Happy Halloween, everyone!

This is one of my favourite photos from this year's collection of Halloween portraits. Not only is the model my lovely and dear cousin, but it was shot in the cemetery across the road (which I have been waiting to utilize for so long), and ... wait for it ... The skull is real!

Now, before anyone gets all excited or offended about how I came to acquire a human skull just let me say this; I did not go searching for this skull. It kind of presented itself. And it is now reburied. 

On our shooting day my cousins said "I think I would find it really funny if I was in the spirit world and my head had been separated from my body for so long"

Happy Thanksgiving! This year, I'm grateful for getting to photograph my two best friends.

Fall is here! And with it comes these photos of me in digitally orange-colour underwear!

So things in my life have been changing a lot lately, much like the leaves on the trees. I'm only working one job currently so I have much more free time. And I've made it a priority to focus more on my photography. Or as I call it: Taking myself more seriously. And apparently in order to do that I need to start by photographing the scariest thing I can think of. Yep. Myself. Now, if you want the whole pitch about why I take photos like this you can see it here: http://ourlostthings.blogspot.ca/2012_01_01_archive.html Under the January 11th post.

All the things I said in that post are still true. Except I have a slightly better idea of what bra size I should be wearing. I'm still not ashamed that I look like this. I still think it's important to feel sexy and beautiful. I'm proud that I'm not a size 2, although women of all sizes are gorgeous as well.

I saw a picture on Facebook this past summer of a VERY curvy girl rocking a bikini in knee-deep water. The caption read "Summer; Not just for size zero". There was a flood of comments. Some people were incredibly supportive, expressing how proud they were to have curves too. However some people had a much different reaction. Some people mentioned how they think being plus size means being unhealthy. Some people just expressed how unattractive they thought the model was. One comment said something along the lines of "Summer isn't just for plus size people either!" 

I want to address these comments and offer my own opinion.

1. "Being plus size is not healthy."

Here's my first reaction: Says who? First of all, plus size does NOT mean Obese. Having a little more meat on my bones doesn't mean that I'll die of cardiac arrest at the age of 45. And even if I was obese, should I stop loving myself because of it? Being ok with my body doesn't mean that I no longer want to take care of it. I can love myself and still want better for myself all at the same time.

2. "Plus size girls are not attractive."

You have every right to your own opinion. And I personally don't mind if you express it. Please keep in mind that it is YOUR opinion and yours alone. Other may share the same belief as you, however you only have your own voice and can only speak for yourself. That being said, there are lots of people who love curves on a woman. Myself included.

3. "Summer isn't just for plus size."

Ok. Really? This is the one that bugs me the most. When skinny people get upset because curvy girls aren't afraid to show off their bodies and be proud of it. I want to make one thing perfectly clear. Just because I LOVE my body at a size 8 or 10 or 12 or whatever I might be, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't love yours at a size 4 or 2 or zero. So for all you skinny minnies who get tired of hearing "I love my curves," please don't think it's an attack on you. It's only us loving ourselves. And you should too. Us girls are told far too often not to be happy with what we have, even though in my opinion, we are one of the most beautiful things on this planet. The last thing we need is to start turning on each other.

On a final note, why are we all so afraid to tell each other how beautiful we are? If there's anybody out there listening, I challenge you to tell somebody they're beautiful. Just because... They are.

So I haven't posted much this summer and here's why:

This beautiful kitty went missing. And I was heart broken. I went to bed feeling strange and when I woke up I knew she was gone. As far as we know she was inside when we all went to bed. I think she chose to leave. I think she never planned to stay for long. Her name was Moggy but I called her the Grey Ghost. She was very quiet and sneaky. She wasn't even with me for a year. She left such a small imprint on my physical life that it's almost like she was never here. But she's still in my memories.

So... Moggy was technically a rescue cat. After she left I realized how much I love having cats around and how many didn't have homes. And that's how this happened...

Luna was a year and a half old when I adopted her from the SPCA and she'd been there for 6 months. From what we can tell she was likely a barn cat and had a litter within the first year of her life. I thought I would take an innocent look at the SPCA website, and I saw her picture. I loved her instantly. And a few days later I brought her home. 

 Adopting a cat through the SPCA was really easy. The only thing is, there's an adoption fee in order to pay for getting the animal fixed, it's shots, and a few doses of worm medication. When I adopted Luna there was a special at the SPCA and the fee was only $100. So here's how I paid for it.

I've been knitting since I was about 4 years old. And I recently started knitting stuffed animals. I thought that I could maybe raise some of the money to pay off the credit card bill of Luna's adoption by selling these funny creatures. 

And it worked. I got a much bigger response than I expected. And I found myself knitting day and night to fill orders and pay for my Luna. 

It took up almost all of my free time and I'm sure I caused some permanent damage to my eyes but I didn't care. Cats complete my life, so Luna was worth the work.

And of course I couldn't stop at just one. My brother has two barn cats that had litters very close together. These two little guys are from the second litter. The little guy above is officially named Mr. Pip. Matt calls him Mister. I call him Pipkin. (Pipkin is a character from my favourite Halloween story, The Halloween Tree.) He was born with a bad leg and my brother was worried about finding a home for him. So he lives with us and Luna now.

And the little girl below is named Poe, as in Edgar Allen. We call her Posy. She was just too sweet to give up. She's incredibly energetic and takes care of Pipkin... for the most part.

I'm still knitting all sorts of things and selling them to raise money for adopting cats. If you'd like to order something, I'd be happy to make it.

And for today's rainy day project... Patchwork Pumpkins!