Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Up to My Eyeballs, a Concert, Vintage Fair Finds, Ulti Cowgirl, Stylish Shop, Winesday Wooly

It's officially October and that means Birthday Month has kicked into gear! I'm turning 50 this month, and I intend to celebrate in as many ways as I can, including having my own designer dress made for myself  - click here to read my 4 posts about this awesome process. 

Get ready for a lot of pictures! Let's start with Thursday's work outfit - the return of the Eyeball dress. 

 My friend Cat said these patterns look like peacock feathers to her, but to me, they are definitely googly eyes.

This is my entry for "Visible Monday" over at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style. Move it, go check it out!

• Dress - Tangerine Jill, thrifted; first worn here in June with a white shirt under it
• Baby blue blouse - no label, vintage 80s, thrifted; last worn here (2nd outfit) in April under my stained glass dress (same make as the eyeball dress)
• Shoes - Portia, thrifted; last seen here in August with a vintage purple and silver dress

 My work's HR crew was in the office for Thursday and Friday from other cities in western Canada, and they thoroughly enjoyed checking out my looks. Everyone in my office is used to me, so it was nice to get so many compliments.

 I love the big purple eye on the back. It was a gorgeous sunny day - didn't need a coat at all.

The stuff:

 All the adjectives for these shoes: leather, metallic, snakeskin, floral, pointy-toe, flats.

Simple bling:

 My Wendy Brandes rings are always a favourite.

• Earrings - gift from Lise
• Lapis lazuli ring and Fulvia Ring - Wendy Brandes

After my WW meeting, L and I gobbled down a quick dinner and walked to the newly renamed Sugar Nightclub, now the Capital Ballroom. It's a silly name - it has NEVER been a ballroom - but a bit of a classier vibe. We went to see The New Pornographers with opening act the Born Ruffians. Link here to the local paper's write-up about the band.

 We met up with Cat and Ross to get there for door opening, so that we could get a table (there's limited seating, and I cannot do standing in a crowd!).

• Frank Turner tour shirt - last seen here in September for two Frank Turner shows
• Jeans - Levi Strauss, thrifted; last worn here in September for our mini-whirlwind vacation
• Shoes - Michael Kors, thrifted; last worn here (4th outfit) in August with orange leather shorts
• Jean jacket (below) - Ann Taylor Loft (NYC); last seen here in September over my orange tennis dress

 We were in a rush! I'm a blur!

I don't usually go this bare - exposed bra and cami straps used to be anaethma to me - but I was glad I had. The show was sold out, and it was hot and stuffy.

 Cat and I wore variations of the same outfit. Hi-larious!

Jean jacketed.

 Wearing my Corey Hart button, and representin' my 80s concerts, yo!

The stuff:

 Pretty basic.

• Earrings - Lazy Susan's

On Friday, I was anything but casual. After work, I went to the annual Victoria Vintage Fair at the historic Crystal Gardens.

The only thing truly vintage in my outfit is my jewelry, but I had plenty of admirers of my look.

This is my entry for Judith's "Hat Attack!" over at Style Crone (hat picture below). Go check out her amazing chapeau!

• Jacket - Kenzo, thrifted; first worn here in July with red and white polka dots
• Sweater - Gap, thrifted; last seen here in July with denim and chrysanthemums
• Skirt - Ricki's, consignment; purchased here for $18.98
• Shoes - Lola Ramona; last worn here in June with my Disney princess dress

I met up with Cat, Yvonne and Karen after work to browse the vendors, have a glass of wine and do a little shopping, and then we all went to Vista 18 for dinner after. We've been doing this a while - click here for 2016's outfit/purchases, here for 2015, here for 2014 and here for 2013, where I wore the same hat and took lots of pictures of the venue.

 Always my challenge with going to a theme event is that I have to wear my outfit for work all day first. Above is how I looked during the day. The Kenzo jacket has a very small, nipped-in waist and wearing it done up all day is just asking for a button to pop off.

This is the skirt's first wearing, and I adored it! I wore a full vintage slip underneath the outfit (it was a little rainy out on Friday), but the skirt has a black nylon lining as well.

 It swooshed and billowed dramatically, and felt a lot like silk, even though it is polyester.

This is how I looked riding the bus to work, and at the Vintage Fair.

 When I was at the grocery store on Saturday, one of the clerks said, "Were you on the bus wearing a fabulous green skirt and a red hat? My daughter and I saw you and went "WOW."" What a nice thing to say!

I loved being able to put my hair up and wear this hat again. It's by Tierre Joline and is one of two hats I had custom-made for me. I last wore it here in March 2015 for an Art Gallery event.

 This is fur felt, with leather, pearl and crystal bead accents, and a pair of long swooshy orange feathers.

Like my custom dress by Chloe Prusa, this hat is by another up-and-coming-will-one-day-be-famous designer, Tierre Taylor (link here to her site), from when she designed in Victoria as Tierre Joline.

 I met Tierre several years ago in 2011, probably at an Art Gallery Urbanite event - I found out she was a hat-maker artist and commissioned her to create a hat for me to wear to a friend's upcoming wedding. We met and chatted about colours and styles, and I let her do her thing, as artists need to do. She created two for me to choose from, and I bought them both (I think it was $150 for both hats), this red one first worn here for my office Christmas party in December 2011 and this teal one here that I wore for the wedding in November 2011.

I purchased a third hat from her, this neutral one last seen for the Unlimited Women Awards, last worn here in November 2013.

A very cool thing happened to her in 2015: she was featured on Humans of New York (link here, and to the local paper's story about it here). The rest is history - she now has more orders than she can handle.

