Today

Here's a picture that represents my job.

But actually even though it looks gross, I kind of like it. I wear gloves and it's so simple.
Today I also actually got to put some of the ingredients together. I made bean, chicken burgers.


Also. As soon as I got home, I put Dr. Dre on. Warning: (Dear parents, and grandparents- you probably won't like it and you shouldn't listen to it if you don't like crude rap-like music). So good though.

 

And : 

Kendrick.

 

In other news: I served my first tables at Murphy's Law yesterday. And poured my first drinks. I made a caesar, and I poured a Guinness (which has a two-step pour !), and poured some wine.

I'm learning a ton, and I have a good time.

Otherwise, nothing else has happened.

XO H

New Job

I started my new job yesterday. I was supposed to work 9-4 but we finished up around 2 which was nice because I worked the 6-10 shift at the pub last night so I had a nice break in between. And Aj was home because they got rained out too, so it was nice to hang out for a few hours and have a half-assed, whole-hearted dinner together.

The job is good. It's straightforward- I'm packaging food into meal-sized portions and cutting, and refilling containers of vegetables, sauces, meats, etc. The people I work with are nice so far, one has a degree in art history so that's cool. It's small scale, but I enjoy the work I'm doing. It's food prep without the pressure of being in a restaurant kitchen. We have a list to complete, and when it's done we can go home.

And the concept is neat. We prepare the recipe, and all the ingredients- you just come in and pick it up and make it at home. The motto is: Supperworks- taking the work out of supper. haha

All in all, I'm just incredibly thankful and shocked that I'm working two jobs within a five minute walk from the apartment and that I'm actually learning things and getting useful experience. And that the schedules line up nicely.

In other news- some servers have adopted me and are putting a good word in for me to the managers to start serving (tips!!!), and have even started secretly training me in case they decide I can start serving. One has offered to let me come in on a day I have off to shadow her and train me. So I think I'll do that.

I don't know how these things happened, but the universe seems to be in my favour lately.

H

Snapshots and Story Time

Hey all. So I know- I've been absent from this for a bit. As I said yesterday I've been working like mad. Today I deposited my first load of tips which felt pretty good (despite the meager $111 it amounted to). Which doesn't include two grocery runs & the purchase of some sunscreen and a chocolate bar, haha.

Anyways- I will now show you our couch. Drum roll please.....

Ta-da! 

As you can kind of see- I had a bit of a sewing fail this week. It doesn't quite do up. I made the whole thing too short by about 4" and the zipper just can't take the pressure, so I have to take it apart and add a bit more fabric to make it work. But I really love the fabric which I scored for like $3 at Value Village and I still have a ton more of it. I made it double sided, but I can't actually flip the mattress over myself so another day I'll show you the other side. (Maybe after I've fixed it and it can do up). 

Aj and I have often said we're against futons- we'd rather have a big ol' hundred million pound pullout. But now that we have it, it's quite quaint and I don't mind it so much. It's a couch after all, and it cost us $60 and the guy helped Aj get it in here so that was nice. It beats the foam inserts from the last couch which we've been sitting on for the last two months.

These are the shoes I got- aren't they sweet?!

Aj made pancakes the other day and I whipped an entire carton of whipping cream. Geesh. We've eaten about half. So I guess that means I better make a cake or something to put that stuff on. Oh- and isn't he the sweetest? It was nice to have some time together this weekend even though it was spread out and short.

I had a bit of a restless night last night and happened to be awake when Aj was getting up for work (5:30). So I got up with him and had some breakfast. I snapped this shot right before he grabbed his lunch and sunscreen and tied up his grass-green dyed boots to go. I miss him during the days.

Here are a few throwback pictures:

A few weeks ago.

Before we had everything set up in the new place we played cards on the bed. I like this one.

This is the bathroom window of the old apartment that overlooked the cemetery. I miss the view. We have a window in our new shower too, but the view isn't as nice- it's a parking lot.

I had said yesterday that I might show pictures of the living room so as promised here's a snapshot of it as it is right now. We're still playing around with the set up because of the couch (it's really thrown us off organizationally). So it's a mess. We're always a mess really. Oh well. 

