Casual Friday - Low Heels Week - Boots Edition

Of course, I wore low boots today! It's casual day!

I actually was stumped for my outfit today. Usually, I decide on one thing I want to wear (in this case, the boots), then I mentally go through my wardrobe and put together outfits while I'm lying in bed at night waiting to fall asleep. Last night I had some wine and I didn't do my typical planning.
It resulted in me missing my bus this morning. Anyway, I tucked my skinniest jeans into the boots today - the jeans are tightly wound around my lower calf with a sock over top of them to keep them in place. Very attractive.

I actually don't like these jeans - they give me an evil case of Muffin Top. Bad jeans! Bad! Bad!

Gah, I look poochy there. Good thing I had the jacket on all day to cover up my plumber's butt, haha!

Oh, and click here for a close-up of the heel on the boots. They are a 1 3/4" heel, a modified wedge. That's my favourite height for a casual boot.

Happy Weekend!

Jacket (Gap, consignment), shirt (Nicole Benoit for Point Zero), jeans (Esprit), boots (Miz Mooz), belt (Plum), wood bead necklace (90s), gold hoop earrings (gift from L).

Low Heels Week - Getting Higher?

So, these aren't exactly low heels, I know! But on the other hand, they are not as high as they look.
The heel (a nice chunky block for you chunky heel fans) is 3.5" high...but the platform is a good 3/4", close to a full inch, so they are under 3". And boy, are they comfy!

The burning question is: Will she go flat for Casual Friday? Oh, the suspense is killing me!

The stuff:

Played off the putty background mix in this skirt (the top under the cardigan is that bright cobalt blue). I'm tossing the earrings, since they wouldn't stay on and the "gold" is rubbing off.

Cardigan (Express, thrifted), top (Oxmo), skirt (Mexx), belt (gift from Mom), shoes (Camper), bracelet (The Bay), earrings (gonzo!).

Low Heels Week - Gold and Brown

When I decided to do this theme week, these are the shoes that I thought of wearing first. But - shock of shocks! - they are actually 3" heels!
They are Aerosoles and you can see how squooshy they are - super comfy! They have lots of padding and I can shop in them for hours with no soreness.

Who'da thunk it?

Sorry for the boring outfit - I've been having a very stressful time at work lately, and I didn't plan any of my outfits ahead this week (just quickly grabbed stuff the night before). I should wear some yellow to cheer up.

The sweater is the last new-to-me non-accessory item that I got before Christmas - finally wore it! It's 80% merino wool, blended with nylon and a touch of spandex. Not itchy at all (I'm wearing a camisole underneath). It was around $12 in a thrift store.

The stuff:

I think part of what makes these shoes not feel like a 3" heel is that the heel is set lower under the foot - it's centred directly below my heel and keeps my foot from pushing forward in the shoe and mushing my toes together. The T-strap also keeps these really stable, as does the cap on the heel (since it's nice and wide).

Every time I see these shoes in the closet, I think, "Maybe it's time to toss those granny shoes," but then I wear them and I get a bunch of compliments. They are three years old and starting to get some wear, but I guess for now they'll stay.

Sweater (Banana Republic, thrifted), skirt (Jacob, consignment), shoes (Aerosoles), necklace (Plum), earrings (Foxy).

Low Heels Week - Audrey!

Today's low heels are 1" high...that's about as low as you can go and still have a heel!

I picked up this skirt after work yesterday while I should have been shopping for groceries. I'm such a sucker for pattern in skirts.
Inigo wants out.

Some of yesterday's comments:

Kari: "..in some ways I feel like kitten heels are harder for me to walk in than higher but chunkier heels."

Kristen: "I find them too hard to wear now; the tiny little heel feels less sturdy than a chunkier one that are three inches."

It's what you are used to, I think. It does take a different gait, but the same rule applies: always trust the heel and land heel first. You should always try to do a natural heel-through-toe range of motion, no matter what height your shoes are.

Letting the heel land first, especially when it's a small one (whether that's a stiletto or a kitten heel), can feel shaky at times. It requires strong ankles and good balance. What I do to work on this is go up as high as I can onto my toes when I'm either sock-footed or in runners - hold it for as long as you can, then go back down (but don't let your heel hit the ground). Rise up again, hold it, then back down. It's great for your balance and strengthening ankles (I learned it in aikido).

