Friday, April 29, 2016

Casual Friday: Mom Jeans and a Very Bad Cat

Oh, gawd, this has been the longest week. L will be home soon, burgers for dinner, then an evening of wine and Arkham Horror. This will be epic.
Epic-ly high-waisted, that is! These jeans are probably the highest waisted things I own.


  • Blouse - Max C., thrifted; last seen here in March with a leather slip dress
  • Jeans - Versace, vintage 90s, thrifted; last worn here a few weeks ago with bad sandals
  • Sandals - Ralph Lauren, thrifted; purchased here for $32.95

 This shirt is very silky - a pleasure to wear. I like that it's actually a very pale pink.
"You haven't been posting enough pictures of me."
I love how my butt looks in these jeans. I am mad at Vizzini, though.

The stuff:
Awesome shoes. I bounced around in them all day, with very little rubbing on my bare feet. I even ran for the bus in them.

Cat-bait bling:
Vizzini yanked on this with his teeth and clawed it. He's not shy. He's a monster.


  • Necklace - thrifted
  • Earrings - local
  • Lapis lazuli ring and Fulvia Ring - Wendy Brandes


Those of you who've seen Vizzini here on Ephemera over the past 5 years have heard the tales. He's destroyed at least 3 pairs of my shoes, a bra, several skirts, enough fringe to make a plate of spaghetti, dozens of shoelaces, a pair of glasses...the list goes on.

Well, we knew he had a hideout somewhere in the house (and we know every inch of our house from looking for him) but he'd eluded us. When we don't know where he is, he is up to no good.

On a search the other day I spotted his claws poking through the bottom of the bed - he was INSIDE THE BOXSPRING.
"Curse you, Woman, you found my secret hideout!"
We put a fitted sheet over the bed - we'll see how long that stops him. He's repaid me by waking me up at 4:20am with a paw in the mouth and meowing loudly in my face.

Don't be fooled by his extreme cuteness (although, look at that face!). He is a monster. But we love him!

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Baby Blue, Ocelot and Dove Grey

My Thursday is over, and the wine is calling. Let's be quick about this.
After seeing how thigh-tastic the skirt was, I zipped it a little lower!
This outfit was just a bit of a mish-mash that felt like, "Sure, why the hell not?"


  • Jacket - Live a Little, consignment; first worn here (3rd outfit) in November 2015 with brown and blue
  • Blouse - no label, vintage early 80s, thrifted; last seen here a couple of weeks ago with mod shoes
  • Skirt - Tribal, consignment; last worn here (2nd outfit) on Friday with wedge-heeled sneakers
  • Shoes - Gentle Souls; last seen here (3rd outfit) with purple leather

Must...open...eyes...
I love the softness of this faux-fur ocelot brown/black/blue jacket, but I've only worn it once. The short sleeve thing is tricky, plus what colours do you do with it but brown/black/blue? White and cream? So boring! How about baby blue? Sure!
It gave me just the right amount of coverage (the blouse is sheer and I didn't wear a camisole under it today) and warmth. I must try to work it into more outfits, or out the door it goes. No room for slackers in my closet!

The stuff:
So happy to have "rediscovered" these shoes! They were fabulous all day.

Silver bling:
Fistfuls of rings, and a pin at my throat.


  • Brooch - thrifted
  • Big ring - thrifted
  • Shield ring - Nine West
  • Spinner pinky ring - Twang & Pearl
  • Earrings - Glee


I'll be back tomorrow with Friday's outfit, and this weekend, I'll be putting together my May capsule, with a bit of a look at how April's fared. I also have a party to go to! Party clothes!

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

A Plethora of Pastels

A late one this evening, as I hosted Games Night at work for the Social Committee. 
If I'm not feeling so bright on the inside, at least I can be bright on the outside.


  • Sweater - Lord & Taylor, consignment; last seen here on Friday with wedge sneakers
  • Skirt - no label, thrifted; last worn here when I lost a flower
  • Shoes - Big Presence Desmond, Fluevog; last seen here with Spanish ladies


And playing games with coworkers is also cool, although I have used up all my outgoing energy for the day.
I was really happy with this outfit - I can't believe I'm wearing all these pastels! But don't they go nicely together?
I rarely wear this sweater untucked, but this allows you to see how long it really is!

