Oy, What a Weekend!

I am exhausted. I need another weekend!

I got up at 6am and worked for 4 hours at the WW centre. I really wanted to wear this dress I picked up at Plum the other day:
Sorry, it's a little blurry, I am not used to being up that early! But isn't that dress killer?

But if only I could go back to bed:

I love the pockets! It was $25, too - total score. That's just a plain black blouse I'm wearing under it (last seen here).

After I worked 4 hours, I bussed home, napped for an hour, then bussed back to the centre for day 1 of the Open House (it was dead), which lasted 3 hours.

The stuff:

Low heels for being on my feet the whole day. I wore the zipper rose near one of the big black buttons.

Dress (Plum), belt (Plum), zipper rose (Victoria & Albert Museum, London), shoes (Reaction Kenneth Cole, gift from Cat).

L picked me up from work and we hurriedly dressed in our finery and walked (in the rain) to the Thai restaurant for dinner. I spotted this dress hiding in my closet and wanted to wear it:

I've only worn it once before (here), and tried it with the red underslip (picture of it here) as that seemed appropriate for a Valentine's "Cheesecake Burlesque."

I think it's time to put the dress up for grabs - although I like it, I have other dresses I like more and wear more.

Thank you to my ex-sister-in-law for the tickets! Awesome Christmas gift! I love seeing women of all shapes and sizes loving their bodies and putting on a good show. I was briefly tempted by the sequined pasties, but...no.

I wore this little velvet jacket over it for a bit of extra texture and warmth:

Another sample from Plum, and a bargain at $12. And yes, those are my fabulous Fluevogs (last seen here, with details here). Threw on my pearl studs and wrapped a string of pearls around my wrist.

Dress (Raindrops), slip (Suzette, consignment), jacket (Plum), shoes ("Sencha Teapot" Fluevog), pearl necklace (The Bay, 80s), earrings (Aldo Accessories).

Today, I was back at the centre for day 2 of the Open House (also dead):

I went with a V-Day theme, all girly. Only my second wearing of this pretty skirt (last seen here), but I know it'll get more wear in cooler weather.

This cardi is also going into the give-away pile, as it's got angora in it, and that stuff practically manufactures fuzz-worms in my armpits and along my boobs. I hate that! I spent the day picking them off me. Besides, it's been over a year since I wore it.

I picked up this awesome short brown trench at Plum:

Not a great picture of it, but I could only get one shot before I had to run for the bus! It was $45.

Trench (Plum), cardigan (The Limited, thrifted), top (Planet), skirt (Kenzie, consignment), shoes (Predictions, consignment), necklace (consignment), earrings (Aldo Accessories).

Tomorrow is the start of the Fourth Annual Wardrobe Challenge! I am so excited, as I have another busy week ahead - this is going to be fun!

Schlumpy Monday - Hated It

Gah. I bought this dress on Friday night - I love the brand (Noa Noa), and I love the fabric and I love the cut of it (it's very 50s housewife). However, what I do not love:
This dress on me. Wow, what a bad purchase! And there I am, trying to pose it into looking better. Yeah, NO.

I thought, "I can layer this! Put different coloured slips under it! Wear a really cool belt with it!" Believe me, I tried. I tried the red slip, the navy slip, the cream slip - none of them looked right. I ended up going with a cream half-slip and a pink cami. And a black bra. Whatever possessed me to wear a BLACK bra under a see-through brown lace dress is beyond me.

And the hem! It does a weird bubble thing! At an unflattering length too, I might add. And the dress is too wide in the shoulders, and the waist is all wrong, and I look like I've gained about 30 pounds.

This dress is going straight into the consignment bag. Hopefully, I'll get a good return on the $45 I spent. Bah! Bad dress, bad, bad dress!

The stuff:

Not even normally good stuff worked. The rose was the wrong colour and looked asstastic. The shoes were wrong. The scarf-as-belt: *buzzer noise*.

Okay, it's going to take a serious effort to wash the taste of this out of my mouth tomorrow. What will it be...? What would YOU wear?