Give it a try! And give low heels a try. Kitten heels are so retro - and it's good to take a break from wearing heels every day.

Lorena: "it's true you MAY have to stop wearing them or NOT. My grandma is 80 and she CANNOT wear flat shoes.... she wears heels"

The flip side of wearing heels all the time is that you can end up shortening your tendons (your Achilles) at the back of your ankle and legs and end up doing permanent damage to your legs. It's important that you vary your heel heights daily, and also to work at keeping the back of your legs stretched out.

After I do my toe balancing (I do this at stoplights when I'm walking home), I do heel rocking: I rock back on my heels, lifting my toes up as high as I can before I rock back. This is also good for strengthening the muscle down the front of your calf (the one that always gives shin splints).

I also do stretches in bed every morning before I get up: I lift one leg straight up and hold my foot so that my leg is straight...oooh, feel that in the back of the leg! I give myself a quick massage on the back and front of the calf, give my knee a rub to get the circulation going, and massage my hamstring on the back of my thigh - then I do the other leg. It only takes a minute.

Wendy: "I don't feel like myself in low heels."

Yeah, I know what you mean, Wendy. High heels can make you feel kick-ass and powerful! Rar! I'm walkin' with authority here!

When I wear low heels, I actually feel very Audrey Hepburn. She famously had big feet (size 10 or 10.5, slightly bigger than mine) and always wore low heels or flats (she popularized the kitten heel in the 50s). It depends on my mood and how I want to project myself...you know, like when you wear stilettoes vs. combat boots.

Oh, here's the shoes:
You can see the pattern/texture in the skirt really well there - it's a lovely midnight blue with black pattern. That's one of Grandma J's necklaces.

A close-up of the heel:

I like that heel is not too scooped in at the back and is nearly a wedge. These are really sturdy to walk in. Not bad for $10.

Cashmere sweater (Expression, consignment), skirt (Smart Set, consignment), hose (Hue), shoes (Wild Diva), necklace (Coro, 60s? vintage, Grandma J's).

Low Heels Week - Zebra!

Lovely blogger Rebecca of Thrifty Style at Sixty commented the other day, "I think a wee part of my wardrobe blahs is the fact that I can't wear those beautiful high heeled shoes anymore."

Well, it will be a sad day for me when I have to give up my four-inch heels, that's for sure. I look after my feet (I give myself foot massages, wear supportive runners, and give my feet a break as much as I can), but one day I know it will happen.

However, just because you can't wear sky-high heels doesn't mean you can't have gorgeous-looking shoes! I am doing all low heels this week to prove it.

Today, it was my fab 1 1/2" kitten heels (I measured them):
As usual, I just pulled out the colours from the shoes: green, black, brown and gold.

Here's a close-up:

I find a kitten heel is best when it's centred right under the heel, not set too far back. These shoes are so comfy. Also, if you do a pointy toe, make sure the shoe size is a smidge bigger than you'd normally wear so that you don't cramp your toes. I found these at Winners a couple of years ago for about $20.

Jacket (Lux, thrifted), camisole (Esprit), skirt (Kenzie), shoes (Hale Bob), necklace (Foxy).

Weekend Casual...and Book Blurbs

Happy Weekend! Yesterday, L and I went out for lunch and wandered about downtown, having a wee shop. This is what I wore:I changed into jeans for the evening out with the gals and their husbands.

On our shop, we bought all kinds of second-hand books (more Douglas Coupland, another Palahniuk, and a Poul Anderson for me) and CDs. I didn't get any reading done yesterday as I really needed a long nap instead. Yay for naps!

Book: "Girlfriend in a Coma" by Douglas Coupland. This was another Book Club book (I thought I'd get it read early this time, instead of leaving it till the last minute), chosen by Sherylyn.

Stats: Started on Jan 16th, finished Jan 24th. Total reading time: 4 hours, 15 minutes. Shameful - not getting my full hour of reading in every day! But it's better than nothing.

