Weekend Outfits - A Bit of This and That

A quiet weekend, which is just what I needed. I went to my regular WW meeting, and dressed light as usual: This is a new-to-me dress that I picked up last weekend on the 1/2 price rack at a consignment store for $11.50. I like the really drapey construction (it has an elastic waist) and it has beautiful movement when I walk.

The purse is also new-to-me. Got it for $20.98 at the same store - not bad for a Matt & Nat! I was practically willing Spring to be here in my bare legs - I had cold feet for most of the day.

I went shopping afterwards - I'd planned to go to Ellen's Bonspiel open house (the designer who made my cool blue jacket from last week), but the door was locked when I got there.

I continued on with my main goal of bra shopping. I loath bra shopping, but at least this dress made it less of an ordeal: I can just slide out of the top half of it. The dress will work perfectly for my next tatttoo which I've been planning. Now that I have a job, I'll get it scheduled, probably for the summer.

My shoes were not the most comfortable for a day of shopping, but at least they looked good (last seen here).

Coat (Plum), dress (Lady Dutch, consignment), shoes (Feraglicious), belt (Dorothy Perkins), necklace (Foxy), bag (Matt & Nat, consignment).

It rained on and off all day, but I have hope for Spring as the Japanese plum and cherry trees are in bloom:

I love the smell of them.

Today, L and I went out for lunch and got groceries:

Second wear of my OTK socks. *sigh* I wish this was the last wearing of my boots...

Cardigan (Kensie), scarf (Club Monaco), t-shirt (TMT), jeans (Jackpot, swap from Caro), socks (Steve Madden), boots (Aldo, consignment), bag (Licence 71195).

For those of you who have mentioned it, yes, indeedy, I am in the Huffington Post! Pretty cool - thanks again, Wendy! You rule!

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).

St. Patty's Day Greens

I love having a holiday that begets dressing up right when starting a new job. It's my excuse to break out a little. Today, it was colour mixing and a touch of bigass: This is a new-to-me Talbot's shirt - it's 100% cotton and wrinkles if I even look at it, but I love the slightly olive tone to it and the tux details on the front. It was $10.50 thrifted.

I just now realized that the skirt is also a Talbot's item - I've had it for about 3 years and just love it (last seen here).

A close-up of the top half:

The collar of the shirt is actually mandarin - I folded it down to make a V to show off the (doubled up) necklace).

My bigass-ery is the rose and the shoes (naturally).

The stuff: You can see a bit more of the ribbon trim on the tux front of the shirt there. This is the second wear of the shoes (last seen here).

Close-up of the bling:

I did a mix of copper, orange and green. And isn't that a realistic-looking fabric rose?

Blouse (Talbot's, thrifted), vest (Vero Moda), skirt (Talbot's, consignment), shoes (Marc Fisher), rose (Roberta's Hats), necklace and earrings (Plum), jade ring (vintage, Mom's).

I miss being able to leisurely browse all your blogs - thank you so much for continuing to read and comment! - but I am back to minimal non-work computer time. And tonight, I have to dash off to Book Club.

I changed, since I'm walking there:

Of course, green boots are required!

Sweater (Max Studio), cami (Smart Set), jeans (Jackpot, swap from Caro), boots (Pegabo), same jewelry as above.

A Wee Bit of Retail Therapy

I'm getting slightly frustrated (and depressed) about not hearing about this dang job. However, I found out today that my former boss had forgotten to check her cell phone (she also got laid off, so can't blame her) and had missed the call for my reference! She said she gave me a glowing review, but still...yikes. I'm going to call them tomorrow and see what's going on - it's been a week since the interview and it seems like I should have heard something by now. I don't think that's too pushy, do you?

Anyway, I didn't want to sit around all day waiting for the phone to ring, so I got dressed in what I'd planned to wear to Book Club tonight (it was pushed back to next week) and visited four of my regular consignment/thrift stores. I had some major scores - I'll be wearing all the pieces over the next few weeks.

I was inspired by this outfit of Audi's over at Fashion For Nerds - I have been struggling to do a non-costume-y look with my long striped jacket that I wore for Hallowe'en and I loved how she did hers with over-the-knee boots.

Here's what I did:
My funky blouse (first seen here), with these new dark-wash skinny jeans (they're actually cropped with zippers - will be wonderful for warmer weather) that Caro gave me (I love my friends!), and my olive boots (last seen here). This is probably the last wear of my tall boots as the weather had better smarten up and be Spring-like, dammit!

