Casual Friday: Acid Wash and Snakeskin

Woo hoo! It's Friday and a long weekend (BC Day)! I am so happy!

Today's outfit brought to you by my acid wash denim skirt:
I swear, it'll make a comeback, wait and see! This is the second wearing of my fabulous snakeskin shoes (seen here). I got a lot of compliments on them today, including from a "fragrant" man on the bus.

Nothing really special about this outfit: a little vest (it will have to be replaced soon, as the fabric is pilling a bit on the sides), a little sheer top, and a belt.

The stuff:

The shoes are so darned cool. They've really grown on me.

A close-up:

Hee, I get such a kick out of the acid wash. My dear friend Cat made me that necklace.

Vest (Vero Moda), blouse (Noa Noa), cami (Plum), skirt (Cache, thrifted), shoes (Fergalicious), belt (Plum), necklace (handmade, gift from Cat), earrings (Plum, gift from L).

From Her Head Down to Her Toenails

The hot weather is easing off, so my minimalist outfits may soon come to an end. I was a bit chilled until the sun hit the windows at work....then I was "glowing".

I wore red lipsitck today (shout out to Wendy B!):
Which matched my red toenails. If you can name the song that the lyric in the post title is from, you get 10 points! I almost never wear lipstick, but this is one of those "stay put" ones that you have to use remover to get off.

I absolutely love this skirt - isn't it gorgeous? It's one of the few new things I got last year (using birthday money) while I was in the middle of my Fashion Challenge in 2009. I've worn it here, here, here and here.

It's tricky with bare legs because the netting is prickly:
I always forget about these shoes because they are only good with bare legs, so I put them away for half the year.

The stuff:

Glorious pattern!

Top (I.N. San Francisco, consignment), skirt (Le Chateau), belt (Plum), shoes (Jones New York, consignment).

All Neutrals Wednesday

Some days I just don't feel like wearing colours (not very many days, mind you, but it does happen). I planned the rest of my outfits for the week last night, and I thought this one just seemed "Wednesday":
I've only worn this dress once (here) since I got it. I knew it would be a great summer dress (even though it's wool) because it's so nice and loose.

I was actually going to wear my other snakeskin print shoes but they were more of a brown base and these ones are more of a grey base and looked better.

I read on You Look Fab that pearls will be big for fall - well, I've been doing pearls for decades!

The stuff:

I was shocked when I did a search and saw that I hadn't worn this necklace since April 2009!

A close-up:

The bracelet is links of oak leaves - it was $12 in a thrift store about a year ago.

Dress (Gap, consignment), necklace (Aldo Accessories), bracelet (thrifted), shoes (Aerosoles).

Cheesy Paisley

We've had a lovely stretch of hot weather lately, which is why all my clothes have been loose and flowy. Today was no exception:
These are my new yellow Tsubos, the "Erebus" - they were on sale for about $100. I fell in love with the colour. In some lights it's very yellow, some it's rather orange. Let's call it marigold. Or Kraft Dinner.

I forgot about this top, because it was in my dry-cleaning bag for several months (along with a jacket). I've had it for about 3 years (pre-blog).

For this outfit, I just played with all the colours in the top - I always wear this cuff with it. The skirt doesn't match exactly (it's a taupey-brown in the top, not khaki), I thought it looked fine. I felt very bright and sunshiney all day!

Other ways I've worn the top here, here, here, and here.

The stuff:

Ah, sweet Tsubos. I love the silver lining! I could stand all day in these - enormously comfortable.

A close-up:

My awesome cuff, and my flower power earrings.

Blouse (I.N.C.), skirt (Club Monaco, consignment), shoes (Tsubo), cuff (thrifted), earrings (no brand).

Lazy Monday - Eyelet Lettuce and Sad News

My coworker, Ruth, teased me today: "Do you go shopping every weekend?" No! Maybe every 2-3 weeks, though. And I only buy a few pieces (mostly second-hand)!

