Mom-Day Adventure: St. Paddy's Green, Worthy Stories, Blossoms and Cat in the Mirror

Hello, my friends! Due to "light" rain - which you could only call light if you lived in a tropical jungle! - Mom and I had an indoor Mom-Day Adventure. 

I dressed for St. Paddy's Day (I have a touch of Irish - a great-great grandmother on my dad's side), for busing/walking, and for being comfortable while working at Mom's computer.

• Dress - Zara, consignment, Vancouver; purchased here on the weekend for $25.99
• Shirt - Yest; last worn here in February with my Peacock Jacket
• Shoes - Zara, consignment; last seen here in January for a Mental Health Shop
• Cardigan - Kenzo, consignment; last worn here in January with Adidas tulle
• Coat (below) - Jeno de Paris; last seen here yesterday

I decided to wear this sweater-knit maxi dress that I picked up at Turnabout in Vancouver on the weekend. 

I added layers, both under and over it, to create visual interest. 

Mom's house is notoriously cold, so I wore this black Kenzo cardigan (it says "Kenzo" on the cuffs).

The back is shorter than the front - it's a reverse mullet cardigan!

Here's the dress with just a white shirt layered under it. 

Fabrics that have black and white in them are so easy to change up with more white and black. Although I realized when I was out in bright natural light - these are navy stripes! Eh, whatever, they look black. 

I love the line of gold snaps (they're permanent - they don't undo) down the side and on the front of the slit.

The angled stripes are so fun. 

Gotta love a stretch sweater dress. 

Jammy dress for the win! 

My cardigan has pockets. 

The zipper is unusual - one side is brass and the other is steel. 

Masked up for public transit. 

And until we were seated at Floyd's for brunch. 

Outerwear - I couldn't resist wearing this green leather coat again. 

It is not quite the same green, but again, eh, don't care. 

Accoutrements:

I got the "You Look Great" green button at the Fluevog store in Vancouver - it's covering the missing "gem" that fell off. 

• Silk scarf - fake Louis (Lewis!) Vuitton, thrifted
• Hat - gift from Tammy
• Gloves - Danier Leather
• Mask - by Mom

The stuff: 

The one time I like fake leather shoes is when I don't want to ruin a leather pair in the rain. These were great for walking home. 

Black bling:

I just felt like loading up. 

• Chain necklace - Club Monaco
• Studded leather cuff - vintage 90s
• Leather cuff - Guess, thrifted
• Brooch - The Bay, c. 2001
• Silver/onyx ring - Toccara, vintage fair
• Chain ring - Taxco, Mexico, Charmaine's
• Earrings - thrifted

Vizzini inspected the house after the cleaners left this morning. 

"They moved my mousies!"

For Mom's 75th birthday in 2020, I bought her a subscription to Storyworth (link here, 'cause I LOVE them). It's been an amazing gift the past two years - I extended it last year - and it's been a joy reading some of the stories that Mom's written about her family, her childhood and all the amazing things she's done with her life, prompted by the questions they send her and our Mom-Day Adventure chats. As we're nearing the end of her subscription, it's time to sort all the stories out, add pictures and other written letters from her friends and family. 

Sheila to the rescue! I have the madd computer skillz, and I am an organizational whiz. 

I helped Mom sort all 45+ of the stories she's written in the past two years into a narrative, and we retitled some of the "chapters". My favourites: "Chocolate," "Most Memorable Gift: Chicken Slippers," and "Dorothy, those children are at it again!"

Mom-daughter selfie! 

I highly recommend Storyworth for your older family members, or even for yourself, if you are interested in saving your family stories. I paid for three copies of a hardbound book of Mom's stories, one for her, one for me, and one for my brother Dave. I get absolutely nothing from them for this rave review. btw.

Mom gave me a tour of what she's been doing with her art lately. This is a quick "Zoom" painting she did with her art group online last week. 

It's a gorgeous poppy in vivid red. I commented that although Mom's favourite colour is red, she rarely paints with it. I LOVE this painting. 

"Oh, let me get the tape off." The green painter's tape gives a crisp edge on the painting. This was done with acryllics.

See? She's wearing red. I love the sewing table in the background with quilting projects, and Mom's (and my) art on the back wall. There are some detail pics and a more thorough tour of Mom's studio here from my first pandemic visit in April 2020.

Mom's working on a painting from one of her pictures taken during our Mom-Day Adventure to Hatley Castle/Royal Roads in September 2021 here. 

It still has a ways to go - oil paintings are built up through layers of paint. 

This is also an oil painting, still in progress, by my 12-year-old niece Sydney. 

Pretty awesome! 

After a few hours of re-orging files and making lists of photos to digitize/photograph, we were ready for lunch at Floyd's Diner. 

Thanks to our awesome server for taking the pictures. 

From there, I bused to town and walked home. 

A street full of Japanese cherry trees and plum trees - Victoria is full of them and they bloom in stages. 

Check it out - there's an interactive map of where they all are here. 

These are mostly plum trees. 

One street over are the cherry trees that have giant fat blossoms. 

This tree is a personal favourite - many of these are over 20 feet tall. 

I spy the Castle through the rain. 

So pretty. They make me sneeze. 

When I got home, Vizzini wanted his usual cuddle. 

This consists of me sitting on a stool in my closet and giving him a good scritch around the head. 

As you can see, my closet is a bit chaotic, as there are pre-planned outfits hanging all over. 

Do you see Vizzini's ears in the bottom of the picture? 

Aw, look at that happy face. 

"Yes, that's the spot."

The freaky thing is that he's actually looking at me...IN THE MIRROR. 

"I see you, Woman."

Now the top of the head. 

"It's a spot I can't reach."

Vizzini, did you just drool on my knee? 

"Maybe..."

Thanks so much for the awesome day, Mom! 

I love you!