A Grocery Shop Effort in Coffee Rings, Plus My New Art Project: Neon Fluevogs

Hello, my friends! This is when it starts to feel like time off: it's Monday and we're not at work! Woo! 

Our goals when off are to really not do chore-type of things, so there's been lots of reading, listening to music, catching up on telly/Netflix, and board gaming. Great times! 

My first outfit of the staycation is from our weekly grocery shop - we figured a Monday would be a good time, but forgot about the noon rush. Oh, well! 

I made an effort to get dressed, but let's not get carried away. A dress is nice and easy for being in public.

• Dress - Luisa Cerano, thrifted; last seen here in June 2024 when I got recognized with Mom at Government House
• Denim jacket - G-Star Raw, consignment, Powell River; last worn here in December 2024 with sneaky Adidas
• Sandals - Wonders; last seen here in August 2024 with green lace and flamingos

I call this my Coffee Ring dress. 

Doesn't it look like I've set down a few too many drippy cups on it? 

Bare legs plus wee cotton shorts.

It felt good to get my sandals on again! It's such a short window of warm weather to wear them here. 

With a jacket so that I'm not chilled in the store.

I had a lovely chat with an employee in the bread aisle over hair colour. Go for purple! Life is short! 

Incognito.

I made an effort again to actually carry a purse - this one's a clutch I bought a while back and haven't used. 

The stuff: 

These sandals are 7 years old this year! Still as comfy as ever. 

• Macramé/faux tortoiseshell clutch purse - vintage 80s, thrifted; purchased for $6.95 (can't actually find when I bought this!)
• Fabric flower - can't remember
• Gold/pink stone cuff - D'Orlan, vintage 70s, vintage mall
• Enameled cuff - Lauren G. Adams, consignment
• Venetian glass necklace/earrings - Venice, 2016, gift from L

And now that I'm finished with L's jacket, I'm champing at the bit to get going on some of my Art Projects that have been stalled for the past two years! 

Art Project: Neon Fluevogs

These beauties are called the Mellow Bossa Nova, and I've had them since I bought them on clearance for $99.00 back here in January 2020, and while I've worn them several times (enjoy the links below), the neon orange is poorly done and has scuffed badly. What to do? Cover those scuffs! 

Here's how I've worn them: 

• June 2023 - Creamsicle Bookends
• August 2022 - Neon Bookends (sensing a theme...)
• May 2022 - Zebra Jumpsuit (and a neon jacket - sold them both)
• July 2022 - Neon Bookending Olive (I like this combo)
• May 2021- Black Suiting (my coworker Jess bought this suit)
• August 2020 - Neon Pirate (the only wearing of those pants)
• June 2020 (2nd outfit) - Giant Marimekko Skirt
• April 2020 - More Neon Bookends (yes, same shirt!)
• February 2020 (5th outfit) - Bookending Orange (same shirt!)

So, here's what we're starting with. Neon shoes - which never quite photographs right, so just add a neon filter to your vision here, folks.

These are the same last/sole/foot shape as my recently purchased Mellow Bebop metallic pink boots (these here).

The toes have just gotten worse with every wear, with the orange colour flaking off.

I tried to Liquid Paper over and colour it with an orange highlighter. That...did not work. 

The other toe also has this damage, plus another spot midway up the foot.

The leather is very fragile and just looking at it scuffs it! So annoying! 

This calls for a complete artsy cover-up, similar to what I did with my thrashed Pink Freedom Sukis that I covered with design to disguise the scrapes and marks (here).

I knew I wanted to do a floral theme, to almost completely cover the neon orange. The first thing with coloured leather is to see how my felts work on it. 

My testing area is underneath one of the layers on the top of the shoe. The arrows are pointing at the colours I liked best, which will be a mix of pink, purple, red, yellow, orange and a couple of greens for leaves. 

I started a little journal book to keep track of my plans, including the numbers of the pens, so that I remember which is which - they look very different on paper than on the shoe.

I enjoyed the lovely sunshine and warmth on the deck. I really missed my little furry helper...

I learned from my previous shoes to mirror my pattern overall so that one shoe doesn't end up looking lopsided. Planning is key!

