Hard Drive Go Crash!

So long story short, both my PC hard drive and my backup external hard drives have kicked the bucket in the last few weeks. I lost all my music, all my files, all my photos... A major bummer for sure. But I'm trying to move past that and not think about it too much. At least I had the presence of mind to put my festival photos up on Flickr early on or else I might not have even those.

I did some riverside wandering today and found a little nook to set myself up with a blanket and a book for a few hours. It was nice with the sun shining and a lovely breeze blowing. Things are busy these days, in a good way.  I'm not really bothering to take outfit photos anymore. It's just not something I care to do. I'm content wearing the same thing over and over until it either starts to get too gross or starts to get too baggy with multiple wearings. Maybe - hopefully - I'll start it up again but we shall see. This blog won't go silent, but it won't be so outfit-oriented for a while. I hope you're all doing well. Cheers!

Pandemonium

I just got back yesterday from the Pandemonium outdoor electronic music festival in Quebec. I had an absolutely amazing time once again. And I even managed to take more than 6 photos this time!

I've been having computer issues though and I'm heading back to the shop a second time to trade up for a stronger unit after replacing my old dinosaur of a desktop. My poor hard drive kicked the bucket (thank goodness for my external hard drive). I hope you're all having a good week, and I'll leave you with this until I write something more later. 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!

Morning Hatchlings

I was already having an absolutely wonderful Saturday when I got an extra little gift. Two more crested gecko eggs hatched this morning, and out popped more adorable little crestie babies. The last two that hatched out have already found homes - with my father and a cousin - so I wonder if any more of my friends will fall under the crested gecko spell and want to adopt these little guys too. I snapped a few quick photos before settling them into their new home.



Aren't they the cutest little things? I really hope the left one keeps some of its orange colouring, that would be fantastic. I thought it would be difficult getting rid of them - I can't keep them all - but it's actually neat this way because I get to enjoy them while they're itty bitty teency weency before anybody else. Then I see them off before enjoying more itty bitty teency weencies. I've finally seperated my male from the female though, so depending on when they last got busy, she'll be done laying in the next one to eight months. Anyway, I should be getting ready for my women's social. I hope you're all having a really great weekend. Cheers!

Meli-Melo Montréal

Here are some slightly-more-random photos from my time in Montreal. We did a lot of exploring in little shops, and I am easily amused by the smallest of details, which explains some of the stranger things I decided to photograph. You'll see...



We stopped to enjoy tasty crepes - so tasty I started eating before photographing - because clearly a day of wandering around the Old Port requires chocolate sauce and whipped cream and bananas, amirite?! We popped into the Christmas Store (where black bear ornaments caught my eye) and a few kitschy tourist shops I can't help but explore. I also really liked the banjo-playing busker with his boat and fishy...



We then wandered through Chinatown but I'll keep those for the last post. This is probably only really interesting to me anyway but I'll thank myself for putting these posts up years from now when my memory is too foggy to remember all the awesomeness on its own!



Happiest street light ever! If more street lights smiled at the world, maybe the world would be a little happier? I hope your week is treating you well so far! Cheers!

Montreal avec Nicole

So ages and ages ago now it seems, I made an overnight trip out to Montreal to visit my super duper awesome fantastic friend Nicole. (How did June go by so quickly?!) Since being off work - as of the 11th this month - has thrown my sense of time for a loop, blogging and outfits has fallen a bit by the wayside. Until I get back into the swing of things, here are some photos of my Montreal visit last month on the 16th and 17th. Let's start with what I wore before anything else...

Tee - Custom printed and modified

Skirt - Thrifted from Value Village

Sandals - Sears

Fedora - Ardene's

You may notice how my skirt is very crooked. This is because it was melting off my body! Seriously! It kept getting progressively bigger and bigger as the day went by and the only thing that saved me was that Nicole had a safety pin. I spent the rest of the day pinning my skirt tighter and tighter to avoid it slipping off.

Since these photos were taken, I've cut off the sleeves and a chunk of the neckline, as well as a bit of the bottom on this shirt. It's a work in progress! I just refuse to stop wearing some of my old favourites just because they're several sizes too large now. Modification is the answer!



 "I will make you be a tourist in your own city!" I remember clearly declaring this, but it's always fun to explore your home like a tourist every once in a while. It's easy to overlook things when you live someplace and start taking it for granted. We stumbled upon the greatest vintage and thrift store just ambling about! The Rocky Horror sign drew us into Eva-B.




There was so much awesome stuff in this place it wasn't even funny. We could have spent the whole day just working our way through the racks and stacks and shelves filled with vintage goodies and thrifted clothes of all kinds.

 

There's a bunch more photos but I'll save those for another post. Have any of you ever been to Montreal? Did you like it? I've been quite a few times, but never to actually see the city. You don't experience much when you zip in late at night and nip out early the next morning, so it was nice to be there in daylight for once. I hope you're all having a good July! 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!