We had planned to go to Belleville this weekend but I don't think my family is going anymore, and I couldn't get it off of work. I have worked every day for almost 2 weeks- which I don't mind but it would have been nice to have one day off when I wanted it. Ah well- c'est la vie. Perhaps this weekend I'll clean up this place and get back on track with cooking, and set up our air conditioner (because it's summer finally). 

I just finished reading the Gunslinger by Stephen King and I can feel the second in the series calling me so adios.

I love having time to read (and ignore the mess around me).

H

Woof Stock

Hey everyone- I've been working my butt off so I know I haven't really been posting much but I promise I will tomorrow because I don't work til 6. I plan on showing y'all the new couch and living room arrangement. WEEEEEE!

In other news- Aj and I are planning on going to stay at his aunt's cottage for the weekend in Belleville and have a nice weekend away with some visits to family and friends I have there. Hopefully I can get it off work- but we'll see :)

Sigh, I enjoy work but it's been nuts. This weekend was "Woof-stock," in the beaches and if I have to see another dog or have grumpy dog mamas complain at me again I will probably hit something, or someone, or some dog. The amount of times I heard, "Well, my dog has separation anxiety so she has to sit on my lap or under my chair..." leave your freakin' dogs at home- we don't want them on the patio.

We seriously had a wait list for seats along the fence of the patio so people could be close to their tied up dogs. Get a life people, I don't care about your dog.

Anywho. I'll be back tomorrow in a nicer mood.

H

tgif

Thank God it's Friday. Not that it matters really- because I'm still working an 8 hour shift on Saturday, so I won't be saying thank God til Sunday I think.

Right now I'm listening to:

And:

Next Episode, Dr. Dre. I chose the lyrics version so you don't have to watch all the ugly things in the music video.

Occasionally I have to listen to music that was made when I was 5.

I promised I would show you all my work uniform- and if you're not on Instagram you wouldn't have seen it yet. When they handed it to me it was too big- as in it was long enough to reach my knee-high socks (which isn't how it's supposed to look). And all of the pleats were stitched down so they didn't ruffle around. So I hemmed it and cut the pleats so they could move and it looks much better.

Last night was the restaurant's birthday so we had cake and there was a lot of free food and drink going around- it was beach themed so we didn't have to wear uniforms. It was a fun night to work on- there was live celtic music and it was really cool.

Anywho- as I said on instagram, you'll have to ignore my hand gesture. If you can't handle it, don't look. It was warranted at the time.

Here's the birthday cake and Murphy.

and two songs from played last night:

Sinead O'Connor & the Pogues.

Anywho. That sums up the last week pretty much. Although I have one update- we bought a couch. I'll share more later in the day after I take some pictures :)

H

New Job

Hey everyone. If you guys wished me well for that job interview- it worked. I start next week! Hopefully this will be more hours than at the pub, and since I'll be working both I'm hoping I can start being able to pay for things again.

I got my kilt for the pub as well, and had Aj take some pictures but it's way too embarrassing because they didn't have a skirt my size and it's much too big for me. So, maybe when I figure out how to make it look good, I'll show you. Looks like I'll be shaving my knees for the rest of the summer.

I worked yesterday and it was brutal- Happy Victoria Day! Thankfully, I got off work before every person in Toronto tried to reserve seats on the roof for the fireworks, and was able to go see them myself. We brought a blanket and sat right near the water and watched the fireworks which were pretty cool. I love fireworks.

May 2.4.

This weekend was kind of strange. Let me tell you...

I thought I would be working (because I was scheduled to) on Friday night. Aj and I had a million things we could have been doing: work, 2 birthday parties, visiting parents, cottage, friends, etc. this weekend. So anyways, I got called off of work on friday evening and we decided to go up to Alliston for a visit. We spent the night at Aj's parents place- I love staying there. We haven't seen his parents much lately so it was nice to hang around and look at the river and chat and whatnot.

We went for a walk, and saw Aj's cousins and uncle. It was nice.

