Ruffles and Dots

     

What I Wore:

Dress: Zellers

Sweater: Zellers

Tights: Walmart

Shoes: Blowfish

Broach: Handmade somewhere in NS

Size: 14

Yay! It's link up time again! Well, it's actually tomorrow but I normally don't post on Thursdays so I usually do it a day ahead. I encourage you to check out Rachele's  blog tomorrow for some lovely ladies (and a very few gents, there need to be more dudes participating in this) who are also participating in I'm Proud Of My Size. It would be awesome if new people joined up every week and kept on spreading the word, this is such a great project to be part of.   

I would also like to introduce you to my friend Heather's Etsy shop! She just started it a few weeks ago and she makes the cutest purses and clutches ever! Yay exclamation points! I met Heather when I was studying Costume Studies at Dalhousie. She has a great eye for detail and is an amazing seamstress (totally outdoes me, haha). If you are thinking of purchasing one of her bags you will not be disappointed, you have the Hope guarantee. I have been eyeing the Victorian Foldover Purse to add to my collection.

                                                                     

Red Ruffled Collar

What I Wore:

Dress: Old Navy

Sweater: Smart Set

Shoes: Spring

Tights: Dollorama

Size: 14

I love the collar, colour, and tie on this dress! I got it about a week ago but was saving it for a special occasion. more special than work anyway. We went out to dinner with my grandparents' tonight. They live in Windsor so we don't get to see them that often. I thought it would be fun to wear something nice. In anticipation for I Am Proud Of My Size tomorrow I am going to add the link in today. Not much to say on the subject this week, but I am very happy to be able to participate in something like this. I wish I had found such body positive blogs when I was in middle school and high school, it would have made my teen years a lot easier to get through. I am sure that Rachele's words have inspired others as well.

On the weekend we went to visit my uncle in Toronto. Him and his family lived in Beijing for a long time and we only got to see them at Christmas, so it is nice to be able to visit them more often. We went for a walk in Sherwood park and I got to take some great "changing of the leaves" pictures, it was such a beautiful day. I also found a cell phone on one of the trails. It is the same kind that I have so I brought it home and charged it up and figured out who it belonged to. It has been a bit of an ordeal contacting them, but I am happy to say that they have responded to my messages and the phone is in the mail and on its way back to the owner. I lost my old phone last Christmas and it was a horrible experience, I would have been happy if someone had found it and returned it. It costs so much to cancel your plan or buy a new phone, it is kind of ridiculous. Luckily a friend of mine was nice enough to send me their old phone and I used that until my cell phone provider sent me a new phone (for free!). Anyway, that was a long rambling story so as a reward for sticking around here are some pictures from our walk in the woods.

My Uncle's Dog Christie

Covered Buttons

What I Wore:

Shirt: Smart Set

Skirt: Smart Set

Tights: Dollar Store (sounds crazy,  but they have good tights!)

Shoes: Ardenes

Size: 14

It has been ages since I did a post, and that is because I have been sickly for the last week and have not changed out of my pyjamas. I should really start taking pictures everyday so that I have backup posts for situations like this, but it seems weird to me to post outfits days after I have worn them. It's something that I am going to have to get used to though if I want to have guaranteed posts three times a week. 

It's I Am Proud Of My Size link up time again! I want to touch on a very personal topic this week. I have a very round stomach and occasionally people have asked me "So when are you due?" I tend to respond with "Oh, I'm not pregnant." and any further interactions becomes very awkward and brief. Usually this occurs at work, so I have to talk to them until they are done making their purchase, and then they leave. This type of comment used to make me feel really horrible about myself, like there was something wrong with my body. Recently however I have realized that this is not in fact the case, and that the people asking that question are being kind of rude. I mean really, who does that? Who asks a perfect stranger if they are pregnant? That's not the kind of thing that should be done in polite society. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with my body, that's just how it looks and I have learned to accept this fact. I may not always love it, but I accept it. It's all just part of my ongoing journey of self acceptance and I have to take it a day at a time. 

Work has been going well so far. I am picking up on all the things I have to remember and I have been making fewer mistakes. It think the hardest part is going to be remembering everything that is on sale because there are sales all the time. I have seen a lot of fabric that I really want to buy and it has been inspiring me to work on some more sewing projects. I have decided to try and buy less clothing and make more of it instead, especially since I have the means to do so. I can also customize things more this way, which is really nice. Expect to see more handmade creations on here in the future! 

Keepin' It Brief

I really like this picture for some reason.

What I Wore:

Shirt: H&M

Skirt: Smart Set

Tigths: Clothing Swapped

Belt: Fairweather

Shoes: Ardenes

Size: 14

I really wanted to post this a lot earlier in the day, but we had our internet switched over today and it took longer than expected. We had to set it up on our computers and consoles and finally set up Netflix (which I bought for my parents LAST Christmas) which took some time. Better late than never right? 

I am experiencing a huge case of writer's block right now. Not that I normally have a lot to say anyway, but today there is nothing banging around in my head. All I can say is check out Rachele's blog and hopefully some of you will be as inspired as I am by her words.  

