Sunday, August 20, 2017

Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Jumpsuit Friday, Ulti Dress, Whisky and a Flower Farm

Hello, my friends! It's been a lovely chill weekend, full of sun, fun and naps. This post is true to its name: BIGASS. Warning, lot of pictures!

Here's Friday's jumpsuit, as promised. 
This is a warm olive green with a lot of yellow in it, so I accessorized with chartreuse and other shades of green and yellow.

This is my entry for "Visible Monday" over at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style - get over there and check it out!


  • Jumpsuit - Gina Tricot, thrifted; purchased here last weekend for $28.95
  • Shoes - Eject; last worn here in June with my Dries van Noten top


 I'm wearing a black cami underneath for armhole, cleavage and back slit coverage. As you can see, the jumpsuit has pockets! I like the drapey line of the pants, too - they puddle nicely at the foot.

I enjoyed wearing this and it was not too arduous to go to the bathroom in it - there is a little single button at the top of the slit (easy) and a big zipper on the side under the arm.
The obi had to be removed, of course, but I just hung it on the top of the stall at work.

The back waist is dropped a bit, and there is lots of room in the crotchal region. I cut off the thread loops for the self-belt, because no one tells me where my waist is!
 I bloused the back a bit to hide the puckering where I cinched it with the obi.

I had my hair cut after work (it's been nearly 9 weeks!) and then met L for dinner afterwards.
 He was all in blue - we were a very stylin' couple!

The stuff:
 I love these shoes. They are super comfy, and have been an excellent summer shoe.

Green bling:
 I bought this obi at the same time as the blue one here that I wore last week - they were $2.00 each in a thrift store a few years ago.


  • Obi - handmade, thrifted
  • Earrings - Le Chateau, c. 2007
  • Cuff -thrifted
  • Leaf ring - Fossil, thrifted
  • Amber ring - c. 1997


L and I hung out and drank wine and played board games on Friday night. We had a good crowd for Ultimate Frisbee on Saturday morning, and it was a lovely sunny day with just a bit of a breeze.
The seagulls on the neighbour's roof are squawking away at me.

  • Dress - All Saints, consignment; last worn here (2nd outfit) in July (exact same outfit, down to the earrings!)
  • Shoes - Franco Sarto, consignment; last seen here (2nd outfit) with a giant Hawaiian dress

 I have a vintage navy blue slip on under this for coverage (the dress has really wide side slits).
 The silk breathes really well and is very much needed after running around in the sun for 2 hours!

Outerwear:
 Hat and sunglasses, plus a ton of sunblock.

The stuff:
 My shoes were getting rather dirty, so I ran a cotton ball with facial astringent over them and it cleaned them up quite nicely. They're white again!


  • Earrings - Lazy Susan's


We went for brunch and a quick grocery shop after the game, then walked home, heavily laden with all our gear and groceries. Nap time! Vizzini spent the afternoon sleeping with us or out on the deck in the sun.
"It's a very busy life."
 His fur is so warm.
"One more pat, then leave me be, Woman."
 He was happy to have us home Saturday night, as we stayed in and played more board games. I had to get up early today/Sunday, though, because Mom and I had a date.
 We went to a flower farm with some other people from her art group, to do some painting/drawing. I wanted to look artsy, but also be able to handle any terrain.


  • Blouse - Guess, consignment; first worn here for a short work day and dentist trip in June
  • Jeans - Levi Strauss, thrifted; last seen here (3rd outfit) in July for a very casual Winesday
  • Shoes - Karl Lagerfeld; first worn here in August with the Spanish ladies dress
  • Capelet (below) - Floating Gold Iceberg, consignment; last worn here a few weeks ago with my Lady Garden of Delight skirt

 This ended up being perfect - we were walking along dirt paths and pushing between rows of plants. Mom and I also went for lunch after, so I still looked presentable.

I love this blouse even better with the dark bottoms.
 These "bike commuter" jeans were great, although with direct sun on them, they did get hot.

I wore a hat for cover as well as my little capelet.
I like the mix of purple, yellow and aqua. 

The stuff: 
 A bit of a rub with a soft cloth and all the dust was off my shoes.

Stone bling:
 I'd forgotten about this bracelet - L bought it for me for Christmas several years ago.


  • Bracelet - handmade, gift from L
  • Earrings - Mango's
  • Turquoise ring - local
  • Amber ring - c. 1997


It's too big on me, and doesn't stay done up. I came up with a solution: I used a wired red twist-tie!
That's me, always klassy. You can see the nice semi-precious stones in this - moonstone, pearls, turquoise, and lots of others I don't know the names of. I want to wear this special piece more. 

As an added bonus, Mom brought over my single malt scotch! She had picked it up for us, as we don't currently have a car. 

Back in 2006, when I was a member of the Victoria Single Malt Club, I paid $97.00 for a share in a cask, along with many other members of the club.  
Three bottles in one carton; six in the other.
 It's been aging for 10 years in its barrel, and in the past 3 weeks, I've paid up my portion of the shipping, taxes and duties on it (approx. $500). That may seem like a lot, but I got 9 bottles as my share!

