Flowers and Denim on a Weekday (Oh, and A Butt Shot)

Today, there were glimpses of sun, and not just on my lapel:

I do like to make my own sunshine. And as you can see from the glare on my picture, it's actually light outside! Will wonders never cease?

This jacket is new-to-me: it's another Smoking Lily item (I adore their clothing - here's a post with links to my Smoking Lily items). It was $26.95 in a consignment store and you can bet I snatched it up! It's a stretchy denim with aqua denim piping all around the edges, and aqua on the cuff linings:

The skirt is my mystery skirt - I thrifted it in Seattle a few years ago. It doesn't have a label, just a little tag with a leaf on it. I love the heathery green tweed of it and the embroidered flowers on the bottom.

I'm wearing a red top underneath to tie in with the red in the flowers. My second day with no neutrals! Colours are the new neutral!

Detail of the jacket:

Hand silk-screened detail on the inside back.

The stuff:

I would love to show when I last wore these, but it's nearly impossible to search on a brand called "Me Too". Actually, I think I remember when I wore them last...yup, here. Hmmm...I need to wear that skirt again.

A close-up of the bits:

That is a most excellent flower. The earrings were a gift from my dear friend Sherylyn.

Note: no kick-backs from Smoking Lily - I link because I love.

Jacket (Smoking Lily, consignment), top (Planet), skirt (mystery, thrifted), shoes (Me Too), flower (Roberta's Hats), earrings (Shi Studio, gift from Sherylyn).

Oh, and yes, that is my butt over on Wendy Brandes' blog, doing an imitation of a Loverboy album cover. I was browsing online late the other night and well...the rest is history:

I guess you could say I got lucky!

Best Weekend Ever!

So, following yesterday's outing to drop off my signed offer at my new job (!), I headed downtown to look for a Desigual jacket - I really wanted one like my dress so I went to two stores that usually have a few.

Not much selection, sadly, but then I remembered another store that I'd seen them in last summer - and I found an amazing jacket there! Yay!

I caught a bus home, then quickly realized it wasn't going where I thought it would, so I hopped off and headed for another bus stop. On my way, a woman stopped me and asked if she could take my picture. She does a Twitter thing where she takes pictures of people on the street that she thinks are well-dressed. Well, how cool is that?? Shout out to Missy - I've forgotten the name of your Twitter account, so if you drop by, leave me a comment.

As I was standing at the bus stop, I waved to the bus driver so that he'd stop (they're touchy that way sometimes), and some random person started waving at me down the block. It was Ruth! And G! And they had just picked up Ruth's engagement ring! We celebrated the good fortune of all of us with a few drinks. How cool that we all got to have a nice moment together. Awwww.

Which brings us to today:
I do like to dress when I'm going out, even if it's just to the regular ol' diner for brunch. This is my purple cashmere sweater (last seen here) and long denim skirt (last seen here), along with my purple combat boots (last worn here).

But no one looked at that stuff. This was the star:

Let's take our time and fully enjoy this beauty. It's Desigual and it was $489.00. Yes, I choked a little bit when I heard the total, but I'm in love and it's worth every penny - this is a piece of art and I can tell a lot of hand-work went into it. Plus, I paid cash so I don't feel a smidge of guilt. I will always own this jacket.

Fully buttoned-up (except for the collar):

Like on my dress, every button is unique. I love all the emerald greens with the turquoise. The black sections are a felted wool. That sort of pebbly texture at the cuffs and on the centre panel is the same as the back panel on my dress (although the dress has black beads sewn on it). And yes, that's a peacock embroidered on the front!

Someone is helping me show off the back:

Hee, he always looks so startled when he's listening to the camera timer.

Ooh, the purple, the floral patterns, the line of embroidered roses across the waist! Like my dress, this also has the large panel at the top. It reminds me of how guys would put a "back patch" (like an Iron Maiden one or something) on their jean jackets back in the day. Heh.

As with all of Desigual's pieces, the attention to detail is wonderful:

Emerald green satin lining and the backing of the front edge is a fine turquoise and brown dot pattern. There are two hidden pockets on the front as well (you can see my hand in one above) and both are lined...with different fabrics. Attention to detail is my thing, man, and this jacket goes to 11.

