The Nautical Tropical Optical Spectacular! (AKA L's Birthday Party)

Avast, me hearties! It's L's Birthday Party, which was themed The Nautical Tropical Optical Spectacular! 

"Yaarrrr! Enter if ye dare, landlubbers!"

L in his pirate finery - more pictures below. 

But first, my outfits (this being MY blog and all). I planned for two outfits for the evening, changing at 10:30pm. I got dressed early, redid my make-up from the morning/afternoon brunch, and did all my pics ahead of the party-goer arrivals.

My first 'fit - a repeat of one of my past "Mrs. Roper Pool Party" outfits. 

• Dress - Elle L'Exclusif, vintage 60s, thrifted; first worn here (2nd outfit) in July 20222
• Shoes - Neosens; purchased here for $127.50

I went with tropical - this is such a cool dress and having only worn it once, it was well overdue. 

It has no stretch, and just pulls over the head. 

Vizzini knew something was up - we were moving things around, tidying up and shifting furniture in readiness for the onslaught of people. 

"Are Cat and Ross coming?"

I'm pretty sure he equates Ross with extra food! 

I tucked the neckline of the dress under (compare to the last time worn, link above) to better show off my necklace. 

I swanned about in this for a couple of hours. 

I added a lei at some point. 

"Well, where is everyone?"

The stuff: 

First wearing of these new sandals, worn barefoot. They were excellent, no rubbing or pain anywhere. Looking forward to wearing these out in the Real World at some point. 

Bold gold bling: 

A mix of the usual. 

• Necklace - consignment
• Earrings - thrifted
• Amber ring - c. 1996
• Wooden ring - Dots
• Snake bracelet - Whiting & Davis, vintage 70s, vintage fair
• Bangle - thrifted

At 10:30-ish, I tip-toed off to my closet and changed into this outfit. L also changed from his pirate ensemble to a more casual (yet still thematic) look. 

More tropical! I felt like I got all the nautical out of my system earlier this week. 

• Wrap top - Maison d'Amelie, consignment; purchased here for $42.99
• Tropical trousers - last worn here in July 2023 with recent Marimekko for the Canada Day long weekend
• Shoes - Karl Lagerfeld; last seen here (3rd outfit) in September 2023 for a hangout in the park for Vero's birthday

There was a roar of approval from the party-goers when I appeared in this. 

My friends loved all the colour. 

This linen top goes so well with the trousers, and I loved wearing it. 

I wrapped it and tied it in the back - it stayed put well. 

Vizzini, still lingering around. 

I found the lei itchy and didn't wear it for long. 

The stuff: 

My patent leather yellow ballet flats are still hanging on, another year. They are well worn! 

Orange bling: 

I had all my jewelry laid out to swap. 

• Orange bangle - consignment, Sidney
• Yellow cuff - thrifted
• Necklace - Banana Republic, consignment
• Lucite/steel ring - Calvin Klein, thrifted
• Plastic ring - Italian, vintage 60s, vintage mall

And now here's L's outfit, which is a semi-repeat of what he had planned to wear for the VFF Gala back here (pics of him dressed up, but too sick to go out).

"Oh, no, not you too!"

All put together from his closet - the red pirate shirt is the one I thrifted for $24.95 a couple of weeks ago. It was an early birthday gift.

"I'm ignoring you."

Silly kitty. He hid under the bed for the entire party. What a chicken-cat! 

And now...party pictures! These were all taken with my camera/phone (some by me, some by Cat, who grabbed it a couple of times). 

Kim and Spence made it over from Vancouver to join us. Love your nautical purse, Kim! 

L and Spence. 

Rock on, sirs! 

Marian and Rod arrived shortly after. 

Looking very spiffy, kids! 

Casey is so classy in his ascot and captain's hat. 

I liked how people interpreted the theme. 

Kim and me.

Yeah, baby! 

Kim and Spence together. 