My mum picked me up on Saturday morning, and we went home for Gwyn's birthday lunch. Gwyn has had the same birthday cake every year since she decided it's her favourite- banana cake with cream cheese icing. And I am glad she's kept it as her favourite because it's so darn good and it's the only occasion we definitely have it. We didn't have candles, and used a tea light instead which was pretty funny.

She so pretty.

Then we went thrifting and had a blast. I did at least :) So here's what I found. 

Green jeans: $4, Purple Flares: $6 

Here's a close up of the flares. Isn't it fab?

$2

These shorts have always been on my wishlist for some reason. They were cool in grade seven, and they're still cool to me now. Will someone please reassure me and tell me that these buttons are awesome?

Flowery shirt: $1.50 Green tank: $1.50

I've been looking for tanks that will show off my tattoo. The flowery one is the coolest. The picture is of the back and the lace falls right under my tattoo and it looks pretty cool if I may say so myself.

White tank: $1.99, Green tank: $3

Got these two in Alliston and they didn't have price tags. I'm thinking they were $3 each though

Flowery dress: $7.50 Yellow dress: $1.50

Isn't this fabric pretty? It looks handmade. The neckline could probably use some alteration- it's almost to the point of choking me, and if I can get that done by July 5, I'm thinking I might wear it to a wedding. But we'll see. I'll put pictures up of it on me first and see what you think before I wear it in public.

Here are some other shots from the weekend. If you're on Facebook you've seen most of these, but they're fun anyways and I can write more about them on here.

Gwyn doesn't like these pictures but I think they're pretty so she can suck it up. She found the cutest pink dress. Actually I forced her to try it on and I think it was a hit.

I took this picture at a very strange moment that makes it look really sombre and weird but really mum was just pouring the tea and we were just waiting. We were all in good spirits.

Then last night we saw old friends and had a nice time. It was strange though- the core group of 4-6 has grown to 8-9 and it was weird to have so many guys there. It was cool though. Can always use new friends.

I also got some platform type shoes which I'll show later because my honey just got home and I want to hear about his day. 

So ta ta for now.

H

Kitchen 2.0

Eons ago when we first moved in here (nearly 2 months ago holy smokes), I promised to share pictures of it 'lived in'. And it's been on my mind- I have not forgotten. I keep thinking- when I finally clean the damn place up then I'll do it...or when I sew curtains for the darn closet I'll do it...or when I sew cushion covers for our makeshift couch I'll do it...or when I bring our stack of paintings (which is HUGE) up north for storage I'll do it... the list goes on.

And I was thinking about other blogs and these people's perfect lives. And you know what- mine isn't. Especially not my home. It's a rental, it's the cheapest of the cheap (maybe not, but you know.), we're allowed to paint and hang pictures up but we definitely can't have everything we want. We're limited by money as most students are, and by the fact that we're uber busy and again... it's a rental.

I tend to follow mom blogs, or single mid-20s DIY chic fashionistas and for a while I aimed to make something similar. But I'm not a mom, I'm not single, I'm not wealthy, and I don't have much spare time or money to be renovating my apartment, or doing DIY projects all day long to share. I do some, but not as often as you and I like to believe. So I thought- I'll share my kitchen today and y'all can take it how you want.

I'm a starving art student (although I'd say the largest part of our budget goes towards food so don't worry mum), and this is my kitchen!

I tried to take a picture of the blue we painted it, which didn't really work out. It's kind of a robin's egg type blue.

Our kitchen is pretty much a hallway to the bathroom, with a lineup of all the appliances & cupboards on one wall, and this blank wall opposite. This is the blue wall.

I love this tiny part of the wall, it's near our front door. The yellow box used to be the doorbell thing but it doesn't work- if you ring our number downstairs it goes directly to Aj's cellphone. That mirror is my mom's and I think it's pretty old. I don't know if she knows that I have it or not.

Did I tell you Aj made the handle for that tea-pot out of a hanger ? If not, that's what he did. It was annoying to have to use both hands with oven mitts every time I wanted tea. Notice our stove is much larger than the last one, although it's not gas which is ok but not as cool.

