I love my hairdresser, but lately I haven't been happy with my cuts. It's not her fault, she does a good job, it's just not what I want. It's hard to convey "Louise Brooks meets 90s indie rock girl" to someone who has no idea who that is & wasn't 16 in 1994.

After spending an hour doing some intense youtube research on cutting a bob with clippers I decided that I could do it myself. If I really ruined it I could always get another pixie cut at a salon, and besides it would be good for a laugh. I dug out Randys clippers but the guards were missing. Instead of doing what a sane person would do and finding the guards or getting a new set, I decided that I didn't need the guards. Holding a hand mirror in one hand and the clippers in the other I went to work.

And somehow I ended up with this:





I'm really happy with how it turned out, and surprised that I managed to pull it off. All I need to do is straighten out my bangs. I saved myself a bit of money with this and to celebrate I think some serious headband shopping is in order!

---

Check out this adorable card on Etsy by Montreal artist Cyerly. This is the same look I had on my face yesterday while cutting my hair.

I discovered Larabars recently while looking for some help to get through my workouts without feeling weak afterwards. I had tried protein shakes but found them too chalky. Boost is good but it's also expensive. Larabars were like a godsend because they were gluten free, rich in protein without being full of crap and delicious. I could eat one (or two) every day.. if I could afford it.

Looking at the ingredients on the Peanut Butter bars (dates, peanuts, salt) I realized that I could probably come up with my own version. A quick search on google confirmed that homemade Larabars are easy to make & just as good as their name brand counterpart.

I picked up a package of "red value" brand pitted dates today for $2.99 and a bag of unsalted peanuts for $3.50 at my local Safeway. I wasn't sure if these were the right kind of dates - they had larger unpitted ones for $15/box but these ones were nice and sticky and worked great.

I used about 3/4 C of dates (loosely packed) and 1/4 cup of peanuts along with a dash of salt and a splash of vanilla for each batch. This is the kind of thing that can be made to preference, more dates for sweeter bars and more peanuts for saltier. Some recipes I found called for cocoa powder for a fudge version.

I made two batches, the first one I made by mincing the dates first and then adding all the other ingredients and the second batch I tried putting all the ingredients in at once. I recommend doing it the first way as the peanuts were not chopped as finely in the "all at once" method. I shaped them into bars with saran wrap and put them in the fridge.

I made 5 bars with just under half the bag of dates and barely any of the peanuts for a total of $2. That's just twenty cents a bar. Now I can indulge in two a day, guilt free.



Let me know if you try making your own Larabars & any variations you make. I'd like to try a version with cashews, and maybe one with shredded coconut.

I have always loved vintage skirts, especially the large circle skirts of the 50s. They are so flattering for every figure and they're just fun to wear. They can be expensive though, and it's not always easy to find a vintage skirt in your size. (23" waist? Maybe when I was 10.)

I wanted to recreate the vintage silhouette in casual, everyday wear. These are the kinds of skirts you can put on with a fitted t-shirt and sandals and wear while doing your errands, or pull on over a pair of tights while on your bike. They are all machine washable & made with solid french seams that will last so long that they will become vintage themselves some day.

Most of the skirts in stock are in size 31/32/33 with lots of stretch. However I would be happy to take custom orders to fit any size! Send a message on Etsy to discuss custom options.

Mavis Knee Length Full Swing Skirt sz 33 M/L

Anna Knee Length Floral Aline Skirt sz 31 M/L

Ethel Knee Length Vintage Fabric Swing Skirt sz 32 M/L

Check out the skirt section in my shop to see the rest of the skirts available!

Be More Creative

It's not quite summer yet but it sure feels like it. I've even had my first sunburn already, which will hopefully be my last sunburn of the year too. Sunburned knees hurt A LOT!

These pictures were taken a couple weeks ago. I am going to attempt to upload photos on the same day they are taken now instead of dumping my camera once a month, being overwhelmed by hundreds of photos and shutting down the computer. It's part of my "be more productive" goal that will hopefully lead to a "be more creative" outcome.

The hardest part about going gluten free was losing pizza. It had been my favourite food since I was a kid and something we ate at least twice a month. (Or week, on occasion...)

