The Meteor Shower...that wasn't.

So last Friday there was supposed to be a meteor shower between the hours of 1am-4am on Saturday Morning. Its been on my Bucket List to see a meteor shower so I was extremely excited when my uncle suggested we go. I went along with my uncle, niece and sister. We drove out to a spot in Caledon, just after midnight on Saturday, called The Forks of the Credit to set up our cameras in hopes of getting some photos.

The weather was extremely overcast but quickly cleared up by the time we got out to Caledon. We were lucky that only once during the night did we have cloud overcast but it eventually thinned out and we could see the stars again. But as you can tell by the title of this post the shower never happened. We were all pretty bummed out. But we all learned a lot about night time photo taking, and my Uncle and niece were able to get some pretty amazing photos.

An even bigger disappointment for me was that my camera just would not focus. Imagine turning off all your lights in your bedroom and trying to see a piece of fluff on your floor. Its not exactly easy. My uncle was able to focus his own lens and helped my niece focus hers but none of us could get my camera lens to focus. It was extremely frustrating and the more I tried the more I wanted to cry. I tried for about an hour and half  to work with my camera taking just under 50 images by turning my lens this way and that, trying to see what I could do. Around 2:00am I just said 'fuck it' and turned off my camera. Out of all the photos I took I was able to play with only 3 of them but like I said it was a learning experience and I'm glad I went.

All of my photos where shot on ISO 1600 at a F-Stop of 4.0 with Shutter Speed at 25-30 seconds.

I edited them in Photoshop Elements 11 changing the White Balance a bit and upping the contrast.

Despite not seeing a meteor shower I did get to see a dozen or so shooting stars. I've never seen a shooting star before so every time it raced across the sky I let out a little 'Ohh' and 'Ahh'. Which was quickly followed by my niece screaming "MAN...my camera was faced the wrong way."

Eff Your Beauty Standards

I got to meet TESS MUNSTER!

For those who don't know who that is, Tess is a Plus Size Model, Make-Up Artist, Body Positive Activist, Blogger and Founder of #EffYourBeautyStandards. Impressive Right?

I started following her on Instagram after a friend from work, Amanda, posted a picture of her on her IG. Tess is such an inspiration for not only plus size women but to all women. She lives in LA but was traveling and doing meet and greets with fans and Toronto happened to be on her list of cities. Amanda, who is a huge fan of Tess, showed a couple of us from work that she was coming up and three of us agreed we had to meet her.

The day started out with us all meeting at Yorkdale where I broke my Sephora cherry and bought a brand new lipstick. I was feeling sassy and ready to take on the world. Have you ever noticed that when you feel pretty you give off a different chemistry? I swear it happens every time I wear a new dress or even just a new Bra and Panties.  Like I can be wearing an over sized T-shirt and crappy jeans but if I'm wearing sexy new underwear...WATCH OUT WORLD! Like for some reason I feel pretty so I stand a little taller, look people in the eye and smile a bit more. I get more compliments and feel pretty, which is something I don't feel on a day to day basis.

Well with my new 'Hot Tango' Red lipstick on I was feeling just that. Funny how little things like that will help. So after shopping for a little bit we headed down to Gussied Up Plus, where Amanda would meet one of her idols. There was a buzz happening between the three us, that only got stronger as we lined up with the rest of the women and men outside the store.

Everyone in line was so positive. It was amazing how many people where just dealing out the compliments to everyone who passed. Especially towards Amanda who looked fierce with her Ariel red hair. While we waited outside two people asked if we would answer a couple questions while they filmed us. James and Giovanna are the two filmmakers filming a documentary on the plus size industry called A Perfect 14. Tess Munster along with two other plus size models are their subjects in the documentary that will explore the personal struggles and success of these woman. We were asked some questions about Tess Munster and our feelings towards her positive attitude on the plus size community. Hopefully we will have a little bit in the documentary which would be fantastic. Also I can cross being in a movie off my bucket list. So in the event that James and Giovanna actually stumble across this post, my name is Paula Vaughan and I was the chick with the sassy red lipstick. Just to narrow it down for you all. :)

