My short and unsuccessful career as a criminal

When I was 15 I stole a coin purse. To this day I have no idea why. I had just bought a backpack for school (Eastpak of course, it was all the rage in the late 90s) and I stood looking at this tiny brown coin purse thinking what an absolutely stupid, useless thing this was (and expensive too). And then I let in fall into my shopping bag with the backpack.

When I went though the door the alarm (obviously) went off and I walked back to the counter - ears, eyes, brains burning. I knew the jig was up. No point in running or pretending I hadn't heard - I am fully capable of running but I'm a sprinter - I probably wouldn't have gotten far before I would have been panting and fainting. And I wasn't deaf although I wish I had thought of acting deaf so I could pretend not to hear.... I really hadn't planned my crime very well.

Merry Christmas Tag

I got the Christmas tag from Bethanygraceo of Curious Claptrap! And I love Christmas, I love snow, I love presents... Definitely my favourite time of the year. I just decorated - and if you read my Halloween post you'll know decorating is not my strong point. But hey I try and I still think that should give me some points ;)

Christmassy outfit eh?

Poppy Love 2 - Keeping it clean

This dress is - if possible - even more amazing than the forest dress I wore in this post. The model is the same (you can also read about fit and comfort in the other post) but this print and colour is just to die for. Boyfriend is getting into photography and photo editing and I let him play with the photos (he also took them) since it was a really gray day and lighting was rather poor. So the dress is slightly more vibrant than in real life. I was actually more into the brown one but I'm so happy I ended up with this!

Dress: Poppy England

Tights: What Katie Did

Shoes: Modcloth

Frost earrings: Old from eBay (similar)

Velvet hairbow: Old from H&M (similar)

Pearls: Gift from my sister

You've been gone a year today.

 Dear Mike

The wait was the worst. From S. knocked on my door, crying, asking me to call the police. I thought she'd been attacked. Then she said it. "I think Mike has comitted suicide" and from that sentence it was real. My brain went numb. I didn't cry. I just dialled the three numbers you hope you never have to. They needed so much information. The police came. We showed them pictures. The note. The affects you'd left in S's mailbox. We knew. But they had to confirm it. That happened an hour later. You were gone. You had peace. Then I cried. Then the calls. The police deals with the family. But you had a lot of friends.

Halloweeee!!!

I'm sure some annoying coaching type would say that you should be happy in your own skin and to be yourself...yeah blah blah blah! I LOVE dressing up! I love any excuse to be someone else for a night. It's fun being in someone elses shoes. Case closed. Go away, annoying coaching type person.

Highly Functioning Introvert

Get the Sherlock reference? Well done.

Black giraffe earrings: Gift from my mom

Poppy Love

If you, like me, frequently trawl Modcloth like other people trawl news sites, you may have encountered this brand before. Modcloth sold the most adorable Alice in wonderland-esque lollipop dress a while back but it was pricey and I was unsure about sizing so it slipped away. And somehow via a tangled internet road (IG, Pinterest etc) I (re)discovered Poppy England (they are also on Instagram).

Transformation Thursday

I have never viewed myself as overweight at any point in my life. I have never been particularly fond of my body and I have wished it was slimmer, taller etc but at the same time I have always been strangely oblivious to it. A year and 3 months ago we were in Rome and the left picture was taken.

In the picture I'm really sweaty (it was scorching and I am miserable in heat), looking all awkward (it was before my current IG selfie/posing regime) and the dress wasn't the best fit but I am also quite...ahem chubby. I never really realized how big I had gotten before I saw the pictures Boyfriend took last summer. He's a darling and never mentioned it - if he ever noticed. He never made hints about eating less or not eating pizza for dinner. I guess he's either blind or loves me regardless of my weight. I'm kinda betting on the last option although he does wear contacts.

It is hard to explain someone elses relationsship with their body but in short I used to never eat, then I ate and worked out a lot, then I stopped working out but kept eating. I became rather manic about eating and food. I chose to go to Rome because food...and I ate a lot too. Even though it was so hot I wasn't really hungry - but it was Rome. When would I eat pizza in Rome again?? So I forced myself to eat. Which is an incredibly stupid thing to do.

