Weekend Wrap-Up: Brunch With Betty in 70s Mermaid; Book Club in Muppet (with Bloopers); and a Wee Shop

Welcome back, my friends! I hope life is finding you in a good place. I had a lovely quiet weekend, meeting up with friends and getting out while L blergs away with his cold/flu and stays far away from me.

Instead of our usual brunch on Saturday morning, I met up with my former Weight Watchers colleague Betty for brunch at Tapas on Oak (link here 'cause I love, and would go back!). 

It's still very cold out (hovering around 1-2 degrees during the day), and there's a snow storm warning for higher elevations. We're close enough to the ocean that it doesn't snow here that frequently. 

• Sweater - RW & Co, consignment; last worn here (2nd outfit) in November 2022 for Winesday at Yvonne's
• Mermaid skirt - vintage 70s, thrifted; last seen here (2nd outfit) in January 2022 for Book Club
• Boots - Original Sabado, Fluevog; last worn here a couple of weeks ago with periodontal armour
• Coat (below) - Donna Karan, consignment; last seen here a few days ago

Betty and I had a lovely time catching up on each other's families, what we each thought of the recent Belfry play, books we're reading, etc. 

We both had the breakfast sandwich (brioche bun, fried egg, mozzarella, bacon), which came with a garnish of arugula/rocket and grape tomatoes, and shared a plate of amazing potatoes. 

Betty and I worked together for about 8 years at WW, until I quit in the summer of 2019, but we've remained friends since and get together every 3-4 months. My favourite pic of us here from last summer. 

I did a bunch of sewing repairs recently, including re-doing the full hem of this swooshy skirt. 

I just adore mermaid shapes in skirts - this one is wool. 

Nothing fancy about the sweater - just a thick warm one (I have a t-shirt underneath it). 

Showing off my badass black boots and fleece tights. 

I walked home afterward and bought some groceries to make chicken jalapeno corn chowder for my poor sickie husband. 

Outerwear - I popped into House of Savoy and Good Things consignment on the way home. 

Didn't see anything for myself (and wasn't dressed for shopping), but I found a brand new Perry Ellis leather belt for L for $40.00. 

Accoutrements: 

My warmest furs. 

• Purse - Ted Lapidus, vintage 90s, vintage fair
• Fur scarf - thrifted
• Gloves - thrifted

The stuff: 

Comfy walking boots. 

Brass bling:

I love that Suzi Roher hip belt. 

• Belt - Suzi Roher, thrifted
• Brass/copper cuff - Karen's
• Brass/leather cuff - Mom's, vintage 70s
• Earrings - Aldo, c. 2008
• Necklace - Mexican, vintage 70s, Mom's
• Brass Brutalist rings - vintage mall

L and I played a couple of board games on Saturday night (nothing too taxing for my poor sickie) and enjoyed a sleep in on Sunday morning. I awoke to this picture in my inbox of Caro ready to party in my acid-wash 80s denim dress. She's all styled up for the party she and Ron went to on Saturday night. Fabulous! 

She said:

I was voted best 80’s glam ALL NIGHT LONG. It was hilarious as most people did glam, or hippie, and then in walk Ron and me. Thank you again for outfitting me as I pretty much talked about you all night.

I've no idea what Ron wore, but I bet he looked good too. So glad I could help you out, honey! 

The weather has been crazy all weekend - variously sunny, cold, windy, snowing, sleeting...rinse, repeat. 

I decided to leave a little early for Book Club and go have a browse at the big Women In Need (WIN) store downtown beforehand. 

• Purple sweater - Jessica, thrifted; purchased here for $12.95
• Black sweater - Dusia Knits for Gibsons, vintage 70s, thrifted; last worn here (2nd outfit) in December 2022 with plaid for shopping
• Mohair skirt - Joy Nilsson, vintage 70s, thrifted; last seen here in December 2021 for a Christmas trip that wasn't
• Boots - Doc Martens, consignment; first seen here a couple of weeks ago for a Mom-Day
• Coat (below) - Sarmite Designs, consignment; last worn here in January

As you  might have been able to tell from the stair pic, it was rather windy out! My poor wee camera is perched on a ledge which is open to the driveway three floors down - I always worry it's going to fall and smash.

But usually when it's windy, it falls forward. And...*click* goes the timer. 

Try agai...*click*

Dang! Stupid wind! 

I layered up for any kind of weather, and decided to give this wonderful hot pink Muppety mohair skirt from the 70s a wearing for the season. 

It's broken two skirt hangers over the years from the weight (it must be close to 10 lbs), and because I don't wear it unless it's REALLY cold out, it's usually only featured once a year. 

I store it in our library, away from the moths. 

I layered my sparkly black disco sweater with a recently-thrifted purple sparkly sleeveless turtleneck. 

I'll wear that again another time and show it off a bit more. We're not really in sleeveless top weather just yet. 

