Last night at contra dancing, I saw my canine friend Loki, an incredibly sweet Australian shepherd. His mom likes to come dancing and tie him up outside so he can get snuggles from everyone. 🙂
So fluffy.
He gave me lots of kisses!
And kept my feet warm by sitting on them.
His feline sister Athena also made an appearance.
If you haven’t already donated to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy, please consider doing so.
Updated to add: you can also donate to help the animal victims of Sandy.
So….after reading Issa’s post about NaBloWriMo (i.e., writing one blog post per day for the month of November), I’ve decided to switch to that from NaPoWriMo.
Which means, lucky readers, that you’ll get more posting instead of less!
I have somewhat conflicted feelings about this. On one hand, blogging is where my heart is right now. It’s what inspires me. It’s where my creative energy wants to go.
On the other hand, it feels like a cop-out. I love poetry, and have a hard time getting myself to write it. So the idea of devoting myself to it for a month sounded like a wonderful opportunity and challenge: a way to get away from screens, slow down, turn inward.
The problem is, I don’t want to turn inward right now. I want to turn outward, to connect.
Even fence-posts need to stay warm when the weather gets chilly.
I’ve got lots and lots of links for you today, to tide you over for the next month. (And I’m freaking out a little…I love writing but I have so much resistance to get past. Here’s hoping I’ll be able to push through it.)
More Sandy-related links (earlier links here)
–Helping victims of domestic violence in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
–Why Sandy matters to the election.
-First responders = amazing. If you can, go hug one.
-How to donate and volunteer responsibly.
-NASA warned New York about hurricane danger six years ago.
-The hideous inequality exposed by the hurricane. (This sounds familiar…it’s almost like a similar disaster, with similarly worse effects on poor people, happened in another major city seven years ago.)
-From the Onion: Nation suddenly realizes this just going to be a thing that happens from now on.
A Hello Kitty pumpkin!
Fa(t)shion
-Exciting  news: Fatshion blogger Jessica Dee is starting a clothing line! And it’s full of shiny things.
–Nicole and Damien’s gothic handfasting Halloween party – the outfits are amazing.
–My top is not out of control.
-Kath of Fat Heffalump gives an example of how not to market to fat customers, and offers to help plus size fashion companies get it right.
–Color crush: galactic silver. Love!
-Incredibly gorgeous floral clothing.
–Suit or Sari? On professionalism and “ethnic” dressing.
Continue reading
Honestly, I was kind of lazy this year. I’ve had more creative costumes, like the time I was a Freudian slip.
I put together a cupcake-loving unicorn costume using my pink Domino Dollhouse petticoat, We Love Fine Pinkie Pie cupcake t-shirt, a cupcake sweater that a friend gave me as a birthday present last year, and a unicorn horn headband from Sick for Cute. I was also wearing cupcake socks, but they looked weird over my leggings, so I ended up putting them underneath.
Steve’s costume was even easier, but more awesome: Captain Hammer!
We sat out on the front porch giving candy to kids, including an adorable baby pirate! I love seeing little kids all dressed up. 🙂
Yeah, I’m wearing leggings as pants. You got a problem with that?
The deeper I get into the fa(t)shion world, the more I come across examples of fashion judging and policing, even within spaces that are explicitly body-positive.
It pisses me off immensely. First, because one person’s style is no one’s business but their own. Period. Second, because it’s inextricably tied up with pretty much every prejudice under the sun: sexism, ableism, ageism, racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia…
Warning: epic rant ahead.
Happy Halloween!
This is just awesome:
I love this leather corset tutu dress.
I hope you’re all safe and doing ok.
I’m lucky–my neighborhood wasn’t hit badly, and we didn’t even lose power for more than a minute. But other parts of Massachusetts were hit harder.
And New York/New Jersey? Oy vey.
I’ve been glued to Twitter–which is much more up-to-date than the news networks–and it’s horrifying. My heart goes out to everyone who’s been affected.
If you want to know how you can help, check out this list of places to donate or volunteer.
Also, here are a few Sandy-related links:
–How oysters could have protected New York from the storm surge, if they hadn’t been over-harvested. This is fascinating. And it shows how human degradation of the environment is a major factor in the destructiveness of recent storms, even aside from the more obvious example of global warming.
– If you aren’t already boycotting American Apparel for their extreme misogyny, consider doing it because of their callousness in the face of tragedy. Yesterday, they sent out an email advertising a Sandy-related sale. No mention of donating a percentage of proceeds to charity–just taking advantage of a natural disaster to drive sales.
–The post-Sandy situation is terrible in Haiti, where people are still recovering from the earthquake that happened three years ago.
–Insta-Snopes: sorting the real Sandy photos from the fakes.
-Reflections on the scariness of NYC’s subways filling up with water.
-The nurses who carried ICU babies down nine flights of stairs during the evacuation of the NYU hospital are incredible heroes.
-A collection of images of Sandy’s aftermath.
UPDATE: I wrote this post a week or two ago and scheduled it in advance, hence the lack of mention of Hurricane Sandy. Please see the above post for updates and related links.
The only thing better than leopard print…is more leopard print.
The cardigan was a lucky Goodwill find, and I got the black dress at Target years ago. You can also see it in this post. The leggings were also thrifted, at the Big Thrifty event this past spring.
Dress: Target, cardigan and leggings: thrifted, earrings: Claire’s, bow necklace: Buffalo Exchange, custom Brony necklace: DiDepux, headband: Alice and Sara, shoes: Naot via David’s Shoes on First
I hope all my fellow Northeasterners are staying safe from Hurrican Sandy! My office is closed, so I’m hanging out at home (with a good supply of pizza, mint M&M brownies, and coffee).
Yesterday, I went to Pop Up Plus NY’s Boston event, which was a lot of fun. I couldn’t make it on Saturday, when they had a cocktail party, but I still enjoyed playing dress-up and meeting some fabulous fatshionistas.
With Tiana and Camy, who were running the event.
So many sequins!
Tutus And Tiny Hats 