Here it is, the Kilchoman Cask Strength.
 It's an Islay whisky, which I expect to have some nice peaty notes in it. No, I haven't opened a bottle yet! I will tonight!
 This batch has customized labels for the VSMC, noting that it's a Single Cask Release,and a private cask. The valuation per bottle is between $135 to $266, so we have a good savings on it. It's not often you get to buy scotch in bulk!

This is from the 56th cask, was casked in an ex-bourbon barrel (that means it will have some bourbon sweetness in the scotch, leached out of the wooden barrel while maturing), was distilled on Feb 28th, 2007, and bottled on April 13th, 2017.
 Non chill filtered is a good thing - chill filtering removes some of the oils/flavour from whiskies.
Every bottle is numbered by hand. This one is 235/242.
This one is 57.1% alcohol, so will be powerful stuff (it's a sipping drink!). We're giving a few of these away to special people, but will keep the rest for ourselves. It should last us many years! The last time we did a cask-share was about 10 years ago - we got 14 bottles, and still have one (we gave more away that time).

Much as I wanted to taste the scotch, Mom and I had some art to do! Off we went to Sol Farms (Facebook link here), a many-acred spread of sunflowers, berries and herbs. They don't use any pesticides, yay!
 It's not generally open to the public for wandering through - they made an exception for us as we were a small group.

I hope you like sunflowers! I took a lot of flower pictures.
 There is an apiary on the farm, so lots of fat, happy bees were buzzing about, feeding on the flowers.

The sunflowers are just reaching their peak - most of the stalks were over my head.
 On the other side of those evergreens is the highway - only a few minutes away, and I never knew this place existed!

Rows upon rows.
 Some of the flowers had paper bags over them, to collect the seeds for next year's planting.

Way up...
...towering over my head.

 Looking back towards town.
 It was slightly hazy and overcast, but still bright and sunny.

The blackberries are in season.
 They were just falling off the canes - I ate a bunch of these.

Looking through the fencing at another field.
 In addition to blackberries, there were fat loganberries. I also ate some of those!

Such a riot of colour.
 I count 3 bees on that flower.

There were lots of variations in colouring.
 I love the deep rust and browns in this one.

Mom walking through one of the fields.
 We all took tons of pictures before we set up our chairs and tables/easels.

This seems obvious now, but I didn't know that sunflowers turn their heads to follow the sun during the day.
 As it was morning, they were all facing east. Did you know that?

The petals on this one are more ragged-looking. I see a bee!
 There's one of the bagged heads in the background too.

Look at this pretty wine shade.
 Makes me want to touch it.

I did a selfie with this big flower.
 It's as big as my head!

Another dark red one.
Love that rich colour.

Two different kinds facing each other.
 They look like they are having a discussion.

These ones look like they are listening to me.
 Except that one on the right - hey, pay attention!

This yellow just makes my heart sing.
 Another bee! The bees left us completely alone - why bother us when they have a plethora of blooms to visit? We also saw dragonflies, hummingbirds and a big flock of red-winged blackbirds came through.

More dark red ones.
 Okay, I apparently have a thing about this bright yellow colour.
 Also, three more bees.

There were still a few raspberries left on the rows of picked canes.
 Yes, of course I ate them!

It is blackberry picking time.
 They grow all over the place here - you often see people picking them along the side of the roads.

This sunflower was huge.
 Bigger than my hand!

Look at this beauty.
 What a colour.

I love the yellow against the blue sky.
 Sunflowers are now one of my favourite flowers.

Mom and I parked ourselves near this lavender.
 I am fond of lavender's scent.

Look at this huge gourd!
 It was easily 2 feet wide.

As were these two, in the same patch.
 That is a large bucket in the bottom left, for comparison.

A long hedge of sweetpeas.
 Purple, pale pink, white.

And way over my head.
 I could look at them all day.

I like these orange lilies too.
 They remind me of jellyfish with tentacles hanging down.

This is an old wooden-framed greenhouse that's rotting away.
 It's been taken over by blackberry brambles. More berries, nom nom...

Me, getting ready to do some drawing on my paper fan.
"Hello!"
 See the sunflower to my left?
 This variety is called "Joker."

Mom painted and I drew, for about 2 hours.
 I only got one flower done, but it was very relaxing.

Me and Mom!
Thanks for the fun date, Mom! I love our artsy outings!

28 comments:

  1. Love the jumpsuit, the obi adds quite an interesting touch, the shoes are great. Love the colours of yellow and purple, very pretty top
    https://lookingfabulousat50.blogspot.com.au

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  2. What a lovely way to spend time with your mom, enjoying the beautiful flower garden and drawing together! My mom and I sketched a nude together at a community at class and it was such fun but we haven't done it again. Why?! I love that yellow blouse and dark jeans on you, with the perfect yellow flats! One of my favorites for you, perhaps because I can imagine wearing it myself.