I used a watercolour orange pen to choose where the centres of the flowers will be on the shoes (the watercolour pen wipes off easily). Once I had one shoe done, I copied it on the other side. No coincidence that I planned a bloom over those horrendously scraped toes! 

I scratched the Liquid Paper off, and cleaned them up as much as I could.

Now, draw a circle around each of those dots - that's where the flowers will be.

I want some leaves to break up the flowers, so those also need to be planned out, or I'll forget about them. 

I can now Zentangle/draw around the leaves and they'll look more intentional and cohesive. 

And...GO! 

One shoe started! I love how this looks - it will be all red/pink/orange/purple tones when it's done. It's a lovely thing to do just to Zen out, and let my brain go. I never regret time spent on this - it's so good for my mental health. 

Art Projects: FINISHED! L's Blue Oyster Cult Jacket

Hello, my friends! Here's a little Art Interlude for you while I continue my lazy staycation and plan of doing Not Much Of Anything for the next week.

I last shared an update on L's Blue Oyster Cult jacket back here in February, but I have worked on it since then. I just haven't shared because L reads my blog (hello, my love!) and I wanted to surprise him for his birthday.

I won't keep y'all in suspense, here's the finished front:

Wow, that's a lot! The whole front is done, including some unplanned colour (FLAMES).

And the back - no real change, although you can see a bit of the collar detail, and how I've given the stars on the sleeve a silver edge.

I ended up scaling back much of what I'd originally planned, both to save myself time, and to no overwhelm some of the simpler areas, like this backpatch which is just fine as is. 

Okay, now backing up to where we were last, when I got the basics of the two front upper chest round "patches" based in. 

I coloured the BOC in blue, and then thought, "This needs some more grandiosity," and had the inspiration to do an outer border that replicates the original Miami Dolphins "sun" logo (link here, 'cause I love). You can see my light grey "sketching" above.

I plotted the bumps carefully to  make sure I got them even, then added another round to really add some oomph.

It gives it more visual weight. 

Me on the deck, working on a hot day.

Got my water and my tunes. The time flies, but I stop when my hand starts to hurt. 

Added more colour, plus some grey shading on the outer ring.

On the next session, I did a darker border around the letters to make them stand out more. 

Off to the other side, which got some Sun flames.

Appropriate, since the quote "I'm the Joker of the Universe" is a lyric from The Great Sun Jester.

I added another song lyric to the collar, "Dice roll so Indifferently." 

I added a pair of D6 (six-sided dice), and a D20 (a 20-sided die). I'm using Dungeons & Dragons lingo there as a nod to the game, which L - and I! - played for decades.

Not shown: The day after we lost Vizzini, I added all three of our cats' names and pawprints to secret places on the jacket, a private message of love to L.

Now, what to do with the front?? I landed on a lyric, "Cities on Flame, with rock and roll," from the song Cities on Flame (enjoy the YouTube link here, crunchy rock).

I used my sketching pen (it disappears when dry) to line up the lyrics on angles (very hard!), then did a light line with a permanent pen. 

Let's get those letters looking good.

I'm getting good at this font! 

I like it to be fairly soft.

I angle all the corners.

Add colour! 

I messed up the O in "on" - oops. I showed that to my brother and he didn't even see it. Eh, let it go.

The scariest part by FAR! I wanted to do shading like flames burning - I found some pics online to help me. I also had lightly outlined some classic tattoo-like flames, which you can just see vertically on the centre panels.

Filling in the base colour yellow (I tested all these colours on the inside band of the jacket to see what worked/showed up best on a blue background). 

And let's add some orange, oh, jeez, feeling panicky. Bring the yellow in closer to the letters! Yes, that helps. 

Trust yourself, Sheila, trust yourself. 

A progress pic with my shadow, ha ha.

Feeling better about the left side, now that I've added a couple of shades of orange and it's starting to look more fiery. 

Adding black.

I also extended the design out on the sides a bit more. Most of the sides are hidden when the jacket is on - you can't see the pockets, for instance - so there's no point in adding things that might rub off from the sleeves. 

I added L's name - it's Logan - to the bare pocket flap.

No question who this belongs to! 

The other side done.

