Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge: Yellow

Hello All - well after a rough week, I've decided to take today (Friday) off as annual leave and have a long weekend.

I have to see again, that you all so much for all your love and kind thoughts in regard to my endometrosis - both here on line and also in real life. It's not easy, but its easier when you've got good people in you life!

Now onto this weeks wardrobe challenge, which was a tough one for me, yellow! I'm not a huge fan of yellow I have to admit and its a colour my wardrobe is really lacking in. I ended up wearing a skirt that has pretty much every colour in it, including yellow.

Some of you may remeber this musical note skirt I made a while ago - it seems to be pretty much the only thing I own that has yellow in it.

Also - I may just be a little bit in love with these super bright pink tights - they are super rad!

My bunny ring is all the way from Japan (although you can't see it so well) and the bracelets are from Vany and Chloe. The chunky beads are retail and the brooch from a vendor at craft 2.0.

Today I am planning to have a relaxing day - I think I'll meet Emi for lunch, but mostly I'll hang out at home and perhaps catch up on some crafting/sewing.

Have a great day! Tomorrow I'm off to spend the day with a friend in Whanganui - which is about four hours by bus from Wellington. It will be really nice to get out of town for a day!

OUTFIT DEETS:
Shoes - Clothes Swap
Skirt - Made by Me!
Cardi - Glassons
Belt - Clothes Swap
Necklace -Diva
Tights - Equipt
Brooch - Craft 2.0
Bracelets - Vany & Chloe
Ring - Bought in Harajuku, Japan

Instagram week three

First of all, I just wanted to say thanks so much for your lovely comments on my last blog post. It was really nice to receive all of your positive thoughts when I was having such a bad day. You guys rock!

Now onto happier things - week three of instagram - I'm really impressed I'm still using instagram and still finding it fun. I guess it helps that a lot of my other friends use it too and its kind of fun to see what they have been up to. Anyway - here's week three of instagram

This week these creepy cute cameos arrived from esty - I bought them from a shop called PinkyNoodles, if you're in the market for some quirky craft supplies I fully recommend this store. So many awesome things.

I had to do more study this week for my Mauri Ora course, I've now finished the first part of the course. Study is of course always easier with Hello Kitty and Chai Latte.

My latest Avon haul arrived this week - since an old school friend started selling Avon I really can't get enough of it. I especially love the Cherry Blossom body wash, shampoo and condition.

As you all know - I wore two pairs of tights for Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge this week and it was awesome.

This was my pattern from Victory Patterns before I started to stick it all together - just as well I have a huge role of sticking tape.

We've been watching a lot of Community lately - I seriously LOVE this show - I just can't get enough.

Rich an I went to the City Gallery for the first time in ages on Saturday. My favourite exhibition was called Apocalyptic Intuition. The Sui faiga ae tumau fa'avae was also pretty amazing though - especially as someone was being tattooed when we visited the exhibition space.

Another Wellington Waterfront photo - the statue is of Kupe, a legendary voyager and the building you can see in the background is the Whare Waka (Whare = House and Waka = Canoe).

Another photo of the water front - this time of Te Papa (Museum of New Zealand).

We went to Burger Fuel on Cuba Street for lunch on Saturday - I ended up ordering the kiddies burger by mistake! But that's ok, because their kiddies burger is the size of a regular burger anywhere else. Also they have a really rad light - I liked it a lot.

Finally on Saturday night I went to see an incredible play for my friend Matt's birthday - It was the perfect play for a history geek like me.

Sometimes things don't work out quite how I plan

I like to plan things, I'm a pretty analytic person by nature - I like to know what's happening and when and what the likely outcome will be. If something isn't working out, I like to work out how to fix it. I'm a problem solver and I generally like routine and order.

This weekend Meg and I decided to do a sew-a-long - we bought bought the Chloe Pattern from Victory Patterns. I even had a general idea of where I was going with the pattern and what I wanted it to look like when it was finished.

I spent FOREVER on Saturday sticking together the pattern and cutting it out (my most hated part of buying PDF patterns online) but I knew once that was done I'd be all ready to go for a Sunday sewing day.

