Dots, Circles and Spheres

After yesterday's Smoking Lily jacket, I was inspired to wear my lovely Smoking Lily dress today: Inigo barged into the shot - I didn't know he was there until I felt him rub my leg.

I haven't worn this dress since August! The short sleeves make it pretty much a warmer-weather outfit (I froze in the AC in the office today). I wore my burgundy vintage flounced slip with this (last seen on Valentine's Day).

It was a bit too full to wear under the dress, but I didn't mind.

The stuff:

Second wear of my gold shoes (last seen here). They were much more comfortable this time.

I love the circle pattern in this fabric, and decided to wear "ball" jewelry with it:

That's my Grandma J's necklace (it's Anne Klein, and I think it's probably from the early 80s), my cheap-o gold ball earrings, my fake Gucci eelskin bracelet and a bigass costume ring.

Dress (Smoking Lily, consignment), slip (Suzette Lingerie, vintage, consignment), shoes (Aldo, consignment), necklace (Grandma J's, Anne Klein, vintage), bracelet (Italian, gift from Mom and Dad), earrings (Aldo Accessories), ring (retro).

Good News!

Firstly, I'm fine - we got a 1 meter surge from the tsunami that hit Japan, but no one is hurt, no damage. Thank you everyone for your concern. I live on the West coast, so there is always a risk of an earthquake or a tsunami here, but you can't live your life in fear. If it happens, it happens.

Secondly, much better news! I called the company this morning (and thank you everyone for your encouragement and good vibes) and they sent me an offer this morning. It's a great offer and I'm accepting. I start next Wednesday!

I'm off shortly to drop off my accepted offer and other various forms, and then I am going shopping! I am going to reward myself with one of these gorgeous Desigual jackets (there's a shop in town that carries them).

I'm so glad to have an excuse to wear one of my new items - this lovely skirt:
This was one of the most expensive "thrift" items I bought yesterday at $22.00. But...it's real suede, and it's washable, just like my other suede skirt. I also love the colour - it's a nice sand shade - and the midi length, which I hear is all the rage among the cool kids these days.

I look so happy. I feel happy!

Second wearing of my thrifted Mexx top:
I wore it last here, also with a suede skirt (I'm getting quite a collection!). Also my second wearing of my gorgeous red boots (last seen here).

It's warm enough now to just wear a blazer as a jacket:

Such a nice dark burgundy! Last seen here.

I realized after I took these pictures that I forgot to put my jewelry on! D'oh! Here it is:

Gold hoops and my tree necklace.

Jacket (Zara, consignment), top (Mexx, thrifted), cami (Mexx, thrifted), skirt (Skotts Suede, thrifted), boots (Miz Mooz), necklace (Foxy), earrings (gift from L).

Boxing Week Shopping and a Movie

Eee! I had to go out in public for the first time in days - it felt weird getting dressed.

Once again, I walked, so my outfit was built around my shoes:
As I planned to exchange/return a top L got me, I knew I'd be trying stuff on. Normally, I wouldn't do pants, but I thought I might be trying on pants/jeans, so I didn't want to have tights on (they are rather awkward under pants).

This is the second wearing for this cardigan (last seen here), and these are my standard skinny pants (seen here). Aside from my feet being freezing, this was not a bad outfit for trying on things...and yes, I tried on a lot!

I had to exchange the top (all out of my size), and then I just happened to go into one of my favourite shoe stores that had their usual blow-out on shoes (I bought four pairs). There will be much new stuff to show! Now, I just need to find places to wear them all...

We went to see "True Grit" - we're both huge fans of the Coen brothers, and loved this movie. It has some humour and I loved the language in it. Recommended!

Cardigan (Bobeau), sweater (Kersh), pants (Kensie), shoes (Expressions, consignment).

Lazy Monday - Striped Legs

Gah, I'm still sick, but I am refusing to let this stupid thing beat me! I went for an hour walk this morning, then walked to the grocery store (I love delivery!), and poked around in a thrift store (no shopping for me, says Santa L).

