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Thanks, Sephora, that's fine by me.

I recently came to the realization that, for the past few year or so, I've been buying mostly useless things to fill a void in my life. Typing that out feels good, honestly, and I suppose that honesty is where change begins. I know why it happened, but I just wasn't ready to wrap my mind around it until it became impossible to ignore. Some major losses had me feeling pretty empty so I found some problematic ways to fill up. Shopping is just the tip of the iceberg, but I'm not going to deep dive into things because I'm focusing on keeping afloat.

I don't want everything I discuss here to be so heavy. Yes, I have depression, and it can feel pretty awful but I'm still a goofy weirdo with passions on passions and I feel like that probably doesn't come across as often as it should. On that note, let me tell you about my new addiction...carrots. It's weird, I know, but I eat raw carrots every single day now and find myself craving them often. I remember hearing a story about Susan Dey struggling with an eating disorder while she worked on The Partridge Family; she ate only carrots for an extended period of time and her skin turned orange. I'm sure it's not true, but I remember thinking about it a lot when I was a kid. In my mind, she transformed like Violet Beauregarde. I'm keeping a close eye on my skin, just in case.

The Partridge Family was one of my favourite shows. I've probably mentioned this before, but I thought shows from days gone by were current, including The Partridge Family, Batman and The Brady Bunch. I thought the characters just had better style. Susan Dey's style was actually an early influence on my fashion choices. She was so beautiful and cool. 

​I have always loved vintage clothing and collectables, particularly anything from the '70s. It's my dream era. It's also partly why I strongly believe that season 2 is the best season of Fargo. Sometimes I'll throw on a random episode from that season just to ogle the clothing...and Bokeem Woodbine with that afro.

Lately I've been wearing my vintage pieces more, because I feel more like myself when I do. The tackier the better, too. I love weird patterns and bright colours and things that are ugly. Ugly is beautiful. I should get that printed on a t-shirt. 

I've been buying and selling vintage since I was a teenager, and it's something I feel quite passionate about. Vintage is sustainable and I feel good about that, plus wearing vintage makes you stand out like the unique person you are. I especially love having someone try on something they ordinarily would never gravitate towards and watching their face light up with excitement when they see how cool they look. I just had a flashback to vintage shopping with my friend, Rose, and having her looking Marcia Brady-esque in a cute pair of jeans with a fitted vintage top that she likely would never have picked out for herself. It makes my heart happy. Sometimes I think that I should be a personal vintage shopper. I really should! I'd be so good at it. I just know it. Alright, who wants to hire me? But, seriously.

I'm currently working on launching a vintage shop online--exploring platforms, digging out some of my favourite gems, taking pictures, doing research. That's another thing I love-- learning about different eras and items and piecing together a backstory in preparation for the item's next venture. I really am in my element when I'm immersed in this stuff, I tell ya. Researching, writing, being creative, getting stupid and having fun. That's it. That's the life.

Now I will leave you with, not one song, but two! Two songs that I find myself listening to a lot lately. Songs I've loved since I was a wild child, when I was into having fun, experimenting and not being afraid to look stupid. I'm glad to have reconnected with that kiddo, because she's pretty great. I hope these songs inspire you to dance and feel your oats, because that's the energy we need in this world. And good lord do the girls from Shonen Knife have kickass style. I love them so much.

Cheers, friends! I hope to catch up with you guys soon, and hope to entice you to fill your baskets with some vintage gems that you will love and get tons of use out of. Maybe even something you never thought you could pull off before. Believe me, you totally can.