Wow! Look at all the dishes I did today. I'm pretty pleased with myself. I made raspberry muffins which turned out more like raspberry scones yesterday. They're so good. But I had plenty of dishes to do afterwards. I also made a meal we ate in Peru a lot the other day and Aj has been eating the leftovers like crazy. He's obsessed. 

You might also notice Aj's little collection of alcohol on top of the fridge (don't even get me started about what's in the fridge). He's decided he wants to like scotch, but it's not going very well. Mostly it just sits up there collecting dust ;) I'm working on G&T and bought some lime cordial the other day which was weird. As a kid I mixed it with water. I get all nostalgic by the bottle.

There are the muffins (in the bottom right corner!), a picture of my parents, our sweet vintage thermos, and our Norman Rockwell calendar which I love. There's a bit more counter space at this place, and a ton more cupboard space. So that's good. It is a little weird compared to the last place. We actually have a kitchen, rather than a closet with a stove. 

Strange things remind me of the last place - like sunlight dish soap. We didn't use it when we first moved here until a week or two ago, and every time it reminds me of running out of dish soap in the middle of winter and running to home hardware and grabbing some sun light in a maxi dress, and my moccasins. I don't know why that stuck with me, but it did. It just totally represented my life this winter. Wearing the wrong shoes, the wrong clothes for the weather, and being stuck without soap, with a huge pile of dishes awaiting my return. Probably digging around for some change to buy it. I'm always losing my keys and wallet (not actually but I'm much too lazy to look for them when I'm constantly putting them in strange places).

Anywho. That's my kitchen. Maybe this weekend I'll share my studio/living room or something. 

We'll see. That one actually needs a good tidy. 

I hope y'all have seen my stuff up at the Well. You can buy it if you want to ;) The little one's only $25. And if I come up this weekend I'll be bringing another for $50.

Love.

H

Mind power

Hey guys,

I have an interview today for a job during the day. This is super important for me because...I am not making nearly enough money to even pay my rent let alone try to save for school. So if you can think or pray for me or send me your best wishes. Whatever you do, if we use all of our super mind powers, maybe I'll get this job which is right across the street from me.

Thanks
H

Mama P

 

I know I'm a little late to be writing about my mom since Mother's Day was on the weekend. But you can always appreciate your mom. So why not?

My mom is the coolest person. I appreciate her so much more now that I don't live at home- and I'm sure I'll appreciate her more when I have kiddos of my own. But my mom has definitely made me who I am (or a pretty big part of it anyway)... and not just the hippy dippy part of me (as pictured above).

My mom is so tough, I don't know if I could ever amount to be able to do what she does everyday, or ever even. When I was a kid she was a stay at home mom, and homeschooled 3 of us (with a baby too!). And when we all started school she worked nights so she could see us after school and on weekends.

Now she's an addictions counsellor who is constantly surrounded by unstable, drug addicts and crazies. I probably count as one of them, not to mention my wacko siblings. And she's so strong in what she does, and what she believes. I don't know how she handles her crazy life- so, so busy and always on the fly. But she does, and she functions well (for the most part, haha). And she's the most gentle, loving person ever. She is probably the perfect counselor- she has a huge heart for people and is so caring and loving. She's my favourite counselor. If you need a hug, or someone that probably understands you a lot- go to her. 

She's kind of a mama to everyone- in Aj's cellphone I realized her contact name is Momma P which is why I titled this post that.

I'm so glad I get to be like her in small ways.

I'm a pretty even split of both of my parents and I like to think I have the best of both ;)

But anyways. My mom is the best. And if you don't know her, you should- you can find her at The Well in Alliston every day of the week being uber generous and kind. She is full of grace, and she has an amazing gift with people. I love her.

 

 

Gosh I miss grandpa

Home again

Well I've been listening to Leon Redbone quite a bit lately- I bought this record at Black Market and am in love.

As you may have seen or heard on Facebook, I dropped my phone in the toilet this morning (thankfully my own clean toilet), and had a bit of a crazy time trying to get myself up north to see the fam jam. But I'm here! I'm so glad to be here. It's kind of fun to come just for a night or two and get a quick snapshot of life here again. Sunburns & mosquitoes & tea.