Could I have done more? Probably. Did I want to? No, I'm done. 

The last thing I did was add tiny touches of silver all over. I highlighted the D6 pips and D20's 20 (a nat!).

Added silver dots to the centres of the swirls on the BOC patch, and outlined the BOC symbol on the right.

Just enough to catch your eye, but not detract from the design.

I might go back and darken up the Logan.

A zigzag on the lightning bolt on the sword.

I punched up a bit of the shading, but very tiny updates. 

I outlined the stars on the other sleeve.

This sleeve also has a tiny private message where my thumb is.

The pic of the front was blurry, but here's L wearing it. 

"The best birthday present I've ever received!"

Aw! I'm glad you like it. I've added this to my Art Projects tab (here).

On to the next art project...another pair of shoes! 

The Annual Day of Indolence, and a DOI Flashback

Welcome back, my friends! If you guessed that Friday was our Annual Day of Indolence, you are 100% correct. Well done. Our last Day of Indolence was (here) in June 2024, and it is all about celebrating the joy of doing a whole lot of nothing. Oh, and L's birthday! 

We've been doing this for 15+ years - I rounded up a Flashback of my outfits from previous years of indolence (I didn't attend them all in the beginning) at the bottom of the post, so enjoy my wacky hairstyles from years gone by! 

There is only one rule of the Day of Indolence (DOI), and that's...show up on time for breakfast/brunch. Other than that, the idea is to take the day off work, join us for brunch and then enjoy a leisurely wander around our lovely downtown, stopping at bars and restaurants for refreshing beverages and snacks, and then finally calling it in the evening when everyone's had enough. 

Previous years' activities have included: 

• The Bug Zoo
• Riding the harbour ferries
• Haunted mini-golf
• The Fluevog store
• About a dozen different pubs within walking distance of downtown
• Side trips to shop (mostly me, sometimes folks tag along)

What would it be this year? Goodness knows, but I'd better be ready for hot sun, chilly winds and possibly rain. After all, it is still spring! 

I picked out my outfit on Thursday, which was a very quiet non-Mom Day, spent doing not much of anything (although I did finish L's Blue Oyster Cult Jacket, which is getting another post in a day or so).

• Mesh shirt - Mexx, vintage 90s, consignment; last seen here with this same tee in February
• L7 t-shirt - merch, 2024; not tracked
• Denim skirt - Levi's, thrifted; purchased here for $15.00
• Shoes - Prepare Guide, Fluevog; last worn here in April with pink and aqua
• Neon cardigan (below) - Forever 21, thrifted; last seen here in March for a Mom-Day

Layers, layers, layers. I did this t-shirt/mesh shirt combo, which I've done before. 

And as a few of you guessed, I wore this new-to-me heavy denim mermaid skirt right away! I wore wee shorts under it, and light aqua socks with my shoes to keep my toes from getting rubbed; otherwise bare legs. 

The skirt was a delight to wear - I adore the mermaid shape, which suits my curvy figure. 

It also flaps like sails when I walk, a very satisfying noise. Whoosh, whoosh, comin' through! 

I mostly wore my cardigan wrapped around my waist thusly. 

I also started out with my matchy silk scarf tied to one of my two belts, but ended up moving it to my purse about half-way through the day. 

Cardi on, and demonstrating my pockets. I stashed my sunglasses/glasses in one, and my phone in the other.

The front pockets on the skirt were good...until I sat down and my phone stabbed me in the stomach. 

With my purse and Incognito.

I was easy to spot in a crowd! 

Accoutrements: 

I started with just the green belt, then thought...why not add another? I liked the look! 

• Purse - Danier Leather, thrifted
• Silk scarf - Yves Saint Laurent, vintage 70s, thrifted
• Neon belt - vintage 90s, consignment
• Blue chain belt - Fluevog

The stuff: 

I needed height to keep my denim skirt from dragging on the ground, and since I've actually worn these shoes for a previous DOI (scroll way down to see!), I knew they would be comfy for an all-day wear.

Armour bling: 

Gotta wear all the metal! 

