The Last Outfits of the Season: Friday Fin and Peak White Denim; Neon and Jungle Brunch; Winesday Skater Blues; Family Visit in Kenzo Tiger

Welcome back, my friends! If you're expecting my Closet Swap-Over...well, I'm getting to it. I will be keeping my clothes post separate from the swap-over one so it's easier for your viewing, and is not as intense of a time-suck for me. It's coming! In a day or so...

Friday's outfit was assembled the night before, as most of my work outfits are. I wanted to wear my new Peak White Denim skirt once before packing it away for fall/winter.

I also wanted to wear this tricky tunic again...and the black shirt was still waiting to be worn. What could go wrong? 

• Blouse - Madam Q, thrifted; last worn here in January with a striped skirt that I didn't keep
• Tunic - 3.1 Phillip Lim, consignment; first seen here in July with chartreuse pants and these same shoes
• Skirt - Talbots, thrifted; purchased here for $9.00
• Shoes - Sol Sana; last worn here with a froth of pink tulle in August
• Coat (below) - L'Atiste, consignment, Vancouver; last seen here in May

The result is...not quite there. The proportions are off - it's too summery on the bottom and too wintery on the top.

But I loved the skirt and will enjoy wearing it again in March. Win! 

Loved the tunic - the fabrics are sumptuous.

The black shiny shirt is functional, but this tunic needs a contrasting top underneath.

Imagine a shirt or sweater in orange or red - I last wore a white shirt under it.

Bold wide-legged trousers would also work with this as is, as would a fuller/longer skirt. Ah, well, live and learn! 

Whatever! It's the weekend and here I am, Incognito. 

I'm practically invisible! 

Resting "No forks to give" face.

After work, I strolled home, enjoying the sunnier day. 

Accoutrements: 

I didn't really need the scarf, and I'm putting in Limbo - I don't love it and I have other black and white scarves that I reach for more. 

• Silk scarf - Metropolitan Museum of Art, thrifted

The stuff:

Goodbye, Sol Sana spotty shoes! Thank you for another awesome year, and here's to another 6 more! These are getting packed away, not going to Limbo, you can breathe...

Bold bling: 

Some of my favourites. That necklace is so versatile - I wore it at the shortest of its three lengths in this outfit.

• Necklace - Stella & Dot, thrifted
• Earrings - thrifted, Seattle
• Silver/Lucite bracelet - Alexis Bittar, consignment, Vancouver
• Lucite/crystal bangle - Alexis Bittar, consignment, Sidney
• Silver/obsidian ring - consignment
• Silver/onyx ring - Tocara, vintage fair
• Silver/crystal ring - Soul Flower
• Pinky ring - Dots

L and I hung out and played board games while listening to music, joined by Mr. Vizzini. Who is that?

"It's me!"

Vizz enjoying some "L time" on the couch after games. 

On Saturday, we met up with Casey and Nick for brunch at John's Place.

I had to wear my new L7 concert shirt! Also sneaking in a spring item or two before they get packed away. 

• Bomber jacket - Adidas, consignment, Vancouver; last worn here in June
• T-shirt - L7 concert; purchased here 
• Jeans - Mac Jeans; last seen here in August for our Vancouver trip to see Molly Tuttle
• Sneakers - Converse, consignment; last worn here in June for a Mental Health Shop

I matched the neon green in the tee to these bright lime jeans.

The pink patterned belt went well, so I matched the sequined shoes to that.

And that led me to the pink jungle bomber jacket.

These things happen organically on the weekend.

I enjoy being able to play around in my closet more then, and exercising that creative muscle. 

I will be storing this bomber (and the sneakers) for the cold months. 

Incognito. 

L had an errand to run, so I browed in Cheers/CSinos vintage, but didn't buy anything. I'm a very picky shopper.

Accoutrements and stuff: 

I realized at the end of brunch that I'd completely forgotten to put any jewelry on! Heavens! I'll lose my fashion cred if I keep this up.

• Purse - Roots 73, thrifted
• Belt - Desigual, thrifted, Sidney

I had grand plans to get a chunk of my closet swapped over on Saturday, but ran out of time - instead, I did my jewelry swap-over and a bunch of my accessories. And with other stuff going on this weekend, I'll be consolidating all the closet/accessory pictures to their own post and will publish it later in the week. Sorry to tease...but I also have a life, and I don't want to spend it all in front of the computer or on my phone. 

