Casual Friday - Chambray and Stripes

Hey, I'm back. No Thursday outfit, as I woke up in excruciating pain in my arm and shoulder. I threw on my soft green Smoking Lily dress, my runners, and L drove me to work - I didn't even wear make-up. One look at me, and my coworker called a cab and sent me to the Emergency. I had planned to just go to a walk-in clinic, but I could see her point. 

"When Sheila shows up at work dressed like that, with no make-up...it's serious."

I ended up sitting at the hospital for 2.5 hours - finally saw a doctor only to hear that yes, it's a pinched nerve, here's a prescription for some mega painkillers and try acupuncture. Massage is also good. *sigh*

So forgive me if I'm gritting my teeth a little here.

This is my new-to-me chambray denim dress, thrifted last Friday (here) for $10.50.

The striped cardi was last worn here in May while I was covered in hives. What is up with me physically lately? I think I ought to buy a lottery ticket - I'm due for some good luck!

I secured the front dangly ends of the cardi with my Smoking Lily obi.

I loved wearing this dress - it's a Swoosh Factor 11!

Weeeeee! The drugs are kicking in!

 The stuff:

I last wore the sandals back here in May (2nd outfit).

It's a long weekend here in Canada - it's Canada Day on Monday! Happy long weekend to my Canadian friends! Me, I'm going to nap.

Dress (Blues by J. Arcaro, 90s, thrifted), cardigan (Express, thrifted), shoes (Kenneth Cole Reaction, consignment), obi (Smoking Lily).

Chartreuse and Burgundy

What a crazy day - I'm exhausted, sore and tired. My bad shoulder (old aikido injury, plus all the stress of the past two weeks) is flaring up, and the corresponding pinched nerve is dancing needles up and down my arm. I'm currently sitting with a bag of frozen corn niblets strapped across my neck, following a good massage.

So, what do you do when you're feeling exhausted, sore and tired? You wear a dress! 

I like Vizzini's attitude as he stalks off

This is of course, my lovely chartreuse dress, last seen here with blue accents.

I liked it with the burgundy accents. Funny, how all my colours are alcoholic drinks today! The colour chartreuse is named after the French liqueur and burgundy is a type of wine. 

The stuff:

And I wore my Senscha Teapot Fluevogs, last seen here in May with this same obi belt. I like a matchy shoe-belt combo.

Sorry for the blurry.

Flower shapes are fun. The image in the ring reminds me of my friends.

Okay, going to lie down on the couch now.

Dress (Cici), shoes (Senscha Teapots, Fluevog), obi (locally made), beaded crochet flower (thrifted), earrings (locally made), ring (consignment).

Purple Lace and Leopard - and 60s Hawaii

And here we go - another day!

I wanted to wear this purple lace dress again but because I prefer to wear tights with it, I waited for a gloomy, possibly-rainy day for this outfit. Alas (or not) it turned out pretty warm today, and I sweated like crazy on my walk home - wearing a raincoat, no less!

 I last wore this thrifted dress here in May with my floral tights - this time I went leopard.

I got lots of compliments at work today, mostly of the "Whooo! Rar!" variety accompanied by pawing motions at my legs.

The stuff:

I love these little suede booties. Studerific! I last wore them here in March with my black suede maxi skirt.

Big bling today:

I love this necklace - such a sweet bigass piece.

Dress (Jacob, thrifted), tights (Le Chateau), booties (Sam Edelman), necklace (gift from blogger Tina), bracelet (Club Monaco), ring (Twang & Pearl).

Last night I went with Mom to see her friend Kathy, whom I've known for my whole life - they met while having me and Kathy's daughter Karlee waaaaay back in 1967. Zoiks, I'm old.

Kathy is downsizing her mom's home, and asked if I wanted to look through Joyce's jewelry. Well, YEAH! Unfortunately for me, but fortuitously for Kathy, I'd referred her to the place where we got our couch this weekend, as they do home contents evaluations - and they cleaned her out of all the good stuff! Ah, well, I still had a nice visit. She was cool with letting me got through what was left. She gave me this lovely Towle Silversmiths card holder for my blog cards (there's something Vizzini can't chew on!).

And those lovely silver earrings.

I asked if Joyce had any interesting clothes, and I found this amazing dress:

Classic 60s! I had to model it for everyone (oh, you'll see it this weekend, patience), and Kathy wanted me to have it.

It's Hawaiian silk (Joyce lived there for many years), and check out the back.

 I love the colours and the style - it's amazing on. It reminds me of Curtisse's vintage dresses.

Check out the labels:

Tori Richard is still around as a company - they made all original designs and patterns, and Andrade Honolulu is the store this dress would have been sold in. It's a wonderful soft silky fabric.

Thank you so much, Kathy, for these wonderful mementos of you and your mom. I will treasure them!

