Day Trip: Vancouver Blogger Meet-Up: Melanie and Shelley!

What's this? A Saturday post? How unlike me! As you may have surmised from the title, Friday was a special kind of day off: I met up with Melanie (of A Bag and a Beret* fame), and Shelly of Forest City Fashionista! 

I've known and met Mel for years, but when Shelley (who I've never met, but have also known for several years) told me she was coming out to the west coast from her native southern Ontario, I considered for about two seconds before saying, "YES!" to a day-trip to Vancouver. 

*all links in my posts are because I love!

What to wear?? I needed to be able to walk all day, try things on, and also look suitably bloggery. 

When in doubt, wear a dress! I love this "firecrackers" linen dress (it's actually abstract floral but reminds me of fireworks), and the weather's been very warm, so just right.

• Dress - JG Hook, thrifted; last worn here in September 2018 
• Shoes - Half Truth Tanya, Fluevog; last seen here in March with green and black/gold
• Cardigan (below) - not tracked/no label, thrifted

I've worn this shoe-dress combo before, here exactly a year ago in June (wow, my hair has changed a lot!).

"What's the ruckus in here, Woman?"

As I didn't want to run the risk of any blisters from being barefooted in my shoes, I wore little pale pink nylon socklets.

They have wee pink bows on the back.

Vizzini came in for a visit while I took my pictures - it seemed like a regular work day to him, since I was up at the same time.

"And I'm wearing my white socks."

But instead of going to work, I hopped a bus to town, and walked down to the float plane docks.

 I wore my red cardi for sunblock and warmth (the planes can be cold), and carried my cobalt blue leather Danier purse (thrifted). I took one shopping bag, to set myself a limit!

I had to have a snuggle with my furry boy before I left.

"Wait, are you leaving me? I require more cuddles."

Okay, full confession: I took these pictures so I could show them to Shelley (we compared pictures of Vizzini and Sylvester). Kitty love!

The stuff: 

 These shoes were amazing to walk and shop in all day (and we did a lot of walking and shopping!).

Simple bling:

 Easy pieces.

• Glass earrings - local
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes
• Onyx/silver ring - Tocara, vintage fair

One more cuddle with Vizzini before I left...where is that darned cat?

"What, you're still here?"

We call that his "Blanket of Shame" - when we put him out on the deck in the early morning (when he starts bothering us for food around 4am), it's somewhere soft for him to sleep.

He never sits still for long.

"If you're waking me up, there'd better be food coming."

That little pink tongue!

He went for a flop instead.

"It's exhausting being a cat."

Tummy rubs were needed.

"These pictures could damage my reputation."

He's not a "Venus-fly-cat" - the tum is good for rubbing without fear of bitey repercussions.

The day started bright and sunny in the Victoria harbour. 

Top: Seaplane terminal; Bottom: Port Angeles/Olympic Mountains in Washington State, USA

Inside the plane. 

There were only 6 of us on the flight. 

 Bizarrely, the woman sitting in front of me is someone I knew a long time ago! We started chatting and then I remembered where I knew her from: we were in Creative Writing together in Grade 12, back in 1985! Great to see you again, Alisa!

Winging out over Victoria, and the Gulf Islands, and arriving in Vancouver harbour 35 minutes later.

Clockwise, from top left: Victoria; Gulf Islands; Vancouver harbour/downtown; ferries are for chumps!

Who's that?

Photo by Melanie

Yay!! We had such a fun time hanging out together. We are all just exactly as you imagine us: funny, silly, fabulous and great shoppers. We got along perfectly, like we'd all been friends for years (which we have).


I loved this Dali statue outside Canada Place, so Mel took a picture of me being fabulous in front of it.

Right photo by Melanie

We walked over to My Sister's Closet thrift store (link, not related to Victoria's consignment store of the same name), where Mel and Shelley both found some goodies. 

Photo courtesy of Melanie

On our way to the Sea-Bus docks.

I took this picture from the rear because of Shelley's amazing backpack - it's spiky! Melanie's coat billowed majestically.


We took the little cycle/pedestrian Sea-Bus over to Granville Island.

Clockwise from top left: mussels at high tide; Aquabus!; Burrard St. Bridge; Granville St. Bridge

What do bloggers do when they are together?

 They take a lot of pictures of each other!

A quick lunch at Granville Island and then we escaped the crowds and walked to upper Granville for some consignment store shopping. We popped into one or two consignment shops, but it was mostly second-hand for us.