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    1. I try to do dates like this with my mom and capture our time together. What a neat thing to do, a nude drawing class! - I would do that with my mom too.

      Yes, I thought of that when I wore the yellow/jeans outfit - I'm glad you like it, thanks, Mel-Bee!

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  3. My husband loves Scotch particularly from The Islay region and I purchased a bottle of that very scotch just yesterday for his birthday. He has sipped a few wee drams and declared it exquisite ! I hope that you enjoy it!

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    1. Excellent! I think you probably bought the regular bottling, as mine is a private bottling and not available for sale at all. Slainte to your husband and you!

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  4. So many things to LOVE in this post, Sheila!! First, I love the obi you paired with your jumpsuit. Second, love the yellow tiger blouse with your new yellow shoes. Finally, those sunflowers! Wow! They've always been one of my fave flowers but I've only ever seen them at the local florist, never in person! What an amazing day with your mum. Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos! XXX

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    1. Thanks so much, Sasha! I was awed at seeing so many sunflowers growing together. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures!

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  5. Your shoes are the queen of collections. Love, love, love them all.

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  6. So happy to see that you had some nice, slow, artistic expression time surrounded by nature, and what a beautiful patch of nature that is. Thankyou for all those photos, I almost feel like I was there. You little sunflower you :) (BTW sunflowers are generally very easy to grow, even in pots).

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    1. It really helps recharge my batteries, to just be alone and quiet and focused. I am a brown thumb - terrible at plants. I like them, but I kill them. :(

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  7. While the bathroom difficulties put me off of jumpsuits, I do admire them and think they look amazing. Just not something for me sadly. I love your obi belt with yours, even if it added an extra layer to be removed!

    That farm looks incredible! I felt so bad as our old neighbours had sunflowers in their back yard a while ago. They went away for a long weekend and on the Sunday we watched as a couple of cockatoos came over and started eating. When we came back at night the flowers had been picked bare. Hearing our neighbours shock when they walked out into their yard when they returned and saw their destroyed flowers...I didn't want to intrude by yelling over the fence that it was the birds, but I think it upset them as there weren't any more sunflowers after that.

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    1. They are not that difficult, Mica - about as complicated as pants plus a belt and a shirt to tuck in, timewise.

      Oh, no, those bad birds! I feel bad for your neighbours!

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  8. You are looking fabulous in that jumpsuit, Sheila. I think the obi belt is fantastic. And your pictures from the sunflower field make me want to be right there. thanks for linking up, XO

    -Patti
    http://notdeadyetstyle.com



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    1. Thank you, Patti! Your jumpsuited ladies inspired me!

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  9. Three great looks ! My fave being the one with the yellow KL flats.
    Oh and that farm looks amazing. I am in awe, look at those huge sunflowers ! I have been trying to grow large sunflowers but have not had much luck. The most they've grown is my height, 5 feet - I even bought Mammoth sunflower seeds.

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    1. Thank you, Lorena! I was just boggled by all the flowers!

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  10. Lovely, lovely, lovely post! The jumpsuit is a perfect fit for you and I think the term puddle is spot on for what it does around your feet - hope you don't mind, but I may borrow that in the future.
    Those sunflowers are wonderful and I can understand why we were subjected to an entire album of them in their various colours and forms. I did like how you kept that whole row entranced with your talking, well apart from that wayward one. Your decoration of the fan is beautiful and the best reminder of your mom and daughter outing. Thanks for sharing x

    Anna

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    1. Oh, yes, feel free to steal "puddle" - I didn't make it up. Sorry about the huge amount of pictures! I tend to post more (vs. less) as these posts are like a diary for me. Thank you so much, Anna!

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  11. Thanks for taking us along on your garden/art outing! I loved the pictures, especially of the red sunflowers. And your jumpsuit outfit was fab.

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    1. Thanks for reading along, Danielle - aren't the red sunflowers gorgeous? Thank you!

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  12. You live in one of the most beautiful places in the world! I love all the sunflowers and your jumpsuit is fabulous on you!

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  13. Sunflowers are such happy-looking flowers - I love seeing an entire field of their bright yellow heads. I've never seen red ones before!

    The green jumpsuit looks great on you, nice styling with the obi belt.

    Making art together is a lovely way to spend time with your Mom. I wish I could do something like that with mine.

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    1. They are! They cheered me immensely. Thank you - I loved wearing the jumpsuit. I really value these trips with my mom - we won't be able to do them forever, so this is building up memories for me of my time with her. :)

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  14. Sheila, love the green jumpsuit paired with the obi sash and the yellow shoes and print blouse. I don't have any yellow in my wardrobe and when I see how nice it looks on you it makes me want to go out and shop for something yellow!

    Always enjoy seeing pix of your pretty kitty too!

    And what a beautiful place you got to visit with your mom. The flowers are gorgeous, especially the sunflowers. So cheerful:)

    Theresa

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    1. Thank you so much, Theresa! I was really happy with both of those outfits too. Get some yellow! It's such a happy colour. Glad you enjoyed the pictures - the flowers really lifted my spirits.

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