Brocade Boots and a Gold Skirt Flashback; Mice Decorations

Happy Monday, gentle readers! I hope you are all doing well, and getting ready for the holiday season, whatever that looks like for you. Today, I have a work outfit featuring the most amazing brocade boots, followed by a Flashback of a shiny skirt (with pockets), and then another display of Christmas decorations full of adorable mice. 

Before we get to my outfit, a shout-out and big THANK YOU to Ivana of Modaodaradosti blog (links 'cause I love) for her awesome artistic interpretation of my striped dress plus Monster Vest from Friday. Check it out here! 

See if you can guess what colours I'm wearing (psst, we are now in the time of year when it's too dark for my stair picture in the morning, so I just switch it to black and white). 

It was really dark out. Did you guess a blue sweater? 

• Cashmere sweater - Marina Luna, thrifted; first worn here in October for lunch with Jen
• Skirt - Club Monaco, consignment; last seen here in December 2019 with burgundy and cream
• Boots - L'Artist by Spring Step; last worn here in October for lunch and shopping with Cat
• Leather trenchcoat (below) - vintage 70s, thrifted; last seen here in October 

'Cause it's a blue sweater. 

And a gold skirt! I went through my closet last night and pulled out all of my shiny stuff so that every outfit I put together between now and New Year's is going to have some blingy glitz to it. I need bling!

I also really wanted to wear these lovely brocade boots with this skirt. As you might have guessed, I'm a fan of pockets...and miniskirts! 

We'll be having a wee Flashback on this gold skirt shortly. 

It's been in my wardrobe for longer than I thought - where do the years go?? 

This outfit felt casual to me because of the plain sweater.

It is cashmere, though, so I was nice and snuggly all day. 

Masked up - this is a teal snakeskin one from Mom. I only saw 3 or 4 live humans all day.

Sadly, our current restrictions - no social contact/gatherings at all (only our households), but we can shop and get our hair cut, and of course, wear masks in all public spaces - have been extended to January 8th, including Christmas and New Year's Eve. I'd expected this to happen, as our daily cases are not reducing, but it's still disappointing. I miss my friends and my mom so much. 

Outerwear - it rained off and on all day, but I missed most of it.

My head looks like a giant fuzzy gumdrop. 

• Hat - Principles, thrifted
• Silk devore scarf - thrifted
• Gloves - Parkhurst

The stuff: 

L asked me if I wore these to walk to work in. Silly man, you should know by now that I don't wear my good shoes and boots for walking in! I bag them up and carry them to work, while I let my Doc Martens take all the wear. 

Eclectic bling: 

I'm a bit all over the map with my bling. The necklace kind of matches the boots, and I just felt like wearing my pears bracelet. It doesn't always have to match perfectly. 

• Necklace - thrifted
• Bracelet - thrifted
• Fulvia Ring - Wendy Brandes
• Earrings - Reiss, vintage 60s, vintage fair

Flashback: Club Monaco Gold Skirt

I see a lot of Club Monaco stuff second-hand when I shop, both at thrift stores and in consignment shops - it's usually good quality and always worth a second-look. I found this lovely golden gem at My Sister's Closet here in October 2014 for $30.00.

The fabric is a woven pattern of flowers, vines and leaves, with a light greenish tint to it. The front has three box pleats; the back has two. And of course, it has pockets! 

I wore it a week later, still in October 2014, in a very 70s-inspired look. I no longer have the green shirt, but that scarf belonged to my Dad in the 50s/60s and I still have the boots. 

I was out buying Hallowe'en candy for the office that day at Bulk Barn, when another customer started hollering, "You look like Carole Burnett!" It took me a few hollers until I realized he was talking to me! 

The skirt hasn't always been that easy to style, although I've tried a lot of different colours, including this (bad on me) candy pink in March 2015.

I'm very attracted to fancy jackets - this one got very fuzzed out on one side from Vizzini licking it. 

Another fancy jacket - this is from December 2015 - that I ended up giving to Caro. 

I still have the 1920s necklace. 

I quite like this look with the boxy leopard top, from February 2016.

It's a different silhouette and helps keep the aggressively A-line shape of the skirt under control. We saw those shoes in Flashback here. 

I really loved this outfit from March 2016.

We saw that jacket in Flashback here, and the boots here. 

I was deep in one of my Velvet Phases here in November 2016. 

That is a gorgeous shade of teal, so how was I to resist? I still have the shoes, which we saw in Flashback here. 

