Blogger Appreciation !!!

So the fabulous Sheila of Style Agent 909 kindly awarded me the Blogger Appreciation Award!   Thank you Sheila!

I've seen this award in the blogosphere and often wonder how it started, and whether or not the first person to get it is still blogging today?

The idea is to answer four questions and then pass on the award to someone else. 

The actual rules are:

1.  Thank the person who nominated me by linking his/her blog.
2.  Answer the four questions below
3.  Award the Blogger Appreciation Award to fellow bloggers
4.  Let the Bloggers know that you have nominated them.

So here goes: 

How long have you been blogging?
I started blogging about 6 months ago. 

Why did you start blogging?
I'm not sure why => I've been a blog reader (or lurker, haha) since about 2005. Then in 2006 when Twitter came along it was called micro-blogging and I tried the mini 140 character tweets, but didn't really like it. So I decided to try "real" blogging.

I try to refashion / macgiver things and the original idea was to blog about that and to chronicle my weight loss journey.  We are all getting laid off at my place of work next year and I set the final day as the target day for a new me.  But being a full time worker who commutes 2 hours daily, there's not a lot of time for refashion projects, and there is only so much you can say about trying to lose weight.

I have for years "logged" wardrobe choices in my agenda, and have a dream of cataloguing my clothing in some sort of database, so decided to mix that in too, et voila ... Pink Calico was born.

What type of blogs do you like to follow/read?
All sorts! Sometimes just using the "next blog" button will lead to an interesting read, but my favourites are:

• fashion / what i wore / thrifting
• refashion / crafting / sewing
• living in Spain
• IT, technology blogs
• blogs of people I actually know
• and if I like a blogger's writing style, then I will quite often read the blog, no matter the subject

What is the one thing you’d like to improve on as a blogger?
There are so many things I would love to improve.  The most important right now is probably my writing; years of writing user manuals and work aids as part of work has given me a slightly more formal tone.

And now the best part:  passing on the Blogger Appreciation Award!  There's no indication as to how many people to tag, so I will pick a few. 

Karla at My Serendipitous Life has an amazing blog filled with craft projects, recipes and random posts on life. She hasn't been blogging that long, but has already developed a following.  Her projects are all very professional, and her blog looks really nice. 

Sonya at Sonya's Mixed Media is sooo creative.  Her blog is chock full of her wonderful paper creations.  If you normally only read fashion blogs, this is a good introduction to something new.  It's full of colourful pictures and Sonya's imagination.
 
Finally, for a thrifty clothing blog, Grunge Queen is a great read.  She has an  eye for thrifty buys and her style is that fabulous timeless mix of old and new that we all aspire to.  Plus, she is moving to France! so we might see some posts on finds from fabulous French flea markets.

Big Yellow Bag

This is the same Nygard top, in fact almost the exact outfit I wore in the Wordless but Colourful post, but I switched out the necktie for my red obi scarf-belt and for such a small change, I think it looks much better.

But today's post is another bag post.  It's been on again, off again sunny vs  rainy and today looked to be a cloudy day so I wanted to use this new-to-me bright yellow Aldo bag.

I've been reading about yellow and have seen it around town, but it's not a colour I wear a lot of, so this bag was perfect.  It's got both the hand-bag handles and a shoulder strap, so just the thing for lugging my stuff. 

Here's a big pic:

I also wanted to give a big thank-you and quick shout-out to Sheila of Style Agent 909 for giving me the Blogger Appreciation Award, and will dedicate tomorrow's? post to answering the questions etc.

Blue, Peach and a Tapestry Bag

Today was a jeans day again since it was council meeting day.  I am liking jeans less and less since starting blogging - what looks good in the morning just does not look good in a photo - or it might be that I just haven't found the right style for my shape. Or my shape is just not the right style for jeans!

This combination of blue and peach is not a normal one for me.  Not sure if the scarf ties it all together or not.

But, today's post is really about this nice bag that I found.  Actually Big J found it - he knew I was looking for a bag like this, and brought it to my attention.

It is a big overnighter bag in a blue tapesty print.  It was only $4 in an animal hospital store.  I assume other than overhead, all the profit goes to the animals since there were about 4 or 5 people with "volunteer" name tags.

Here is a closeup of the bag:

The other thing I'm trying out is the watermark - I am always afraid of someone using my pics as an example of what not to wear!  What d'ya think?  Overkill?  Should I transparentize it a bit more? Does it get in the way?  I thought of putting it in a corner, but thought it could be cropped.

