Bigass Long Weekend Wrap-Up: Canada Day Shennanigans, Ulti and Shopping, Hawaiian Brights and Practically Normal

Happy Canada Day! Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone is having a lovely time, doing whatever it is you do. 

Here's what I did on Friday. Day off! Canada Day! Woot! 

Per our usual modus operandi, the Winesday/MANsday crew gathered downtown for some drinks and appies. It's always good to chill with friends on a long weekend, isn't it?

• Dress - Lord & Taylor, thrifted; last seen here (3rd outfit) last weekend for our Sunday outing
• Boots - 1883 Lucchesse, consignment; last worn here (3rd outfit) the day of my spring/summer closet swap-out back in March
• Jacket (below) - Comrags, thrifted; last seen here (2nd outfit) in May with Danger Pants

Iinvited our friends to dress up in red and white, Canada's flag colours. I can never follow rules, even my own, so I added purple.

Cowboy boots as a nod to Western Canada.

It was a little overcast and windy, although somewhat warm, hence the light jacket.

I liked that I could fold it up and stick it in my purse while at the pub, too.

The stuff:

I finally got around to getting my cowboy boots re-heeled. They're much less noisy!

Purple and red bling:

Mostly leather, some silver. 

Oops, forgot my belt! 

I wore it "bling-side in".

• Belt - thrifted
• Purple cuff - Catalyst Reaction Leather
• Red cuff - Rimanchik
• Earrings - thrifted
• Ring - gift from Cindy

It was raining as L and I walked to town (he took his glasses off). L wore his Patrice Bergeron hockey jersey from Team Canada. 

The two people in the distance are also wearing red and white.

I spotted several Canada flag cape-wearers.

It's the one day that Canadians really get patriotic.

We settled into the Garrick's Head for some pints.

 L and Randall. I like Randall's lumberjack shirt!

We sat in the old part of the pub - this pub originally opened as a saloon in 1867.

From left: Nick, Karen, Yvonne and Linda.

The beer selection is full of local brews.

Nick and Casey. Nick did a peek of red under his cool shirt, and Casey wore another Canada jersey.

The Garrick's Head's iconic deer head over the fireplace (garrick is a deer).

Cat and Ross. Cat wore one of my scarves from the giveaway some years ago.

The streets and the pubs were busy! I like the blur of people going past our table.

Ross, Cat, Yvonne and Karen.

We hung out for a while, then headed home for some time away from the crowds.

People headed to the harbour for the fireworks.

Our third flag-cape wearer!

L and I chilled for the rest of the evening.

Vizzini always loves it when we're home.

"Oh, you're back."

He hid from the fireworks, which started after dark. We can sort of see them through the trees.

"Did you say "fireworks"?"

After an early bedtime, we were up bright and fresh for a game of Ulti Saturday morning.

I dressed to do a bit of shopping after lunch. Lame (lah-may!) was called for.

• Dress - no label, handmade; last seen here (4th outfit) for our May 2015 long weekend hang-with-friends 
• Shoes - Born, consignment; last worn here (6th outfit!) with my lettuce dress in June

This was perfect for wearing to and from the field. My team had a difficult game and ended up losing after leading for most of the game - it was very windy again. Ah well. It's still awesome to run around!

After brunch, I went for a quick shop at Flavour Upstairs, one of my favourite thrifty stores. 

The stuff: 

A lot of gold! I've sure gotten my money's worth out of these sandals.

• Belt - 70s vintage, Mom's
• Earrings - 5th anniversary from L

I had some good luck at Flavour Upstairs, and came away with some lovely finds. 

I am always on the lookout for a nice denim dress.  

I love the cut of this, and the neckline. And, pockets! I also like that the zip can be undone from the hem, to allow wearing pants or a skirt layered under the bottom half.

The wide elastic holds everything in once it's zipped up.

And that's not too short for me, either.

It has no label on it, and was $19.99.

But I spotted the "Armani Exchange" on the zips, so I suspect that's what this is! 

The first racks of sweaters for fall have appeared, so I had to scout through. 

I love this wool cardigan. It fits great and is thin and soft.

It's by Tommy Hilfiger and was $17.99.

This will pop nicely off my many bright pants and skirts.

I was surprised at how nice this sweater looked on me.

The yellow carries all the way around to the back (thank you!).

It's by Banana Republic and is wool and cashmere.

Not bad for $19.99. I love the nice finish on the neckline too.

I had major flashbacks with this skirt. This is from around 1986.

I know this because the store it's from was only around for a couple of years here in Victoria, although I see from my interwebz research that it's still around in Europe. It's certainly possible that this came from Europe, but more likely it was languishing in someone's closet from back in the 80s.

The pattern you can see is actually shiny, and is harder to see in person. The background is a heathered grey.

It's by Un Deux Trois (1.2.3), and it's made in France. It was only $12.99!

I remember these being sold with cropped fitted jackets with ginormous shoulder pads. I couldn't afford the jacket, but I had a skirt very similar to this, from Un Deux Trois, in a peach brocade. They had awesome clothes!

Was I excited to find a poufy black leather skirt?

Um, maybe slightly?!

This has an elastic waist and pulls on. It has belt-loops, but not pockets (boo!). It was only $17.99.

I've never heard of this brand before, but it's possibly the same Episode brand that is part of the House of Fraser UK clothing line. It's been around since 1988 - this doesn't feel like a modern piece.

Freshly revived by my shopping spree, I rushed home to get ready to go to our friends Chris and Alli's for an evening of fine food and games. 

I was still feeling achy from Ulti, so an easy dress, for sure!

• Dress - Tori Richard of Honolulu for Andrage of Honolulu, vintage 70s, Joyce's; last worn here in July 2015 on a chill weekend 
• Shoes - Franco Sarto, consignment; last seen here (3rd outfit) in June, also on a weekend

"Hmm, what's going on in here?"

Vizzini likes to poke around under my long skirts.

"I'm too fast for your camera." 

This dress was wonderful for a super-fun evening! Chris even made Baked Alaska!

The stuff:

I was barefoot for most of the night, which was fine by me.

• Earrings - gift from Megan Mae
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes

Today I strolled to town for groceries.

Minimal make-up, no effort on the hair (I wear my straw hat when I'm outdoors to keep my haircolour from fading).

• Shirt - Dept, consignment; last seen here in March with matching legs
• Clamdiggers - Contrast, thrifted; last worn here in June on vacation
• Shoes - Chie Mihara; last seen here during Shoes My Husband Hates week in June

 This is as close to a "normal" outfit as I ever get.

This shirt is one of my favourites.

The stuff:

This may be the last year for these shoes - they are getting rather beat up!

• Earrings - Caracol

Vizzini has enjoyed his weekend.

"No thanks to you."

It's a hard life.

Linking up to:

• "Visible Monday" at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style
• "52 pick-me-up" at Anne's SpyGirl