Here are some detail shots:

The inside back lining. It's two fashionable ladies having a stroll in some overgrown gardens. I am too old for such short shorts/skirts.

The front of the jacket:

Click the pic to enlarge a bit.

The wonderful mix of fabrics, patterns and textures...my heart is happy. The peacock is sewn with metallic thread.

The back patch:

It's some sort of crazy abstract art composition. The entire patch of fabric is fuzzy, like bouclé wool. And check out the purple lamé section across the back of the neck! Caw! The crow in me loves this.

I had to take a picture of this button - it's the bottom one:

Just like with my dress, I've always got my eye on you.

Anyway, the jacket caused a stir (well, duh), and my favourite waitress at the diner bought me mimosas to celebrate my employment, so lunch was delightful.

But best of all, tonight it's Winesday and I'm going to surprise my lovely women (whoever hasn't read my blog in the last 24 hours, ha) with my exciting news and we will eat and drink and be merry and swap clothes.

Best. Weekend. Ever.

And because it's not a great weekend without another cat picture:

Such cuteness!

Jacket ("Abrig_Colette", Desigual), sweater (Daniel Bishop, consignment), skirt (InWear, consignment), boots (Penny Loves Kenny), earrings (gift from L).

Leopard Week! Leopard for Luck - 2nd Interview

Welcome to Leopard Week! Go here for links to participants.

Yes, I wore leopard to a job interview! Following last week's successful interview, I carefully prepared my outfit for this one:
I'm wearing my leopard blouse that I wore for the Wardrobe Challenge in February, with a black cami underneath and a denim blazer (yes!) over that. I kept the jacket done up the entire time.

I thought long and hard about wearing denim for an interview. But frankly, I didn't want the interviewers to be put off due to my age (it's easy for employers to figure out about how old you are when you start listing your education), or feel like I am too old for this position (I kind of got that vibe at the last place I interviewed), so I chose to wear the denim jacket to project more of a youthful image. It's also quite a casual office, so it wasn't inappropriate.

I thought it also toned down the leopard, and I love that it is cut so nicely - it holds everything in! I last wore it here.
On the bottom is a new dark chocolate brown pencil skirt that I got at Plum (it was a sample, $18). But check out my shoes!

The stuff:

They're a thick suede penny-loafer with a lug sole and a pointy heel. What I love is that the heel is not actually as high as it looks - it's barely 2.5". I ran half a block to the bus stop in these and they were comfy as heck.

And even better? They were cheap!

$115 on for $34.50, not bad! I do love Town Shoes' clearances.

Overall, I think I did really well in the interview, and I hope to get some good news next week!

Jacket (Bisou Bisou, consignment), blouse (Planet, consignment), cami (InWear), skirt (Tobias), shoes (kate & mel).

Leopard Week! Got the Red Pants Memo

Welcome to Leopard Week! Go here for links to participants.

Another casual day here at Leopard Central. Tonight I'm headed off to a friend's place for a Craft Corner Deathmatch (not really, but we will be doing crafts). I really loved that show when it was on - but I don't look much like the Craft Lady of Steel:
These are my new-ish red mystery jeans (last seen here), with one of my graphic tees, and my denim shirt. Ha! I'm doing double denim!
I added my leopard flat wedges (last seen here, oh my, in June) and a leopard scarf at the neck - and I rolled the cuffs of my jeans for sort of an Audrey Hepburn casual look.

In a bizarre coincidence, both Bev at Style Underdog and Jentine at My Edit are also doing red jeans - with leopard! It's always nice when you get the memo.

Unfortunately, due to crazy weather, I had to bundle up:

This is the first appearance of my toes since probably around September (I quickly slapped on some coral 60-second nail polish on my naked nails), and my feet were freezing all day while I was out. So now I'm in socks for crafting.

The leopard bounty:

Denim shirt (Mexx, consignment), t-shirt (Upper Playground), jeans (mystery, no label), shoes (unknown, The Bay ages ago), scarf (Fairweather).

