Since there aren’t any pictures of my outfit from Jaime’s wedding, here’s a video! Sym would only dance with me if I held her hands the whole time- at the end I let go and she just stands there, and I’m like “WHAT??!!”
Saturday, April 23rd
shirt, misappropriated from Taylor
skirt, Zara
shoes, the Gap
Posted in Goals, My Unique Style
Right now we’re on our way to Kelowna for Taylor’s sister’s wedding. I added this little pink & red vintage scarf to my boring travel outfit for a mini-version of a colour challenge. You can’t tell, but it has koi fish on it.
Posted in Goals, My Unique Style
In the morning, while painting my disaster nails, Symphony and I worked on a bunch of crafts. She made some perler beads and worked on some more Harry Potter felt flatties, and I started making a letter garland for her room (She asked for her name flanked by unicorns).
In the afternoon I had my hair appointment and Sym took the opportunity to play with my camera- she was particularly interested in this sink full of bubbles.
She took some self-portraits too, I had to crop this one because I had a bunch of brassieres haning to dry in the bathroom and I didn’t think the internet heeded to see that, haha.
My hair appointment was a success; my stylist didn’t give me grief for colouring and cutting my own hair (she even said I did a “pretty good” job on my bangs), and in addition to doing my highlights she also recoloured my blue, pink and purple streaks. The best part:
No more roots! The last time I had my highlights done was the end of January, so they were definitely due.
After my appointment I took Georgie down to the Emery Barnes dogpark, and after a series of increasingly irritated texts, voicemails and emails I managed to get Taylor to bring Kichou down as well. It took him a while to get back to me because he was playing Xbox with his headphones on for EIGHT HOURS and didn’t notice his phone ringing until it vibrated off his desk and fell on the floor.
Originally we were going to go out and see Source Code that evening, but I wasn’t really up for going out (apparently sitting for three hours getting your hair done is somehow exhausting? idek) so instead we went and had some dinner at Kadoya (Taylor got this weird bacon roll) and then watched Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure at home.
We woke up pretty early on Sunday and I decided we should take the dogs for a big walk. Unfortunately the Sun Run was going on, so we were cut off from the beach and it took me quite a while to figure out how to get around the runners. After our walk we went for brunch, and then even though it was sunny and gorgeous and a totally inappropriate day to be inside all afternoon, I’d promised Taylor we could finally go see Source Code. It was good, but I still kind of wish I’d been outside.
I did manage to convince Taylor to go to Art Knapp’s Urban Garden, the only nursery downtown with me so I could get some plants for my garden. Well, more like “garden.” It’s this space behind my house that is always all overgrown with horrible weeds (one of which I’m allergic to), hat I always SAY I’m going to make into a garden but I never do. Well, while we were away Sym’s stepmom cleared it all out for me so now I HAVE to plant something back there. Right now it’s not very lovely.
So far a just have some hosta bulbs and a little hydrangea (also pictured: an asparagus fern I’m going to use in a terrarium), but soon I’m going to buy some ferns, and my neighbor is giving me some fuchsias. I also found a hanging patio chair at Urban Barn that I’m dying to buy. I’ve wanted one for about ever and the only ones I’ve found have all been like, $1,000, but this one is only $500. AMAZING. I hope I can get it!
And if it all comes together the way I want…
DREAM BIG, ME. Anyway, that was my weekend, I hope you all had a good one too! Now it’s back to work. I’m really busy this week, but luckily it’s a short one (Good Friday and all).
Yesterday afternoon I went back to Zara on Robson and lol and behold, they had the tank top:
Of course they are crazy and only had smalls and mediums but in a burst of cleansing synchronicity, the medium fit me for once (usually Zara mediums fit around like, one of my arms).
After I bought it I started thinking more about reintroducing colour into my wardrobe. Now, when I was at the store I was like OH I SHOULD BUY LEMON YELLOW SHORT SHORTS AND A ROYAL BLUE BELT AND HOT PINK SANDALS TO GO WITH MY NEW TOP!!! but I think that is a little deranged and I would never actually wear all that at once. Instead, I’m going to take a slow approach and trying to incorporate one colourful item a week into my outfits. Sound too easy? It’s more about being frugal. With the exception of my new tank top, here are my clothes that aren’t grey/black/white/denim:
a. rainbow stripe terry cloth bikini (haven’t worn in years; might not fit)
b. olive-green floral dress (haven’t worn in years; might not fit)
c. rainbow/butterfly/star dress (love but too tight in bust; never worn)
d. turquoise peep-toe pumps
e. pale green tree print dress
f. multi-coloured floral skirt
So there you have it. Three dresses, one that might not fit and one that definitely doesn’t fit; one skirt; one pair of heels; and one bikini that might not fit and in any case, isn’t exactly appropriate for every day wear, especially in early spring. Basically, if I want to wear coloured clothes, I need to buy/dye/find/bed/borrow/steal them first!
