day one hundred sixty

today is cold. it's the kind of cold that you get in england where it passes straight through your skin and nestles deep in your bones.

one hot meal, one hot bath, one warm sweatshirt and one wool blanket later, the chill has finally gone. it's always strange when june feels like october.

*****

today's look while dreaming of england:

black t-shirt with velcro tab worn over dress (today it spells "one sixty"): next exit, about seven years old ($45)
white skirt under dress: the dump (free)
green hairband: recycled from an old t-shirt (free)brown sandals: aldo, about four years ago (about $80)



grand total:
about $125.08

day one hundred thirty-three

my day starts in a horizontal line. a slight blip on the clock zaps like lightning straight to my brain, and my body resists each movement required to make itself vertical. my legs carry me up each stair like a slinky in reverse slow motion. the scribbles that form my early morning thoughts slowly unwind into a clear picture as the caffeine works hard to unscramble them. the day has begun, and just as soon as it has been unscrambled, my head is pumped full of sound. sounds of songs on the radio, sounds of voices recounting the news, sounds of birds and the wind and rain and cars.

i spend my days immersed in the world that takes place outside my cocoon. i return to it in the evening. i sit folded in the car, hovering above ashphalt as the wheels under me transport me across the ground. my head is still pumped full of sound.

my body unfolds itself out of the car and i open the door to my cocoon and hear the sounds of mama!, sounds of dinner cooking, sounds of keyboards and the tv and my thoughts loud and clear.

time winds down, and the moon climbs up into in the sky. my legs carry me down the stairs like a slinky. the thoughts in my head slowly deflate and turn themselves back into scribbles. my eyes are closed now. i am horizontal.

*****

today's look while having a quiet moment:

pink t-shirt over dress: donated by kimberly's deja vu boutique (details below) for this project - thanks! (free)
white skirt under dress: the dump (free)
silver bracelets: secondhand (free)

grand total:
about 8¢ (just the cost-per-wear of the dress!)

kimberly's deja vu boutique
sommerville centre, 6835 highway 62 north (1 mile off the 401)
belleville, ontario k8n 4z5
613.966.3352

day one hundred eleven

woohoo! done with studies...done with exams...done with school...time to return to normal life. thanks to everyone who supported me in any way this past year. you helped me get through it in one piece.

excuse me while i go off and nap celebrate...cheers!

*****

today's look while throwing my sheets to the wind:

liberty of london silk scarf around waist: donated by kimberly's deja vu boutique (details below) for this project - thanks! (free)
white skirt under dress: the dump (free)
silver bracelets: secondhand (free)

grand total:
8¢ (just the cost-per-wear of the dress!)

kimberly's deja vu boutique
sommerville centre, 6835 highway 62 north (1 mile off the 401)
belleville, ontario k8n 4z5
613.966.3352

day ninety-four

hop hop hop hop

*****

today's look while huntin' for wabbits:

purple flower in hair: donated by kimberly's deja vu boutique (details below) for this project - thanks! (free)
yellow scarf around waist: also donated by kimberly - thanks! (free)
white skirt under dress: the dump (free)

grand total:
8¢ (just the cost-per-wear of the dress today!)


kimberly's deja vu boutique
sommerville centre, 6835 highway 62 north (1 mile off the 401)
belleville, ontario k8n 4z5
613.966.3352

day ninety

the well-known saying is that march comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. here where i live, this year march decided to stick its tongue out at tradition and rather came in like a lamb, had a twist of lion, and morphed straight back to lamb just in the nick of time. as the last remaining hours of march float by on a mellow spring breeze, i am wondering to myself where in fact march went. it flew by so fast, it's all kind of a blur. luckily, i've kept some records. this month, my dress and i:

* announced the winner of my first-ever contest and put her name in lights for an entire week
* went shopping - but didn't break the rules
* got some unexpected media attention: listen here, read here, and see here
* tried to stir up some excitement about the pale trend i plan to start this summer
* met a fantastically generous shop owner who hooked me up with practically a whole new wardrobe
* stopped breathing
* inherited a monkey

i am also happy to report that i received a record-breaking five extremely generous monetary donations this month which i am so grateful for. thank you to everyone out there who is helping out in any way with this project. if you're new to the site, i am raising money for almost home in kingston. again this month, i'm asking if you could please do me a favour and email/facebook/twitter my website to just a few of your contacts? i'm already amazed at how far my message has travelled and want to raise just as much money as i can for this amazing charity.

and finally, today marks my halfway point of this project! so far, i've worn 90 different looks using my two dresses, written 90 blog posts, taken 90 self-portraits, and received countless words of encouragement, donations, and unexpected gestures of kindness. thank you to everyone who's supporting me! you're keeping me inspired.

*****

today's look while crossing over the halfway mark:

pink sweater over dress: donated by kimberly's deja vu boutique (details below) for this project - thanks! (free)
brown pants: secondhand (free)
brown socks: secondhand (free)

grand total:
8¢ (just the cost-per-wear of the dress today!)

kimberly's deja vu boutique
sommerville centre, 6835 highway 62 north (1 mile off the 401)
belleville, ontario k8n 4z5
613.966.3352

day seventy-four

random things i saw today:

* a man getting arrested
* a freshly excised widsom tooth
* a mammoth cheese

i tried to think of more, but that's about all i could come up with. wow, country living, you sure are fascinating. things that stick out as unusual don't happen much around here, but upon reflection, all of these things do share a few similarities:

* they all drew attention to themselves
* they were all interesting in both size and shape
* they all piqued my curiosity, and
* none of them made me lose my appetite (but that's a hard thing to do).

oh, and they all probably took a few years to get into the state i saw them in today.

*****

today's look while looking like a "before" shot:

brown sweater over dress: the dump (free)
beaded necklaces: stitches, about three years old (about $5 for the set)
jeans: stitches, about four years old ($30)
striped socks: zellers (about $4)

grand total:
about $39.08

day seventy-three

today The Husband and i went for massages. again, aren't you asking, "but isn't that against the rules?" nope, i'm a rule maker, not a rule breaker. (well, most of the time, anyway). allow me to explain.

now, i'm not one of those people that likes being being in the prone position while a stranger runs their stranger hands over my body. ewwww. no, i prefer to remain completely upright and vertical around all strangers and perhaps, at most, carry on a slightly awkward conversation about such fascinating topics as the price of milk these days or why there always seems to be some sort of festive holiday-themed chocolate products for sale in drugstores at all times of the year. but please do not invade my personal bubble.

so the massages took place at a shop that's about a half an hour away from our house. they have a quiet little room upstairs with four of those giant massage chairs set up and plugged in, so we each sat side by side, hit the go buttons on the remotes and got all of our kinks shook, pounded, vibrated, and beaten out of us for a glorious - and free - fifteen minutes.

now say it with me...ahhhhhhhhhh.....

*****

today's look while feeling more relaxed:

purple dress? super-sized t-shirt? nightdress? under dress: the dump (free)
black skirt under dress: made by my sister (free)
black ribbon around waist: found in bag of christmas wrapping stuff (free)
black tights: zellers ($8)
black platform shoes: aldo, two years old ($125)
book of canadian poetry: the dump (free)

grand total:
about $133.08

day seventy-two

lately tenzin's been eating up a storm. he must be going through some type of growth spurt. we don't sit down for just one breakfast in this house. there's the early morning pre-breakfast. then comes the main breakfast. then a couple of hours later, a big lunch. and then, of course, dinner which we now eat at the same time many senior citizens are just pulling up to the tables themselves. all of this happens with about four snacks in between. so basically, we are non-stop eating around here. it's all about making food while wondering what the next meal will consist of, while simultaneously either planning another trip to the grocery store or raiding the cupboards for snacks.

that's why i've nicknamed him "the black widow". if he keeps this up, he'll be giving her a run for her money someday very soon.