• Stud/leather cuff - vintage 90s
• Turquoise stone cuff - thrifted, Sidney
• Leather cuff - Guess, thrifted
• Silver/malachite bangle - thrifted, Sidney
• Silver/lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes
• Silver/kyanite ring - consignment
• Silver/green stone ring - thrifted
• Silver/malachite ring - thrifted
• Silver/turquoise ring - Karen's
• Green glass necklace - vintage 50s, Mom's (a gift from her Uncle Harry)
• Silver/turquoise pendant - Karen's
• Silver/malachite earrings - thrifted

I also pinned a selection of buttons to my cardigan. 

Go banana! 

• Warhol banana - Art Gallery
• LOVE button c. 2016? - Justin's birthday souvenir, made by Cat/Ross
• DOI 2023 button - made by Cat/Ross

L and I walked to town - it was sunny, cloudy and windy.

We admired the new graffiti wall on Johnson Street. I like the one second from the right the best. 

We had a 10:30am reservation for 13 of us at John's Place. Thanks so much to Ron for sending this pic out, and thanks to Deb and the staff for taking such good care of us! 

From bottom left, counter-clockwise: Ron (a sliver of his face), Caro, me (rock on!), Randall, Chris, Ross, Nick, Cat, Casey, L, Yvonne, Rosanna and Greg. Woo! 

Edited to add a few more pics for ya, courtesy of Ronnie and Greg...AND (more pictures) from Yvonne, Randall and Cat! 

From the other end of the table - you can see what a chaotic venue John's Place is! I love it! 

Greg has an uncanny resemblance to John Catucci, the host of "You Gotta Eat Here!", a Canadian TV show that ran from 2012-2016 and featured awesome restaurants across the country.

Of course, John's Place was featured, as was our former regular haunt, Floyd's Diner. 

Cat and Rosanna doing the "jaw pose," which makes one's face look less beholden to gravity.

Perfect, Yvonne and Rosanna! 

Casey and L, two buddies for over 30 years.

Rock on! 

After stuffing ourselves on delicious food (not to mention many coffees and Caesars), we were ready to move on. Where shall we go? 

Rosanna, Yvonne, Caro, Cat. Looking fabulous, my beauties! 

Victoria's downtown is full of character.

Not to mention characters like us! You can always spot me by my neon.

We headed towards Market Square, off lower Johnson Street. 

Chris, Randall, Rosanna and L.

I left folks to get settled at Whistle Buoy, while I had a poke through the Fluevog store to see what was new. 

It's a gorgeous store. Note the bird sculpture overhead. 

I think L would like these. 

Those will go with a lot in your wardrobe! We'll stalk them until they go on sale. 

Cat and Yvonne and I headed into Market Square.

It was the last of the series of Friday lunchtime concerts in the Square.

Me and Rosanna. She's wearing a sheer dress with little yellow and blue dots, and a "Do Nothing" tee.

We were in the same colour scheme! 

I grabbed a kombucha inside, then joined Rosanna and Nick for some song stylings.

A shout out to the lovely Brynn and Harvey, who were astounded at my outfit and ambushed me inside for a chat (I gave them one of my blog-cards). Such awesome folks! Hi! 

The sun was beating down, making me glad I had a sunblock stick in my purse. I quickly whipped my scarf into the Movie Star Wrap for shade.

"You're like Catherine Deneuve, only a Seahawks fan," joked Chris. HA!

Chris himself wore a sweet shirt with a flamingo on it. Ali joined us later (she had to work), but I neglected to take a single picture with her in it (sorry, honey - edited: picture added later!).

Noting the lady in the background and her cool white sunnies. 

And the woman in the striped top on the upper walkway who perfectly photobombed this shot of Casey and Randall. 

Half the fun is looking at the pictures later. 

The singer serenaded L with a round of "Happy Birthday".

So humble. Sit down there, ya oldster! 

Enjoying the clouds scudding across overhead. 

What a treat to have such warm weather! 

While folks were imbibing, Rosanna and I had a peek around in Vintage After Death, located in the Square.

This little glazed ceramic flat dish caught my eye. 

It was half off, so $7.00. The signature on the bottom looks like "Louise Bird."

There's a UK artist with that name, but I suspect this is a ceramics class piece, probably local. 