Posted in Goals, My Unique Style
Another month over, so let’s talk goals! idk if you remember, but my goal for February was to make better fod choices, and I think I did an okay job. I’m not saying I always ate healthy stuff for the entire month, but I did cook more instead of going out for every meal, had more veggies and less chips, and a lot of the sweets I ate I baked myself. I had breakfast more often and drank way more water than pop.
So that’s pretty good, right? So now it’s March 1st and time to think of a new goal, but unfortunately, I made so many other changes this month that I can’t think of any! Some of the other stuff I did includes:
… so with all these exciting changes I don’t know what to do for March! Of course, the logical thing would be to say this is the month I’m going to start going to the gym again but ahahahahahahhahahah as if that’s going to happen. Maybe I’ll spend this month visualizing myself going to the gym, and then by April I’ll be ready!
Last spring I made a post aaaaaall about how I wanted nothing more than to move out of the city, get a house with a yard and have a baby and a bunch of fuzzy little dogs. You know, live the dream!
At least I accomplished one thing off my list. Oh and yes, she’s licking my teeth in this picture.
Part of my dream-life plan was fuelled by the two cute houses I’d found, but of course they eventually both sold and it was a very sad day for everyone. I still like to browse real estate websites, but I’ve never found anything I really loved. UNTIL TODAY.
WHAT EVEN IS THIS WONDROUS MARVEL???
I love this, I love the huge open plan big windows vaulted ceiling everything. Oh, and did I mention it comes with a stream?
I DIE. I absolutely die. I’m creepy so I looked it up on google maps and here it is from space:
Look at all the trees and nature! And yet amazingly, it’s only 20 minutes from where I’m sitting now, in the middle of downtown. Basically it’s stunning gorgeous flawless etc and if anyone has a spare $900,000 lying around they’d like to give me so I can make this dream a reality, I wouldn’t be mad. Orrrrrr I could get this one:
Which is a little less expensive. The interior is really hideous so I won’t show it to you, but it also has a lot of awesomeness to it. No stream though :/
Posted in Goals, Historical Events, House Beautiful, Life Etc, Pets and Husbands
Last night I bought these four classic Ikea Benno shelves off some guy on craigslist. They’re in perfect condition and cost me $100 less than buying them new, plus we didn’t have to go all the way out to the suburbs to get them. The only weird part was the guy had all the little shelves in the cd configuration. Compact discs? Seriously? Who even owns those anymore? (Answer: not me). Anyway I put them up last night and got to spend some fun times this morning alphabetizing all of our movies/tv shows. Oh and I just realized you can see all three of Taylor’s video game consoles in that picture. WOW.
Speaking of music (what a great segue), here’s what I’ve been listening to:
Dead Man’s Bones; Florence + the Machine, Lungs; Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros; Away We Go Soundtrack; She & Him Volume Two
I’m not really a “playlist” person, like I don’t like to go through all my songs picking and choosing and arranging them in just the right order. I’m more of a “whole album” person, as in I put whole albums into my playlists. I also like my playlists to be a minimum for four hours long so I can just press play in the morning and leave it.
As far as making better food choices is going, well. Last night we had to wait around this weird mall for 20 minutes while the craigslist guy got the shelves ready for us, and Taylor wanted to get McDonald’s. I could have said FORGET THIS HEALTHY STUFF and gotten a Big Mac or something, but instead I just had a diet Coke and some of his fries. Okay, half of his fries. So not a total fail, right? And for lunch today, Taylor was going to go pick up some take out (since he got home from work at 1pm, argh), but I asked him to just get some bread and tomatoes and I made us sandwiches, which was a) healthier and b) more cost-effective. Go me! Except I forgot to have breakfast this morning. Oops. Here’s yesterday’s breakfast instead, toast with my all-time favorite jam: strawberry & champagne. It’s just better than regular strawberry.