I also don't really mind that my phone is toast right now. It means I can relax knowing that work can't call me in, and nobody can bug me during my time here. I'm sure it will bother me tomorrow when I get home, but right now it's a relief.

I finally got some pieces hanging for sale in the Well so if you want to support me- buy one! That is...if you want to.

I also grabbed our old film developing stuff so prepare for some more photos once I buy some strange toxic chemicals to develop them. I feel like a chemist when I make pictures.

I'm picking up as many hours at work as possible, but it's still not really enough. For now I'll paint and look for jobs and hopefully I'll either make money on paintings or I'll find a day-job. I've applied to Value Village which could be cool, but at the same time I'd like to be able to sell a painting or two. Or something.

Here's another song for the day.

New works

$25

$40

These pieces are graphite drawings layered using beeswax and oil paint. The base of the oval one is acrylic paint. If you are interested in buying one you can message me (click my about tab for contact info), or you can wait and see it in The Well in Alliston, ON sometime this week. 

If you would like to see more of my stuff check out my website: www.hayleypowling.com

xoxo

H

30 with 30

I think I'm going to have to pull out of this challenge. It doesn't feel like it's right for me.

I really thought I could stick it out and finish the next 20 days, but I cannot.

It was fun at first when I could do it with Aj, and we had a nice time just goofin off taking pictures at the beach. But now that he's working and I don't see him much- it's my smallest priority. I feel absolutely ridiculous taking mirror selfies of my half-assed outfits.

I feel like I've lost a lot of what my blog is about in this- honesty. I have tried (and hopefully that's been evident) to maintain an honesty about this challenge. At first I had reasons behind doing it- I was hoping to gain more followers and through that be able to promote my art. But I don't think it's worth compromising who I am & my blog persona to do so. Then my followers are following me for something I'm not: a fashion blogger. I am not a fashion blogger. I'm a rambler, and an artist. But not a fashion blogger. My lifestyle isn't always beautiful, and neither are my clothes. I'm a poor art student, and can't afford to buy clothes every week, or whenever I go out- even if it's thrift. My clothes are hand-me-downs which I think adds character, but who cares? I don't. If you want to know about my clothes- ask me when you see me wearing them.

I think this challenge has told me a lot about what I want to do with this blog- I know it won't be a lifestyle blog like A Beautiful Mess (which I follow and often dream of having a pretty life like them...) or a fashion blog like Katie's at Loverly She. My blog will be a lot of writing, and some pictures, and some art, and some ideas. I want my followers to follow me for what I put into this, and who I am- not silly ploys to get followers, or by pretending I'm something I'm not.

In this though, I think I've learned a little how to incorporate this kind of post into the blog- but probably posts like my first few with Aj. They're more fun anywho.

If you blog about fashion- this isn't to downplay what you're doing. I follow a lot of fashion bloggers and appreciate what they're doing, but it just isn't me.

So thanks for your support in this, and I'm sorry if you were actually interested in what I wore every day. I might continue the challenge- but I don't think I'll post pictures of it anymore.

Here's one last one for anyone interested in something a lil different with a story:

My great gran bought this during WWII with her savings in London. Pretty cool.

I love you people who love me no matter what, and read all this crap I write even if it's boring.


H

Happy Birthday Grandpa

It's this amazing man's birthday today. He would have been 71. It's so strange that he didn't make it past 70- I think everyone expected him to live until he was 100 or longer. He was so healthy. It's not fair that my future kiddos won't know him except through my memories.

I took this photo from Kieran on Facebook because I regretfully didn't take any of my own while we flipped through the photo albums this evening.

I miss him- family gatherings are strange now-a-days. He was kind of the leader in them, and it seems disorganized and barely held together sometimes now that he's not there to hold it together. But since he's passed, it's the strongest this side of my family has re-grouped and supported one another which is really cool to be a part of. I love my family so much.

I miss him and think of him often.