Tess Munster, where do you start? Well, how about with the obvious. She's gorgeous. You look at photos now a days and know that photoshop is going to be used at some point, but honestly she is stunning in person. Photoshop is not needed with her at all. She was talking to her fans one on one, and while we waited in line we saw how she interacted with people. She was so nice and willing to share stories and answer peoples questions. She was taking photos with people and asked after every photo if they liked it. If not another one would be taken. She wanted everyone to like the photo that was taken and would continue to take photos until the person was pleased with it. She was signing autographs and selling her custom Eff Your Beauty Standards T-shirt, which the three of us purchased.

It was an amazing experience to be a part of it and to meet such an incredible woman but also to see Amanda meet her idol. Amy and I were both more excited for Amanda to meet her then anything. 

Being a plus size woman is hard. I have always been on the fatter side of what society deems as beautiful. What can I say I love to eat and hate to exercise. Could I lose some weight? Of course I could. Is that anyone's business but my own? Hells No.The amazing thing that I'm finding going on right now are all the plus size women that are speaking out about what its like to be on this side of the social norm and love your body. You have women like Tess Munster, and Brittany Gibbons with her Curvy Girl Guide Society. Chelsea McGowan and her Girls on Film photo shoots, where real woman of all shapes and sizes show their confidence in their own skin. You have actresses like Rebel Wilson and Melissa McCarthy owning their bodies and showing that having curves isn't something to be ashamed of but something to embrace.

We need more women like this in the world. We need to stop with the Fat Shaming and the Skinny Shaming. I've said it so many times before about actresses who are skinny, mostly because I'm jealous that they look the way they do. They work their asses off (literally) to look the way they do. Good on them! Love your body and yourself just the way you are. If you want to get healthy and feel more confident in your own skin then fucking go for it, and if that's not for you then so be it, but be confidant in yourself.

Honestly life is hard enough without everyone else picking on each others appearance. So in the words of Tess...Eff Your Beauty Standards.

**Side Note: I edited most of these pictures using the A Beautiful Mess Actions for Photoshop Elements. I'm really loving the look they give to my pictures.  

Honest to Blog: Goodbye 2013 Hello 2014

So we are at the end of another year and only a drunken breath away from a new year. I for one am pretty happy to be done with this year. It was a hard one for me. This was one of the hardest years for Richard and I in our 7 year relationship. A lot of that was to due with the fact that I was hit super bad at the beginning of this year with one of the hardest bouts of depression I've had in a long time. I was in the hospital earlier this year with a really bad kidney infection as well. In my defense I was trying to be healthy and took some daily vitamins which ended up giving me the kidney infection. Then being on even more of a 'got to get healthy' attitude I decided to work out and my knee slipped and I've had to deal with that injury. So if this is any kind of lesson it should be to stay unhealthy, but I know that's not the best attitude to walk away with.

But lets talk about some of the amazing things that happened this year. I became an aunt not once but twice to two beautiful girls. Both my brothers had daughters this year: Callie and Sarah. Add those two to my new nephew Caleb that was born last year, we are now up to 7 nephews and nieces.

Left: Simon, Valerie, and Caleb. Top Right: Tyler, Macayla, and Callie. Bottom Right: Sarah

Seriously?!? How beautiful are all these kids. Ridiculous, I know but there you have it.

I joined all the cool kids and signed up for Instagram this year, and it reminded me of how much I love taking photos. So much so that I did a 30-day photo challenge with a Beautiful Mess. I am really proud of the photos I took for the challenge, and tried being creative with how I took them. 

On top of these photos with instagram alone I have taken just shy of 400 photos since May of this year. I have also done Photo Adventures with my friend Hillary and Uncle Chris. All of which you can see here, here, and here. 