I was out browsing in The Bay today, checking out the clearance racks and seeing the new Spring '11 clothes - I couldn't believe how much leopard there was! Did I buy any? Well....I think I have a leopard addiction! I did buy a few things (everything was extra 40% off sale prices) and would you believe every single item has leopard on it? I may have to extend Leopard Week...or at least have another one in a couple of months!

Oh, and this is something I would normally never, ever show on the blog:

My Betsey Johnson leopard bra (I have matching panties) that I got nearly 4 years ago in NYC, at Lord & Taylor. Heh.

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).

Out With a Bang! Last Casual Friday

And here we are - I'm done. It feels weird being out of work.

For my last casual Friday, I went over-the-top dressy - 'cause that's the way I roll. To be really outrageous for me, I should have worn pyjama bottoms!

I have never worn this skirt to work:
I have worn it twice before: once for Christmas and most recently for Daisy's birthday party. It's a challenge to wear; I can't take very large steps because the hem (above the bubble trim) is so narrow and it has no stretch, and (warning, TMI) when I go to bathroom, I have to actually unzip and pull it down.

Other than that...jeez, I guess I should wear it more! It's a beautiful skirt. Check out how good it makes my butt look:

Ha! Inigo looks absolutely terrified, doesn't he? He's listening to the beeping of the timer on the camera.

On the top half, I'm wearing this denim jacket (last seen back in January!), a brown silky blouse and Grandma W's pin:

I'm going out for lunch today with my manager, Joanne, and out for dinner/martinis tonight with my former boss at Fairweather, Tammy. Lovely! Now that's the way to end things.

I also sent out "farewell" emails to all of my favourite coworkers, contacts and clients to thank them for being so awesome - I got dozens of responses, and spent a good half hour being quietly teary at my desk. Then I did the tour of the building, saying goodbye to all the people I've known. There's nothing like tearing up in front of your colleagues (I'm such a sap, I cry at everything).

And now...off to drink!

Jacket (Bisou Bisou, consignment), blouse (Mexx), cami (Esprit), skirt (Kensie), shoes (Guess), pin (Grandma W), earrings (gift from L).

Working on the Weekend

Whew! I am exhausted today. Do you think anyone would notice if I slept at my desk?

I did my WW training all weekend, and while it was fun, I'm glad it's over. I walked to and from the hotel, so I had to have functional walking outfits (the snow is completely gone, by the way! Wacky weather!).

This is my long denim skirt (first worn here):
I'm wearing my little ankle cowboy booties:

The blouse was last worn here.

Blouse (Vintage DCC Missy, consignment), sweater vest (Esprit), skirt (InWear, consignment), boots (Miz Mooz).

On Sunday, I had to do a mini-meeting presentation (with flip charts!), so I went a little brighter:
My lovely "painty" skirt, last worn here in July. I like that a lot of my skirts can easily translate from summer wear to autumn/winter wear by layering them with tights and adding boots.

Sweater (no label, consignment), skirt (Nine West), boots (Miz Mooz), belt (Le Chateau), necklace (Plum).

More Snow! And Many Adventures Today

Today's forecast: more snow! Yikes! With this in mind, again, I dressed warmly:
A whole lotta layerin' goin' on. I have a long-sleeved tee under my camel dress (first seen here), with my denim skirt underneath that (blatantly violating the company's dress code, but what are they going to do? Fire me?). I also have on tights, knee-high socks and boots.

Today is a bit nutty. I have a dentist appointment that takes me an hour to get to by bus - and it's in the middle of the afternoon (because I scheduled it when I thought I would be out of work), so I have to get back to work after...another hour+ by bus.
Then I have an eyebrow waxing (my one luxury) downtown, and then it's our fantasy football pool re-draft! I am in first place (wee!) with a few people breathing down my neck, so I need to do some prep work. Spreadsheets and such.

The stuff:

I love that belt buckle. It rules!

I've had this necklace for years:

I like that the stones are real stones, not plastic.

The leg business:

I wore these boots last winter and they are great in the ice and snow.

I am taking tomorrow and Friday off work, to watch football all day with my guys (I'm making turkey burgers in honour of US Thanksgiving) and then hang out with Ruth on Friday - I'm also going to the theatre with Mom and my nieces. And I have Weight Watchers training all weekend! Crazy!

Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends!

Dress (Coupe), tee (Press), denim skirt (Bebe, swap from Caro), tights (Voila), socks (Point Zero, I think), boots (Indigo by Clark's, consignment), necklace (Plum), belt (Shi Studio).

Casual Friday: Floofy Layers

Ah, Friday! How long you have taken to arrive this week! However, I forgive you now that you're here, aside from that trip to the dentist this morning. Thank goodness I have a nice boozy dinner planned for this evening with my old boss from Fairweather, Tammy. Yee haw!

I'd planned to wear my new combat boots with today's outfit (the ones in my concert-going outfit here), but they just didn't look right. I'll take some time this weekend and build an outfit around them. Perhaps I'll document how I build an outfit - would anyone be interested in that?

Anyway, this is the outfit, and shoes I ended up wearing:
Someone (I've forgotten who) in Style Nation wore a denim dress recently and I gushed over it and I said, "I need to wear my denim dress again!" so here it is. Sorry, I have a terrible memory - thank you for the inspiration, Inspiring Blogger!

I've worn this dress a billion times* as seen here, here, here, here, here and here, and probably a few times before that. I'm wearing a grey cami underneath the dress, and my black velvet vest (as seen multiple times here) over top.

*numbers may be estimated
The underskirt is my black floofy Noa Noa one (last seen in my Hallowe'en costume, but last worn normally here).

The shoes are going to go sit in the "take these to the cobbler" bag for approximately a year (i.e. until I remember to take them in) to get them re-heeled as the stupid plastic heel caps are down to the nails after only one previous wear. I hope I don't have to walk on any hardwood floors!

Jewelry:

Got sort of a burnished silver thing going on.

My tights are new - the colour is called "cobblestone":

Leg on table pose! You can see the nice herringbone texture here.

******

So, I keep forgetting to mention, I am training to become a leader at Weight Watchers! As you may or may not know, I lost a lot of weight about five years ago, starting in 2006 (I did a post on it here). I have maintained my weight for 3.5 years (I hit goal in early 2007 and became a Lifetime member in May 2007), and I continue to go to my Saturday morning Weight Watchers meetings every week I can for the support, and to give and get inspiration from my fellow women and men who are on their own weight loss journeys.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the receptionists (of course, I know everyone at my meeting) asked if I had thought about becoming a leader. I considered it, interviewed on Monday with the Territory Manager (it was very informal) and did a webinar on Tuesday. Tomorrow, I shadow my mentor leader, and then next weekend, I do two days of intense training. I am pretty excited about this - it's not a full-time job (heck, it's not even part-time), but it's something I think I can do to give back. And it's something I can do while I look for work.

Note: I don't intend to push WW through this blog, but I've always been up-front about being a member. It's just a program that works for me, and I like it. I'm not getting any compensation for talking about WW, and I don't want any. You won't see any WW ads on my blog, or any other ads (I am not a personal fan of blogs loaded with ads - that's not how I roll, baby - but I don't judge what other people do with their blogs. We're all one big Style Nation family, right?).

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this new adventure (think of the outfits!) and wanted to share it.

Dress (Ricki's), vest (Surrey Classics, consignment), skirt (Noa Noa), belt (Plum), tights (Hue), shoes (Miss Sasa, consignment), earrings (Aldo Accessories), ring (can't remember, maybe Nine West?), cuff (St. Paul's Cathedral gift shop), necklace (handmade).

Last Casual Friday - Green and Purple (With Sparkles)

Oooh, I'm tired today. I ate too much Thai food and then drank too much wine - however, I do not regret (but I'm not ashamed to whine a bit, hee)!

The lovely Audi gave me a shout-out for my graphic tee layering 'uniform' yesterday. And what did I wear today? I wonder...
This is such an easy look for me now, I could do it in my sleep. I actually plan outfits when I'm trying to fall asleep; the mental voyage through my wardrobe and thinking about what I want to wear is very soothing to me. It's creative, not stressful, and it relaxes me to the point where I usually doze off pretty quickly.

This outfit is my grassy-green long-sleeved tee, my sparkly tee (I like that it has purple, green and yellow "gems" on it), my jean skirt and my purple belt. Everyone needs a purple belt, don't you think? Added tights and my low olive/brown boots for comfort and walking.

