Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Friday Lemon-Lime, Forest Urbanite, Leopard and Orange in Van, Closet Swap, Wooly Monday

 Hello, my friends! I'm back after yet another whirlwind of a weekend! We have a lot to chat about, and oodles of pictures, so here we go!

L and I both took Friday and Monday off, giving our busy weekend bookends of blissful quiet and sanity. We slept in a bit on Friday and went for brunch at Shine. 

 I felt sunny and bright in this! After our meal, we strolled down Oak Bay Avenue and popped into a few shops.

• Cardigan - Joseph A, consignment; last seen here (3rd outfit) in August with silk palazzo pants
• Sleeveless cashmere sweater - J. Crew; first worn here in September for a Visible day
• Skirt - Linea Domani, thrifted; first worn here in April with olives and orange
• Shoes - Eject; last seen here with many greens in June

Look at that lovely blue sky!

 This is my view from the stairs when I do my outside shot. The oak trees are starting to shed their acorns.

Mister Vizzini was bugging me while I took my pictures. He likes it when we're home.

"I do? I'm barely tolerating this cuddling, Woman."

It was a lovely afternoon, hanging out with my sweetie, L.

"The Man is adequate, I suppose."

I'm keeping this cardigan and sweater out in my fall/winter wardrobe. I love the light olive colour of the cardigan.

"Aren't you done yet?"

And you never know when you'll need a pop of yellow with some dark wintery outfit!

 I really liked how this skirt worked with the outfit. I'd considered keeping it out for fall, due to the colour palate, but the cotton-blend fabric is a little light for winter.

The stuff:

 Away these clompin' shoes go into storage for another 6 months. See you in March!

Gold bling:

 Plain pieces that give me pleasure.

• Green stone ring - consignment
• Amber ring - c. 1996
• Ear-balls - Dior, consignment

We stopped in at Good Things Vintage, where I found this cool ring.

 It's by Erth, an Australian company. And with all that packaging, it looks like it's never been worn.

It was on sale in the shop for $14.00, but you can see the original price of $55.00 there.

 It's very cool on - I'm looking forward to wearing it.

I also popped into a little consignment shop (I can never remember the name, gah), where I found a jammie dress on the half price rack.

 It's that bouncy jersey material, but I like the allover leopard.

It's by Michael Kors and was $39.55.

 I think I'll get some wear out of this!

On Friday night, we went out for dinner with Cat and Ross and Yvonne and Randall, then we all strolled over to Urbanite at the Art Gallery for a three-hour party!

 The theme was "Supernatural: Art, Technology and the Forest" so many of the patrons wore florals, plant patterns and even some actual greenery.

• Dress - Club Monaco, consignment; last seen here (2nd outfit) in May 2016 for Yvonne's 50th birthday party (I have short purple hair in a swoosh, and no arm tattoos!)
• Shoes - Sol Sana; purchased here last week for $125.00
• Coat (below) - Kimchi Blue; last worn here a couple of weeks ago

I love shopping my closet for one of my many seldom-worn party dresses - I have several that I just rotate every 3-4 years. I've had this green satin dress for a long time, through a few hair colors and cuts!

 It's deliberately cut to hang off one shoulder (it's odd-looking on a hanger).

I'd planned to wear another outfit entirely, and then changed my mind at the last minute to wear this deep forest green.

 The palm fronds on the shoes may have influenced me.

Did you spot my secret technology?

 It's my Star Trek pin - one woman at the gallery spotted it and high-fived me.

Ready with the yeti!

 My little vintage silver mail purse was the perfect carry-all for my ID, lipstick, keys and drink tickets.

The stuff:

 I walked to the pub, to the gallery and home in these, and stood for three solid hours in them. They were awesome!

I didn't even realize until I lined them up that the suede is cut to be exactly matching on each foot.

 What an incredible attention to detail!

Silver bling:

 As always, I like to mix messages.

