I liked it, took some shots... And then the next day I wound up staying home sick and the outfit was never actually worn. Which is a good thing because I don't really like it anymore. But here it is anyway!

This week feels interminably long again. I have a thousand things to do in the evenings and it seems like I've never got time to do everything that needs doing. I wind up in bed later than I like most nights just so I can actually have the time to unwind and breathe.

I really want to go through my closet and dresser. I want to empty all my kitchen cupboards and reorganize those. I have a huge pile of small-mending that needs doing. Things I need a big chunk of time to sit down and devote myself to before I feel comfortable getting into them. I'll need to have a home-weekend and get all this done sometime.

I realized yesterday that my apartment lease ends in April, and that means I can move again. And I don't have to stay in Ottawa. Winter always makes me want to run away, but every time I get the urge, it's always stronger. I really love living in the city, but I miss the country. I want a simple life. Simple isn't easy, but it seems a lot better than this. Anyway! I hope you all have a good Wednesday. Cheers!

I'm late, I'm late!

I've got four days worth of outfit photos piled up. I guess it's kind of good to have some saved up for rainy outfit days but... I really want to share them all now! I'll just stick to sharing stuff from way back during Easter weekend for today though... before I forget. Like I forgot to wear a watch today and now my arm feels naked because I always wear one. Are you watch-dependent like me? I still have a slight watch tan from last summer, I wear mine so much.

Sweater - Thrifted from Value Village

Dress - Purchased from Sally Jane Vintage on Etsy

Leggings - Somewhere in a mall

Shoes - Spring

Here I am sporting my favourite "grandpa sweater". After watching The Big Lebowski, all I wanted was a grandpa sweater. It took me a little while, but I finally found it. And I love this thing. I practically lived in it while moving into my new apartment.

As for the corduroy dress... I love it too. (Okay, I love most of my wardrobe, which is why it is part of my wardrobe.) It's from the 60's and has a metal zip. It desperately makes me wish I had some white go-go boots though. I'd rock it. Can't wait to wear it bare-legged too.

My parents just recently moved too into a new apartment inside an old converted schoolhouse. The stone wall behind me is the school's original foundation. Pretty cool eh? The front of the building still has the school's name and the mounting bars for flags. On top of their place being in a nifty building though, they're right on the edge of nature again.

Prickly raspberry plant stem!

They don't live on the lakeshore like they used to, but they can hear loons from their patio and they're planting a vegetable garden. I can't wait to get my paws on some ground-fresh carrots and crunchy little cucumbers!

Like I said, these are all photos from Easter weekend. Those of you living way down south are probably rather shocked to see snow! Mid-April is still a pretty chill time up here in Ontario. It's funny seeing large patches of bright green flowers popping out of the ground just feet away from compacted piles of ice and snow.

 

We made a quick visit to the town's dock to check out Lake Nipissing. The region recently went through an amalgamation and the dock was one of the casualties. When the town was incorporated into the larger township, it was decided the dock was unnecessary and now it and the surrounded boathouses are just going to ruin. You can see how warped the dock is here behind my dad, and how badly some of the buildings are suffering. All that is just from ice pushing things around in winter.

We actually had the chance to see an osprey hunt for and catch a fish while we were there. There's an old abandoned water tower (there's only the tower left) and a family of hawks lives up on the top now so there's always a great chance of seeing impressive birds around the lakefront.

I'll be going back up to visit over the May long weekend and I really can't wait. Every year we go barbotte fishing and it's great fun. Actually, last year we kept hooking snapping turtles, which was a pretty intense thing. (Don't worry, we love turtles and made certain they all got away with as little harm and stress as possible.)

It is so gorgeously sunny here today, and it feels glorious. It'd been raining so much, and finally out came the sun and it's like the trees just exploded in green. I was walking around at my lunch time in a nearby park and I was just luxuriating in all the fresh green everywhere.

I hope you're all having as good a Monday as Mondays can be! Cheers!

Cold Winds Blowing

I'm tired, I think winter and life is taking its toll on me. I'll be happy when the new year gets here. This year has been a bit of a train wreck for me and there's lots of cleaning up to do.

Sweater - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Tights - Fancy Sox

This outfit kept me very warm. It was cold today, and the wind made it horribly colder, but this skirt is heavy and thick and was great against the chill. This was the first time I wore it and I definitely chose the right day. It also has a wonderful swing to it, and twirls wonderfully.

My cat managed to knock over and smash my tall mirror yesterday, so I got another and mounted it to the wall today. I thought the nails it was hanging from were ugly, so I covered them with two sea shells, and it looks much better.



I'm wearing more of my bug-jewelry, this time earings made with beetles in resin. I had another pair like this but lost one of them, which is too bad. I've got necklaces and several bracelets with bugs in resin like this, I really dig them.

Anyway, I'm going to try and relax and forget about all the things waiting for me in the future. Cheers...