And this is what I wore: I tend to wear this sweater around the house more than as an "official" blog outfit. These are the last two times I wore it.

I love these stripey tights, but when I put them on today, they had a gigantic hole in the bum! It feels weird, but I can still wear them, haha!

I also dyed my hair this morning! It's much redder.

Sweater (Jana), skirt (Armour Jeans, consignment), tights (Hue), boots (Aldo, consignment).

Best Intentions

After a few martinis (and maybe some wine), I woke up very dozy and achy on Saturday morning. I fully intended to go to Weight Watchers, since it was the launch of the new program for my Saturday group, but I got up an hour late and by the time I clued in that I was an hour late...I was far too late.

So I went for lunch with L and the guys anyway:

I first wore this top here. The long-sleeved tee is new from Dots.

My supposed hangover got worse and worse as the day went on...and my throat got sore, and my sinuses stuffed up. Dang, I'm actually sick!

Today, I was planning to go to Lawrence and Carollyne's Christmas Cake party as I do every year (outfit from 2009 here and 2008 here). However, the gift of the flu is not a very welcome one.

It's back to riding the couch and watching football for me!

Edit: in my addled brain state, I accidently deleted comments from A-Dubs, Knitwit, Megan, and at least 2 other people - so sorry, guys!

Blouse (Casual Freedom), tee (Kersh), skirt (Bebe, swap), shoes (Expressions, consignment).

Crazy Saturday - Weekend Wear (and a Book Blurb)

Saturday was a nutty day! I had to get to my WW meeting early to 'shadow' my mentor, then meet up with Elaine for lunch and an afternoon of thrift shopping. Then I had Winesday!

Unfortunately, the bus came early and I was late to WW (nice way to start, Sheila!), then my meeting/mentoring went way longer than anticipated and I was 45 minutes late for lunch with Elaine (ack! I bought her lunch), then of course, our shopping took longer...and I still had to get home to prepare for Winesday, and my mp3 player's headphones broke! You'd think it was a full moon or something! Fortunately, everyone (including my husband, who I ranted at for several minutes) was very understanding and nice about it. I hate being late for anything!

Anyway, after Saturday, I spent today watching football. Ah...

Clothing considerations: the forecast called for snow (yikes!), I had to weigh in, and shopping conditions (see my post here for how I put together a shopping outfit).

And here's what I ended up with: My recently-purchased sweater dress (layered with thick tights and a cami underneath for added warmth), first seen here. My belt is easy to take off, as are the boots (no zip, they pull on and off).

I can't stand dealing with a huge bulky coat when I shop, so I wore accessories that I could fold up small and tuck in my purse when shopping:

My new short coat did the trick, as did my fuzzy beret, black thin pashmina scarf and insulated velvet gloves.

Dress (Eric Alexandre), belt (Shi Studio), coat (Mario Serrani), boot (Miz Mooz).

I finished my last Book Club book this weekend: "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls.Stats: Paperback, 288 pages. Started November 7th, finished November 17th. Karen's pick for Book Club.

Blurb: I enjoy autobiographies, and this is easily one of the best I've read. Jeannette Walls is able to write about her "free spirit" parents' behaviour and choices (like moving a family of 5 to a shack in the desert, or deciding to become homeless in New York City) in a way that is matter-of-fact and many times heartbreakingly sad, but avoids blaming her parents for their decisions. It's hard not to condemn her parents for her childhood, but her own attitude of "this is how it was" avoids placing blame - the reader is able to see where the parents were coming from and understand them, even if you don't agree with their lives.

This was an easy read. Anecdotes are told in short bites, usually no more than 3-4 pages (making this a great reading-in-bed book), but are succinct and poignant. I strongly recommend this. Great book. I plan on reading Walls' other book "Half Broke Horses," about her grandmother's life.

I'll Fly Away

Dang, I hate that it's dark out when I take my pictures now - I have every light in the house on, the 'backlight' on my camera on, and still, all the colours look muddy and dark. Where's my cute guy with the light reflector? I'm sure L won't mind, hee.

