day thirty-seven

i never win anything. okay, well that's not entirely true. i once won a clock. but not just any clock: an exclusive, elusive ray clark clock. i was working in england doing painting jobs. we would listen to the radio every day while we were working. there was a program run by a dj named ray clark and every day, he would present an anagram which, if you could unscramble it and be the selected caller, you could win.

i was only in england for a very limited time, and it became my mission to win a ray clark clock. every day, we'd try unscrambling the word and calling in with no success, but then one day...oh, one day, i won! the best part was the phrase you got to yell if you won: tick tick tock, i won a ray clark clock!

i couldn't wait to receive my prize. it arrived a couple of days before i flew home. i eagerly tore open the bubble-wrapped package and there it was, about a whole two by three inches big, made out of tacky clear plastic with the radio info on the face.

oh well, at least i won something.

*****

today's look while wishing myself good luck:

white sweater under dress: jacob, about six years old (about $40)
jeans: stitches, about four years old ($30)
green hat: gifted about fifteen years ago (free)
winter boots: aldo from last year (about $75)

grand total:
about $145.08

day thirty-six

today i went skating on a frozen bog at the back of our property. it's a beautiful bog in the wintertime. i went out for a walk earlier inthe afternoon and skimmed off a layer of snow and underneath lay a perfect-looking skating rink.

all of my bog memories aren't quite so nice. well, i really only have one other bog memory. really, how many bog memories can one have, after all? anyway, i was preschool age and my mum and our neighbours and i went out for a nice walk in the woods one day. everything was going fine until my friend and i started zigzagging off the main dirt path. our mums kept yelling at us to stay on the main path because there were bogs on either side. yeah yeah yeah whaever we're having fun and what's a bog anyway, we thought, so we kept zigzagging until...splash! there i was up to my neck in bog water. what happened next all occurred in very slow motion. i remember the distinct feeling of my body sinking down, down, down while the murky brown water rose up, up, up. somehow i managed to keep my head just above the water, but i couldn't feel the bottom and was running out of time. suddenly at the last moment, i was saved and yanked from the putrid smelly water.

i was forced to swallow my pride and walk home dripping wet and reeking of bog. and to make matters worse, my friend could not stop laughing at me the entire way home, even though it could have just as easily been her instead of me.

oh well, i learned my lesson. now i make sure bogs are well and truly frozen before i go anywhere near them.

*****

today's look while attempting an arabesque to camel spin followed by a triple axel finished off with a flip jump to quadruple salchow with a cherry on top:

grey t-shirt under dress: liquidation world, about three months old ($5)
green nightdress under dress: value village, about a year old ($20)
green tie around waist: from dressing gown (free)
grey knee socks (not visible): gifted (free)
skates: can't remember (probably around $30)

grand total:
about $55.08

day thirty-five

i stayed up late last night. like, really late till 2:00 am. i used to stay up till 2:00 am all the time. i do not ever stay up till 2:00 am anymore. (except that time when we bought guitar hero world tour for the wii and couldn't stop playing until 5:00 am). anyway, last night i wasn't even doing anything as remotely exciting as that. i was working on an assignment for one of my courses. (see previously referred-to procrastination issues here). i got on a roll and just ended up sticking with it and then the clock rolled forward four hours and that's when i knew i was doomed to a near-comatose state today.

you know you're really tired when you do the following: i was driving to the library this morning when all of a sudden i wondered where my car keys were because, you know, i thought i might need them to get home. then i realized they were in the ignition because i was driving. eesh.

*****

today's look while prying my eyes open with toothpicks:

striped t-shirt under dress: value village, about six months old ($7)
grey wrist warmers: handknit by me (about $2)
grey hat: really, really old (about $2)
grey tights: (about $15)
brown boots: zellers about three months old ($20)
scrap material around waist: (free)

grand total:
about $46.08

Day Thirty-Four - Part Two

I'm back again already! Just letting you know that I received another generous monetary donation today. Thank you SO much! I am very grateful. So grateful, in fact, that I am properly capitalizing this post especially for you, generous donor.

day thirty-four

dear anonymous winter boot heckler,

well, you're not really a heckler, but you have mentioned "the boots" a couple of times now. so today's picture is just for you! i donned my most ridiculous four-inch platforms just because i care.