Gwyn also posted this on facebook, but Maris read this sweet poem at dinner and it's worthy to be shared:

Our Grandfather kept a garden.
A garden of the heart;
He planted all the good things,
That gave our lives their start.

He turned us to the sunshine,
And encouraged us to dream:
Fostering and nurturing the seeds of self-esteem.

And then the winds and rain came,
He protected us enough;
But not too much because he knew
We would stand up strong and tough.

His constant good example,
Always taught us right from wrong;
Markers for our pathway that will last
a lifetime long.

We are our Grandfather’s garden,
We are his legacy.
Thank you Grandfather, we love you

It is well with my soul. And with his. I know this.

xo
H

Days 5-8

Hey everyone.
I feel like a broken record on Instagram, and now here with this 30 with 30 challenge. I'm getting sick of taking selfies, and I'm feeling really discouraged that my Instagram profile is lacking in interesting photos nowadays. I will try to up the content on here to something mildly interesting besides these outfits.

I'm sorry. If you're getting sick of it too, I'm sorry. You can unfollow me (but only for the month of May).
I am so unmotivated with this to be honest. I am not loving it at all. But it's supposed to be a challenge right? So I'll keep on keepin' on til it's done.

As I said- I barely wear these outfits at all between when I get out of bed (which the past few days hasn't been til around 2 or 3 o'clock), and when I leave for work. I know- I have such a hard life getting out of bed at 3. I'm not sleeping though don't you worry. I've been waking up at quarter to 6 with Aj to see him off the past few mornings, then I nap for a bit. But since we don't have a couch at the moment, all of my reading, and TV watching, and internet-ing happens in bed too.

Check out our ugly walmart comforter. It's our only spring worthy one- the rest are heavy quilts and duvets. Boo.

The only thing that this challenge is helping me with is actually getting dressed at all. Because if I wasn't doing this I'd stay in my pajamas all day, and if I had to go out- I would probably wear my work uniform haha. So it does refresh my day a little bit if nothing else.

Sorry Katie- I did not anticipate the dread I would face for this challenge at all! :(

In other news- I'm going home to Baxter tomorrow for a small family gathering in memory of my grandfather (the tea party for everyone else is coming up in June), so that's put a rainy cloud over the week for me too.

I know I've shown this before, but it's just too good not to show it again. 

We're supposed to think of things to share, but I just can't face sitting down and thinking about it in fear that I won't be able to go to work from sadness or think for the rest of the day about anything else. My mind rolls around it- I'll start thinking of memories, songs, and pictures that I have that I could share but it seems such a small thing to say for someone's whole life, especially a life so pure and wonderful as his. How can I come up with one or two things to represent or remember him by. It seems too small, and too huge a task.

This post has turned into a bit of a cathartic wave for me, I'm sorry it is long.

Anywho. Here are my last four outfits. I've purposely worn my more uncomfortable pieces because I take them off within half an hour of putting them on.

Clockwise from top left: Day 8, Day 7, Day 5, Day 6

Spot Frida Kahlo in all of these pictures.

So now I'll tell you a bit about the pieces that interest me & where I got them if I know.

Day 8: I got the tank at a shop in Kensington Market (pretty sure it was the Eye of Shiva). I got a pink one similar to it, but I didn't include it in the challenge because I like the yellow one more. The skirt I got at a store on Queen W called F as in Frank. It's Danier, and I don't remember how much it was but it was 70% off, and it's secondhand. I've only worn it once because it's a bit of a tight fit, and it's uncomfy and I constantly feel like you can see my underpants.

Day 7: The crop top was gifted from my grandmother (as my best items of my wardrobe are), and I made the skirt from a women's blouse that I got from the Clothesline in Alliston (thrift). Pretty inexpensive outfit right there, because I didn't even pay for the blouse- it was in a donated bin to the sewing club in highschool. 

Day 5: This shirt was also given to my by my grandma, and the skirt was also from F as in Frank (also 70% off). I love the skirt but it's a bit big for me (safety pins to the rescue as usual). 