I found this gorgeous dress for $27 - it still had the tags on it, so I don't think it's ever been worn. It's 100% cotton, lovely and light and loose, perfect for a Monday. The hem is strips of the same eyelet fabric, gathered and sewn in a boustrophedon pattern (heh, my degree in Linguistics pays off!). It reminds me of lettuce.

The stuff:

I liked how the orangey-caramel colour of these shoes went with the green - even the teal trim on them goes nicely. Then I went all matchy with Grandma J's vintage copper pieces:

Click here for a post a couple of years ago where I did research on the cuff. I have a necklace that matches the earrings too.

Dress (Taylor, consignment), shoes (Pink), cuff (vintage 1950s, Grandma J, Renoir), earrings (vintage 1950s, Grandma J).

Speaking of Grandmas, we just had some sad news: L's last grandparent, Grandma W, died today.

That's from August 2009.

She was so sharp and funny, but her body let her down. Whenever we traveled back to L's hometown, we'd go see her and her kitties (she loved cats), and hang out and chat with her. I lost all of my grandparents 13-20+ years ago, so she was my last grandma too.

I'll miss you, Grandma.

Weekend Outfits - Plain Old Me

Ah, a nice quiet weekend is almost at an end. And this is what I wore, plain, unvarnished and without make-up or even styling my hair.

Weight Watchers outfit:
This doubled up as my "after Ultimate" outfit for lunch and a bit of thrift/consignment store shopping yesterday.

Dress (Vero Moda), sandals (Rinaldi), gold hoop earrings (gift from L).

Last night, L and I strolled to town for dinner:

We had Thai food - yum!

Dress (Hale Bob), shoes (Joan & David, thrifted), scarf (Smoking Lily, gift from Janet), purse (Aldo).

And after a lazy day of uploading new songs onto my mp3 player, we went to see "Inception" with Kelly. I wore a jacket because the theatre is always freezing:

Good movie! We had a beer and a slice of pizza after, then walked home. A lovely weekend!

Jacket (Bebe, second hand), t-shirt (Truly, Madly, Deeply..., consignment), skirt (I.N.C., consignment), shoes (Stonefly, thrifted).

Hope you had a fab weekend!

Casual Friday: The Circle of Blogging

As I said yesterday, I had a bit of Major Excitement: a package in the mail! It contained this lovely skirt that I'd admired on Kasmira's blog. Inigo immediately sat on it:
Kasmira was the first fashion blogger I ever read, and here I am getting a skirt from her - and a lovely card too, thank you so much! I really appreciate it and will make every effort to do your skirt justice. I hope I succeeded today:

I've been looking for an outfit to wear with this navy sheer net flounced underskirt - I got it a couple of weeks ago at Dots for $19.99. I didn't want to go too girly, so I picked a graphic tee to go with it. And since it was Casual Friday, I did the denim vest.

Back in October, I was out thrift shopping after lunch on a Saturday - I was in my Ultimate gear, no make-up, unwashed hair under a ball cap - and I was recognized by reader Jennifer, who happens to live in my city...who found my blog through Kasmira!

And guess who saw me again at the waterfront pub yesterday? Ha! It all comes back again - I'm so glad I was dressed nicer, hah! I wish you'd said hi, Jennifer! Next time!

I really love the deep red colour of this skirt and the lace trim and V insets. However, the lining is cotton (arg! why do they do that?) and it crept up a bit when I had my bag on my hip today. I'll have to make sure I wear a slip with it in winter to ward off the dreaded Tight Creep.

The stuff:

Every time my boss calls me (he works at one of our US offices), he demands to know what shoes I'm wearing. He was disappointed that I was wearing flats today.

A close-up of the bling:

I wore the snake pin on the side of my vest, just above where the skirt ties at the waist. I've had the rings and pin for over 20 years: I bought the snake ring for myself in 1985 for $35 (a lot back then!) when I volunteered at the local museum gift shop; Mom and Dad gave me the spider ring for Christmas sometime in the late 80s; and they gave me the snake pin for Christmas in 1984 or 85. It used to have a red crystal drop hanging from the head - I cut it off immediately.

I totally forgot I was wearing my chainmail necklace when I took those pictures - it warms to your body temperature:

I bought that for $14 in an online charity auction - it was handmade by one of the employees in my company.

