February 2014 in pictures

I did one of those photo a day challenges in February on Instagram, and it was kinda fun but I’m not sure I’d do it again. It was a little restricting, and because I’m anal retentive, I had to post each prompt every day and see the whole list out to the end. Maybe I’d dip in and out of one, but not a whole month again. At least February is a short month.

you // favourite // orange // childhood // square // C is for.. // utensil // water // details

I am… // mistake // out + about // perfect // heart // my drink of choice // create // vegetable // magic

feet // peace // funny // an act of kindness / this is where I relax // half // cut // light // my view today

reflection

And done.

Books read in February: 2 (The Rosie Project and Fresh Off the Boat), which brings my total book-reading of the year to 4. I set myself a goal of one book per month, so I’m already a third of the way to my yearly total.

Highlights: honestly, the past two weeks have been so crummy that I’ve forgotten anything good that happened. The three-day weekend was probably a good thing. Getting back on my diet (sugar-free, gluten-free, working on getting dairy-free) in the past week is a good thing. But other than that, I can’t wait for this month to be over.

Exhausted, but sparkly

February has left me so tired. The past 10 days or so have been a struggle: I slipped on ice and twisted my ankle last week (fuck you, winter), and besides that, a whole lot of shit has been stirred up (I blame Mercury in retrograde, and also the people doing the stirring), forcing me to again face my lifelong challenge of trying to not get caught up in other people’s problems and let them overtake my own life. I’m better now (moving forward, because I have to), but since my last post all I’ve wanted to do is wear leggings and oversized T-shirts, hide under the covers, and never come out.

Instead I’ve been hobbling to work, still bundled up like this:

I’m so bored of this. I’m fine with being in tights for the next too months, I’d just like to not be so cold my face hurts when I go outside.

Also because my life motto (at least when it comes to dressing) is “just because I feel like crap doesn’t mean I have to look like crap” (a variation on “fake it til you make it”/”put your best face forward”), I have not succumbed to leggings and oversized T-shirts, I have been getting dressed and putting on sparkly jewellery to make me feel better.

J.Crew Lightweight Merino V-Neck Sweater // J.Crew necklace (anyone know what it’s called?) // Kilsgaard glasses (lenses by Spectacle)

I’ve had this necklace since Christmas (picked up in Boston on sale) and I’ve worn it a lot, but here’s the first post of me wearing it. I’ve also had these new glasses for a month and haven’t commented on them either (if I had it would have been “OMG why did I choose these glasses they’re so big and hipster I’m turning into Zooey Deschanel again”). I’m more than a little behind.

Fighting winter with hot pink

Winter has been terrible pretty much everywhere (except maybe California), and I’ve joined the many who are just effing tired of it. However, I’m not a big fan of the hot sticky humid summers either, so I would still take this winter over the Australian heatwave every time. I’m trying to remember that so I stop whingeing.

I’m still protesting winter with hot pink though. We need the pop of bright colour to cheer us up.

Sorel Youth Tivoli in Bright Rose, before they got outside (they look really really clean!)

I intended to get through the rest of winter with the boots I have, but winter isn’t going away and I needed some new ones fast. It’s damn near impossible to find winter boots in my size in February (even more so now with an apparent boot shortage on the East Coast), but I fit kid’s sizes so I had a few choices. I didn’t want them to scream little girl though, unlike my first attempt:

I ordered these online where they didn’t look nearly as glittery, but when I got them I knew I couldn’t pull them off. I can’t. I just can’t. I’m not a 5-year-old girl.

Still, hooray for small feet (I wear a size 6 women’s and got a size 5 youth, which is the equivalent to 6.5-7) and paying half the price of adult Sorels.

I was trying to make do for the rest of the winter in these old furry North Face boots that my sister gave me, but they’re leaking and I end up with wet feet.

There’ll be a few more weeks of dressing like this, unfortunately.

But on the plus side, a few more weeks of prettiness.

Hey February

I’m only 10 days late.

Apparently I had a lot to say in January (well, at least for me), but now that it’s February I’m suddenly at a loss for words. I would talk/write about what I’ve been doing lately, but I think I blacked out in the last ten days because I can’t remember. Or it was just so boring it’s not worth writing about. Or I somehow got snowed under. The latter is probably more like it.

Club Monaco CeCe Cashmere Tee (Spring 2013) // J.Crew Gem Stack necklace (thanks, Lisa!) // Anthropologie Eva Franco Aniseed Skirt (2010) // Wolford tights // Tory Burch Revas

I pulled out the real camera again and attempted to take some photos, and then I realized that we can’t find the cord that connects it to the computer, so I can’t transfer any of the photos. It’s an old camera, not one of those new wifi enabled ones (which make so much sense!). So I’m stuck with iPhone pics for now, despite my best intentions.

Shameless selfies, mostly, in not the best lighting (but it does hide any skin imperfections, of which I have many!).

 

I love love love this necklace. Would have completely passed it by if I hadn’t seen it on Lisa, but it’s gorgeous. I love the combination of colours, it goes with pretty much anything.

I’ve become a soft Torontonian in the 7 years I’ve lived here, I can’t deal with a real Canadian winter anymore. I grew up in Ottawa. I’ve visited Montreal and Quebec City in the February. But Toronto is special! It shouldn’t get winter!

I took these photos walking home through Mount Pleasant Cemetery just as the snowstorm was ending. (The cemetery is beautiful, not macabre at all, I walk in there all the time.)