A Goodbye

Anybody who reads my blog regularly might have noticed the lack of consistent posts in the last little while. Things haven't been great for the last few months, as many of you might have read my grandfather has been very sick and in the hospital. On Thursday May 16th he went to sleep and didn't wake up. In many ways it was a blessing, it ended his suffering, as he was quite sick. He was a deeply religious man and I like to think that he is with his Lord now.

On Monday morning we traveled to Windsor for the visitation. The funeral was held on Tuesday. Both services were beautiful, and I loved hearing all the funny and touching stories about my grandpa. I will always remember him as a loving man who was a fantastic mechanic, a great golfer, and a man of God. As the oldest of the grandchildren I feel so lucky to have been the first grand-baby and to have known him for the time that I did. I loved him very much and I am going to miss him more than I can say.

I am not sure when I am going to be able to go back to regular posting, I am still in a bit of a fog. I am just going to take it day by day and see what the future brings.

I loved you so much grandpa, sleep peacefully.    

25 Things Fat People Shouldn't Do #19 and #23

25 Things Fat People Shouldn't Do is an unabashed middle finger to the preposterous idea that any human who weighs more than the status quo does not deserve to live a full and well rounded (ahem) life. The list of 25 is composed word for word from direct lists of sheer assholery found on the internet. These range from the absurd to the profoundly shameful, and I will be disproving this offensive notion with style. Feel free to join in on the fun, and if you do, link at the bottom so I can share. May the Chub Club live long and prosper!

It has been far too long since I have posted about anything on this list. I have had these pictures on my computer since our trip to Florida in February, and just haven't gotten around to posting them here. Why not knock of two of the items on the list at once?

#19 Fly in an airplane. Here is a picture of me and my sister in our seats on the plane. Can you imagine how shocked the other passengers must have been to see a fat person sitting (next to a skinny person no less) in a seat on a plane? How did I fit in there? How come I didn't crush the other person? And the plane didn't crash because of me, imagine that.  

#23 Sit in  booth. Here is a picture of me sitting in a booth in a restaurant and *gasp* drinking a milkshake. Two no-no's at once, the world should have come to a screeching halt  Guess what though? It didn't, what a surprise.   

White Tights Polka Dots

What I Wore:
Shirt: ModCloth
Dress: H&M
Belt: Ardene
Tights: Ardene
Shoes: c/o B.A.I.T via Cut Out + Keep

I have wanted to wear these tights and shoes together ever since I got the shoes but I haven't had the chance to. Of course as soon as I wore the tights out I got a big hole in them and now they are ruined. This makes me sad because I feel like they go really well with a lot of things, but I can always get another pair at some point I guess. I have pretty bad luck with tights which is why I refuse to spend a lot of money on them, unless I know they are really good quality. Probably the best pairs I have owned were from Old Navy, but I haven't seen any there since I bought the last pairs at Christmas. My hunt for good tights seems to be like my hunt for shoes, and ongoing process.

Today is going to be a crazy day. First we are heading out to St. Catharine's to visit some friends, and then I have to come back and work (and it's a sale day so it is going to be crazy). Then my mum is picking my up from work and we are driving to Windsor to visit my grandpa. What a day. I better go get started on it. Happy Friday!

Hamilton's Green cottage

As I mentioned in my outfit post earlier today over the weekend I did Doors Open and I was stationed at Hamilton's Green Cottage. The cottage was originally owned by shipbuilder's and was built c. 1885. It is now owned by Peter Ormond, a member of the Green Party. Peter has converted the house to be entirely off the grid and sustainable. It is powered by two solar panels, one for electricity and one for hot water. He has no major appliances and eats mostly local and homegrown food. The interior of the cottage was gutted, and with the help of a designer and architect it was rebuilt with entirely reclaimed materials. The cottage is furnished with antiques and other reclaimed items. Here are some select images that I took while volunteering.  

