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

Meanwhile on Instagram - December + Happy Birthday to Me!

Hello readers! Now that we are wrapping up the holiday season, I thought I would wrap up the month with my monthly Instagram feature. I considered doing a yearly wrap-up Instagram feature, but I've only been using Instagram since August (when I started my blog) and it still hasn't become a natural part of my day to be posting on there. I'm just not naturally a shutterbug. Some people take out their camera to document everything (and then have an internet data plan to post photos on the run.) I just take photos randomly sometimes and then forget to upload them. Then later I look at the photos and am like, "Why did I take this picture?" So much of it seems dumb in retrospect. It's almost like you need that element of spontaneity for Instagram to be magical. Other people on my feed are anything but spontaneous - their feed is a carefully thought out portfolio and that's okay too. Their's are really pretty to look at.

(Looking at this collage, a lot of pictures from past Hallowe'ens and a zombie picture made it in. Umm... where's my Christmas spirit? Haha, oh well.) If you'd like to follow, I can be on Instagram @coinforthewell.

Top Row L-R

1) Giving kisses to zombies at an exhibit at the Monroeville Mall (the location where Dawn of the Dead was filmed.)

2) Doing some mad promotion for Blogger Fashion Week (I was a featured blogger) for Canadian consignment brand Trend Trunk

3) My "craft" center (mostly untouched items. Oh well, it looks cute at least! And my niece appreciates the fashion plates.) Featuring Fiona Hewitt products, a "What to Wear" nopepad by Knock Knock (which I had forever but didn't actually begin to use until I started blogging. It's the perfect way to plan outfits!) Also, a copy of The Button Factory. I haven't opened it in 2+ years, but I'm considering it. My purse is covered in Modcloth buttons. What's a few more?
Second Row L-R
4) Used a Hallowe'en picture from 2008 (so I'm 23 there!) to advertise for flapper week on my Instagram. Tried to make it Art Deco-ey by making it triangular, black and white and crackly. This was when I was deep in my Hello Kitty phase. It's actually a Hello Kitty flapper dress. It came with kitty ears headband and had a Hello Kitty patch on the skirt.
5) My parents took this picture of a cat on their fence. My parents like to take pictures of all the critters who live in their yard.
6) I hosted my first giveaway and I'm so happy with how it turned it! Congrats to winner, Brittany Epifane on snagging the $25 gift card!
Third Row L-R
7) I've been sleeping a lot this winter so I used this old photo of me and my cat, Merlin to demonstrate my feelings on things.
8) Received this postcard from Modcloth and it made me happy!
9) Got my mom a Modcloth dress for Christmas! So happy that I'm turning on the entire family to Modcloth. My mom now owns 2 dresses (the one above and this one) and a pair of boots. My grandma has this purse. I don't know if my sister has anything personally but she bought her hubby this t-shirt, after she fell in love with mine. Woot! Converting everyone.
Last Row L-R
10) A picture of my dog with a lady dressed as Santa at PetSmart a few years ago. This was the good photo. The other one, he wasn't having it.
11) A photo of what I thought was the Stanley Cup, at a Costco. Except it wasn't. The cashier had to dash my hopes and tell me it was just a replica. I should have known the Stanley Cup would never be in Windsor! Especially in a Costco of all places.
12) I posted this old Hallowe'en picture of me being Slave Leia (hanging myself by my chain) on an especially exasperated day. I'm feeling much better!

I celebrated my birthday with all the ladies of my fam last night. We went to The Keg. They weren't too impressed with me because I headed out there in sweat pants, sans make-up and without combing my hair. My sister put some jeans on me but I still wouldn't put on make-up or comb my hair. My birthday, my way! I just wanted to be comfy. Plus we were already running almost 30 minutes late for our reservation. Imagine if I had gotten prettied up?

Yes, I realize I'm a total goof. But I really like food. Then I proceeded to go home and eat doughnuts with my friends. Overall a good birthday!

Well, that's all for me! Talk to you soon!

Modcloth Giveaway! Plus More Flapper Fun

My birthday is coming up this week so I thought I would celebrate by giving a gift back to my readers! I couldn't think of a better thing to do than sharing my love of Modcloth. I'm giving away a $25 gift card to one lucky reader! It's the perfect time for this gift card with Modcloth's 50% off sale (it goes on until the first week of January.) You can really get a lot of bang for your buck! I was able to buy some cute pug earrings and an adorable cartoon style skirt that I've been eyeing forever for $30 shipped (I had a coupon as well.) I could have gone a little crazy on some navy coats (I've been dying for one) but opted that maybe I will get one after I actually get my birthday money!

