Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up: Farewell to Pluto's, Frock Coat Flashback and Dots Deals; Zoom Fringe-O-Rama and Adventure Flashback

Welcome back, my friends, it's so good to see you. I hope you've all been having a lovely weekend. It's been fairly chill in these parts, but we make our own good times, right? Every day is a good day to dress up! 

Saturday was the busy day for us - our Sundays are often spent reading and listening to music, blogging and watching TV - with brunch, a wee bit of shopping, and our Happy Hour Zoom call with our pals. 

I'll be doing my spring/summer wardrobe swap-over next weekend, so I'm scrambling to put together outfits with all the backwards hanger/as-yet-unworn stuff. 

I do love a black/white/red combo - if I were to ever cut back my wardrobe drastically, I think I'd dress in these colours frequently. 

• Frock coat - Noa Noa; last worn here in March of 2020, also getting in a wearing for the season
• Blouse - Tatum & Olivia, consignment; last seen here in November 2020 with olive greens and gold
• Skirt - Tatum & Olivia, consignment; first worn here in September 2020 with red, white and grey
• Shoes - Truths Pilgrim, Fluevog; last seen here in November 2020 with all the dots

I'm squeezing in this awesome frock coat for its solo outfit of the past season. 

It's an amazing, unusual piece, and I've had it over 10 years - we'll be having a Flashback on it shortly. 

Instead of outerwear, I buttoned it up, despite it being slightly boob-smooshy. 

Without the coat, so you can see the rest of the outfit, although I never took the coat off. 

Showing my bra straps - klassy. 

When I put this outfit on this morning, I realized I'd lost some weight! The skirt was miles too big and was sitting about 4 inches too low. 

Easily fixed with a couple of big safety pins! Due to the intricacy of the pattern, it's not something I'd consider sewing. And yes, this is reminiscent of my loopy dress from last weekend - Tatum & Olivia evolved out of the Tangerine Jill label. 

Masked up - let's add another pattern! 

L was goofing around in the background of this pic, but he turned out blurry. 

"Stay still," I said. 

L's new Fluevogs arrived - I picked them up Friday on the way home from work. He's wearing cobalt blue jeans, a red/blue floral and striped shirt, and a red velvet blazer with black lapels. I wore my heavy leather backpack (by Able) - great for hands-free shopping, stowing purchases and carrying my cloth shopping bags. 

A woman stopped her car while we were walking to town to tell us how wonderful we looked, and an enthusiastic cyclist went on about how colourful and cheery we were. So nice that people appreciate a bit a of effort! 

Outerwear stuff - and my second cup of coffee (for being nice to others, not just L). 

I wore my giant silk scarf and fingerless gloves against the slight chill. 

• Silk scarf - fake Louis (Lewis!) Vuitton/Stephen Sprouse, thrifted
• Wool gloves - Parkhurst
• Mask - by Mom

The stuff: 

These are excellent walking shoes - such a great colour too. 

• Earrings - thrifted
• Silver/onyx ring - Toccara, vintage fair
• Silver/crystal ring - Soul Flower

Vizzini was not happy we were leaving. 

"But I wanted to sleep on you!"

Later, bud, I promise! 

I took the camera with me on our walk to Pluto's for our last brunch there. 

I love this bird sculpture outside one of the houses along the way. I think it's made from cutlery! 

And here we are, at Pluto's. This was a gas station decades ago - the two "windows" on the left are roll-up doors from the old servicing area, which is where we now eat.

I used to go here in the late 80s with my ex and his friends who were in the thrash metal band Arcfiend - I wrote some of the lyrics to their song, "Coffin of No Escape" in one of the booths here...

...in that far back corner. My contribution was part of the chorus, "Sealed in by the nails of your faith/You are thrown into the coffin of no escape." Oh gosh, I just found my ex's band on BandCamp (here), and didn't know that the guitarist had died of cystic fibrosis complications (he was a sweet kid). I went to most of their shows - I'm pretty sure they opened for Napalm Death at local legendary venue Harpo's back in the early 90s (I also met all of the members of Alice in Chains there after their gig), but my memories of those days are rather hazy, heh heh.

