Birthday Week Wrap-Up: Brunch Shorts, and Party Outfits X Two

Welcome back, my friends - it's time to wrap up our extra-long birthday week and vacation time. We had a fantastic weekend, filled with good times with our favourite people, including L's long-awaited "I'm Fifty Too/I'm 52" party.

Let's kick it off with what I wore to brunch (not enough people for Ulti), and for grocery-shopping afterwards.

I built this outfit around the new-to-me belt - sometimes accessories are an excellent springboard for creativity. 

• Vest - Religion, consignment; last worn here in April with my red leopard suit
• Top - M by Missoni, thrifted; last seen here in November 2021 layered under a black dress
• ORANGE LEATHER SHORTS - Danier, vintage 80s, thrifted; last worn here in January with Halston
• Boots - Go Groovy Huysmans, Fluevog; last seen here in May for a Mental Health Shop

I thought I'd worn this top and these ORANGE LEATHER SHORTS (sorry, they insist on all-caps) together before but nope, this is the first time. 

I liked the look of black tights with outfits back in the 90s/early 00s, and I still like it - nice that the trend has come around again.

You can see here how the long tail of the belt ties up.

L and I had a lovely brunch at the Ruby (Nick was busy), then did our weekly grocery shop in preparation for L's birthday party on Saturday night. 

I love this long vest - it's so useful for layering. 

Masked up. 

I'm ready to face the world. 

Movie Star Wrap for driving in Vlad.

It ended up sprinkling with rain all day. June-uary continues! 

I attempted to wear my sunglasses. 

I'm trying to just roll with the weather. I wore sunblock...but it rained. 

Accoutrements: 

I matched the grey purse to the belt (I felt very clever).

• Purse - Rebecca Minkoff Mini Mac, thrifted
• Scarf - Fluevog
• Mask - by Mom

The stuff: 

Comfy shoes for walking around. 

Matchy bling: 

Loved the belt - keeper! 

• Belt - Below the Belt, thrifted; purchased here for $6.95
• Orange plastic cuff/ring - Italian, vintage 60s, vintage mall
• Black bangle - Alexis Bittar, consignment, Vancouver
• Steel/Lucite ring - Calvin Klein, thrifted
• Silver pendant/earrings - M&M, consignment, Vancouver

I'd raided the Dollar Store's party supply department earlier in the week and bought crepe paper, balloons and some paper decorations, and made the house look festive. 

I lined the upper wall with blue crepe paper and taped pairs of balloons up all over. Three of the paper circles were in front of the window, plus two (not visible) orange sproingy decorations. 

"The Scotch Bar is open! Please help yourself." 

I quit drinking 4.5 years ago, so many of my scotches have been unloved - time to clear some out! I put more paper decorations on the bar. 

A "Happy Birthday" sign which looks like "Appy Birthda" because the silver letters blended into our walls. 

More balloons and crepe paper! The table was laden with food (I always do a big spread). 

I decorated the deck - it's the Chill Zone later in the evening.

There are the orange spiral thingies. And, as you can see, it's raining. 

And it's sunny. 

It took me about two hours to decorate and prep all the food (chips, chocolate, fruit, veggies and dip, and a cheese plate), and then L and I had a nap. Ah...

Better get dressed - it's party time! I'd had this outfit ready for a week or so. 

I'm pointing out the lion on my shoulder now - he's not super-visible in these pics. I should have put my hair up, but eh, I didn't feel like it. 

• Dress - Plutina, vintage 60s, vintage shop; purchased here for $33.00
• Shoes - Super Fine Cardinal, Fluevog; last seen here (2nd outfit) in December 2021 for a Christmas Day Zoom call with Mom

I'm a woman of leisure, dammit. 

I feel a fit of the vapours coming on.

I loved wearing this dress - it's loose enough to be quite comfortable - and the partygoers appreciated the soft, soft velvet. 

I wish it had pockets, but oh well. 

I haven't touched up the lower zipper section yet. 

Next time. 

You can just see the lion brooch here. 

The first of our guests arrived just after 8pm, and our final guest arrived around 10:30pm - our friends are often fashionably late. 

The stuff: 

These are very comfy shoes - good for standing around. 

Pearl bling: 

The gloves are over 20 years old - my mother-in-law Louise bought them for me ages ago when we went for a shop at Value Village, pre-blog.

• Gloves - thrifted, c. 1998
• Necklace - vintage, consignment
• Bracelet - thrifted
• Earrings - vintage fair
• Brooch - vintage 80s, consignment; purchased here for $46.00

A quick pic of L and I all gussied up.

He's wearing a linen palm-front printed double-breasted blazer that we found in a vintage shop in Vancouver (I let the sleeves down to a better length), plus a consignment yellow shirt, black suit pants, old (early 00s) Fluevogs, and a lion-head pendant (c. 1996).

Vizzini sulked on the bed while we got ready.

"Your parties cut into my lap-time."

Around 11pm, both L and I changed into our second outfits. I hadn't really planned to do an outfit swap, but once L did his, I wanted to be in a look that felt more me. 

I couldn't wait to wear my new-to-me Cavalli dress! 

• Dress - Just Cavalli, consignment; purchased here for $179.99
• Shoes - Chanii B; first worn here in May with matching lavender

It was a quick "presto-change-o" and I was easy and breezy. 

I didn't wear a camisole, so I was boobtastic, which is fine for parties, in my book. Next time, I'll wear a camisole with it. 

As I hadn't taken any pics of L and I in our second outfits, I got dressed again (I even did my make-up!) on Sunday and took these. 

I'm committed to showing y'all every outfit! 

I loved wearing this. 

I double-knotted the bows for the party and they stayed put until 2am. 

Vizzini was lurking around while we did our pics.

"That was quite the party, Woman."

It was, bud! He came out around 11:30pm when some folks had left and started hoovering up crumbs and seeing how vigilant we were being (not very) around the chips. 

The stuff: 

Comfy shoes! I took them off around 1am. 

Minimal bling:

I left the bracelet on from the previous outfit. 

• Bracelet - thrifted
• Earrings - Betsey Johnson, swap from Cat

This is the first wearing of these rose earrings - Cat was happy that I wore them! 

I even made L put on his second outfit on Sunday so we could capture our finery together. 

"This is all about me!"

Vizzini just barged in and stood there. 

Thanks so much to Randall for the following pics - I didn't take any during the party. 

I gave a little speech, lit a sparkler and served up L's birthday cake - he's giving his own "Oscar speech" here, with the Kitchen Gauntlet watching (Ali, Cat, Nick, Caro, Vero, Yvonne and Rosanna).

Cat, Vero and Caro. 

Cat's wearing an old Kenzo jacket of mine. I loved Caro's floor-length kimono and brass bosun's whistle.

L and Ross (with Casey on the right). 

Rock on, gents! 

And now, time to go chill out with my fam. 

"Lap time is nap time!"

That sounds awesome, actually. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! It's back to "real life" tomorrow!