Flogging My Blog in Fluevog

Another crazy weekend! This coming week is our wedding anniversary, and is our custom most years, L and I go over to Vancouver to visit friends, do a little shopping and hit the Fluevog stores.

My outfit was purely for function:
The top is new-to-me - picked it up on consignment for $18. It's comfy soft cotton and is a small leopard print. The boots are my old standbys (easy to get on and off for shoe shopping) and the tights were essential for warmth and for trying on shoes as well.

I did wear my yellow leather jacket, fingerless gloves and a scarf with this for walking around (we did a LOT of walking), but was in a hurry to leave the house, so no pictures of the outerwear.

Top (Jones New York, consignment), skirt (InWear, consignment), boots (Aldo, consignment), belt (gift from Ruth).

Inigo did not want us to go:

Maybe he thinks if he looks cute enough we'll stay home?

Last time we went to Vancouver, for our friend's surprise 40th birthday, we took a helicopter. This time, we did the cheaper route:

A seaplane! Most people take the ferry as it's relatively cheap and you can drive your car onto it, but it's actually a huge time suck - we always end up having take an afternoon off work and stay an extra night so that we can get a decent amount of time in Van. Factoring in all the costs vs. the time, this actually worked out cheaper!

We left bright and early Saturday morning:

Goodbye, home! I sat on the wing (the plane only holds 10 people or so at a time), so that's what that is in the corner of the shot.

Looking south, we flew by many small islands:

See the line of mountains on the horizon line? That's Washington State.

This rocky island has a house on it:

I wonder if someone lives way out there.

On this island, I saw a house with a tennis court:

I scanned the water for a pod of orcas, but no luck.

We did see lots of ferries, of course:

The ferry takes an hour and thirty-five minutes and it's still over half an hour drive on each end to get to the city. The seaplane (and helicopter) only takes 35 minutes, harbour to harbour.

We also saw lots of log booms being towed by tugs:

That's a real West coast sight. The logs are felled further north on the coast, then brought down south for processing and shipping off worldwide.

Soon, the Vancouver harbour came into view:

I see Canada Place - it's the building with the white sails. And there's our float plane docks!

This morning, we went for breakfast and then headed back down for our flight home:

The moutains on the North Shore are so beautiful.

On the way back, my view was of the Canadian islands (the ones to the south are belong to the US):

Another ferry making its way from Vancouver.

And here we are, back home:

The big white mountain in the far background is Mount Baker, in the US.

But let's get back to...Fluevog:

That's their design studio - John Fluevog works there!

I was utterly charmed by the cool interior - the store is basically a glassed-in space between two heritage buildings (that were built during the Gold Rush era/late 1890s).

Check out the windows on the wall. That's of course a picture of John...but I can't keep my eyes off the shoes!

They were laid out so precisely, grouped by style, on the ground floor. The staircase on the left leads up to the design studio on the mezzanine:

That's our wonderful Fluevogologist (seriously, that's his title, I have his business card) Wes, who helped L and I try on and decide on shoes. Shout out to him, and to the two ladies we met (I hope you got the green boots - they were fabulous). I gave them all my blog business card, and laughed to L that I was flogging my blog in Fluevog.

A shot of the coloured glass panels in the ceiling:

The light streaming in made it look darker than it actually is. It's a huge open space with amazing natural light. What an inspirational environment to design in!

I bought L a pair, and he bought me two. I will be rolling those (and a couple of other pairs from two other stores in Vancouver) out over the next two weeks. Yes, two weeks - we must savour the Fluevogs and not overdo our ecstasy. I will be doing "A Fluevog A Day" so that you can see every one of my 10 pairs. I am a dedicated Fluevogophile!

But I will show you L's two pairs...just as a taste.

The first pair is from the Imperials family, the "Marquis":

They are a very dark navy blue. Dig the red lining. Such a fabulous shoe!

It has the Imperials logo on the toe:

A crown entwined with "JF" and lots of scrolly bits.

I love that Fluevog soles have detail too:

So cool.

The second pair he got was the Tokyo "Kobe":

I love the very long pointy toe (very punk) and the Angel (a long-time Fluevog motif) buckle on the strap.

Of course, the bottoms are special too:

"Tokyo" with John's signature.

Please note that I did not get any compensation from Fluevog, discounts on shoes or anything other than great service - I link because I love.

In addition to doing "A Fluevog A Day"....

I have all my outfits planned for the next two weeks - I'm exhausted!