Blurb: I really grooved on this, particularly the first half of it. I love that it's set in Vancouver, so I recognized a lot of the settings, and could picture it all really well. I liked the characters, the dialogue and the writing style. I could totally envision this as a dark comedy/horror. I felt it started heading down Preachy Road a bit near the end, but I still enjoyed it. I bought 3 more of Coupland's books, based on my enjoyment of this one. I gave it a 3/5, for being somewhat fluffy, a fun (and dark) read but knocked a point off for the ending.
Next book: "The Walking Dead: Vol. 11: Fear the Hunters" by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn.

And hey, what do you know? I finished it today as well! I count my graphic novels in my reading diary, because, well, I love reading them!

Stats: Started and finished on Jan 24th (while I watched the AFC Championship). Total reading time: 1 hour.

Blurb: I was recommended this series by our friend, Gareth, who owns the local comic shop, Legends. More on him in a bit. It starts off kind of like "28 Days Later" with slower dead people, and continuing on for quite a while afterwards. It's very graphic and at times tough going, but it's a great series. I rate this a 4/5, same as I've rated all the other books in the series, because it's so good at capturing the emotion, raw violence and characters without having huge expository chunks of dialogue. One of the best graphic novel series out there right now.

Next book: "The Reality Dysfunction" by Peter F. Hamilton. This one's a birthday gift from Kelly (I lend him a lot books), and it's a doozy - over 1,000 pages! Yikes! And it's the first in a trilogy. It's probably going to be a while before I finish.

In the meantime, I do have a couple more graphic novels that I'll read in the next couple of days. I also got caught up on my "Magic Teeth Dailies" by the aforementioned Gareth Gaudin.Three cheers for the Perogy Cat! I've been reading Gareth's collected daily cartoons from the beginning.

This is my shelf of graphic novels. As you can see, it's overflowing. I have Bone, all the Criminal series, all the Preachers, all the Sandman, a bunch of Alan Moore, all of the Invisibles, Maus, and more. Love!

T-shirt (Plum, gift from L), long-sleeved tee (Majestic, gift from Caro), skirt (Club Monaco, consignment), belt (gift from Ruth), tights (Hue), boots (Aldo, consignment), leaf earrings (Plum, gift from L), chain with 2 key charms (unknown origin) and S charm (gift from Mom and Dad).

Casual Friday - Sparkly Brown

I think I only have one more new-to-me item left to wear from my pre-Christmas shop. This one-shoulder top was only $12.95 in a thrift store! It is covered back and front in irridescent brown sequins sewn onto t-shirt material.
I am still doing my counter push-ups, and I am pleased with how my shoulders and arms are looking. Of course, I couldn't wear the top on its own for work - even for Casual Friday, that's just a tad too casual! So I threw on my boyfriend blazer:

In the top picture, I've tucked my bra strap into the top (for the aesthetic, don't ya know), but I put it back on properly to wear around all day.

Unfortunately, due to the tube/shelf bra that is built in to the top, the top itself kept pulling down over my right boob. Most annoying - I had Ruth on Bra Alert all day in case I started flashing. I might have to remove the shelf bra so that the top will sit properly on me.

I like doing a dressy shoe when I wear my jeans, to keep it looking businesslike.

I did leopard trouser socks! Rar!

Happy Weekend, everyone!

Blazer (Banana Republic, thrifted), top (Express, thrifted), jeans (Esprit), trouser socks (Sox Trot), shoes (Luichiny), gold hoop earrings (gift from L).

Stripey Goodness

Today's outfit felt very daring! Red and burgundy together! Cats are sleeping with dogs!
Heh, but I digress. I got these fabulous tights and loved how all the colours went together and just started pulling colours out.

See? Stripes!

This is the dress I didn't wear for so long, as I moaned about here (I got rid of those shoes, by the way). The red top is new - I've stocked up on long-sleeved thin t-shirt tops lately.

Here's a better look at the stripey goodness:

I get a giggle out of the feet in them. It's just so Muppet-y. The necklace is from the 50s - it's my grandma's that she gave me when I was in my teens. Stuff about it here. And these are my Christmas earrings from L.

Dress (Banana Republic), top (Press), tights (Hue), boots (Miz Mooz), necklace (Lisner, Grandma J's, vintage 60s), earrings (Plum, gift from L).