Dress (Noa Noa), cami (Jackpot), scarf (thrifted), rose (Roberta's Hats), shoes (Circa Joan & David, thrifted), half-slip (thrifted), necklace (Plum), pearls (Eaton's, 80s), ring (Guess).

Purple Power!

Okay, so I've been indulging in a little bit of retail therapy to salve my recent woes (job, dead Grandma).

I've tried to be good and only buy thrift or consignment, but I did go into one of my favourite stores (Jacob) that was having an extra 30% off last sale prices - and this purple skirt called to me!
As you can see, I've got the Power of the Wonder Woman bracelet going on.

Anyway, the skirt (which is a nice royal purple, not as blue as it looks here) was $39.99, so that would be $30 on sale. But it's made in Canada (not China) and it's machine washable (no lining), so I'm willing to pay a little more for those kinds of benefits.

The top is also new - it was a whopping $8 in a thrift store yesterday. It's Talbots, so the quality of the fabric is awesome. It's a thick, heavy double-knit that drapes really nicely.

But let's not kid ourselves. It's all about the shoes. Check out those babies! That's 5 inches of heel (less about an inch platform in the front of the shoe).

I really liked my accessories today, so here's a shot of my mug:

I especially like my wee ear cuff (you can see it just above the bigass pearl stud). This also shows the pattern of the top better.

The stuff:

I like that the shoes have the taupe colour, black suede AND black patent on them (the shoes aren't leather, however). I do like a mix of textures. I got them last year and have worn them a few times to work. They are tough on my feet though (I took them off when I was at my desk and even gave myself a foot massage!).

A close-up of the jewelry:

My leafy bracelet, the pendant Mom got me in Australia (real pearls and white gold), and my cheapy pearl earrings.

Top (Talbot's, thrifted), skirt (Jacob), shoes (Qupid, consignment), necklace (gift from Mom), bracelet (thrifted), earrings (Aldo Accessories).

All Neutrals Wednesday

Some days I just don't feel like wearing colours (not very many days, mind you, but it does happen). I planned the rest of my outfits for the week last night, and I thought this one just seemed "Wednesday":
I've only worn this dress once (here) since I got it. I knew it would be a great summer dress (even though it's wool) because it's so nice and loose.

I was actually going to wear my other snakeskin print shoes but they were more of a brown base and these ones are more of a grey base and looked better.

I read on You Look Fab that pearls will be big for fall - well, I've been doing pearls for decades!

The stuff:

I was shocked when I did a search and saw that I hadn't worn this necklace since April 2009!

A close-up:

The bracelet is links of oak leaves - it was $12 in a thrift store about a year ago.

Dress (Gap, consignment), necklace (Aldo Accessories), bracelet (thrifted), shoes (Aerosoles).

London - The British Museum, Trafalgar Square and a Bit of Canada!

Oh, yes, there is yet more travelogue to come...I was gone for two weeks and took over 600 pictures!

May 11th was Mom's birthday - Happy Birthday, Mom! We went to the British Museum:
I love that museums in London are free (special exhibits like the Grace Kelly one at the V&A cost extra) - I wish they were freee here. I miss going to our local museum more often.

I won't bore you with all the amazing things in the British Museum - but if you haven't been, you should go! The marbles from the Parthenon were amazing, including this incredible temple:
It's called the "Nereid Monument" and it was just amazing.

I also saw the Rosetta Stone. Yes, the REAL Rosetta Stone:
That took my breath away. Imagine, finally being able to translate heiroglyphics due to this hunk of stone!

I also loved this cat statue (of course):

It's called the "Gayer-Anderson Cat", it's Egyptian and is from c. 600 BC.

After major art overload at the British Museum, we wandered around in an "art daze". We found Trafalgar Square!

I climbed up on the lion for a picture:

"No, L, I am not climbing up any further! Take the danged picture!"

As we were looking for Charing Cross Road, we saw - *gasp* - a Canadian flag! What's this!?

It's the Canadian High Commission! It's Canada House! It's the Canadian embassy! We were so excited.