The stuff:

 Colours, patterns, textures, shines! All the bases covered. These shoes performed heroically and only one tiny toe blister after over 14 hours of work, walking and standing. They are getting packed away for the winter, though.

Blue bling:

 My oddly-purchased "set" of vintage 60s Thermoset jewelry.

• Bracelet - vintage fair
• Necklace - vintage fair
• Earrings - thrifted

I go to the fairs these days with lowered expectations, and I was on a limited budget this year due to all these birthday shenanigans. I stayed focused on looking for early/mid-60s vintage copper - I specifically collect pieces by Renoir/Matisse (only pieces that I like, of course - there are lots of designs by them out there that I don't like, like leaves and art palettes).

I spotted this lovely bracelet in the first booth I looked at, walked away, then smacked myself in the head for not buying it, and went right back.

 It was $35.00, and is in superb condition. No scratches or wear (there was originally a clear finish on the copper to keep it from tarnishing, which wears off over time). It has probably been sitting in a jewelry box unworn for decades.

The red enameling is very unusual - I've never seen red before. I have a couple pieces of Matisse with turquoise (in this picture here, the earrings, owned by my Grandma J, and the cuff, found at a previous vintage fair).

 This was a good find - I'm excited to wear it.

There's the stamp:

 "MATISSE (c) Renoir"

These copper earrings aren't stamped, and likely aren't vintage at all, but it's hard to find pierced copper earrings (the vintage ones are all clip-on).

 And for $7.00, that's good enough - these will work with some of the sets I have that didn't come with earrings.

The WIN (Women in Need) stores always do a booth, and it's always full of their really cool stuff. I nearly bought a sequinned jacket but put it back after giving myself a good talking-to about sparkly things. I am a bit of a crow.

 I did go for this lovely necklace and earring set (yes, the earrings counted as 2 of the 3 pieces for $21.00).

The white parts are enameled as well, and they have sort of a curdled cottage cheese texture to them.

This set is a nice classic set - it still looks very modern.

There's the "(c) Matisse" stamp on the earrings. 

 And there it is on the necklace's hook.

 This set was well-loved prior to me. I like that - I like that this set has had a history.

 I like to think that the previous owner would be happy that it's gone to a good home.

On Saturday morning, up bright and early for a game of Ultimate Frisbee! We've missed a few weeks with people being on vacation, but had some early sunshine for our run-around on the field.

 An easy dress to get in and out of, pre- and post-game.

• Dress - Boo Radley, thrifted; last seen here in May with the same boots
• Boots - 1883 Luchesse, consignment; last worn here in June for a Friday cowgirl outfit

This is what happens when you don't actually set the timer.

 But now you can see the nice colours and fabric better.

I could only play for 2/3 of the game.

 I had a shopping date at 1:30 pm with one of my coworkers.

Had to run home and shower, and get to town to meet up with her.

 As I was in my "stylist" mode for that, I didn't wear the same outfit.

The stuff:

 I love my boots.

• Earrings - Frances Jewelers, 10th anniversary gift from L

I changed into a more funky look. Also getting another wear out of this magnificent silk shirt before it's packed away.

 I got caught in a rainstorm on the way to town - I was dripping wet by the time I met up with Carol-Anne. Fortunately, everything dried quickly.

• Blouse - INC, consignment; last seen here in March with purple mohair
• Culottes - Jones New York, vintage; last worn here with cropped stripes in August
• Shoes - Miista; last seen here (2nd outfit) in May with my Armani jean dress

Note my first wearing of my cream sparkly Kate Spade knee-highs.

 We'd previously done a scouting trip to look at styles, colours, and mentally plan what we were going to shop for this time. It certainly helped us stay on target! We did two large try-ons at Le Chateau (Canadian mall store, good for work wear) and at the Hudson's Bay Company (Canadian department store).

 Carol-Anne ended up with two cardigans, a skirt and two blouses, and it was so rewarding to see her discover how good she could look in the current styles. She'd been wearing size 12s and XLs, but she's built like a model - she was actually a size 4! I'm so excited to see her debut her new clothes. People are going to be astounded at how great she looks!

The stuff:

These shoes scuff easily - I'm going to have to touch up the bronze colour again soon (I use modeling paint). 

Coordinating bling: 

I like matchy pieces with my clothes. 

• Belt - vintage, thrifted
• Earrings - thrifted
• Amber ring - c. 1997
• Purple stone ring - Frances Jewelers, c. 1965, Dad's

We shopped for over 4 hours, and we were both exhausted. I walked home - no time for a nap! - and got changed for Winesday.  

 Easy lounging clothes!

• Sweater - Roots, thrifted; purchased here new with tags on for $24.95
• Jeans - Levi Strauss, thrifted; just worn up there for Thursday's concert
• Boots - Ash; last seen here (2nd outfit) for a shopping spree in April
• Coat (below) - Only, thrifted; last worn here (3rd outfit) a week ago for dinner out with my in-laws

 I walked over to Linda's - about 25 minutes - and finally sat down. I had not been off my feet all day, since I got out of bed.

 This sweater was lovely out in the weather, but way too warm inside Linda's house. I took it off and tied it around my waist and just wore my camisole (layered underneath). Better! Now, bring on the wine!

My full walkin' outfit.

 That hat works better on my head now that I have longer hair. I like the coat worn open like this (the belt is tied in the back.

The stuff:

I adore my punk boots.

• Earrings - local

I have a work evening event and two parties this weekend, so off to get in my chill time. How was YOUR weekend?