Long Weekend - Art Opening, Party and L's Birthday

Hello, my friends! It has been a long, lovely sunny weekend, full of fine company, good food and wine, and many naps (and even some shopping). It's been a while, since I've been off work since Thursday (back tomorrow), so let's get 'er done. 

Thursday! I wore this somewhat casual outfit to work, knowing that I would have to rush right home afterwards, feed Vizzini and then race to out to dinner with a big group of friends before we all went to the gala opening of an art show that Elaine had some photos in. Got all that? It was a busy day, followed by a busy evening.

This is my lovely silk kimono dress, last seen here on our trip to Vancouver back in March. If you look carefully, you'll see that I removed the tie at/under the boobs, so that I could put the obi at my natural waist, rather than always having the empire waist (never a great look on me).

I'm just wearing a pink camisole (and a half-slip for coverage) under it.

I added the bigass rose, and my crazy "Disco Dutch" Fluevogs.

I last wore them here with suede and flies (!). I had a lot of running around to do, so I was very glad of their comfort.

When I got home, I grabbed my hat.

I clipped a little bouncy paper butterfly to the hatband

Sorry, no picture of me in it this time around, but here's where I've worn it before:

• For my series of "never seen" closet archives, I put it on back in May 2010 while showing off a bunch of my hats. I got rid of a lot of them after that. Sometimes just trying old stuff on makes one realize that you don't need to keep everything; 
• For my niece Sydney's baby shower back in July 2009. I wore a vintage dress for that. Fun!

I haven't really gotten good wear out of this hat, but I did enjoy wearing it again. Time to let it shine - I must work at wearing it more.

The stuff:

My new floral earrings, and some sparkly things. It was a very floral, summery outfit.

Dress (Hale Bob), camisole (InWear), shoes (Prepare Hi Steady, Fluevogs), hat (Accessorize), spoon bracelet (About Tine), sparkly cuff and ring (consignment), spinner ring (Twang & Pearl), earrings (locally made).

Friday marked L's annual "Day of Indigence" during which we both take the day off, and invite as many of our friends to also take the day (or half-day) off work to join us for pub-hopping. After a week of rain and gloomy weather, Friday was sunny and perfect for wandering about town.

L and I had to get up before the City shut off our water main for a pipe replacement at 9am (no sleeping in!), so we went for breakfast and did a little shopping downtown before meeting up with 8 friends for lunch and shenanigans at a couple of pubs.

Comfy Smoking Lily dress (last seen here in April) worn over a navy blue vintage slip (hem deliberately let peek out).

Add to that my comfy Chie Mihara flats for walking to and from town and all that exhausting strolling about in the sun. I last wore them here with brocade peonies.

I had my jean jacket on for most of the day to keep from having to sunblock myself too heavily.

My shiny gold leather Smoking Lily heart pin was on my front pocket.

I took my jacket off whenever it was warm enough indoors for me. I'm always chilly.

It was nice to not have a belt on for once, too. 

The stuff:

My usual mix of slightly creepy and elaborately-patterned items.

Dress/heart pin (Smoking Lily), shoes (Chie Mihara), jacket (Ann Taylor Loft), snake ring (homegrown vintage, 80s), earrings (locally made), spoon ring (About Tine), turquoise ring (thrifted).

While out and about, we did a little bit of shopping, stopping in at Leather World (an awesome local store that's been around forever) where I found a new black leather belt that I can put my buckles onto (I currently only have a brown belt), and an "SW" (my initials) belt buckle, both made in Canada.

The SW belt buckle actually stands for "Smith & Wesson"!

I found these awesome Pamela Mann floral tights and some more nude fishnet tights at Heart's Content in Fan Tan Alley.

L and I headed home in the early evening to feed Vizzini, and to have a nap before continuing our fun day together by playing some board games. Unfortunately, our "nap" turned into a full night's sleep!

I woke up fully refreshed after 14 hours, and got ready to head out for our Saturday game of Ultimate.

Holy ship! It's the return of the Smoking Lily ship dress, last seen here at the end of February with some crazyass accessories. It was much easier to wear in warm weather, and was lovely and light to slip on after getting sweaty and hot after the game. My team won - yay!

I really am a bit of a disaster lately. First, I fall off a bus. Then, my tooth gets infected. Then, a rash of hives! And during the Ultimate game, I got clipped while sprinting and did a full face-first dive - knees, hands, and even slid on my chest for about a yard. Luckily, the school hasn't mowed its field in a long time, and the ground and grass were soft.

