I have to clarify. It wasn't my birthday. That was last month. My blogging friend, Nicole of Mercantile 519 reached out to me and invited me to her 25th birthday last weekend at local petting zoo, agricultural shop and general fun time extravaganza, Colasanti's in Leamington, Ontario.

I was a little worried about going at first, since I literally wouldn't know a single person there (not even the person inviting me!) but Nicole and I hit it off instantly. It just must be that innate camaraderie that comes with blogging!

Outfit Details

Coat - Plaid About You Coat - Tulle

Shirt (underneath, you can see the bow dangling out) - Barista in the City Top in Red - Modcloth (sold out but still available in Black and Jade)

Jeans - Silvers, given to me by sister

Boots - Wal-Mart

Hat - Icings

If you like Nicole's outfit and would like the details, you can head over to her blog and ask away! I'm 99% certain she knit the scarf herself.

The goats were mad aggressive! Of course we wanted to feed the little, cute ones, so when we'd give them food, the big ones would come and head butt them out of the way. Sometimes, the little ones would just be standing around, minding their own business and a super resentful, big goat would just flip him over for no reason! Such jerks!

The guy outside with the horns was insane. I think he may have head butted too many things. He doesn't look all there. The little deer was so cute! It would prance alongside you and follow wherever the food went.

As for other things going on in my life, I've been feeling sort of blah. One of my huge goals for New Year's was to take blogging photos outside. Unfortunately, we've been pelted with the worst weather in my memory. It's freezing cold walking around bundled up in a parka and other winter attire. I feel sick to my stomach if I take my gloves off for a second to do anything. It's hovered around -15 to -25C (that's between 5 F and -13 degree F for the Americans reading this.) Basically, there is no way outfit photos are happening outside. It really dampened my spirits because it was such a huge goal for me, and even though doing backend website stuff was a goal too, I felt really defeated not being able to do what I initially wanted. I thought about shooting my planned outfits at my parent's house like I had been originally doing, but it just didn't seem good enough. It was like I was going to give up if I couldn't do it perfect.

I literally was on the verge of giving up. I'm one of those people if I can't give 100%, I don't want to do it at all. I don't do things  half way. Which is why I think my house is always a pig sty. When I do clean it, it has to be immaculate. No half hearted straightening up. I have to go Martha Stewart on everybody, like I was sent personally from Pinterest. It's so hard to remember that it's okay to do a little bit, things don't have to be perfect, etc. What actually got me motivated to write this post is what my fortune cookie had said. I threw the paper out so I don't remember what it says exactly but it was something like, "You have to believe in yourself before others will." Yes! I'm so doubtful of my abilities. I know I'm not the talent queen but I never even give myself a chance. Must start really working on that last New Year's goal more - be positive. If only it were that easy! I may have already cancelled my Pic Monkey subscription but it's not too late yet! I can still bounce back from the negativity and get back in the game.

How are your New Year's goals going? Which ones are you having the most trouble with?

Top photo - Image credit: cole123rf / 123RF Stock Photo

Colasanti's photos - courtesy of Candace McCort

Happy 2014! I Resolve To Do Something!

While making my rounds on Bloglovin', I noticed a trend of 2 types of blog posts - 2013 year wrap ups and 2014 resolutions. This is going to be the latter type of post because when I contemplated doing a 2013 wrap, I realized I haven't done ANYTHING at all this year. I don't know if it's because I didn't start blogging until August, so my memory is kind of fuzzy before that, but it literally seems like I didn't do anything this year. I had a journal in 2012 that marked different events that I could refer back to, but that doesn't help me for 2013! Plus, I don't even post Facebook statuses all that often so it's not even like I can mark certain events by looking at that. I've posted 7 statuses since October including such topics as my dirty carpet, how annoying fruit flies are (shows you what state my apartment was in!) and how it's a terrible idea to see The Wolf of Wall Street with your dad.

Some events I have been able to remember have been starting this blog (hurray!) my Papa dying, since it has been the first major death I've ever had to deal with, and my brief stint volunteering at Full Circle Vintage, which taught me a lot about retail and was a really cool experience. Ultimately I decided I didn't have time to do both that and blogging and chose to go this route instead.

Many other bloggers are doing a kind of 2013 wardrobe wrap up. However, I just did my fall wrap up (since I've pretty much only been blogging for the season anyways) but just turning 29 made me think of the bigger picture. How I've grown and changed over the years. Not just this past year but over many years! I've gathered some pictures of New Years past and put them side by side so you can see the evolution. I think I've changed a lot, which is so strange because whenever I run into somebody I haven't seen in awhile (ex. high school) they always tell me I look the exact same, no matter what current state I'm in.

2007 with my ex Mike, there is no 2008 because I was sick that year, 2009 with my friend Candice, 2010, 2011 with Mike again, pin up girl in 2012 and flapperiffic in 2013.

It's interesting to note that in the first two pictures I'm wearing 2 different tops that are the exact same colour and style. But not the same top! Talk about being in a style rut.

There's no 2014 photo because I fell asleep while getting ready. Who does that? THIS GIRL! I would have worn the dress I wore in my flapper outfit post a few weeks ago, if you wanted to get a mental picture.

