Monster Friday: Striped Sweater Dress and Gentle Souls Flashbacks, and the Bookshelf Other Half

Hello, my friends, and happy Friday to you all! I'm kicking off my weekend by gifting you this monster post, wherein we shall view this striped dress in Flashback, AND the groovy grey suede shoes in Flashback, AND I'm going to show you the other half of my decorated bookshelf. So, grab a cup of whatever pleases you and join me! 

I saved Monster Vest II for my haircut with Sofia, sadly, my last one with her as she is opening her own salon in Langford. I'm super-excited for her (here's her FB page!), but it's too far for us to travel. 

Anyway, I knew she would appreciate my faux fur. 

• Monster Vest II - Kensie, consignment; purchased here for $24.00
• Dress - Karen Millen, consignment; last seen here in January for a family gathering
• Shoes - Gentle Soles; last worn here in December 2019 with a different grey vest
• Coat (below) - Danier, thrifted; last seen here in October for a Wonder Women shop in Sidney

First the dress without the vest. 

I did overheat once or twice, but Monster Vest II is not as hot to wear as Monster Vest I (or else the hot flashes are easing??). 

Isn't it a sweet dress? Proof that horizontal stripes work when they're done right! 

Add the vest for extra badassery.

I felt really good in this - part of that is that I've been severely curbing my snacking and I'm back to where my clothes are fitting like they're supposed to. Go, me! I shall soon me wearing my #clothesgoals things (McQueen x 2, for example). 

Why yes, I am half-asleep, why do you ask? 

These ginormous faux fur vests are not the most flattering things from all angles - best to keep the layers under it fairly slim. 

Masked up - this is my zebra one from Mom. 

It reminds me of jagged teeth, and added to my overall Monster vibe. 

Outerwear - this vest will only fit under a select few coats...

So why not wear it OVER a thinner coat? I felt so clever! 

• Gloves - Danier Leather

The stuff: 

I mostly stayed close to my desk today, although I did go out to run some errands in these. Super-comfy! 

Scary bling: 

Even my jewelry was scary today! Rar! 

• Necklace - the Bay, c. 2009
• Studded cuff - Alexis Bittar, consignment, Vancouver
• Fang bangle - Alexis Bittar, consignment, Sidney
• Leather studded cuff - c. 1997
• Earrings - Glee
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes
• Silver/onyx ring - Toccara, vintage fair

Here's me being a Very Scary Monster! 

Rar! I eat you! 

Flashback #1: Karen Millen Striped Dress

I found this dress at My Sister's Closet (RIP) here in March 2018 for $29.98. It's called the "Clean Stretch" dress and it's from Karen Millen's Fall/Winter 2014 collection. It's a wool blend and very stretchy. 

It's very good quality - look how the striped line up across the body and arms. 

The background is black with stripes of white, tan, orange and blue. 

I wore it to Vancouver in March 2018 for our anniversary trip. This is me and Melanie of Bag and Beret, and we're posing in the Gastown Fluevog store. 

That was Monster Vest I, who has gone to live with my niece Sidney.

I usually play with either the orange or the blue when creating an outfit. Here in April 2018, I did orange. 

And a black and white cat, of course. Showing the orange coat as my outerwear, although I worked all day with just the plain dress showing. 

It's a total jammy dress. Look how dressy a necklace makes it look. 

That was in October 2018. 

I tend to wear it fairly simply - the dress does all the work, here in February 2019. 

I like the long cut of it, although it has a tendency to ride up with tights and nylons. 

I wore it for a casual evening lounging around with friends in October 2019. 

It's perfect for curling up on a couch. Long cardi Flashbacked here.

And here's the last time I wore it, in January 2020 for my brother Dave's 50th birthday. 

Those boots (Flashbacked here) nearly ruined that vest. 

Mathy stuff: As I've now worn this dress 7 times, my original $29.98 is down to $4.28 per wear. Awesome! 

How else would you style this dress? What's your favourite look?

