L and I spent our Friday doing many activities we love to do together - playing board games, listening to music, and hanging out with Vizzini - and I dyed my hair to celebrate the start of spring.
On Saturday, we did our usual brunch at John's Place, followed by a long weekend gathering of some of our besties. I spent all day - 6 hours! - on Sunday doing my closet swap-over, and then a good chunk of Monday blogging about it.
So! Let's get 'er started - this is what I wore for brunch.
Would this be my last outfit of the season? No! I changed for the afternoon.
- Wool moto jacket - Gap, consignment, Vancouver; last seen here in October 2023 with this same skirt
- Blondie tee - Blondie, thrifted; first worn here in February for a Mom-Day at Westsong Walkway
- Skirt - Twinset, consignment; last seen here in December 2023 with gothy snakes
- Shoes - Freedom Suki, Fluevog, 2003-4, thrifted, and decorated by me (link here); last worn here in March 2023 when I finished them
Sneaking in one last wearing of this ginormous poufy skirt, which is one of my favourites.
It does tend to drag on the ground and pick up leaves and sticks.
The hem is getting a little ragged - I may have to trim the snags with scissors.
Without the jacket.
I took it off while we were eating.
I love my PANK jacket - what a good purchase it's been.
I forgot to take a picture of my little silver leather purse.
- Purse - Zara, consignment
Ready to go! I'm Incognito.
L, get your shoes on! He's wearing a vintage shirt with trains and tunnels (an exercise in perspective) - very 70s, it's a find from the Patch a few years ago - and cream/orange Fluevogs.
We chatted with folks in line.
But of course, I made L hold our spot and ping me when he got seated.
The stuff:
I hadn't realized that I've only worn my shoes decorated once before this! That must be rectified - they're not just for show.
Pink and silver bling:
I wore nearly the same accessories for the afternoon shenanigans. Only the belt and the purse changed.
- Belt - B-Lo the Belt, thrifted
- Brass/crystal cuff - Loren Hope, consignment
- Steel/crystal bracelet - Juicy Couture, consignment
- Gold/amethyst ring - Frances Jewelers, c. 1965, Dad's
- Silver/amethyst ring - vintage mall
- Silver/obsidian ring - consignment
- Purple stones brooch - gift from L
- Wooden cat brooch - consignment
- Crystal necklace - Myka, thrifted
- Silver/amethyst earrings/ring - c. 1986, gifts from Mom & Dad
I popped briefly into the Beacon Ave Thrift Shop while L waited for our table and spotted this gorgeously soft tropical print men's shirt.
Palm fronds, bird-of-paradise flowers...great colours.
Oh, and conch shells.
It's very oversized - likely from the late 80s to early 90s.
Shell buttons.
They don't make 'em like that anymore.
Someone had safety-pinned in some shoulder pads.
They were disintegrating (note the darker clumps in the corners) - I removed them and tossed them, yuck. Four mini safety-pins, though - a bonus treasure, ha ha.
The brand is Adagio Uomo, which means "slowly man" in Italian. I found a few "Uomo" vintage shirts online, but nothing like this - that reinforces my suspicion of its age.
Made in Canada, 100% silk - the CA number tells me that the company was called "Uomo" but I can't find anything else about it. I see this is "one size" - it fits like an XL, though. I've offered it up to my guy friends for first pick.
I gasped when I spotted this silk scarf in the basket - I just bought the matching Akris dress last weekend (here)!
The lovely volunteer said, "Oh, just take it."
"I insist on paying for this scarf," I replied.
"Too late!" She smiled and took my payment for the shirt only. Thank you! I got this for free!
L and I chilled out for a bit before getting ready for our afternoon get-together at Ye Olde Pandemic Parke, as we've dubbed "our" corner of Beacon Hill Park, near Yvonne and Randall's house.
I knew L and I would be walking both ways, plus sitting on the ground and standing around. Must be comfortable!
I also wanted to squeak in a seasonal wearing of this lovely frock coat, which I've had since 2010 when I picked it up at Dots. I've worn it 18 times!
It's woven stripes of black and white, very Jack Skellington.
With cross-stitch embroidering on the chest pocket and on the back, and big box pleats in the centre.
I wasn't very warm in this once the sun dipped behind the trees, but I was glad I'd worn it.
Without the jacket, so you can see the trousers.
These were a big YES for me.
I loved wearing them, and they were extremely comfy.