So after I did a small section of swap-over, I rewarded myself with a nap before getting changed and heading over to Cat's for Winesday. I played around again and made an outfit featuring my fancy-schmancy designer skater jeans. 

I felt great in this all night and we partied till the wee hours! My girlfriends loved this look.

• Sweater - Nor, thrifted; last worn here in January in my first 'fit of 2024
• Long-sleeved mesh top - Jean-Paul Gaultier, vintage 90s, consignment; last seen here under an apron thing in September
• Jeans - Calvin Klein 205W39NYC by Raf Simmons, c. 2019, consignment; purchased here for $88.00
• Sneakers - Converse; last worn here in August for Book Club with magenta track pants
• Coat (below) - L'Atiste, consignment; last seen on Friday, above

This is a style I really loved wearing - I felt very cool. The pants are sitting quite low, right at my hip-bones. I couldn't keep my hands out of the pockets! 

I layered the long-sleeved mesh Gaultier top under this cotton "netlike" knitted sweater.

I had to turn the cuffs of the pants up once to keep them from puddling on the ground. 

I discovered that the back of the knees is actually two layers of fabric - how bizarre! 

With the same coat I wore on Friday.

Plus my massive blue faux fur hat, finally getting a wear after picking it up in Vancouver way backin April.

Done up - it was rather chilly by the time I walked home at 2am.

Don't worry, it wasn't far - I was safe. 

I used my giant Ed Hardy bag to carry my food contributions - olives, chocolate-covered sponge toffee and candied hazelnuts from Spinnakers, and a bag of sour cream & onion Old Dutch chips, yum! - and my slippers. 

Rar! The tiger! 

• Bag - Ed Hardy, NWT, consignment, Powell River

I left the tags on the bag, and just tuck them inside. 

Accoutrements: 

One of my more wintery scarves is back! I like the navy, white, brown, grey and gold-y yellows. 

• Scarf - Forele, vintage 60s, consignment
• Gloves - Parkhurst
• Hat - no label, consignment, Vancouver; purchased here for $35.00

Those are navy blue gloves, not the denim-y blue of the one I lost. 

The stuff: 

I liked how these big shoes worked with the pants. They've been a good buy.

Bold and blue bling: 

I remembered my jewelry this time - go, me! 

• Belt - gift from Ruth
• Silver/gold cuff - JPL, vintage fair
• Leather cuff - thrifted
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes
• Silver/kyanite ring - consignment
• Silver/smoky topaz ring - Anneli Neuman, Sweden, vintage mall
• Silver earrings - Brenda Schoenfeld, 1992, vintage mall

We had a small group, and later in the evening (after Marian and Jen left) Yvonne thought to take a picture. Thanks, honey! 

From left: Yvonne, Caro, Cat, Ali and me.

L and I slept in on Sunday, then quickly got ready to head over to Mom's - her brother Brian is visiting from Australia, so she invited "the family" over. Hi, fam! 

I'll be seeing Brian later this week, so we spent a little over an hour visiting with my nieces Hannah and Sydney, chatting with my former sister-in-law, Cindy, and seeing my cousin's grown kid (Brianne) plus her partner Kai and their child. 

• Sweater - Tabi, thrifted; purchased here for $8.00
• Dress - Kenzo X H&M, consignment; last worn here in March for an anniversary lunch and a wee shop
• Shoes - MJUS, consignment; purchased here for $68.00
• Leather coat (below) - Danier Leather, thrifted; last seen here in August

This is my newly-thrifted red sweater, layered under this sheer, thin, silk dress. 

This is closer to the real colour of the skirt of the dress - I had streaming sunlight on the stairs, which threw the colours off. There's no yellow in it, but it is an orange-y red.

There's pink and pale blue in the top half, so I thought I'd play with that.

With a blue belt and blue shoes. Voila! 

I love all the swoosh, as you can tell. 

I keep this dress out all year round. 

Incognito. 

A bright sunny day, hooray! 

All done up.

This blue leather jacket is from the early 00s, most likely. 

Accoutrements and stuff: 

The shoes were lovely to wear - that's a very nice low heel. I'll keep them out for winter and hopefully wear them a bit more.

