Dinner Out and Lunch & Shopping with Mom

As I have spent a good portion of my days this week either in my robe or in my "at home" clothes, I'm going for any excuse to put on a "real" outfit. I have a feeling I'll be doing the casual uniform a lot!

Last night, L and I met Casey and Nick at the pub for a few pints and dinner. We walked down, so I picked warm but comfortable pieces:
Hee, see Inigo on the left? He wants dinner too!

This is my olive leather skirt (last seen here), a long-sleeved purple tee and this t-shirt that I wear a lot.

My lovely (and practical) Miz Mooz boots.

Because it's a little chilly out, I did some outerwear stuff:

The olive-coloured hat is a somewhat structured fuzzy angora thing - I found it in a vintage store years ago and always forget to wear it. I'm also wearing my purple scarf and grey fingerless gloves, along with my swag leather jacket.

Hat (Boutique "Katy", vintage), scarf (Fairweather), gloves (Parkhurst), jacket (swag from old job). Long tee (Press), tee (Lisa International), skirt (Danier Leather, thrifted), boots (Miz Mooz), necklace (Foxy), earrings (gift from L).

Today, Mom and I are going to wander down the avenue to another pub for lunch...do a little shopping, get caught up before Christmas. We're walking, so again, I had to base the outfit around the shoes. I totally forgot about these (have I mentioned I need to clean out my closet??):

I got those in the summer at Value Village for cheapy-cheapy ($15), last seen here. I did tones of grey to match the cloud in my head (I am still sick - the hacking cough starts soon).

I am not picking my nose, I'm trying not to sneeze:

The top is cream/grey striped, the tee is multi shades of cream and grey, the skirt is a grey/black herringbone, and the tights are sort of a bluey-grey. Oh, and a first wear for this little thin silver headband - picked it up at Club Monaco some time ago for about $7.

I promise I am wearing my yellow leather jacket (this one) to offset all the grey.

I am so ready not to be sick anymore:

My hair is fading out to a nice colour.

Long-sleeved tee (Majestic, gift from Caro), tee (Plum, gift from L), skirt (Mexx, gift from Celia), shoes (Stonefly, thrifted), necklace (Claire's), earrings (Aldo Accessories), headband (Club Monaco).

Shopping in the Rain - and a Book Blurb

I met Cat and Caro downtown for a quick shop - I also had to get going on some of my Xmas shopping (I'm kind of doing it in dribs and drabs this year) out of the way.

Unfortunately, as I learned from my run/walk this morning, it was pouring out. So I had to dress for the weather:
Combat boots! Like the funkadelic stylings of Rad over at The Cohabiting Closet and Ann at Fashionable Academics, I love the boot/skirt look too. And it turns out, these babies were pretty close to being waterproof (I shouldn't have stepped in that big puddle). They were last worn here.

I last wore the dress here.

I hate carrying an umbrella - I'd rather have my hands free - so I dug through the chest to see what hats I had. I grabbed this fuzzy cream cloche (I picked it up about a year ago in a thrift store) and my cashmere scarf for a fun pattern mix.

I'm also wearing long nylon gloves.

Tossed on my red wool/cashmere coat and I was ready to go!

I did get a bunch of little things, but I need to still do more. Gah! It never ends!

Dress (Papillon), belt (NYC), boots (Penny Loves Kenny), coat (Planet), scarf (Club Monaco).

I have been good and read a book! It's "White Witch, Black Curse" by Kim Harrison:

It's the next one in the series after "The Outlaw Demon Wails" (blurbed here). I was in the mood for some escapism.

Stats: 504 pages, hardcover (I bought it second-hand for $5.50). Started November 21, 2010, finished December 12, 2010.

Blurb: These are currently my favourite vampire, sorta-sexy, sorta-funny, female-driven adventure novels. I've read a bunch of Anita Blake books (by Laurel K. Hamilton), and a few of the Sookie Stackhouse books (that "True Blood" is based on). Harrison's books have a lot of heart - the characters are tough, but struggle with love and relationships; they swear and beat up bad guys, but sometimes the bad guys are...not so bad - it's not all black and white, in life or in magic. If you ask Megan nicely, she might show some of the awesome doodles she's done of the characters.

Friday Hallowe'en Madness

Well now. I am a fan of Hallowe'en and dressing up in general (check out my Alice Cooper concert-wearing outfit here, and last year's non-costume outfit for Hallowe'en here).