Great pockets and just the right length.
And that colour!
Incognito.
Who is that cool chick?
It's me!
A couple of buttons done up, plus a silk scarf and gloves. I wished for a thicker scarf later.
I carried a couple of pieces of menswear for potential sale to my friends, plus my computer poncho for sitting on. L carried some beverages for me in his pack.
My pink leather backpack has ALL the zippers.
I ended up wearing the poncho later on!
Accoutrements:
- Backpack - Ash, consignment
- Scarf - fake Louis (Lewis!) Vuitton, thrifted
- Leather gloves - thrifted
The stuff:
All the same jewelry as the morning, but a different belt. I moved the brooches from jacket to coat.
- Belt - gift from Ruth
The shoes were perfect for the amount of walking I did, and as you can see, I paired some groovy (thrifted) socks with them.
L and I were practically accosted by these deer on the way to the park.
One was strolling up the bike lane, while the other is near the tree on the left.
A squirrel chittered at us as we walked through Rockland.
It was clouded over, not the sunshine we'd been promised.
This house was decorated for Easter.
A tree full of mini-eggs, eggs on the dirt, and a bunch of metal roosters.
A beautiful old Arts and Crafts-era house - love the pink, green and blue colour scheme!
I was admiring their daffodils, when I noticed someone watching us from the top of the stairs. See her?
She came bounding down to visit.
"Keep going, don't engage!" L never wants to pet kitties. I want to pet them all!
I spied a tortoiseshell girl watching us from a driveway on the other side of the street.
Ghostly wire apparitions in the neighbours' yard (which was heavily Easter-themed).
One white cat snoozing in the window.
Beautifully framed by the linden trees in full bloom. It's like she planned it!
Randall admired the Guy Laroche shirt I'd found a couple of weeks ago (here). My guys are loving the "shopping...without having to go to a store!" opportunities I've been giving them.
Randall insisted on paying me a higher price than my usual 10% friends mark-up (the shirt was $9.50, so I asked for $10), and pushed $40 on me - we settled at $20.00. It looks great on you, Randall!
There was a group of about 4 young deer scampering around near where we were sitting. They all had little velvet-covered nubbins where their antlers will be.
They are....
...rather close!
That's only a couple of meters away.
I'm dubious about this.
"You're too close!" I hollered, and they moved off.
Yvonne and Randall brought some mini-bags of chips, red licorice and Lindt chocolate eggs.
Aw, thanks, kids! So sweet of you!
Vero and Justin also showed up, as did Nick, but I forgot to take more pics. Here, we're all packing up the portable chairs.
We'd relocated to a sunnier spot as the afternoon wore on - we'd been sitting back near that line of trees in the background.
L is wearing all his Dolphins colours, in a Kangol hat, a Ditch Records tee, the earlier vintage shirt - he changed to Fluevog sneakers for all the walking.
Our shadows were long!
L and I walked home with Nick, and had dinner, then played more board games. A perfect evening!
I had never noticed this bi-plane/tea-time mural before.
The "Before" shot - I am pretty good at hanging things back up when I'm done, so my closet is usually a bit jumbled, but not too messy after 6 months - it's only a bit chaotic! I last did my swap-over here in early October 2023, enjoy.
That's an old apartment building in our 'hood that's been gussied up.
I girded myself for a long day of physical work on Sunday. DUN-DUN-DUNNNNNN....[ominous sound]. Behold! Here's my little custom-built walk-in closet.
After I finished the closet, I did all of my scarves, purses and winter accoutrements (toques, fur scarves, thicker gloves), followed by my jewelry swap-over. It took 6 hours, and I was just wiped out at the end of it - I was incredibly stiff (hamstrings and neck/back) from all the bending over for a couple of days!
I start on one side of my closet, and take out everything that is NOT spring or summer.
Criteria for packing away:
- Fabric (velvets, thick corduroy, heavy wool, cashmere)
- Colour (autumn colours, darker tones)
- Shine (extra-shiny, holiday vibe)
That's 12 piles of loosely-folded clothes. I've also pulled out all the Fluevog shopping bags full of clothes that were hiding on the floor under my hung items in the closet.
I also have three flat Rubbermaid bins that live under the bed - I store all my seasonal shoes in them.
This big bin hides under my blazers. The pile of hangers is enormous!