Happy Friday! Plaid Casual

My new company does jeans day, so I wanted to ease them into Casual Friday, Sheila Style:
Plaid dress (first seen here), skinny jeans and my good ol' black boots.

The fabric on this dress is so thin it layers easily over my pants.

I did my rocker cuff and my crazy black chainlink necklace for some pizzazz.

Today, I also debuted my new messenger bag:

I had to wrap up the ends of the strap with some hockey tape so it didn't flap around, but isn't that front panel amazing? The design is called "tattoo" - the bag itself is by Licence 71195 and was on for half price at $29.50.

Gotta dash! Have a great weekend!

Dress (Kensie), jeans (Jackpot, swap from Caro), boots (Aldo, consignment), earrings (Aldo Accessories), necklace (Club Monaco), cuff (vintage).

Fake Boots, Games and Making an Effort

Being currently out of work, it's really easy to fall into the "wear my robe around the house all day" trap, which is directly related to the dreaded "jammie pants" syndrome. My wonderful husband, L, doesn't deserve to see me always looking like a schlump, so today I am making an effort to look nice for him. We're going to hang out tonight, maybe (maybe? who am I kidding? ha!) drink a bit of wine and play some board games.

Do you like board games? I love playing games. I grew up playing cribbage, Rummy, Rumoli, Monopoly, The Game of Life, Scrabble, Yahtzee and various other games. As an adult, I continued to play crib, backgammon, Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit (I kick ass, but History is my weak category. No one can touch me on the Entertainment version).

Since I met L, I've gotten into role-playing games (shhhh, don't tell anyone, D&D is super-geeky). But he's also into playing strategy games like Risk. Risk is not my cup of tea, but I love other types of strategy games. My favourite by far is Carcassonne, a tile game where you build your own board. It's great with a group (and easy to learn), and awesome with just two people - it's different every time you play, so you never get bored (board? ha, see that?).

We have several versions of Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, The Castle (a two-player only game), and The Discovery (my personal favourite). We have most of the expansions and mini-expansions, and our original game has all kinds of random tiles mixed in from these. We sometimes play "Calvinball" versions where we make up our own rules.

I also really enjoy all the versions of Fluxx. What? You don't know Fluxx? Fluxx you! You need this game! Anyone of any age can play Fluxx! It rules! If you're super-geeky, there's Monty Python Fluxx! Look for it in your local comic shop.

Um...yeah. Anyway, I'm making an effort to look night for our game night tonight.
This is my super-soft faux suede thrifted BCBGMaxAzria dress last seen here. Added my stripey tee underneath for warmth, as well as my patterned grey tights and black knee socks in an effort to help this look like a more dressy outfit. Does it kinda look like I have flat boots on?

Hee, see the curly tail in the above pic?

Someone wants an early dinner!

I tied a black scarf obi-style at the waist - not as uncomfortable as a belt (I'll be doing a lot of sitting on the couch, hunched over the coffee table) but still dressy. And because it compresses my stomach just a titch, it will remind me not to eat too many chips tonight - weigh-in tomorrow!

I hope you all have an awesome weekend!

Dress (BCBGMaxAzria, thrifted), tee (Majestic, swap from Caro), tights (Hue), socks (McGregor).

Tuesday WW Group - Teal and Purple (and Some Pictures of Inigo)

Apparently my Fluevogs caused quite a stir last week! I had many comments on them today, so I have promised to wear a different pair of shoes every week to my Tuesday Weight Watchers Group. Good thing I have the blog to refer to!

I pulled together today's outfit from some of my new Plum purchases:
Yes, I know the tights are more blue than teal, but whatever, I think they go just fine. The cardigan is new - it was 50% off, so $24. It's a nice cotton and spandex blend, so washable (yay!). It's the same brand and similar cut to this green cardi (warning, picture-heavy post) I picked up second hand last year.

The cardigan is a nice basic in a good colour, but my love is for the skirt - it's got pockets!

Plus, it's purple, it's brocade, it's designed and made in Canada - and it was $25, regular $85. Sweet!

Also, check out the nice waist detail:

It criss-crosses in the front - isn't that awesome? You can also see the 3 black sparkly buttons on the side, just above the zip.

The stuff:

These are the shoes I bought for my birthday back in October - only worn them once (here).

Oops, forgot to put my new belt in the photo:

It's the same purple as the skirt, also from Plum, and was $4 (and it's leather).

