Bi-Annual Bigass Closet and Jewelry Swap-Over, Plus Cat Pictures, Nature and Outfits

Are ya ready? This is a massive post - gird your figurative loins, people! April is starting with a Bigass post! 

First, let's go back to Friday.

In your face, Casual Friday! Yes, I shall do the purple pomp!

• Top - La Vie 89, thrifted; purchased here for $12.95
• Skirt - Tulle, thrifted; last seen here (2nd outfit) in March with brown and orange
• Shoes - Diesel, consignment; last worn here in January with houndstooth

I had a haircut on Friday after work, followed by a retirement send-off for one of my dear co-workers, so a funk outfit was in order.

"Excuse me while I barf."

This is my first wearing of this top - yet another white lacy top! I loved the cropped length, the longer sleeve and the sporty neckline. I wore a black camisole under it.

A great take on denim, this pencil skirt hugs my curves nicely.

The stuff:

I spent 12 hours in these shoes, and my feet were tired by the time I got home. However, I was somewhat tipsy so I didn't particularly care. I like the cool shape of them.

Badass bling:

I did my make-up all bright magenta (eyes too!), to tone with my hair and pop off all the neutrals in the outfit. Colour successfully deployed!

• Leather cuff - Guess, thrifted
• Steel cuff - thrifted
• Earrings - gift from Simar

Saturday saw our usual brunch out at Floyd's.

Last wearing this season of all of the clothes. The booties are an all-year thing.

• Sweater - Vero Moda, thrifted; last seen here (3rd outfit) in March with tones of brown
• Skirt - Talbots, consignment; last worn here (2nd outfit) in March with floral legs and cobalt
• Booties - Dirty Laundry, thrifted; last seen here (4th outfit, way down) for a grocery run

Aside from the flurry of my Friday and Sunday activities, Saturday was totally chill.

 I've really enjoyed my little wardrobe capsule, which draws to a close this weekend. I plan to do a 30 day capsule for April, with the same loosey-goosey rules:

• 30 clothing and shoe items
• Wear all the pieces at least once
• I can swap a piece in if I'm tired of another piece or decide it doesn't work

It's really been good for my creativity this past month. Agree?

Who likes coffee?

I could have skipped my Danier leather jacket - the weather's been pleasantly warm during the day.

The stuff:

It was time to wear a different pair of boots.

• Earrings - gift from Megan Mae

Vizzini enjoyed the setting sun.

"The more you bother me, the earlier I'm going to wake you up." 

His fur is all warm - I can't resist a pat.

"Do you have to take a picture of my bad side?"

I admit to some revenge poking at him. He sticks his furry paw in my mouth at 4am.

"What? That's when cats eat breakfast!"

L and I played board games on Saturday night.

We're playing Carcassonne Discovery

L was very impressed that all of his meeples were in the same row. Totally random.

Vizzini bugs us constantly for treats. He's positioned to keep an eye on me (the main Provider of Treats).

"Did someone say treats?"

 He gets all spazzy after he's had them, runny all over the place, full of beans and ready to play.

"I am a fierce lion in my cave, waiting to pounce on my prey!"

He burrows under the pillows on the couch and attacks L.

Today, I headed to town to get groceries. Since I knew I'd be doing a lot of physical work all afternoon, I didn't bother putting on make-up.

It's bright out! 

• Dress - Desigual by Christian Lacroix, thrifted; last worn here in March with the same tights
• Boots - 1883 Lucchesse, consignment; last worn here (3rd outfit) for shopping with Jodi in March

 The dress is packed away now for the spring/summer. Even though it would probably be fine in warmer months, it's quite short and I prefer it worn with tights over bare legs. The colours also say more fall to me. I have plenty of other dresses!

It's really lovely - a good purchase!

I think I look pretty good bare-faced.

The light in the bathroom is pretty flattering on my 48-year-old skin.

Jacket because it's a bit chillier today.

Headphones in, purse on, laser beam stare engaged!

The stuff:

I had to give these boots a good Woly-ing - they got really wet an stained from the rain last time I wore them. They cleaned up great.

• Earrings - 5th anniversary gift from L

I took my camera with me to town. Look, lovely rhodos!

Such a vibrant red!

One of the employees at this coffee shop does these wonderful drawings.

Vader and a stormtropper start their day with a cup o' joe

 Most of the trees are finished blooming, but these ones are always a few weeks later.

I love the fat pink blossoms.

My favourite house in the neighbourhood, complete with 200-year-old Gary oak in the front yard.

See the bottles lined up in the window?

I would have liked to have gone shopping after groceries, but we had work to do! Closet swap-out time! Here's the last swap, at the end of September 2015.

First, we take out everything that isn't staying for spring/summer.

Sweaters and items from the Feb/March capsule all cleared out.

Line up all the boots and get out the vacuum!

This is the only time I vacuum.

My closet is about the size of a small bathroom, but it's hard to get pictures of it as a whole. These are the top two shelves above the bare shelves in the above picture.

Wigs, fancy purses, fascinators and hats, and 3 pairs of summer shoes in those boxes. These shelves go all the way up to the ceiling so that I can maximize storage.

I store my belts coiled in velvet hat boxes. My obi belts are folded and stored in a shoe box.

I go through my belts, pulling out ones that are dark, heavy or more compatible with my winter/fall wardrobe.

I have a big tub that lives under my jackets. This is looking at the far right corner.  

Ooh, I see some summer skirts!

There's a top shelf on the right where I store vintage hats and shoes.

Below that are my short skirts - by the lack of hangers, I seem to have gone through my skirt section.

Here's the opposite side, the top left shelf.

Costume and fancy wear. Velvet storage boxes contain some of my Dad's stuff, and more costume things.

Everything I pulled out for storage. Look at that huge pile of hangars!