I gave it a good cleaning (soap/water) and now it contains my small bits of copper on my dresser.

Rings and earrings. 

We got a text: "We've moved on! Go to the 70s lounge!"

Rosanna and I headed down Store Street to our next stop. 

Is this the right place? This is the Good Time Tasting Room for Swift Brewery, decked out in so much mid-century modern, I feel like I'm in my parent's rec room! 

HEY! I know these people! 

I walked around and looked at the décor. I remember the string art craze of 1980, do you?

I made shells and sailboats, but never Sexy Time Kissing! Hee hee! 

I got a kick out of these vintage-inspired coasters (and the Blue Mountain Pottery ginormous ash-tray). I ended up with a collection of them in my bag at the end of the day.

Rick James, the Hoff and Pammy! Love you, Pam! She's local, from up-Island.

Ross, Cat and me, chilling at the bar with a soda.

That book is a gem, every essay's a winner!

Gaggling around outside, deciding where to go next.

Axe-throwing? Pinball? I dunno...I'm just along for the ride. I enjoy giving up control on the DOI, but I also need to take off on my little side-trips, to keep my sanity. People! So much work!  

While folks deliberated, I took a picture of the Johnson Street Bridge going up for a tall-ship sailboat. 

See all the cyclists backed up on the left? Lots of little harbour ferries on the right tied to the docks. 

Cloud drama, and group of SALTs (Sea and Life Training Society) students on board this gorgeous ship. 

We're so lucky to live here. Seriously! 

Pinball was called for, so we walked over to Pinhalla. 

Ronnie's headed in, and I see me, Caro and Casey in the reflection. 

I remember this being a furniture store in the late 90s. 

Yvonne, Cat and Ross, deciding what to play. 

Pinball's not my bag - I did enjoy the décor, though. 

The Warriors! I love that movie. 

A D&D Manual ("the old cover," L noted), and some other pop culture bits.

I spy Ghostbusters! 

Red Hot Video! They saved the sign from the old "spicy" video store that was a downtown fixture for decades. I had a slice of the pizza here (it was yummy).

I also see a Steamers Hotel "Rooms for Rent" sign - eee, that was a scuzzy place! Old Victoria history right here...happy to see it preserved.

Me again, enjoying some sunshine,

A tasty fruity beverage.

Caro and Cat! 

I found this copy of "Crazy Salad Plus Nine", a book of essays by Nora Ephron in the thrift store a while back and both L and I loved it, so I loaned it to Cat, who carried it around all day (it's in a few pics). It was kind of our theme for the day...crazy salad. 

While our pals pinballed, Rosanna and I, plus Chris and Ross, meandered into Chinatown and down Fan Tan Alley for a poke around. 

We had a look in a boutique that carried locally-made items, did a circuit of Heart's Content, and then Rosanna and I headed up the stairs. 

Very steep and vertiginous! "The Faraway"...

...is a lovely curated vintage ($$ - they've done the hard work for you) boutique.

They had very nice quality goods, which we enjoyed looking at. 

Rosanna pulled this coat out as a joke - the shoulder pads! - but then I tried it on.

Reader, I bought it! A true red leather - butter soft! - jacket. 

Massive, leather-lined pockets.

The jacket doesn't have any fastener or buttons, so it's an over-jacket only (not for cold winter wear, just for show). I might try belting it. 

I found the inspection and production tags inside the lining. 

Those are both paper tags, very rare to see them intact. I don't think this jacket has been worn much - it's pristine. 

I was charmed by these tags down the side seam.

Ooh, the "Leathercraft Process" - and they encourage you to actually ship it! 

To their factory store in New Jersey! 

According to Yelp, the Leathercraft Process has...closed. The only review (a 5-star) is a redirect from 2009 to their 'new' location. 

It's by Leathers by Tibor, and was made in the USA. It was $98.00 which felt like a great deal for a butter-soft leather coat.

I agree with 1980s, specifically the late 80s, probably 1987 or 88 - this is the end of the maximum shoulder pad era, and this style dropped in popularity FAST around 1989-90. I bet this has been sitting in a closet for years, just not being worn. That's all going to change! 

I sat on a lamppost base and everyone gathered around. 