Vest (Bisou Bisou, consignment), t-shirt (Plum, gift from L), skirt (Eddie Rodriguez, swap from Kasmira), shoes (Franco Sarto, consignment), necklace (handmade), snake ring (vintage 80s, gift shop), spider ring (vintage 80s, gift from Mom & Dad), earrings (don't remember).

Guinness and Major Excitement! (and Spanish Ladies)

First of all, there are no cat pictures today ("awwwww!"). However, I've had two pints of Guinness, so goodness knows what craziness will ensue!

Second of all, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, an end in sight, and we all have "Horse to the Barn Syndrome"*. We are now looking at Friday - the weekend is almost here.

As I knew I would be going out for drinks at the waterfront pub a 2 minute walk from my office to send off my dear soon-to-be former colleague, Natasha (aka "Natty Nat"), I dressed for the occasion:

Last seen here (enjoy a tour of Camden Market and the Tower of London).

Instead of going with just red this time, I pulled out three colours as accessories: the orange scarf at the neck, the orange and yellow shoes, and the blue belt.

A shot of the scarf:

It was very breezy today, but warm. My scarf wafted (okay, more like flapped) in the wind and I felt very chic.

The stuff:

My fab shoes, a shot of the Spanish ladies, and do you see how I kept the belt end from waving around all day? Yes, that is an elastic band.

The Major Excitement! is that "something" (it might be a skirt) arrived in the mail today from another blogger (whose name rhymes with "Fasmira") - it's my first blog swap! I am going to wear my new item tomorrow!

*This is an expression my mom used when I was a kid and I use now. Like when you're riding a horse and he knows you're getting closer to his barn and so he speeds up. You know, like a horse to the barn, let's get there! Anyway, I think she made it up. Whenever I use it, people look at me like I'm a kook. Which I am, but still.

Dress (Lirub), shoes (Portia), belt (Denver Hayes, from Ruth), scarf (thrifted), starburst ring (Nine West), red stone ring (Oscar & Libby's), earrings (don't remember).

Simple and Comfy

Seeing as it's one of those weeks, I aimed for comfort today: dress and shoes, with a few accessories:
I swear there were shoes there a second ago! Inigo, you darned ham.

I love this stretchy dress. It's washable, flattering and easy. I've had it for a couple of years.

Okay, here's the shoes:

I think I've only worn these once since I got them (yup, ooh, not since March! Shameful!). Inigo just flopped right down as soon as he'd blocked one shot, little devil.

The stuff:

I was happy that nothing was overly matchy.The shoes are brown, forest green and grey, the bracelet is jade green, the cami is actually a teal, and the brooch is brown, orange and teal (with a big of emerald green and blue in there). And of course, all the good gold stuff.

A close-up:

Yup, that's stuff, all right.

Dress (Suzy Shier, consignment), cami (Smart Set), shoes (Firetrap, consignment), belt (vintage 60s, Mom's), bracelet (handmade gift from Cathy), brooch (The Bay), earrings (Foxy).

Super Massive

I needed some colour after yesterday, so what did I do? Wore a bunch of black!

Well, I broke it up with a colourful pattern and some bigass shoes:
My sleeves are massive (Anne Shirley would approve and probably swoon), but the heels on these shoes are truly super massive! Five and half inches of red leather goodness, oh yes!

The stuff:

I got those babies in Heathrow airport (only worn once, here). They are actually quite walkable, partly due to the platform and partly due to them being strapped securely to my foot (I went down half a size to a 39 so that there'd be no slippin' and slidin').

I love the pattern in this dress (last worn here) - it doesn't show too well in the top picture because the den's so bright at this time of year.

A close-up of the gold thingies:

Pretty! I do love scrolly and leafy designs.

Dress (Alfred Sung, thrifted), cardigan (Noa Noa), shoes (Carvela), necklace (Foxy), earrings (don't remember).

