Monday, June 30, 2008

A Little Audrey

Black and white print blouse (consignment), black cami (Inwear, Dots), black cropped pants (Winners), black patent kitten heel Mary Janes (Wild Diva, hair salon), orange wood cut-out roses earrings (gift shop).
I am all about the kitten heel - they make me think of Audrey Hepburn, who wore them a lot (she had giant feet like me!). She is also my favourite movie star ever, and *sigh* so lovely. I wish I were her (only not dead).

This is the second pair of shoes from the hair salon. These are the same shoes that I made Cindy buy (in pink, error!), and that Ruth tried to find for me on Ebay. And I found them in a little bitty town, in a hair salon, for $15. Can you dig? Too cute. Cat, are you jealous?

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Sunday Brunch on a Hot Day

Orange wrap t-shirt (Inwear, Dots), green cotton cami (Esprit), white cotton pouffy skirt (Gap), psychedelic wedge slip-on canvas shoes (Gotta Flurt, vacation), paper and bamboo parasol (Chinatown), wood cut-out flower earrings (gift store, vacation).
It's about 30 degrees today - smokin' hot! So when we got home, I popped this outfit on after my shower. Nice and cool for a stroll to downtown with L and Andrew for lunch at our favourite hangout. Of course, Inigo missed me so much he just had to try to get in the picture!
I hate the feel of sunblock on my skin (ew, greasy), but need to keep my fair skin covered. The solution? A parasol! I got this for Chris and Tracey's wedding years ago - it literally saved my skin since their wedding was outside with the sun beating down on our backs. Three other women were huddled under its shade with me.

A close-up: This was $10, but I had to open all of them to get the best pattern - I like the birds and the mix of colours in the flowers. That's all hand-done.

The shoes! Aren't these absolutely fantastic? My m-i-l has been telling me about this hair salon in her town that sells shoes, so we went in there yesterday, and yes, the whole front of the salon is...shoes. A woman was getting her foils on and there I am browsing through the selection. They only had maybe a dozen styles total, but every one was fantastic, right from this casual design (which came in an aqua combo and a baby pink combo as well as this lime mix) to very dressy heels. These were only $45! I'd never heard of this brand before, but they have some awesome styles: http://www.gottaflurt.com/en/index.asp. Love the Habit, the Stoned, and the Tread.

The earrings:
Found these (and another pair of earrings, and a necklace, AND a leather purse) in a little gift shop boutique. These also came in purple and yellow, as well as another style with a butterfly, but I liked the orange roses best. They were only $7.95 and are light as air.

So good to be home! I need a nap.

L Figure - Knight Chick with Unicorn Shield

L finished this early last week, and I forgot to photograph it.
I really pushed for her to be all in pink (including pink-tinted silver armour) with yellowy-blonde hair (a real Disney-esque looking chick), mostly due to her shield:

Seriously, that would have been awesome. A pink knight!

A good figure, but the eyes are not quite right. More liner on the top lid and push the flesh colour up on the bottom so that the pupil is not so suspended. Her hair is really good - good colours.

Visiting the In-Laws

Good to be home! We had a great trip - lovely drive, great weather, and surprisingly, a very good time visiting L's folks. They live quite a ways away (2+ hour drive and ferry), so it's a bit of an event to go see them.

My painting went over really well - my f-i-l almost teared up. They both loved it and are going to hang it over the fireplace.

I always enjoy the roadtrip portion of our journey, especially since we have a new car (a nice 2005 Miata), as of 2 weeks ago. I took a bunch of pictures while up there. I also took some pictures of my brother-in-law's Wall of Death. Fun! He gave us a bear head a few years ago (it's in our den).

I went shopping with my m-i-l. We had a great time. We mostly hit thrift stores and 2nd hand shops, with a few new shops in between. I got a skirt, a shirt, 4 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of earrings, a necklace and a purse. Some very cool stuff that I'll show off in the next week or so. Actually, not one pair of shoes - I bought some Keds so we could go for a hike (there's a pic of me in them somewhere).

We also played mini golf, had a BBQ, picked huckleberries and salmonberries, played on a merry-go-round (haha, L and I were drunk and laid down on it and spun around). Caught the first ferry back this morning, home around noon, then went out for lunch with Andrew.

If only we didn't have to work tomorrow...it sucks that Canada Day is on a Tuesday this year. Oh well, makes for a short week.

Pictures!

The drive up:
Pretty, eh? That last one's kind of blurry, since we were zooming along at 140 km/h.

On the ferry:Sparkly water! It was so hot on Friday that even being outside on the ferry was lovely (it's usually freezing - that's Pacific Ocean there).


Sunset, looking back at home (well, sort of - home is very much south, and this is looking west).

My brother-in-law's rose bush - the roses were just gorgeous and smelled incredible. There is just something about roses on the plant versus from the florist that I love.The Wall of Death: Those are all animals he's hunted - I've eaten some of them. On the left, a big set of moose antlers, 3 deer antlers on the top, and a mountain goat's horns in the middle. Various deer antlers off on the right side (under the crossbow). There's a rifle at the very top, and yes, that's a necklace with some sort of small animal skull and teeth. But see? A vase with red roses. Whatta guy!