• Steel cuff - thrifted
• Silver earring - Brenda Schoenfeld, 1992, vintage mall
• Stud earring - don't remember
• Crystal ring - Soul Flower
• F#@! rings - Wendy Brandes
• Star Trek pin - MoPop gift shop, Seattle
• Wood grain button - Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
• Purse (above) - vintage, gift from Megan Mae

We had an awesome time hanging out with our friends, checking out the exhibits, and enjoying the DJ, and people-watching.

We crashed into bed late, and spent a lazy morning around the house. As I was getting ready, Vizzini was lurking.

"I suspect something is up."

He was right - time to get our travel gear on!

 I wore this new-to-me leopard dress right away! Why not? I knew I'd want to be super-comfy.

• Dress - Michael Kors, consignment; purchased the day before for $39.55.
• Shoes - Clarks, consignment; last seen here (4th outfit) in April for Easter with my family
• Coat (below) - Club Monaco, thrifted; last worn here in August

He was so right.

"I know this backpack! You're leaving me!"

Yup! L and I did a 24-hour vacation to Vancouver to attend our friends Andrew and Theresa's wedding.

 We don't get to see them very often, and all our local friends have been married forever - we haven't been invited to a wedding in ages!

We also haven't really had a travel holiday this year, so when we got the invite we thought, "Why not!? Let's do it!"

 This dress was excellent, and  I quite like the neckline and long sleeves.

My only issue was that due to the fishnet tights I have on, it clung to them a bit and rode up. I resolved this by wearing a short half-slip but still had to be vigilant on my hemlines.

This jacket is packed away for the cool weather. Thank you for all the wearings, black jacket!

The stuff:

 These shoes are comfortable. I knew I would need that, and I'm glad I wore them.

Gold bling:

 I wore these same accessories with my wedding outfit.

• Cuff - Lia Sophia, thrifted
• Amber ring - c. 1996
• Gold hoop earrings - 5th anniversary gift from L

Our afternoon flight was at 1:30pm, but the weather was looking a little dubious. It was so nice on Friday - what happened?

 We had a very cramped and bumpy ride to Vancouver, flying into a headwind. We checked into our hotel, grabbed a quick late lunch, and went to the venue.

I wore this outfit, but I took my pose-y pictures today (Monday) because I barely took any pictures at the wedding. We focused on enjoying ourselves and being in the moment.

So! Orange! I felt like a million bucks in this gorgeous dress!

This is my entry for "Visible Monday" over at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style - go, run, quickly!

• Dress - David Meister, thrifted; purchased here in July for $29.25
• Shoes - Big Presence Desmond, Fluevog; last seen here in June with chartreuse
• Coat - Club Monaco, thrifted; worn all during our travel

I took one picture of L and I before we left the hotel, but the momentary blast of sun leached all the colour out.

 We look fabulous, if I do say so myself!

As I was going out to do my stair shot, Vizzini barged in, trying to get to the hall.

"Well, open the door, Woman!"

No, not allowed!

I had tons of compliments on my outfit all night.

 Such a beautiful dress!

It was quite comfortable to wear - no "hoiking" the top up.

 Saturday evening was fairly chilly (we were on the water in Stanley Park) and I ended up wearing my coat most of the time, unfortunately.

I love the little swooshy "fin."

 I steamed the dress before we flew to Vancouver, but it wrinkled up a bit in my pack.

The stuff:

 By the end of the night, my feet were killing me - I stood for close to 6.5 hours in these, which is too long.

Gold bling:

Look familiar?

We had some wonderful pork for dinner, cooked by this gentleman.

 Wow, that...is a pig. It was delicious, though.

I have never seen a wedding cake made of...

 Cheese! That's a cheese-cake.

In the hopes of having Sunday and all of Monday to be idle, we'd booked an early floatplane flight home.

 No one on the rainy streets of Vancouver at 7am.