Moving on...*ahem*

I'm also wearing my new zebra belt buckle that I bought in December when I hit my favourite shoe store (I got it the same time as my pin-up girl one).

And then I added the jacket over all of it! I must say, this looked awesome walking around. I did up the top 3 buttons and let the skirt part swing around - the jacket is quite a stiff cotton, so it billowed most satisfactorily in the wind.

I love the bits of embroidery on it. Please check out the details in the Hallowe'en link above if you want to see more of it.

The stuff:

I love that the blouse - which has no olive or khaki in it - goes so great with olive! I had fun mixing patterns in this outfit.

A close-up:

I also wore that necklace - I liked how all the patterns worked, and I think it's because they are all based on black and white. I had several compliments on my outfit from the ladies in a couple of the shops (although one of the shops is completely staffed by volunteer elderly ladies, who eye me suspiciously and follow me around. You'd think they'd recognize me by now).

Hee, you can see me in the ball earrings.

Jacket (Noa Noa), blouse (Marcona, thrifted), jeans (Jackpot, swap from Caro), belt (Shi Studio), buckle (She She Shoes), boots (Pegabo), necklace (Shi Studio), earrings (Aldo Accessories).

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).

Leather for Work, and What I Didn't Wear on Friday

I'm on an emailing list from Dots (one of my favourite stores) and this week's email was "$20 for all winter dresses." Well - I'm not one to turn down a deal like THAT! I headed there after work on Tuesday and scoured the dress section. I must have tried on 2 dozen dresses, but I found two that I really loved.

This being one: I love the taupe colour (yes, I know, a neutral, how unlike me!), and it's got pockets, and it fits great. And it's leather! As I'm the Queen of Sneakily Inappropriate Workwear, this was right up my alley. The leather is "like buttah."

I layered my favourite floral silk blouse (last seen here), with my new olive sequined cami (thrifted for $8.50) underneath that. I think the floral and the drapey lines of the blouse helps soften the more severe dress.

The dress came with its own belt, but I didn't like it, so I swapped in my darker brown one to go with the boots.

These are my classic brown boots that I've had for over 3 years. Worn them a billion times, easy!

But it does my thrifty little heart so good to know I've gotten a bargain on something, so check this out:

The dress's original price tag. It sold for $499.00 CAD (Canadian dollars)! And Dots was selling it for the relative bargain of $149.99...but I got it for $20! That's a 96% discount off the original price - score!

The stuff:
Slightly blurry - I was in a rush to get to Book Club.

Blingy stuff:

Uh-huh.

Dress (Truly, Part Two), blouse (Kaliko, consignment), cami (Esprit, thrifted), boots (Roberto Vianni), belt (Plum), earrings (Plum), ring (some vintage store).

L needed the camera today, so my plan was to put together today's outfit last night when I got home from Book Club, take a picture of it, then just wear it today. We're going to Sherylyn's for dinner tonight (she of Yummyland fame, and the foot-shaped cheeseball), followed by a concert to see Dan Mangan, so I won't have time (or the inclination) tonight to do my Friday outfit.

Well, that was the plan.

So this is me after 4 glasses of wine at Book Club:

I didn't wear that today. Well, I wore MOST of it - everything but the skirt (which I've only worn once, here). I couldn't handle wrestling with a pair of tights this morning, so I wore jeans, and did a different belt. If I'm still awake tonight when I get home, I might take a picture.

Anyway, just picture this oufit but with jeans on the bottom! That's what I'm REALLY wearing.

The plaid tweed jacket is new, by the way - I got it last Friday in a consignment store I don't go to very much.

It's a nice mix of browns and camel (no actual yellow in it, but I liked how the yellow cardi looked) - it was $22.99 and is Zara. As we have no Zara store here, I always wonder what travels my clothes have taken before they get to me.

I'm also cheating by wearing the exact same cami as yesterday. This is the jewelry (I wasn't up to taking a pic of it last night). I've worn the boots several times (seen here).

Mr. Purry wanted some lovin':

Aw, what a cutie! Inigo is the best accessory of all.

Jacket (Zara, consignment), cardigan (no label, consignment), cami (Esprit, thrifted), belt (not shown, Plum), jeans (not shown, Esprit), boots (Hispanitas, consignment), necklace/earrings (Plum).