• Purse - Bruno Magli, vintage 80s, consignment
• Rohesia belt - Fluevog; last worn here in August
• Silver/obsidian cuff - Mexican, vintage 60s, Grandma J's
• Brutalist hinged cuff - Robert Larin, vintage 70s, vintage mall, gift from L
• Brutalist ring - thrifted
• Volcano ring - vintage 70s, Mom's
• Earrings - vintage mall

I loved having my pewter Brutalist pieces back in my accessories. Please check in later this week to see all my jewelry swap-over chaos. 

And now, signing off for the rest of the weekend, Gentle Readers, including Monday (I'll be doing my closet swap-over then). 

"Do you mind?"

Kitty in a box! 

Thanks so much for stopping by, my friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend - I so appreciate every one of you! 

Mom-Day Adventure at the Westsong Walkway in Greens and Blue, and a Wee Shop

Welcome back to Mom-Day Adventures, Gentle Readers! I missed seeing Mom last week, so it was extra-awesome to have our walk and lunch together today. 

We revisited the Westsong Walkway and had lunch at Spinnakers - the last time we ventured this way was here for Mom's birthday in May, and we haven't had lunch at Spinnakers since here in July 2023!

I had this sweater/dress combo lined up in my closet, and of course the top goes so well with my boots...

It just created itself! I added a floof of navy blue, chose a green trenchcoat, and bam, I'm ready to go! 

• Sweater - Zara, consignment; purchased here for $15.00
• Denim dress - Emoji X Peacebird, consignment; last worn here (2nd outfit) in January for brunch
• Floofy underskirt - Noa Noa; last seen here in February 2023, under a leather dress
• Boots - Slacker Vagabond, Fluevog; last worn here in February for our trip to Powell River
• Leather coat (below) - Jeno de Paris, vintage 70s, thrifted; last seen here in March

This dress is a one-of-a-kind - it's a one-off Emoji the Brand collaboration, with patches and odd things. I usually layer something under the skirt part of it, as it's very short and has slits on the side. 

This floofy underskirt has been with me for over 10 years - Dots had a section of Noa Noa for a year or so, which I raided heavily. I have a black, lined version of this, and my striped frock coat still. 

I made sure my "coat off" outfit would still work.

This bright green sweater gets its first wearing - I love this colour. 

I looked like this during my wee shop after lunch, only a lot wetter. Rainy season is here! 

I was alternately sweaty indoors and cold outside. You can't win this time of year. 

Incognito.

My scarf was only on my purse while shopping.

Ta-dah! 

I was much soaked after walking home in the pouring rain.

Accoutrements: 

Boo! I lost one of my fingerless gloves at some point - it must have fallen out of my pocket. 

• Silk scarf - Yves Saint Laurent, vintage 80s, thrifted
• Leather purse - Club Monaco, thrifted
• Plastic belt (worn on raincoat) - vintage 90s, thrifted
• Wool beret - consignment
• Gloves - Parkhurst

I'll need to swing by Roberta's Hats and buy another pair. I need blue gloves! 

The stuff: 

My boots are quite soaked here - you can see how dark the toe is. They'll be fine - they're leather. 

Blue and green bling: 

I wore the wee frog on my beret, and the two pins on my dress. 

• Necklace - consignment
• Frog pin - thrifted
• Silver/kyanite ring - consignment
• Silver/malachite ring - consignment
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes
• Earrings - Stella & Dot, consignment, Vancouver
• "You look great" pin - Fluevog - free! 
• LOVE pin - Justin's 40th? birthday

Mom picked me up and we parked near Spinnakers. 

A ginormous cruise ship is in town. 

We set out along the Westsong Way - Mom was slow due to the weather and not walking for a while, but that ended up being a gift.

We spotted a Cooper's Hawk in the Garry Oak. That green dome is the Provincial Legislature at the Inner Harbour. 

Isn't she pretty? 

People jogged past us, and didn't even know it was there. 

There's something to be said for slow walking. 

You see more! 

Another cruise ship is coming in.

It had been foggy in the morning, and rain threatened.

This is the Norwegian Sun. 

Lots of people on deck watching their approach. Note the schooner in the background. 

A swirl of kelp. 

It looked like a monster lurking below the surface. 

While the weather was good, seaplanes took off every 10 minutes - they must have been backed up, waiting for clear skies. 

I see a Coast Guard vessel, a cruise ship, a two-masted ship, a seaplane and that schooner in the far distance. 

Planes were taking off TOWARD the Inner Harbour - I've never seen that before.