This is my new top that I got at Winners last Friday:
I am not usually one to go with pastels (this is mostly mint green), or those "slash" dye jobs, but I liked the purple, burgundy, blue pattern over the green and the top looked cute on. Okay, the $10 price tag also convinced me.

In case you can't tell, I'm wearing burgundy boots (last seen here), a brown lace skirt (last seen here) and a purple long-sleeved tee (I had also packed my navy underflounce skirt, but it was too short to show under this skirt). Hmmm...my "teeth" necklace barely shows. What's up with that?

I liked the sleeves on this tee - something a little different. I've got wings!
It's also been a year since I started doing pee-pushups (have you been doing yours? scroll down) and I love that my arms are nice and shapely and strong!

The stuff:

Mmmm...shiny red boots...

A close-up:

You can see what I mean by the "slash" dye job.

Tee (Casual Freedom), long-sleeved tee (Press), skirt (Planet), boots (Aldo outlet), earrings (gift from Elaine), necklace (The Bay).

Not Quite Over - Tall Boots Redux

After yesterday's mind-f**k, I decided to go with what I'd planned for my formerly last day: my thigh-high boots:
Last seen here. This is basically a repeat of this outfit, only with the boots and slightly different accessories.

I rarely repeat outfits, but I love this top so much - but it's hard to wear! Not many things go with an asymmetrical hem, let me tell you.

It's also cold out and the heating in the office hasn't been working for several weeks, so I need that extra warmth.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts, congratulations and good advice. I don't plan to stay past this month (I have a holiday booked in December), and I made sure that my "golden carrot" is not being reduced - I will get an extra month's pay out of this (nothing to sneeze at). The months leading up to the end of the year are brutal for job-hunting, so I'd planned to take them off anyway.

The stuff:

The boss is taking us out for a long expensive lunch today. Yum!

Cardigan (Express, consignment), top (Zara, consignment), pants (Kensie), boots (Pegabo), multi-strand necklace (Plum), single neckace (2028), gold hoops (gift from L).

I Get Back Up Again - A Musical Interlude

I've had that old Chumbawamba song going through my head all day. You know, THAT one - it's right up there with "The Logdriver's Waltz" (oh come on, you know you want to watch it) for being an insidious earworm.

Anyway, I felt a lot better today. As Cat at Thrifty Muse reminded me in yesterday's comments, I once said a couple of years ago, "When you're feeling sad and blue, wear a dress." So I did.My Banana Republic dress (last worn here) that I bought two years ago in Vancouver with Ruth, AND my Fluevogs that I bought on the same trip. Worn those lots of times - they're actually getting worn out!

My Noa Noa wrap cardi on top (last seen here): "Yes, my sleeves are big, what of it?"

The stuff:

Nothing terribly exciting.

My cuff and earrings:

Blurry...was in a hurry.

Dress (Banana Republic), cardigan (Noa Noa), shoes ("Ivanna Listen Up", Fluevog), cuff (St. Paul's Cathedral gift shop), necklace (Plum), earrings (Aldo Accessories).

A Little Whine

I'm really good at whining, you know, that really annoying whine that kids can do when they reaaaaalllly want something? Oh yeah, I'm the master.

However, I'm not going to whine. I just wanted to pun off "wine":
Yes, I know, I have a serious Velvet Addiction. I even weeded out my closet in the spring and eliminated 4 or 5 of my old velvet blazers. I can't resist them! They call to me. This one actually fits me well (shorter length, nicely nipped in at the waist) and I love the colour. It's a Zara jacket and was $10 in the thrift store. Score!

It was a little too warm to wear it for most of the day, though, so this is what I really looked like:

I got a few "fancy-schmancy" comments from my co-workers.

The stuff:

You can see the nice rich wine colour of the jacket better there.

The gold bits:

Grandma W's brooch again.