I wore my simple gold woven kitten heels, last worn here as Emergency Back-Up Shoes with black leather.

And just as those bruises on my legs start to fade...more to come! My poor knees.

The observant will have noticed that I also have a new belt.

It's non-leather, but handmade ethically in Bali (I checked). Another cool item found in Fan Tan Alley. I like that it's a dark blue. Yet another obi!

Dress (Smoking Lily), belt (local), shoes (Aldo, consignment), earrings (Plum).

After lunch, I did a huge grocery shop for food for L's birthday party on Saturday night, and then we spent the afternoon giving the house a power-clean. We had a great crowd of about 20-25 people, and shut things down around 3am. Whew!

This is my outfit for "Visible Monday" at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style. I missed it last week, but I guess Patti is allowed a break every so often, ha ha. This week, Patti is "dotty, but not tipsy" - I definitely made up the tipsy part of the equation this weekend!

This is my gorgeous silk shantung dress, purchased back here at Women in Need for $13.50. I loved the vivid pink colour and the fun cut of it (dig that huge kick-pleat in front).

I bought this black feather fascinator at Heart's Content on Friday - it just clips into my hair. I decided to go with more simple mod accessories to play up the simple lines of the dress. The belt is a metal one that I bought for $5.00 at a past vintage fair, and I also have on a brushed metal cuff (thrifted), and drop "O" earrings that my coworker gave me.

And yes, the party boots make another appearance! I last wore them here (twice in one weekend) for Caro's (*heart/balls*) party and for Karen's birthday. This is the fourth wear, bringing my cost per wear down to $100. Hey, I'm working on it.

Dress (Original Junior Vogue, vintage 50s, thrifted), boots (LA Malibu, Fluevogs), fascinator (Heart's Content), belt/cuff (thrifted), earrings (gift from Lise).

We found L a pair of teal skinny jeans for $20 while out on Friday, so I built him a party outfit around them.

"Where in the world do you want to go?"

He's wearing a pair of Tokyo Fluevogs (they are blue, cream and grey), a blue patterned shirt, a navy striped vest and a cream vintage jacket that I thrifted for him last Christmas (only $9.99).

Happy Birthday, my wonderful guy!

My best friend and partner in everything!

Yesterday, we slept in, then got up and watched a movie, then napped, then lounged about for a while. We played board games and at midnight, L got to open his presents from me. I always have so much fun shopping for him!

Here's what that pile of stuff is:

• A vintage "tie-dye" patterned shirt ($10 at the vintage fair), 
• A Smoking Lily t-shirt with bars and skulls,
• A set of wristbands and a sweatband (a joke),
• Three pairs of fun socks (crows, ninjas, and octopus), 
• A book that looked good,
• Four CDs (two Allman Brothers and two Laura Marlings),
• A vintage image on a magnet,
• A hapenny coin from the UK from 1967 (my birth year), 
• A massive silver koi fish belt buckle ($10 at the vintage fair),
• A steel chain bracelet (not shown, $1.00 at the vintage fair),
• Some chocolates (already eaten), and a box of jelly candies (not shown). 

Today, L's actual birthday, we headed to town for brunch and a bit of a wander. I am picking the next book for Book Club, and I needed to find 7 copies of it, which turned out to be a bit of an adventure. We went to close to a dozen bookstores and second-hand stores looking for copies - we only found 5! I had to order the other two through AbeBooks, so two of the book clubbers will be getting their books a few days late.

Anyway, it was a gorgeous hot sunny day out today, so I wore light, loose clothing.

My Smoking Lily gingham skirt, worn for the first time since the all-neutral capsule in June 2012 (recap here), where I wore it three times.

I do like purple and yellow together. I have a yellow camisole on under this purple cardigan.

I last wore the cardigan here in February with yet more Smoking Lily. I decorated it with my Smoking Lily heart pin, two of Megan's buttonflowers and a bee pin that she sent me.

These purple flat sandals are heavenly, especially while my feet recover from soccer cleats and The Boots (worn for over 6 hours) on Saturday. I wore them last weekend while all puffy from hives.

Cardigan (Kenar, consignment), skirt (Smoking Lily, thrifted), shoes (La Canadienne, consignment), belt (Aldo), pins (Smoking Lily, Megan Mae).

L and I saw this fantastic 1952 restored truck while walking to town, so I took a picture of L in front of it.

A dapper man and a cool car!

And here I am enjoying a strawberry mimosa at one of our favourite brunch places, the Blue Fox.

I'm wearing the pansy that came in my drink

Cheers to you - I hope you had a wonderful weekend!