But Sunday is when disaster struck, I was able to cut out the pattern (I'm making it from an old bed sheet that I thought was really cool) but that's pretty much all I was able to do. Once I cut the pattern out I was totally exhausted.

The reason why? Well its something I've lived with for years now - I've got Endometriosis. I don't really talk about it much on here as I don't like it get the better of me. In general, I'm a pretty positive person which has helped me deal with having endometriosis - I was "officially" diagnosed when I was 27 (although I had known long before that something was wrong) and I've had to have two surgeries for endometriosis.

I go to the gym quite a lot (at least 5 times a week) and I also try and eat as well as I can - the reason for this is that if I don't look after myself then my Endometriosis gets really bad. I've had times in my life where I have been in pain every waking hour and taking codeine every day and its no life at all. It's much easier to get inspired to go to the gym at 6:00 - 6:30 five times a week when you know the alternative is going to be pretty terrible.

Lately I have been much better - I've had generally 2 or 3 "bad" days a month, but they have been manageable. I've been feeling like things are under "control". Some women have the same surgery that I've had and their pain is literally gone. I envy those women! I've had two surgeries and whilst they have helped (I'm not in constant pain every day) they haven't "cured" my problem. I can't cure my problems (unless I have a hysterectomy) so I have to try and manage them the best I can.

But sometimes - it just gets the better of me, the pain is fairly terrible, that's for sure. But even worse than the pain is the sheer exhaustion. When your body is in a lot of pain for days at a time, you simply become exhausted and eventually you just have to stop and rest because there's nothing else you can do.

Today my body just told me I had to stop for a while - after I cut out my fabric, I just felt so exhausted. I just couldn't do any more. There were lots of other little projects I have on the go at the moment,  but I simply did not have the energy to do any of them. The thought of picking up an embroidery hoop and needle even made me feel tired.

Apart from the pain and the tiredness the thing that makes me most crazy about having this disease is that at times I can't control it and I get frustrated as I want to get out there and live my life but at times I just can't do the things I want to do, I HAVE to rest. I can think of times I've had to miss out events like friends birthdays and other celebrations due to my endometriosis and its been pretty terrible.

So today, rather than whipping up a new and fabulous dress, I spent most of the day looking at craft stuff on the internet and watching Community on DVD. Not exactly the most exciting day ever, but unfortunately, sometimes I have to take it easy.

Here's hoping I'll be feeling a little more like myself tomorrow and that I can get onto the "belated" sew-a-long later this week.

Sophiia's Birthday Dress - Part II

Some of you will remember the photo I shared last weekend of the birthday dress I made for my niece Sophiia.

Yesterday my mum posts a few birthday photos of Sophiia and it turned out she wore the dress I made her on her birthday.

Here's a couple of action photos of the birthday girl celebrating her big day (2nd birthday!).

It looks pretty fancy don't you think?

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend so far, I'm doing a sew along with Meg this weekend and I'm hoping I'll finish the frock I'm making before the weekend is over.

Have a great day xoxo

Quilt Dress

I bought this fabric a while back when Arthur Toye Fabric was having its half price off everything sale (this happens at the end of every season and is extremely bad for my wallet and the space in my apartment). Its quite a thick jersey fabric and I fell in love with it because of the retro look print and because of the faux quilting look.

But once you buy the fabric - the next question is what to do with it? This fabric has been sitting around for a while and as it is quite a thick winter fabric I decided I better do something with it before the worst of winter is over and I have to wait until next year to wear it.

I decided to choose an old favourite pattern and made another version of the tunic dress from Sew La Tea Do, I think this is the third time I've made this dress, but the first time I've made it with short sleeves. I'm not sure if I'm completely happy with it - I think perhaps the fabric is a little bit bulky for a dress - especially as it has pockets?

But someone at work today told me they liked my dress - so it can't be so bad right? Perhaps I'm just over analyzing things and love my new creation?

