Nothing ever lasts Forever.

I bet you've been building your wardrobe for a while.

So had I.

About 22 years.

(I will 25 this year)

Okay, so I only really fit into half of it.

Yes half of my life's clothes I still wore...

(I went through a baggy stage early on and a tight stage later on)

Long story short...

We had a house fire, not everything was destroyed.

And then the insurance company had a 'miss communication'

and what was salvageable was hastily thrown out.

(Non of our bedrooms even had a lick of flame come within 10 feet) 

And yes I am still pissed off about it.

Lesson Learned:

Question Everything you are told and never leave it in someone else's hands if you don't know them.

(and don't trust the insurance company - hire a lawyer, your policy should cover it)

Well let me tell you, word travels fast in the Roller Derby community and within a day I had more (good) shit than I had places to put it (obviously).

It was overwhelming, and I didn't like accepting all of these things from friends and strangers.

It felt weird and I wanted

MY

stuff.

They were not my clothes, it was not my style.
I wanted to go buy everything back, 
but none of it was there to buy, 
and prices don't depreciate in the real world only in insurance land.

So
Fast forward about 3 years and my closet is more jam packed with awesome, unique and un-purchasable
clothing than ever before!

I love it all, 
and wouldn't hesitate to cut up, re-gift or share
any of it.
(Excluding my school projects, fabric ain't cheap)

I think I maybe own 6 things
 (not including socks and undies)
that I have bought brand new

And the money I would have spent on clothes?
Has kept me in school for the last 2 years.
And is building a better home for my folks and us!

The point of sharing that story?
Well I could give you a list morals,
and motivational, Buddhist-esque quotes
about not valuing 
'stuff'

But I won't.

Instead I am going to give you some freedom!
Freedom to spend money on other things
(hopefully fun experiences)
and most importantly
Freedom from the mall!
(Yes I am a fashion student that hates the mall)

Stay tuned!
Love what has been given to you
even if you didn't want it
(Kind of like that stray cat you took home)
H.M.K.

Save money on clothes! Maybe....

Fill your wardrobe without emptying you're wallet!

But not like this...

The solution: Shop online!!! 
(not my solution)

 My solution: 
Ditch the pride and ask your friends for clothes, or have a clothing swap! 

Most people are eager to toss a few things your way,

especially if it saves them a trip to the thrift store to drop it off.

Status Symbols look like this:
 <3
Not like this:

Cougar Barbie

H.M.K.

The Gloves ARE the Outfit

Now this is closer to how I recycle clothes.

The should-be-proud owner used old t-shirts

(hopefully a few rockin’ band tees!)

 and patched them together giving them new life as fabric!

 Making an adorable one-shoulder pin up dress.

The yellow gloves really pull it all together, 
who needs a jacket anyway?

Wear some colour!
Even if it is only on your hands.
H.M.K.

Wearable Trash

This one is a little more realistic. 

Still beautiful. 

Still better than I could do with candy wrappers….

I wonder how it would stand up to a roller derby 
after party....

Find beauty everywhere

Skate

H.M.K.

Beautiful Trashy Dress

I'm sure by now you've seen some of the recycling trend, 

and it seem like everyone is virtually making anything out of well, 
anything.

What a beautiful…. piece of trash? I prefer to wear recycled fabric over candy bar wrappers.
Or
Recycle the candy bar wrappers into
polyester and use that.

Seriously though, a very lovely 
(don't get your hopes up and try this at home) 
creation!

Designed by Gary Hemingway

Play Dress-up Online!

This is a fun little thing-a-ma-gig to help you deal with the sudden 

deer in the headlights feeling 

you get while facing your closet thinking

 “I have nothing to wear”. 

It takes a few basic items and makes stylish outfits,

and has well a nifty chart of different price points
for each item!

I prefer dress up, but this is probably less time consuming….

problem solved?

Play dress up in you're own damn closet!
H.M.K.

We're not saving water, and the grass is less green.

I am intrigued by this Learnvest website at the moment…

How do these things slip by one’s eye while prowling the World Wide Web?  

So many awesome ideas for re purposing

and saving 

and clothing

and re purposing for saving for clothing…….

 According to this article, less people are actively trying to be ‘green’ 

( I wear green everyday, Thank you very much).

Since 2009 less people are taking environmental action.

I guess the 

being your own superhero and slowly saving the world one less car ride at a time thing 

is wearing off a little bit.

I'm certainly not the golden girl of green

(but that has a nice ring to it...)

but I rode my bike to school all this week
because it was nice out.