I open one bin/bag at a time, hang up everything in it - or put it into Limbo - and then repack the bin/bag and stash it back in the closet/under the clothes/under the bed.
I had a pile of goodies hiding behind my short skirts, where I stash off-season clothes as I acquire them.
I'd forgotten about these purchases! Excited to wear those pink sandals!
There are 11 bags here - my spring/summer clothes take up less room than fall/winter. I had to shove close to 15 bags back into the closet when I was done.
I needed more bags for the fall/winter clothes! Good thing I have a bag...full of more bags!
I pulled all my shoes and boots out, and lined them up down the hall. All of my wooden shelves get a spritz of Murphy's Oil Soap and a wipe down, and all the other surfaces get Windexed, and I vacuum everywhere.
Some of my shoes went into Limbo, some got packed away, and the remainder stayed in my closet (which holds about 70 pairs). I have around 100 pairs, in case you're curious.
The view from the other end of the hall.
And I haven't even unpacked the spring/summer shoes yet!
A big pile to go to Limbo.
Stuff I just don't love or that I'm done with.
Here's my closet with all the fall/winter things stripped out. The mini chandelier always blows out the top of the photos, but I need lots of light in here.
Now it's time to put my spring/summer things back in - that's the most exciting part, unpacking all my forgotten clothes. It's like a reunion!
My summery purses reappeared - there was a bag of them stashed away too.
Oh yeah! I love these! They join my dish of safety pins, toe protectors and other odds and ends, a box with as-yet-unworn jewelry, an unworn new-to-me belt, and my little scissors for tag/thread snips.
Putting out the seasonal purses caused a cascade - now I have to do this casual shoe shelf. All of the surfaces got a good cleaning, all watched over by our black bear.
I stashed a few purses away for fall/winter in favour of more bright colours and summery textiles. I also spread out my sneaker collection a bit.
And here are the After shots! Ooh, isn't it full of pretty colours? Chartreuse/lime is becoming a prominent colour in my wardrobe.
I have fewer short skirts and many more pairs of trousers than I've ever owned before, so I had to do some rearranging to make everything fit.
I put all my "sporty" and "rocker" jackets up a level, with my minis. Items that haven't been worn yet are at the front/right side to inspire me to wear them right away.
Below this is my usual blazer section, which is now shared with all of my hung-up trousers at the back/on the left.
Again, new-to-me blazers/jackets and trousers on the right.
Here's a good look at the Tower of Power (aka my shoes), starting at the top up near the ceiling. I use every inch of space!
Higher heels and open-toes - I won't be wearing most of these for another couple of months.
Two more shelves - these are at my grab-level, so will be worn more frequently.
Heels on top and ankle boots in the middle.
More heels - these are my usual office shoes.
Oh, I'm so excited to have these back! So much outfit potential!
More comfy shoes below those.
The closer to the ground, the lower the heels. The pile of clothes on my stool are new-to-me clothes that don't get hung. They get in the way here, which encourages me to wear them sooner!
Looking in at the floor - I kept out most of my boot collection, packing away only a few.
Our weather is erratic, and boots can be very much needed some days in early spring/late summer. They're also good for evening music festivals in the summer, as I learned last year!
On the other side of the closet (on the left as you look in) is my long-hang section for my dresses, dusters and jumpsuits.
I kept out some favourites from fall/winter, but I have a lot of dresses and it's always a challenge to wear them all. Ah, I see so many old friends here!
To the left of the long-hang/dress section and on the immediate left as you look in, are four wide shelves for all my folded items.
At the very top (next to the ceiling) are my archived shoes and fancy fascinators/hats, plus my tiara. Below those are my thicker sweaters and cardigans (blah blah, erratic weather, etc.).
At arm's reach (without standing on the stool), are the things I'll use more frequently:
- Two piles of pants, leggings and my ORANGE LEATHER SHORTS
- Small knit tops for layering over or under other things
- Vests and bustiers
- Sleeveless silky tops (I don't have space to hang these)
- Fancy casual tops (shorter sleeves)
- Long-sleeved thin layering tops and mesh tops
Below the four shelves are my blouses and shirts, and my long skirts.
With the new-to-me items at the front (on the left). As always, at the start of my closet season, I do the Hanger Trick - I turn all the hangers "backwards" to remind me to wear EVERYTHING in my closet. As I wear an item, I put it back with the hanger the other way. It makes it easy to see what I haven't worn.
