Plaid

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a plaid shirt from my work, and I have been wearing it so much! I never really had any plaid in my wardrobe before this, but now I am in love with its comfortable, versatile nature. To the extent that we got a few more colours and styles in, and I am going to buy another one. Let's just say my wallet hates me right now, because it also has to pay for a lot of textbooks...

On the subject of shopping and money, this article from the etsy blog is fascinating: The Tyranny of Trends by Charty Durrant. It's a bit longer, but definitely a worthwhile read!

Awestruck

Image from Elle Canada (September 2011 issue)

When I saw this image in print a few days ago, I swooned. Unfortunately, the digital version just doesn't capture the striking colours the same. If you get a chance, try to look at the original version from the September issue of Elle Canada (the rest of the editorial is lovely too!).

Designer Spotlight

One of my favourite designers is Eileen Fisher, and the most incredible things about my job this past year was having the opportunity to purchase some of her pieces, which have gone on to have very well loved spots in my wardrobe. Eileen Fisher is known for her use of natural, organic fibres, her beautiful knits, and designs that manage to be simultaneously classic, modern and a bit funky. For more information see her website.

image via here

image via here

image via here

For the jacket of my dreams click here

Some posts where I have worn some of my Eileen Fisher pieces include:

- Girl About Town (white linen tunic)

- Hooray (grey/taupe cardigan)

- A Sticky Situation (grey cardigan)

- Formally Yours (sequin tank)

Andrew Bird and Aqua

Happy Thursday everyone! To be honest, however, I only know that today's Thursday, because I know tomorrow's Friday- my sense of the days of the week is quite disconnected and random. Right now, I am rocking out to Andrew Bird (he's pretty darn fabulous!) and enjoying a pot of green tea and some of my favourite blogs.

Awkward things:
- Falling for my best friend's "I just bought a car!" joke. Uhhhhuhm. No WONDER it seemed spontaneous and out of character for him.
- Doing laundry, and having to wear a bra that's too small, because every night I say to myself, "noooo, I'll handwash my bra tomorrow night when I have more initiative..." multiple days in a row, which results in having to wash all of them at the SAME time.
-When people "crunch" down the spines of magazines. Makes me so MAD. Because then the cover never sits flat and there's that weird looking crease on the front cover beside the spine. (And it makes an offensive "crrrriicckkkkkkkch" noise.) Is this just me?

Awesome!
- Andrew Bird
- 758 pages of Vogue's September issue
- Having the perfect outfit planned for work tomorrow.
- Getting ready for school to start
- These recipes (pictured above) for infused water, they look so good! From A Beautiful Mess
- The way I feel when I drink lots of water and tea and eat tons of veggies and lean proteins!


 

Changes

For a while now I have been having a hard time finding inspiration for blogging, as well as deciding where I want to make my niche in the blogging world. When I first started this blog, I felt I fit in with the plus size blogging community, but have since slowly realized that although I am on the cusp of regular and plus size,  and I will always be curvy, I am not really a plus size gal. Beyond the ever-present size issue, I also expected this blog would be primarily a personal style blog, but I am realizing that I don't always have time or help to take pictures of my outfits (and honestly, if I find an outfit combination I really like, I will return to it), so not having daily outfit pictures often lead me to just avoiding posting.

A digression:
This morning, while vacuuming I finally reached the point where I realized how I was frustrated was with the way my blog was going, and I mentioned it to one of my friends. She wisely pointed out that it's my blog, and that I could always just post about fashion or whatever else I wanted. Which made me consider why I don't post more about things that interest me about fashion, or makeup. Or for that matter, school, books, music, and even my efforts to find balance in my life. The conversation also moved onto being an "inbetweener" and she explained that she has difficulty finding clothing due to her height. I never would guessed that one of the most beautiful girls I have ever met has a hard time finding clothes! It made me realize that focusing on size and shape was really not what I want to do, but rather that I want to focus on fashion for the sake of FASHION.

So over the next while, I plan to introduce new things to my blogging life, adding more things that I find inspiring and that interest me, in order to create a blog that more accurately reflects who I am. As well, I plan to continue on regaining a sense of my personal style; so it may be a bumpy ride, but at least it'll be fun!

