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. 

Ostrich Embellishment

As it looks like summer is fast approaching, it's time for a quick refashion.  Take one nubby fringed tank:

Some ostrich trim and 99 cent thread:

Sew by hand, et voila!

I wasn't sure if I would need more trim, so soaked it to see how it would hang after a wash:

Project Post-mortem:

• Perhaps add additional trim just at the top of the shoulders
• and maybe one layer at the back of the neck

Hopefully we will have some warm sunny days so I can wear this!

Necklace Overload

It is finally getting a touch warmer these days.  I wasn't sure about today's outfit - thinking it might be overly cool temperature wise.

The t-shirt is sleeveless, but has a built-in necklace.  It has a droopy sort of neckline too, which felt a bit bare so I decided to go overboard on the necklaces and added another one.

 
It still felt overly exposed, perhaps because of the long months with turtlenecks and scarves.  Here is a closer look:

The sweater is actually about 4 or 5 years old; it was only $8! from a liquidator (since closed).  I liked it for the knitty, crochet-y-ness and the hoodie:

And of course, the visibleness (for Patti's Visible Monday linkup) are both the stripey tights and the loose hair.  Also linking to Glamamom.

Fourth Outfit

My Fourth outfit was a flea market find.  The mercadillo in Spain has all sorts of items: new, old, liquidations, damaged etc.  This particular item was new, but as winter was already over when I was there, it was marked down to €5. 

I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a dress or a tunic, but I felt more comfortable wearing it as a tunic.  It was still a bit cold, so I wore a long-sleeved brown t-shirt under it. 

Most of my long-sleeved tees are from Costco - you get 2 Kenneth Cole tees for about $9.  They are nice and thin, stretchy and come in all sorts of colours.

I just checked the price of the lower-shaft Docs here and they are slightly more than the price I paid for my knee-high ones, so I'm doing a little happy dance (inside my head).

Swanky Lunch

We had a lovely buffet lunch today compliments of the company.  It was at Griffins which is in one of the better hotels here in Lotusland.  

I didn't want to look like a slob, so decided to wear a nice jacket.  It's a Tevrow+Chase which is a Canadian line but I got it from Winners - the local equivalent of TJ Maxx. 

I even wore shoes with heels.

The fun element today, hidden from view was my Disneyland T-shirt.

And I added a lolbrooch (little-old-lady brooch).  This was the other 2 for 2 item I got the other day with my former colleague.

I have always liked lolbrooches ever since I was small when my little brother found one on the ground and gave it to me.  Little did he know how that simple gesture would trigger a lolbrooch obsession.

Thick Woolly Tights

Today's outfit is a rag-tag assortment of miscellaneous pieces and I'm not very happy with it. I love the neutral colours, but don't think they look very good on me.

This was not my first choice this morning, but at the last second I changed my mind and put this on, so perhaps a bit of a mistake.


The pose reminds me of the scene in the Sound of Music, where the Von Trapp family is at the Salzburg Music Festival, though I look more like Fraulein Schweiger who took 3rd place. 

And to top it off, I only had 1 pair of those Euro tights in a beigey colour which as you know got damaged in the fall.  I knew I should've bought more than one pair in that colour!  Thus, the medieval thick woollen stockings look. 

The skirt is my usual tube-waist skirt, which from the photo, I think would look better with a shorter, more fitted top. The mock-turtle is an ancient hand-me-down - it's that weird material that is both stretchy and scratchy.  Excluding the shoes - which themselves were already on sale for boxing day and bogos to boot, the jacket was the most expensive clothing item but only $6 from a liquidator's. 


I tried it with this neckace which is from a local designer.  It came with earrings but I didn't wear them.

I'm trying a larger size of photo, so hopefully it will show more details.

A Purple Sort of Day

When I was little, one of my favourite books was Harold and the Purple Crayon. Harold was a little boy who went around drawing what he needed in his own world - all with a purple crayon.

I always thought of purple as a regal colour - not sure why because it's blue that is called "royal".

So today I felt rather purple and wore this:

I went against my natural inclination for black and teamed it with a charcoal grey skirt.  This grey skirt has a thrifty story behind it.  I bought it at Costco at full price, but did not take off the tags.  Then, a few weeks later it got reduced to almost 50%, I still had the receipt, so I bought another one and returned the original!

The original plan was to go with a red short sleeved top under the sweater, but I nixed that for long sleeves and wore a red belt instead. 

I never would've thought red and purple would go, but it looks okay doesn't it?.