They usual fly from the Outer Harbour, and curl around the south of the island. 

This one's landing.

Vancouver must have been having similar weather. 

We sat and rested for a bit and watched the planes landing. 

And then we realized there were hummingbirds resting on the trees across from us. 

That's no hummingbird! 

That seaplane is coming right at us! 

But if the hummingbird is chill, we are. 

Fluffed up. 

That's a nonchalant shrug.

We chatted and said hello to people who went by (our colourful leather coats were very popular). 

Time to head back to Spinnakers for lunch.

Grey and overcast. 

It started to spatter rain as we went under this arbutus tree. 

Looking down at the ocean below. 

Mom looking resplendent. 

We enjoyed hand-tossed pizzas for lunch - she had smoked salmon, goat cheese and shrimp and I had roasted mushroom, spinach and goat cheese. Yum! Thanks so much for the lovely day, Mom - I love you! 

I walked to town, not minding the rain. I had a browse in Flavour Upstairs on Johnson St., but nothing grabbed me. I walked over to the Beacon Ave. Thrift Shop on Pandora Ave., and found two things.

I'm so excited - it's the Perfect White Denim Skirt! The pockets are real, it has a walking slit in front.

It fits just right, and hits at my knee, almost like a pencil skirt. 

The denim is thick but has a high polyester content (60% cotton, 35% polyester, 5% spandex). It's stretchy.

It's by Talbots, so I knew it would be good quality. I'm surprised to see it's still in stock on their website - it's called the Denim A-Line Skirt (here, all links 'cause I love, as always), and it's on sale for $69.99. 

And at $9.00, I also knew I could resell it if it didn't fit. But instead, Peak White Denim Skirt has been achieved. Yay! I hope I don't wreck it too soon. 

I also found a marvelous red mock-neck sweater. 

I moved my old red turtleneck into Limbo last year - it was getting pilly and worn out. This is the perfect shade of red. 

I saw this and checked it very, very carefully for moth-holes. A Woolmark pure Merino wool tag. 

I had to use the CA number database to look up this brand, as someone removed the tags at the neck. 

It's by Tabi, a now-gone mall boutique for Ladies of a Certain Age. 

I was happy with $8.00 and know I've found a better quality red base sweater than the previous one. Always Be Upgrading! 

From there, I walked up the block and had a browse in WIN for an hour before they closed. I like picking up seasonal things for cheap there. 

Three aqua skull glasses at $1.95 each? Sure! I actually dropped one on the concrete floor after I paid for it - and it bounced! These aren't high-quality (the colour is painted on), but they are fun. 

I found this giant loop belt. 

It's trying really hard to be a Suzi Roher belt (it's very similar to this one on her site for $575.00, yes, you read that right). 

However, the "leather" on the elastic is crumbling a bit (being PVC). A true Suzi Roher would use real leather. 

But the loops are curved, and it fits great and looks cool on - I'm very happy with the $12.95 I paid. 

I scanned the skirts and found this unusual one. It's has a flat upper section, then is pleated from there. 

"It's like window to art!" said L when I showed him. The upper panel is printed with a Victorian scene, then there's a stripe of large-scale leopard print, then a pastel floral scene, a row of checkers, then a small-scale leopard print. And it's the same on the back (I hear you cheering!). 

I was shocked - again - to see Marc Cain selling for so low. I paid $14.95 for this.

Their skirts start at $300 and go up to the $500 range. I'm sure this is a wool blend - it feels like it. It fits me perfectly - another win at WIN! 

I quickly ran through the aisles, just running my hand over the clothes and eyeing the increasing rain outside. This stopped me.

The dark blotches are water. This is a vest with many zippers. 

More water blotches.

Can you unzip the black part? 

You can adjust the neckline as you like. 

It looks good this way too. 

The answer is, yes, you can remove the black part. 

I zipped it back on - it's nice to know I CAN, even though I likely never will unzip it. 

Big pockets! 

One on each side - they are uneven, did you notice? 

I recognized the name - I have another top by Sun Kim - this olive green over-top vest thing with the wired collar here.

Made in the USA and only $24.95.

While I took pictures, someone was rolling about. 

"Feed me!"

And so I did. 

And now, my friends, I'm going to sign off for the weekend. It is a long one for us, as Monday is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - and I'm swapping over my closet for the season, so stay tuned! Sending you all warm wishes, and thank you so much for reading!