Blazer (Zara Basics, thrifted), top (Lady Dutch), skirt (BB Dakota), shoes (Steve Madden), brooch (Grandma W), earrings (Foxy).

A Mess O' Colours

September weather is goofy on the West coast of Canada. It's warm, but it's rainy. It could be sunny one minute, and cloudy the next. It's windy, then it's foggy. The older I get, the more I want to wear my hair really short because the humidy does crazyass things to it.

Anyway, what I meant to get at was that it's hard to figure out what to dress for when it's so changeable.
Blouse, tweed skirt and bare legs. I roasted in my thermal jacket on the way to work (I walk to and from work in workout wear), but was happy to have it when it poured all the way home.

I've worn this blouse twice (here and here (beware, vacation pictures)) since I got it. I really love the cut and drape of it.

Hee, I'm blurry in that picture because I'm waiting for the camera timer to go off. Try holding your balance like that for 10 seconds!

I also like that it has purple, pink, orange, green AND black in it - it's fun to pull out the various colours. I was surprised to see how well it went with this orange skirt, which is an old workhorse in my wardrobe, and the burgundy cami I have on underneath.

The stuff:

I've worn the shoes 5-6 times since I got them.

The sparkly bits:

Got those on sale at Plum many years ago - real gold and crystals.

Blouse (Nolita, thrifted), cami (Jackpot), skirt (Talbot's, thrifted), shoes (Hilary Radley, consignment), necklace/earrings (Plum).

The Bad Bangle

I've been meaning to wear this dress again (previously worn here, and here), and today just seemed like the day.
In keeping with the Wonder Woman theme for August (don't forget!), I did a ton of bracelets to deflect the bullets of negativity!

Since I'm feeling positive, I only needed bracelets on one arm. Fewer bullets. Hee.

I also wanted to get another wear of these shoes in before I pack them away:

They just don't work with nylons or tights (or socks), so they are strictly bare-leg/toes wear. I haven't worn them a lot, so they are still in really good condition, even though I've had them for around 4-5 years now. Previous wearings here, here, here, here, here, and here. Yup, looks like I've worn them twice a year.

One risk with an armload of bracelets is the racket you make. I irritated my co-workers (sorry, guys!) until I figured out that I had a Bad Bangle in the mix. It's the one on the right:

It's hollow, so it really made a lot of noise against the other ones. Once I slipped it onto the other side of the cuff, it was fine and I was a lot less jangly.

Dress (Smoking Lily, consignment), cami (InWear), shoes (Franco Sarto), cuff (Club Monaco), brass and brown bangles (Aldo Accessories), ivory bangles (some import shop).

Lazy Monday - Dress Week Leftovers

I have my spacey moments...like when I planned all five outfits for Bride of Dress Week last week, and then forgot that last Monday was a holiday. The benefit is that I didn't have to think of an outfit for today, because it was already hanging in my closet. All I had to do was pick out some jewelry and I was good to go:
(Inigo meows, "Feed me!")

So, a sheer blouse and a leather dress - for work! If you described that to someone, I bet they wouldn't picture this, ha ha! The last time I wore this dress, I went way too plain, so I wanted to jazz it up this time and play with layering it more. I've also worn it here, when I first got it.

I was a bit concerned about the weather and it being too hot, but my office was reliably frigid (it even rained today, grrrr). I wore the sheer blouse again that I got last month.

Yo, Wonder Woman!
Ka-pow!

The stuff:

My fab, fab shoes. See them in action here, here, here, here (gee, I like to wear them with this same obi!), here, here, and here. That's a lot, wow.

A close-up of the gold stuff:

My Foxy jewelry and Dad's ring. Ah....I always feel close to him when I wear it. Can't believe it's been nearly 13 years since he died.

Okay, enough of a downer! Woo! This is a short week for me, as L and I are making the trek to visit his folks on Thursday. I have done a couple of interim posts so that you don't all go into withdrawal or anything while I'm gone, and on Saturday - EEEEE - we're going to a party and I'm FINALLY wearing the new dress I got in Paris. So excited!

