Toronto Reptile Expo and Breeder's Convention

It seems forever ago that I went to Toronto for the Reptile Expo. Yet not so long ago either, because one of the snakes I brought home still hasn't eaten. Ugh, finicky eaters! And I was totally not expecting to get trouble from the boa, either. Anywho! This will be a critters-only post, so if you don't like reptiles, feel free to skip this one.



To start things off, here I am with Brian Barczyk from BHB Reptiles/SnakeBytes TV. He and his wife, along with their team, work together to breed tens of thousands of snakes every year. Crazy impressive! I felt like I was meeting a celebrity heh. If you're curious about the expo, here's SnakeBytes' video on it. It really gives you a good feel for it.

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. That snake above is selling for $2200. And that's actually a conservative price in the reptile business when it comes to exotic morphs and rare species. It's not unheard of for breeders to spend in excess of forty thousand dollars on one snake. Although that's usually for extremely new morphs, or new-to-pet-trade species. It's all about cornering the market and having something before everyone else.



This is probably the chillest little lizard ever. If I could reincarnate as something else in another life, I would want to come back as a chill lizard, because just look how chill he is. Speaking of chill lizards... A monitor lizard is having some lazy snuggle time with its owner below. Monitor snuggles! I adore these big lizards (of which the one above is a baby), and hope to someday own a Savannah Monitor in particular, but they get BIG and require a lot of room. Notice her tail hanging down by his ankles? Big lizard!

These little tortoises were absolutely adorable. About palm-sized, they were sitting in this tub on the edge of the table and I was giving them my aw-little-tortoise-goo-goo-eyes when this kid popped out of nowhere and started poking the left tortoise's head. I immediately had him stop and told him, tortoises are delicate, you can't just poke them like that. (Not to mention one tortoise like this is worth about $300, if not more)

Parents, teach your kids not to poke things, you never know when that thing might bite back... or be incredibly expensive and easy to kill. Just sayin'. And while on the subject of kids and tortoises...



As I was taking this photo, the boy asked his dad if they could take the tortoise home. I guess this was probably one of many requests for a creature by this point because the father replied in the most exhausted tone, "We really don't need a giant turtle..." Even though, you know, it's a tortoise.

If anything I mentioned here has you curious, feel free to ask some reptile/tarantula/snake/lizard/expo related questions and I'll answer them in the second Expo post. I hope you're all having a groovy Wednesday. Cheers!

Woops

So apparently I mucked myself up yesterday and skipped an outfit from earlier in October. My outfit timeline is now officially non-existant. These are things I have worn, at some point in time, somewhere. Maybe someday I'll get back to posting on the day of, or the day after, but eh. I'm okay with willy-nilliness. Things are rather willy-nilly for me lately anyway.

Blouse - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Shoes - From grandmother

Belt - Ardene's

My grandmother gave me these shoes the last time I was down for a visit, since we've got the same shoe size. I wore them this one time and I have since donated them to the thrift store. As amusing as having duck-bills for feet was for the day, my feet were too wide for them and it felt peculiar while walking.

I really love this outfit. Which is a shame because the blouse is now in my mending pile. I noticed on my last wear that a seam in the back is coming undone, but I'm not certain I'll actually be able to sew it back together since the material is pretty wispy. Everything in my mending pile is currently made of some suspect material though. I really need to tackle that soon.

I had to post this shot just because of what the wind is doing to my hair. It's so 70's glamour. And you can tell this was early October because the leaves behind me are still green! I hope you're all having a good Tuesday. Cheers!

Double the Snake Print

Yes. Of all the shoes in my closet, I chose to pair my snake print flats with my snake print dress blouse. Because I am just crazy like that. But I thrifted this grey skirt a few weeks ago and haven't been able to figure out how to style it with anything else but grey. And I have a lot of grey snake print stuff. So thar ya go. I just never realized how little grey I actually wear anymore, and it's rather awkward for me figuring it out again.

Dress as blouse - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Flats - Spring

Belt - Ardene's

I took these photos on October 10th, but my tree is now mostly naked. Which is a shame, because that maple tree serves as awesome window-camouflage to keep folks in the street from seeing into my apartment. I've got huge sliding patio doors looking right into my living room, it's like a Cel-fishbowl.

