Today, I decided that everything must be pink. So I donned a pink top, this gorgeous stripey pink vintage skirt (with pockets!), subtle pink lipstick and a watermelon necklace to match!
I found Yoshimi's lab at my local markets on the weekend, a maker of the most incredible and realistic-looking food jewellery! I stood at Yoshimi's stall for a good 20 minutes trying to choose what to buy (I had to get something), probably totally freaking Yoshimi out because I couldn't stop gushing over how cool everything was. (IT'S ALL MADE OUT OF CLAY, TOO! SUCH WITCHCRAFT!) I settled on this watermelon necklace because it was really hot that day, and the watermelon looked so refreshing!
 When I came back from Hong Kong, I was a little dismayed to find out that none of my clothes fit me anymore - I may have enjoyed the food in Hong Kong a little bit too much. However, this particular pink skirt that was several sizes too big for me when I left fit me perfectly on my return!
Any small amount of weight gain is treated so negatively in our culture - when I say to my friends "yeah, I gained heaps of weight in Hong Kong", their immediate response is "no you haven't!" But WHY? I mean, I can read what it says on my scales, my weight gain is an empirical fact. "Oh, but you don't look like you've put on weight".
But why would this be a bad thing? It's not something I am unhappy about - it's only something that I've been told to be unhappy about, by advertisements and movies and TV.
But I'm really not. I'm curvier, and I've always wanted to be curvy. And, cool skirts like this one fit me perfectly now! I'm not going to feel bad about myself just because I've gained weight - instead, I'm going to enjoy recycling my wardrobe and shopping for new clothes to fit my new body!
Outfit details:
Top is thrifted
Skirt is vintage
Necklace is from Yoshimi's Lab (instagram page)
Shoes are Naot Kedmas
#SOTD (Science of the Day):
In 1995, scientists found a bee trapped in amber, and dated it to about 25 million years old.
As you would expect, the bee trapped inside was long dead, but these scientists decided to see if there was anything that might still be living inside.
And there was.
The scientists took a sample from the bee's gut, and put it onto a nutrient-rich plate too see if anything would grow. And 25-million-year-old bacteria that was inside the bee's gut was revived into a living culture.
So how the heck did it survive for so long??
Well, some bacteria are pretty freaky. There's these super tough type of bacteria which can form something called "endospores". Endospores are a hard shell which keeps all the important bits of the bacteria - DNA and ribosomes - safe inside. Endospores can then survive in a state of "suspended animation" when conditions are rough - conditions including being trapped in amber for millions of years and the cold vacuum of space - and then continue on as normal once their environment improves!
Apparently, this record has since been beaten by 250 million-year-old bacteria that were found inside salt crystals in a cave, and were able to be revived. Those bacteria were around at the same time as the dinosaurs, and they're still alive today somewhere in a lab!
I hope that you're all having a wonderful day,
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Thursday, 12 March 2015
Everything Pink, Gaining Weight & 25-Million-Year-Old Organisms
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Great outfit! That skirt looks gorgeous, and the pockets look huge!! ^____^ I don't own scales, since I figure I see a variety of doctors reguarly enough and they always weigh me, but I think everyone has weight fluctuations. *And* putting on weight can totally be a good thing! When I was very sick, I lost a lot of weight, and then when I got better and started exercising again and making muscles again, I got heavier! Yay! ^____^
ReplyDeleteI am the total opposite whenever I am unwell - my doctors put me on a whole heap of steroids when my chronic illness is acting up, and I totally *balloon*. But, before I was diagnosed I was sooooooo thin and I couldn't even eat because I was really unwell, so for that reason I definitely view being able to eat & put on weight as much more positive!
DeleteI love you so much! That outfit is so adorable too. You're my role model ❤and that's true about the weight issue.
ReplyDeleteLove your positive outlook! And that's a neat fact about endospores, I've actually been thinking about bees lately. :]
ReplyDelete♡ Dulce
Awesome outfit, I love the matchy-matchy pink. So cute! I feel that the only time I am insecure about my weight is when I'm sick and bloated and generally feeling disgusting or when I step on the scale. I remember when I watched Big Bang Theory a long time ago ( I can't stand it anymore with the way they portray autism and science) and Penny was upset that Sheldon thought she weighed something like 120 pounds. I just sat there thinking, is that I bad thing? Oh gosh, I must be so heavy. TV and magazines always seem to turn those numbers, which are really benign into something evil and destructive. Sometimes I find myself wanting to put on weight to fit into vintage clothes and there are other days I want to shrink so I can fit into something else...but it's never because I feel like I HAVE to be a particular body shape. All body shapes are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interesting science fact! I think its so amazing that things can be naturally preserved for such long periods of time and that we can grow them. Just as long as its bacteria in a lab I am happy, everyone knows what happens in Jurassic Park :P Not that science is that advanced just yet.
Alecia xx
OH my goodness I can't even describe how much you dislike the big bang theory, I'm glad you qualified your comment with that too ;) haha. Oh my goodness. I am so much heavier than 120 pounds... haha that's really really messed up. Yep, numbers are not bad!
DeleteHaha, well, luckily endospores are much more hardy than dinosaur cells - all the DNA from dinosaurs is most likely totally gone, so jurassic park could actually never ever happen. Only DNA trapped inside endospores is known to have survived for so long!
You Big bang weight comment made me think of an episode of mythbusters where they see if you could loose 10 pounds of water weight from sweating (in a fomula one car) I was pretty mad that Kary didn't disclose her weight in the beginning of the episode, then they revealed her weight during the second experiment when she weighted more around 115 lb. Not cool.