I swooshed along, and enjoyed the weight of the skirt, although the hem got a bit dirty from the wet sidewalks. 

Showing off my layers. 

A full vintage slip, fleece-lined tights and thick socks with my Docs. 

This is how most people saw me. 

I had a lot of comments from people who enjoyed the colour. 

Accoutrements: 

Layers I could tuck away while shopping. 

• Purse - Danier, thrifted
• Scarf - Fluevog
• Beret - Club Monaco, thrifted
• Gloves - Thinsulate, thrifted

The stuff: 

I need to buy some support inserts for my Docs - they are not the most comfortable shoes in the world. 

• Necklace - Myka, thrifted
• Silver/amethyst ring - vintage mall
• Silver/onyx ring - Tocara, vintage fair
• Earrings - thrifted

I took my camera with me on my journey. 

This awesome mural changes every few weeks/month - it says, "Life is Nice" (the family who lives in the house just had a baby girl - I know this because of the mural that announced her birth). 

I captured a bunch of robins foraging. 

Little bits of snow still on the ground from the past few days. 

I did a really rushed shop at WIN (I tend to lose track of time!) and had hits...and misses. Since you can no longer try things on, I tend to risk sometimes...and not everything works once I get home. 

Here are the hits. 

Love the gold-tone and teal enamel hinged bangle. It's tiny and fits my wrist perfectly - it was $3.95.

The neck warmer was also $3.95 and is by Noujica. "Fait avec amour au Quebec" - made with love in Quebec. 

Noujica is an ethical and sustainably sourced line, by artists Catherine Cournoyer and Jinny Lévesque (about them here, all links 'cause I love), and it retailed for $75.00! 

I found this stretchy thin sweater-weight camisole in the vintage section. 

I can always use layering pieces like this, and the colour is a good one on me. The side elastic gathers are unusual. I snip off those hanger loops - those are just for store display. 

It's by Mantles, which was sold at Eaton's up till the early 00s when Eaton's closed for good. 

This was half price due to the star punch, so was $3.47. We know it's pre-1997 because it was made in Hong Kong. 

This big swooshy skirt caught my eye. 

I've been on the lookout for a big lightweight skirt for wearing around the house in the summertime. This won't be worn in public. 

It's 100% cotton and I'm pretty sure it was made in India. 

Machine washable is good. 

It's by Eucalyptus, a brand I couldn't find anything about. The style says early 00s to me - I used to have a couple of skirts like this in 2008-2010 that I'd bought second hand. 

It has a small rip that will need to be sewn up, but for $7.95, I was happy. This will be worn a hundred times, easy! 

This was my treasure - what a pretty silky skirt! It's polyester with a touch of spandex.

Y'all know I'm a sucker for a pattern that is symmetrical. 

Front AND back. 

I thought this might be early 00s or even 90s skirt, as it sits very low on the hips, but I found it on a blog post from 2013 noting it was from Nordstrom Rack (a discount site for the famous department store). 

It's by Vince Camuto.

$14.95 for a fully-lined, symmetrical, machine-washable pencil skirt? Done! 

And here are the misses. I should have looked at these better, instead of just chucking them into my basket.

This blue "shacket" is in a gorgeously soft wide-wale corduroy. 

No pockets. I love that soft shade.

It was sold through the Edinburgh Tartan Shop, which was a high-end boutique on our main tourist drag, Government Street, for decades. 

It felt like quality, and that size 12 is probably a modern size 8, and the inside tags said "made in Canada" - so $24.95 felt like a good deal. Unfortunately, the lining is disintegrating in the arms and it's too big. Off to the giveaway pile. 

And Always Be Upgrading - these wide-legged red swooshy trousers looked pretty awesome...

But they were too big (and too long) and I didn't like the fabric once I tried them on. 

Dang, Nanette Lepore too (although not the good, vintage "made in Canada" Nanette). 

They were $12.47, and have been put into the giveaway pile. 

I quickly paid for my treasures, hoping for the best, and dashed down to the Commons to meet up with my gals for Book Club. 

Yvonne, Cat and Caro. 

Mindy and Janaki weren't able to make it. 

Me and Ciara. We had a solid discussion around our last book, "The Feminist City: A Field Guide" by Leslie Kern, and then we all turned to Caro for the reveal of the next book. What did she pick? 

And she realized that - although she'd picked the book - she'd completely forgotten to actually buy our copies! 

Here she is, only slightly cold, wet and flustered, after she phoned Munro's Books and dashed a few blocks to pick them up! 

I'm stoked for this book, which was a recommendation from a bunch of people Caro works with.

"The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet" by Becky Chambers - ooh, it's won a Hugo Award for best series (there are 2 more in the series). I love science fiction! Have any of you read this? 

And now, I'm off to make dinner and enjoy the waning hours of our weekend. Thank you so much for stopping by!