Category Archives: Life & Photography

The Learning Curve

Posted on May 2, 2015May 2, 2015 by Melissa Harrison

I recently realized that if one person – or two, or three – are asking for a custom item, there are probably scores of others who would also like this thing to exist. I don’t know why it takes me so long to learn these things, they seem so simple once I’ve figured them out.

A few of my friends started a smartphone app making business with the goal of growing it into a video game making business. They gave themselves a success deadline: if they didn’t have the funds to work on a game full time after about a year of trying, they would have to make it a hobby and pursue full time employment as a boring ol’ non-indie programmer with a cubicle and a health benefits package and all that gross, stable adult stuff. They didn’t succeed in the terms they laid out.

This has left me trying to rationalize and reconcile the knot between success and failure. I’ve always thought that anyone, reputed to be successful, who doesn’t admit that luck had at least a little to do with the way things worked out will be swiftly and severely punished for their hubris. Anyone who thinks it was all them, is a fool. And no one gets lucky on their first try. It seems the difference between successful people and everyone else is how afraid to fail they are and how many failures they have behind them. Successful people fail. They fail harder and more often than the average person, and that’s how they find success.

It took me a lot of tries to come up with designs that people responded to and a lot of time to learn that people will tell you exactly what they want – and even give you money – if you know how to listen. That’s how I winded up with some of my best selling designs.

$The Vixen Skirt \\ Sophster-Toaster$

The Vixen Skirt in Long exists because someone loved the original but needed a longer length, and as it turned out, she wasn’t alone.

$The Stitch in Time Skirt \\ Sophster-Toaster$

The Stitch in Time Skirt exists because someone needed a size that could not be accommodated in the dress version, because someone loved the fabric and silhouette but needed a lower cost alternative, because someone just plain prefered skirts, and because I learned to listen.

Every time I feel successful, I have to redefine success and set harder goals because I’m one of those people who isn’t inspired or motivated by success. I need to keep falling to get higher.

Tee: Sophster-Toaster // Skirt: Sophster-Toaster // Petticoat: ModCloth // Shoes: ModCloth (old) // Record Player: Amazon

Enjoy Winter, While You Can

Posted on February 28, 2015February 28, 2015 by Melissa Harrison

The other day, someone wrote into the radio station I was listening to to say, “winter’s almost over, enjoy it while you can”. It seemed like one of the most alien concepts a Canadian could encounter at the end of a particularly harsh February. It was in direct opposition to everything I had seen while wandering the Internet as I ate my breakfast. I had scrolled past three individual text-over-image posts conveying nothing other than, hey guys, remember bonfires? with thousands of likes each, an ad announcing that spring styles are in stores now!, a recipe for a summer cocktail, 11 Reasons Why We Hate Vancouver Right Now, and several other reminders of how much North America hates winter only a few hours earlier.

After my second year of trying, obstinately, to create an appreciation of winter so I could trick myself into liking it, thereby mitigating my winter sadness, I found this stranger’s words incredibly inspiring. It’s -12°C right now, -20°C with the windchill, but the sun is out and shining through the icicles that hang from every building in the city, the sky is that bright, crisp blue the you only get to see when it’s too cold to snow, the rich, dark brown branches of the bare trees are silhouetted against streets and houses covered in a downy blanket of blindingly bright white snow, I’m wearing a cardigan several sizes too big for me because I stole it from my husband’s side of the closet and I’m happy.

I think a huge part of embracing winter is getting out of the house, by choice, on days like these and spending some time soaking it all in. That’s why when my husband asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday this year, I said “go to the beach”.

I didn’t grow up near the beach so driving across the city just to see some frozen water was quite novel and exhilarating for me. My friends couldn’t understand why I would do such a thing.

It was quiet. The carousal was boarded up for winter, the obnoxiously buff volley ball guys were gone and there wasn’t a single family reuniting over hot dogs. It was just us, the birds, a few people playing hockey out on the ice and a handful of other couples in the know. It was cold, otherworldly and beautiful.

Valentine’s Day Birthday, Part II

Posted on February 25, 2015February 24, 2015 by Melissa Harrison

At 27 years old, I still get excited about growing up and getting older. I’m the only adult I know who celebrates every added year with the enthusiasm and anticipation of a child still counting the years on one hand. I make sure all of my friends are seriously aware of my continued aging.

These go out in January, by the way.

I plan a party with enough food, games and long-distance guests to get my friends out of their homes and into mine on a cold night in the middle of February, when there’s almost always some sort of weather advisory (this year it was an extreme cold warning, what fun!).

My brother drove up from back home.

I found birthday cake flavoured Oreos while browsing the liquidation sales at the ill-fated Target Canada. I bought a whole bunch and made these not-so-quick but very easy Party Oreos. I only decorated half of the cookie, my friends thought I was being lazy, I thought I was being artistic.

Dress: Modcloth // Cardigan: H&M (old) // Tights: Target // Slippers: White Noise Maker // Necklace: Modcloth (old) // Earrings: gift, received them for my 5th birthday // Ring: a family heirloom

Because I was unofficially elected to be the party food maker of my friend group, I knew that if I wanted anything fancier than a bag of chips, I would have to make it myself. I decided to not overwork myself, for once, and only make easy stuff, hence the charmingly campy pigs in a blanket. My friend told me, with three days’ notice, that he would be very upset if someone didn’t make my famous steak & egg devilled eggs, so I whipped some up along with some dirty martini devilled eggs, for good measure.

My friend Sarah has made my birthday cake every year since I moved to the Niagara Region. This year I asked for either citrus or a tangy chocolate. She brought this happy yellow cake that I discovered, when I plunged my 9″ chef knife into it, was actually chocolate! I blew out all the candles on my first try.

‘The Crimson Tide’ App Review

Posted on March 24, 2014February 6, 2015 by Sarah Lepp

Red tide, Aunt Flow, Lady Time, Period, Dracula’s tea bag, Purple Towel Night, Dragontime, Moon Cycle, Fighting the Scarlet Crusade, Defecting to Canada, or maybe Riding the Cotton Pony.

If you aren’t sure what I’m referring to, I’m talking about menstruation.

Many ladies are interested in tracking their cycles to understand when to expect cramps, the highest chance of pregnancy, or just to know when they must purchase more cotton amour. I use and have used period trackers for three years, and although these trackers are sometimes a day off, I find these apps provide excellent insight to my cycle. So, let us move on to two of my favourite cross-platform Moontime trackers! Continue reading →