This outfit really isn't all that flattering on me, and I probably won't wear it again. At least not with flats. Heels would have been a better choice, since I look very short here. But at least it was comfy. Now to figure out how to style this skirt with something involving colour...

I've come to the conclusion that I like my skirt hems at granny-length. I have a few shorter skirts and dresses, but anything higher than just above my knee starts to make me feel inappropriate. Unless I'm wearing leggings, because then that just negates the whole naked-feeling. (But leggings are still not pants, let us not forget!)

I'm in love with my hair in this last photo. I tend to have more bad hair days than good, but sometimes my hair just really makes me happy. Too bad most of my good hair days wind up on the rainy/windy days and it gets all fussed up the minute I go outside. Le sigh.

The Zombie Walk on Saturday was a blast. I had such a killer time, and I'm already excited for next year. Then Sunday I just stayed home, played video games, took in one of my too-big skirts and just relaxed. I hope you all had a really groovy weekend too. Cheers!

Braaaains.... braaaaains!

Uuuugh grrrugle braaaains... braaaains....

Ooh spiffy

I was more than happy to discover that this was a Holt Renfrew skirt when I was at the thrift store. Thank you to whoever paid a ridiculous amount of money and then donated this skirt. Much appreciated!

Blouse - Thrifted from Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village, Holt Renfrew

Shoes - Spring

I'm sure I can come up with a better outfit to feature this skirt but at the time, my mind was a blank. I'm rather having a hard time getting dressed lately, to be honest. I just don't feel like wearing anything. I blame transitional seasons.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Cheers.

Pattern-Punch to the Face

I've done some pretty mad pattern mixing in the past, but I think this one take's the cake. Leopard print, floral, and plaid. I gave myself a nice pat on the back for this on September 30th. And while I've gotten mixed opinions on whether or not this is a bitchin' outfit, I have decided that it is, and have worn it again since.

Cardigan - Thrifted from Value Village

Red top - Garage sale find, from mother

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Shoes - Spring

I apparently haven't posted any outfits with this skirt since way back in February. I'm actually rather blown away by the difference in my photos between then and now. Not to mention the difference in me. Thank you blog, for showing me changes over time I'd never have noticed, once again.

I've had these shoes for years but I don't think I've actually posted them before, which is pretty surprising since they're so cute. The only reason this outfit "works" is because all the same colours are at play. Black, white, tan, green, and red tie into each other all over the place and bring some sort of cohesion to this first-glance nightmare. I think it's pretty awesome. (Please pardon my shiny-red-face in the next photo, I just don't know.)

I bit the bullet this weekend and finally set up my sewing area in the animal room. Other than the fact I am easily distracted by my direct view of my hognose snake from my seat, methinks I will get much needle-and-thread work done in the near future. I'm just itching to go home and work on my quilt some more.

Now I just need to work up the nerve to take in some of my dresses. I'm game with wearing something that's a little loose... but I've actually got an attractive figure now and I'd like to show it off, thank you very much. Hopefully I don't muck anything up in the process. But I'll only learn through my mistakes and a stitch can always be undone...

I hope you're all having a groovy Wednesday. Cheers!

Back to the Zoo!

Time for the other half of my zoo photos. Once again, this post has zilch to do with fashion or clothes. Although I'm actually in one (kind of two) of these photos this time around. To the zoo!








I would just like to say this now: marmosets are ADORABLE. I mean, look at that itty bitty fuzzy thing! I'm not a big primate fan but marmosets totally have a place in my critter-loving heart.

For some reason, this burrowing owl decided he was going to nap on this wagon wheel instead of actually being in his burrow. But he was cute so his weirdness was awwwright with me. Also, those penguins up there were total camera hogs.





Yes. That is me petting a shark! Awesome? Awesome! And for those of you wondering what a shark feels like... it's like petting wet sandpaper. I also got to hand-feed the stingrays, which was pretty freaky. They were so smooth and silky compared to the sharks, too.

I had a great time at the zoo and I am SO glad I went, even if I did go on my own. And even if I did manage to get lost within the zoo but yet not get lost in the craziness that is Toronto. (I am still proud of myself for driving on those 400's highways all by myself sans GPS or even a map.) I hope you're all having a great week so far. Cheers!