Pages from the scrapbooks I keep of fashion inspiration.

A screen shot of a Pinterest board of mine. You can see my pinterest page here.

Forever Young

Today this title has absolutely nothing with what I want to talk about. It comes from the song I've had stuck in my head ALL DAY. By around 8 PM, I was tired of hearing my brain repeat "forever young, forever young, do you really want to be forever young? forever young, forever young, do you really want to be forever young? forever, forever, do you really want to be forever young. forever young, forever young, do you really want to be forever young? forever, forever, forever..." And on, and on, and on. When my parents had no clue what the song was, I resorted to Google. After a few seconds of searching, I discovered that the song plaguing my brain was "Forever Young" by Alphaville. (In case you're wondering, I'm now listening to KT Tunstall, which is a welcome change.)

What I would like to bring up today is body image and weight, and in particular this article from Garance Doré. Although I have ambivalent feelings towards the pressure to be thin and skinny, I strongly believe that it is necessary to strive for a body weight/size that is healthy and natural for each person. If that means you're a size 2 and have a slender build or if you're an 16 and rocking some curves, so be it. What I appreciated from this post by Doré is that she didn't focus on the topic of size and weight, but rather the differences in lifestyle choices. So far, the response to her post has been mixed, but I am excited to see what sort of debate it will stir up.


What do you think of Garance Doré's post? What kind of impact do you think it will have? 

Life in Colour

 Images via Fashion Spreads

I am absolutely in love with this fashion spread! I am very fond of oranges and teals, so this Frida Khalo-inspired spread is very eye-catching to me. I like how they maintained a fine balance between being reminiscent of Khalo's work, while still portraying a modern and new look.

What do you think of Plaid Magazine and Fred Fraser's work here?

Avocados and Aggravation

Hey everyone!
 Happy Awkward and Awesome Thursday! I know I've missed a LOT of them...

Awkward:
- Thinking I lost my phone. I was unimpressed, walking around the house calling it from the home phone. I found it in my mom's car.
- I decided to quit Concert Band so that I would have more time for courses actually related to my degree. Which means re-arranging my schedule, which means BearTracks (the program the U of A uses). And BearTracks (and BearsDen) have been acting up and making everything difficult. Grrrr.
-

Awesome:
-My Birthday on Sunday! I spent it at the Folk Fest with one of my best friends, and it was an incredible weekend (the musical highlights was definitely Brandi Carlile, Andrew Bird and KT Tunstall). And while walking into the festival, I received the picture message above from one of my other best friends of my initials written in the sand in New Brunswick.
-BRANDI CARLILE! She was incredible again this year! And to make it even more perfect, she did a cover of a Fleetwood Mac song with KT Tunstall, which was a magical moment for me, as she is one of my favourite artists and I grew up to Fleetwood Mac and love them very much. And even though that was enough for me to be able to die a very happy girl, a few moments later, she announced that her twin guitar players' birthday was the next morning so she would be singing Happy Birthday at midnight. Which just so happened to be my birthday too!
- Maybe having time to take the course on Macbeth that I've been wanting to take since I started at the U of A (Macbeth is my favourite play by Shakespeare).


How has your week been?

Careers and Closets

image via sunshine and pearls

For nearly a year now I have been working at a plus size women's clothing boutique, and a few days ago I gave my two week's notice. Although I have had a lot of fun working with my coworkers, I am looking forward to being finished at the end of the month. In reflection, it has not been the best place of work for me, between factors including a negative shift in my eating and lifestyle habits and succumbing pressure to purchase clothing that neither fits my life or my personal style. I am looking forward to regaining a sense of balance in my life, and I plan to take some time off working during classes in order to focus on my academics and helping my family move. In addition, I hope to take a spin class and perhaps some yoga classes with one of my best friends. 

Today I spent the afternoon cleaning out my closet, and I was dismayed to realize how much clothing I had purchased in the last year really isn't want I personally like and how much of my wardrobe had become swamped with pieces that were tolerable rather than pieces I truly enjoyed. It is my goal, now that I will no longer be working at the store, to return to shopping around to find the PERFECT pieces instead of just buying clothes for the sake of buying clothes. Hopefully this will result into my wardrobe reflecting my personal style again!