*ahem* Well, that was fun. 

Each booth at Pluto's is decorated with pictures and facts about a different planet (they staunchly defend Pluto as a planet).

We were in the Pluto booth!

Wallis/Wally, thank you for all the great service! 

I love that the neon sign is in this shot. 

She took a pic of the three of us. 

L and I doing our "rock on" signs, Nick clutching his cream for his coffee. 

My last Huevos!

Mmm, so good. It's three corn tortillas, with two sunny-side up eggs, salsa, and cheddar melted on top, then baked beans, pickled jalapenos (my favourite!), sour cream, chopped tomatoes and guacamole. 

Happily, Pluto's is relocating to a new neighbourhood, but it's a little far for us to go (we'd have to drive every time, and we can't fit Nick in the car). 

They are tearing this building down and building (yet) another tower of condominiums. Sigh. 

Thanks for all the great food and the memories! We will miss you!

After brunch, we all walked into downtown, with stops at Sorenson Books (hi, Kathy!), where I found another one of the Taschen "Icons" series. 

This one is "Dessous: Lingerie as Exotic Weapon". 

I have four of the others in the series - I bought the two volumes of erotica at Chapters years ago.

I found the Pin-Ups a few years later, and the Male Nudes in a head shop near my old office about five years ago. Sexy! 

While L and Nick browsed in Ditch Records (we have oodles of good music to enjoy tonight!), I poked around in Dots, check out the clearance section and scoping out the new arrivals. 

I stocked up on tights: pale pink with grid pattern, solid deep rose, solid teal, and lacy cobalt blue. They were $1.99 a pair for the fancy ones, 99 cents (!) for the solids. What a deal! 

I found a cool top in the clearance section. 

"What? You bought me something?"

It's an orange and white tiger print top. 

Just a good basic in a cool pattern/colour. 

It's by Soya Concept and was marked down to $6.99. 

It's called the Garbie and it's 100% viscose (it feels like silk). 

The original retail was $62.00, with the Dots first price at $24.99 - this is a sales sample, intended for store buyers to see the brand's line. Often, these samples are never actually produced, or done in a different colourway than the samples. 

I'm pretty picky when it comes to new stuff - Dots does promos and the good pieces go quickly, so when I see a piece that speaks to me, I tend to grab it (my leopard suit - this one - was in the new stock last August, and would never have made it to the clearance). 

I've been looking for a black and white striped dress for a few years, and I really liked this one. 

It's a thick knit, and the pattern is lined up nicely on the seams (look at the back of the neck). 

I love that the skirt portion is angled (it's different on the back and the front). The dress has a dropped waist, and it's very cute on. Jammy dress! Too bad it doesn't have pockets! 

It was marked at $49.99 but new items were 20% off, so it was $37.49. Not bad, considering it would retail at $150.00. 

I have bought many pieces of InWear at Dots over the years. Ah, here it is, the Hubertiw dress on their site (linking 'cause I love), for $119.95 Euros (that's actually $179 Canadian dollars) - it's current season, how nice. 

Flashback #1: Noa Noa Frock Coat

Although I first wore this amazing coat here in October 2010 as part of my Hallowe'en costume, I noted then that I bought it in the spring of 2010 at Dots for $56.00 (original retail $375.00). 

Dots used to have a small section of just Noa Noa, and I've bought many pieces of it over the years. I see the brand in second-hand store sometimes - they are always good quality clothes and are usually natural fabrics like cotton, linen, etc. 

This coat is a thick cotton weave, embellished with embroidery. 

You can see the woven stripes better here. 

The breast pocket is a real pocket (as are the two flap pockets on the front), and it has black cross-stitch below it. The buttons are all imitation bone. 

The back panel has more cross-stitch. 

