Oh happy day!

Well I'm still not feeling quite up to snuff yet - so no outfit post again - but my spirits are still high! I was thrilled today when a college friend of mine contacted me through Facebook, saying she'd seen all my lovely hemp necklaces, and would I be willing to take on a commission from her? Of course! So this weekend I'll be making a special longer necklace for her, particularly, a nursing necklace.

My lovely friend finds herself with child, and she wants me to make her a baby-friendly necklace for her future wee one to clasp in his or her little hands while nursing. And I am honored to do so! I think this necklace will have more love and joy put into it than any yet, and I'm very excited to get started on it.

I just finished tonight one necklace that I'd been working on for several days. It wasn't that it was particularly harder to make, but I just never had the time to sit down and devote the 2 or so hours it takes me to make one all in one sitting! But now it's done, and I'm very happy with how it came out.

The glass pendant is another that I bought on Etsy along with the one on the pink necklace from my last post. I enjoy working with the glass pendants, they add a nice weight to the necklaces and make them hang differently than they otherwise would without them.

I'm also happy to say I made my first sale! An internet friend from way out in British Columbia purchased a necklace from me, making her my first customer. It makes me happy knowing people like what I create, and that the necklaces will be worn and enjoyed.

I promise to get back to outfit posts as soon as I feel better. I miss posting them! I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Cheers!

Full and Glorious

I'm still a bit under the weather, but my spirits are much higher now. I'm floating around on a cloud of lovey dovey happiness and general contentedness lately which is doing my soul and being some real good. I'm also absolutely in love with the word "glorious". It's just so full and warm and round and welcoming. "Glorious" is a glorious word! I think we should all take the time to appreciate the beauty of words and languages more often.

I picked up some supplies last evening for making resin jewelry, and I'm hoping to start messing around with that and maybe making my own pendants to use with my hemp necklaces. Part of my New Year's Resolution is to be a more productive person and to learn more skills etc. and I really love crafting so... hey!

I also finished this necklace last night, and it's in my Etsy shop now! I actually bought the pendant off another artist on Etsy, along with a yellow and an orange one too. They'll be popping up on necklaces soon enough. Oh, and to Claire who asked where I work... I work in a closed-to-public government departmental library. Very. Bland. Haha... But yeah, I'm technically a librarian. :)

I hope you're all having a wonderful week so far. Cheers!

Dreaming of Flowers

So that feeling of starting a cold I had on Monday... It came to fruition and I am definitely sick. Oddly enough it's less a coughing-sore-throat-stuffy-nose kind of cold, but more of a totally-exhausted-need-to-sleep kind of cold. I feel the need to just curl up somewhere warm and sleep until spring gets here. I got home from work yesterday and went straight to bed to have a nap.

 I'm currently sipping some hot lemon green tea and trying not to fall asleep at my desk. This is harder than it sounds when you are at constant war with your eyelids. They keep trying to slide down - just for a minute - but that's much too long. My cat Caramel has been good while I'm home though, sleeping with me through my long hours of illness, and being rambunctious and cheering me up when I'm awake. Too bad I can't have him here at work, too.

Since I won't be up for outfit photos for another little while, I thought I'd share some fantastic jewelry I found on Etsy. The shop is Island Girl Designs by Lisa Burkin. When I first saw her pieces, I thought they were replicas... but no! Those flowers are all real!

She takes the flowers and covers them in a clear, hard resin, which preserves and protects them. What better to wear to show you love nature's gifts than those flowery gifts themselves, forever preserved! No longer will the short life of a flower be mourned when it can be worn for ages.

The necklaces she makes are absolutely gorgeous, but she also takes the flowers and makes them into broaches, or sells them as individual pendants too. Can you imagine how lovely it would be to wear a gorgeous orchid or blooming rose pinned to your sweater?

I'd been particularly in love with this next necklace, but someone purchased it before I worked up to it. The early bird gets the worm, I guess!

Hopefully I'll be feeling better next week and be able to start up taking outfit shots again. I have the bad luck of being a person who rarely gets sick, but when I do, it lingers for weeks... Eck. Hope you all have a good weekend! Cheers!

Goodbye Sunshine

I'm going back to work tomorrow - and of course I woke this morning feeling the start of a cold - and I am not looking forward to spending the entire period of daylight inside a building away from any windows. I miss the sun so much in winter.

Leather Jacket - Danier Leather

Checkered shirt - Fairweather

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village, Le Château

Boots - Joneve at the Bayshore Shopping Centre

What with this being my last day of freedom per say, I figured I'd go down to the Ottawa river and try to take some photos. It was nice out, hovering at about -5'C/23'F and without wind.

