My Fabulous Book of Looks

My fashion education is cobbled together from reality TV design competitions, dated tips gleaned from the now defunct YM magazine, and taking cues from stylish strangers I see on the street. I don’t know anything about couture; in fact, most of my clothes come Fresh from the grocery store. Basically, when it comes to fashion, I'm no expert!

But one thing I do know is you don’t need a closet full of designer labels to make a style statement. In fact, you don’t even need clothes to create a collection all your own. With My Fabulous Look Book, all you need is your imagination.

My style is pretty simple. I call it eclectic cute. I love dresses, blazers, bows and chunky costume jewellery. But I also like to hunker down in a comfy waffled Henley, a scarf and some super stretchy jeans. So, as I flipped through the pages of models to choose from, though the little girl in me wanted to dress them in fabulously flow-y ball gowns, I decided to fill my book with MY looks instead.

Statement necklaces, decorated headbands, sweetheart dresses and my signature side bun; these are the looks that make my style my own. But I also like to draw inspiration from my fabulous friends. A pretty three tone cocktail ring worn by the always bejeweled Miss Vicki. Nobody works a faded jean jacket like Patty-Lou. A braided headband over long wavy locks is all too-pretty Tess. And the inspiration for that purple hair comes straight from my own magenta-coiffed mom!

Who knows, maybe one day my designs will come sashaying down the runway 

with the words 100% Klutz in big, bright letters behind. 
First step, My Fabulous Look Book; next stop, Fashion Week!

Adventures with Crazy Action Contraptions

One snowy Saturday, Mike and I were lazing around the apartment playing some Brick Tac Toe.

So, we built some Super Charged Speedsters and headed out to the hallway. We stared each other down as we wound our elastic band racers and prepared for battle. On the count of three we were off, popping wheelies and kicking up carpet fibre. 

It was neck in neck, as we zoomed down the hallway. But soon I began to lose speed, while he zipped ahead. My speedster slowed to a crawl, but I was determined to put on a good show. I wound up my band and made a dash to catch up. That’s when I noticed that that tricky trickster had rigged his speedster for extra power by double winding his elastic band. Off he sped toward the finish line, but the race wasn’t over yet; I still had a trick up my sleeve.

I pulled out my trusty Squeezeclaw Grabber and plucked him right from his cart, tossing him back just in time to cross the finish line.

Victory was mine in this dirty road race! And I celebrated like a most gracious winner, with my noisemaker ringing sounds of my victory throughout the lands.

And that was my super Saturday adventure with Crazy Action Contraptions!

It's Kind of a Funny Story

One warm summer day at the cottage, we decided to put on a family-wide tournament of skills, complete with shiny new trophies and endless bragging rights up for grabs. Everyone divided up into teams of two, and my dad and I were paired together. We put on a good show at the kayak races, relayed our way to the finish line, and ate our way to second place, but it wasn't until the paper airplane competition that we truly had victory in our sights. 

See, in his university days, my dad and his engineering buddies created a foolproof paper airplane, able to soar through the air with the greatest of ease, so he assured me we had this one in the bag. He folded out his perfect plane as we snickered knowingly at the lesser creations of all of our opponents. Little did he know that his foolproof plane was no match for his klutzy daughter. 

As we lined up along the balcony, my dad shouted last minute pointers at me from the ground; keep your arm strong, hold the plane pointed up, make sure to follow through. Filled with one too many tips, I cleared my head and just went for it. This approach was quickly proven wrong as our plane sputtered in mid-air then quickly took a nosedive down to the ground. I was crestfallen. My dad was confused. He'd had had so much confidence in the power of his plane and I had failed to make it fly. I knew he was frustrated and I felt horribly for having let him down.

I haven’t picked up a paper airplane since…

So, you can imagine my trepidation when presented with The Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes. Though it boasted that launching a regular old piece of paper into the sky was nothing short of pure magic, all I could envision was a repeat of my pathetic previous performance.
  
Luckily, Klutz, and my dad, were there to hold my hand. With illustrated instructions for folding and throwing ten perfect paper planes, as well as throw charts, safe fly zones, and a crash course in flight, how could I fail?

We sorted through the 40 sheets of cool patterned paper and set to work folding out our fleet. As I learned about lift versus gravity, thrust versus drag and elevators and ailerons, my dad’s long ago, last minute advice—and the logic behind it—finally fell into place. I was ready for action! I took a deep breath, wound up and threw, and was delighted as my planes soared around the living room while my dad cheered me on. 

Fun with the family, a little bit of learning and a second chance at glory? Sounds pretty magical to me!