And below that is a giant multi-pleated vent.

It gives the coat lots of shape in the bottom and opens up as you walk. 

I have noticed that Noa Noa has "micro"-lines- this one is from the "Countless Cotton" line. 

I am pretty sure this was a sample piece - I can't find anything like it online, but I see that their coats sell for up to $400 on second-hand sites. 

Here's that first wearing, for Hallowe'en 2010. I'm the Mad Hatter. I won my company's costume contest that year. 

I built this entire outfit out of things I had in my closet. Hallowe'en Flashback here, and plaid bustier Flashback here. I wore this for multiple Hallowe'en/Mad Hatter looks, and we'll see that bustier again too. 

This is a really early example of me pattern-mixing, from March 2011. 

Those were an early pair of over-the-knee boots, in olive suede. 

I wore this look to work on a Casual Friday in November 2011. 

Vizzini is less than a year old there! 

I changed in one of the boardrooms after work and went to an art opening that night for our friend Carollyne Yardley (link here) - pics from the show here - where I met Tierre Joline (we connected over hats - she ended up making two hats for me). 

I changed my jeans for a skirt, and put the bustier on the outside of the jacket. I still have all of these pieces, including the purse, skirt and top hat! 

More adventurous dress in January 2012. 

One of my many suede skirts I've had over the years - shoe Flashback here. 

I was really into Steampunk for a few years (it's still a look I like), and wore the frock coat for the first of my Steampunk looks for Victoria's one and only Steam Expo in April 2012 (original post here, loads of fun outfits and pics!)

That blue skirt is another one of my Noa Noa items, although it's since left my closet. I still have that hat and belt, though. 

One of my rare blonde outfits! This was in March 2013. 

Only the coat remains. 

Another go at the Mad Hatter, worn to my current job for Hallowe'en in October 2013.

I changed things up a bit. I still have most of the odds and ends in this outfit. 

I repeated it a few days later to go to a Monster Burlesque performance. 

Such a fun outfit! 

This is a rather spectacular work outfit from January 2015.

I still have that purple leather skirt (Flashback here) and the belt and Grandma J's necklace. The shoes - while amazing - were cheap, really high, and killed my feet. This might have been their only wear. 

I have worn this coat twice to see a band - the same band! This was in November 2016.

My Wonder Woman outfit had to do double duty at the hoity-toity Union Club, followed by the Pack AD show afterwards.

I wore it again with this rock & roll outfit featuring one of my Frank Turner tour shirts and my ORANGE LEATHER SHORTS (sorry, it's in their clause, they require all caps). 

Boots Flashbacked here. This was a smaller show at the former Harpo's (now called the Upstairs Lounge), and was also the Pack AD - a rockin' good time! 

I think this was a brunch/shopping outfit from February 2019. 

I still have that dress, but not those horrid boots. 

And here's the last time I wore this coat, with black, white and red, in March 2020. 

I just did the Flashback on the blouse here last weekend, and that's one of my three houndstooth skirts

Mathy stuff: Including this outfit, I'm at 15 wearings of this groovy jacket, which brings us to $3.73 per wear. Not bad at all! 

Happy Hour Zoom time! Sneaking in wearings of two more not-yet-worn items this season. 

Those would be the skirt and the boots, which were both last aired over a year ago. 

• Sweater - Karl Lagerfeld, consignment; last seen here in January with these same tights and a ginormous vest
• Skirt - Lemarque, consignment; first worn here in February 2020 with these boots
• Boots - Prepare High Adventure, Fluevog; last seen here in February 2020 for Greg and Rosanna's party

One of my Zoom goals is to stay warm, so a nice chunky sweater was needed once I'd decided on this skirt. 

Enter this ruffle-licious cotton sweater. I have a t-shirt layered under it for extra warmth. 

This skirt is fringed in leather - yes, those fringes are all strips of suede! - so it's not a work-appropriate piece, and it's very short under the fringe as you can see. It has a wee mini-skirt of a lining, but it's definitely a party skirt!