Anyways, to enter, all you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter widget below! Since it's just a gift card that is e-mailed out, the contest is open to everybody! International peeps included. Contest ends December 27th (on my birthday.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
In other news, I went out and hung out with some peeps at the bar, which is so, so great. I've been such a recluse that it's great that I got out. I didn't take any pictures because that would be weird if I haven't seen any people in awhile and I suddenly bombarded them with wanting to take pictures for blogging purposes. But we just hung out and played darts. I can't believe I won at darts last time I played! I could barely get any to hit the board. Even the board AROUND the board. They just kept bouncing off and hitting the floor.

For New Year's, I would love to host a flapper themed party. I have so many flapper style dresses and I'm super into the music right now. So is my boyfriend! That is why I'm super bummed that Baz Lurhmann's Gatsby didn't go that route. Boardwalk Empire is much, much better in that regard. My boyfriend plays several video games that has old timey music and I just eat it up. It's so good! I made a playlist featuring some music so hope you enjoy it!

 

And just for fun, I thought I would post this video! It's 100 years of fashion in 100 seconds! Neat right?

That's all for me! Talk soon!

Check out the rest of my flapper posts here!
Three Gatsbys For the Price of One
Flapper Fun Brought to You by Etsy
Bright Young Facts
Flapper Finale

Making the Best of a Poufy Situation

Last week, I wore this Modcloth dress I got on eBay for the very first time. What was the hold up you ask? It just was NOT flattering. It originally had a big, obnoxious crinoline underneath that I promptly cut out to reduce the pouf factor, but it was still bad. I then took it to my tailor so she could reduce the volume further (take out the crinoline right where it started, as I had missed about an inch AND reduce some of the fabric in the lining.) The result? Almost there. I started to get sad that this adorable dress, a dress that I really liked on the hanger, but not on me, was never going to get worn.

 

As you can see in the photos below, calling this dress tent shape would be a compliment. It's more like an igloo shape! Even my boyfriend was like, "Wow hun, you're taking these photos for your blog? That dress is NOT flattering." I know babe, I know. At least I achieved the desired effect I wanted by taking these photos (I took these at 5am, so please excuse that. I left out the ones where I looked like a pregnant lady from the 1970s. Between bad lighting and poofy retro style dress, I guess that's what happens!)

As bad as this dress was, I was really intent on wearing this dress to the bar last Saturday (despite it being a summer dress) and I originally was going to pair it with a white shirt underneath in a pinafore type style. Unfortunately, my white shirt wasn't clean (along with about 8 other loads of laundry.) I decided to try a different take and was pleased with the results, mostly because it matched pretty well!

Outfit Details

Dress - Time For a Refresher Dress by Esley - Modcloth (discontinued)

Sweater - Crystal Clear Cardigan by Yumi - Modcloth (discontinued)

Purse - Purple Plummage Purse by Nica - Modcloth (discontinued)

Shoes - vintage Ferragamos

Earrings - Le Chateau

Belt - from another dress

That will be all my Saturday Shenanigans for a bit. My brother in law injured his arm at work and can't lift my niece or nephew so I have to go over to do the heavy lifting during bath time and bed time. It's not like I'm going to mourn the loss of my Saturday night. I haven't been going out much anyhow.

In other news, I finally got my business cards in! They look really pretty, but unfortunately I messed up the QR code thingy (either made it too small, distorted the proportions or it's just unreadable because of the paper I got it printed on.) I'll definitely spring for the nicer paper and rounded edges next time, after a few alterations. If you would like to see what inspired me to make these, check out this post on Sincerely Sara and the tutorial on Essentially Eclectic.

That's all for me! Just a pop in! Maybe my Movie Monday this week will be a Curious George movie, hahah. Talk soon!

Meanwhile on Instagram - November

I decided to make my Instagram updates a monthly feature. Although, true story, I didn't post on my Instagram account for half the month because I got booted out each time I went to upload a pic. It turns out the solution was to just turn my phone off and on so that all my apps would shut down (so that my phone wouldn't be so bogged down) but I'm not super technologically inclined and it took me literally half the month to figure this out. Most of the pics I uploaded to Instagram this month didn't even OCCUR this month, but that's when I posted them, therefore they get to be included in this post!