The day we came home I started running, 3K, 5K, 7K...and then one night in October 13 I could just go on and I made it to 10K. I felt so awesome that I could that with my little short legs :)
Then tragedy found me (a friend died by choice) and I ran some more. Well, a lot more. And 2 months later I had to stop because I was losing too much weight too fast. I started getting dizzy when I ran (I ran 10K 3 times a week and sometimes I squeezed in a 5K as well) because I wasn't eating enough to support the calorie loss. And I needed to finish my thesis. So I quit. It wasn't hard. I run out of necessity not because I really like it. And some weight crept back during the summer. I'm sorta trying to get rid of that now. Although not really - I still really enjoy food and I'm lazy - but seeing this picture again kinda makes me want to go for a run. Also I have started using the MyFitnessPal app. It doesn't control my life but it puts my lifestyle in perspective - how much I eat and work out etc. It's a sense of control. And if I can see that I have hit my calorie limit it much easier not to snack.

Dress to the left: Old from Boohoo.com

Sunflower skirt: Hell Bunny

Stripy top: H&M

Shoes: BAIT Footwear

One of the worst things is actually that I was that size when I started changing my style so I bought a lot of clothes that ended up being too big after just a few months. I have sold most of it but I did lose a lot of money on that. And some dresses I really miss but I hate wearing clothes that don't fit me so they would just have lived in my wardrobe and never been used. I couldn't do that to them ;) Clothes should be worn - that is their purpose in life.

Also I love that outfit so much. I really really love mixing prints. If that constitues as a hobby, then that's it - my knitting or drawing - I mix prints ;)

Outfit post - about changing style almost daily

Happy Modcloth Monday, guys.

Every day I see all these lovely pin up gals on the Internet and especially on Instagram. And I really do envy how committed they are to a style or to vintage but I can't seem to do that. I love vintage dresses and I love swing dresses but then I go on Modcloth and I see shorter lenght dresses in amazing prints and/or colours and styles and I just can't help myself. So my wardrobe is an eclectic and rather confused combination of old and new, short and long, extremely dressy and pretty casual. And especially Bea and Dot dresses have a special place in my wardrobe and in my heart even though the fit seems a little inconsistent. I'm usually an XS but I got a dress that I couldn't even zip up O.o
I seem to have accumulated a lot of B&D dresses especially in the last sale and I even have a few more on my wish list (I have mentioned this dress before I think). I didn't do it on purpose, it was just the dresses I was attracted to.

Dress: Bea & Dot from Modcloth

This is one of the dresses I flirted with for so long but decided not to get as it wasn't very rockabilly or pin up-py. But I am also a practical gal. I really like my clothes to be comfortable and it can be a hassle with huge petticoats and and full skirts, girdles and stockings. So when this went on sale I started wondering why I was trying so hard to be one thing when I clearly didn't really want to be just one thing. I mean when I am so attracted to shorter lenghts and different styles than just the one, why not go with it?

I love the sleeves on this dress. And there's hardly anything that makes me happier than a good novelty print (except of course kittens and nachos) or in this case a novelty embroidery and if you throw in pockets and a sweetheart neckline you have a recipe for love in my case. And add some polkadotted!! tights and a hat? Well, I for one am smiling away on this cloudy Monday.

Hat: Old from H&M

The tights are super cute but sadly I'm tiny (4'11") and they are really long so they so stretch over the day and I have to pull at them. But polka dots and scallops? I will pull all day if I have to, I'm not taking them off.

Polkadot tights: Modcloth Shoes: Also Modcloth

A very lazy summer have made my dresses a little tight around the waist (ahem, better start running again soon) but you can't really tell in this dress though as the waist in on the bottom of my rib cage rather than on my waist. It's not my favourite fit but it's still a really cute dress and I am happy it's in my life ^.^

Hope you're having a lovely Monday, Modcloth or otherwise :)

The Adventures of Kat: The day we were leaving for Rome and Poe the Cat nearly died

Long title much? And quite the cliff hanger too :) No worries it has a happy ending.

We got Poe from the shelter a cold winters day. The metro was broken and we nearly didn't get there in time before the shelter closed. But we arrived and there was one kitten. You can never be sure there are any suitable cats when you go to the shelter but one was out of the ordinary. We had some criteria as we had a youngster cat at home: the new cat should be playful (Jones was very bored and quickly becoming a brat because of it) and not too dominating as Jones is a scaredy cat.
The kitten was adorable! And taken. A mom had just left to get her kids because they wanted to be there when they brought it home. So no kitten for us.