I love this art below the overpass - it's so much better than graffiti 

On our way to Turnabout and Turnabout Luxe (link here), I dragged Melanie and Shelley into Lord's Shoes (link here). I hadn't been in there since our 2016 anniversary weekend trip (here) and how very exciting: this pair of shoes that I had lusted over three years ago was still there!

I didn't buy them then, because they were a) $270 and b) they were a little too big for me.

 They are by Prophecy - see why I like them?

 Ungh, that heel! I have all the love!

My usual size - wonderful detailing on them. I will have to pick up a thick insole to wear in them, though, as the sizing is a bit wonky.

 They were hidden at the bottom of the "Last Pairs" and deep discount rack.

Last pair...for $25.00.

 Wow.

It was 91% reduced from the original price.

 If you're going to shop retail, shop in actual brick-and-mortar stores! Lord's has been around since 1930.

Part of the reason why they were still there and unsold after 3 years is that one of the shoes was in a window display and faded a bit in the sun. You can see the difference between the left and right in this picture.

 Never one to shy away from messing with my clothes and shoes, I pulled out a pink eyeshadow and lip balm and some Q-Tips.

I dabbed lip balm on the spots, then gently tapped eyeshadow on it.

 I just daubed away until they looked pretty close. Never do this unless you are willing to mess it up!

Before on the top.

After on the bottom. Pretty good, eh?

We checked out the new swanky Turnabout Luxe, which was full of high-end haute couture consignment designer clothes and shoes. I didn't buy anything there, but Shelley found this amazing iridescent dress/topper. 

 It made us all happy, and really was so very "her." When you find pieces like that, they are keepers!

At the "regular" Turnabout, we all did really well, with Shelley getting a big bag of goodies, and Mel also finding a few treasures. I tried on oodles of things, but I'm really fussy (and was thinking of my one-bag limit!).

I got this awesome Lucite and silver hinged bangle.

The Lucite is all carved by hand. 

 The silver balls have a bit of tarnish at the edges, so I think this was sitting in someone's jewelry box for a while, unloved.

I was not familiar with the name Alexis Bittar (about him here), but I know quality when I see it!

 What a beautiful find. His Lucite bracelets are $200-400, depending on complexity. This would have been on the high end of that scale.

I also fell hard for this wonderful plaid coat.

 It reminds me of the oversized coat trend of the late 80s, and the bold plaid is just stunning.

Also, I cannot resist any kind of gew-gaws, and this one is gew-gawed all over!

 A beaded cross, a star (with beaded dangly fringe!), a shield and another beaded design.

It still had the original retail price on it.

 It's the "Diem" jacket, for $199.00.

It's a bit hard to see, but this is a patch pocket (there's one on each side) with a flap.

 I love the yellow thread running through it and all the ragged edges.

It's hard to see in pictures but the entire coat (including the lining) is backed with sheer black netting which extends out beyond the edges.

Sparkly, fringe, netting!

OMG, I am on bling overload.

 The brand is L'Atiste by Amy.

 Not terribly impressed by the grammar - makes me want to get out the red pen.

Mel and Shelley generously let me have their Turnabout "points", so I got a $9.88 discount off my purchase.

The bracelet was originally $69.99, on sale for $44.79, but under $40 with points redeemed (let's call it $39.79). The coat was $89.99, reduced to $36.00, and then $31.00 with the points knocked off. What scores! I am excited to wear the coat...in the fall. I wore the bangle home. 

As the day was growing longer, we cabbed back to the downtown harbour for a quick bite before I had to catch my plane home. 

Can you tell we're worn out from all this shopping?

 We're all slumped on the table, leaning on our elbows.

It was an exhausting but exhilarating day.

Photo by Mel

Thank you, dear friends, for spending such a wonderful day with me! Hugs to both of you!

The clouds had cleared and it was time to go. 

Clockwise from top left: Seaplane; plane landing with the Lions Gate Bridge and Stanley Park in the background; ferry in the Gulf Islands; goodbye to Vancouver

Views headed home.

Clockwise from top left: A Gulf Island ferry (very small); banking over the islands; looking east (the arrow is pointing at Mount Baker in the far distance); the Saanich Peninsula

And almost home. The top picture is looking down at Victoria - the blue arrow is where I live.

See? There's the Castle!

I arrived home to much fanfare. 

"Oh, you're home already."

It's good to be home!

I hope you enjoyed my day-trip! I am lucky to live in such a beautiful place!