About

Once Upon A Time...

...in a land not so far away (we're talking Canada) there lived a 31 year old woman who still owned a pair of brown twill pants she had during high school. She lived a life of fleece sweaters, stretchy no-button jeans and hot pink Crocs.

This woman collected dolls based on their backstories and whether she liked what they were wearing. She had a successful YA book blog and was writing her own urban fantasy novel. This woman had a passion for fashion which bled into everything she did--except when it came time to do anything for her own appearance.

That woman was me, circa December 2013. (And I'll confess I still have and wear my hot pink Crocs. I'm actually due for a new pair, considering I've had these ones since 2004.) I was under the extremely false assumption that what I had was all that was available and that I had two choices: (1) Lose weight or (2) Accept my "fate".

I've never been small. I've been plus size as long as I can remember being alive. Growing up and being unable to wear the things I wanted to was a nightmare. Plus, I have big wide feet and an ankle that had to have a chord lengthened because I was born with my foot elongated so that I was forced to walk on my toes, so finding shoes (and even worse, boots--really hard since I essentially can't arch my right foot) is not a fun experience. Over the years annoyance lead to anger, which in turn lead to a form of accepted indifference.

Meeting My "Fairy Godmother"... 

I had absolutely no clue what I wanted for Christmas. My parents and my grandma ended up just giving me money. As I sat thinking about what I could use it for when we went Boxing Day shopping the next morning, I was stumped. I knew I wanted to use it for something "important". I didn't want to buy a bunch of little items, like CDs or DVDs or books that I would forget they had gotten me six weeks later.

There are certain stores that I go to on Boxing Day as a general rule: Chapters, the Mall, Future Shop, Penningtons... I decided that I would see what clothes Penningtons was offering and headed to their website. I noticed several things that interested me and thought that maybe I would get an outfit if I had the time. (Let me let you in on a secret...No one HAS time. People have to MAKE time, because it was people who invented time to begin with.)

I then realized I hadn't checked my e-mail. (It was Christmas so I'd been busy.) Sitting in my inbox was a Penningtons ad, and when I opened it I saw: "SALE. Two days only. Buy 1 Get 1 Free."...And it was starting the next day, when I was going into the city. I've heard it said that when opportunity knocks you have to be willing to open the door. And that's exactly what I did.

I love the clothes I bought that day, and you can bet you'll be hearing about them. But the reason I'm qualifying this as meeting my "fairy godmother" has nothing to do with the clothes themselves and everything to do with the feelings of joy, hope, delight, and empowerment I felt as I walked out of that store with my humongous shopping bag loaded down with goodies. I decided that 2014 will be the year that I transform my wardrobe so that it authentically matches who I am as a person.

It is my hope that as I continue on this journey that this blog will allow me to share my experience with others and that it will serve as a means to reach out to others who have been where I was and who are traveling through the same terrain I find myself facing now. Here's to a journey which may not always be easy, but which will, without doubt, be oh so worth it.