Seriously, many of these outfits could just be worn anytime, right? 

Okay, maybe not! 

Chris and Ali! Chris is wearing the Tommy Bahamas silk shirt I thrifted some time ago - a god purchase! I found bits of Ali's grass skirt all over the house later. 

Alison and Tony wore their Hawaiian outfits and necklaces.

Fabulous! Sorry to coworker Viz - you were blurry so I cropped you out. 

I gave Rod this fantastic oversized vintage silk Hawaiian shirt for free ("The first one's free," I whispered). 

He's a big guy (muscly) and this fit him so well in the shoulders and chest. He was THRILLED, and everyone stroked the soft silk. 

Greg, Rosanna, Michael and Katya showed up in full piratical gear. Greg committed - he wore that eyepatch the entire night! 

"Yes, I got the memo."

Apologies to Katya, your pic was blurry (my bad) as well. 

The lovely Kristina wore her oceanic green dress. 

So sparkly and fabulous! She tried on the silk dress I bought earlier in the week (this one) and it fit her perfectly, so I sent it home with her, to eTransfer me the cost +10%. 

Rosanna's outfit was all pulled from her closet. 

She's the Dread Pirate Rose Petal! 

Carolyn and Andrew arrived and posed with Casey. 

Carolyn wore husband Ronnie's actual Captain's jacket and hat (he is a real ship's captain and was unfortunately doing his job so had to miss the party). Andrew is a crew member from "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" (Wes Anderson movie, link here 'cause I love). Fantastic details - I knew what he was immediately (I love that movie). 

Caro and Randall.

Randall's nautical nod was totally Yacht Rock - he looks like his permanent soundtrack is Hall & Oates and Steely Dan (hee hee). 

Cat MADE HER DRESS in two days! What amazing fabric, and I love that keyhole neckline. 

The fabric is sailing ships. Holy ship! What a great dress, Cat! And it has pockets! 

Caro and Cat.

Aw, I love you guys. 

I've changed! Yvonne and Vero are sneaking up on me. 

Vero bought that dress on our trip to Vancouver last summer! 

Ross and Casey. 

Ross has a "seaside town" vibe about his outfit. He was very chuffed that I spotted the yacht tie-clip he wore on his collar. 

Aw, hugs for Rosanna! 

Yvonne's all, "I wanna hug too!"

As you can see, I changed AGAIN! I kept telling people about this outfit I'd planned to wear, and it was 1am, so I said, "Aw, heck, I may as well put it on!"

I won't be keeping either the top or the skirt but it was fun to wear them for a few hours. 

• Top - Princess Cruises, thrifted; purchased here for $6.00
• Skirt - Mekito, thrifted; worn here in May on the last Mom-Day Adventure to Elk Lake

A shot of the back of L's "Jaws" shirt, and the Kitchen Party crowd. 

Michael, Greg, Justin and L. 

Cat and Ross gave L this original oil painting as a gift. 

It's a...Viking...and a woman. Her hand is...in his lap? What an odd subject! 

There is faint writing on the back, and the canvas has a lot of age on it. 

I think it says, "The Viking..." something! 

What a cool gift! 

One last view of the Gauntlet in the kitchen. I see Randall and Ross on the right. 

Happy Birthday, L! What a fabulous party! The last person left around 2am, and we dozed on the couches until 3am, after a quick clean-up of all the cans, bottles, dishes and food. 

Vizzini, we're all done. You can come back and hang with us.

"You rang?"

He briefly cruised out to see if there were any crumbs on the carpet (many, I'm sure he enjoyed hoovering up the chips that were dropped), but mostly hid. 

"Oh, I ate everything I could find once you went to bed."

That is why we clean up! He pawed my face and bit my hand at 5am, which was most annoying and resulted in him getting locked out of the bedroom, naughty boy. 

And now, back to our weekend - it's rainy and gloomy, but we are cozy inside and enjoying the thought of another whole week of vacation!