I matched my tights to my sweater - I've had these red lacy ones forever (they are by Look From London, I believe). 

Shimmy, Sheila! 

My camera can't handle the Fringe-o-Rama! 

Here, allow me to lean for you. 

[holding stomach muscles tight] Note how my ruffled cuffs echo the "stepped" fringe of the bigass sleeves.

But you're all looking at my fabulous boots, aren't you? 

I don't wear these much - they are rather overtly sexy - but I love them, and we'll have a little Flashback on the times I've worn them in a bit. 

The stuff: 

These are from the "High" version of the Prepare family of Fluevogs, so are not as comfy for regular wear as my wooly boots or aqua shoes (Flashbacks here and here). That "High" refers to the heel.

Bigass bling: 

I'll take any opportunity to wear big earrings, especially when I don't have to wear a mask with them. These are feather-light, easy on my old lobes.

• Earrings - Aldo Accessories
• Brass necklace - Mexican, vintage 70s, Mom's

Flashback #2: Prepare High Adventure Fluevog Lace-Up Boots

My VPs at work have been buying me Fluevog gift cards for birthdays and Christmas for years - they know me so well! These boots were bought online (I knew my size due to owning other Fluevogs in this family) as a last pair, slashed down to $199.00 from the original $525.00, here in January 2016. My size (9.5) is so rarely the last pair - lucky me! 

They are my Sexy Black Boots - every gal needs a pair, right? 

The outer laces adjust for the perfect fit up the leg, and there are zippers inside so that you can get them on and off without having to redo the laces. 

The heels and platform are suede, with the rest a soft black leather, with rugged rubber soles. The platforms are cork inside, so are nice and squishy to wear, although that's a 3-inch net heel height, so verging on a bit high for an everyday boot. 

I haven't worn them very much, due to the aforementioned sexiness and heel height, but I did wear them to work a couple of times! 

I wore this to present at one of my company's quarterly meetings in January 2016, where we had VPs from all over Western Canada in our city. The meeting was in the restaurant of the local arena, where we all watched a hockey game afterwards. Yup, this is what I wore to a hockey game! 

My next wearing of them was for the Victoria Film Festival Opening Gala in February 2016 - the theme was "Dreams" but as I quoted to the local paper (I was featured!), "I don't do dreams - I do nightmares". Both L and I did "Alice Cooper eyes" and wore our most nightmarish looks. 

We had a blast watching the opening movie, meeting movie stars, carousing, dancing and schmoozing with other Gala attendees. As you can see, L and I both went to town with this look (we wore our outfits on the bus, and to a local pizza parlour too!). Those are my liquid gold leggings (still have 'em) - I gave that vintage dress to Yvonne, who's rocked it for a few parties. 

I wore the boots again for Hallowe'en in October 2018, over 2.5 years later! I'm not sure why I didn't wear them or so long, but that's obviously an egregious oversight. Hallowe'en outfit Flashbacks here. 

I coordinate our 250+ person office to do a Star Trek theme: the [Company] Red Shirts. You wear a red shirt/top and a black bottom, and I make a ton of paper communicator badges for my colleagues, and we all have a jolly time. I'm a Star Fleet alien with my green skin and purple hair. 

And here's the last time I wore my funky boots, for Greg's birthday party in February 2020. 

There's the same skirt! Jacket Flashback here. 

Mathy stuff: That's not very many wearings - only five! - but that's still a pretty decent cost-per-wear of $39.80. Cheaper than a new pair of boots! 

On Sunday, Vizzini lurked. 

"The Man is doing laundry."

Someone is a bit of a chicken when it comes to the washer and dryer. He's waiting for the warm laundry to be dumped on the bed so he can sleep on it, so there won't be any snuggles with L or I until the clothes are all put away. 

Well, that's my weekend - I hope you all had a chill, relaxing time yourselves! Thank you so much for dropping by!