And that looks like some very low-lying clouds. I can't even see the far shore. There are mountains there!

 The water was choppy too. Our fears were soon realized, when all of the flights in the morning were cancelled.

We sped to the ferry docks, about a 40 minute drive from town.

 I think this is karma for all my "Ferries are for chumps!" comments when we've previously flown.

The view from the ferry.

 Rain. Ocean. Clouds.

And my guy, looking suave.

 We had a nice buffet lunch and chilled for the crossing.

The ferry takes an hour and 45 minutes, dock to dock.

 The face of a woman who wants to GET HOME.

Ferries everywhere...

 You get used to them when you're from this part of the world.

This only looks like aliens are attacking that ferry.

 The lights are the reflection from the buffet lounge.

Finally, we got home around 2pm (four hours later than if we'd flown!), to a glad greeting from the resident feline.

"Oh, decided to grace me with your presence?"

I immediately traumatized him by hauling out the vacuum cleaner and emptying my closet. He hates the chaos and hid under the covers of the bed for most of it.

 My fall/winter shoe collection.

More shoes and boots. I didn't count this time.

 I needed to get my closet changed over, but also wanted to not be blogging all day or caught up taking a million pictures. I've done this before - here's the last time I swapped out my closet, at the end of March/early April.

First, I took all my shoes out, and put the ones I'm putting back for the new season into the hallway. The ones getting packed away are on the right.

 That pile at the back are my spring/summer clothes that got packed up. The mess of hangers grows. The avalanche on the left is all the new things I've purchased for fall/winter over the last 6 months.

What it looked like from the closet door.

There's order in this mess, I swear.

The closet emptied.

 I oil-soap all of the wood surfaces. I see I haven't pulled out all of the bags lurking under the shelves and my jacket collection yet. Those are more fall/winter boots, shoes and clothing. It's bulkier and takes up more room when stored.

There are four longer shelves on the left side, above my shirts, long skirts and trousers. My dresses are at the far left end, on a long-hang bar.

 I have to use a step-stool to reach the upper shelves - my closet is built in right up to the ceiling.

I dust the chandelier every so often. This was not one of those times.

My poppy tile is from the Art Gallery, many years ago. The feathers on the chandelier are fascinators for my hair.

These are the spring/summer shoes, minus the ones I culled.

 I have been avoiding getting rid of the shoes I just can't wear anymore. You know those ones: too high, really too HIGH, and the ones that hurt. I did it this time, and it feels okay to let them go. I wasn't wearing them, and I'm not going to. They deserve to be worn, by owners who will love them.

The giveaway pile grew steadily (I didn't take any pictures of it) as I folded up each piece.

 I had to add some more to these piles of things to be packed away, as I ran out of hangers!

I won't buy more - my closet is a limited size, and more hangers just won't fit.

 I try to only use wooden hangers, but the thin flocked velvet grey ones are very handy for slippy garments. For pants/skirts, I have a mix of hangers, including padded foam ones for some of my delicate skirts, wooden ones for heavy pieces and gentle clips for leather items.

I moved a few things around this time. I like a bit of variety.

 This is the top shelf above my short skirts on the right. These are my vintage hats - things I don't wear very often.

I made the top two shelves of my shoe towers dedicated to my party shoes.

 There is a pair of shoes stored in the box behind them. I haven't worn the Ted Bakers on the left yet.

My wedding shoes are in the white box.

All of these are fairly high, aside from the suede/embroidered sandals, but they are delicate and I don't intend to wear them in the wet weather.

I also wanted to make my purses and handbags easier to see - I don't have many, but I still forget what I've got.

 All lined up and now I can see them! I stored my three fun wigs behind these.

The next-door shelf gets some more purses.

 Uh-oh, room to grow! That could be very dangerous.

The top shelf above my blouses/long skirts/trousers, up near the ceiling, got my five pairs of vintage/archiving/keeper shoes that I don't really wear any more, but want to keep.