Because I was wearing a black cami under the cardi, I was going to go with all black or all-silver jewelry, but when I started poking around in my jewelry box, I found this fabulous silver bracelet that L gave me (again, for my birthday, I think):

I quite liked the pops of red in it and the ring. You can also see the 3 black sparkly buttons on the skirt - they're roses! What a cool detail. I love stuff like that.

Cardigan (Kersh), cami (Esprit), skirt (Plum), tights (can't remember), shoes (Me Too), belt (Plum), bracelet (gift from L), ring (gift from Cindy), earrings (over 15 years old).

Inigo has been hanging out on this box lately (it's the one that was full of recycling, which has now been emptied and is sitting on its side):

I love his dear little white paws.

I changed out of my "good" clothes when I got home, and into my "house" clothes. I got this long-sleeved grey tee yesterday in a thrift store for $7.50. I put the cami I had on with the work outfit over top of it, and tossed on my black jeans. I was laughing at Inigo. See why?

Rar! Attack of the monster kitty!

Grey top (Jacob, thrifted), cami (Esprit), jeans (Dish).

I got another shipment of supplies from WW today. Inigo wasted no time in jumping in the box:

Hee!

Tick Tock, High Socks

Gah, I am so tired of being sick. I demand that I be well when I wake up tomorrow! Didn't the Sick Gods get my memo? I put a cover on it and everything!

Mom came by and took me for lunch today, so I thought I'd put on something that would be fit to be seen in public:
I really didn't want anything being too tight or constricting, so I went with tights, a baggy dress and thigh-high socks.

I felt so daring with the socks - but the tights helped keep them from being too risque. I picked the socks up in Florida in the store on the main floor of our hotel.

I've worn the dress many times before (last seen here), and those are my trusty black riding boots.

The socks have little buttons on the sides that are sewn with red thread. I quite like the effect, but two of the buttons have already popped off. The socks themselves remind me of sock monkeys.

I wore this new watch pendant that I got last week:

It was half price at Plum, for $14.00. I never wear a watch, so this is great for those few times when I actually need to keep time...or when I feel like playing with a menswear look. Groovy, eh?

Dress (Max Studio), boots (Aldo, consignment), socks (Steve Madden), watch pendant (Plum).

Happy New Year's!

I hope you all had an awesome New Year! We had a party, and I spent Saturday on the couch, then Sunday having food poisoning, so I'm getting back into blog life slowly.

I had planned to wear something entirely different, but then had a last-minute spaz and changed into this dress:L had bought me a top for Christmas, but it was too small - I returned it for this, as they didn't have any more of the top in stock at Plum. I fell in love with the dress when I tried it on - such a good fit.

I also found these shoes the other night while I was waiting to get my eyebrows waxed and then have drinks with Elaine:

They're pretty sweet - they were $50 on sale at Aldo (and they're leather).

My spazzitude was carrying over into my pictures (and I was running late with people arriving any minute!) - you can see my frustration.

And yeah, I just left my hair in "mad scientist" mode all night. It was fun.

Kitty always helps when I'm having a bad photo session:

L and I did our "fam" photo with Inigo:

L is so much taller than me (he's 5'10"), so you can't see his top hat, but doesn't he look dapper? Inigo looks awkward.

Oh, but let's move on! Shoes:

Yeah, those are pretty freakin' awesome.

The bling:

Those are my new-ish feather earrings I got while out shopping with Ruth before Christmas. The bracelet is a gift from Toronto from Elaine - I was admiring hers (which is a bit thinner and I think a different colour metal), and then she hauled this out for me! What a sweetie.

It's actually a long loop of articulated metal circles - you can shape it however you want:

Very bendy.

I had a lot of fun playing with it - and because it's metal, it's nice and strong.

I also (finally) printed out the picture that Megan did of me for my birthday (actual outfit seen here) and framed it, so now that is up instead of the Dolphins clock.

Dress (Max and Cleo), tights (Hue), shoes (Aldo), earrings (no brand), ring (Soul Power), bracelet/necklace (gift from Elaine).

Today, I dragged myself out of bed quite late, and L and I went out to our fave diner for lunch. I was all ready to take my casual outfit picture, but someone had other ideas:

He's standing right in my pose spot.

So I hunched down with him:

Silly kitty!

Inigo wouldn't move, so I just stood over him:

Psycho eyes and back-pointed ears! He's not happy.

T-shirt (Upper Playground), purple tee (Kersh), jeans (Seven7, swap from Caro), boots (Miz Mooz).