One Year Blogoversary Top 10

This is actually a picture from my birthday, I did not make a cake to celebrate my blog birthday!

In honour of my one year blogoversary this week I thought it would be fun to do a top ten of my favourite outfits over the last year. I cannot believe it has been a whole year already, and what a year it's been. My style has definitely changed (for the better I think), I am actually wearing the clothes that I want to wear now. I am kind of embarrassed to look at some of those earlier posts to be honest, what was I thinking?! I think my photography has improved a bit too, the natural lighting and outdoor shots make a huge difference. I am glad that I have stuck to my New Year's goal of taking more outdoor photos, it really is a lot of fun. Adding more of my sewing projects on here has also been great, I like sharing what I am working on with other people.

When I started this little blog  I had no intentions for it to turn into a body positive fat acceptance blog but I am so glad that it has. I have "met " a lot of really cool people through that movement and it has helped me become a better person. There have been some hard time too of course, no year is safe from at least a little heart ache, but this blog has helped me get through the rough times. Thank you to all of my readers new and old who have stuck it out with me, here's to another year at least!

Without further ado here are my top 10 outfits from the last year:

10.

July 6th 2012 Too Hot To Trot (Seriously) 

9. 

                                  

 Nov. 19th 2012 Buttoned Up

 8.

Nov. 23rd 2013 Giddy Up! Cowpunk Style 

7.

Dec. 22nd 2012 Holiday Firsts 

6. 

April 1st 2013 Weekend Walk

5. 

 December 3rd 2012 Mauve Trees

4. 

                                   

May 10th 2013 White Tights polka Dots

3. 

May 8th 2013 (Almost) Entirely Thrifted

 2.

February 20th 2013 Mini Skirts and How To Be A Fat Bitch e-course Week #3

1.

February 6th 2013 Capoting Around

It was hard to pick only 10, I had to veto a couple, but I am pretty happy with my choices. These aren't the most commented on outfits or anything, just the ones I liked the best. I picked Capoting Around as first because that the was the most fun to photograph. It was one of my first outdoor shoots and it was really enjoyable. There is a decent mix of old and new here, and you can see the style progression I think. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I have and  I hope you stick around for more fun in the future!

Colin wanted to contribut too so he said I shoul dmake you watch this happy birthday video. It's pretty funny.

Dull Pants to Sassy Shorts

I am taking a page out of the ReFashionista playbook for this post (if you haven;t read her blog, you should seriously check it out). The other day I was going through my closet to pick out what to wear and I came across these pants.I haven't worn them in a while, probably since before Christmas. Now, they are relatively new and I didn't want to just get rid of them. 

 A derpy picture of me and the just "meh" pants and a weird tan on my feet.

I racked my brain for ideas, and then it hit me. I could make them into shorts! With the hot weather quickly approaching I thought this would be a great re-vamp project. Plus I don't have any shorts that I can wear to work and it is going to be very hot in there during the summer months. Here is the step-by-step process to make quick shorts from pants (sorry for the weird lighting in the first few pictures, the curtains in the room were messing with it a bit). 

1. I tried on my pants and marked where the knees were. I wanted to make my shorts no shorter than 2 inches above the knee so they would be work appropriate.

2. Next I cut the legs off 1/2 and inch below where my knees are. You might want to mark a line on your pants, I just measured across with a ruler and eyeballed it.  

 3. I set aside the legs (I will come back to those in a minute) and surged the bottom of my newly cut shorts to finish the hem. 

 4. Next I measured 1 inch from the hem and pressed it up with the iron.

 press press press

5. Then I folded them up another inch (using the previous fold as a guide) and pressed them again. Tada, the basic shorts are complete! You could also tack the folds down at the side seams if you wish for extra hold, but my pressing was pretty thorough and it didn't seem necessary. If your pants are a heavier material like twill or denim the side tacks might be necessary.   

6. Back to the rest of the old pants, I wanted to make a tie belt out of the excess leg bits. I took my trusty ruler and measured out four 2 inch wide by 18 inch long strips. I kept the original hem on two of the strips.  

 7. Then I pinned the strips together, keeping the two hemmed pieces at either end. I sewed the pieces together. Then I did a tiny 1/4 inch hem on either side, folding it as I sewed at the machine (I am a really lazy sewer sometimes). 

And the finished result, I was left with a cute pair of work appropriate shorts! 

 What I Wore:
Shirt; Thrifted (Value Village)
Shorts + belt: Mark's Work Warehouse, refashioned by yours truly
Shoes: Thrifted (Talize)

I am definitely much happier with these as shorts. There was just something not quite right about them as pants. I have another pair in blue, but I have worn those much more as pants so I think I will leave them as is for right now. I actually wore this to work on the weekend (minus the shoes, I had more work appropriate ones on) and it was super comfortable and great for the hot weather. I am looking forward to getting more wear out of these over the course of the season.

Shiptastic

What I Wore:
Shirt: Bealls
Cardi: Reitmans
Skirt: Thrifted (Out of the Past)
Shoes: Thrifted (Talize)
Earrings: Target

I'm back! I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of those who left kind comments over the last few weeks. It has been rough, but I think after a break I am ready to get back to blogging as usual. It's good to keep busy and have something to look forward to.

I really enjoy this skirt. There is some fabric at work that is similar to this, and I really wanted to buy some and make a dress, but it is a little on the pricey side so I haven't bought it. Then I saw this skirt when I was thrifting a few weeks ago and thought it would do nicely. Everybody thought this was a dress when I was wearing it, which is fine by me, I guess it just means it all goes really well together. I got this shirt when I was in Florida, there was also one in red and white and I really wish I had bought it as well. It fits really well and will be nice for the hot summer that is coming.

Can you believe that Thursday will mark my one year blogiversary? I certainly can't. I am going to put up a special post about it on the actual day, so stay tuned for that. I also have some other fun stuff planned for this week, and I will be going back to my regular post schedule this month so stick around for tons of fun!

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.