Today, I'm linking to Visible Monday, Monday Mingle and Thrifter's Anonymous

Floaty Tunic

Today we are thinking of going down to the states to do some shopping.  Our younger son needs new shoes - his feet are bigger than mine now!  So we thought we would grab some lunch at the buffet (great for the diet) and stop at the mall.
It is a hot day, so I have on a loose sleeveless tunic top over a tank:

I'm not sure where I got it, it was $6 and about 10 years ago, and at first I was hesitant to wear it because it felt a little bit maternity-like.  But now that everyone is wearing tunics and smocks, I've hauled it out from the back of the closet.  I quite like the flowy-ness of the top - it has two layers front and back:

But again, felt a bit bare so I put a scarf over it lol-style.  The scarf is from a Danish furniture store JYSK which is similar to IKEA. They quite often get in items which I think have been liquidated from another store.

The shoes are also quite old.  I got them for 900 pesetas in the old Continente supermarket (yes supermarket) in Spain which has since been bought out by the giant French Carrefour chain.

They are super-comfy and I always regret not buying the tan colour too.

The Blogger Zeitgeist

Being a relatively new blogger - new defined as blogging under a year or having fewer than 500 followers - I often wonder about blogging etiquette.  What are the rules?  If someone follows me, must I follow them back?  I check other bloggers and find that some have more followers than they follow, and others follow more than have followers.  I usually do try to follow back others who follow me, but only if their blog is of interest.  If the blog is just a bunch of ads for clothes or hotels, then no.

What about people who say "Follow me and I'll follow you"?  I always check out their blogs too and won't hesitate to follow, but then what if they don't follow me back?  I feel cheated.  I feel let down.  I feel that someone has broken their word.  But I continue to check their posts in my reader anyway.

When surfing the blogosphere, I must admit that I am sometimes afraid to follow people whose blogs are a good read and instead just bookmark the page.  I don't want to appear too eager, and would prefer to lurk.  I do try to follow new bloggers because I know it can be intimidating and disheartening if you think no-one is listening.

Sometimes when I want to comment, I don't - again for fear of looking like I'm fishing for followers.  And what are the rules for commenting anyway?  I see a lot of blogs with comments and yet the blogger is silent.  Is this okay?  Do they see the comments?  Why don't they answer?  In the real world I would feel rude if someone spoke to me and I ignored them.  So I try to reply to all my comments.  This brings me back to the followers, what if a blogger has too many followers and too many comments?   How can you possibly keep up?

I have other questions too.  Experts say a blog should have a theme and many blogs are very very consistent, always posting on topic: outfits, crafts, recipes, photos or what-have-you; but what if your outfit was nothing special, you didn't have time for crafts, you bought take-out and your photos were blurry? What do you do then? 

Have you asked yourself these questions?  Are there any rules? What do you do?

Today's topic is linked to: alphabe-Thursday

Wordless Outfit Post

Rainy Blue Tuesday

So much for our sunshine, it's back to rain and grey skies.  Also back to warmer clothing again.

I wore my standby tube-waist skirt, this time in black, with my scratchy turtleneck and a blue cardigan.  The last time I wore this turtleneck with a tube-waist skirt, I looked horribly boxy and thick.  This time, I'm hoping the cardigan softens the lines a bit.

Also wore a necklace by a local designer.  It's a triple-strander:

I'm hoping to be able to wear it with a nice summery dress one day.

Birthday Colours

Today in Canada, it's Victoria Day, a stat holiday (bank holiday in UK, not sure what it's called in US) to celebrate the Queen's birthday.  It's not really her birthday, just the day that we recognize that the Queen does have a birthday.

While surfing the 'net the other day, I read an interesting post about wearing your colours. I thought it had to do with our colour season (Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall), but no. In Thailand, everyone has a birthday colour, and it's supposed to be lucky if you wear your colour on your birthday or on special occasions.

I did an image search in Google to find some colour examples. There are all sorts of shade variations, and lots of different styles, so there is something for everyone.

Monday - Yellow
Tuesday - Pink
Wednesday - Green
Thursday - Orange
Friday - Blue
Saturday - Purple & Black
Sunday - Red

My birthday colour is Pink, and I love pink! What is your birthday colour and do you wear it on your birthday?   Check this link if you're not sure what day you were born: http://www.mathsisfun.com/games/dayofweek.html.

Walking on Air

What do you do about those shoes which are hard in the sole area?  Sometimes shoes have little lumps of glue which just poke into you, or they are just hard, period.  Today's post is a quick make-your-own item.

So I have some shoes which although flat, are quite hard on the soles of the feet.  I tried putting in some insoles, but they were a bit thick and made the shoes a lot tighter. 

Then, I spotted this:

This is a sheet of that bumpy squishy plastic that is used to wrap electronics.  My thrifty self thought it might work if I cut out a sole shape.

Voila!  Sooo comfy!  The shoes felt like new Docs!  You can see after a day of use how they really cushioned the feet.  And they don't eat up all the foot room.  Very pleased with this cheap way to add instant air pillows to my shoes.  And a way to re-use/recycle too!