The lady asked us if we would be willing to look at an older cat. Boyfriend had his heart set on a kitten but I didn't care. A cat is a cat to me and I don't really care how old it was ;)
She pointed at a messy tuxedo cat who looked incredibly grumpy. He was 2 years old and his owner just died. Now I would look grumpy too if my best friend had just died so we wanted to give him a chance and talked to him for a while and played with him. And he was adorable. He even walked straight into the carrier liked he belonged there. We were told that it could take a week before the two cats would accept each other but after two days they slept along side each other, ate together and used the same litterbox.

In the cab to his new home

What'ya doing in my box?

Rawr

6 months later (about a year ago now) we were going to Rome for my birthday. My little brother and his girlfriend were coming to house- and cat sit for us. A series of unfortunate events did that we didn't realise until 4 hours before our flight that Poe was indeed very sick. He couldn't pee. We initially thought it was because he had hurt his little cat penis a few days in advance (some crystal cat litter had gotten stuck to it and I had to remove it with pincers! Seriously don't buy that shit! It was a first and last for me).
But this morning it became clear that he couldn't pee, it wasn't just that it hurt and that he didn't want to. We rushed to the vet as soon as it opened and she sent us straight to the animal hospital in a taxi cab - me bawling me eyes out, cat moaning and crying in the carrier, boyfriend trying to convince me that the cat would survive and the poor cab driver just utterly uncomfortable.

He has the roundest eyes I ever saw on a cat

When we got to the animal hospital he was diagnosed with bladder stones (as the vet also had suggested). He was sedated and rushed off for operation. His blatter was maybe hours maybe minutes from rupturing. We called my brother and he assured us that they would take care of everything and collect the cat when he was well enough to come home. So we rushed back home with immense relief, got our luggage and we made our flight! The vet called when we were waiting to board and it had all gone well. He was alive and well and apart from a little fever he was fine.

I accidentally locked him in the closet

He was in hospital for 3 days and has to be on a special diet for the rest of his life. Both cats eat urinary food now. Better safe than sorry! All in all with cab fares and vet bills he is the most expensive cat I'll probably ever own (about $1800 thank you very much) but you cannot put a price on love. We only had him for 6 months at the time but it was unthinkable to have him put down. And today a year after he is a happy (albeit still grumpy looking), healthy cat in his last ever home (well, we'll move at some point but home is where the heart is, right? Or where the cat food is).

He likes computers very much

And games. Well he loves being the center of attention

They would make an excellent super villain team

Oh and we had a brilliant trip to Rome. Although it was 40C degrees and we had to stay in the hotel most of the day because it was too hot to be outside. If you ever concider going to Rome, don't do it in August ;) We learned the hard way.

The Adventures of Kat: Into vintagestyle

I moved to Copenhagen when I was 20 years old. I got a job in a huge department store (Magasin du Nord for those who are familar with it) for a couple of years, selling mens wear for Oscar Jacobson (a lot of it is actually very retro looking. I was always bummed the suits and waist coats didn't fit me :) ) and later on I moved to the womens floor selling for the British brand Oasis. Even though Oasis does have some retro looking stuff I was one of those girls who wore black leggings/skinny jeans and long oversize tops/short dresses most days pretending that was an outfit >.<

Spring 2010 - actually this is the day I met my boyfriend for the very first time

Barcelona 2012

I was always fascinated with 50s and 60s fashion and I have always had a few vintagestyle items in my wardrobe. I was never brave enough to go all the way and endure the discomfort in being stared at for dressing like a 50s housewife and that is unavoidable where I live. I totally get it though. I look like I'm going to a ball when I'm grocery shopping so I probably deserve a few stares :) Kids are fascinated and touch my petticoat and laugh (which is really awkward), teenagers stare and think I'm lame (but then who isn't lame to a teenager) and grown women want my dresses. So yes, you get a lot of attention. It can be awkward if you like me actually aren't that comfortable with a lot of attention and isn't too great at random chatting and small talk (I'm a big time introvert and my social skills could definitely be better).

Summer 2013

And then I discovered Modcloth. I knew the site existed but I always just dreamed about the beautiful dresses and shoes. Most isn't available in Denmark and we have ridiculous taxes when shopping outside the EU so I never ventured beyond dreaming. But then I saw the Hooked on a Feline dress on Pinterest and how appropriately named it was! It was my first Modcloth purchase of many (way too many). I was definitely hooked! (I mean cats! On a dress! Loads and loads of cats!)