My Book Club meeting was last night (check out Sherylyn's Severed Foot Cheeseball recipe over at Yummyland!) and we decided to do a theme night in honour of Hallowe'en: come as a literary character. I chose the Mad Hatter from "Alice in Wonderland":
I also decided that, despite the lack of morale in my department at work lately, I would dress up for work today in the same costume. Some of these pictures I took last night and some are from this morning.

The full costume:

The coat is the only thing I've never worn on the blog. It is Noa Noa and I got in the spring (it's been too warm to wear it up to now). It was regular $375, marked down to $79.99, with an extra 30% off, so $56.00. Not bad!

Last night, I used my shiny black purse to carry my book to the meeting:

All done up. I got some strange looks on the bus on the way there!

The thing I like about my costume is that I didn't buy a single new thing for it - I had all this stuff in my wardrobe or in the house. For me, that makes it more creative and special than going out and buying a costume. Here's how I built it ('cause I know you guys like to see how it's all put together).

First, I did my stripey tights (previously seen here) and my red vintage slip (seen here):

Then I added the blouse I wore to the interview a couple of weeks ago, and my flouncy Noa Noa skirt (seen here):

I gathered the black skirt up and pinned to the red slip to show off the red more. I also scrunched my hair up with a glob of volumizing mousse.

Then I added my plaid bustier (last worn here) for a nice smooth look:

Lastly, I put on my coat, tied a long scarf-belt (from an old skirt) around my neck as a floppy bow-tie, and put my hat on. And I added the boots (last seen here with the same black skirt):

I tied a long length of ribbon across my body, and draped a measuring tape around my neck.

Here's a close-up of the upper body details:

I copied Johnny Depp's makeup from the recent movie (it's not very good, by the way, but pretty to look at). Those are my lace cuffs from my "Never Seen" series (here). I raided my knitting box for various pins with fancy heads, my seam ripper and scissors (in the breast pocket). I also had a big needle threaded through the measuring tape, which was wrapped around the brown ribbon.

Some coat details are needed! The back is embroidered in cross-stitch: As is the breast pocket:

So amazing. I love details like that. I looked at this coat for weeks before I finally bought it - when I had that "what if it's sold?" panicky feeling, I knew I had to bite the bullet and buy it.

Here's how I decorated my vintage 80s top hat:

I tied my Smoking Lily obi around it, then started pinning things. I cut out a sticky note and wrote 10/6 on it (it's the one feature I made). I've had the feathered eidelweiss pin and the bug pin for ages. You can also see that I hung needle threaders on my hoop earrings. The starburst pin is the one on my skirt.

I also pinned one of my butterflies that I got at the Victoria & Albert Museum gift shop in London on the hat (seen on another hat here), along with a couple of straight pins:

I like how the ends of the obi looked:

Mom's old kilt pin (noted in the "Never Seen" accessories post linked above).

Here's a shot of the lace cuffs and my red fingerless gloves (it's a little chilly today). The gloves looked great with this.

And the tape measure...for good measure.

I hope you have a safe and spooky Hallowe'en! Let me know if any of you posted costume pictures - I'll link to them if you like.

By the way, I won my company's Best Costume contest today! I got a $35 Visa gift card.

Coat (Noa Noa), bustier (Le Chateau, consignment), blouse (Esprit, consignment), black skirt (Noa Noa), red slip (vintage, Suzette Lingerie, consignment), tights (Hue), boots (LaTianna, consignment), top hat (vintage 80s, Le Chateau, L's boss' wife).

Casual Friday: Wood Sprite

Whoa, what happened to the weekend? I had full intention (no, I didn't) of posting this on Friday (lies!), and then possibly on Saturday (more lies!), but didn't even think of posting it yesterday (true). I took a sick day today to hang out with my dear L, so for me, it's still the weekend. And that means casual:
My first wearing of tights so far this season! I wanted to wear boots but couldn't face my pasty white legs (sunblock works).

Inigo looks remarkably tolerant of me forcing a hug on him:

It's been a little cool and rainy in the mornings, so I added the outdoor pieces of hat and jacket:

Didn't need them, as it got sunny out later on.

The stuff:

I forgot to take my necklace off for the picture. I've only worn these boots a couple of times, last February (here and here).

This is how I layered my tights:

I wore solid brown, then put a mossy green fishnet overtop. Yes, I'm taking a picture of my leg on a table.

Unfortunately, the fishnets have a bigass hole right on the front of the leg. I tried to ignore it, but I don't think I can wear these much more.

Oh, and you all must check out In Professorial Fashion's "Wonder Woman Pose Conference" - I'm in it!

Jacket (Alison Wonderland, consignment), t-shirt (Truly Madly Deeply, consignment), green tee (Plum), skirt (Bebe, swap from Caro), boots (Hispanitas, consignment), hat (Shelley West), cuff (Catalyst Reaction Leather), earrings (Plum, gift from L).

