I'm still here.

 I'm still here. Hi friends, I know it's been an absence. I've been working hard, and also enjoying life. I've undergone some lows and highs.

Let's start with the seasonal changes here in Northwestern Ontario. It's late November, and I am packing away the denim jackets and light cotton layers I wore during the heat of the summer and early fall.

Here are two outfits taken while I am seated in my car...first one is of me at the mall car park.  Shopping trips are becoming rarer, and therefore have become a treat and excursion. I am planning more carefully, so that I make fewer forays into our local shopping mall. I enjoy people watching, and being out and about. So I savour looking at merchandise and seeing what people are wearing. I also like striding about in indoor malls...which may soon become a thing of the past as shopping malls are increasingly loosing flagship stores. There are waves of longstanding stores which are dissappearing...shopping is changing. I have changed with it, I am allowing myself a budget to snap up well made clothing at liquidation sale prices.

me-made corgi mask, thrifted denim jacket, orange t-shirt (from store liquidation), blue camo jeans (from another store liquidation).

Outfit pic of me prior leaving the car to go to my job as a retail clerk in a women's wear shop. 

Abalone necklace from women's wear store liquidation, tank top from RW sales, thrifted Calvin Klein jeans, long lacy cardigan from sales.

I became suddenly unemployed in mid-May...and wanting to be frugal and not slide too deeply into debt, I picked up 3 part-time jobs (retail clerk, newspaper delivery person, and corner store cashier/prep cook). I enjoyed these adventures,  but thankfully I have secured an replacement full-time job.  One which pays more than my previous job, and ensures that I will survive financially. It's extremely difficult to support a household working minimum wage jobs, as it's impossible to find a job with full-time hours. I made the best of it though...and I'm still here. 

Here is what I learned about myself from my part-time jobs

1. I absolutely adore staging outfits, and presenting accessories and merchandise for sale. My favorite task as a retail clerk in a women's wear shop was opening up boxes of merchandise and arranging them for sale.

2. I love opening up mysterious boxes of inventory and exploring the contents.

3. I adore fashion, but I cherish well made clothing that is durable as well as stylish.

4. I thrive on working in a corner store/restaurant...the pressure of prepping food at high-speed is intoxicating.

5. I enjoy the peace and serenity of getting up extra-early and traipsing through neighbourhoods for 2 hours to deliver papers (except for Thursdays, when circulars add additional weight and bulk to my carrier bags, ugh!).

Assorted jean jackets and other clothing, all purchased second-hand.

Covid has not been an easy go for me. I haven't seen my kids in a long time as they live with their dad. A long term relationship also ended. And a career job suddenly disappeared. But I came back stronger, with a new relationship and a better job. I hope that you, my blogland friends, also persevere and survive. Perhaps you will discover new strengths, and new ways to enjoy life in quarantine.

I feel nostalgic as I pack away my summer wardrobe. But as the temperature dip, Mother Nature is giving us a taste of frosty weather...time to unpack cozy sweaters, tights, thicker trousers and leggings, and long jackets. I also plan to unpack my festive clothing. My boyfriend and I may not be going out to Christmas parties...but I will be damned if I don't dress up in my glittering finery.

happy thrifting ;)