Let's move out, folks! 

From Pinhalla, we strolled under the Johnson Street Bridge.

I spy Canada geese! 

We settled on some permanent picnic benches on this big open plaza at the base of the bridge, where we rested and took in the beautiful day.

More cloud drama! You can just see the Parliament Buildings on the right. 

See? I love the big flag over the entrance of the building.

A whale-watching Zodiac is just coming in. 

Ron, Randall and Casey peacing out.

I see Caro and I in the background, looking over the water.

We had a lovely chat, just catching up.

Love the tugboats.

Hey! I know this guy! It's Shayne from John's Place! 

Hey, honey, how are you? He was all ready for us to come chill in his backyard, but I can't do that kind of spur-of-the-moment planning, especially to a place I've never been. Also, have you met our whole group? We are a LOT. 

There's Ali! Thanks again to Greg and Ron for the extra pics.

Having a few illicit "road pops," heh.

Greg and Rosanna - big hug! 

These two wonderful people have been our friends since before L and I got married, close to 30 years.

Nick is always up to some sort of shenanigans! 

I'm peeking out under his legs! 

Here's to my Chosen Family.

Love you guys so much!

Time to go, move out, crew!

Laurie asked how I lugged my red leather coat around. Answer: In my tote bag, which you can see there. It squished up very small.

Our final stop was Darcy's Pub where we had dinner.

Time to wrap 'er up. Me and Randall.

Most of us dispersed to go home and crash for the evening. 

Feeling a bit worn out from so much good times, Cat? Me too! Ross, Randall and Yvonne are still going strong! 

L and I walked over to Rogers Chocolates and bought ourselves some evening goodies (Empress Squares for me; Victoria Creams for L), and then walked home around 6:30pm.

Happy start to your Birthday Week, my love! May our shadows always be long! 

And now, Gentle Readers...Flashback! 

I dug through my archives and found all of the mentions or full-on Days of Indolence (formerly the Day of Indigence, until it was pointed out, that doesn't mean what we intended it to mean). Here's what I wore, starting with one year ago.

2024: Last year! 

All comfort, ready for pretty much anything. This was the haunted house mini-golf year.

2023

Entering my Weird Adidas phase. A cloudy/rainy day.

2022

I love this colourful outfit - I still have it all (aside from the pink turtleneck underneath, which I wore out). This was the year we headed to Cook Street Village.

2021 - July

This was our first real DOI after the pandemic got underway, and was held a month later than we normally do, when we were able to have larger gatherings. 

I changed into my shiny silver pants as the day wore on and it got colder. 

I still have everything except for the tights/pants. 

2021 - May

This was the Training Day of Indolence, to get our friends used to gathering in public again. I sold the boots to Cat, and the leather jacket is in Limbo (too boob-smushy). This DOI was just in our Fernwood neighbourhood.

2019

There was no DOI in 2020...gee, I wonder why?

I loved this outfit - still have the long cardi and there are the shoes. We ventured into James Bay on this DOI.

2018

A full outfit reset - this is all gone from my closet (the jacket gave me Velvet Rage, shocking). We did the Songhees Walkway, I recall.

2017

I sold this skirt to one of my coworkers this year! I don't remember what we did. This might have been the Bug Zoo year?

2016

There are the shoes and scarf I just wore! I miss that coat and look wistfully at the pants. I like revisiting them in pictures, though. I definitely don't remember what we did - I quit drinking in late 2017, and suddenly my memory got a lot better...

2015

I loved those sandals so much - I wore them out! I still have the parasol, otherwise, all long gone. This was a harbour ferry adventure DOI.

2014

Getting my badass on here! This felt very me at the time. None of it remains - the belt was the last to go, and is in Limbo. I don't remember what we did (and I didn't document our days' adventures back then).

2013

My Smoking Lily era! I still have the blue slip that's peeking out from the hem. 

2010

I didn't always attend the DOIs back in the day, as they were mostly L and his buddies. This is the first one I could find mention of and was just me, L and Nick.

I loved that cashmere Club Monaco scarf. I recently tossed the Dude tee - I slept in it and wore it to rags. I still have the belt! 

And now, off to enjoy some more of my weekend!