Weekend Outfits and a Book Blurb

Ah, a nice relaxing weekend. I went to Weight Watchers (down 2 lbs! Woo! I worked hard for that!), then played Ultimate for two hours, then went out for a late brunch. Again, I'm making the effort not to go to WW and brunch in my workout clothes, looking like ass.
Another light sundress, easy cardi and the closest thing I have to casual flip-flops. These are not good for running for the bus.

Dress (Kenzie), cardigan (BCBGMax Azria, consignment), shoes (can't read the label anymore).

I also had Winesday last night with my favourite gals! It was hot and sunny out on Cat's deck, so I dressed appropriately:

I swear, Inigo hears the beeping timer and he runs to get in the shot. Damned cat.

Can you believe I've only worn this dress once? Yikes! In 2008!

I did a cream cami underneath, and my lace-up espadrilles (which I took off in favour of being barefoot for the evening).

A shot of the back:

It was so comfy.

I added some springy butterfly clips to the hat:

I got them at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. They're a little girly for me to wear to work.

Dress (Oxmo), cami (Plum), shoes (Tommy Hilfiger, consignment), earrings (Plum), hat (Facinie).

And...I finished another book last week! It was "When You are Engulfed in Flames" by David Sedaris.

Stats: 323 pages. Started June 26, 2010, finished July 6, 2010. This is a Book Club selection - my pick. I'm trying to make up for my last pick that everyone hated (Chuck Palahniuk's "Snuff").

Blurb: If you've read any David Sedaris, you'll love this book of short essays. If you haven't read anything by him, you should. He's great. Very dry and funny. The previous book that I read of his, "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim", actually made me laugh out loud - I woke L up.

Sedaris writes about himself, what happens to him, what happened to him in the past. You see the world as he sees it, through the lenses of someone who sees not quite what is in front of him. His writing can be sad, hilarious, serious and heart-breaking, but when you're finished one of his books, you want to read more. The last section of this book, "The Smoking Section", is about him quitting smoking, and about being in Japan, and about not really fitting in. I loved it, and I can't wait to read more of his books.

Next up: I'm drilling in the Douglas Coupland selections I bought after "Girlfriend in a Coma" - next one is "Life After God", which I should finish this week.

Never Seen - Hats!

Today, I'm featuring hats! I adore hats and I've collected a lot in the last 30 years. I have gotten rid of some of my hats and I do regret it. Ah well.

Non-Vintage

Okay, first the non-vintage ones - these are all hats that I've either bought new or acquired within the last 15 years that aren't vintage hats. My Holly Hobbie hat. I last wore this to the pub one Friday night about 15 years ago, when L and I were first dating. As we drove home, he was admiring the hat and rear-ended a car at a mid-block crosswalk. I had to go to hospital and get my knee stitched up and his car was a write-off (no one but me was hurt). I sued his insurance company and got enough money to pay off some debt and send us on a trip to Scotland a year later. Thanks for admiring my hat, love!This isn't really my style anymore, but I like to keep it stored away.

I bought this hat on our trip to Scotland, the summer before we got married. L loved it on me, so I bought it. I don't think I've ever worn it - but L has! He went as the Joker from Batman one year for Hallowe'en and this was part of his costume.

I keep it because it's lovely, but it's stored away in a box.I got nothing on my search for Gail Hek, so I guess she's stopped making hats.

It occured to me after I photographed this hat, that I don't actually like it very much. I should get rid of it.
Yeah, that's a big pile of blah.

I got it at Roberta's Hats about 6 years ago. I don't know, I wanted a red hat. I bought this hat in a shop in Vancouver when I was over for the Granville Island Writers' Conference about 8 years ago. I like the maribou feathers:And that's my feather boa. I wear that with my glamourous outfits - it's really warm!

I hadn't heard of the Red Hat Society when I bought this hat:I bought it at Eatons about 5 or 6 years ago for my friend Stay-C's wedding shower. Yes, I wore this out to a bar and danced my ass off in it. Heh.I'm just waiting for an excuse to wear it again.

And because I can't resist a straw hat, I picked this one up about 5 years ago: It's an awesome summer hat. I should wear it more. It was sold with the brim flipped up, but I prefer it down. Much more Audrey.

The UK chain Accessorize used to have a store here. I got this at a promo-night there about 4 years ago.Another one with the down-turned brim. I like that I can see through the brim and watch people.I see you! I wore this last summer for a baby shower: click here for a picture of me in it.
Goodness, I love all that flouffy business going on!