Two Healthy, One Notso

It's Wednesday! and we are long overdue for a weight loss post, I haven't been actively trying to lose - just trying to eat fewer potato chips and more fruit and veggies.

But today, I had two healthy meals (methinks) and one not so healthy.  The day started with a cup of tea - Earl Grey, black and some cereal.  It doesn't look very good in the photo since I mixed it a bit before taking the picture - but it was yummy.

 

The strawberry-kiwi idea I stole from my Mom - we had that with our cereal in Spain.

Unfortunately lunch was a satisfying but not so healthy mortadella and pickle on sourdough sandwich and 4 leftover gyozas.  I had a strange dream last night of tons of oversized people slathering butter on their bread, so made sure to use very little.

Then for dinner, a high protein meal of chicken breast, chickpeas, shrimp, tomatoes and a few olives.  No dressing or sauce, but yummy.

Yes, it's the same bowl - I did wash it though.

Today's healthy snacks: 2 yogurts and 2 bananas (for my potassium levels)
Beverages today were: Earl Grey tea, green tea, water with lemon

So to end the day, I did a weigh-in and was pleasantly surprised to see that I am down 5 pounds from my initial weight! Now at 158, so another 28 pounds to go to reach 130 which is my doctor's recommendation.

I am hoping to lose a bit faster over the summer months:

• more heat = less eating
• more body conscious clothing = less likely to want to eat
• better weather = urge to go for walks

Today, I'm linking to Wednesday Whites and Welcome Wednesday.

Baroque and Old Gold

Do you ever in your shopping excursions buy something that you think you will hardly ever use, but you buy it anyway because you LOVE it?

So it was with this handbag. I don't know whether it was the baroque fabric or the old gold look of the hardware - it just caught my eye. 

Even the innards were a pretty leopard print, and it came with a little compact mirror too.  I couldn't put it down.  It might've actually called to me until I bought it.  Does that ever happen to you?

I've used it only once because it is a touch smaller than I like; since it was only $6 and there was 50% off on top, I still think it is a good buy.  Have you bought stuff that you just love but don't actually use?

Argyle-icious

When you go to the dentist, they always have you lie back in that chair and then tilt it backwards.  So, today, I left my hair down again for just that reason.  

Ever since the face plant last month, between dentist, periodontist and prosthodontist, I've been about 5 times already.  There's another year or so of dental work required so you'll probably see more loose hair styles for a bit.

Today's outfit is my usual tube-waist skirt but with a bright argyle vest.  The vest is from the mercadillo in Spain and I just put a Costco t-shirt under it.  I am still wearing thick tights - although the scabs have all healed up nicely, there are still dark bruises on my knees which you can even see under the tights!

I even had a jacket but it was a bit hot for the weather, so I ended up carrying it everywhere.

Linking to Patti's Visible Monday and Monday Mingle at Momtrends.

What's In a Name?

Have you ever thought about how (or if) your name affects your personality, your character or your outlook on life? 

I was observing today that a majority of the women in positions of authority in my department have names which start with a K sound!  Whether the name starts with a C or a K, the sound is the hard explosive K.  (Caitlin vs Cynthia) Very strange.  

So I started thinking,  do our names affect how we interact with others?  Are Barbies, Suzies and Vickys friendlier or more fun than Barbaras, Susans and Victorias?  Are the Decimas and Perseidas of the world destined to be statisticians or research scientists?  

What do you think?  Do you think your name has made you what you are?

Big J thinks I usually dress conservatively and sometimes a little weirdly, and I wonder if it's because my name is more serious and not as common?   I hope today's outfit is just conservative and not weird.

After yesterday's fiasco, even though it was a sunshiney day, I wore long-sleeves and a good thing too - it was still quite cold.  This is the altered skirt again. The shirt is a bit big on me, but it was a gift and it has some nice lol-embroidery around the neck.

 

Big Shoes and a Neck-Scarf Belt

A slight error in judgement in choosing today's outfit:  I based it on the sunlight streaming in through the window.  It was super sunny this morning so I hauled out something with short sleeves. Big. Mistake.

With 46 kmh winds, it was cold out.  Goosebumps galore. Luckily I went with thicker tights due to still having big (and lumpy) scabs on my knees. 

I don't usually like to have such a contrast with tights and shoes, but had a notion that the oval space made by the straps on the shoes would sort of match the oval pattern on the skirt.  You be the judge.

I've been looking for heel grips for these shoes because they are a touch big but $6.99 seems a bit pricey for two little pieces of gummy stick-ons.  And who knows when they will go on sale?

So today, I got some leather insoles from Dollarama - I bought men's size 11 (bigger insoles = more material) and my plan is to cut out some heel grips and stick them on using Big J's construction glue.  I thought of using leather pieces, but don't think it would be thick enough - the insoles have a bit of padding which should just work fine.