Posted in Goals, House Beautiful, My Unique Style, Purchases
I’ve been thinking recently about what I want to do this year, and how I want to live my life. I know, I know, this is typically New Year’s resolution stuff, but I like to take my sweet time with this thing! Who likes the resolutioners crowding the gym all January? NO ONE, that’s who. And did the first week of January really need another blog post about all my goals for the year? NOPE.
Instead of coming up with a big list of stuff at the start of the year, diving in headfirst and flaming out wildly, I decided to start small, with just one personal goal for January. One personal personal goal that is so personal that I don’t want to share it, but I will say I’ve been sticking to it and plan to keep it up for the rest of the year my entire life.
For February I’ve decided my goal will be to make better food choices, not just for myself, but for my family. I’ve actually already started doing this: I’ve been cooking more meals instead of going out or ordering in, I’ve been diversifying my meal plans, and I’ve been buying more nutritious foods. On Saturday night Taylor and I had soup & salad for dinner instead of lasagna. Yesterday we had delicious sandwiches instead of greasy burgers. I’ve even had two meals so far today (I often do nothing but snack on junk until dinnertime):
steel-cut oats with blackberries, clover-alfalfa honey & skim milk
Old picture but this is still my favorite thing to make for breakfast. One of my upcoming goals is to buy all the blackberries at the farmer’s market this summer so I can freeze them and eat this year-round without having to spend $6 on a tiny amount of berries from Mexico. The honey is also from the farmer’s market, which seriously better start soon because I’m almost out.
scrambled eggs, skinny bagel, pea shoot salad with balsamic vinegar
I scrambled my eggs with skim milk and topped them with fresh ground red/white/black pepper and pink Himalayan salt. How great are these skinny bagels? They have all the surface area of a regular bagel, so you can easily make bagelwiches or just slather them with cream cheese, but you don’t get that I-ate-to-much-bread-and-now-I’m-pregnant-with-a-bread-babby feeling from them. If you are a calorie counting person (which I’m not) then you know regular bagels have three or four hundred calories, whereas these have only 140. Not bad! The salad has grape tomatoes, carrots, mini cucumbers and pea shoots with a little balsamic vinegar. I found the pea shoots in the ~specialty produce~ section and thought I’d give them a try. They’re really good- sort of sprouty, sort of peapody, light and crisp. Even Sym likes them, and she can be really picky.
Posted in Delicious Recipes, Goals
special, I-haven’t-been-posting-books-so-there’s-eight edition
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, 84/104; Under the Dome, 85/104; The Cuter Book, 86/104; Zombie Felties, 87/104;
Chronic City, 88/104; Harriet the Spy, 89/104; Cute Pups, 90/104; The Long Secret, 91/104
So as you can see, I’m not going to make it to 104 books by the end of the year, unless I can miraculously read 13 books in the next 36 hours (which seems unlikely). Maybe 104 books is just too many to read in one year? In the last few months I’ve actually felt BURNED OUT from reading, and it didn’t help that a couple of the books I chose (Sum: 40 Tales from the Afterlives, Under the Dome and Chronic City in particular) dragged on interminably and took me much longer to read than they should have. I have read more books this year than last year (87), and I’m going to keep adding to my 104 books page until I’ve reached the goal- hopefully by my birthday!
a full list of all this year’s books can always be found here
Posted in Books Books Books, Goals
Which is to say, anything. Since my last book post (almost a month ago now!) I’ve read:
• one book
• two magazines
• sixty percent of second book that I should have finished in two days and just have not been able to get through
There are a lot of reason for this- in mid-October I ran out of all the books I had lined up, my pre-Halloween funk of lethargy and sulking, my also-pre-Halloween frenzy of costume making, my post-Halloween frenzy of Sym’s birthday party and gift preparation. Of course, all that is over now and you’d think that before I get into my Christmas frenzy I could get some reading done but NOPE. Yesterday I planned on powering through my current book and finishing it while the kids were having nap, but instead I spent the entire afternoon (and part of the evening) picking a new layout for this blog, changing the fonts and making a fancy header which I didn’t even end up using. Clearly not the best use of my time!
My goal was to read 104 books this year. When I finish my current book (which I’m doing today, NO EXCUSES) that’ll put me at 82, leaving me with 22 books to read in the last 50 days of the year. That’s one book every 2.25 days. Can I do it? Should I do it? Would you do it? I don’t know if I’m going to meet my goal but DANG IT, I’m still going to try.
Posted in Books Books Books, Goals