 My first Fluevogs, two pairs of shoes from the 40s/50s, my leopard pumps (I need to look for a more comfy pair for every day), and my dragon shoes. I also have my bigger fascinators/feathered pieces/netted hats stored up here, away from curious claws.

This shelf is on the left, above my dresses. The boxes have some older items (purses, Dad's sweaters), that I need to weed through.

 But...not this time. I was getting tired. I did make the effort to put all of my dressy gloves (fingerless, elbow-length) out where I can see them.

I then hauled out all of the storage bins. One big one is stored under my dresses and three flat ones live under the bed.

I've emptied them of all the fall/winter items and hung them up/folded them onto a shelf.

All my shoes get loaded back onto the shelves. This year, I put them highest heels to lowest heels on the floor. 

That just made sense to me.

All my fall/winter skirts are ready! I have a lot of brown skirts. 

 A good mix of shiny ones too, for the holiday season.

My jacket collection has grown.

 So many good ones. I spy a few new-to-me pieces at the end of the bar. Exciting!

Two of three shelves of sweaters. The shelf above has odds and ends of soft tops (big fluffy ones) and special-occasion pieces.

 The bottom right stack and half of the stack beside it are new-to-me. More excitement!

And below those, here are the blouses, long skirts and trousers.

 I have more trousers than ever.

And lastly, my dresses!

 I have two new-to-me dresses to wear, but it was so nice reacquainting myself with all of these lovelies.

I went through my belts, from small/chain/metal, to thin leather, to wide, to my soft belts and obis.

 I hear belts are a "thing" again. Maybe I'll wear some!

It took me four hours to do my main closet swapover. Phew! After that, L and I chilled out and watched some football and played board games. It was just what we needed.

We were up early today/Monday to stroll to town for brunch at Floyd's.

 My first outfit of October! It wasn't warm out, but it wasn't chilly either.

• Sweater - Banana Republic, thrifted; purchased here in July for $11.95
• Trousers - Talbots, thrifted; last seen here in one of my last outfits of fall/winter in March
• Shoes - Aldo, thrifted; first worn here in August
• Sleeveless coat - Only, thrifted; last seen here in April

This lovely merino wool and nylon-blend sweater was light and snuggly, and not itchy. I like this marled light grey shade. It has a very pretty lacy-like pattern on it, and the back is about 4 inches longer than the front. 

 I am feeling grey shades right now. Expect to see lots of it in the next six months.

I love the plaid pants.

 These are also wool, fully-lined.

Layered up with my sleeveless coat.

 It just ties closed (no buttons), and has pockets. Yes!

The stuff:

 These shoes aren't leather, so I won't be able to wear them in rainy weather, but they are a nice festive red, and I like the gold heels. I do like a dressy red shoe that I can actually walk in.

Red and silver bling:

 At this point, I had not yet done my jewelry box swapover, so I just grabbed stuff that I liked that went with the outfit.

• Cuff - Rimanchik
• White gold earrings - 10th anniversary gift from L 
• Ring - Nine West

We hauled a few groceries home and then, back to work, let's get this jewelry swapped over! 

 Again, I just wanted to get it done, so these are the "after" pictures of my fall/winter jewels and bijouterie. Above is my grandmother's jewelry box. I keep most of my vintage stuff in it.

This is my Bombay Company jewelry box. It's a monster and it holds a lot. There are five drawers down the centre front, including a double-deep one on the bottom.

 I give it all a good dusting when I do this. Looks like I missed the mirror...

I leave the sides of the big box open so that my necklaces can spill out. The crystal dish was picked up a year or two ago at a thrift store.

 The two-tiered vintage glass dessert tray on the lower left holds all my rigid cuffs and bracelets. All done, for another 6 months. Yay! Now I can go play with making new outfits!

Vizzini, what do you think of all this?

"I say it's time to get back to cuddling." 

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!