I hope you've all been having a super week - I am SO glad tomorrow is Friday - I'll be doing a sew-a-long with Meg this weekend to make this dress. Now I just have to choose my fabric, there's really quite a lot in my stash that needs to be used.

Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge: Layers

This weeks wardrobe challenge was "layers" the perfect theme for winter months.

I wore a dress with a shirt and a cardi over top and two pairs of stocking, the weather is pretty cold today so its perfect for wearing layers.

I know, I know - you guys all told me to take pictures outside! I did take your comments on board but by the time I got home it was raining out and almost dark. Perhaps next week I'll be able to to do some outdoor outfit posts.

I decided to wear some eyeliner today - be I feel like I can never get it quite right *sigh* I guess I just need more practice.

Perfect weather for double tights!

More pink and more animal print!!

OUTFIT DEETS:

Boots: Clothes Swap

Pink Tights: Equipt

Fishnet Tights: Farmers

Dress: Pagani

Shirt: Wasted Fashion Blog shop

Cardi: Glasson

Bracelet: Bought in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Ring: Gift from Curtise

Necklace: Equipt

Instagram week two

Here's another look into my life through the world of instagram - I've managed to "instagram" for two whole weeks now which already beats my efforts with Tumblr. Maybe I'll actually be able to keep this up!

My manager came back from New York last Monday (she attended a conference over there) and she bought us these rad postcards.

Rich was late home from work/study - but never fear - I had cat and skully for company. These awesome guys were made by the talented Meg.

Winter just keeps on dragging on - so some nights you just need a hot chocolate to get you through!

Fabric of my dress for last weeks Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge.

A new dress all cut out and ready to sew - I've actually finished up this frock and I'll share it with you all soon.

I went to the bookstore to buy a book for my nieces birthday, I came back with a counting book for her and a Hello Kitty Pastry Chef for me.

Ria dyed my hair last Thursday night - she is such a star!

I bought a bus ticket to go to Whanganui and visit my friend Taane on the 1st September - its just a day trip, but I'm excited to get out of Wellington for the day and catch up with a friend.

I went to the "multiplex" cinema on Friday night - ew! I usually try and avoid these places, but its the only place in town the movie we wanted to see was playing.

Some of my dresses - I have a LOT of dresses.

How incredible are these? I went to a clothes swap on Saturday and one of my friends had made melting moments. The different colour filling just makes them look so cute.

I live in an invincible house - its true.

Sunday afternoon baking with some friends - we had a lot of cookie cutters.

It is really amazing how much you get up to in the course of one week! I hope you've all had a great week so far. Also - thanks for all your advice on OOTD photos, it does sound that outdoor photos are the way to go. Now all I need is a day with no rain so I can go outside and take some outfit photos - although my shyness may mean I still end up taking them inside.

Weekend Fun Times

I hope you all had a super weekend, I had a pretty girly Saturday, it started off with a clothes swap party where I made some pretty major scores - including this green dress (sorry this photo isn't so good). I really need to work on learning to take better outfit post photos - but really I have no idea how to do this. Maybe try and take some photos outside, maybe I need to get a gorillapod rather than bugging Rich to take photos all the time? Any thoughts long blogging friends?

In the afternoon I went to a belated birthday High Tea (my birthday just goes on and on) with some friends - the high tea was held at the James Cook Hotel. This high tea was very different to Martha's Pantry - its a hotel that sells High Teas rather than being a business devoted to high tea. I did really enjoy it though - there was a good variety of food, the staff were great and the non-tea drinkers amongst us could drink whatever they wanted (rather than being limited to tea). We've decided to do more High Tea's - just for the fun of it - as lots of restaurants in Wellington are now doing High Teas we may as well check them all out. Plus it will make us catch up more often! Sometimes the weeks just pass by and everything gets so busy and you seem to miss catching up with your friends.

 Don't you love this photo of Katrina? So cute!

You might notice my hair is a bit darker - Ria dyed it for me on Thursday night and she did an amazing job! I feel much better now. But I still feel like I need to do something new with my hair, I guess I will work it out eventually.

Have a great week xoxo