Dress (Danier, consignment), blouse (Express, thrifted), shoes (Poetic Licence, gift from L), jewelry (Foxy), ring (Dad's, vintage 60s), obi (Smoking Lily).

Double Challenge: Summer Black-Out and Summer Capsule Wardrobe - Day 4

I went to see "Sex and the City 2" with Elaine last night (didn't like it - but I got to see Wendy B's earrings!!), so by the time I got home I was too tired to post my outfit for Day 4 of the challenges.
I dressed up, of course, so layered the silk top over Day 1's dress. Unfortunately, when I planned all these outfits last Sunday, the weather was gorgeous and warm...but this week it's been rainy and cold. I'm sorry, I had to include outerwear:

This brown sweater was necessary for me to go outdoors! I hope Jane won't begrudge me outerwear (I had to put on a jacket today/Friday as well).

The stuff:

Neutral shoes, my groovy leather cuff (the dark pattern is green, not black!), and my new belt from Dorothy Perkins in London. I do love a bigass belt.

Dress (Maggy London), blouse (Zara, consignment), shoes (Seychelles, consignment), belt (Dorothy Perkins), cuff (Catalyst Leather), earrings (gift from L), cardigan (Jacob).

Double Challenge: Summer Black-Out and Summer Capsule Wardrobe - Day 2

Today brings items 3 and 4, another top and a bottom. Trying to pick interesting items that aren't all neutrals (because why make it easy, haha) has been...a challenge. The no-black thing? Not an issue.
This is my favourite silky boho top, and those are my recently purchased "pencil" pants. I had fun in this - I felt very "out there" in my boring office (not you, Ruth). Especially since my Senior VP was in town again and in the cubicle next to mine. Why does he always come here when I'm doing a challenge?

The stuff:

Pretty standard matchy stuff. All favourites.

A shot of the stuff on me:

I'm looking down and laughing because someone's poking around in my closet:

He loves hanging out there with me.

Blouse (Zara, consignment), pants (Noa Noa), shoes (Le Chateau), belt (Plum), earrings (Plum, gift from L), ring (Fossil), shiny bracelet (The Bay), other bracelet (vintage, 1960s, Mom's).

Double Challenge: Summer Black-Out and Summer Capsule Wardrobe - Day 1

Woo! It's Double Challenge week! There will be no black on this chick, neither in clothing nor in accessories/shoes. I'm also only wearing 5 clothing items all week.

Today's outfit:I forgot to pick out earrings today. D'oh! Naked ears!

I love this dress, but I've only worn it a few times (here, for a party, here for a Dress Week and oh, hey, this last February here). I'll be wearing it one more time this week.

I'll be wearing the ruffled shirt a total of three times. I had to plan out my 5 outfits in advance. I took rough camera shots of each combo, but will put the accessories and shoes together when I pack my clothes up the night before.

The stuff (that's Inigo's paw in the upper left corner):

I thought I should go matchy with the shoes since I was doing an unusual colour combo with the green shirt and green jewelry. None of the greens quite match. I also liked the shiny gold chains and cuff with this.

I have never worn this necklace on the blog before:

In fact, I don't even know when I last wore it - maybe 20+ years ago? It's another one of those pieces that I "liberated" from Mom's closet.

I went to see my nieces, Zoe and Hannah (hi, guys!), play soccer tonight after work, so I wore this outfit to the field. Hee! It was a little much, but I did manage to kick the ball around with Hannah in these shoes.

Anyway, I showed Mom the necklace and she was shocked - she thought she'd lost it. Her dad (my Grandad, this guy) bought her the green necklace and her sister a blue one in Burnaby while he was over visiting a relative. She was in Grade 8, so this would be around 1958. How cool.

Dress (Maggy London), shirt (Esprit), shoes (Bleka), green necklace (Mom's, vintage 1950s), chain necklace (Plum), shiny cuff (The Bay), stone bracelet (handmade, gift from Cathy).