Weekend of Stuff

Anyone who knows me pretty much knows that I have pack-rat issues. And anyone who has visited my home knows that I do not need more stuff. But this weekend, stuff I got. And stuff I off-loaded. And I made pretty important decision about Christmas stuff.

Friday night was spent at a fund raiser for a local animal rights group called ARK II. As one of the first 50 people to arrive, we were given goody bags! My favourite item was the cookie from local vegan bakery, Sweets From the Earth. Damn fine cookies.



And I won a hat in the raffle. I'm not a baseball hat wearer, so I'm passing it along to a friend :)



Saturday was mostly spent doing some overtime work. But during a break, we went out for lunch and I picked up a brand new iPod. A Shuffle. My iPod Mini, although minier than the standard huge iPod, is still awkward to work out with. The Shuffle is teensy and clips to your clothing – perfect for the gym, where I have been spending as much time as I can lately.




I also picked a carpal tunnel brace for my left arm (already have one for the right one). No photo, because it's not very interesting.


Today, Sunday, a friend hosted a Clothing Swap/potluck brunch (my contribution: scrambled tofu). For those unfamiliar, a Clothing Swap is where several people get together, bring all their clothes and/or shoes and accessories that they no longer wear, put them into organised piles, and everyone gets the chance to pick through the piles and choose things they like. Of course there are rules to determine who gets what if two or more people want the same piece of clothing, but the rules can vary. I brought several pieces that I've been holding on to and almost every item got taken. Yay! At the end, all the clothes that are left over get donated to charity. I believe the huge pile that accumulated today is going to The Scott Mission, as they're holding a drive in my friend's building this week.

My loot, minus a great pair of short pants is below – two very colourful skirts and a great cowl neck tunic style top made by a friend. No black. The boy will be happy.



The other things I came home with were brunch leftovers :) In my fridge are a few containers of various things – vegan banana bread, cheesy pinwheels for the boy, vegan chocolate cupcakes (sadly, a bit squished), vegan chocolate mousse and breakfast potatoes which are no longer in the fridge but now in my tummy. It wasn't a vegan event, but there were 4 of us freaks in a group of 9, so the food was very vegan friendly.

So, even though there was a lot of stuff coming into my life this weekend, it was fairly small and useful stuff. Plus, I gave away a suitcase of clothes that I no longer wear. And today, I decided to make this Christmas a more eco-friendly one. My mom, sister and I are saving up for a trip to Mexico in the new year so we are foregoing the usual gift-giving in favour of a smaller stocking stuffer exchange. My plan is to include as much locally made, hand made and environmentally conscious stuff as possible. I've already started knitting a sample of one of the items I will be including in my mom's stocking. She reads my blog, so I won't give away what it is (sorry, mom!) but I hope it will be very useful. And it's not a scarf or anything you wear. The one in the photo is for me, since I want to make sure it turns out before I make any gift-bound ones. If it does work out, I'm going to make a couple for every one of my friends :)