P.S. Happy 50th post! I hope I can keep going for many more to come. 

Hearts Required

What I Wore:

Shirt: Giant Tiger (I think???)

Sweater Vest: Suzy Shier

Pants: Mark's Work Warehouse

Shoes: Clothing Swapped

Ring: Sweet Sixteen gift (family tradition)

Size: 14

Yay it's link up time again! I kind of feel like a dapper 1940s gentleman in this outfit. I feel like I should swagger everywhere and talk like Jimmy Stewart. I think it's the pants that make it, the pleats in the front just scream men's trousers to me, I love it. There is something so classic about men's fashion from that era, I like to try and recreate it now and then. I am a fan of ladies of all sizes wearing "men's" clothes, it always looks classy. I tried to find some images of a range of sizes sporting this look, but unfortunately the internet was not very accommodating. Where are all the dapper ladies at?

This week has been kind of rough. Luna has been experiencing a messy bottom as of late and I was starting to get concerned. We thought it might have been because she was shedding, but it kept happening on and off even after the shedding calmed down so we decided to call in a vet. We had a home visit today, and it sounds like she is going to be okay. I have to give her some medicine in a syringe twice a day, it is meant to replenish the nutrients in her stomach. I attempted to give her some earlier today and she didn't seem to like it much even though the vet assured me rabbits love it because it is strawberry flavoured. I am hoping she was just frazzled from being poked at by a stranger and once she has hopped around a bit tonight she will ease up. It is no fun having a sick pet, it has been a stressful experience. I was happy to hear that otherwise she is healthy so fingers crossed that the medicine works and things go back to normal soon. 

Kind of a depressing post, but I felt the need to share what has been going on around here lately. Some (hopefully) good news will be coming next week, so stay tuned for that. 

New 'Do

What I Wore: 

Shirt: Suzy Shier

Pants: Zellers

Shoes: Burlington Mall

Necklace: Clothing Swapped

Size: 14

Yay, new hair! I mentioned before that I was waiting to get a hair cut until I got home because I usually go to that same hairdresser. I ended up going to a different place, and I am still pretty pleased with how it turned out. I brought in a picture just to be sure that the person cut it exactly how I wanted them to. She made my bangs a little shorter than I wanted, but they will grow out quickly enough so I am not too worried about that. The problem areas are usually the under section and back of my hair and both look pretty good so I am pleased. Here are some close up shots:

It is also I Am Proud Of My Size link up time again. Looking at these pictures I must say my self esteem has really improved since joining this. Before I probably would have been picking myself apart, but I look at these pictures and think "I am happy with how I look for the first time in a looong time." Obviously I still have some bad days, but where they used to occur about once a week (or more) they now occur maybe once a month or less. Reading about the body image struggles of other women, and how they overcame them has really helped me work through my own issues. Sometimes you just need to know that there are other people out there with the same problems as you. Supporting them somehow helps you get better too. I'm not sure how much sense I am making, I am having trouble expressing my thoughts today, but that's how I feel.  

Today I finally started cleaning my room up. It has been in a state of disarray since we moved into this house, which I am ashamed to admit was just over two years ago. The problem is I haven't lived here for more than a few months at a time since then. The day my parents moved from my childhood home was the day that Colin and I were coming back from Halifax. For anyone who doesn't know, we both went to school there, but moved back to Hamilton in the spring of 2011 when we were done. I then proceeded to move to Peterborough for  a year of school, and then we lived in Halifax again this summer. All of the boxes from the apartment we lived in in Halifax during school, and from my apartment in Peterborough, just kind of accumulated in my room and it has been a bit disastrous. It feels really good to have time to clean it up. I have no excuses not to since we will probably be living here for a while until we save up enough to get an apartment (which might take forever, sometimes it feels like it will). 

That's a snippet of my life today, nothing else to report today. See you all on Friday!  

Supercrawl!

What I Wore:

Shirt: Fairweather

Tank: Suzy Shier

Vest: Smart Set

Pants: Smart Set

Shoes: Spring

Necklace: Gift from a friend

Size: 14

I have lots to share with you all today. First of all it is link up time again so I encourage you all to trundle over to The Nearsighted Owl and give Rachele a visit. Lots of lovely people are still participating in it and it seems like there are new faces almost every week. I am so lucky to have started blogging just as this was beginning. I have met some great bloggers through this link up and have more confidence in myself and my own blog.

Next I must put in a plug for a project that I helped (a tiny bit) with during my internship over the summer. Yesterday was the official launch of NovaMuse, an online collections website featuring the collections of 51 museum and archives from Nova Scotia! The Association of Nova Scotia Museums launched the site at their annual conference which was held yesterday and today. I interned with them over the summer photographing textile pieces from the member museums. Sadly I could not be there for the launch, but I have been giving them my support. If anyone in interested in checking out some of the work that I did over the summer them click on the link above > go to Browse > select Categories (it might take a minute to load) > select the arrow beside Personal Artifact > and then click on Clothing. There are a lot of records in this section so if you want to get more specific you can choose one of the sub-categories. Most of the pieces are photographed are in the Main Garment section. Almost all of the pictures of items on mannequins were things that I photographed over the summer. I am excited to see this come to fruition and I really hope that people understand how much work went into the creation of this site. It is going to be such an amazing resource! I encourage you to check out Karin's blog for more information about the Association.