More Tweed and My Best Deal on Shoes

Today's outfit features the last pair of shoes that I picked up before Christmas. I found them in a thrift store for $13.50, barely worn. Seriously, check out the shoes:
Erm, thanks, cat! Get out of the way!

Try again, the shoes:

The blue sweater is also new - it's silk and cashmere, paper thin, and the front is covered in rows of tiny sequins, each one hand-sewn on. I felt a little Roaring Twenties in this flapper-esque silhouette.

I had to photograph and dash, as we met up with friends to see "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orleans" (hilarious, over-the-top Nic Cage, and duh, it's a Werner Herzog movie, of course I loved it). Anyway, I quickly threw on my jeans and boots:

The stuff (the sweater colour is closer to the right blue in the shots above than here):

There, that's a better idea of the glorious burgundy/ruby red of the shoes. They are piped in grey and are made of leather. They were totally comfortable - lots of padding on the ball of the foot.

You can see all the tiny sequins on the sweater above. It was $15 in a thrift store.

Proof of my awesome deal on the shoes. Check it out: Town Shoes is a kryptonite store for me - keep me away from there! I'll spend all my money! Although, truly, mostly I just look, because I'm now spoiled by thrift and consignment store prices. I'll only pay over $100 for Fluevogs now.

Sweater (The Limited, thrifted), cami (RW & Co.), skirt (Mexx, gift from Celia), shoes (Town Shoes, thrifted), ring (Soul Flower), earrings (Plum).

Green, Tweed and Librarian Shoes

Today's outfit is a bunch of my...what do they call it...ah, "remixed" items, aside from the green camisole, which is new.
I love, love this skirt and cardigan. They are probably two of my favourite items in my closet. The cardigan continues the theme from yesterday, of clothes where the design continues around the back:

More storks and trees! I also love that both cuffs on the cardi have little tree branches. You can see the embroidery better in the close-up below.

Hee, my butt looks good there.

I spent the day admiring my shoes. Seriously, these are awesome shoes:

$22.50 US in a thrift store in Seattle, and they were brand new.

I read that gallons of pearls is "in" right now, so I wore one of my necklaces. Of course, I've done scads of pearls before! (Hmm...I should wear that dress again)

Cardigan (Lucky Brand, consignment), camisole (Smart Set), skirt (Talbot's, consignment), shoes (Steve Madden, thrifted), necklace (Aldo Accessories).

Mixing Metals on a Miserable Monday

I picked up this skirt on Friday night after work. I actually wanted a pair of red Miz Mooz boots but the store had sold out, so I went on the hunt for something else. This (and a dress that I am saving for some special occasion) is what I found:
I love the kooky pattern, particularly since it went onto the back of the skirt. I hate it when patterns or embroidery are only on the front of garments - it's like designers think we're only going to be seen from the front. Silly!

See? Pattern on the back:

I like the unevenness of it, too. Of course, I went all matchy-matchy and did a blue sweater, yellow bracelet and gold and silver accessories:

You can see all the stuff going on with the skirt (thank goodness for the grey background, or we'd have some sort of fashion disaster going on!) - eee, it has studs on it! Love!

I'm not really miserable, by the way, I just went for the alliteration (and the weather's kind of craptastic).

The chain belt is vintage from the 60s (story of what the belt originally looked like here), and the cuff is one of my crazy-good thrift deals ($4 with a $35 sticker underneath it).

Sweater (Tobias), skirt (Bianca Nygard), shoes (BCBGirls), cuff (thrifted), belt (Mom's, 60s vintage), earrings (don't remember).

Not-So-Casual Friday - And My First Book Blurb

Whew! Another busy weekend of hanging out with friends and watching football! Yee haw!

I really wanted to wear my new skirt from a couple of weeks ago, so I forwent wearing denim on Friday and just did a regular outfit. I was pleased with the results:
You may remember this jacket from such the post "Casual Friday - Olive, Red and Tweed". Wow, I can't believe this is only the second time I've worn it!

The skirt feels like like suede, like when ultrasuede first appeared, not that cheap thin stuff that's in stores now. It's incredibly thick and soft - I actually had to check the seams to make sure it wasn't real leather! It has a semi-high waist and nice wide flat band across the tummy area. It was $10 in one of my favourite thrift stores! This is why I'm still going to continue to shop second hand.