Top Row
1) While my mom was cleaning, she found this caricature I had done on my 11th birthday (in 1995) at Busch Gardens in Florida. I remember at the time, I didn't quite understand what the point of a caricature was and was quite horrified that I actually looked like that!
2) I took a picture of this painting after I finally got it framed (the frame is part of an early Christmas gift from my parents.) I got the print myself a few months ago from my friend, Justine. When I said I like cats in glasses, I'm not kidding! She has them for sale on her Storenvy account so if you would like one for yourself, that is totally possible!
Second Row
3) When going to the airport the other day to pick up my grandma, my mom made a pit stop at a CVS to get some Chex mix (which has mysteriously disappeared off our local shelves! NOOOO!) I saw these "Canada" mints and could not stop laughing. I know it's a super simple concept but I never viewed Canada as a novelty before.
4) This is my current Facebook cover photo and this was a scenario of me trying to look for anything to post on Instagram (knowing I was making this post today.) This picture is from when I went to Pittsburgh (on my trip centered around my visit to the Modcloth offices.) My ex, Mike and I also popped by the Monroeville Mall, the mall where the original Dawn of the Dead was filmed. The food court used to be a skating rink. Therefore, I'm "skating" in the food court (and getting a lot of weird looks.)
Third Row
5) Modcloth had a fun little challenge on Instagram (hashtag "modweekofthanks") where each day, you posted a picture that fit that day's theme. This was my picture for the food theme. Because I love pizza. This was a picture from our anniversary dinner. In related news, the pizza giving up has not been going well, but I'll update more on that tomorrow.
6) More of the "modweekofthanks" challenge. This day's topic was a lesson I had learned (and it's a good lesson!)
Fourth row
7) Another "modweekofthanks" (if it weren't for that, I don't know if I would have posted anything this month!) The subject was "view or landscape that makes you feel at ease." It doesn't look like much of a landscape. It's not pretty, or a landmark but it's the bar where all my friends go. And that always puts me at ease.
8) One day while walking home from the library, I spotted this pop vending machine for sale in someone's driveway. I thought it was funny (especially since Molson is one of the selections!) but would only think that price was worth it if it came with an unlimited pop supply.
Fifth Row
9 and 10) On my blog post about the Retro Suites, I used a lot of photos of the hotel from the business Facebook page rather than ones I had taken myself. So I posted them on Instagram instead.
Sixth Row
11) A "modweekofthanks" post of an animal I like. And duh, that would be Skippy!
12) While cleaning out my closet, finding clothes to sell on my Trend Trunk profile, I kept falling in love with everything I was trying on. Oh, the life of a clothes hoarder! I don't even think I've ever worn this!
Seventh Row
13 and 14) What was supposed to be a Shenanigans Saturday post. And this was the material I had to work with.

That's all for me! I'm sitting down to write some goals for tomorrow's post and one is definitely to post on Instagram more! You can follow me @coinforthewell. Talk soon!

Confessions of a Blogger

Ella from Paper Umbrella tagged me last week in a "Confessions of a Blogger" post so I thought I would answer some of the questions for you. I don't really have a day of the week that's for personal posts so I thought I would stick it under the Shenanigans section. Close enough, right?

1. When did you first start blogging and why?

I started this blog in the middle of August this year. I started it for a few reasons. One reason was that I felt I wasn't well rounded enough - I spent all my time online on Modcloth and eBay. As much as I loved doing that, I wanted some motivation to do other things. I felt if I had a place to document my adventures, if I had something to hold me accountable to going out thrifting, going out with friends, watching and reviewing movies, then I would be a more rounded person. Also, in contrast, I kind of wanted it as a justification for my shopping (admittedly, a total shopaholic here!) I used to DJ once a week and had a good excuse for a new dress all the time. Now that I wasn't going out as much, having new fancy dresses seemed kind of pointless. If I was photographing them for a blog, at least they would be getting some mileage.

2. Have you had any past online presence?

I have accounts on just about every platform there is! Of course, the usual suspects like Facebook and Pinterest but I used to have a pretty lengthy journal that I wrote daily on a FitDay account when I was 16-18 years old and another daily journal written on MySpace when I was 20-21.

3. When did you become serious about your blog?

I tried to take it seriously from the beginning. I paid for blog design after the first week (after about 3 entries) and read tons of other blogs to see what I could learn from them. I tried to treat it like a job, although it's nice because when I lose my motivation, I can take breaks or days off whenever I please.

4. What was your first blog post?

It was a very, very short blog post just explaining where the name of the blog came from. I wrote a Factoid Friday post shortly after but deleted it because it was absolutely terrible, mostly because there were too many downer facts about death and spiders.

5. What have been your biggest challenges blogging?

Getting out to take pictures! I wake up really late (total night owl here) and by the time I get up, it's dark out. On days I do get up early enough, it's often too cold. Canada is not the greatest place for blogging.

6. What is the most rewarding thing about blogging?

I love the networking and socializing aspect. I love when I comment on people's blogs and they comment back (although I'm admittedly bad at doing that, oops!) But I also love when I'm not sure how to do something (usually certain HTML type things) and I google it and then follow it step by step. And it works. I know it's laid out for me, plain and simple but seeing it work and doing it for myself just feels magical.

7. What is the most discouraging thing about blogging?

Most people I know don't take it seriously. They think it's no work at all. I try to emphasize that it's a lot of work, hours and hours a day, but they just think I laze around. It's hard to change people's opinions of me, but c'est la vie.