Last but not least today Colin and I headed down to James St. N. for Supercrawl. The second Friday of every month the galleries on James open to the public and people wander up and down the street checking out the displays. There are usually some vendors and buskers as well. That is the regular Art Crawl. Every September they have a two day event that is extra special with tons of vendors, live performances, and gallery shows.

We grabbed some delicious falafels at Vida La Pita and headed down to check out one of our favourite performers Wax Mannequin. We ran into some old friends that we haven't seen in a while, and they joined us for the performance. As usual Wax put on a great show.

Just in case you were wondering, yes that is a candle on his head. He is probably best known for his song The Price which actually had a fair amount of play time on Much Music a few years ago. He's an amazing musician and a great Hamilton gem. We plan on heading back tomorrow afternoon to check out B.A. Johnston, another Hamiltonian. He has a very different style, but is very amusing. My favourite song of his is probably You Will Miss Me When The Zombies Come. 

It was nice to have a busy day after a few weeks of being pretty sedate. I like to feel like I have accomplished something with my day, and I definitely felt like that today. One last shameless plug, check out NovaMuse! 

Green Blue Brown

What I Wore:

Shirt: Zellers

Pants: Mark's Work Warehouse (random good find)

Belt: Fairweather

Shoes: Zellers

Size: 14

It's link up time again! I can't believe it is number 14! Participating in this every week has really helped me boost my confidence and has changed how I see myself in clothing. It has opened up a world of options for me, and I am so happy that I stumbled upon Rachele and her blog The Nearsighted Owl. I look forward to participating in this every week and reading all the other participants blogs. Lots of self love all around!

I got these pants a few weeks ago while out job hunting. I realized that I did not own a single pair of dress pants which is a problem if I am looking for a job. I own way too many pairs of jeans, but no dress pants. These were super affordable (also great since I am poor) and they fit. I ended up getting another pair in brown. Neither colour is my usual, but like I a mentioned above I have been trying (and succeeding) to break out of my style mold. The belt was another successful breakout purchase, I would usually never go for brown. I bought it on Tuesday while I was visiting my friend from Halifax. That was a good time, we had a lot of fun just browsing around and catching up on the summer. 

Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon cleaning and organizing the sewing room. I have mentioned before that I wanted to get back into sewing stuff, but the room was so unorganized it was hard to think in there. I also had started a project a while ago and I didn't want to move forward on anything new until I finished that one, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Once I had tidied up I located the project in a bag in a cupboard. I have no recollection of putting it there, and for some reason the instructions were in a box in my room upstairs. I am happy that I found it and I have picked up where I left off. Here is a sneaky shot of what I have been working on just to peak your interest. 

The Dread Pirate Wesley

What I Wore:

Shirt: H&M

Skirt: Smart Set

Belt: ???

Shoes: Spring

Necklace: A gift from monsieur Colin

Purse (on the railing): Spring

Size: 14

My sister's cat The Dread Pirate Wesley (or Wesley, or Welley as we call him) wanted in on the blog action today. He is always demanding attention and cries if he is not being petted 24/7. I decided to humour him and take a few pictures, I can't resist a cute cat. Of course Luna was jealous and wanted in too so Colin took this picture of her:

I swear she just looks evil and is actually cute in real life. She is much happier to be home and in her larger cage, and have more space to run around. She also loves harrassing the cat, and even though he is twice as big as she is (and she is a big  rabbit) he is terrified of her. Correction, he used to be terrified. Now he just kind of inspects her and then runs away if she hops suddenly. It must be the sudden movement that scares him. 

I totally forgot to detail the Shakespeare By The Sea play we saw our second last day in Halifax. We went to see Alice in Wonderland in Point Pleasant Park, and it was amazing. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the performance (understandable) so I didn't get any good ones, but it was totally worth it for the show alone. I think my favourite part was the rap with the Mad Hatter, so good. It's too bad we didn't get a chance to see all the shows, I also wanted to see The Merry Wives of Windsor, but we were so pressed for time it didn't work out. If anyone is in Halifax this fall, or next summer I highly recommend that you catch a performance.

On a more serious note, sometimes it is hard being positive about my size when I am in the presence of certain people. I know their comments mean well, and are not intentionally hurtful, but they still sting. I have been trying to take these comments with a grain of salt though because I know these people do not have an entirely healthy/realistic sense of self. I think being around people in this mindset caused a lot of my self esteem issues when I was younger. They have been deeply rooted. Participating in the I Am Proud Of My Size link up has done wonders for my self esteem, I definitely still have some down days, but they are fewer and farther between. I have learned that not everyone has to, or wants to look like a fashion model, and just because you don't doesn't mean you have to be down on yourself all the time. I can still want to change things about my self, but I don't have to hate myself for having some flaws. In fact I should embrace those flaws because they make me me. I can be happy with how am now, and I fully intend on doing so. So thank you Rachele and all the other lovely participants because you are helping me to be proud of my size.