Weekend Wrap-up: Chambray, Successful Shoe Shopping

Ah, a relaxing weekend was definitely in order! I am looking forward to my last evening of chillin' on the couch with Vizzini and L. 

Here we are, back at Friday's casual outfit. I had the office move to deal with all day, so easy loose clothes and flat shoes were in order.

• Dress - no label, consignment; last seen here in September with bare legs and sandals
• Top (underneath) - Studio by Liz Claiborne; last seen here in August with Danger Pants
• Boots - Aldo, consignment; last seen here (3rd outfit) for my day with Hannah

This chambray dress ("It's softer than it looks," said L, after hugging me) is hugely comfortable. I layered a top (barely seen) underneath it, and also wore a short thrifted half-slip under it so that I wouldn't have any visibility issues on the bottom.

The tights were purchased a few weeks ago - they are Look From London, a great brand for patterns and colours.

The stuff:

These boots are work-horses in my wardrobe - I've had them for four years, and wear them all the time. Considering I paid around $45.00 for them, that's pretty good.

Plain ol' bling:

A woven belt and some coloured stone balls.

• Belt - Gap
• Earrings - Le Chateau

The move went well - nice and fast, so I only had to work an extra hour and a half. Home for dinner with L, and then we played Arkham Horror. Woo hoo!

On Saturday, we met up with Andrew, Judi and Nick for brunch at Floyd's.

I knew I was going to do a little swing through a couple of thrift stores and a consignment store afterwards, so I dressed appropriately.

• Dress - Land's End; last seen here in September layered under leopard 
• Boots - Ash; last seen here with my Hallowe'en costume 

I love the bold orangey-red of this dress - and it's such a great shape.

My footless tights (I have socks on under the boots) have metal paillettes on them. They're like starry nights!

This is what I really looked like for most of the day:

All the rock-and-roll accessories! Black leather jacket, studded purse, grey fingerless gloves, fur scarf.

The stuff

Gawd, I love those boots! They are getting more and more comfy - and they started out very soft!

Badass bling:

At The Velvet Crease, the ladies there exclaimed over all my matching studs. Maybe it was a little too matchy? Meh, I don't care. I love my studs!

• Cuff - vintage 80s
• Earring & cuff - Claire's
• Earring - local

I started out at the St. Vincent de Paul and found a couple of things. I really liked these little shoes.

They are only cheapy Predictions (a Payless Shoes brand), but they were marked at $6.00 and orange tags were half price, so $3.00? Sure, I'll wear them a couple of times in the summer for that.

I love when I find a basic piece for a score-level price.

Black cashmere sweater. Yup. Big square cut, could be a men's size, but was stuffed in the ladies' section.

And yes, 100% cashmere.

Kirkland is the stuff they sell at Costco, so it didn't start out as very expensive to begin with.

I will accept $6.00 - I might end up wearing this sweater around the house. Why yes, don't you lounge around in cashmere? You totally should.

I wandered up the street to the Hospice Thrift Store. They have all their sparkly holiday clothes out. No luck with clothing there this time, but I got a couple of lovely accessory pieces.

Gorgeous long cream knit gloves - I love gloves with a long wrist! These ones also fit my giant girl-hands (I have really long fingers).

They were only $10.00 and I may have squealed when I found the tag inside them.

Score! 100% cashmere gloves! Made in Japan and sized, so these are likely from the 1960s.

Another long skinny silk scarf for my collection.

$5.00 for a Vera scarf - awesome. It's a vivid emerald green. I remember having a cobalt blue scarf just like this in 1984.

I strolled over to The Velvet Crease, and once again had no luck with clothes, but did really well on accessories. If I do another "Shoes My Husband Hates" series, L says these will make the grade easy.

But, but, but! They are a lovely nude-ish-grey leather, they're clogs (clogs!) and they are a DREAM on my feet. And they're by Born! These were $38.95. Viewing Born's site, these probably sold for around $90 new.

Bizarrely, I found another pair of Borns, only sandals.

I love the rich blue (leather, of course), and although these are a smidge higher than the clogs, they are still uber-comfortable. They were $42.95 (around $75+ new). Both pairs of shoes show no wear - I love that. These are stashed away until spring - definitely not winter shoes!

Last night, L and I hung out with Vizzini and played games. Today, I got groceries and then met up with a work-friend at My Sister's Closet consignment store to help her find an outfit for our work Christmas party.

It's been really sunny this past week, but brrrr...baby, it's cold outside!

I'm layered all up - this is how I was dressed most of the time.

• Jacket - Precis Petites; last seen here - yikes! - in October 2012 as part of my Hallowe'en costume! 
• Sweater - Hawick of Scotland, consignment; last seen here (3rd outfit) while shopping with Hannah in October
• Skirt - Animale, consignment; last seen here (2nd outfit) in January to see Blue Rodeo in concert
• Boots - Doc Martens, consignment; last worn here for our trip to Italy!

The underneath layers. I also have tights and a long vintage half-slip on under my skirt.

Add a silk scarf and some long leather gloves.

A nice cross-body bag for hands-free shopping and we're good to go.

My coworker did well; she found a dress, two skirts and a top for $100 total - not bad! She was really happy.

The stuff:

Sweet feet happiness for Docs!

• Scarf - thrifted
• Earrings - consignment 

I may have found a few things for myself while I shopped for her...

This lined pink cotton dress was only $10.50 on the sale rack. I love the neckline and the sweet shape of the skirt. I will NOT be keeping that gawdawful elastic belt or the string belt loops. This is by Jacob (a now sadly-defunct Canadian company, boo).

I grabbed this top for my coworker to try on, but she didn't like it. So of course, I had to try it, right?

I guess I am getting over my aversion to fake leather (okay, no, I still don't like it), but I liked the fit, the colour and that this top can be washed. It's by Jeanne Bekker and was $20.95. The back is the same burgundy fine sweater fabric.

Although I love my shiny pink runners dearly, they are more of a walking-to-and-from-work-in-summer shoe - not so warm for winter!

I fell in love with these butter-soft Converse leather high-tops - they have thick faux-fur lining!

They also have a zipper on the inside, so I don't even have to lace them up every time! These were $42.98 - I'm sure by the time I wear them out, I'll be down to pennies per wear!

And how was your weekend? Score any great finds?