Category Archives: Life

I had brand new glasses arrive in my mailbox.  So exciting!

For someone who has been wearing glasses since my teenage years, it has only felt like in the last few years glasses have become way more accessible and affordable.

I love having glasses and though sure, I wouldn’t mind having better eyesight, I don’t see myself ever wanting to get surgery to fix my eye sight or even get contacts.   Something about being a girl with glasses just works for me.

This is my second pair of new frames this year, and together they are still far less than one would pay on a single pair of glasses.  I really would love to channel my inner Elton John and have a whole array of glasses (though just one extra pair is dreamy for now).

I thought I’d share a bit about both pairs as they came from two different affordable options.

The vintage pair are some that I found at the Vancouver Flea Market for $35.  I took them to a local store and was able to get lenses put in them.  It is risky with vintage glasses as they need to heat them up in order to put the lenses in so they could break…so be sure to make sure they are in good shape as possible.  Luckily it worked for me.

This is probably the 5th pair of potential vintage glasses I’ve bought over the years (some for only a dollar or two).  Thrift stores or flea markets are prime for this but there are some incredible vintage stores that do the searching for you.  One of the best selections I’ve ever seen is at Hollywood Vintage in Portland.  The price point will probably be much higher than what you’d find at a flea market or thift store, but the selection can be incredible.  You can also get some via Etsy but much like the vintage stores, the price point will be higher…but really, compared to a pair of frames from a brick and mortar glasses store, its much cheaper.

These new frames are from Clearly Contacts (I think in the States it is called Coastal) and they are amazing.  They offer you a free first pair.  For folks like me with a pretty strong perscription, I had to pay for some upgrades in the lenses but it was still under $100 which after having to shell out hundreds for past glasses, these are both dreamy options!

I’ve also heard good things about Warby Parker and Lookmatic, but I really do prefer being able to purchase from a company here in Canada.

Its been so interesting seeing my internal reaction to having new frames too.  I’m realizing how much I’ve tied my outward identity to those cateye frames this year.  I feel more myself in them.  Its like they speak of the quirky in me and I feel really seen and understood somehow when I wear them.  While I’m loving these new black ones, it feels a bit different.  I don’t feel like I recognize myself in the mirror…so while I love them, you’ll probably mostly see me in the vintage ones still.  But at the same time, I am not a pair of glasses so I’m excited to stretch myself and see something new in the mirror.

The other day I pulled out that tin box from the back of the cupboard.  The one full of photos from back before it was the world of digital photography.

It was a peculiar yet beautiful half hour as I pulled the photos out and looked at each of them.  I found myself crying seeing people who aren’t with us anymore, laughing at other pictures of long ago.  It felt emotional and exhausting as I poured through them.

As I finished up, I thought about that box.  Quite honestly (and not in a self-depricating way) many of the photos were really not flattering and were photographically not very good.  As I had that thought, I listened to it and made a decision what my next thought would be.  Would it be that I sucked as a photographer growing up?  Would I let all of those feelings of insecurity that are still tied around my teenage years and the 20’s?  Not this time.

It made me think about how grateful I am that I discovered photography when I did.  I read so many people’s about page that starts with “I picked up a camera when I was 5 (or 9 or 11) took a picture and my world changed”.  That just isn’t my story.  There is no right or wrong time to discover photography and it is never to late.

Discovering photography as the shift from film to digital was the perfect timing for me.  Taking photos, waiting a week or more until that pouch of photos came back, just didn’t engage me in a way that I wanted to learn how to take better photos.

The accessibility of digital photography is really incredible isn’t it.  The way we can take a photo, look at it, and then right away ponder what we could do to take that photo a bit differently…that is what my brain needs to learn.  That experiential in the moment learning is really the only way it works for me.

The other big lesson I learned in that rollercoaster of emotions looking through that box of photos is that you find what you are looking for.  If I decided to look for the story of how I wasn’t good at photography before now, well, it was there and I could have easily taken that one on.  Or that story that has itself safety pinned to my heart that is all about not feeling beautiful or attractive growing up.  Well, there were photos in there that I could decide were proof of that story.

Instead I found on that told me a different story.  A different sort of proof.  One that made me look back and say, girl, you were beautiful.  One that has me smiling wide.  One that has my sister and I looking peaceful together.  That is the one that made it out of the box and is now on my fridge.  The one that whenever I’m struggling with those emotions of insecurity or remembering only the pain of teenagehood, that I can look her in the eye and tell her (me at probably around 16 or 17) that she is beautiful, just as she is.

Yes, it was on one image probably hundreds in that box. But it was the one I chose today.  The story I am choosing to prioritize over the ones that really don’t serve me and hold me back.

Its one of the ways I’m rewriting my story.

Speaking of that, the brand new Re-Writing the Story class is beginning next Monday!  We’re already gathered in the flickr group, introducing ourselves and beginning creative community.  I’ve also created an extra pre-class PDF to get us started.  There is still some room if you’d like to join in!