Here you can see the solar panels on the roof. I believe the one on the left is for hydro and the right is electricity.

The amazing reclaimed wood staircase and part of one of the two pipe  organs.

Close up on the pipe organ keys.

 The kitchen area, sadly I did not take a picture of the beautiful bar (not sure why).

The cool curved door to the bathroom.

 Do not disturb the antique dust.

The house had a large number of visitors over the weekend, and it was great to see the reactions of everyone as they came in (I was right at the door). The most common first sentence was "It's much bigger on the inside."  which totally made me think of  Dr. Who. Everyone also loved the staircase, with good reason, and the antique dust sign. A lot of people were surprised that someone actually lived there, but once they met Peter I think they understood it more. There was delicious bread from Vagueira Bakery (if you have not had their bread you are missing out) and coffee from Homegrown Hamilton. At closing on Sunday this guy started playing "Let It Be" on the pipe organ in the back room and everyone started singing along, it was so much fun. It was a nice close to a great weekend. I definitely want to volunteer again next year, it was an amazing experience. 

(Almost) EntirelyThrifted!

What I Wore:

Shirt: Thrifted (ValueVillage)

Skirt: thrifted (Value Village)

Shoes: Payless

Brooch: Thrifted (Value Village) 

So I am pretty in love with this outfit. I felt like a million bucks while wearing it, and it was perfect for the lovely spring weather we have been having all week. Another one of my favourites for the year for sure. I got all of the items (except for the shoes) at the same time during a shopping trip at V V Boutique (Value Village) last week. I love when I buy things together that work as an outfit, it is quite fortuitous.

Doors Open over the weekend was really fun! It was pretty exhausting, but totally worth it. I was at Hamilton's Green Cottage which was a beautiful. I think it is such a great event, opening up places to the public that people don't normally get to see. It is also cool that everything is free, that way people who might not have the money ordinarily can join in too. Every city really should participate in Doors Open. If you want to know more about the place I was stationed at and see some pictures I am going to be putting a post up later today.

Liebster Blog Award

                                                        

source

So far too long ago (a month!) Kym over at Deaf in the Kitchen nominated me for a Liebster Blogger Award. First off I should explain that the Liebster Award is given from one blogger to another. They should admire that bloggers work and want to promote their blog to others. It should be given to a relatively small blog (with less than 300 followers) of course. The person receiving the award has to answer 11 random questions about themselves, provide 11 random facts, and then nominate a few other bloggers. It has been a crazy month and I haven't really had the time to thank Kym properly or take the next step in the nomination process. So here goes the proper response to Kym's lovely gesture.

1. What's your favorite place to eat?

Affinity. It is an amazing Asian Vegetarian restaurant in Hamilton. The food is sooooo delicious I could eat there every day of my life.

2. Who or what inspired you to get into blogging?

Probably Rachele of The Nearsighted Owl,  Kaylah of The Dainty Squid, Jes of The Militant Baker, Kate of Scathingly Brilliant and Elycia of LoveElycia. I love all of their styles so much, and I love Rachele and Jes' body positive vibes. I wanted to have a way to express myself like these ladies so I decided to start a blog.  

3. If you could pick, what would be your dream job?

To be a collections manager or curator in a clothing/costume museum.

4. How would you describe your perfect day?

Sleep in, snuggle a bit with Colin. Have a nice big breakfast with eggs and toast and some coffee. Maybe go out for a walk or something, take Luna along. do some thrifting and have a nice lunch that involves a milkshake. Work on some sewing or crafts in the afternoon. Go to Affinity or out for sushi for dinner (yum!). Maybe play a video game or watch a movie (or both) in the evening. 

5. Who is your biggest inspiration?

Probably Rachele of The Nearsighted Owl. She is so confident and positive and she is not afraid to speak her mind. She has helped me achieve self acceptance, which was a huge step for me.

6. If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?

Pay off Colin and my student loans, buy a house in the country, and save the rest (maybe buy a few other small things). 

