When in Leopard

Today, I worked downtown at another WW meeting - I was feeling a bit down on my other meetings and things in general this week (hormonal), and the ladies who work there gave me hugs, so I felt better. I also find that interacting with people and chatting with them perks me up, although, oddly, by nature I'm much more solitary. It's like I have to recharge my "social batteries."

Leopard also puts a little spring in my step:
This is all remixed, nothing new. I last wore the skirt here, and I marvelled again this time at how nice and plushy.

Tossed on my bright green cardi (last seen here, scroll down) and a belt and voila, easy outfit.

Of couse, when in leopard one must emulate Wendy:
Ooh, Wendy's pose makes my ankles look nice.

The stuff:

Shoes I've had for so long that I can't remember what brand they are (the label is completely worn off).

I find I'm wearing a lot less accessories since I've been out of work. I wear less bracelets for the WW meetings (they're distracting). My shoes are a lot more practical as well. Ah, well, all the more reason to go over the top a bit when I go out!

Speaking of...I'm going out for dinner and to a burlesque with my sweetie this weekend. Are you doing anything special for V-Day?

Cardigan (Kersh), cami (Esprit), belt (Plum), skirt (S & D, thrifted), shoes (unknown), earrings (gift from L).

Wednesday WW Group - A Wee Twee in Tweed and Green

I felt like I had a breakthrough with my Wed. group today: they've had 3 leaders in the last year and you know how people hate change. Anyway, my disgustingly cheery and quirkily odd self finally won them over with my Madd Flipchart Skillz, yo. My Tues. group loves my flip charts, so I figured I'd inflict them on this reticent group.

I had two people tell me how much they liked me as a leader (aw!) and I got one hug. This is such a fulfilling thing to do.

I had been saving this outfit for a day when I needed a boost:
It felt very "Ye Old Englande" and I felt like a classy broad. Every piece is new!

But this is the best new thing of all:

My name tag! I feel like a real Leader now.

Anyway, yes, the clothes! The jacket and skirt were purchased on the same shopping expedition to the St. Vincent de Paul. Some days I don't find anything there, and other days, I feel like a pirate that just dug up a treasure chest, yarrr!

The jacket is Pure Alfred Sung:

Oh, that's hilarious, I didn't know it was sold at Zellers. My first ever real job was at Zellers - I worked as a cashier over Christmas in 1985.

And as you can see, this was a whopping $6.00. Not bad! I love the nice grosgrain ribbon trim around the edges, and check out the colours in it: Orange, pink, purple, forest green, baby blue and white. It will go with everything! I love the way it fits too (it will look great belted).

The skirt was the real score, though:

That's Signature by Saks Fifth Avenue. I found an article in the NY Times that mentions this brand (about halfway down the article), and it looks like this skirt would have been originally at least $250. Wow!

The skirt is raw silk with a polyester lining (seriously, the softest, silkiest poly you ever felt), a blanket stitch finish on the hem, and grosgrain trim around the waist.

But wait! I didn't pay $3.50 for this skirt - all green tags were 50% off, so I actually paid $1.75. Score!

The green tee is also new ($8, regular $29 at Pum), but is not particularly special except for the colour, which is a lovely deep forest green.

The stuff:

The shoes are new-to-me as well! They're Marc Fisher and were around $25 in a consignment store a few weeks ago. They've maybe been worn once. Google tells me they are called the "Destina" and the colour is spruce (it goes well with the green tee).

A close up:

All gold hoops! I had considered pearls briefly but thought it would have been too costumey.

Jacket (Pure Alfred Sung, thrifted), tee (Plum), skirt (Signature Saks Fifth Avenue, thrifted), shoes (Marc Fisher, consignment), belt (vintage 60s, Mom's), ring (Aldo Accessories), earrings (gift from L).

Weekend Outfits - Fuschia and Skulls

I did a little once-over of Plum's close-out sale (still a few weeks to go), as they're still getting stock in for clearance before they close. I found this sweet, skull-licious cashmere blend cardigan:
That's the kind of quirky thing I adore: funky but still a classic shape and material. It was regular $88 on sale for $26.