Day 6: This is my most 'basic' outfit. As in I bought the clothes at the mall. I know. It's embarassing. But I like to think you can't tell. The top is from Garage, and the skirt is Forever XXI. Yes the top is velvet, I love it, I wear it all the time. Velvet is coming back I say. And I bought the skirt in grade 9 or 10 and held on to it because I knew eventually it wouldn't have that look like I just bought it at the mall.

So there you go.

Since I haven't really talked to anyone much the past few days, if I wrote a lot here that's probably why. Poor Aj's so tired I try not to keep him up with silly thoughts about my clothes and my blog.

I miss my family & my best friend.

H

Blue

I posted on Instagram my outfit for today- which is all blue. It was an accident- it wasn't supposed to be like "I'm sad, so I'm wearing blue,"... but it kind of turned out that way.

So here's why I'm sad.
As you know I got hired at the pub down the road (Murphy's Law Irish Pub- for those of you in the area that wanna visit!). And I've been working 3-5 hour shifts every night since Friday. It's great. I really like the job: it's straightforward, I work with lovely people, and I'm getting decent hours. So all that is awesome.

But Aj just got a job- and most jobs are during the day. He leaves at 6:30ish in the morning, and gets home about 15 minutes AFTER I leave for work. It's sad. So we don't see eachother until 10ish when I get home, and then we're both uber tired.

This is the night before he started work :( we had a little date.

My poor mother when my dad is on afternoons. I never fully understood.

It's so lonely to putter around the apartment all day until 6. I've finished watching both seasons of Sherlock on Netflix, and Call the Midwife, and I'm in season three of Downton Abbey. It's horrible- I need to get up and do stuff. I did a few chores yesterday, and made some snacky foods and ran some errands. Today I've done diddly-squat, but I plan to as soon as I finish this post! haha.

So if you have any ideas for me to keep sane all day while I'm sitting around here let me know.

I really should paint or something.

Anywho.
xxxx
Hayley

Days 1-4

From the Top Left going clockwise: Day 3, Day 1, Day 4, Day 2

Hey everyone. So I'm at day four in the 30with30 challenge. I've decided I'll share them on here every four days for those of you who aren't on Instagram and so that it gives me a chance to talk a little bit about my outfits. 

And 4 is a nice number for editing my photos. I know there's only 31 days in May which means I'll only have 31 outfits... but I think I'm going to share my work uniform as well which makes it a nice 32 (divisible by four!).

I'm actually having a pretty difficult time with this challenge. Not because I can't come up with outfits... but I have a horrible time posing for them. It takes me a ton of shots to get one that I can sort of use. I tend to look rather miserable. Poor Aj has taken to making baby sounds and ugly faces in an attempt to grab some candid shots.

I bought these blue pants in Michigan on a shopping trip with my Nanna and my sister. The number one question is what I would wear them with because they're such a strange off-blue. I paired it with a Joe Fresh, loose black top (which I actually bought when my grandfather passed away because I had purposely not allowed myself to bring black clothes with me when it happened). Sorry to throw that in there- but I'll never wear this shirt and not remember. 

These black legging/pants are hilarious. Handed down by my grandma- they are VERY hard to get on. They're tiny. But once they're on they're comfy. They're extra thick so I look and feel like I'm wearing pants- I try to avoid leggings. The shirt is Forever 21 (not The Children's Place...). I've started wearing a lot of crop tops with high-waisted jeans. And whenever we're folding laundry Aj makes a remark about how my shirts all look like they belong to 5 year olds.

Both this sweater & the jeans are from JC Penney when we went to Michigan. They're kind of my go-to jeans right now. If you see me wearing them... like...EVERY DAY, it's because I love them and they're comfortable.

The other hard part, is that I'm working every day this week but Friday - and I've been sleeping in. This morning, I had time to wear my outfit for about half an hour before I had to change for work. And it's straight into my pajamas when I get home. It feels a bit like playing dress up more than anything. 

I don't know if I'll do this challenge again after this- but I'm going to finish this month for sure! 

In other news- my website is up. Click here: www.hayleypowling.com ! It doesn't work if you don't use the www right now- I'm working on that part. 

xoxoxo

H