*****

today's look while wondering if anyone else would like to enter their toddler in an eating competition:

grey t-shirt under dress: the dump (free)
pink tie around waist: refashioned by me out of an old t-shirt (free)
brown corduroy pants: jeffrey rogers, from england about ten years ago (about $30)
winter boots: aldo from last year (about $75)

grand total:
about $105.08

day seventy-one

i have a dual personality. i swear, i am two different people. one lives here on earth and one spends her days in la-la-land. and also, one of me is very quiet and shy and awkward while the other one doesn't quite know when to shut up. depending on how well you know me, you probably know one or the other. chances are, when you first met me, you met the quiet, shy one but as you got to know me really well, over time you thought, oh, this isn't quite the christine i first met and silently wondered if i'd stop rambling on about random topics. while perhaps repeating myself one or five times in the course of our discussions.

well, in the past week, the shy me has done a few things out of my comfort zone. as you know, i contacted the cbc on a total whim and ended up scoring an interview. boy, was that awkward. fun but awkward. so fairly awkward but at the same time happy that i was doing it. i was fine until about an hour before i went to air, and then my cheeks turned pink and went up a few degrees in temperature and by the time i was live, i don't even know if i was coherent or not. it's all a blur. i know for certain i giggled a lot, since that's one of my irrepressible habits that rears its head when i'm nervous, and i feel as though i may or may not have stepped up the decible level in my voice a notch or two.

but then, out of that interview came another interview today - this time for a local newspaper. they heard me on the air and have decided to write an article about this charity project. so the decibel level and the giggling shouldn't be as much of an issue hopefully. and there is also a third interview sitting in the wings that i am just awaiting details on.

and then this week, to my great surprise, one of my inspirations for this project, the girl who, whose writing i read faithfully, featured this little website in her "currently digging" series. what the? the girl who - writer of candid, honest prose whose sincerity is second to none. the girl who, who actually responds when i once basically spilled my guts out to her over the internet every few months.

so i'm stepping things up a notch. my goal is to get the word out and raise just as much money for almost home as i can in the time i have left. and i have to say, even the shy me is a little happy to be out of my comfort zone just this once.

*****

today's look while accessorized from the dump:

black t-shirt under dress: next exit, about seven years old ($45)
black dress under dress: smart set, about two years old ($30)
beaded necklace: the dump (free)
grey clutch: the dump (free)
grey tie around waist: donated by my sister for this project - thanks! (free)
green crocheted hat: value village, ten months old ($4)
brooch on hat: jacob, about four years old ($15)
bracelet: made by me out of old zippers (free)
black tights: gifted (free)
black ruffled platform wedge sandals: if footwear, about ten months old (about $110)

grand total:
about $204.08

day seventy

oh when, oh when will i learn to stop procrastinating?!? i just submitted an assignment that's due by midnight tonight (hey, i was 40 minutes early!) and i need to clean the house now...

*****

today's look while slapping myself on the wrist. again.:

striped top under dress: value village, about seven months old ($7)
white skirt under dress: the dump (free)
green tie around waist: donated by my sister for this project - thanks! (free)
winter boots: aldo from last year (about $75)

grand total:
about $82.08

day sixty-nine

on saturday, i went shopping. isn't that against the rules, you ask? well, not when by "shopping" i mean "perusing a rural dump". i filled two bags with free findings and, as a result, have come up with a new series. a series i am lovingly calling "dumped".

this project has proven to me that i don't need to spend a lot of money to mix things up. everything i have worn for the past 69 days is stuff that was already sitting in my wardrobe or donated. or found at the dump! today is one of my cheapest looks, weighing in at a whopping $18 and some change.

and when i get to both save money and do something good for someone else, that's something worth jumping up and down about.

*****

today's look while being frugal:

brown shirt under dress: secondhand (free)
orange necklace: aldo, can't remember how old ($10)
retro scarf? tablecloth? worn as skirt over dress: found at the dump (free)
brown knee socks: sears ($8)
black wellies: secondhand (free)

grand total:
about $18.08