Um, and the cat's food and water dish. Sorry.

Boots ready for storage:

See you in October!

Shoes staying out/available.

My two pairs of super-dressy boots stay out, as do my cowboy boots, floral Docs, and other assorted booties. They're too hot at the peak of summer, but I get a surprising amount of wear out of them in the shoulder months.

Left side: all the shoes being packed away. I have to be ruthless, since I have lots of spring/summer shoes.

The ones on the right what's left of my flats, plus some new-to-me purchases from a while back.

And these are some of the pairs that made the cut, left on their shelves.

My infamous "Tower of Power" shoe storage! I can fit 3 pairs per shelf.

And there are three more shelves above that!

All the way to the ceiling. My party shoes and less-worn shoes are higher up.

Now that we've pulled all the fall/winter out, time to bring out the tubs from under the bed!

I spy L's white-socked foot! 

I see the Spanish Lady dress!

About this time, I wondered where Vizzini had gotten to. He's usually all over the closet clean-out since he's not allowed in there. I'd been checking the shoes in the hallway every few minutes, since he's been chew off parts. Turns out he'd been napping under a blanket. He was suitably outraged about all the chaos and raced around, checking everything out frantically and getting underfoot, hence the blurry pics. He's fast!

"I heard there was stuff to eat out here."

Some of my seasonal accessories. I love that yellow purse!

Vizzini raced into the open space underneath all the clothes.

"Muahahaha! I shall rule this closet kingdom!"

He checked out the last bin.

"I see no fringe or laces here!"

I have to store everything tempting for him away from the edges of the bins.

"Someone obviously doesn't care about these tasty-looking boots!"

I was super-careful to tuck away all the laces inside.

I curated my shoes and selected some for giveaway.

The orange leather flatforms are separated from the cork sole. Bummer. The rest are too worn out or just not worn much.

And here are my tubs, full of fall/winter clothes.

I took the tape off -Vizzini would have eaten it

That crystal vase in the background is there to block Vizzini from getting into those closets.

I packed up all my shoes and boots into fabric grocery bags and Fluevog bags. They get stored on the floor under my hanging clothes.

I also pulled out all of the dark/fall-coloured scarves from my collection and put the spring/summer ones in.

It doesn't stay that neat for long, but at least I can see everything.

All my bright and colourful spring belts are back!

Nice and neatly sorted.

Here is my finished closet. The right side.

And the left side.

Heh, I can see a bit of my skirt in the mirror.

That took about 3 hours to do.

Time to tackle the seasonal jewelry! I started this last year, pulling out my more summer pieces in favour of more wear from some of my darker vintage pieces, like my copper and my sparkly stuff for the holiday season.

This is everything that was stored away for 6 months. I love the surprise "Oh yeah!" of having a 6-month break from some of my favourites.

I sort all my modern jewelry on the bed.

It's not really that chaotic! The drawers are from my main jewelry box, where I keep my modern pieces.

This is my grandmother's jewelry box, where I keep my vintage pieces. Before:

 And after!

The bottom tray fits on the top section, and the middle section is a drawer that closes.

And here is everything that's getting a rest over the summer. Bye! See you in October!

Heavier pieces, dressier stuff.

Part of cleaning out my closet is checking for items I didn't wear. I turn all my hangers backwards when I do the swap-out (as I did again today for all the spring/summer). As I wear a piece, I turn the hanger back the right way. This helps me see right away what's not getting worn, and helps me weed out pieces I'm hanging onto.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of my dresses don't get worn. Most of them are too dressy, so I don't wear them to work or on the weekend. They require events, and even though I do a lot of social stuff, sometimes one has more dresses than one has events!

I adore this dress - it's an off-the-shoulder asymmetrical cut. I haven't worn it for a while but I'm keeping it. I rest my favourite dresses for a year or two sometimes, and then they feel fresh when I wear them again.

I was hoping to get a wear of this lovely beaded wiggle dress. Maybe in the next few months!

It's killer on, although I have to take it off to use the loo.

I keep this dress because it belonged to Joyce, my Aunt Kathy's mom.

 Also, 70s pink ruffled polyester. YES.

It's been a while since I wore my Storm dress.

It's great on.

This lovely early 80s dress gets a pass, and gets stored away for the season.

It's nice for a lounge-y party.

This one-shoulder red ruffled dress has made the rounds - I've loaned it to two of my co-workers in the last couple of years.

I want to wear it again, so it stays.

I haven't worn this handmade vintage velvet dress for a long time, but it stays.

It is incredible on, but much too warm for this time of year. Maybe next year!

Not a shocker to see this dress unworn.

There are not too many occasions for it. But it's fabulous on me, so it stays.

I also missed a few jackets. This one is semi-costume-y, but too cool not to keep.

Next year!

I never quite got around to wearing my vintage Etro blazer.

So it's staying out for the season!

This skirt is a repeat offender: I didn't wear it for Fall/Winter 2015 and I didn't wear it for Spring/Summer 2015, either.

But it's full-length pewter leather with a frickin' train. Keeper!

I also didn't wear my Christmas Tree skirt.

I had between Christmas and New Year's off this past year - I'd normally wear this to work one of those days if I were working. Not enough Christmas parties, either! I demand more parties!

And there we go, we're done.

"I'm exhausted from all of this."

Me too, buddy!

• Linking up to Patti's "Visible Monday" over at Not Dead Yet Style.
• Linking up to Anne's "52 pick-me-up" at SpyGirl.
• Linking up to "Hat Attack" at Judith's Style Crone (even though I didn't wear a hat, there's a picture of one!)
• Checking out Sheela's link-up here for the first time here at Sheela Writes (thanks for the invite - always nice to see another Sheila/Sheela!)

Hope you all had a great weekend!