Thankfully pizza places are starting to offer GF delivery and there are lots of options for buying frozen pizza crusts and mixes these days. It's hit or miss though, some of it tastes like cardboard and many of them are full of weird preservatives. I've bought bread with a two year expiration date.. that's just wrong.

I've adapted this recipe for Pizza Dough from the Betty Crocker New Edition Cook Book. You can use any gluten free flour, either your own mix, straight rice flour or a bread mix. I use Celimix White Bread Mix as my regular all purpose flour. This recipe will make two round pizzas, I "half double" it, to make 3 pizzas. One big one for my boyfriend and one small one for me.

Pizza Crust:

2 1/2 to 3 Cups Gluten Free Flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 package quick or regular yeast (equivalent to 2 1/4 tsp)
1 tsp guar or xanthan gum
3 tbsp olive oil
1 cup very warm water

Preheat your oven to 375.
Mix 1 Cup of the flour, sugar, salt, yeast & guar/xanthan gum. Add oil and warm water. Beat with mixer on medium for 3 minutes, scraping frequently. Use your batter beater, not the dough beater. Stir in enough remaining flour until dough is soft and leaves side of bowl. I always mix up these steps, either I add all the flour at once or I don't beat it long enough, etc. It's very forgiving, so don't worry if you dump in all 3 c of flour at once accidentally. (I've done that more than once.)





Divide dough and scoop it out onto a well greased baking sheet. Dust your hands with your GF flour and press it into shape with your fingers. I use a bit of oil on my fingers too. I make my little pizza into a circle and Randys double pizza fills up the whole baking sheet. I press these fairly thin because they will rise up a bit in the oven. Brush a bit of oil around the edges and place the pizzas in the oven for approx. 8- 12 minutes. You will know it's ready for toppings when the dough looks dry and starts to crack.





Load up your partially baked crusts with toppings. I like cheese and basil and Randy likes cheese, pepperoni and sundried tomatoes. You can pretty much put anything on these pizzas, but if the topping is wet, like mushrooms, it's good to put it on during the last 5 minutes of baking.





Bake for an additional 10 - 15 minutes. I like to turn the broiler on for the last few minutes to brown up the cheese. These make a nice crispy crust that's got the right amount of chewiness to it - that's something that is usually missing from gluten free baked goods.





Enjoy!

The Best Gluten Free Banana Muffins (They're Vegan Too!)

I was really tempted to call my post "Tasty Tuesday" for some strange reason. What is it about blogging that makes you want to turn everything into an alliteration? I wasn't able to come up with anything catchy though, so I'll just call this section "Gluten Free Recipes" for now. (You'd never know I make a living based on my creativity...)

I've been gluten free for almost two years now and in that time I think I've tried every flour created and every brand of Gluten Free/Celiac Friendly processed food. Some of it is really good.. and some of it tastes like wet dog.

We don't have many GF products in Canada - no Betty Crocker mixes, no Bisquick, no Rice Chex. It's a lonely celiac world up here that involves a lot of baking from scratch. My saving grace has been Celimix. On it's own it's pretty bland, but used as a flour base it's great. Previously I made my own flour mixture but the Celimix bread mix is so convenient and delivers better results. A 2 kg bag sells for just under $12 at my local Safeway. You can find it in the gluten free section if you're lucky enough to have one, or in the regular flour aisle.



These muffins are so good that even my not-giving-up-gluten-for-anything boyfriend loves them. It's a recipe I've adapted from my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook to be gluten free and vegan. You can use regular cows milk instead and 1 egg in place of the flax mixture if you prefer.

The Best Gluten Free Banana Muffins (They're Vegan Too!)

Prep: 10 mins Bake: 25 Mins
12 Regular Muffins

1 C mashed, ripe bananas (2 medium)
1/4 sunflour oil (or your preferred oil)
1/3 C soy milk or almond milk (or 1/3 C cows milk for nonvegan)
1 tbsp flax meal mixed with 3 tbsp warm water for egg substitute (or 1 egg for nonvegan)
2 C flour mixture minus two tablespoons (I measure a full C then dump out about 1 tbsp. GF flour mixes use slightly less than the equivalent white flour measurement.)
1 tsp guar gum (or xanthan gum)
1/2 C packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1. Mix flax egg substitute in separate dish. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease 12 medium muffin cups. Don't use paper liners for these guys, they are too sticky.
3. In large bowl mix bananas, milk, oil and flax egg with fork until well mixed.
4. Add flour, guar gum, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir until well moistened. Add more milk if neccessary. I usually have to add one or two more tbsp of milk depending on how much banana I've added. Mixture should be thick.
5. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Let stand and remove to wire rack.

