Fun Weekend - Many Pictures Taken, and Painted

Whew, I need a nap, preferably several of them, immediately followed by another weekend. Can this be arranged? I'd be ever so grateful.

What a busy weekend it's been! But first, here's Friday's outfit.

Having another wear of this dark denim, vintage 80s pencil skirt (last seen here with shoulders and a bunch of chains).

I haven't worn this cardigan for ages, since the September 2012 capsule wardrobe (recap here), where I wore it twice.

The shoes are my tan suede sandals (with fringe!), also last seen in the September capsule (recap again) - but not ever with this sweater, which is obviously an oversight, as they go well together. I wore them 4 times that month, and they are back in rotation now that it's full-on summer.

For accessories, I went with my snake ring, my red/silver Mexican ring, white gold hoop earrings and a leather cuff on my wrist.

Sweater (Twelve Layers, thrifted), skirt (Nicole Miller, vintage 80s, consignment), shoes (Kenneth Cole Reaction, consignment).

My back and pinched nerve are still sore, but are slowly getting better - thank you for asking! I felt like doing activity would be more helpful, as I've been lax in that department lately (back to the gym!), so I played Ultimate on Saturday morning.

I couldn't throw as far as I usually can, but I was able to run around and get a good workout, so that was a plus.

This blue dress (isn't it the best colour?) is like wearing pajamas. It's another item from the September capsule (recap...again), where I wore it twice.

I just wore red flats (easy on the feet after running around in the hot sun for 2 hours!), these fab Fluevogs, last seen here (3rd outfit) in June - again for my Ultimate outfit change.

For accessories, I wore my red coral earrings and bracelet. I can't handle wearing too many accessories when it's hot.

Dress (Just...Taylor, consignment), shoes (Presence Impulse, Fluevogs), bracelet (Plum), earrings (local).

After a hearty brunch at our favourite diner, I rushed home to get ready for our summer Winesday get-together! I love doing this every year - my Winesday gals and I go for drinks on the outdoor patio of a local brewpub, then our men join us a couple of hours later. It's a great time.

It was smokin' hot all weekend, so I wanted to make sure I was covered up, both for sun and because there is always a cool breeze off the ocean here in the evening.

I'm linking this up to Patti's "Visible Monday" over at Not Dead Yet Style - head on over!

Full cover mode:

This is the second wear of my white tie-front cardi (last seen here a couple of weekends ago with plaid).

I totally forgot about this dress! It was hiding in the back of my closet with my other long gowns. It didn't make it into any of my 30 item capsules last year, so here's how I've worn it since I got it.

• July 2010, with the same hat - for a Winesday!
• December 2008, worn formally, for our Christmas party...during a blizzard!

So this is only the third time I've worn it? Holy smokes, I'm shocked - that's poor for me. I must make an effort to wear this more this summer!

I remember that when I bought it at Plum, it was the first maxi dress I'd seen in decades. They had it in black as well as purple, and it was $75 on sale for half price, I believe. I bought it on summer clearance in September 2008 (noted in my Dec 2008 post that I'd purchased it 3 months prior), and I think women were not quite ready for maxi dresses yet.

Now I see maxi dresses everywhere! And it only took 5 years...

Dress (Oxmo), cami (Jackpot), cardigan (Bellisima, consignment), shoes (Clarks Artisan, consignment), earrings (local), hat (Jacinie).

Before I left to go downtown, I took a picture of Vizzini:

"You're going out AGAIN?"

I'm sure he was up to no good that night.

My favourite picture of the evening, near the end:

Ah, I have fabulous friends. Love to you all!

We started at 3:30pm - this is what I looked like out back by about 8:30:

I love it when that orangey light hits.

This morning, I was up bright and early for another adventure! Mom, my friend Elaine and I went painting!

We painted outside (like Mom and I did back here last September), and I knew we'd be out there for at least 4 hours, so I covered up.

This is my red silk blouse, last seen here in March with a crazy assortment of patterns and colours (and blonde hair). I got paint on it, but it was only a bit of acrylic and it mostly came out - it was a risk I was willing to take. The silk really protected me from the sun! The only burn I got was on the back of my right hand.

My olive parachute maxi skirt was wonderfully cool to wear, and it kept the tall grasses from scratching my legs. I last wore it several times for the weekend last month (here) in Powell River for my father-in-law's funeral.

Dorkiest pose with a paintbrush ever!

Comfy flat sandals were perfect - I get a lot of wear out of these, the last time here (2nd outfit) a couple of weekends ago. I wore the big straw hat again (very much needed!) and tied this rose-pattern silk scarf around my neck to make sure I didn't get any sun on my tattoos or in my cleavage (ouch).

Blouse (Elite International, thrifted), skirt (Cute Options), shoes (Kenneth Cole Reaction, consignment), scarf (vintage), hat (Jacinie).

This is where we were - this is the same house Mom and I went to when we had our two paintings in the art show in November 2012 (pictures from November here, scroll down past the vintage fair haul).

It was an en plein air paint-in and a little artists' festival. This is the heritage home that the Coast Collective of artists owns to house their exhibited works, teach classes and sell wonderful artsy gifts.

Elaine and I hiked around back, towards the water.

The grasses were waist high.

The clouds were amazing in the morning (this is around 10am).

That dark line is a spit of land - you can drive across it - and the water in front is a lagoon. In the far distance is Victoria. I can't see my house, though.

Looking north:

A little dock and some other artists scouting for a painting location.

Mom set up her umbrella around back of the house and painted the garden and that gorgeous rock wall.

These little orange butterflies? moths? were everywhere.

See him on the dandelion?

They were quite excited by our painting accoutrements.

That one settled on my palette knife for a bit.

Mom came to see how we were doing after a couple of hours, and took my picture.

Using my new easel that I got for Christmas - finally! I love that the drawer-ful of paints and brushes gets stored inside it.

My finished painting after 4 hours.

Eh, not my best, but I'm fine with it - it was just fun to paint outside. A lot of people came around to see what we were working on.

The view that I painted (the clouds all burned off by 2pm).

 In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have put the edge of the picnic table in the painting, but whatever.

Our set-up:

Elaine painted with her easel on a camera tripod - so crafty!

Her picture:

She went wild with the palette knife - the paint is really thick and textured. I like the really abstract aspect of this.

After we turned in our paintings for jurying, we wandered around to look at the vendors.

There was music, food and people dressed up in vintage costumes. It was just beautiful and very calming.

I saw a tortoise.

He was trying to get out of that enclosure.

I liked this lady in her vintage outfit (especially the shoes).

She was playing a ukelele.

None of us won a prize, but we had a lot of fun. Here are all of our pictures.

Mom's is the top one. Yay for art!

Hope you all had a great weekend!