Flashback #2: Gentle Souls Ankle-Strap Platforms

When you have a lot of shoes (I have a lot of shoes), it takes something really unique for me to purchase. It needs to be a colour that I lack, or a style that really calls to me - there has to be some magic there. 

I spotted these at local boutique Footloose Shoes here on a weekend shop with L in August 2015, for $134.00 on clearance. 

The colour appealed to me, as did the soft suede. I wasn't too sure about the weird platform or the odd-shaped heel. 

I do love an ankle strap, though.

And I fell hard when I tried them on - so comfy! You can see all that padding inside. Great shoes for walking but not really as high as they look. It ends up being about 1.5".

I wore them right away to work in August 2015. 

I'm wearing this bubble dress in the framed illustration behind my head, and that's my old fruital blouse, much beloved for many years. All I have left is the belt. 

I gave this sweater to my coworker Chelsea just after I wore it in September 2015. I think Yvonne has that skirt now. 

I like how the shoes look with dark tights - I often have them out for fall/winter. 

I only wore this amazing purple dress once, here in February 2016 - hey, there's today's "teeth" necklace. 

I was so self-conscious about how clingy it was, although I look at it now, and think, "DAMN!"

A fairly classy look in April 2016. 

I had that jacket for a while, and I still have that leather skirt (Flashbacked here). 

My infamous blue blouse peeks out from behind this funky faux fur, also in April 2016. 

Yvonne also has that skirt. 

I'll be wearing this Etro vintage blazer at some point this season - it's been around a long time. 

This was in June 2016, for my series called, "Shoes My Husband Hates", post here. 

I passed this cashmere sweater along to Yvonne as well (she does get a lot of my clothes!). 

I still have that skirt - it's been around forever! This was in October 2016.

This is so dramatic! Why did I get rid of that red pussy-bow blouse? 

This is in March 2017, and that's the same dress as the first outfit. 

I'm looking boss here in April 2017. 

I love yellow and grey together. 

I had this skirt for ages before I finally gave it up - this was in July 2017. 

Nice to see another one of my many, many ruffled blouses here - I'd forgotten about that one (it's long-gone). 

I still have this pink blazer, seen here in January 2018. 

I loved that skirt...

And wore it again here with my vintage Karl Lagerfeld blazer in April 2018.

But it made a break for my waist whenever to took more than two steps and I moved it along. 

This was a work-to-vintage fair look from June 2018. The theme was polka dots. 

I like the gold accents mixed with the grey/silver accessories. I still have all of these: the dress, the shrug, the bag, the fascinator. 

However, I nothing left from this outfit from September 2018 except the shoes and one cuff. 

I move things out of my closet quickly when they don't work. 

I love this outfit from April 2019 - oh my, I do miss that vintage teal 60s sweater, but it actually wore out. 

That skirt will make a reappearance in the Spring. 

Yellow and grey, together again in August 2019. 

I didn't keep the top (or the jewelry), but we saw that skirt in Flashback here. 

Pink and grey is also a great combination, as here in November 2019. 

You can see more outfits with the pink skirt in the Flashback here. 

And here is the last time I wore these shoes, in December 2019 with my long grey knit vest. 

Those are a pair of ginormous pants - I'm looking forward to wearing them soon. 

Mathy stuff: I'm quite surprised at how much I've actually worn these shoes! Over 5.5 years, they've been in 19 outfits, which brings us to $7.05 per wear, and they are still going strong, so I expect to bring that down even further. 

Did you have a favourite look? What colours do you like best with them? 

Christmas Decorations: The Other Half of the Bookshelf/Winnie the Pooh

Today, I'm featuring the other half of the bookshelf where all my Winnie the Pooh collection lives. 

I like how nice and glowy everything looks. 

Starting with What's On The Tree, I picked this Pooh ornament to be the tree-top. He's wearing a metal halo and metal wings. I anchored him in place by bending the branches around him and his hanging thread. 