Best served warm and kept in the freezer. Microwave from frozen about 30 seconds before serving.

Make a cup of tea, get out a book and enjoy a little treat.

I'm a Social Media Failure

Fail Whale by iadornu.etsy.com

I'm finally ready to admit it. I suck at social media.

It's true that you can find me on twitter almost every day, either tweeting with friends or sharing a new listing on Etsy, but that only takes 30 seconds and 140 characters - or less! Of course I then spend the next hour scrolling back in time reading new posts. But I get my own tweets in, I make connections, and I even generate a sale on occasion. Twitter works. It's everything else that I have a problem with.

The Oh So Retro Facebook page is sadly neglected and my Flickr page has seen better days. Even my new Tumblr has already been abandoned, and we all know how often I update my blog. My poor blog... thought of often, written in never.

It's not that I don't want to participate in social media. I like it. I'm with it. I know how to do all this stuff... I just don't and I'm not sure why. As soon as I sit down on the computer I find myself in a cycle bouncing from one webpage to the next, reading and looking for things but not actually accomplishing anything. I can spend half an hour reading about The Kinks or vintage magazines or girls who look like Justin Bieber but can't find the time to upload pictures to Flickr or post a link on my fan site.

I see many women who have shops full of fresh items and blogs full of content and I think - why can't that be me? It's not like they have an extra pair of hands or an extra hour in the day that I don't have. They just sit down and work instead of sitting down with the idea of maybe working and oh hey look pictures of kittens in sweaters!

At the beginning of the year Randy asked me "How is this year going to be different from the last?" and I ask myself this when I am thinking of where I am and where I want to be. How am I going to make sure that this year is successful? What can I do to make Oh So Retro better?

I have a few social media goals that I want to start working on every day, just an hour during my lunch break that would usually be spent wasting time online. My list includes twitter, facebook, flickr, tumblr and of course blogger. How much time to you spend working on your social media/web presence? Do you find it makes a difference? I'm going to get serious about it for a few months to see if it helps. It can't hurt, even if it just helps me break my addiction to blogs about texting errors and animals wearing hats.

Long time no see.

I was a bit surprised to check in on my blog and see that I hadn't written since August 10th. That's almost half a year. I had just taken a little blogger break because I had wanted to adjust the width of my blog and wasn't sure how to do it and somehow it's five months later and I'm just getting around to adjusting it now. (Procrastination is not the best means of accomplishing things, by the way.)

My resolution for 2011 is simple: Stop being lazy. Basic enough that I can apply it to every aspect of my life, and trust me on this, my life needs a serious kick in the pants. More on that another day.

I just wanted to get a start on my blogging by saying a big thank you to Jamie from A Forest Frolic for letting me use her beautiful photograph for my header image. I knew as soon as I saw this picture that it would be perfect for my blog. I found her using the Creative Commons on Flickr which is something else I want to talk about another day. Best tool ever.

So here's to 2011. Let it be productive and happy, safe and successful for us all. (And let's hope that I actually blog more than twice this year.)

ps: Mr Boots says Hi!

Trying Something New - Vintage Inspired Clutches

I've been doing a little more designing and experimenting with my shop. Nothing too drastic of course, I'm not a terribly fashion forward kind of gal. In fact I usually joke that I'm "fashion backwards" because my style is so firmly rooted in the 40s, 50s and 60s.

Last month one of Randys coworkers asked me to come up with a gift for her 6 bridesmaids. She wanted something using her wedding colours and she wanted each item to be personalized. Oh and I had a really strict budget. Panic! I had no idea what I was going to do. I took a day to think about it and came up with the perfect idea that night while I was falling asleep - which is incidentally the time when I do my best designing.

The next morning I got up & excitedly emailed my idea to her - 6 simple clutches done up in navy blue with blush pink lining, each with it's own special button. She loved the idea and I started drafting a few different patterns to find the best shape. I also got hooked on clutches and have now made 10 of them, these little purses are addictive!