7. What's the craziest thing you've ever done?

Go to school in another province. That was a huge crazy leap, but so worth it.

8. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

Bath, England. It was the prettiest city I have ever been to. 

9. What was your favorite thing as a kid?

I have no idea. I don't really remember most things (at least small things) before I was at least 8. I have a terrible memory.

10. What's your biggest pet peeve?

People who are intolerant of others.

11. How has blogging changed your life?

I have met so many wonderful people through blogging, I would't trade it for anything.

ELEVEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME (Hope)

1.  I'm of mixed race. It is hard to tell, but it's true, My mum is black and my dad is white. My mum also has Métis in her family.

2. I went to school in Halifax. I love that city and would love to move back there some day.

3. I am really bad at riding bikes. I had an accident when I was at my friends's cottage as a kid that kind of turned me off the whole thing. I want to learn, but this city isn't the greatest to learn in.

4. I am pretty accident prone. I have sprained both my ankles several times each. I have never broken anything though *knock on wood*

5. I am a total night owl. 

6. I like to play video games. I don't care for FPS (they make me woozy) but will play pretty much anything else. I love the Fable franchise, Rhythm Heaven and the Lego games to name a few.

7. I play the flute. I haven't been in a band since last year, but I enjoy playing occasionally still.

8. I don't really like 3D movies, for the same reason I can't play FPS games. If I go to the theatre to see a 3D movie I have to sit in the back middle.

9. I wanted to be an actress or fashion designer when I was a kid. I kind of strayed from that a bit but I still love both things!

10. I have really bad feet and have to wear orthotics in my shoes. It makes it hard to find things that fit sometimes.

11. Amélie is probably my favourite movie ever. It's so quirky, I love her style and just the whole thing in general.

AND MY NOMINEES ARE:

Bring More Yarn

Bassability

Hopping Around

What I Wore:
Dress: Made by me from this pattern
Cardi: Thrifted
Belt: Fairweather
Shoes: c/o Cut Out + Keep by  B.A.I.T 

 This is what I wore to the CreativFestival on Monday, it seemed like an appropriate venue to wear something that I had made. Not that everyday isn't an appropriate occasion, but you know how it is, I like to dress in themes. When I got home from the festival I decided it was the perfect day (one of the first nice ones we have had all spring) to take Luna out on her new harness. I bought it a couple of weeks ago but haven't really had a chance to take her out with it. From the few tests runs we have done since I think we probably won't ever leave the back yard and go for a proper walk. She doesn't really move around too much and I think it would be a futile effort to try and make her actually walk ...er hop. It's probably for the best anyway because Colin thinks I would look like a crazy rabbit lady walking her down the street. Is that really a bad thing? I probably am one already anyway.

I've got quite the crazy weekend coming up. I volunteering for Doors Open both days, which is going to be fun but super busy. Wish me luck and happy Friday! I'll leave you with some cute pictures of Luna.

  

CreativFestival Spring 2013

Here are some pictures from the CreativFestival, as promised. I have outfit pictures from that day too but I figured that would be way too many pictures in one post so I am going to share these first. The outfit pictures will come later, possibly today maybe tomorrow depending on time.  

8am Bright and early start.

 This is amazing.

 Front View

This sign made me laugh, I haven't seen Baby Bolts before, they were cute. 

Very cool quilt. There were a lot of quilts.

Look at that embroidery!

Free cupcakes from a radio station.

Delicious veggie panini and kettle chips for lunch. 

Heehee, Hooker Alley. This booth was awesome. 

A bike covered in crochet. I told you it was awesome!

 Crochet hot air balloon. 

This looks like something out of Labyrinth.

My haul from the show. The CD was from a seminar on working with stretch wear. That fabric was so cool I couldn't resist. The cross stitch necklace kit was also neat. I have made it already and it was really fun, I think I might get into cross stitching.