My baby blue blouse makes another appearance in February 2017, along with this cream blazer, which we will see again shortly. 

The Star Wars "I Know" shoes were seen in Flashback here. 

This is a fairly boring outfit...if you can call two shiny items plain, ha ha, but the coat was the star (it was one of my Desigual ones). 

I sort of miss that sparkly sweatshirt, but I don't miss the chunky shoes. This was in November 2017.

I really like this November 2018 look with a jacket worn over the skirt - we saw this jacket in Flashback here. 

I also like the pictures with Vizzini in the background. 

Another attempt at a boxier shape with the skirt, in October 2019.

We saw that blazer in Flashback here and the shoes in Flashback here. 

And here's the last time I wore this skirt, along with that cream blazer again, a year ago in December 2019. 

I just wore that silk blouse under a pink sweater, and I have yet to wear those fabulous shoes! Soon! 

Mathy stuff: I typically wear this skirt 1-2 times a year, so it's not a huge shock that today's outfit marks the twelfth time I've worn it. That's a very respectable $2.50 per wear, but I have years in this still. 

What's your favourite? What would you pair with this gold skirt? 

Christmas Decorations: Mice!

I am not really a cutesy person, but working among cute things tends to induce a little "Stockholm Syndrome" in a person. Also, I acquired most of these ornaments and decorations 25-30 years ago - I was in my 20s! Of course I was into cute things! 

Anyway, this is all to explain why I have all these mice decorations. I do adore animals (and wait till I get to the dozens of animal ornaments I have!), and when this line arrived and I was unpacking them, I fell hard. I think I bought most of these around 1996-97, near the end of my time at Christmas House. I recall that they were all in the $9.95 to $24.95 range. 

Instead of these all getting lost on the tree (only about 1/3 of them hang), I opted to put them together on top of another revolving CD shelf.

Most of them stand up, so I arranged them in little vignettes with the Christmas green ball candleholder and my vintage Indiana Glass Company tea-light candleholder in the middle.

This side is the music side...party going on! 

This side is a Santa mouse and sleeping mice. Shhh...keep that music down, the kids are sleeping!

I like making displays viewable from different angles. 

A more centered view of the sleeping mice. 

And more Santa mice coming into view on the right. 

Let's take a closer look at the individual pieces, shall we? 

These ornaments very much remind me of the lines, "Not a creature was stirring/ Not even a mouse," from the Clement C. Moore poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (aka "Twas the Night Before Christmas"), which I pretty much know by heart. 

The detail is amazing, right down to the woodgrain on the back of this cuckoo clock. 

All of these decorations are moulded resin, all handpainted. 

The sleeping mice. 

This one's in a spotted nightgown and cap, and is curled around a candleholder. 

This wee one is in stripes (with a bell on her cap). 

She's snoozing in a tiny teacup. 

And this one's crawled into Santa's hat to dream. 

No doubt with "visions of sugarplums". 

This mouse is sitting on top of a pocket watch - the watch chain is how you hand him. 

The watch is nearly the size of a real pocket watch. 

Rear view. 

I know I personalized a few of these for folks - I wrote dates, "Victoria, BC" and other stuff on ornaments for customers all the time. 

This Santa mouse figure makes me happy. He has a fun face - I like his pipe too. 

He's sitting on an ornament, like those old-fashioned ones we all broke as kids. 

This Santa mouse is in a sleigh. 

He's carrying a mouse soldier! 

These have good detail all the way around. 

He's about 3" tall. 

I like this fellow too, with his bell. 

Oh, I see I'm in the reflection on the green ceramic ball candleholder. 

I love this two-piece set.

The piano has a garland along the top and a candelabra. 

The fellow playing it has a lovely bow tie. 

He's sitting on a piano stool, and his hands are poised to tickle the ivories. 

I have a couple of angel mice ornaments, both playing instruments. 

You can see the repair job on the trumpet of this one, which broke years ago. Zap-A-Gap to the rescue! 

This little angel is playing a fiddle. 

I can almost hear the music...except I loathe Christmas carols due to a decade-plus of forced listening. 

My final two angel mice are candle-rings - they are meant to sit low on a taper, but they are slightly too narrow to fit on my candles, so I put one at the top...

And the other sitting in the top of the amber glass candleholder, like she's waiting to pass her wreath up. 

And there we have it, the Christmas mice. 

An extra LED tea-light for some more glow, and we have a little party going on! 

Be merry, my friends!