The final clutch design, one of the bridesmaid gifts.

These are my first two patterns. I love how both of them turned out and am really pleased to be able to offer some new bags to my shop. I've got a few more to be listed in the next few days, including solid coloured bags for those of you who aren't as pattern obsessed as I am!

Yoko Japanese Fabric Clutch

Ida Vintage Barkcloth Clutch

Learning to Live with my Fears

Stuff No One Told Me #22 By Alex Noriega

When I first saw this drawing by Alex Noriega I probably said something like Holy Shit! It couldn't have been more perfect if he had drawn it just for me. It looks like me, I drink tea alllll day and I am pushing myself out of a deep anxiety rut.

A few yeas ago I went to see a new age therapist while I was working through some childhood issues. It wasn't anxiety based but we did touch on it, since it's such a large part of my life. Agoraphobia is like a scar. You can definitely get better and function normally but there's always a part of your brain that won't forget.. especially if you keep picking at it.

I remember one session she had me sit on the floor with my shoes off and draw on a huge pad of paper with those fat Crayola markers. She would tell me to draw abstract things like where I see myself in 5 years or what would be inside a gift box that I gave to myself. I think I gave myself a ball of glowing light that would give me energy. (I should have given myself a car or a mortgage-free house.)

Most of the things she asked me to draw were simple and didn't require too much thought, until she asked me to draw my anxiety. I remember just sitting there looking at the ceiling trying to visualize what my panic disorder would look like if I could get it down on paper. It was huge, looming, scary. Evil.

I took the purple marker and drew a big giant blob the size of the paper, with a messy, jagged edge. I added horns, to make it more evil. My therapist was asking me about it while I was drawing it and I remember saying that it was just a really, really, big menacing monster. After looking at it for a while I decided to draw on eyes and a mouth, to give it a face. This ended up making me laugh instead of scaring me. My anxiety was adorable! He had googley eyes and a little grin, like he was in on the joke with me. I added little stick arms and legs and that was that. I couldn't believe I had been so afraid of this guy. He was a big scary monster sure, but he was easy to tame.

After that things actually did get easier. When I felt the shadow of panic creeping over me I would picture the monster behind me, tapping me on the shoulder and running away. It still sucked (and sucks) but it would at least make me smile for a moment when I thought I would go out of my mind with panic.

He's been coming back to bother me lately, but instead of worrying about him I think I'll just offer him some tea. I don't think he's going anywhere so we might as well get reacquainted.

DIY Hang Tags (on a budget!)

I have been brainstorming ideas for making professional looking hang tags to use locally during the upcoming craft show season. Up until now I had been using a business card with a regular hole punch, but the cards are big and get in the way and it just seemed a bit too amateur. Using items I already had, a little graphic design work & elbow grease I was able to come up with a classy hang tag that I think looks pretty sweet!



You will need two craft punches for making your hang tags. I used the "Extra Jumbo Marvy" 1.5" scalloped circle for the tag and a quarter sized hole punch for the string. Both were purchased from Michaels using the weekly 50% off coupons. These go on sale all the time too - don't pay full price for them! You can use whatever shape or size you like as long as it is no bigger than 1.75" wide and 2" tall.


Here's where the graphic design comes in. I used Vista Print and waited for a premium business card sale with free uploads. Trust me, if you sign up for their mailing list you won't have to wait very long! I get multiple free offers from them every week.

I used the "design your own business card" option, uploaded the background image from my blog and laid out the text boxes so I had two identical graphics on each side of the card. You will need to play around with this a bit - and it helps to have a business card in front of you with the holes punched out so you will have an idea where your borders will be. I was a bit worried that my 6 pt font would be too small to read but it turned out beautifully.

Of course you can use any printing company that you like but you can't go wrong with 250 cards for free + $10 shipping. That's 500 hang tags! Just be careful during your check out that you don't select any of their optional add ons. It ends up being cheaper to wait and order more items from their next promotional email.


And then the elbow grease. This is the least fun part of making your own hang tags but it's also kind of satisfying. I removed the plastic bottom from my Marvy stamp at first so I could make sure I was punching each card in the correct spot. After a while I was able to tell just by looking at the side of the stamp if the card was lined up in the correct spot.