i am a typical girl in that i have always loved shoes. a long time ago, when i was in about grade one or two, a camera crew came to our class to film a few select children for a local cable show. i have no idea why they were even there, except for i was one of the chosen few and i was holding a puppet. some lady was asking me all kinds of questions, but the entire time i was trying to speak to her through my eyes saying "whatever you do, film from the waist up. got that? waist-up only shots, lady, or i'm gonna be in big trouble!" she must have gotten my telepathic messages because when my family trekked up the street to watch the program at a friend's house when it aired, i was only filmed from the waist up, albeit with a very strange look in my eye. the reason i didn't want my feet filmed? i had traded shoes with a friend that day (blue suede clogs!) and that was a big no-no, lest my feet grow deformed cloven hooves from wearing another child's shoes for a day (or whatever real reason my parents gave me. they were likely just trying to avoid me getting some fungal disease or nasty child cootie thing.)

then there was the grade three picture which also involves a strange contortion of my face due to the fact that minutes before the picture being taken, my sandal broke. so there i stood with my foot sort of dangling off to side, looking a bit forlorn.

another shoe memory is going to zellers as a kid and begging my mum for chinese shoes. they were basically black canvas mary janes but with the wear and tear i gave my shoes they'd only last about a week before dissintegrating. i remember the last time my mum said i wouldn't be getting any more of those because i wore them out too fast. i was heartbroken. but nothing i could do or say would change her mind. so then i pined for the dr. scholl's wooden-soled flip flops. i never got any of those either, but i thought they looked so glamourous and they made a fantastic clip-clop noise when people walked in them.

fast forward over a decade and there i was in amsterdam, buying three-inch spice girls shoes. oh yeah. they looked like hovercrafts on my feet, but they turned my 5'3" height to 5'6" in mere seconds, and i became addicted. ever since, the taller the better. i wore three inch platforms throughout my entire pregnancy and even wore them to the hospital when my water broke.

so, anonymous, i am not really only a boring winter boot person after all. i will try to bust out some more variety. but i'm calling you if i break my tailbone on the ice this winter.

*****

today's look while teetering and tottering around:

purple turtleneck under dress: jacob connexion from about three years ago ($15)
striped socks: zellers, a year old ($5)
brown tights: (about $12)blue beaded necklace: value village, around five years ago (about $10)yellow polka dotted silk scarf around waist: secondhand (free)
green beaded bracelet: donated by my friend vanessa for this project - thanks! (free) (p.s.: check out her photography site!)
black platform shoes: aldo from two years ago ($125)
grand total:about $167.08

day thirty-three

i am a procrastinator. always have been, probably always will be, at least to a certain extent. i've vastly improved over the years, but it appears that i'm still not quite able willing to give up many of my last-minute habits.

my to-do list grows longer by the day, but there are just so many distractions that get in the way. you know, like reading the internet. and...reading the internet. i seem to have a little bit of a problem with that lately. i have so many things i'd love to get done. things i dream about doing all day when i really don't have the time. things i am sure i will start immediately once dinner's done and the baby's in bed and just as soon as that's all finished with, i make false promises to myself that i'll get started on the important stuff.

right after i just check my email. just for a minute, though! and double-check to see if the few blogs i read daily have been updated. and go onto twitter to see if anyone's done anything fascinating while i've been hanging out all day and eating dinner and reading books to the baby before he goes down to bed.

so, about two hours later, i'm still promising i'll hit my to-do list and swipe a few items off the list, but the damn internet has sucked me into its pit once again and now it's late and all i want to do is watch a tv show or two and then fall asleep on the couch.
oh, discipline, where have you gone? i promise tonight i'll get something important accomplished...

*****

today's look while doing something else other than what i should probably be doing:

black t-shirt under dress: old navy about four years old ($15)
brown and orange necktie worn around waist: donated by my dad for this project - thanks! (free)
black tights: (about $15)
orange necklace: aldo, can't remember how old ($10)
orange beaded bracelets: can't remember how old (about $5)
winter boots: aldo from last year (about $75)
grand total:
about $120.08

day thirty-two

i love everything about knitting. from choosing the perfect pattern to browsing my favourite local yarn shop for wool to casting on and then finally...finally...casting off the completed garment.

it's the only thing related to needles that i love. i love sifting through vintage patterns tagged with headings such as "for the well-dressed young man" that are modeled by slightly creepy-looking children wearing things such as knitted helmets and dickies. i marvel at the sheer accumulation of tiny stitches, each completed one by one. the patterns comprised of formulas only a pure mathematics genius could fathom. the detail. the concentration. the patience. oh god, the patience. it's akin to the work of monks, really.

(only without the head-shaving part.)

*****

today's look while wearing the same thing over and over again:

black turtleneck under dress: old navy, about two years old ($15)
patterned vintage silk cravat around waist: donated by my dad for this project - thanks! (free)black skirt under dress: made by my sister (free)
black knee socks: ($5)

grand total:
about $20.08