I got promoted at my work from Receptionist to a Call-Coordinator. I like that I have a lot more tasks to do and the team I work with is awesome. They really make the days at work more interesting. And I've made new friends at work, but shh don't tell them that. 

These are the girls on the Deskside Team. Our team lead Neil was MIA for this photo.

Speaking of work I was a part of the Social Committee for the second year in a row and we put on two very successful events. A 50's Breakfast and, my ultimate favourite, our Masquerade Holiday Party. You can see all the photos of those here and here. 

I also challenged myself to read more books this year, and ended up reading 27 new books. I wanted to challenge myself to read 30 new books, but fell in love with so many this year that I ended up re-reading the same books over and over. So I guess technically I did read over 30 books. Challenged Accepted- Challenge 'sort of' Completed. And with reading comes wanting to write. I joined Richard's writing group and started writing a novel. Ya that's right I'm writing a book. Pretty awesome if I do say so myself. 

After getting out of my depression in the beginning of the year the rest of the year went pretty darn well. I'm happy with how this year ended and I'm looking forward to next year. This is around that time where people post their goals and talk about how they want to lose weight and stop smoking and learn a new hobby. Well I've done that on here before and let me tell you, those goals where never accomplished. 

But I do want to set myself up with some goals, so here is a list of what I want to do next year:

1.Stay positive.

2. Spend more time with family.

3. Cross off more things on my Bucket List. (You can see what I have on it here.)

4. Finish my book.

5. Throw out my weight scale and never weigh myself again. EVER. My health goal next year is not going to be to lose X amount of pounds but instead get myself to a point health wise where I'm happy. Screw the number on my clothes and the number on the scale. My goal is to be happy with my body and how I feel. 

6. Stick to my passions and complete my home decorating ideas. 

7. Chisel away at our debt. I would really like to be debt free as soon as possible. 

Well, that's all folks. Thanks for reading this little bit of the internet world that I have. Hope you all will stick around next year and see what other crap I get up too. 

Happy New Year Everyone. 

Masquerade

If you are a follower of my Instagram or my Twitter you will know that last Saturday I helped plan this years Holiday Party for my work. This year in particular was special due to it's theme, which by the title of this post you can see was a Masquerade.

It has been on my Bucket List since I was a little girl, and I first experienced the play 'Phantom of the Opera' that going to a Masquerade was a must! Earlier in the year I was looking up on how I could achieve this when I found out that Castle Loma in Toronto actually holds a Masquerade around New Years. However this was an all ages kinda thing and I just wasn't interested. Then the thought acquired to me that if I couldn't attend one then I would help organize one. So I brought the theme idea to the Social Committee and everyone liked the idea so...BAM!

All year we have been planning this and it was a huge success. Not only did people like this theme but we had the largest turn out for RSVP's ever. We had performers from Zero Gravity Circus who were walking around in costumes while people arrived, as well as a Juggler during Dinner. All the centerpieces were called for and taken at the end of the night by employees, and we also had a photographer for the evening who provided all the wonderful photos.

Granted this wasn't a mandatory Masquerade, and a lot of people didn't wear masks for the whole event, or even at all but who cares! The point is that it was a success and something our company has never done before.

Below are some pictures from the night to show off all our hard work. All photos were taken by Dennis Duong at MotionD Photography.

List of Vendors 

Venue: Castlefield Event Theatre DJ: James Able Disc Jockeys Photography: MotionD Photography Performers: Zero Gravity Circus

Centerpieces and Decorations

Vase/Lampshade/Birdcages/Candelabras: Home Sense Candles: Ikea Generic Masks and White Masks: Party City Ribbons: Michaels 

Metal Masks Worn by Guests: Elite Crafting

I am so glad I have been apart of the Social Committee at MicroAge for two years and have helped organize and plan 4 events. Its been a fun experience but with my new promotion this year I've decided that I can't handle both. So this was definitely a great way to end it.

If you have any questions about anything from the pictures above or the events in general don't hesitate to ask.