A close-up of the top half, since I didn't do a "stuff" picture this morning:
I've strung a purple crystal, my "S" charm and a silver key on the chain.

I layered my tights as well:

I'm wearing bright purple with olive green fishnets over top (yes, I know there's a hole in the fishnets, but I don't want to give these up!). And yes, my leg is on a table.

Tonight we're going to a "do" at the Art Gallery with a bunch of friends. My friend's husband is part of a multi-media exhibit. Yay! Dress up clothes! Hmmm...what should I wear??

Long-sleeved tee (Plum), tee (Lisa International), skirt (InWear, consignment), belt (Brave Beltworks), boots (Hispanitas, consignment).

Casual Friday: Purple Spirit Support

I missed the memo on "Spirit Day" during which participants wear purple to show their support of LGBT (edited: thanks, Ralph!) people and to bring attention to the anti-bullying message. I was bullied as a kid (you can get a glimpse of it in my speech "Found on the Ferry" that I wrote here), and I can't imagine how much more awful it could have been if I was gay or transgendered. My heart goes out to those folks.

Anyway, I hope I'm making up for it today:
My purple shirt and my purple shoes (I actually have two pairs of purple shoes to choose from!), and hey, look, I'm in jeans! A rare occurence, although I wear them around the house nearly 100% of the time.

Sorry the pictures are dark - it was dark out this morning when I took them.

Shoes last seen here. Also worn here, here, here, here and here. Wow, I didn't think I had worn them that much!

The stuff:

My new bracelet from L - love all the stones! Turquoise, quartz, amethyst, tiger-eye - it's handmade silver from India, and I love it. I also put on my amethyst jewelry from the 80s: my earrings, ring and the crystal.

The shoes:

It may be time for these shoes to say good-bye to my closet - I don't really wear them much anymore.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Shirt (H&M, thrifted), vest (Esprit), jeans (Seven7, gift from Caro), shoes (Bronx), bracelet (gift from L), earrings/ring/crystal (80s, gifts from Mom & Dad), turquoise ring (Plum).

Casual Friday: Denim and Brocade

Back to my usual funkitude! The last two new-to-me items that I picked up on my shopping trip last weekend at the consignment shop are this top and skirt:
The top is a very bright red (what is up with my reds looking pink? Gah!). I am a sucker for Chinese brocades - I used to have a pair of blue brocade skinny pants once upon a time (I miss them). The shirt fastens by buttoning across the neck and body - and it's made in Canada, which I really like.

The top was sold as a two-piece set with a mini skirt in the same fabric, on sale for $19.50. However, the skirt was a Small and the top is a Medium. The skirt was teeny-weeny-itsy-squeaky-voice small - I couldn't even get it around my thigh. Seriously! But the top is a perfect fit - and go figure, this is a great example of how wacky sizing can be. I have bought XLs at Le Chateau and also XS - you have to just ignore the sizes and buy what fits.

Anyway, I would have bought the top on its own for $19.50, so I didn't mind getting the skirt - I figured I could consign it. My gal wasn't at the consignment shop that day, though (I usually visit her on Sundays), so I took it home...and when the lovely and very petite Kim was over for our party last weekend, I was showing her my recent acquisitions and - light bulb! - oh my gosh, take this skirt off my hands, honey! She was so excited.

I have been in love with long swooshy skirts for many years - I love seeing them come back into style:
Showing my boots off. I kept the shoes simple.

With a long skirt, I always look for an a-line shape like this one, for example - if you wear those long straight skirts that were big in the late 90s, your bottom half risks looking like a big rectangle. A-lines have nice movement when you walk.

This skirt was only $8.50 on the clearance rack! Score! InWear is a pretty expensive brand. I love that it's denim (it makes a nice sail-like sound when I walk) with a bit of stretch - it fits really good in the bum, hee hee.

A close-up of the top:
My "I am not amused" look - 7:30 in the morning is early!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Top (Le Chateau, consignment), skirt (InWear, consignment), boots (Miz Mooz), earrings (Plum), cuff (don't remember).