As for resolutions, I'm probably going to discontinue the monthly ones, since I never seem to do them anyways. Update on last month's - I typed up half a library book and probably am just going to return the rest. I uploaded my stuff to Trend Trunk AND to eBay but have gotten no sales, so I'm probably going to pull everything and give my items to a friend. I didn't use apple cider vinegar for any beauty needs but I drowned some fruit flies in it. My bar appearances were hit and miss (one week, I went 4 times) but overall, I still hardly went. I didn't even go on the big holidays like Christmas, NYE or my birthday (though I did celebrate the day after.) I did write slightly more blog posts than I normally do! And this is why I'm stopping the monthly goals. Because I don't do any of them!

Oh well, onto the 2014 resolutions! I decided it was super important to make these, especially considering how little I did in 2013.

1) Improve photos - this is actually a huge goal and probably the most multi-attack and detailed one of my goals. It's actually more of an "improve blog" kind of goal, but I just wanted to keep it simple for the list. I want to start taking outfit photos outside (which is why I need to start buying cardigans aka separates, see 3) so my photos will look nicer. There's just something about indoor photos that are kind of "meh." Of course I know me and my outfit are supposed to be the focus of the photograph but a nice background can really make or break a picture. I must start working on that! I'm just such a suck when it comes to cold weather. 

Other photography related things I'd like to do is learn more about Photoshop. I use basic editing features on Pic Monkey right now and I'd like to learn more advanced things involving layering and such. I'm going to play around with some of these tutorials I found on Stumble Upon. There's 350 of them - that should keep me busy!

In general blog related stuff, I'm going to try the Problogger 31 Day Challenge and also work on adding ALT image tags to old posts and cleaning up the label tags on my posts. I'm missing labels all together (like I don't have a label for "beauty" or "Instagram") yet I have labels for "Factoid", "trivia" and "books." I only talk about random trivia books on here! Talk about duplication!

2)  Do P90X - this is actually my boyfriend's idea and I think it's a terrible one. I don't think we are physically fit enough for that shizz. I haven't personally looked to see what the exercises entail, but all I know is that my fit and trim friends say it kicks their butts. How the heck are we going to pull this off? I do need to get in shape though because half my closet no longer fits (and I refuse to part with it!) so I guess I have to make it fit somehow!

3) Buy separates instead of dresses. This goes back to number 1. A huge deterrent to me photographing outside right now is I'm essentially modelling summer dresses with no way to keep warm. I don't have a coat to match every outfit and I have no cardigans. I need to stop buying dresses (although it's so hard when you can scoop them up on eBay for $10!) and start buying things I can use like cardigans, coats, blouses, skirts, scarves, leggings and purses.

4) Be more social - in every sense. Sometimes I just shut people out, ignore e-mails, hide in my room, never do anything. I just need to get out more. See my friends. Be around people. Maybe start blogging in a coffee shop, the library or at the mall so I'm not such a shut in. I'd also like to get more social on my social media. My Twitter lays dormant, there's crickets on my Instagram and I forget to advertise half my posts on Facebook. Must work harder at this!

5) Maintain clean house - I say maintain because it's actually clean right now! I've mentioned in past posts what a disaster my house typically is, but my mom came over the night before NYE and we cleaned for about 5 hours and I cleaned for another 5 more after she left. I just have to remember to rinse dishes, not throw my garbage on the floor and I should be good, right?

6) Start doing crafts - I'm starting to get a creative itch and I need to scratch it. I come across so many tutorials online and some of them seem so easy, I wonder why I haven't taken up crafting before. This year, I'm going to attempt to make a craft (or better yet, a recipe!) that I have found on Pinterest or in BUST magazine.

7) Buy art - I always had a few pieces of art in my living room, but the walls in my bedroom remained white forever. I vow to change this. I already have this piece by my friend Justine, have my pimped out Modcloth bulletin board and have plans to add some girly art from this Etsy seller (my favourites are this girl reading a book and this cute pug on a couch.) I would also die to have that Great Gatsby cut out from my Etsy Flapper picks post and the Meow-nt Rushmore Print from Modcloth.

8) Stay positive - Reading some of my entries, I notice I nit-pick about EVERYTHING and apologize and explain everything I do. I need to stop doing that because I'm sure people won't notice what's wrong with every blog post I write. Like, if I take a set of pictures and then post them 3 weeks later, I don't need to explain! I can pretend they were from that day. Many people do. I don't need to point out every flaw or discrepancy. I do like being honest and true to myself but there comes a point where it's a downer to read and I'm starting to realize that. If I'm having a rough day and can't stay upbeat, perhaps I will skip blogging that day. I wanted to increase the amount of blog posts I wrote last month but I realized that isn't always better. I just made more sale and wishlist type posts (which I'm realizing are okay in the short term but don't have much longevity once the links expire.) 

That went into blogging zone, but yeah. Stay positive, in general. Be happy, be yourself, don't apologize for it. That is my goal for this year. On my birthday, I wore a super crazy outfit (no pictures but I may re-create it for a later blog post.)  Everyone came up to me and complimented, not on my outfit but on my bravery to wear it! I guess I looked really zany, but I felt so happy, just not caring, just wearing what I wanted, just spewing rainbows. 

If I don't do anything else this year, I'd like to spew rainbows.

Hope you all had a happy New Year!!!