Twofer: Spanish Ladies and Blue Shoes and Black, Birds and Duck

Hey! Life is busy! Last night was my company's quarterly meeting followed by rooftop volleyball, drinks and burgers. I got home late and a little tipsy from the cider, and crashed. It's been a long time since I got 10 hours of sleep.

So without further ado, and because L and I just got home form the gym and I'm starving, here we go!

The most wonderful Spanish ladies dress, going into its 4th year in my closet, and last seen here in May (also with blue accents), was just right for lounging about in the sun. It's a lovely fit, and was handmade in England!.I bought it in Camden Town in 2010.

I did a blue cami and a blue belt to go with the new blue shoes. No, I didn't play volleyball - I don't like walking in sand unless I'm at a beach.

I wore the shoes all day, and even walked about 8 blocks total in them. Not a rub, not a blister, and they were wonderfully comfortable. My only complaint is that I have Morton's toe - my second toe is longer than my big toe - and the shape of this shoe is obviously built for you "normal"-toed people. It felt like my toes were sticking out a bit too much. Totally a minor quibble and something I can live with, though.

The stuff:

I am quite peeved that Fluevog just marked this shoe down another $40! Arg! That would have covered my shipping and tax, John. *glare* But I forgive you - they are wonderful shoes. More pictures of them here from the other day when I got them in the mail.

Big bling:

Kept it fairly simple with clean lines and shapes.

Dress (Lirub), shoes (Garden of Enjoyment Rita, Fluevog), belt (Danier Leather), cuff (thrifted), earrings (swap), lapis lazuli ring/Fulvia ring (Wendy Brandes).

From masses of colour, I went to...black!

I didn't really have an outfit planned for today. Well, I did, but then I decided that I didn't want the skirt from the outfit I had picked out, so then I grabbed this new-to-me dress (purchased here last weekend), pulled the obi for colour, and then put the shoes with it.

The fabric was lovely - it's a cotton/lycra blend, so nice and soft, not too thick or rigid (it's about a Swoosh Factor 6 on the skirt). I did wear a black half-slip under it so that it wouldn't ride up or gape.

I do love pockets on dresses.

I picked out my accessories this morning. Since I had the purple/blue colour scheme decided as an accent, I grabbed turquoise as well (there's turquoise in the obi), then noticed that I had a mini theme and ran with that.

Check out my cufflinks

I don't usually wear this much black, and it did feel a little weird. Nice, but weird. I think this is one of those very useful dresses for when I want people to look at my accessories.

See if you can guess the theme:

That's probably my favourite Smoking Lily obi - I just love the colours. Those shoes were last worn earlier in July with my plaid taffeta skirt, here.

Did you get it? My theme is for the birds.

Black birds (on Scrabble tiles), ravens, and ducks.

Yes, ducks.

Those are a pair of L's cufflinks. I don't think he's ever worn them; I think his mom picked them up in a thrift store. They're probably from the 60s or 70s. I love that I can do cufflinks for this dress - L has about 2 dozen pairs. I'm looking forward to doing another colour mix with it.

Dress (Talbot's, consignment), shoes (Pearl Hart Bellevilles, Fluevogs), obi (Smoking Lily, consignment), cuff (Shi Studio), cufflinks (vintage), earrings (Raven's Rest Studio), lapis lazuli ring/Fulvia ring (Wendy Brandes).