Once my cards were stamped out I used my mini hole punch on them. A regular sized punch would work too but the smaller size looks cleaner to me.

Finally, I used embroidery floss to hang the tags from my purses. Floss comes in hundreds of colors so you can pick out the perfect shade to compliment your hang tags or your items.

I'm still not sure yet if I'm going to attach them to the inside of my purses with little safety pins or if I should just loop them around the buttons and snaps of my items. What do you think?

I'd love to see your tags if you try this method - if you already use the method - or if you purchase premade tags!

Oh Yoko

Yoko Green 7 Pocket Wallet With Change Purse

Yoko Pink 7 Pocket Wallet with Change Purse

Yoko Pink 7 Pocket Wallet with Change Purse

The Oh So Retro bifold wallet has 6 deep, staggered pockets for easy organization and massive amounts of storage! Keep all your business cards, bank cards, rewards cards, coupons and cash organized in one place.

Features:
- 6 inside pockets, 3 on each side.
- 3.5" zipper pocket on the back to hold a ton of change.
- Secure tab with metal snap closure keeps everything in it's right place.
- Measures 4.5" wide x 8" long (4" folded.)
- Interfaced for strength and stability.

Available in a pink or green version. Made with authentic Japanese fabric featuring large dots and patterns on green cotton. Lined in a matching print textured cotton with solid accent fabric.

Visit my shop for more wallets - or custom order one with your own choice of fabric and options!

Flashback Friday #4 Hello, Goodbye

The day he was born was a rough one for me. I actually hung up on my mom when she called to tell me that I had a baby brother. It never occurred to me that you might be a boy, I was sure I was going to have a little sister named Sarah. Instead I had a stinky brother named Michael. This was my first taste of disappointment.



It didn't take me long to warm up to you. We shared the second bedroom in our small house and I can remember standing beside the crib, looking in through the bars and holding his little feet. Who knew finger nails could ever be that small. I loved to hug and squish him.



When Michael was 3 years old he was diagnosed with a spinal cord tumor and given one month to live without immediate surgery. My parents flew to Toronto with him and I lived with my grandparents. The doctors prepared us for possible paralysis and we excepted him to come home in a wheelchair. (He ran off the airplane to meet us at the airport.) At the time I didn't understand the seriousness of this event. I still can't fully understand it.



(Further proof that I am the smart one.) Christmas was the best. Having someone to share that excitement with.. the moment before our parents would give us the go ahead when we both sat shaking with excitement before the tree, counting presents and seeing who got the biggest one. Michael would rip his presents open one after the other and then sit and watch as I meticulously unwrapped my gifts.


There's a big gap without pictures of us because there's a big gap where we hated each other. Hated. Now I realize what a waste of time that was. I carry that regret with me even though my brother has forgiven me for how I treated him. (We're not just talking sibling rivalry here.)

It's taken years but I consider my brother one of my best friends. He's moving to Montreal tomorrow to start his new career at Aerospace as an Engineer and I am SO proud of him! I am going to miss him something fierce and will probably be making the same face that I am in the first photo but I'm excited to see what he's going to accomplish in his life.

The sky is yours Michael, one step at a time.

Thrift Shop Finds

I love books. I love books more than I love fabric. Well maybe not quite that much, but they're a close second.

Actually let me restate that: I love second hand books. I love hunting through a heavy shelf in a thrift shop for well loved books, finding a forgotten bookmark treasure or vintage library card. One of these had tickets for a draw to be held in December 1989. I guess they didn't win.

This week I found these books at my local Goodwill - a great find. My high school had the entire collection of New Canadian (NC) paperbacks, these same editions from the 1970s with abstract paintings on the front.

Margaret Lawrence is an amazing Canadian author, if you haven't read her yet I strongly recommend "A Bird in the House" and "The Stone Angel". I haven't read "A Jest of God" yet but it's next on my list.

The Margaret Atwood "You Are Happy" book of poetry was my absolute favourite in high school. Some of the poems I had read so much that I was able to recite them from memory as I was reading them. I was so excited to find a first edition, and one in great shape too.

Anais Nin is of course classic and the Stephen Leacock book - well I just liked the design. Sometimes you just have to buy a book if it's going to look good on your shelf.

As cool as I think the e-readers are, I will never own one because they don't come with the dusty library smell, you can't sit and look at the titles and they won't make for very fun thrifting in the future.