Sheer Monday

Today was definitely a Monday. I felt blah, grouchy, unmotivated and wanted it to be the weekend again! I was certainly dressed to suit my mood:
A whole lotta slate blue. Since I rarely wear pants (meh, just don't like them), this outfit is a bit of a switcheroo for me: first the dull colours, then the pants...what's next? A white button down? What have you done with Sheila, pants-wearing doppleganger?

The sheer blouse is new - I've been keeping my eye out for a nice classic one (that isn't black) for a while, so when I spotted this in the thrift store on the weekend for a measly $6.50, I pounced.

Speaking of pouncing, see the ears in the above photo? Someone's digging for carpet mice!
I kick back the edge of the carpet so that it doesn't show in the pictures, and Inigo loves to dig in the folds.

The stuff:

I've only worn the shoes once since I got them (here) - they're really more of a fall/winter/early spring shoe than a summer shoe, but I liked them with the pants. You can see the nice windowpane plaid on the pants there and bluey shade of the blouse.

A close-up:

My ring from Scotland, my ear-cuff, and my Shi Studio pendant.

Blouse (Express, thrifted), cami (RW & Co.), pants (Esprit), shoes (Max Studio, consignment), belt (Nygard), pendant (Shi Studios).

Weekend Outfits - Sydney's Birthday - and a Book Blurb

Happy weekend!

We start with what I wore to Weight Watchers:
Aside from "must look nice", my sole criteria for WW is that my clothes have to be light so that I don't add any clothing poundage to my weigh-in. No jeans! I also wore this out for lunch and walking around town a bit, doing some chores.

Dress (BCBG Max Azria, gift from Ruth), cami (Plum), obi (Smoking Lily, consignment), shoes (Tsubos), Audrey Hepburn Scrabble charm (holiday purchase), pearl studs (Aldo Accessories).

I swapped out the dress and shoes (and added a slip after last year's mishap in this dress!) for my niece Sydney's 1st birthday party:
This was perfect for sitting out in the sun!

I also wore my straw hat (with the front of the brim flipped up oh so stylishly), and carried my yellow bag:

My shoes have to be completely inappropriate for a 1-year-old's party, duh. My nieces Zoe and Hannah would expect no less!

A close-up of some of the accessories:

My feather, key and "S" charms, my turquoise ring and my snake ring.

Dress (Hale Bob), cami (Plum), slip (thrifted), shoes (Le Chateau), assorted charms (here and there, the "S" was from Mom and Dad back in the early 90s), turquoise ring (Plum), snake ring (80s).

L and I drove home via the scenic route as opposed to the highway:

Good choice! We had the top down on the Miata....

Pines, firs and cedars and blue sky! Ah....love it.

And....

I finished a book last week (I save the blurbs for the weekends) - it was "Life After God" by Douglas Coupland.

Stats: 361 pages of little bits of writing and the author's line drawings. Started July 6th, finished July 12th.

Blurb: I picked up a few more Douglas Coupland novels after reading "Girlfriend in a Coma" and liking it. This one was all right - I don't think I'm going to keep it. It didn't have a strong narrative, more like little snapshots of disaffection set in Vancouver in the early 90s. I blasted through this quickly. I think I have one or two more Couplands, but I'll wait a while and read other stuff in between.

Next up: "The Crazy Years: Reflections of a Science Fiction Original" by Spider Robinson (non-fiction).

Casual Friday - Quick Plaid

Happy Friday!

Being tired this morning, I fell back on my casual uniform:
Graphic tee, denim bottoms, groovy accessories. Ta-dah!

Second wearing of my plaid t-shirt (last seen here) - wow, I haven't worn this since April! Actually, I have, but I wear it around the house and then toss it into my own laundry pile, which then sits there for several weeks. L does the laundry, but because I require special delicate washing on some things, I do my own wash for those.

Have a great weekend! I'll be posting a special occasion outfit on Sunday (it's my niece's 1st birthday and I've gotta represent, yo), along with another book blurb.

T-shirt (TMT), vest (Oxmo), jeans (Seven7, gift from Caro), shoes (don't recall, maybe Rinaldi), belt (gift from Ruth), necklace (The Bay), rings (80s vintage).