Metric, Monday and Mauve

This fall is all about concerts! I love going to gigs, but not many groups come to my city. In addition to Mr. Cohen later this month, we also went to see Metric last night. I've been a fan for several years and I think they are just starting to hit big in the US. It's always weird when a band I've known forever suddenly becomes "big" - remember when Barenaked Ladies hit big in the US? Yeah, they'd been around for a decade before that.

Anyway, if you're not familiar with Metric, they are a great dance/pop band with an awesome female lead singer. Their site is here - you can listen to some of their songs in the little TV graphic in the upper right corner (I recommend "Help I'm Alive", "Gimme Sympathy" and "Stadium Love").

A bunch of us met up beforehand for barbecue and beer - a concert is always fun with lots of friends! I kept it cool:
Casual uniform top, jeans and my new boots. Good thing I went mellow as we were about double the age of most of the attendees. Some days you just feel old...

A shot of the boots done up:

I'll wear them with a proper outfit later this week and show off the details. Ha! I'm such a tease.

Long-sleeved tee (Plum), tee (Plum), jeans (Esprit), boots (Jenny Loves Kenny), jacket (corporate swag).

And it's Monday. And I'm really tired from the concert (*yawn* past my bedtime). So I went with a pretty easy outfit:

The purple (mauve, get it? get it?) drapey cardigan is new. I can't just sit here and watch all of you rocking the drapey cardis and not want to get in on it! I'll probably belt it next time, but I didn't have a belt that went with olive, chartreuse and mauve. It was $24.99 at Winners.

I keep wearing this skirt with these shoes.

If you didn't notice, I've had a slight change of hair:

Got sick of my "dog ears" so told my hairdresser to do whatever she wanted. I'm never that attached to my hair - it's just hair, it grows back.

A close-up of all my matchy-matchiness:

Erm...I forgot to crop before I shrunk it, so you get to see how messy my closet is. The foreground is one of my shoe shelves where I perch the camera. My sweaters are rather haphazard, but at least my shirts are all hung up nicely!

The stuff:

You can see the nice texture in the cardi fabric. It was very comfortable.

A close-up of the baubles:

Mmmm...I love chartreuse and mauve together.

Cardigan (Bobeau), top (Ellen Tracey, gift from Caro), skirt (Club Monaco, consignment), shoes (Enzo Angiolini, thrifted), necklace (Oscar & Libby's), earrings (don't remember), ring (Guess).

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: Leopard and No Jeggings for This Gal

Well, it's Friday and I feel better - don't you?

I am also really happy with my outfit today:
Two new-to-me things here: the blouse and the boots. The blouse is by Planet, and was a steal at $30 on consignment. Planet's stuff sells new for over $200 (it's amazing quality), and even on sale I'd never find this lower than about $75, if it was even still available in my size.

This is the type of hallmark of quality that I look for when I shop consignment, second-hand and thrift:
The groovy little ball buttons are so awesome. That's the kind of detail I really like on my clothes.

Side note: when I was a size 16, shopping the sale racks in stores was so much easier! There is never anything good in my size (anywhere from a 4 to an 8) on the sale racks now. Grouch, grouch. Of course, I wouldn't trade my much-healthier self to go back to my self-loathing self, but I do miss those amazing finds!

I got that chill when I tried on the boots:
You know, that feeling when you see something and you're like, "Oh my god, I must have those, I hope I can afford them, I hope they fit, they are too cool, me want me want me want."

They fit (a bit big, being a size 10, but insoles and thick socks make them perfect), and they were definitely affordable at $35 (yes!). I actually had a credit at my regular store, so they were free! I had been wanting a pair of up-to-the-knee boots, but $200+ for new is just too much for me right now - this is so exciting!They are real suede and are so soft, although the right one really wants to scrunch down to my ankle more than the left one.

And since I never wear leggings, and certainly not jeggings (just a personal choice, not judging), this is how I make my jeans work with my boots:
Sexy sock-a-rama! I fold my jeans up into a cuff at my ankle, then wrap them around my leg snugly, then pull up my sock over the wrapped part and... voila!

Have a nice look at these booty-licious babies: Nom nom, I want to eat them up! I love the whip-stitched details. The heel is nice and solid and not too high (I wouldn't walk all day in them, but I could go shopping in them).

Have a great weekend, everyone! I was so inspired by Sal's post about going make-up free (she was in turn inspired, follow the link on her blog), that I'm going to bare my face this weekend and take a picture.

Blouse (Planet, consignment), cami (Esprit), jeans (Esprit), belt (Plum), boots (Le Chateau, consignment).