Coincidently, I'd just picked up this skirt the weekend before for a whopping $7.00. The thrift store I found it in had slotted it into their regular (as opposed to "boutique" or name brand) section. The regular stuff is all the same price (i.e. all skirts are $7), whereas boutique items are individually priced, and usually more expensive. The clerk was surprised that this had not been marked as boutique but score! for me!

I love that there is just enough fuschia in the skirt for it to go with the cardigan. I wore this outfit for my weekly WW weigh-in (woot! down 1.2!) and then out for lunch after.

Check out the back of the cardi:
There's a skull with a red bow! How awesome! That led to me doing a red cami underneath, as there was a bit of red in the skirt's pattern too. The skirt is a satin-finished polyester. Very flowy.

The back of the cardi detail:

Oh, that just makes me giggle with delight. A skull with a bow!

The stuff:

The shoes are also new - they're Aldo, leather and were priced at $32 in my favourite consignment store. Fortunately, I had a $30 credit from my last clothing trade-in, so that made these cheapy-cheapy.

Unfortunately, they are a smidge too tight. The woven leather will stretch out over time - that's a given - but the heels rubbed like nobody's business. So....I took an X-acto knife to the edges of the heel and made two incisions on either side of the vertical heel seam. Ahhhhhh...much better. It means these won't be worth consigning when I'm done with them, but you know what? They're gold kitten heels! I'm going to wear them to death!

Edit: Okay, here's how I do this. I DO NOT recommend you do this yourself unless you want to run the risk ruining your shoes (if you cut too deeply, it can wreck them - I've had it happen). I do not take responsibility for what you decide to do to your shoes.

This is my hobby knife/X-acto blade. I've indicated by the red arrows where I made the cuts:

I have cut through the stitching around the edge of the shoe deliberately, because that tends to be where the heels are tightest.

A close-up:

I'm pulling the edges of the cuts apart slightly so you can see how much extra stretch this "repair" gives.

Cardigan (Kersh), cami (Mexx), skirt (Dex, thrifted), shoes (Aldo, consignment), earrings (gift from L).

I did some cleaning out of the den earlier this week in preparation for the Winesday clothing swap this weekend. Inigo took the opportunity to hop into an empty bag.

Aw, what a cutie-patootie!

For Winesday on Saturday night, I swapped the skirt for my comfy jeans:

Inigo doesn't want me to go.

I traded my earrings for these new ones I also picked up at Plum (regular $33, on sale for $3):

Also wore my Club Monaco wrist-wrap.

Cardigan (Kersh), cami (Mexx), jeans (Seven7, swap from Caro), booties (Miz Mooz), belt (Plum), earrings (Plum), wrist-wrap (Club Monaco).

Sedate in Burgundy

I filled in yesterday again as a receptionist at a downtown WW meeting. Considering that it was over 3 hours long last week, and I'd planned to meet up with some former co-workers for drinks at 4pm, I figured I'd stay downtown.

I wore a couple of new things I'd picked up in my thrifting adventures of the last few weeks:
The floral top was thrifted for $9.50 (it's Mexx), and the suede skirt (Danier) was thrifted for $14.50.

I like the slightly longer kimono style of the top - you can do the ties in the back or wrap them around to the front for more of an obi look. The skirt has a hidden zipper slit in the back, so you can customize how big the slit is.

I quickly learned that a bigger slit is better for walking.

I layered my tights:

Brown lacey fishnet over burgundy. Unfortunately, I had a major case of crotch-sag all day, which was annoying.

The stuff:

Slightly blurry after two glasses of wine! Oops. I last wore the shoes here - I've had them since September 2009 and worn them 7 times now.

A better shot of the fabric of the top:

It's got burgundy, rusty-orange, cream, taupe, brown and olive in it, so I can mix a lot of different looks with it.

Top (Mexx, thrifted), cami (InWear), skirt (Danier, thrifted), shoes (Seychelles, consignment), choker (vintage 60s, Mom), earrings (gift from L).