Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Pink and Sparkly Blue Friday; A Delicate F**king Flower; Bronze Bruncher; Blue Gala Goddess

Hello, my friends! We made it through the first party weekend of the season! Here's a recap of my busy weekend.

A sneak preview of L and I at my company gala party...

...but let's back this up a bit: here's Friday's work outfit,

Getting my sparkly on, but also ready for a very busy day. I left myself a lot of work I'll have to do on Monday morning, sigh.

• Sweater - J. Crew, consignment; last worn here (4th outfit) in October for a shopping expedition
• Blouse - Talbots, thrifted; first worn here in November with sunset colours
• Skirt - J. Crew, thrifted; first worn here in April with soft pink
• Shoes - Shoe the Bear, consignment; purchased here for $53.99
• Coat (below) - Auckie Sanft, vintage 60s, thrifted; last worn here on Monday

We had a pretty good weekend, and lucked out on the weather. Here's my morning view of the Castle.

It rained off and on, but we missed most of it - and considering how much walking we did every day, I was really happy about that!

I went with colour matching in blues and pinks, but overall, I was rather "meh" about this look.

I layered my pink blouse under the sweater, which took some fussing, but was worth it for the nice bow in front.

I love the brilliant blue of the sweater - it has splits at the sides, and is longer in the back.

Uh oh, I see my sweater tag sticking up in the back - dammit, no one told me all day!

I liked this casual vibe - and who doesn't love a skirt with pockets?

However, I've decided to let the skirt go - the shape is good, the fabric and pattern are fine, but I feel like I've done enough with it. I only paid $12.50 for it and wore it twice, and I am good with that. Time to go to a new home, skirt.

Outerwear - feeling in the pink (har har).

I even put a sparkly blue rhinestone pin on my coat.

Done up and snuggly warm.

 I can't get enough of the Fuzzy Flamingo - and it gets fuzzier every time I wear it.

• Cashmere pashmina - Portolano, thrifted
• Leather/cashmere gloves - Danier Leather

The stuff:

First wearing of these shoes and they were awesome! I did a total of 14.5 hours in them on Friday, and my feet were happy happy happy. A good purchase!

Sparkly blue bling:

I love getting my vintage and sparkly bling into my December outfits.

• Necklace/earrings - Sherman, vintage 60s, thrifted
• Brooch - vintage 60s, vintage fair
• Cuff - Swarovski, consignment, gift from L
• Lapis lazuli ring/Fulvia Ring - Wendy Brandes

Oh, who am I kidding? I like sparkly bling all year round!

I rushed home after work to quickly change and leave the house - L and I had a concert to go to!

It was a sit-down concert (the best kind, say my feet), so I wanted to be comfy.

• Coat - Paparazzi, thrifted, Vancouver; last worn here (3rd outfit) in September for brunch
• Sparkly turtleneck - Jacob, thrifted; last seen here in November with Gaultier and Balmain
• Flocked velvet jeans - L'Wren Scott for Banana Republic, thrifted; last worn here in November with monochrome wines
• Shoes - Shoe the Bear, consignment; worn same day!

Getting my picture on while L is a goofball.

We caught the bus to the venue, and while we were waiting at our stop, a guy hopping off another bus said, "Hey, that's an awesome jacket." L - who was wearing his Boston Bruins satin jacket (such a klassy guy) - said, "Thanks, man! Go, Boston!"

I pointed out afterwards that perhaps the guys was commenting on my jacket? It's slightly more awesome than his Bruins coat!

It's entirely embroidered on black stretch denim.

Look at the symmetry of the pattern! It makes my heart sing. Such amazing detail.

It had a lot of admirers. I was the dressiest person at the show, although there were a few other spiffy-looking ladies.

While we were standing in line to get in, the lady trading in our tickets said, "Aren't you the colourful one?"

 "This is how I roll," I drawled.

• Scarf - Portolano, thrifted
• Leather/cashmere gloves - consignment
• Leather purse - Danier, thrifted

The stuff:

Same shoes - why not? They were so comfy, I just had to leave them on!

• Earrings - consignment
• Rings - Wendy Brandes

One of my earrings made a break for it at the intermission, while we were chatting with the artist we were there to see! I had to ask him to move so that I could retrieve it from under his chair. I swapped out rubber back stops later to keep them on more securely.

Oh, and in case you were wondering where the title of this outfit came from...

The socks matched my coat so well. That's one of my favourite expressions.

We went to the Oak Bay Rec Centre lounge to see Matt Patershuk (link here, 'cause I love, as with all my links), a Canadian blues/folk/country musician. If that's your wheelhouse, music-wise, here's the YouTube link to the opening number that he played.

The venue is exactly what it sounds like: a lounge at the local recreation centre. See the black curtain on the right? Behind that is a window that looks down on the swimming pool!

In the picture above is (from left to right):

• Daniel Lapp - a local musical genius who stepped in and joined this jam for the evening (link about him here, and you might remember him from his brief appearance in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics opening ceremony, here - he's the dude in the spiky mohawk)
• Matt Patershuk - he wears this embroidered shirt in pictures a lot, so I was happy to see him wearing it for the show - that's why I wore my jacket!
• Steve Dawson - Patershuk's producer, and guitar aficionado 

Lapp played about 5 different instruments throughout the night, including this Stroh violin.

And a trumpet.