Someone was begging for attention this morning.
"Nonsense, woman, I'm merely plotting to eat your hats up there."
He was very happy to get a cuddle, whuffling away at me.

The stuff:
I grounded the pastel coral of the sweater and the lilac-lavender of the skirt with poppin' bright versions. Orange shoes.

Bright bling:
And a purple mix scarf - it went so well!


  • Cuff - gift from Karen
  • Ring - Tammy's store
  • Stacking rings - thrifted
  • Earrings - don't remember, mid-90s


Off I go...the couch calls!

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Red, Double Leopard and More Flowers

My monthly loss-of-mojo is creeping in. I'm feeling grey, inward and small. 
Not to be confused with what's on the outside, which is bright, outward and large.


  • Sweater - Magaschoni, thrifted; last seen here in December 2015 with leather and a reverse mullet
  • Skirt - no label, vintage 80s, thrifted; purchased here for $5.00
  • Shoes - Hispanitas; last seen here earlier this month with plaid


It's my habit to be one thing on the inside and another on the outside. Many of us bloggers are very introverted in real life (having met several).
I'm happy that I decided to swap this sweater in during the last week of this capsule - it was cold today!

I loved this skirt, although not having a back slit made for small-ish steps when walking. No honkin' big strides like I am normally wont to do.
Of course, I spilled something on it (I am constantly dealing with pots of coffee, dumping out coffee mugs, wiping up spills), and I took the risk and handwashed it in cold water, despite the warnings on the skirt to dry clean it. I can't justify dry cleaning a $5.00 skirt. So, right now it's wrapped up flat in a towel, and rolled to get the water out. Fingers crossed.

The stuff:
It's not good that I only wore these one other time this month! I need to get more wears from such fabulous shoes. One of our clients today practically squealed when she saw me: "You've got double leopard!" Hee, that made my day.

Deco bling:
I like creating sets from my jewelry. It satisfies the organizational freak that lives inside me.


  • Cuff - POLY, thrifted
  • Ring - POLY, vintage fair
  • Crystal ring - Uffizi Gallery gift shop
  • Earrings - thrifted


I have more pictures from Crafternoon! Caro's dear son Rowyn took these with Karen's camera - pretty good for a 10-ish year old!
And that's not even all of the flowers.

I can never resist acting silly.
"I feel a Hat Attack coming on."
 Caro with a lovely flower.
We had a few pieces of patterned tissue which really made a fun variation.

One black-and-white of dear Cat.
Just gorgeous...and I ain't talkin' about the flowers.

This just makes me happy, looking at all the colour. Thank you to Cat for the next two pictures.
I'd better wear some colour tomorrow. Maybe that will brighten my spirits.

Inward, outward, upward.
And onward.

Monday, April 25, 2016

Half-Assed Weekend Wrap-Up: Saturday Shopping, Crafternoon and Lilac PJs for Monday

One thing (among many) I have learned about blogging is that in order to have interesting stuff to post, you have to DO interesting things. Go places, experience things, have fun. Write about them later.
A brunch and shopping outfit for Saturday.


  • Dress - H&M, consignment; last seen here at the beginning of April
  • Shoes - Camper; last worn here with ginko and a lost flower (never did find it)


Not enough people for Ultimate, so L and I brunched together. It's nice just to chill with my sweetie.

Of course, I immediately abandon him to go shopping after. I had to get some supplies for Crafternoon, and well, of course I had to have a wee peek around a few of my favourite thrift stores, right?
It was a little chilly out, so I wore my lavender leather jacket.
Coffee, the best accessory!
The stuff:
After a full day of shopping in these shoes, they are in the giveaway pile. They really were painful, and they're in rough shape. Thank you for all the wears, lavender shoes.


  • Earrings - Oscar & Libby's


In addition to crafting supplies, which I left on a counter in a department store for about 30 minutes, but were still there when I went back (phew!), I did buy a few things for me...

The first stop was The Patch, where I gritted my teeth as hipsters cooed over the vintage stuff I wore when I was a teenager. I found this magnificent non-vintage top.
Behold, the copper glory! 
Friends, that is leather. Copper leather!

And check out the back:
Industrial zipper and grosgrain ribbon? Sure, why be normal?

