Oh, the Times: 2016 Styleboard

*all images from Tumblr, all videos from  YouTube

[Don't] do it for the Instagram

For all my love of social media and photography, Instagram was the one site that I avoided from the beginning. Maybe it’s because it started off as a place to share selfies and “foodie” snaps (two things which I generally don’t participate in, in any form). Maybe it’s because of the site’s issues with copyrighted content (what I make is mine and not up for grabs). Or maybe I’m just not into updating everyone on every second of my life. 

Some people would simply say that I have a “boring” life - spent entirely with my books or at work - but in reality, the hobbies that I have often aren’t translatable to the photographic medium without looking like a total poseur. In fact, the only photo that I’ve taken this month was of 3 little pelicans, all in a row while I was taking a walk, since it was just too reminiscent of a storybook rhyme not to capture evidence. (I also spotted the pair of neighbourhood muskrats, but they were too far away and swam away). 

So what else have I been doing for the last month, while conspicuously not blogging? Besides melting in the heat (blah), I’ve actually been doing quite a lot…

Moonlighting as a mail room clerk at the Ministry of Social Services before absconding for a permanent job at the Saskatchewan Archives. Sorry kids, I have loyalty, but selectively. 

Baking a ridiculous chocolate chip-pecan-caramel banana loaf as a substitute birthday cake. It was so delicious that it was devoured immediately. 

Ending a non-relationship before it got any more frustrating. 

Going through a continental Europe phase a lá Deutschland 83 and Edward Rutherfurd’s Paris. Methinks it is time to finally learn German, and start seriously planning some trips.

Feeling briefly depressed and utterly alone in the world for no abject reason. 

Scooping $60 worth of comic singles at my favourite local second hand bookshop. Shhh don’t tell my mother.

… And as always: plotting to take over the world!

I’m sure Instagram pros could figure out how to capture all of that in photographs, but really, I’m too busy enjoying my life to stop and take photos of it.

Be Awesome: a 2015 Styleboard

images from Tumblr; videos from Youtube

Urban Nomad

A month ago my boss and his wife went on a sojourn to Europe, and asked me to look after their house. I’ve stayed at their place before to dog sit - their adorable dogs Oscar & Felix are routinely referred to as my boyfriends - but never for more than a weekend. Now, you all know how much I love my own apartment, but I decided that this would be a fun experiment to see if I could handle living out of a suitcase (and away from my computer, books, regular food, and bed) for a month. After all, everyone else seems to be going on vacation, and this is the closest I was going to get for the near future. 

So I packed my Louis Vuitton mini-backpack and hopped a bus from Cathedral to Lake View. (Okay, so I took a suitcase full of carefully coordinated outfits as well. What, did you really think that I wake up looking this fabulous and coordinated?)

The first night was fabulous. Cable tv, coordinated sheets, amazing shower pressure, a stash of Northlanders graphic novels on the table (the boss is a comic book junkie too), and a case of Coke Classic in the fridge. As a treat I also ordered pizza - which is a rarity for me, since I normally make it from scratch. 

Day two was equally as wonderful. Walks in the neighbourhood park, reading in the yard, and seemingly endless episodes of Island Hunters, House Hunters International, and Property Virgins. Clearly I was developing an addiction to HGTV and being talked into the idea of buying a house (or an island). 

And let me tell, you I absolutely loved it. 

Until I hit day three. The pizza had run out and I was starting to feel an acute case of ennui. Apparently there is such a thing as too much of the same thing - even when it’s a new thing. 

So I went home (it was a long weekend). I spent the day catching up on my RSS-reading list, watching episodes of Orange is the New Black, and planning more outfits. And when I was done all that I packed up a bunch of my regular food and hopped on the Southbound bus feeling energized and ready for another volume of Northlanders. 

As I fell asleep that night on borrowed sheets I came to a stunning realization. You can be bored anywhere if you don’t have the drive or motivation to do anything else. So with that in mind, I spent the merry month of May taking many many buses between two houses, grocery shopping every few days instead of once a week, and making an effort to try new things. 

Some of these things (like experimental pasta recipes) were not a success, but I proved to myself that I can live a slightly nomadic life. I don’t think that I could pack up my life into a suitcase (girl’s got too many shoes for that, right), but I can throw a little chaos into my life without feeling too thunderstruck. 

tank top by Seductions, sunglasses by Betsey Johnson, sandals and bracelets by Aldo, mini-backpack by Louis Vuitton, earrings by Claire's, maxiskirt by Andrea Jovine Portfolio