A Whiter Shade of Pale

The calendar says it's summer, even if Mother Nature isn't cooperating. Screw it, I'm wearing white!

This is my "wings" white and taupe lace vintage top that I wore twice in the January 2013 capsule (recap here). I've been looking forward to wearing it in warmer weather, and really liked how it went with this pretty little cotton skirt.

The skirt was featured in the September 2012 capsule (recap here), where I also wore it twice.

100% cat approved.

Funnily enough, both of them are thrifted and neither of them have labels. I suspect someone removed the label from the skirt, but the vintage top is handmade so never had one.

The stuff:

My new-to-me thrifted white shoes (last worn only a couple of days ago here) were even more comfortable today. It felt like I was wearing slippers today!

Both the eyelet skirt and the lace top feature floral patterns, so I had to go with my bigass peony at my waist.

Simple accessories otherwise. Getting my cost-per-wear down on my Fulvia ring - woo!

Edit: I just noticed - this is my 1,500th post. Holy samolies! That's a lot of posts...Thank you all for reading, commenting, lurking.

Blouse (vintage, thrifted), skirt (no label, thrifted), shoes (Aerosoles, thrifted), belt (Club Monaco), flower (Le Chateau), earrings (locally made), Fulvia ring (Wendy Brandes), spoon ring (About Tine).

Casual and Cat-tastic!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend! It's been very relaxing Chez Us, although we did go out yesterday for a few chore-y things. 

We went out for lunch with our friend Chris, so I wore something swooshy.

My second wear of this plaid taffeta dress, last seen here a couple of Mondays ago.

I'm linking this outfit up to Patti's "Visible Monday" over at Not Dead Yet Style - I was very bright and visible in this!

It was sunny so I sunblocked up my cleavage, and wore this cute little tie-front cardi (thrifted here for $7.50).

The shoes were good (thrifted here on Friday for $16.50), but I cut the little elastic straps out of the sling-backs when I got home - ouch! Now I know why someone donated them. However, I've never been shy about customizing my shoes to make them more comfy (like these gold shoes), whether it's slitting the backs of the heels to make them less sharp on my feet or removing unnecessary elastic (like in my Chie Mihara flats).

Dress (Coldwater Creek, thrifted), cardigan (Bellisima, thrifted), shoes (Aerosoles, thrifted), earrings (locally made), Fulvia ring (Wendy Brandes).

L and I went to Sears after lunch and bought a new dishwasher (our current one is over 20 years old and sounds like a jet plane), which we'll be getting in a few weeks. We browsed around, looking at furniture, and all I could think was, "I could find good stuff so much cheaper second-hand!" I talked L into stopping at one of my favourite second-hand furniture stores, Charmaine's Past and Present (linking 'cause I love).

Now that we have paid off our mortgage, we're looking to replace some of our decades-old furniture with quirkier, cooler pieces. And we scored! We found a beautiful Bombay Company couch (this one) that was regular $1999 for only $799! And it's made in Canada and is in new condition. We get it tomorrow - exciting!

Vizzini was not as impressed with our shopping.

"What did you buy me?" 

We'll have to be vigilant of him, to make sure he doesn't scratch the new couch!

"Like I would do such a thing - that was all Inigo and Othello."

He showed his apathy by flopping on the "kitty camo" rug.

"You can't see me."

He likes to lie right in the path to the kitchen.

"Nothing to see here. I'm just a floppy cat."

I had a bit of a sleep-in this morning, then sauntered down to get groceries.

It's very muggy and a bit overcast, but warm. This outfit is basically a repeat of this one that I wore for July 1st (Canada Day) last year.

I last wore both the dress (a Smoking Lily one from the 90s that I thrifted), and the pedal pushers (a retail purchase) in the July 2012 capsule (recap here).

I wore the scarf (after digging around for it for ages - I thought I'd lost it!) to help cover up my tattoos - remember, inked ladies, sunblock your artwork!

The shoes are my Kenneth Cole Reaction flats that I wore back in March (and froze my toes!) here (scroll waaaaay down).

Dress (Smoking Lily, vintage 90s, thrifted), pants (Reitman's), shoes (Kenneth Cole Reaction, consignment), scarf (Aldo), earrings (Oscar & Libby's).

And now I'm going to chill out in anticipation of a very busy week ahead.

The Shoulders are the Last to Go, Rattling Chains and Shopping

I was in such a good mood all day! It's Friday! 

I like the long chain that dangles from the belt - it's fun to swing

And here's my Casual Friday look this week. I thoroughly enjoyed this outfit and got a few compliments on it. Isn't it fun?

The top and skirt were both purchased, on consignment, a couple of weekends ago, here. The top was $14.98.

I adore this top - I have liked the shoulder cut-out look since it first came in in the 90s. Seriously, every single woman has lovely shoulders - this hides the "buh-byes" and is so pretty in how it drapes. Comfy comfy too, but sized wonky: a 12 (I am about a US size 8 on top). Always try things on!