Reintroducing...

It's been a long time coming but I am finally ready to restart Oh So Retro Accessories up full time. I'm really excited to be designing & creating again after a two year hiatus in which OSR was put into bare bones mode. I'm feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, inspired and ready to get back to work!

I'm hoping to put up at least one brand new item a day in my Etsy shop until it's nice and full for the upcoming season. I will also be taking wholesale and custom orders. You can email me at ohsoretro@gmail.com if you have any inquiries.

As always you can follow me on twitter or add OSR on facebook. You can add my personal facebook too if you want more me, less spam.

Thanks to everyone for your support over the last two years -- it means a lot to me to know so many people are still excited to see what I'm up to in the sewing room.

Vivian Vintage Inspired Purse in Jacobean Linen $52


Maybelle Vintage Inspired Purse in Polka Dot Canvas $42

A few thoughts before we get on with it.

I've recently discovered that the problem with depression isn't the painful sadness or the intense apathy, the lack of hygiene and nutrition and sunshine and friends...

It's the fact that being depressed takes up a lot of time. Weeks, months, years go by in a haze and before you know it one morning you're waking up (exhausted) and looking at a calendar unable to recognize the date. 2010? How the hell did that happen?

Coming out of a depression is really like coming out of a coma.

The really sad thing is that I didn't even know I was depressed until I started to come out of it. I've been living life at a dull hum, not really doing anything except the bare minimum needed to get by. I have no excuses for this. I'm tired of making excuses.

I don't want to waste another minute of life! I've been making some small changes over the past month, getting out more, being with people more, taking photos and sewing and drawing. Getting dressed, showering, eating. The simple things. The things I used to enjoy doing. The things that make me "me".

So that's it. No more excuses, no more bullshit. It's time for me to get on my way.

Introducing... Hair Bows & Headbands!

When I was a little girl (waaaay back in the 1980s) I loved to draw and design my own clothing. I had an empty school notebook that I used to fill up with pictures of impossibly proportioned girls in ill fitting clothing; mostly tiered skirts with strapless bustiers all covered in giant bows. I was obsessed! Hair bows, sock bows, front bows & bum bows, bows on shoes and ramdomly placed all over dresses. I was kind of like the kid in Superbad, except with bows.

So when I noticed the resurgence of the bow I was really excited & decided to bring my childhood drawings to life. I wanted something that would suit everyone. Some of my drawings featured giant upright bows (think Lady Gaga's hair bow) and others were more feminine and laid flat over the ear. After some tweeking I was able to come up with a bow that does both - in fact it can be worn any way, any where on the plastic headband that it comes with. The secret is the fabric band that keeps it in place while it's being worn.



Because the bow is not permanently attached to the headband you can not only change it's style but you can remove it completely to swap it with one of eight other bows in this custom listing. The extra bows can also be used on their own to sew onto bags, jackets, shoes, pet collars, necklaces, bracelets... anything you can think of really. Because everything looks better with a big bow!



Check out my new Hair Bow section on Etsy! New fabrics & sizes coming soon. Wholesale & custom orders available.

As a special offer, FREE SHIPPING in North America is available on all bows & headbands in my shop from now until July 1st!

Wear Sunscreen. And Leave the House.

"Be Free" by pennywishes

The other morning when I was watching old videos on youtube (I do this every day) I came across "Everybodys Free To Wear Sunscreen" by Baz Luhrmann. I remember Much Music playing the video over & over & over back in the day (they had a way to kill everything good) but rewatching it 10 years later I was struck with the soundness of this advice. If only I had listened, but advice is one of those "best seen with hindsight" things, intentions are all well and good, but you have to live through things yourself to be able to understand the advice.

The line "Do one thing every day that scares you" stood out especially for me since I have become so complacent in dealing with anxiety. Lately I have been feeling motivated to pull myself out of the rut I've created and find myself again, so to speak. I feel like I'm coming out of a fog. I feel like myself again. It feels good.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future,
sunscreen would be it.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked…

You’re not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you.

Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t,maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own..
Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen…

Day 2, or Mr Boots Laments the Rain

It's been a very, very rainy day today and it's just as well since I'm feeling a little under the weather myself.

No walks today, hopefully tomorrow.