Weekend Stuff - Putting Summer Away

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Anyway, here's Friday's outfit:My leather vest gets another wear, and my loud, flappy denim skirt gets its first outing in a couple of months.

I love this fitted and flared look. This is a new-to-me blouse that I picked up for $2.00 in the thrift store a week or so ago. I love the pattern and the nice fit, plus it's cotton. Score!

I'm also wearing my lovely Fluevog booties:

I thought they added a nice steampunk vibe to this.

The blouse is actually Tommy Hillfigger - it says so on the label (duh), but also on the buttons, and it had this one little flag on one cuff:

I don't like advertising my brands, but that's okay with me.

Blouse (Tommy Hillfigger, thrifted), vest (Cabi, thrifted), skirt (InWear, consignment), booties (Bellevues Libby Smith, Fluevog).

Yesterday, I went to WW and then met up with Elaine for the Vintage Fair - it was a blast! I found some amazing pieces: clothing, accessories, jewelry!

Although there were many people there dressed up in vintage, I went with a more practical outfit for lots of walking and shopping:

Going for a cowboy look - this dress always seems like that to me! I adore this dress - it's so comfortable! That's my Shi Studio cowboy belt buckle.

I was very good this year and took my three favourite pairs of walking boots to the cobbler for new heels. $65 (ouch, but worth it!) later, I'm all set for 6 more months of hard walking out of my best boots. These are my Miz Mooz walking boots.

Good job, Sheila! Take care of your boots!

Dress ("Love Dress O" Bodybag by Jude, consignment), belt/buckle (Shi Studios), boots (Miz Mooz).

I took a couple of pictures on the way to the Fair. There were some big cedar trees on the way:

Woo, that makes me dizzy just looking at it!

Many of the newer homes in my neighbourhood still have remnants of the old manor house gates:

Isn't that cool?

Today, I went out to get groceries:

My other awesome walking boots, my skinny cropped jeans, a new purple/red striped tee, and a new-to-me velvet jacket.

The tee was an extra 40% off at Dots, so it was $14.99. The jacket is a fingertip length chalkstripe - it was $6.50 in a thrift store several months ago (it was way too hot to wear this!). I thought it was black until I got out in brighter light and found out it's dark navy!

Vizzini helped me.

The purple bag is also new-to-me - it was $32 on consignment a few weeks back. It's vinyl, but I loved the colour, the size, and it seems to be good quality, although it has no label. Since I am closer to work now, I don't need to pack all my clothes into a backpack - I can carry a bag. This is a novelty to me, but it also means I'm going to start rotating in some of my cool bags on a more regular basis (and yeah, I'll probably buy more).

Jacket (Ann Taylor, thrifted), tee (Jackpot), jeans (Jackpot, swap from Caro), boots (Aldo, consignment), purse (no label, consignment).

I have to admit, I do love to shop (no! you would never have guessed) and I do have a LOT of pieces in my closet. I've been wanting to do a bit of a long-term challenge again lately, because while it's easy to make exciting new outfits out of new/new-to-me clothes, it's more fulfilling to me to create outfits out of things I already have. And the less I have to choose from, the more challenging that is!

I bought some under-bed Rubbermaid containers yesterday with the intent of actually removing my spring/summer wardrobe completely from my closet. I started with a jam-packed closet:

Ignore that plaid dress hanging on the door. I'll be wearing it soon (yes, it was a score).

Got my step-stool for the high shelves and my garbage can ready for all the little bits I find in there. I'm really bad about leaving labels and receipts in my closet. It gets messy.

I have this piece of art. Every closet needs art. This is a handmade tile mounted on the orange wood board.

There's a little origami flower that my work-friend Fiona made for me - it's stuck in the left side of the top of the mirror.

I started with the sweater shelves, removed everything, cleaned off the shelves.

I weeded through, removing my lighter and short-sleeved sweaters and cardigans. Some I'll be giving away, some I packed up for next spring.

Then I folded it all nice and put it back. My hats on the top shelf (and I have a wedding to go to soon, so I'll have somewhere to wear one!), my small purses on the next down.

My vests are also included there. I fold them rather than hanging them.

Pulling out shoes was hard! Limiting my shoe options made me sad, but I can imagine how fun it will be to take my sandals out again in 6 months. I'll probably have forgotten half of them!

Party shoes, some crazy stuff. Patterns and funky styles.

I pulled out over a dozen pairs of summer shoes. The added space meant I could elevate my three pairs of Fluevog booties to the middle shelf instead of the floor.

Those are 11 pairs of Fluvogs (plus my new Ralph Laurens at the end).

The shoes I've started delving into lately. Suedes, metallics, darker colours.

Again, the added space let me put my wooden mules, my combat boots and my two other pairs of short booties on the bottom shelves. A few pairs of flats are left on the floor.

My scarves got weeded - I have a lot to give away! Um, yes, I do keep them in a shoebox. But it's a pretty shoebox at least.

I keep my belts in velvet hatboxes. The front one has my soft belts, my wraps and obis and my chain belts. The other two are my more rigid belts, stored by width.

Here's my tub of clothes I chose to remove (the other one was already under the bed):

And that's the tub of shoes that are going into storage. Look at all the hangers I removed!

I have mostly wooden hangers and some velvet ones, and all kinds of pant/skirt hangers. I am like Joan Crawford, however, in that I hate wire hangers. I know when I have to use a wire hanger, it's time to clean out the closet.

Of course, the cats helped. Inigo keeps an eye on things from the safety of the first clothing box.

Ah, I love seeing all my boots! I have a nice collection now, although I'd like another coloured pair. Purple or blue would be cool.

*daydreams about boots*

Vizzini prepared to launch himself at Inigo:

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There was a bit of a ruckus in the boots following this.

I was pleased at figuring out a way to store my bits and pieces of things I usually have tucked around on the shelves (messy). I took a long piece of grossgrain ribbon and thumb-tacked it onto the front of the shoe shelves:

I pinned my floral brooches to it, stuck a few more push-pins in and hung my measuring tape from one. I also used bulldog clips for things like my extra Fluevog laces - Vizzini has a ravenous appetite for aglets, so they need to be out of his way.

I always need safety pins so I pinned some of those to it as well:

I needed a way to store my loose belt buckles; they were taking up too much shelf space before.

I clipped them with a bulldog clip, then hung that from another push-pin.

I do believe I am a genius. Ha!

My nicely-thinned out tops and long skirts:

Much less crammed.

My dresses:

I decided to separate day dresses from those that are strictly nighttime. See that playing card at the far end? That's attached to my party dress for my birthday party. Whatever could it be?

My skirts, all happy to have lots of room:

I see so many good skirts!

My lovely jackets:

I am excited to start wearing these again. There are two new ones there!

Walking boots on the left! Dressy boots on the far right!

Closet...ready! I have just over 200 pieces of clothes and boots/shoes. Let's see how it goes! I'll trade out my wardrobe again in 6 months, on April 1st.

Don't forget to leave a request for what you'd like to see this week!