A close-up of the big rack of moose antlers. We ate some of this moose (several years ago) and the b-i-l cooked us up some fantastic moose steaks on the BBQ last night for dinner from his most recent moose (from last year). You haven't done organic until you've done wild game!

This is a cougar skull. The b-i-l found it and cleaned it up - he wouldn't kill a cougar unless it was about to eat him, I'm sure.

L and I went for a hike yesterday:

Me in my new Keds ($39.99 on sale plus an extra 30% off), jungle print blouse (Jacob), cream cotton cami (Vero Moda, Plum), khaki shorts (Point Zero, Plum), wooden earrings, necklace and bracelet. Always have to be fully accessorized! My legs look very muscly.

View to the west from the top of the hill (it's called a mountain, but it only took 30 minutes to hike up it, so it's a hill):

View to the north: View to the east:

View to the south:We saw this little guy rustling around on the way back down and stopped to see if we could get a picture - he was fearless! He came right on over. Baby squirrel, for those of you who are city-folk. Funny little white patch over his eye.
He got within 3 feet of us (this tree was an arm's length away from me):
Hee, what a funny pose!

And back down we go:

Thursday, June 26, 2008

100th Post! Rocking the Heels

Happy 100th post to me!

Black tuxedo ruffle-front shirt (Oxmo, Plum), plaid pencil skirt (Jacob, consignment), silver/bead necklace, silver filigree hoop earrings, black suede pumps (Calvin Klein, Gravity Pope).
My calf is feeling much better, so I walked to and from work today. I may have overdone it with the pumps, since these are close to 6" including the platform. My feet are happy not to be in them any more.

This skirt bugged me all day. Don't get me wrong, I do love it. But the lining was ripped up the back seam (I'm guessing that the previous owner gained some weight and ripped it) and it was fine to wear it like that last time, but that big gap just bothered me. So just now, I cut the lining out! Haha! Take that!

Off to the wilds to visit the in-laws as of tomorrow, so won't be wearing anything terribly exciting (long car ride, ferry, then hanging around small town). I may attempt to scope out the mall - they have a Ricki's and a few boutiques in the town...they also have a Saan. Yikes!

Vest and Pencil Skirt

Black pinstriped vest (Oxmo, Plum), white shirt (Plum), grey pencil skirt (Le Chateau), black strappy shoes (Unisa, DSW, NYC), chain and charms necklace (Nine West, The Bay, gift from Cindy).
I really liked this outfit. I do love a vest - it just holds everything in nicely, you know? A close-up of the vest and necklace:
Cindy got this necklace when we were shopping last summer, and then didn't really like it, so she gave it to me (thanks!). I love the odds and ends on it - it also has really nice weight.

A shot of the shoes. I love these.
The buckles are adjustable so that you get a custom fit. I still had the back strap falling off my heel every 30 feet. Arg!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Glitter Skirt!

Turquoise wrap t-shirt (Esprit), black cami (Inwear, Dots), black leather belt (Plum), grey lace embroidered bubble skirt (KenzieGirl, Dots), turquoise "python" t-strap shoes (Jeffrey Campbell, Spank), silver double spiral earrings.
I adore this skirt. It was a one-of-a-kind at Dots and I snapped it up a little over a year ago, regardless that I had nothing to wear with it at the time. Since then, I've filled my wardrobe in considerably, but I still don't wear it to work that often, as the sparkliness is sometimes a bit much. A close-up of the fabric:
It's quite a stiff lace, which gives the skirt good shape. It also has nice deep pockets and sits pretty low on my hips - helps keep the length appropriate for work.

I thought it went well with the shoes (at the mall at lunch today, the salesladies seemed impressed that I was all "matchy"). Sadly, the cap on the left heel disappeared, so these go into the pile of winter shoes that need to go to the shoe repair shop for new heels. Won't be seeing these for a while.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Coral Brights

Grey cotton jacket (RW & Co), coral cotton sweater (Esprit), patterned skirt (Vero Moda, Plum), capiz & black wood necklace, crystal stud earrings, black pointy-toe kitten heels (Kenneth Cole Reaction, gift from Cat).
My calf and ankle are still quite sore, so low heels for me this week. This is a good outfit, nothing terribly special about it. I wore it with the jacket off for most of the day (the air conditioning in my office is rather erratic).

I got this jacket at RW some time ago (not a year, probably last fall?) - it was on the clearance rack for around $29.99. It's a great dark grey and fits just right - it "locks and loads" well around my bust. It's been a really useful jacket for both work and casual - love it with jeans.