So let's have a reason to be more Green!
Such as Saving Money!

Get outside more.

Look at a plant up close

and imagine the tiny molecules.

You're made of those too!

H.M.K

NEW to India - Mood Skin!

Sorry Jazzy Little Drops, today is your day. 

I really am not trying to cut your opinions down, opinions are made to be discussed, and your post gave me lots to talk about.

Fast forward to the “PS” at the bottom of the article, the part about skin bleaching.

Funny thing about that is, here in the 

“white”

 part of the world we apply:

Tinted moisturizer

Bronzer

Spray tan

 Soak up sun

 Fake n’ bake

 and... 

do all sort of other un-natural, un-healthy things to make our skin

brown.

In some Asian cultures (and probably other parts of the world) fair skin is seen as a sign of high status.

Is Unilever to blame for that too?

If it was up to me we would be running around in the forest naked, hairy,

(probably dirty/smelly, but no one would judge because they are too) 

and completely self-sustained! 

Money/worry free 

(except for watching out for something that might eat you *Circle of life*) 

and totally happy with who we are and accepting of one another. 

Oh!

And probably thin due to only eating what you either grow or catch yourself. 

(would you look at that; hunting and gathering 
=
 the exercise program you've been waiting for!)

Go embrace something dirty,
That'll change you're skin colour!
H.M.K.

Confidently Unhealthy

Wow I am on a bit of a self-esteem kick this week! 

Very shortly 

(literally minutes) 

after writing the Dove Beauty Sketches post I made, I see another article bashing Dove and their underlying negative connotations and racism.

(Thank you Jazzy Little Drops for feeding my fire today)

Complaining about the 

" implied positive descriptors used by others" 

Such as

"thin face, nice thin chin, nice eyes that lit up when she spoke and were very expressive (my actual favorite),  short and cute nose, her face was fairly thin (this was said twice), and very nice blue eyes."

Yes, 

Dove could have had a better variety of people in their video campaign 

(United Colours of Benetton puts Dove to shame and uses “Beautiful” people) 

but, perhaps those people simply did not want to talk to the camera or didn't have an appealing, tear jerking story to tell and would not convey the message properly. 

Or maybe they just wanted to create a little bit of controversy; bad publicity is still publicity after all.

And Yes, 

you should love who you are no matter your size/shape/skin colour/other deformations you think you have but, 

you should also be healthy 

and yes,

 that means you should put down the junk food, eat more veggies, practice portion control, get some exercise and slowly work yourself to a healthy BMI.

I see more overweight women appearing being encouraged to be confident and embrace their figure these days than the thin(healthy) girls.

Thin girls are shammed into eating more and ‘for goodness sake, don’t lose an ounce or you’ll disappear completely’. 

Whoa, wait a minute while I choke down that burger you just told me to eat…..

When did thin become a bad word? 

All these years I thought being thin and fit was healthy, and now that’s bad too because people have to make something out to be the bad guy.

  

We are more than just Beautiful and I challenge everyone to put less effort into how you look and more into what you can do to make your life better!

Get some sleep

Eat well

Exercise

And think about how lucky you are not to have predators trying to kill you, eat you and poop you out!

See? Life isn't so bad.

H.M.K.

Dove Beauty Man

I am sure by now you have seen the Dove Beauty Sketch video....

 

It's pretty touching coming from a company that has profit in mind but, scripted or not, they make a fantastic point; We not only judge ourselves too harshly, but base too much of our worth on our looks.

Although I wouldn't be so self conscious of the bags under my eyes and thin upper lip if it weren't for that bratty girl in elementary school who's parents obviously forgot to teach manners didn't point it out to me in the first place to make her feel better about herself....................

(which I am refraining from ranting about, can you feel it?)

Looking at the comments on the video you see all sorts of positive feedback about how "Inspiring!!!" it is, how "Every girl should see this!" and of course there are negatives too, but I try to ignore those unless they strike a soft spot....

Now if you go to Dove's website you'll find much more personal videos, one of which stands out, the one with the man in it! 

The very last sentence  dear Gil Zamora speaks hits it all the way home for me.  

We are our own worst critic. 

A point that I am sure we are almost sick of hearing now because it is said so often.  

No one sees all of the ‘flaws’ you find, in fact, someone close to you probably thinks those are your best features. 

Don’t be so hung up on how you look; 

you have a lot more to offer the world than that pretty face of yours ;)

Now go show somebody how awesome you are and don't feel bad about it!

H.M.K.