8. What is your lasting inspiration or motivation?

I take motivation from so many people! The blogs I find most inspirational are Scathingly Brilliant, mermaidens, Ahoy Miss,  Keiko Lynn and The Clothes Horse. I take a little bit of inspiration from all the blogs on my blog roll though. They all have such great fashion, photography, writing and blog layouts.

9. What is your blogging dirty secret?

I don't really have blogging dirty secrets! I'm still learning from everybody else. However, if you are into Etsy and have Etsy weekly or monthly favourite picks, whenever you come across an Etsy store that a blogger owns, look at their items, plus their favourites (items and stores.) Seeing picks from other fashionable ladies is a good way to add to your own favourites. I do this all the time and my "likes" on Etsy have grown substantially!

10. What is your current goal as a blogger?

I'm kind of vague on the goals right now. I'd like to reach 100 posts to show that I can commit to something (I'm really bad to sticking to anything.) I also would like to reach 1000 monthly views through banner swaps and advertising on social media.

11. Have you learned or become passionate about anything through blogging that caught you by surprise?

I'm interested in HTML and want to learn it for real. Also surprisingly have become interested in stationery (must be all that browsing on Etsy!)

I'm tagging

Camille of The Corner Sweetheart
Pamada of just.pandippo
Christine and Jenna of 2 Girls 1 Outfit
Elana of Room 334

That's all for me! Talk soon!

Retro Wedding Fun Time

This past weekend, I attended an out of town wedding (okay, slightly out of town, it was about 45 minutes away from me in Chatham, Ontario) with my boyfriend Logan. It was the first time I met his extended family and it was quite a hoot! I didn't take pictures of them (because that would be weird) but they are a bunch of pranksters. I see where Logan gets it from. They spent most of the night pulling my leg and laughing at how gullible I am.

Later in the night, we retreated back to where we were staying, the bride, Stacy's house (or was it her husband to be Donnie's house? I wasn't sure. Either way it doesn't matter.) The ladies stayed inside and drank copious amounts of wine (and juiceboxes for me) and the men partied outside in the shed. However, the one bridesmaid, Melinda is in my camp and is not a frequent drinker. She uh... got tanked and went outside to try to party with the gentlemen. My boyfriend, a bouncer, tried to throw her over his shoulder bouncer style, and being too drunk himself, dropped her into a bunch of tools. So the matron of honor had a black eye for the big day. Oh, and my boyfriend also fell asleep completely naked (being drunk, he lost his clothing piece by piece throughout the night. I urged him to at least sleep in his boxers but he didn't seem concerned.) Sleeping on the basement floor in an open area with 3 teenage children, girlfriends sleeping over, and bridesmaids crashing for the night made for lots of laughs in the morning... because I'm a total covers hog.

Now for the wedding itself, I was in LOVE with the location. It was at the Retro Suites and the place is totally up my alley. I took a few pics but realized mine are really crappy compared to what the Retro Suites has posted on their Facebook and business page so I decided to borrow some of their's. Check this place out!

We actually never saw the front (that's the back pictured above) but it looks pretty cool.

My boyfriend and I are thinking maybe for our anniversary next year we'll go here. They have a bunch of different themed rooms and it seems really fun. Who would think that someone would intentionally travel to Chatham?

Outfit Details

Dress - Prettiest of All Dress - Modcloth

Shoes - Mel Shoes
Necklace - vintage
Coat (further down) - Miss Patina
Jeans - Stitches
Purse - vintage

I don't know about you, but at weddings I take tons of selfies. I just don't know what to do while I'm sitting there. I look like crap in these. I didn't even try to edit them to make myself look good. I wanted to show how tired I was. I had my dog earlier in the week and he's a pro at keeping me up. So no sleep while he was visiting.  I didn't get much sleep with the drunken shenanigans (my boyfriend crawled into bed at about 5am and then the ladies were up at 7am to start getting their hair done.) I was so, so tired. But I'm pretty sure I always am at wedding. Most weddings, I sneak out and nap in the car.

I amused myself for awhile with the jelly beads from the centerpieces (what IS this?) and then looked terrified when my boyfriend caught me. Haha. I think this should be my Facebook profile picture. I still have my Wednesday Addam's look posted as an homage to Hallowe'en.

We didn't take many photos of the bride and groom (seriously, most of the camera were of my boobs.) I am narcassistic. And Logan's a pervert.

Photo Credit - Retro Suites

Photo Credit Retro Suites

Photo Credit Retro Suites

Right before leaving, I snapped some shots of the lobby. They have so many cool things! The red thing in the Retro Suites photo was this really old flip book type thing. It looked pre-1900s. You cranked it and it would flip images of a girl dancing. So cool!

That's all for me! Talk soon!