He played fiddle and some other kind of squished-looking trumpet (a piccolo trumpet, maybe), as well.

We got to meet Matt at intermission, and he graciously let us take a picture.

I had a nice bonding moment with his wife in the bathroom too (she had a very sparkly shirt on), and exchanged hugs with her at the end of the show.

Check out L's review of Matt's album "If Wishes Were Horses" here, as well as his review of the show, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It helped that it was a "listening only" venue, meaning (as the event producer told us), SHUT UP. No talking allowed during the show, and they enforced it! What a great idea - I've had shows just ruined by idiots chattering around me.

We walked home from the show afterwards in the crisp evening. It was a fun night, but a really long day, so I slept in and did not do my Mental Health Walk - but I did a lot of walking on Saturday to make up for it!

And as you may have been wondering, yes, I coloured my hair pink. It will fade out to a more pastel version of this over the next several days.

This is my entry for "Visible Monday" over at Patti's Not Dead Yet Style. Go!

• Leather jacket - Burberry, consignment; last worn here (2nd outfit) in November for brunch and shopping
• Sweater - Sonia Rykiel, consignment; last seen here in January with slouchy plaid
• Skirt - Pink Martini, consignment; last worn here in March with green bookends
• Boots - Matisse, consignment; last seen here with this jacket in November

Right down to the pigtails, this is a nearly identical outfit to this one here. Different sweater and skirt, but otherwise, same formula.

Since I was not planning on doing any shopping for myself, I added this bigass belt.

I love wearing this jacket when it's rainy out - it completely blocks the water.

 It did rain for a bit when we were walking down to Pluto's for our brunch.

 Hat, scarf and gloves, engage!

• Hat - Delux
• Scarf - Danier, thrifted
• Gloves - Cejon, thrifted

After we ate, I headed off to do my Christmas shopping for Mom and my nieces and nephew.

I'll do the rest of my shopping for L an other day - I always pick up things here and there for him (and Mom) when I'm out and about, so I already have a bit of a stash put aside.

Geared up for a busy day.

It required many cups of coffee, but I managed to get myself in the holiday spirit.

• Leather bag - vintage 80s, vintage mall

The stuff:

Good walking boots - the rain held off while I worked my way up and down Fort Street, but you can see that the toe is still wet.

Bold bling:

The belt is leather and the studs are mixed metals. Isn't it cool?

• Belt - BCBG Max Azria, consignment
• Hoops - consignment

And you can see I've changed the earring backs - no more escape acts.

I picked up a book for myself on my travels, as well as these fabulous trouser socks.

I felt sure that Santa would not have found these on his own. They are by Nouvella and were $10.00 on sale. I shopped for about 4 hours, and made a point of shopping in locally-owned and operated stores as well as second-hand stores, for all of my holiday shopping. It's important to me that I give back to my community.

I had just enough time for a half-hour nap before we got dressed for my company gala holiday party. I did a test-run of all my gown options a few days earlier, and this is the dress that I settled on. Goddess gown to the rescue!

I loved the colour - you can't go wrong with cobalt blue. It's one of those colours that looks good on everyone, I think.

• Dress - Banana Republic, consignment; purchased here (new, with tags) for $20.00
• Shoes - Sol Sana; last seen here (3rd outfit) for my birthday party in October
• Coat (below) - Hilary Radley, thrifted; last worn here a couple of days ago

I didn't feel like anything tight or clingy. I swooshed about dramatically all evening.

 Besides, I kind of wanted the pockets.

I curled my hair, but as you might have noticed from the photo booth pictures (above and below), there was almost no curl left by the time I got to the party.

Showing off my double slit action.

 I have nylons on, don't worry. I'm not about to freeze my legs off.

With my purse - I mixed my metals with gold and silver.

 You couldn't even tell in the dim ballroom.

With my walking accoutrements - I swapped out the shoes for my Doc Martens for walking to and from the hotel, about 30 minutes each way.

 All bundled up, and L getting his stuff on too.

It was a lovely crisp evening, and we enjoyed walking through town and admiring all the seasonal decorations. On the way home, we were amidst the club-goers - I do not miss those days!

• Cashmere beret - Club Monaco, thrifted
• Pashmina - Portolano, thrifted
• Gloves - consignment

The stuff:

Comfy shoes for a half-standing, half-sitting night. We left before the dancing started, and came home and listened to music and played boardgames.

Sparkle bling:

My hard metal clutch holds just enough.

• Purse - Reiss, thrifted
• Belt - vintage, thrifted
• Necklace/bracelet/earrings - Sherman "Aurora Borealis" finish, 14K gold, Grandma J's, vintage 60s
• Rings - Wendy Brandes

This parure is one of my treasures from Grandma J - it still has its original box, from the Hudson's Bay Company.

I'm always happy to have an occasion to wear it.

L and I looking spiffy.

 L is wearing an awesome shiny silver long jacket (consignment), his blue suit pants, patent blue Fluevogs, a pink shirt and a thrifted Ralph Lauren tie.

More photo booth pictures - L and I do these every year (our fridge is covered with them!).

This is our Rock and Roll picture.

Yeah, baby, badassery abounds!

Our Serious picture.

I have a bit of a duck-face going there, ha ha!

And my favourite, our Lovey faces.

Aw...much love to my partner in crime.

I hope you had a wonderful long weekend!