And I repeat: CATS! On a dress!!

I love this look but it is a little "lolita going on 30"

I tried to accomplish too much too soon and I basically changed my entire wardrobe before I realised I wasn't done transforming my style and the New Girl look with tights and shorter lenght dresses wasn't exactly what I wanted. I am so impatient and when I want something I want it now! Hence the selfproclaimed compulsive shopper title. I discovered all the lovely ladies on IG that has become inspiration and friends and I went from vintagestyle to true vintage and reproductions like Bernie Dexter, PUG and Lindy Bop and I invested in my first real fluffy petticoat. One of the most valuable lessons I have finally come to terms with, is: Who cares what people think? Let them stare if they want. I have found so many ladies (and a few gents) on the social media who share my taste and style. I know I'm not alone <3

This Luck be a Lady dress is way to short for comfort but I loved the print so much

Ikea with my sister - you can't take me anywhere

Now I feel almost naked without red lip stick. My economy is basically in ruins but it has been worth it as I have never felt more me than I do now. I still enjoy the Jess from New Girl look from time to time but I am most happy in a vintage/repro dress and a petticoat. But as much as I don't mind being quirky I also know that that look isn't always appropriate. I wouldn't wear my petticoat to a job interview and depending on the job probably also not to work. If I ever do become a children's librarian I am however sure my fluffy petticoat and novelty prints will be a big hit :)



Do you dress up and down or do you stay in style? :)

Getting to know me:

Hello and welcome to my blog. I'm Dictiocanary or well, actually Kat Pachniuk. I am more flattered than I can say that you're here :)

I'm guessing you know me from IG so you might know some things about me. Like I live in Copenhagen, Denmark, have a boyfriend and two cats and a wardrobe that could clothe a small village (stressing small as I'm 4'11"). I recently graduated university and can call myself cand.scient.bibl. but I usually go by unemployed as I'm now in search of a job. I can be anything from a librarian to a PR professionel to community manager (so yes, you can totally hire me ;) )

Well, I'll tell you how I got here and a bit about my background:

I am (very soon to be) 30 years old. My parents are happily divorced and have been since I was 2. My mom is Danish and my father half Polish, half Ukrainian. My father grew up in England (long story and it involves WWII deportations, rather goulish family history but with a happy ending) so I feel more connected to the UK than to Eastern Europe where I've never been or speak the language.

I grew up in the country side in the North of Jutland with 2 miles to the nearest (small) town and spent most of my childhood climbing trees and catching frogs, mice and reptiles who would probably much rather have continued their woodland life in peace. Most were released without a scratch though. I grew up with a myriad of animals, we've had horses, geese, rabbits, a pet cow, a few sheep, chickens, dogs and obviously a bunch of cats. I have always loved animals and still do.

The other part of my sparetime was spent in my local library. I started reading Stephen King when I was 10 and I was a horror addict ever since. Not the best decision when you live in a huge farm house in the middle of the woods, I can tell you that ;) The next genres I threw myself at was sci-fi and fantasy. My dad was my enabler and he has never denied me a book I wanted. I love him for that.

All this lead me to my current state that is obsessing when it comes to (deep breath) Dr.Who, favourite writers and books, Stephen Fry (oh I adore Stephen Fry), science, reason, logic, books, movies, TV series, social media, communication, cats, animals....and of course dresses. I think the reason it took me so long to decide on an education (I was 25) was that I have way too many interrests. I wanted to be a vet, a nutritionist, a biologist, a writer, a professor of religion science, I wanted to study English litterature and computer science at the same time... So in the end I became a librarian. I might not be master of all of those trades but I can browse them all and I like that. I love that.

My flakiness in interrests also reflects in my style. I cannot commit to an era or a style completely. First of all because if I see a novelty print I like I must have it almost regardless of the style of the dress, and second because I don't want to. I want to wear everything (trousers excluded, don't care for them. Having short legs and wide hips and thighs, nah not a good look).

So that's me. Hope you stick around. I'll be posting lots of pictures. Mostly of me. And my cats probably (I'm not gonna lie, that's a possibility ^.^)

See you around!