That's it! I'm done! Woo!
Oh, wait, I have to do the jewelry. However, at 5 hours in, I was all "just DO IT, Sheila" so I didn't take a Before shot (messy, trust me) or any shots-in-progress, OR any close-ups. You can always go look at the October swap-over (here) - I took a lot of pics then.
But this is the nice clean, all dusted and wiped down display, the official "After." I use pieces of glass serving dishes (amber, vintage 70s, all thrifted), crystal and metal/enameled plates (also thrifted) to display my goodies on/in. I am a visual person (duh) and need to see all my pretties.
When I pulled out my stash of spring/summer jewelry (the black shoebox at the bottom of this scarf stand), I realized I still had to swap my scarves over.
Ack! More work! I kid, it's a pleasure sorting through my scarves, some of which went to Limbo (I have an additional three shoeboxes of scarves near my steamer, forgot to take a pic). I also cleaned out/swapped over my belts, and replaced them in the three velvet hat boxes on the floor.
I did take another pic of my casual shoe shelf and purse display, as I put back some of the "to be worn" scarves.
And I put away my thick and dark tights and pulled out a bag of colourful hosiery for spring. Okay, NOW I'm done!
I had good motivation to finish.
"Come cuddle with the Man and your favourite kitty."
I couldn't very well resist!
Thank you for joining me, my friends! I hope you enjoyed my romp of a weekend, and had your own adventures!
Yikes, I feel like you should have today (Tuesday) off to recuperate from the fun of friends AND the fun of your closet swap! I always enjoy reading about and SEEING your closet swap - your process and approach, the before and after, the changes in clothing and accessory colors - coupled with the drop of my jaw every single time when you show the hallway pictures of your shoes!
ReplyDeleteSo psyched to see you in the pink pants, and they are PERFECT in fit, style, color, drape, just perfect. As I believe you noted upon purchasing them, you have achieved the perfect pink pants, no longer any need to trade up. Thanks to your brunch outfit it was nice to be reminded of your hand drawn Fluevogs which, come to think of it, now have me wondering about L's jacket. Not too long ago you shared your progress but I don't recall the details of how far along you are.
Woohoo for finding the Akris scarf! Nice gesture by the sales woman to offer it to you gratis. The benefit of being a regular known customer. :-)
Here's to the first week of April! Cheers, Laurie
Much as I love seeing your closet swap-over posts, they always leave me feeling more than just a tad guilty about my clumsy efforts. I made a start with mine on Saturday as well, but as I've got several full to bursting wardrobes instead of a well organized closet, it simply cannot be achieved in one go. But I'll get there in the end, particularly now that I've got my guaranteed Fridays off!
ReplyDeleteLoving your PANK jacket, but I'm loving the pink trousers with the Noa Noa frock coat the best. And you've got pink gloves and a pink backpack to match! Sheer perfection!
I'm glad the weather behaved for your get-together at Ye Olde Pandemic Parke! xxx
Well done on a full weekend of festivities and for keeping boots out for potential Philips Backyarder this coming year babe-excellent planning forward! xoxocaro
ReplyDeleteFirst up, loving the photo of Vizzini and his dad at the end and that gorgeous cat that looks like William descending the steps of that fairy-tale house.
ReplyDeleteLove both your pink/pank themed outfits, the perfect accompaniment to your freshly done hair. I also love the silk screen printed men's shirt (I'm squeamish about those perished shoulder pads, too - aren't we funny?) and how kind of the sales assistant to let you have the scarf gratis, fab customer service.
Olde Pandemic Park, it feels like a bad dream now!
I feel quite exhausted looking at those photos of your swapover! xxx
I love those pink trousers. I can never find any that fit well. I don't have particularly short legs, but they seem to be designed for catwalk models and I am no seamstress!
ReplyDeleteWell done on the silk shirt and free scarf too. Result!
I really enjoyed seeing glimpses of your amazing neighbourhood and your gorgeous furry picnic crashers.
Your wardrobe swap over left me feeling a little dizzy. I don't have quite so many clothes and feel overwhelmed at times!
love the pink details! The pink shoes are so pretty. Paired with the pink jacket, they're giving me Barbie vibes and I love it. The t-shirt is fantastic:). Love that talented lady!
ReplyDeleteGreat outfits, totally you. I love the silk scarf as much as I love the Akris dress. That scarf is heaven.
ReplyDeleteGreetje