DeleteI am in love with your skirt! And I love how you pointed out that gaining weight can be a good thing -- I have so many friend who struggle with this (that they cannot gain weight and wish they could) and it's nice to read a blogger who is happy with the extra pounds! I can't actually tell you've gained, to be honest, but I don't see you every day, and you know your body best! You look fantastic as ever, either way. (Also, shopping is a definite positive of weight changes. It's why I love being pregnant right now -- I can use the "none of my clothes fit, we have to get new ones!" line.)
ReplyDeleteAnd that fact about the bacteria is so fascinating. It's amazing how hardy some bacteria are. And also kind of scary. Ha!
xo
Kristina
www.eccentricowl.com
Yep, well bacteria that can make endospores are also the bacteria which cause anthrax, food poisoning, botulism and tetanus, so they're pretty damn scary things, especially if they can live in space and be totally fine afterwards ;)
Deletewhoa the bacteria found within the bee trapped in amber is really fascinating- I'm doing my honours thesis on bioinclusions trapped in amber and although I've only started there seems to be many different directions for my research to head in, but never had I considered to look beyond the macro and to the microorganisms associated with the insects trapped in amber, that's really cool!
ReplyDeleteGlad I came across this :)
http://secret-hipster.blogspot.com.au/
Oh wow, what are bioinclusions in the macro-sense? That sounds really interesting! That's really weird that it's got such a strong connection to what I wrote about today, haha.
DeleteBioinclusions as in bits of plant material, coprolites (fossil poo, usually from insects and other animals that size), arthropods, fragments of arthropods and even parasites like nematodes have been found? Which is cool but, totally terrifying.
DeleteAlso marine organisms such as foraminfera and sponge spicules have been found in amber from France!
Someone did their honours thesis on amber from Tasmania last year and found a few cool things so I'm kind of continuing their work, as well as the PhD of Annie Quinnie (in review) who looked at Amber from polar regions including Victoria and Canada
I haven't written that much about my honours project on my blog because I'm not sure how much I can discuss it outside the university/ don't want to get my supervisors in trouble but I may write something about it real soon <3
Thanks for the comment on my blog btw, I'm glad someone else cares about the representation of women with disability- the writer, comedian and activist Stella Young was incredibly important to the discussions of what people with disability have to contribute to society and it was incredibly sad she passed away. Jilly Peppa is also doing incredible work and if you haven't heard of her I strongly suggest you check out her work :)
Oh my glob, that sounds like an awesome thing to be doing your honours research on! That's so so cool :) I didn't know you were from Australia, either! But fair enough that you can't say much about it - if you do write about it on your blog though, let me know ;)
DeleteFossil poo is so so interesting. I was actually quite interested in dinosaur coprolite when I was younger, haha.
Well, I *selfishly* care about it because I am a woman living with a disability (although I also definitely care about other intersections of feminism as well, but this one affects me directly so I'm selfish in that respect ;) ). Stella Young was my hero :( Somehow I didn't know about Jilly Peppa though, thanks for letting me know about her, I'm going to check her work out!
I'm very lucky but unfortunately palaeontology doesn't receive a lot of funding in Australia compared to other first world countries (so I've heard anyway) but there's still lots of research to do!
DeleteI definitely will, once I pluck up the courage
I don't think it's selfish to care about disability if it affects you, much in the same way that matters relating to WOC affects me since I'm bi-racial (although I do have white privilege and Asian women have less barriers associated with housing and employment so I am on the very edge of the spectrum I guess).
Stella apparently was also a volunteer at Museum Victoria and it was so sad to hear about her passing- I only wish I knew more awesome women with disabilities to tell you about!
Very cute outfit with all the pink. I love that skirt and the necklace is so great - it looks so real I had to double take! I am also really loving your outlook on weight gain. Too often does society look at things related to body image through a negative lens - we need to change this!
ReplyDeleteAnd wicked about the bacteria, truly fascinating that something on such a small scale has the most protective adaptive mechanisms.
This is brilliant, you are totally right about weight gain, people literally jump on your face to say 'oh no you look lovely, you don't look bigger at all!' Well I think you look gorgeous because of your body shape (and clothes obvs) not despite it :D <3
ReplyDeleteyou are beautiful
ReplyDeleteThat necklace is amazing! And I love the article about the bacteria! About the weight issue, I have or the other way around. I want to lose weight, because it is healthier for me and I want to look fit again. Then everyone tells me that I don't have to and I don't look like I'm a little overweight. But I am and I need to, so why just not support me? Like, there is fat-shaming and there is loosing weight shaming at the same time.
ReplyDeleteAmazing! Great post! Your blog is so beautiful! I do really like it! You did a great job! I’ll be happy to hear you opinion about my blog!)
ReplyDeleteDiana Cloudlet
http://www.dianacloudlet.com/
So cute :)
ReplyDeleteI hate when people are quick to say "oh but you don't look like you gained weight?!" because then I feel like I need to defend myself before stating thing. "Oh I'm not complain but I've gain weight..." or whatever. I like lifting weights so sometimes I look at weight gain on the scale as a positive. I usually only complain about a growing waistline when my clothes don't fit. I always thing "riots over diets right? oh but I really love those jeans!" XD
ReplyDeleteThe same thing it's been happening to me since I started rock climbling. My body changed. My arms got bigger, the same as my back and my shoulders... and inmediately everyone was like: oh, u are bigger now, like fatter, but not in the bad way, don't worry. And it's actually the first time I like the way my body is... well... kinda... and the comments just make everything more difficult.
ReplyDeleteBut is always cool reading ur blog and Katie's and finding courage :). Kisses.
Abril.
This skirt is so fun and I'm loving the pockets! I think that you look great! Keep on doing you, girl! I'm sure the food in Hong Kong was stellar!
ReplyDeletexoxo,
Laura
http://lauraisthriftingthroughlife.blogspot.com/