I added touches of red and raspberry. I ended up stopping downtown and doing a bit of shopping after work - this was a BAD outfit for trying on clothes, especially since I had a raincoat, two bags and an umbrella to deal with!
I really liked all the layers and the accessories, how it all looked. I felt very eclectic all day, very quirky.

The stuff:

These shoes were not very good for shopping. I can wear them all day for work and to walk to and from the bus stop (as it was Friday and I don't work out on that day), but not so much another 3 hours on my feet. And those two buckles on the shoes were a pain in the butt when trying on stuff.

A close-up of the jewelry:

Pretty heart pendant, my leaf earrings L gave me for Christmas and one of my long double chains. I cleaned out my jewelry box and gave a bunch of stuff away on Friday, just trying to pare down what I don't wear anymore.

Now, let's talk books...

So! As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, my New Year's Resolution for 2010 is to read an hour a day. I love reading and frankly, I just don't make enough time for it. L and I have 9 bookcases (5 of which are 6' tall) crammed with books, which we weed out from time to time (we take them to our local 2nd hand bookshop and trade them in for store credits to buy more books!). I'm lucky in that I haven't moved much during my lifetime so far, so I've been able to keep a lot of childhood books (I have some really old vintage Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Happy Hollisters and Bobbsey Twins books), as well as build up my collections.

Anyway, I thought I'd do something this year to help me keep my resolution - to note when I've done a book, see how well I've been doing with my resolution, and give a brief blurb on books as I finish them.

Here's how I track my books (yes, I know I'm anal, I write down stuff a lot):

Heh, my lovely chicken scratch writing...The black book with the ribbon was a gift from my friend Arnold for my 40th birthday. In it, I write down all the books I've read: the title, the author, the year published, type of book (paperback, graphic novel, hardcover), when I started, when I finished, and my rating out of 5. Also, if it's a Book Club pick, I note that and whose pick it was. I've tracked my reading since November 2007.

The pink book was a Christmas gift this past year from L's grandma (it's a Breast Cancer thing from Avon). I track in it how much I read every day. I keep both of these books on my nightstand, as I do a good portion of my reading in bed at night.

My Book Club's selection process for books is not democratic - we struggled too much with finding books everyone could agree on. After 4 years of trying to agree on what we would read, and ending up with people either not buying the book or not reading it (guilty), I came up with a solution which has served us well over the past 3 or 4 years: whoever's turn it is to pick the book buys 5-6 copies of it (we have had up to 12 people in Book Club over the years, but are around 6 now...people come and go) and distributes them at the end of the meeting. The next person volunteers to pick books for the next meeting, and so on. We meet every 6 weeks or so.

When it's your turn, you can pick whatever you want...any genre, any age of book. Over the years since we started this, we've had some really cool books, and have gotten to read things we might not otherwise. Books I've chosen since we started that kind of pick: "V for Vendetta" (graphic novel), "Fanny Hill", "The Moon and Sixpence" and "Snuff" (that one was not very well liked - I should have gone with "Invisible Monsters", my favourite of his).

Today's book was the last pick for Book Club, as chosen by Karen, "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb. I've read "She's Come Undone", but years and years ago. I don't remember it at all.

Shamefully, I didn't finish this in time for discussion at the last Book Club meeting, as I was bogged down with finishing "Atonement" (loved it, but wish I hadn't seen the movie first so that the ending could have blown me away). This book was a monster at 891 pages. I started it on January 1st and finished it yesterday, so 16 days to read it. I didn't start tracking my hours until a week ago - I read for a total of 7 hours and 45 minutes in one week (I missed one day entirely...um...I had wine that night - but made up for it by reading for 2.5 hours last Sunday and yesterday).

In addition to my Book Club books, I also have multiple stacks of books on my nightstand. I'll be blurbing on those as I read them, too.

Blurb: I really like Lamb's writing, and his ability to really get inside a character's head. The main character, Dominic, is not especially likeable, but we are taken on the journey with him and come to understand him well. The book is nicely circular in structure - what I thought would come back around did, what I hoped would be resolved was - and ended satisfyingly. It did feel overly long in places, and at points I wanted to just get on with it, already. Overall, I gave it a 3/5 due to the predictability and lack of engagement with the characters (I'm a tough marker), but would recommend it for a nice, long meaty read.

