Anniversary Trip, A Bag and a Beret, Fluevogs and Flights

And...I'm back! Friday was our 16th wedding anniversary, so as is our tradition, L and I headed off to Vancouver to visit friends and make our annual pilgrimage to Fluevog. Here are pictures from the 2012 trip, the 2011 trip, and 2009 trip. I'm not sure what happened to the 2010 trip. Hmmm.

I intended to wear the same outfit for 2 days straight, so I went for comfort and ease. We did a lot of walking. I'll be posting all the outfit photos, then the stuff I bought, then my travel pictures. All links are because I love - I received no compensation, freebies or any preferential treatment.

This is my silk kimono dress, purchased at Century 21 in NYC when Mom and I went in 2007. It's one of the oldest items in my wardrobe - I had actually given it away to my girlfriend Caro, and she wore it for a couple of years. When she was tired of it, she gave it back to me - it only goes out on loan. It's an incredibly beautiful dress, even though the cut is not 100% on me. I don't intend to ever get rid of it for good, so it's not up for voting.

I last wore it in July 2010 for my niece's birthday, and before that in May 2009 for Caro's birthday.

 The trousers are my tux pants, previously worn here with my blue and white silk blouse.

My square-toed loafers were just right for all the walking we did.

I wore them five times in the November 2012 capsule (recap here).

Dress (Hale Bob), trousers (handmade, thrifted), shoes (Two Lips, thrifted), cuff (Guess, thrifted), ring (Wendy Brandes).

L and I always take the float plane to Vancouver now - it's so much faster than the ferry, with all the driving - we left Victoria in the morning and arrived just in time for brunch with one of my favourite fashion bloggers. Can you guess who it was?

She gave us this lovely tin of chocolate sardines!

Yes, it was Melanie of A Bag and a Beret!

She is just as fun and amazing in person as she is on her blog! L and I spent a few minutes just circling her and admiring her outfit.

We did our Fashion Poses. This is "I have a headache."

Um, yes, we may have been drinking 

We went to Medina for a delicious brunch, and lingered over coffee to chat about art, fashion and music. She's such a sweet and intelligent lady - I am so honoured to have met you, Melanie!'

This is our "Oh, I have a tummy-ache" pose:

I think I took that too literally - I look like I'm going to vomit

We goofed around in the restaurant lobby, with L as our photographer.

This is the "My back is sore" pose.

What a riot!

Melanie wore her incredible Muppet jacket. Move over, Lady Gaga!

I think Melanie looks like Annie Lennox - so beautiful. And check out her heart bag!

She took this one of L and I:

If you look carefully, you'll notice that all three of us are wearing long, square-toed shoes - it was meant to be!

The above picture was featured by Melanie on her street-style blog, Culture Serf - wow, how cool! Isn't L the most stylish man?

This is one of my favourite pictures:

The expression on Melanie's face is priceless - and yes, I am grabbing her bum!

On both Friday and Saturday nights, I wore the exact same outfit:

Since we saw different groups of people and went to two different restaurants, I figured, "What the heck." Besides, I needed to save space in my knapsack for shopping - the one downside to traveling by float plane is that you have a weight allowance!

Meow - this sexy outfit is my very "Visible Monday" choice. Check out the gang at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style!

Three items are up for voting.

The skirt is by Floating Gold Iceberg, and was purchased here in October 2012 for $18.00 on consignment. It's a bright coral and is made of t-shirt material. It has a silkscreened design of flowers and stars on the back, near the kick-pleat.

Coral Pencil Skirt (Floating Gold Iceberg): Outfit #1

Coral Pencil Skirt (Floating Gold Iceberg)
	Like it
	Lose it
pollcode.com free polls

I carried my little silver metal mesh bag (perfect for travel, since it's so small) both nights as well. It garnered a lot of attention (check out here how it opens). Thank you again, Megan, for the lovely gift.

You know I had to show off my ink

The grey wool bustier, purchased here on consignment for $24.98, is being worn on its own as a strapless peplum top. The entire upper back section of it is smocked for a perfect fit. It's by Mondi and was made in Germany.

Grey Bustier with Peplum (Mondi): Outfit #1

Grey Bustier with Peplum (Mondi)
	Like it
	Lose it
pollcode.com free polls

I also finally got around to wearing my Vivienne Westwood "Anglomania + melissa" shoes:

These are called "Dragon Lady" and I bought them or $43.00 on consignment here in December 2012.

I previously wore them for a few minutes for Megan Mae's birthday party (here), but this was their first actual outing. I walked several blocks in these, and they were great. L kept checking on me to see if my feet were hurting - the shoes just look uncomfortable.

"Anglomania + melissa" Dragon Lady Shoes (Vivienne Westwood): Outfit #1

"Anglomania melissa" Dragon Lady Shoes (Vivienne Westwood)
	Like it
	Lose it
pollcode.com free polls

Bustier (Mondi, consignment), skirt (Floating Gold Iceberg, consignment), shoes (Anglomania + melissa Dragon Lady, Vivienne Westwood, consignment), earrings (locally made), purse (gift from Megan Mae).

But I know you are all furiously scrolling down to see what I got at Fluevog...

Yeah, I know. Pretty amazing, eh? These are the LA Malibu (link). They were on sale for half price - a bargain for such incredible works of art. These will be for special occasion only (and we have several parties coming up!), and as such will not be up for voting. No damned way I am ever getting rid of these!

Check 'em out:

They are surprisingly easy to walk in, but I didn't want to risk wearing them in "it could rain any minute" Vancouver. 

I also wanted to get a picture of the sole before it wears off.

It says, "LA - Rise Above Earthly Contraints" with John Fluevog's signature.

