Bigass Holiday Weekend Wrap-Up: Emerald Sketch, Christmas, Travel, Shopping and Cat Pictures

Hey! Check this out! I have been immortalized in another one of Anne M. Bray's (of SpyGirl!) fabulous sketches! This one is for "Emerald" and she's featured me in my glorious green dress that I wore for my work Christmas party last month. We might be seeing this dress again soon! 

Thank you so much, Anne! I am so honoured to have a sketch! 

Okay, are you ready for lots of pictures? It's been a busy extended weekend of holiday and travel and shopping! 

First, a very Merry Christmas from me and Vizzini. 

"This is so undignified, woman!"

And a very Happy New Year from L, me and the cat.

"I told you, no more pictures!"

On Thursday morning, Christmas Eve, L and I packed all of our gear into a rental mini-van and drove up-Island to Courtenay-Comox and took the ferry to Powell River, a small logging town on the Sunshine Coast.

This is my travel outfit - I wore the same thing each way, all day on Christmas Eve and most of the day on Boxing Day for the return trip.

Comfy layers, but still a bit funky. The purple hair was funky enough for Powell River - I forgot how much people stare at my hair.

• Dress - Kensie, consignment; last seen here in November for our shopping trip to Sidney
• T-shirt underneath - Calvin Klein, not tracked (I only wear it around the house at home)
• Boots - Indigo by Clarks; last worn here in November with a leopard 70s vibe

This was very dressy for PR standards.

The boots were fine for the little bit of walking I did.

Vizzini watched me getting ready.

"Wait, is that your backpack? Are you going somewhere?"

Snuggle time!

He always loves a cuddle. Um, not.

My outerwear:

The weather was supposed to be quite cold, so my thick Unsafe Ocelot and all my fur and woolly accoutrements.

I always take a bunch of pictures of Vizzini before we leave so that I can look at them when/if I miss the cat.

"Maybe Santa will bring me a new mousie."

 He did get new stuffed toys, but they are for supervised play only.

"A live bird would be nice too."

He can't be trusted around most things.

I swapped out my teal dress for this striped one for Christmas day.

L and I stayed at a hotel this year, as his mom downsized to an apartment. Fortunately, the hotel was a) right across from her place and b) a pretty nice hotel. You never know in PR.

• Dress - Jacob, thrifted; last seen here (3rd outfit) in October for my birthday week

The stuff:

I don't like traveling with much stuff. I'm a minimalist when I travel.

• Belt - Aldo, thrifted
• Earrings - 5th anniversary gift from L

At home I'm a maximalist. I'm not sure how that happened.

Road trip! I always like to share pictures of where I live, for the readers who aren't familiar with Canada's west coast. I live on an island! A really big one, Vancouver Island (here, for a visual) - not to be confused with Vancouver the city, which is on the mainland. We live in Victoria, on the southern tip of the island. It takes us about 3 hours to drive to the ferry at Comox.

We started out in Victoria with sunny skies.

But low-hanging fog/clouds on the early part of the Malahat.

The Malahat is a narrow stretch of highway cut out of solid rock, with cliff faces on one side, and a drop-off of hundreds of feet to the ocean inlet on the other side.

The traffic wasn't too bad going up. Lots of fog still.

The moss-laden trees as we passed Goldstream Provincial Park.

At the top of the Malahat, looking back down to Victoria.

My house is under those clouds somewhere.

Streaky clouds as we zoom past the summit.

This is one of my favourite parts of the drive, and it's in the first half-hour. When we pass this coming home, I know I'm nearly there.

Bright sun!

Now we're past Duncan, a small-ish town.

That's the Somenos Marsh, a bird sanctuary.

My favourite big-handed gnome! I caught this shot on the way up.

You know what they say about gnomes with big hands...

More trees, more highway, past Nanaimo now...

Uh-oh, I see snow on those mountains up ahead.

Yup, we have snow on the ground here.

Nearly at Courtenay.

We stopped for gas in Comox and I took a picture of a classic local scene.

A giant truck loaded with snowmobiles! I have never seen snowmobiles in Victoria.

We made it to the ferry docks in plenty of time.

Ahoy! It's the mighty Queen of Burnaby!

No tree up on the top deck this year.

I'm just happy to make the ferry.

All aboard!

This was a very full run, but we got there early, so we loaded early.

Three lanes of cars on each side, plus the overhead extra ramps.

Now, leave the car and go above-decks to chill for an hour and a half while we cross to PR.

I always like to review where I've been.

Back there. I was back there, on the island.

Now I'm here, in the forward lounge, where we both read and listened to our headphones.

I liked the Christmas tree that the ferry staff had put up

We also recycle on the ferry

It's a tree that's a dress!

Sailing over, it's getting dark - nearly 4pm.

The walk on passengers literally walk off the ferry from the same exit as the cars.

We checked into the hotel and went to L's mom's place.

I spotted the nearly full moon out her windows, just above the tree line and the nearby shopping mall.

Louise's little table-top tree.

Perfect! And look at all those presents!

We had dinner with Louise, then met up with our friend Kelly for drinks. In the morning, L and I did our stockings. This is what I got!