Next book on my reading list: It's another Book Club book: "Girlfriend in a Coma" by Douglas Coupland.

Jacket (Jacob Connexion, consignment), lace top (Express, consignment), cami (Jacob, gift from Ruth), skirt (Liz Claiborne, thrifted), tights (Hue), shoes ("Ivanna" Listen Up, Fluevogs), heart necklace (consignment), necklace (Plum), flower brooch (on jacket, Roberta's Hats), earrings (Plum, gift from L).

Heh, She Said "Pants"

I hardly ever wear pants. They are just not my thing, although I live in jeans at home. I also didn't buy very many pairs during the 2009 Wardrobe Challenge, so they have been scarce this year. However, I did buy this pair (new) a couple of weeks ago, on sale at Esprit for $35 (regular $99):
Hard to tell, but they are navy blue with a big pale blue/grey check. I love the really wide leg on these. Esprit's pants fit me perfectly. Love them - most of my jeans are Esprit, in fact.

The cardi/shrug is new-to-me. Picked it up in my thrifting spree right before Christmas. It's a wool/angora/cashmere blend, but that darned angora shed like mad all over the place. Note to self: don't buy angora! I do like the sparkly bits around the neck - I'll just make sure I wear it with light-coloured items.

The cami underneath is one I got last Friday night while out shopping with Mom. Love the ruching - so flattering! The line down the front is little brown and gold wood beads.

This is something I do with the cats all the time:
Bam! Cat-zooka! I carry him around like Ripley carries her gun in "Aliens" and pretend to shoot L with him (I make exploding noises).

The shoes are hard to see because the pants are so long, but they are another new pair (I only have one pair left from my mad shoe-a-thon that I haven't worn yet) - my first pair of Campers:

I was astounded at how comfy they are. There is a bit of a platform on the front, and the chunky heel means good stability. They were on sale for $80 from $200.

I didn't wear any accessories aside from some crystal stud earrings, as all the bling on the clothes seemed plenty.

Cardigan (The Limited, thrifted), top (Bianca Nygard), pants (Esprit), shoes (Camper).

Make Your Own Damned Dinner - My 50s Dress

I adore the fashion of the 50s. I grew up watching re-runs of "Leave it to Beaver" and "I Love Lucy", so I have a huge amount of nostalgia for those lovely fashions. Not so much love for the attitudes towards women, but man, I do love the revelry in being utterly feminine in your clothes.

This is more my attitude now:
That's an image by Anne Taintor, and I have it on a coaster. It's a phrase I use a lot. Ha!

I found this lovely REAL 50s dress in a thrift store for $44.00, just before Christmas:

When I tried this on, I knew I had to have it. It fits perfectly, like it was made for me. That's a shot without the belt - I'm wearing dark teal tights.

With the belt, having a twirl:

I'm sure this is meant to be worn with a crinoline, but it has plenty of volume on its own! The waist is like a cumberbund, all pleated, and the skirt has precise 3/4" pleats all the way around the waist.

I was too cold to wear it like this all day. The dress is unlined and I think the material is a cotton blend (doesn't wrinkle badly at all). I wore this new-to-me cardigan for most of the day:

The cardi is a sort of heathered teal colour. I think it was $8.00 in the same thrift store. It's a nice soft wool blend, and in new condition (it's not vintage at all).

This shot is to show the detail in the design: there's actually an extra piece sewn into the armpit so that you can move your arms (the fabric doesn't stretch, of course).

The dress is a "Toni Edwards Original". The only think I could find on that name is another vintage dress and a bunch of old eBay listings.

Note the metal zipper - it also has all those hook and eyes at each major seam. And isn't that a cool pattern? When I got thrift shopping, I always look for patterns that still look modern.

To keep the dress from looking too "I'm a 50s housewife, let me get my vacuum", I went with my rocker chick accessories: big earrings, big belt, a couple of cuffs and my kick-ass shoes:

I could hear this guy purring from across the room:

Aw!!

Cardigan (Smart Set, thrifted), dress (Toni Edwards Original, 50s vintage, thrifted), hose (Hue), belt (Jacob), shoes (JLo), studded cuff (80s vintage), cuff and earrings (Shi Studio).