All of the figural-style Pooh ornaments I have are by Midwest of Canon Falls. They were very good quality (good painting, lots of detail, often mixed media) and not cheap! Most of these single ones were around $15.00 each. I wondered what happened to that company, and turns out it was acquired and gradually "watered down" until it disappeared. My ornaments are all from the "good years", up till 1997 (interesting link here, 'cause I love about their history). 

Confession: my childhood nickname was "Pooh" - my dad dubbed me thusly when I was a baby after my mom handed me to him and I filled my diaper. I love the original A.A. Milne books, the old Disney cartoons, and Ernest Shepherd's illustrations, and I loved that these ornaments are based on them. 

I'm an Eeyore (grumpy, internal), but also WOL (bossy) and Piglet (anxious). I'm not a Pooh (very Zen) at all. 

Just like I don't like plain-backed dresses, I like my ornaments to be just as interesting on the back! 

We carried a very limited line of these ornaments due to the cost ($15.00 was expensive then - it's around $25 now). 

I love this giant glass ball with Pooh on top. 

Only a few of these survived shipping, and I remember some broke in the store (arg, customers!). 

This is a very long and heavy ornament. The star balloon is solid resin, as is Pooh. 

"Be Cheered, It's Christmas". 

These next two ornaments were from Mom, I think. 

I don't remember buying them. 

This one is from 1996. 

And this one...the only one featuring Christopher Robin...

...is from 1997, the year L and I got married. 

They are both made of pewter. 

I love this sproingy Tigger ornament. He's actually on a spring! Tiggers love to bounce, you know. 

So many of these got broken in the store when customers pulled them down and then let them go, causing them to spring back and smash into other ornaments. 

I bought this set of mini ornaments, which were egregiously expensive then, at $46.95. You can see that I had a pricing gun (cha-chunk!) by then (around 1996), although I've still written "SET OF 7" on it. 

People kept trying to open the boxes and buy all the Pooh ornaments. I recall that several of the display ornaments were shoplifted. 

We were open off the street and had a lot of shoplifters. I had to really engage with customers (which frightens off thieves) and learn to talk to strangers. It was good for me, and taught me how to pretend to be outgoing! 

Anyway, I bought a set because I wanted all the characters. 

Tigger and Eeyore. 

WOL and Rabbit. 

Rabbit and WOL got a bit of short shrift in the collection overall. Those are the only images of them.

Pooh, the star. 

And Piglet, Kanga and Roo. 

Considering each of these is 1-2" high, the detail is amazing. 

I still have the hang-tag. 

Not a toy! 

I hung two more Pooh ornaments off the front of the Treasure Box of Wonder. 

Another Pooh hanging from a "balloon", this one a glass ball. 

And Pooh hanging from an arch of stars. 

Ah, Disney, ever the trademark kings. 

I like sitting ornaments on surfaces to look at them better. 

Just because they have a hanging thread doesn't mean they have to hang. 

Santa Pooh with a pot of "huny" and a bee on a spring. 

And a sled full of disaster waiting to happen. 

Such good detail. 

I lined all the sledders in a row on the top of the bookshelf so that they go smallest to largest, and create a sense of movement.

It draws your eye across the front. 

In the background there is my Pooh snowglobe. We sold tons of music boxes (we had a whole section of them). I didn't buy very many, but wanted this one. 

A quote from the books, with Piglet and Pooh tracking a Heffalump, I believe.  

Kanga and Roo on the back. 

The air bubble in this one has expanded over the last 25ish years - most snowglobes have them so that if the water solution freezes and expands, the glass won't break. 

Rabbit and Tigger. 

It plays "Winter Wonderland" (I never wind it up - I loathe Christmas songs). 

It's by Willitts, a company that made amazingly beautiful music boxes. We carried a lot of their carousel horse models. 

And here's the full other half. 

And now, I'm off for the weekend! I'll be back on Sunday with tales of adventure! Thank you so much for stopping by.

Stay safe and be chill (as well as cheered).