I also got these amazing yellow babies:

They are called the Prepare Hi Steady (link - note that they are much more yellow in person!), and are a higher last and heel than my other Prepares (my turquoise ones and my wooly grey boots). The finish on these is a waxed suede, and the colour varies from a bright daffodil to a more subdued mustard yellow.

The vamp is a nice stretchy elastic, which fans out for a perfect fit on the top of the foot - if you have a high arch, they would be a good solution perhaps.

Posey-poserson

As with the boots, I'm not putting these up for voting - I adore them and can't wait to wear them with all my spring clothes! Speaking of spring, I will be cleaning out my closet tomorrow (I have another day off - woo hoo!) and will be revealing the results of the votes for the grey suede skirt and the burgundy suede pencil skirt then. 

Our awesome Fluevogologist, Wes (he helps us every year - thanks!), pointed out the shadows streaming in the window of the Gastown store onto the concrete floor.

"Change comes from within" - yes, it does.

Curious as to what L got? I bought him these Swordfish Coopers (they are more of a dark brown than black) - Wes actually had a picture of him, Alice Cooper and John Fluevog together. Swoon! And because L bought me my two pairs of Fluevogs, I had to buy him two pairs. He also got these Twin Turbines 65 Water St shoes (that would be the address of the Gastown store) in caramel and black, a limited edition colour run not available anywhere else.

We flew home this morning (Sunday) and went for brunch. I got another wearing in of my Etro blazer.

And the Prepare Hi Steadys, of course.

The skirt was worn 3 times in the August 2012 capsule (recap here). I think it's time for it to go - I have better denim skirts in my spring/summer wardrobe that will work all year.

The red velvet sleeveless cowl-necked top was featured four times in the December 2012 capsule (recap here).

And of course, the blazer. I previously wore it here on Thursday.

Black Blazer with Tie Lapels (Etro): Outfit #1

Black Blazer with Tie Lapels (Etro)
	Like it
	Lose it
pollcode.com free polls

Everyone was all, "Wow!" when we arrived at the diner!

Blazer (Etro, consignment), top (ACW, consignment), skirt (Bebe Sport, swap from Caro), earrings (Erica Weiner), shoes (Prepare Hi Steady).

Okay, now on to the shopping portion of our program. Heh.

L and I did just Fluevog on Friday, then napped before dinner. On Saturday, we headed out to Main Street in West Van - it's a mecca of local boutiques and diners (you must check out Slickety Jim's - best.food.ever. - if you're in the neighbourhood). We spent a few hours browsing boutiques, consignment and vintage stores, record/music shops and generally just enjoying the sunny day. Then back to the hotel for another nap before dinner.

I didn't find anything this year at the Smoking Lily store; not surprising since I had such a bonanza at their sale this year. However, once again I had good shopping karma at one of my favourite stores on Main: the Two of Hearts Boutique - it features locally-made and -designed clothing.

This is Jenny Yen, designer and creator of the CiCi line of clothing - isn't she gorgeous? We also met Tabitha Savoie, co-owner and also a fashion designer. The store carries several locally-made lines, as well as jewelry. I purchased a few pieces of Raven's Rest Studio jewelry from them last year.

Jenny is holding the dress she designed and made - and I bought! When I decided to get this one (over a couple of others that I'd tried on), she and Tabitha said, "Yay! We won!"

This gorgeous, rich chartreuse shade is perfect for this classically-cut and structured dress.

It's one of those styles that doesn't look like much on the hanger, but is lovely on.

Look at that gorgeous lining! I am so excited to wear this - I will put it up for voting, but I don't think I can wait too long before I wear it.

I found a pair of Scrabble tile earrings by Jennifer Conway of Raven's Rest Studio:

Turquoise plus crows - yes, please!

L also had some good luck shopping - he found some purple socks and an amazing pair of Versace orange trousers. All in all, we bought quality, ethically-made clothing and items that we love.

As promised, here are some travel pictures.

View from the harbour plane, looking back at the other planes, and Victoria's downtown waterfront.

This ferry (the Coho) goes to and from Port Angeles, WA, and Victoria.

It's a car ferry, and is MUCH bigger than our dinky little 10-seater plane - it's very intimidating when it gets close!

Looking down at the Esquimalt waterfront as we take off.

L always lets me have the window-seat, aw.

Looking south, towards Washington State and Seattle.

Friday was cloudy with bright spots, and cold. Brrr!

Looking down at the islands in the Straight of Juan de Fuca as we passed over them.

It looks like it would be fun to explore.

Floatplanes are very small. I could almost touch the pilot.

It's neat seeing all the instrumentation, and watching the navigation screen.

Coming up on Vancouver's harbour.

That's Stanley Park in the foreground.

Over the park, heading towards downtown Vancouver.

Vancouver is so big! I always feel like a small-town hickster when I'm there.

It's only a 30-minute flight from harbour to harbour.

Coming in low, now...and we landed right there by Canada Place (the building with the white sails - it's a conference centre).

This morning, I was fairly dazed with sleep, but did note that hey, isn't that the 2012 Olympic torch?

Yup, it sure is! The mountains in the background are on the North Shore, across the harbour.

Looking north to the coastal mountains - if you've heard of Whistler, it's way up there.

We're flying west here, out of the mouth of the Fraser River.

Looking north, there are a lot of little islands between the mainland and Vancouver Island (which, confusingly, is NOT where Vancouver is).

So pretty. I love the west coast.

Banking in towards the southern tip of the Island:

That's Victoria, and we're now looking east - those mountains in the far distance are in Washington State.

Closer...

Can you see Mount Baker faintly in the background, on the left side? It's an inactive volcano - one day it might erupt like Mount St. Helen's did. Zoiks!

Zooming into the harbour:

Touch down, and we're home! So good to be back...but I can't wait till next year!