I dyed my hair yesterday, so all the blonde is gone. Funny, it looks so dull now, but the highlighting really dries the ends out, so I only do it every other time I colour. My hair is getting so shaggy - it's driving me nuts. I've had it in the pixie cut for almost a year, and it's just time to grow it out again. I'll end up with the "old lady" short hair eventually, so I want to have longer hair while I still can get away with it. I'll never have really long hair ever again, but just to have it to my shoulders again would be nice. We'll see how it is by Christmas.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Special Occasion - A Matinee with Mom

Rose/green velvet and silk sundress (Hale Bob, Century 21, NYC), green silk fringed scarf with embroidery (La Cache), bronze leather sandals (Naturalizer), copper beaded frame bag (Plum), gold/amethyst ring (Dad's, from Francis Jeweler), gold/crystal earrings and necklace (Plum).
I love this dress. As noted, I got it at Century 21, that huge discount department store in New York (it's right near the Ground Zero site). Mom and I hiked down Manhattan, then split up to do our own thing. We met up 2 hours later, me, frantically trying to get to every department I wanted to see, and her, avoiding salespeople but trying to sit on the grand stairs in the menswear department and waiting for me. Ah, it was great.

I actually bought 2 dresses by Hale Bob, and I tried them on right in the aisle, I was so rushed. The quality of this dress still impresses me, from the velvet bodice (the back is smocked with elastic so it's a perfect fit), to the soft colours and the sheer attention to detail on it.

With accessories:

I look in pain in this picture - and I am! I had a collision with Karen on the Ultimate field which resulted in her coming down on the inside of my left ankle and grating along it with her cleats. My ankle is pretty puffy and sore and is bruising up nicely. It's not internally sore at the ankle, so I think there's no sprain, just surface damage.

However, my calf pulled in compensation, so it's been really stiff and sore. I'm taking it easy and not doing my walk today - don't want to hurt myself.

With the accessories on: I got this scarf years ago, to go with a green dress from Jacob that I used to have (it was a size 14 - I've since given it away). It's a very vivid shade of green and the embroidery is shades of peach, so it's tricky to match with things. I think it's pretty close with this.

A close-up of the goods:

Boy, green really doesn't come out well with this camera. It's much more vivid.

Anyway. Isn't this the cutest little purse? It's soft and lined with satin. It was about $12 at Plum, about a year ago, I think.

And that's Dad's ring. It was given to me straight off his hand, as he laid in a coma after his heart attack. I feel close to him when I wear it - and since the play Mom and I saw was about family (moms, teenagers, husbands, fathers), I knew we'd be thinking about our him. Only appropriate that he should be there.

L joined us for dinner at the pub across the street after. What a lovely evening.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Casual Friday - Winners Week Dress & Shoes

Coral, brown & cream print sleeveless shirt dress (Connections, Winners), jean jacket (Ann Taylor Loft, NYC), dark brown/black mules with beads (Naturalizer, Winners), big-ass gold hoop earrings.
This is such a pretty dress - I love the fit through the bodice and waist, especially. The jean jacket is so that it goes casual for work (otherwise it's a bit too dressy), and the low-heel wedge mules are total comfort. Here's a shot of the dress alone:
It's a little on the long side, but I like that for summer. It has nice details: the "sash" tie waist is actually attached to the dress (only the front where it ties is not sewn down) and is ruched very prettily, and it has capiz shell buttons instead of the standard plastic. It also buttons all the way down to the knee, and is fully lined. It was about $45.00.

One of my goals at Winners was to find a pair of sandals that I could bum around in all summer. I wanted leather, a bit dressy looking, but comfortable. These were perfect. They rubbed my toes a bit (where the beading section is), but I trimmed them with the scissors.
And now...off to hang with my girls! Wine!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Winners Week - Crazy Shoes!

Orange sweater (Vero Moda, The Bay), mustard cami (Inwear, Dots), green silk and wool tweed skirt (Precis Petite, The Bay), crazy pony hair tiger striped shoes with mediallion with orange rhinestones, kitten heel and green satin piping! (Hale Bob, Winners), gold/crystal earrings (Plum), fabric yellow flower (Roberta's Hats), green stone/bead bracelet (handmade, gift from Cathy B, Greg's ex-wife).
I put this whole outfit together around the shoes. I got a lot of compliments on my ensemble today, from my office colleagues all sporting yellow flower-shaped sticky-notes (har har) to some homeless guy to salesclerks. I love the colour combinations -I felt very summery all day.

I love this skirt - it's part of a suit I have (jacket with detachable faux-fur collar, pants) from the Secret Area of the Bay downtown (a section of the Bay that carries very pricey imported UK designers, like Planet and Wyndsmoor). I love the shape of the skirt (very sexy secretary), which is why I'm doing the curvy body pose above.

LOVE the shoes. These may be my new favourite shoes: The green satin piping is a more vivid green in real life.
Oh, I love the medallions! And the stripes!

This outfit was made by the accessories, particularly the yellow flower. I bought this to put on my black cloche hat (for Robert & Desiree's wedding all those years ago), and just forgot I owned it. I also forgot about this bracelet. It's really heavy.
I have a necklace that matches these earrings, too, but it was a bit too much up at the neckline with the flower.

Ahem, note to Carollyne: I am allowed to wear my shoes more than once, m'dear. So, yes, I did wear the dragon shoes twice in two weeks. Tough beans!