The skirt was $28.00 and it was great to wear. The high waist is a good reminder to keep one's posture upright and stomach sucked in, and it helped counter the slight blousiness of the top.

You can see the exposed seam and zipper detail in the back. The slit is not very high, so I can't take big strides, but it was fine for walking home.

It was cloudy and windy this morning, so I wore my red leather coat.

Sandals and leather - why not! By the end of the day it was blue skies and soft breezes - welcome, summer!

The stuff:

My fun and funky Fluevog Faith Low Reumahs, last seen here in May with green culottes, baby!

I realized halfway through the day that two of my accessories were gifts from Mom: my belt and my necklace.

She bought the belt for me in London about 6 years ago, and the necklace from the Global Village store last year for Christmas. I rattled a lot today while I clomped around in my loud wooden shoes and chains.

Top (Simpli, consignment), skirt (Nicole Miller, consignment), shoes (Faith Low Reumah, Fluevogs), belt/necklace (gift from Mom), cuff (SkinZnHydez), ring (Twang & Pearl).

L is out for the night, so I decided to treat myself to a quick run through the WIN store after work. I found a couple of gems, including this classic 90s denim chambray dress:

It weighs a freaking ton. But the skirt (nearly a maxi) swooshes, and it has pockets and it fits gorgeously. It was $10.50.

See? In the 90s the sizing changed to closer to today's sizes.

Yay, made in Canada, and fully washable too! Blues by J. Arcaro is a Canadian company, started in Montreal in 1993 (my searching revealed some truly awful Mom-jeans). I bet in the 90s, this was worn with a puffy floral blouse (with a big collar) and Hush Puppies with socks - don't forget the scrunchie in your hair!

I promise I will not wear it like that. Heh.

I also scored in the lingerie, finding this lovely probably early 80s half-slip:

You can sort of see that there's a large section of lace near the hem - that was likely intended to be seen in the slit of a skirt. It is by Patricia, is also made in Canada and was $2.50. It's really lovely soft polyester.

I always look for one particular brand in vintage lingerie: French Maid Lingerie. It is also a Montreal company, founded prior to the 60s. Today, I scored this gorgeous slip for only $5.50.

The fit on these is just incredible - the bust cups have 2 darts each in them (so no pointy boob), and again it is a beautiful soft polyester. It's sized based on the band size of a bra (this one is a 36).  I would guess this is from the 70s.

I wasn't sure about these but I threw them in my cart anyway. One I got to the fitting room, I knew I had to have them.

White leather. Loafers. With a Mary-Jane strap. With a sling-back. With shiny silver wedges! Insane!

And they have these perfect little elastic pieces that keep the leather from rubbing your ankle (a major peeve about sling-backs - ow!), and keep the sling-back from sliding off the heel. Genius.

They are called the "Slagra" - could you pick a worse name?

Yes! Only $16.50 for Aerosoles. Such a score!

Look how cute they are on:

They have the patented Aerosole rubber waffle-texture sole - completely comfortable. They have maybe been worn once! I can't even fathom why someone would donate these.

The WIN store had an extra 25% off everything today, so all of my purchases only came to $26 plus change. Why would I ever shop retail?

Well, off to have some wine and watch a movie! Have a lovely weekend, my friends.

A Portrait in Neutrals

Hey, it's Thursday! And you know what that means: it's nearly Friday! This week is my first 5-day week since the end of May - this is killing me.

Anyway, here we are, another outfit...full of neutrals. I was pretty happy with it, actually, I am missing colour. I didn't deliberately set out to wear lots of neutrals this week. Sometimes that's just what happens.

The top is my striped hook-and-eye piece that I first wore with my red leather skirt last week, here. One of my colleagues complimented the portrait neckline - I knew it was called that, but it was a nice reminder. Who doesn't like a nice portrait neckline? It's always flattering to the neck.

This skirt is one I've had for a few years. I last wore it in the March 2012 capsule (recap here), where I wore it 3 times.

One of the directors at work told me this skirt did amazing things for my butt - I love that she said that. I think women are far too catty with each other, and should give each other compliments more often!

The stuff:

The weather has turned cold and windy, with lots of rain. Blah - so not the June weather I want! I hope it gets nicer for the Canada Day long weekend next week.

Despite the freezing weather, I am gamely soldiering on with wearing my sandals, which were last seen here with a 70s kitchen and a knock-of Hermes scarf.

This Smoking Lily obi gets lots of love.

The long chain is sewn onto a strip of leather and wraps around my wrist.

Top (Heart Moon Star, consignment), skirt (Club Monaco, consignment), shoes (Coach), obi (Smoking Lily), leather wrist-wrap (made in the US), gold cuff (vintage 70s, Mom's), ring (consignment).