Standing in Ontario, looking at Québec across the river.

There's really barely any snow on the ground right now, which is odd. But we've had a recent spell of above freezing temperatures and a lot of rain which melted most of it away. Of course everywhere that snow had been compacted just turned into a thick layer of ice when it got cold again.

Trying not to slip!

I've been reading a lot of posts about the new year, resolutions and thoughts about the past and future. I have to admit I'm very relieved that 2010 is over, it wasn't the best year for me. 2010 was a year of changes and confusion for me, and a time of mistakes. I'm hoping 2011 will let me repair my wrongs and fix my mistakes and be truly happy again.



I'm going to spend the majority of this year saving up money, so that I can move from Ontario out to Alberta, to be with my boyfriend. I won't be going until likely the summer of 2012 though... Ah well, all good things come with time. Cheers...

My NYE in Montreal

I went to a party in Montreal, Soma, to welcome in the new year. I'd attended it the year before and really enjoyed myself so I knew it would be good. I actually nearly didn't make it though, what with some of my friends bailing last minute and getting separated from another. But I got there, and am I glad I did!

It was strictly psytrance being played, probably my top favourite form of electronic music. It has so many ways of being interpreted and used and created... And it's a blast to dance to! I wore a long white nightgown over dark clothes. You can see me glowing away in the black light in the next photo.

The blond pony tail is me!

I was also super stoked to be there that night because one of my favourite DJs, Psydraulix, was doing a set that night. I danced my heart out, let me tell ya! Best part of the night.

Me and Michael Schmid/Psydraulix!

My friend Phil and I.

I had an amazingly fantastic night. I met 2011 with a smile on my face and love in my heart. Now may all the following days of the year echo with the greatness of their beginning! Cheers!

From the Depths

This dress has been hanging in the back of my closet since this spring, but I think I've only worn it twice before. It's a shame be cause it really is a lovely dress, but I need to be in a particular mood to go about wearing an outfit with no real colours.

Dress - Purchased at Ragtime Vintage
Leggings - Ardene's

I can now also officially say that I have a "cascade" of hair. I keep being surprised by how long my hair is now. About six years ago, my hair was only an inch long, and I would spike it with coloured gels. Oh, being a teen!

The dress is a little large on me now - which drives home to me again how much weight I've lost since last winter - but it ties in the back which pretty much takes care of that.

I spent a large chunk of time today re-arranging the animal room and moving some of my tarantulas into larger terrariums. I think things went surprisingly well, considering I moved two of my larger and more skittish spiders. My hands did itch for a while afterward though. They used to use tarantula bristles in itching powder, I can see why! Definitely going to wear some latex gloves next time.

The shelves full of terrariums in the animal room. 

My Chilean Rose/Grammostola rosea tarantula, Leona.

My Spider-morph Ball python/Python regius, Rorschach.

I came really close to purchasing another crested gecko (I already have 3) at the pet store today. It was orange with creamy yellow sides and big fat black dalmation spots. But I restrained myself, go me!

I hope you're all having a good week so far! Cheers!

Sky Above Earth Below

I always wind up dressed in earthy tones most of the time. I just have a deep affinity for mossy greens and rich browns and tans. I especially like this skirt because, while it looks and feels like suede, it's actually just some man-made machine-washable fabric, so I don't have to worry about dirtying it like I do the skirt from this post.

Tank Top - Fairweather

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Leggings - Sirens

I didn't manage to get a good photo of it, but there are tassels hanging down on the left side of the skirt, and they are knotted with others that cross half the rear upper part of the skirt too.

I've been using Lush's hard shampoo Godiva lately, and it's been doing wonders for my hair. At first I was a little wary about their products, since they cost quite a bit more than what I had been used to buying, but everything is well worth the price.

Everything is made with natural ingredients, in small batches, by hand. You even get a sticker on things like shampoo or toner, with the name and face of whoever it is that made your particularly batch of whatever-it-is.

I thought hard shampoo would be strange, but with hair as long as mine, it's great! I used to use sooo much liquid shampoo and conditioner, wasting a lot that fell to the bottom of the shower, but one bar of hard shampoo lasts me months and months. If you're looking for good, natural, hand-made products (a large majority of them Vegan friendly!) and you haven't already checked out Lush's products, I definitely suggest you do! I know I'm never going to stop using their stuff.

Oh! And I made another necklace today, this time re-using a lonely earing who's mate I had lost a while back. I added an extra ring and turned it into a pendant. I'm almost tempted to keep it actually, but that defeats the purpose of this whole thing.

Anyway, time for me to watch one of the gypsy films that Milla suggested in her post... Cheers!