Definitely not vintage. It's by Asos and was $16.95.
I am pretty sure they didn't realize it was leather (fully-lined too!) or it would have been more pricey. A bit of snooping around online reveals that this top is from about 3 years ago, and last sold on the Asos website for about $169.00. That's a score!

Another score with another piece of leather, this time a skirt.
Oh sweet cream asymmetrical crazy pocket goodness! This snaps up the front.

And it's by Mackage, and it's made in Canada! And since it's from the ".com" era, we can safely assume it's not that old either. They have a similar skirt (this one, linking 'cause I love) for $490.00 US on their site.
Considering mine was $39.95, I'm okay with that.

This is not a size 2, though. Maybe a size 6.
That's why I always try stuff on. I don't trust sizing. They're just random numbers. 2 what? Feet? Inches? Pounds?

From there, I cruised over to the WIN Warehouse Store, where I found another pair of skinny cropped pants.
I don't really care that I'm 3-5 years behind the "Trend Train". I think I need a pair of magenta trousers. So there.
$14.95 for Ralph Lauren is pretty good.

I strolled a little further afield to the WIN Boutique, where I found this lovely dark green shell.
It came with the scarf/belt.
I used to have a very similar top but in silk. I pitted that, and destroyed it years ago, so I'm happy to have a vivid green that I can add to my closet again.

I also found a brand new pair of lacy black tights.
They still have the Anthropologie tags on the back, with the $22.00 sticker price. I paid $6.95.

And finally! The perfect black wedge finds me.
These will properly replace my old cork and black wedge sandals that I finally tossed last summer.

They are Ralph Lauren as well.
Hardly any wear, and only $32.95.
Pretty sure I couldn't find them new that cheap!

After an evening of board games with L the night before, I dragged my butt down to get groceries and then bused over to Caro's house for Crafternoon!

We made tissue paper flowers! Yvonne took all these pictures - thank you, sweetie! We had planned to throw a big surprise party for her this coming Saturday, and to make flowers to decorate the party house, but her hubby accidentally invited her...so we just rolled with it and invited her to Crafternoon with us.
Karen, me, Caro, Cat
We ate appies, drank wine and cut out hundreds of layers of flowers...to transform them...
The wine had nothing to do with blurry pictures, we swear.
...into 35 massive flowers, of every variety, hue and shape you could possibly make!
Caro, Cat and Vero
We were really excited about them. Can you tell?

Caro's place has a lot of original art - it all seems to go so well with the flowers.
I've been making these flowers since the 1970s, when I was in elementary school. They're impossible to screw up.

I made a lot of them.
"These are flowers."
The observant among you will have noticed that I didn't take a picture of my Crafternoon outfit. It's because I just wore the crap I wear around the house. Not picture-worthy!

Look at all those beautiful colours!
I'm so excited about the party on Saturday! Can't wait to see these decorating Vero's place!

After Crafternoon's shenanigans, I was rather tired when I got home. I barely made it through "Game of Thrones" (go, Brienne of Tarth, best character!). So, no blog last night.

And here we are at Monday morning.
All things considered, not too bad.


  • Shirt - Tabi, consignment; purchased here last weekend for $18.98
  • Skirt - Chia, vintage 80s, thrifted; last seen here (4th outfit) a week ago with grey and black
  • Shoes - Franco Sarto, consignment; purchased here in October 2015 for $24.00, and it's finally warm enough to wear them!  

I had a lot of compliments on this colour palette; the soft mossy/minty greens with the pale lavender and the pop of deep lilac from the skirt.
The shirt was fabulous to wear - although I was cold in it all day (and it's polyester, go figure!). It felt as comfy and loose as pajamas, though!

The stuff:
Happy to finally get these shoes into rotation. Triple bows, for the win!

Delicate bling:
That's one of my older non-vintage necklaces. I think I got it around the time I first started blogging, all those years ago.


  • Necklace - 2028
  • Earrings - local
  • Fulvia Ring - Wendy Brandes


And there you go. This is the last week of my April "capsule" - I'll be doing a new one for May, with the same loosey-goosey approach of swapping things in and out if I like. There are only a few pieces that survived April all the way through; some revealed themselves to be workhorses, and some...not so much.

I'm linking up with:




Get over there!