I got:

• A new coffee mug
• A bunch of fancy mini vodkas
• Lots of chocolates
• Adele's new album
• Graphic novels and books
• Tea
• A new Zentangle book 

My big gifts were under the tree, opened at his Mom's place. 

L had a necklace picked out for me in a vintage/consignment store we both like to visit, but didn't want to spend money on a piece I wouldn't like. I checked it out with him, disliked his selection, but spotted both of these awesome necklaces and fell in love.

I have been looking for a bigass turquoise necklace for forever! The largest bead is about 2 inches long, and this weighs a ton. This was $195.00. 

I also got this fabulous rock crystal necklace. 

This one was $95.00. These were in the same case (so consigned by the same person), and are likely handmade (they have the same clasp). They are both really heavy/chunky and not to everyone's taste, I know. Good thing I like gaudy, oversized, "look at me!" pieces, heh heh.

Christmas day was fine - the usual. We were up early to catch the first ferry home on Boxing Day. 

There she is - the mighty Queen of Burnaby, ready to take us home!

After our Sunshine Breakfast, we were ready to zoom back down-island home.

The weather had other ideas.

Yikes! It's not looking good in Courtenay!

What is this white stuff on the road?

Thank goodness, it cleared up north of Nanaimo, and aside from a few rain pockets, it was smooth and clear (although cloudy) all the way home.

I like that big tree on the side of the road.

Hey, did you figure out what they say about a gnome with large hands?

He wears large gloves!

Did you think I was going to say something else? Get your minds out of the gutter!

I like this bridge just outside of Duncan.

Low-lying clouds and rainy vistas.

At the top of the Malahat already!

Way more traffic coming down than going up.

These mountains with the snow on them are actually in Washington State, to the south of us.

And home!

L and I hung out on Saturday night and spent time with Vizzini. On Sunday, I headed to town to get groceries, have lunch with Elaine and do a little thrifty shopping.

Trying-on clothes.

• Sweater - Le Chateau, thrifted; last worn here for Valentine's Day in February
• Dress - Danier, thrifted; last seen here in November with ruffles and brocade
• Booties - Dirty Laundry, thrifted; last worn here a week ago to finish up my holiday shopping

It was rainy and chilly all day.

 Even with my outerwear layers, I was happy to get home and warm up again.

"Peace out, yo!"

The lovely ladies of Roberta's Hats steamed out the lumps and bumps in my hat for me. Thanks, ladies!

The stuff:

These boots are the best for wet weather.

I have had good luck with jackets in the past few days! Elaine and I checked out Flavour Upstairs.

This jacket was really not my style, but something about the Hawaiian print, the quilting, the cute bomber-jacket styling...

It's by Vero Moda in Blue and was $19.99. I like the orange contrast piping on the zipper.

I really love this black sparkly coat.

This is by Club Monaco, and it's incredibly well-cut and well-made.

A slight bell sleeve with a touch of bubble hem - note the sparkly texture of the fabric. This was on sale for $22.95.

It had a thread hanging down when I was taking the picture.

"What ho! What is this little tasty tidbit?"

The thread was removed.

We also stopped in at Heart's Content in Fan Tan Alley, where I found these black lace anklets.

They were $10.95 and are by Pamela Mann. I'm not sure how I'm going to wear them yet.

Today, L and I went for brunch, then braved a few stores. His mom gave us each some money to buy ourselves "something nice".

Sparkly, yet low-key.

• Lurex top - no label, thrifted; first seen here in November when our trees fell down
• Skirt - Strawberry Jill, thrifted; first worn here in September with ruffles and lace (and these same boots)
• Boots - Mini Babycakes, Fluevog; last seen here (2nd outfit) in November with plaid

I liked this outfit. I would wear this to work.

We spent the afternoon in "normal" stores - it was a little crazy since today counted as the Boxing Day stat holiday for a lot of people (L included).

Outerwear? Outer-there!

This coat was a little thin to be wearing with a sleeveless top, but I had my fuzzy scarf and gloves.

I went to Dots while L shopped for CDs. Although I don't shop there anymore (I prefer second-hand), since the money wasn't mine, I figure Louise (or her money) can shop wherever she likes.

I scoped out the super-cheap clearance section. What! Another faux-fur crazy jacket?

In pale grey with skinny cuffs? Um, yes, take my money. This is by Kimchi Blue and was $9.99.

I also really liked this kimono-style jacket in a soft grey-lavender shade.

It's by Urban Renewal and was made in the US from recycled vintage fabrics.

Check out the groovy fabric.

This jacket was on clearance for $4.99.

L needed some new clothes, so we went to the Guess store (they are funky enough for him). I spotted this cool floral draped blazer in the extra-50%-off clearance section.

I really liked it, so he bought it for me (aw!). It was $45.00.

I love those giant roses, and the touches of turquoise and yellow. I am thinking of all the cool things I have that will go with this.

And you, my friends and readers? How was your Christmas? Did you get anything cool?

I will be back later on this week! I have a few adventures planned for my week off, as well as a fab New Year's party.