I got this hat last winter, but the weather is not quite here for me to wear it yet:It's fabric with wires - totally squishable and shape-able.

Home-Grown Vintage and a Trip to the 80s

These are hats that are squarely 80s, so are verging into vintage territory. I'm with Wendy Brandes on Growing Your Own Vintage: keep quality pieces!

I got this hat for Christmas, along with a matching scarf (long since gone), in 1985 or 86. It's from Fairweather, and it's wool.
I feel like I should be wearing some mondo shoulder pads with this!

The sides are a thick foam inside and the top is soft. I never wore this much but I always liked it. The last time I wore it was for our Lame Superhero party (you had to be a made-up superhero with some sort of goofy powers):
I was The Full Minty (my lame superpower was that I gave fresh breath). As you can tell, this was before I lost weight - that was about 4-5 years ago.

This is my 1980s top hat. L grabbed this for himself (ha!) out of his boss's wife's car trunk - she was on the way to donate it.Since he already had a top hat (a real one, very expensive) from the hat store, I claimed this - I'm sure it's a ladies' style anyway. I like that it flares out a bit at the crown and the brim curves up.

It's a Le Chateau piece:
I've loved Le Chateau since I was a teenager. It's always been "the" store to get the trendy items. I remember so many great Le Chateau items that I had in the 80s and 90s (and now! click here to see some of my Le Chateau new and second-hand items).

Here's a picture of me from about 10 years ago, getting ready to go out: Hee, I've got my long black gloves on. And those were my go-to shoes for years - an awesome pair of Nine West pumps (and that was a really pointy toe for the late 90s, I'll have you know!)

I've never worn this hat:

And I'm not really sure why I've kept it. L's colleague, Pauline, gave it to him to give to me. I like that it still has the thrift tag in it from the store she got it in:
It looks very Lady Di era, doesn't it?

Vintage

These are real vintage hats. I don't know how old they are (I'd guess 40s to 60s), but I didn't pay very much for any of them.

First up is a hat I have actually worn on the blog before, but I'm including it anyway, because the dark picture didn't do it justice:It's my flower pot hat! I spotted this in a consignment store, way up on a shelf. It was $24 and the elastic was broken (the elastic goes behind your ears and holds it on your head).I love the spike of feathers shooting out the top. I have worn this many, many times over the years, with all kinds of dresses. Unfortunately, no old pictures.
That's just a magnificent hat.

I call this one my flying saucer hat. I found it in a thrift store for a couple of dollars:Just looks kind of boring, doesn't it? But it's also got an elastic (which I also had to replace, like with the flower pot hat), and the edge inside is angled so it sits off to the side on your head:
It even still has the label!
I was on a hats-with-veils kick for a few years back in the late 90s, and found a couple of awesome vintage ones:
The netting has little velvet poufs. It's in good condition, only slight tears. The material is straw, with a velvet bow.

This one fits weird. It's really broad across the head.
The veil is in rough shape on this one. The rim of it is velvet, and the little beads are like a cellophane material:This one also still has its label:Here's a picture of me in my party clothes from about 11 years ago:Recognize the skirt? It's the one I wore to see Alice Cooper! Again in my gloves...they were a favourite for a while (they allow you to wear sleeveless in winter and keep your hands warm, and they also keep you from chowing down on food at parties). My whole outfit there is from Fairweather - I worked there for a few years in the late 90s while I was back at university.

I found this hat in a thrift store for a couple of bucks.
The spider pin was a birthday gift about 15 years ago. I should really take that off so I can wear it!

This hat has the goofiest shape. I am never quite sure how to wear it.

Here's the last time I wore it out:

This is about 5-6 years ago (no, you haven't lost your mind, the picture's in black and white), and you can see how uncomfortable I am about my weight. I'm trying to cover myself up...sad. I just want to give old me a hug.

This hat also still has its label. It's wool, and it does have a velvety finish...not sure if I'd call it deerskin, but okay!

This last hat was bought specifically for a party. We had to dress as our favourite person from the 20th century (so the party must have been around the end of 1999). I went as Mae West:

Yowza! Blonde wig, velvet floral dress (just got rid of that a couple of years ago), the ubiquitous long gloves (velvet ones this time), and a velvet fluffy boa.It's a giant hat. Whenever I wear it, people have to make room!
It's pretty spectacular, though, isn't it?

Here's another party picture from around 1999:
I think I'm drunk in that picture, hee hee. Gloves again! That purse will be making an appearance in the Accessories post, since I still have it. I loved that dress...*sigh*

Anyway, those are my hats! Hope you enjoyed them.