This sign, however, really reminded me of home:

Hee! Canadians are known for being polite and lining up. Please get in queue - no budging in line!

We specifically wanted to go to a pub on Charing Cross Road because of this awesome song (YouTube link) from Canadian band Spirit of the West, from 1990. Please click and enjoy! It's a rollicking good time!

Here's L keeping "the shine on the bar with the sleeve of his coat":

Yay for beer!

And now on to fashion:

I went pretty classic and conservative (for me). I got this pretty blouse for $10.50 at a thrift shop on the weekend.

I also just got my hair cut tonight after work - gotta go dye it, my grey is showing!

I really liked the pattern on the blouse and the odd mix of pinks, orange, green and purple. One of the flowers on the shoulder is outlined in red sequins. I also really like the ruffle at the neck. I have a hard time with ruffles as they tend to emphasize my already rather emphatic boobular region.

The stuff:

I thought these shoes went well.

Blouse (Nolita, thrifted), skirt (Kensie), shoes (Hilary Radley, consignment), pearl necklace & earrings (Aldo Accessories).

Neutral-O-Rama

I haven't really worn this skirt very much since I got it. I always feel like I should give an item at least 3 outfits in my wardrobe, to know that it really belongs there. I don't love this skirt, but I like it. I love it less now that the hem came undone today. Grrr!
I wore it before here, and here. I thought the grey top went well, and I love the big belt.

The stuff:

My favourite brown boots (which are starting to get worn out, after nearly 3 years), and the pearl necklace, which is new to me (another item from the $10 grab bag from a couple of weekends ago).

Bonus:

Inigo is mid-meow.

Sweater (Press), skirt (Mexx, consignment), belt (Le Chateau), boots (Roberto Vianni), earrings (Aldo Accessories), necklace (consignment).

Floral Legs

More of my weekend shopping loot! Today, it's this new ultra-thin silk and cashmere sweater ($18), a necklace and ring from the $10 grab bag, and these crazy-ass tights:
Can you believe people actually thought that a) those were tattoos and b) I had painted the roses on my legs? Uh, yeah.

I really like the sleeves on the top - this is the pink top I've been looking for for ages!

The ring is a nice simple hunk of shiny, and the necklace will be good layered with some pearls or something.

The stuff:

Those ar the tights at the bottom so you can see that they have a bit of purple in them. Of course, I had to do purple shoes!

Sweater (Esprit, consignment), skirt (Kensie), tights (Hue), shoes (Friis and Co., gift from L), necklace/ring (consignment), earrings (Aldo Accessories).

A Spring in my Stair

I felt very spring-y in this. The plum and cherry blossoms are out, the daffodils are starting to bloom, and it's warm (and sometimes rainy). Ah...I love this time of year!
I've done the top half of this outfit before here, and I've worn this skirt a kazillion times.

It's getting a little big on me in the hips, however, as I've been working out hard lately, and really trying to focus on eating healthy and not mindlessly putting food in my mouth to deal with stress. I missed my Weight Watchers meeting last week (um, I may have been hungover from Ronnie's birthday party), so I'm hoping to see a good result this week. I've been really struggling the last year to maintain my weight at 50-55 pounds down from my start weight 3.5 years ago...10 pounds crept back on and I actually briefly popped above my goal weight about a month ago. Bad stuff.

But I've recently added stairs to my "lazy girl" workouts (in addition to my "pee push-ups" and my walking as transportation 4 days a week to and from work), and I've really felt results. I will have thighs of iron! Butt of steel! Hamstrings of...um...I don't know! But I did 7 sets of stairs (63 up and down = 1 set) today, and my legs are tired.

Anyway, get it? A "spring" in my "stair"? Ha!

The stuff:

My lovely flowery blouse, plaid vest and pearls. The shoes are fab and I always feel very powerful when I wear them, not sure why.

A close-up of the jewelry:

My little vintage mink brooch, cheapo earrings, and the pendant, which is REAL pearl. Mom brought me that back from Australia - that's what happens when pearls grow into the side of the oyster instead of forming round globules. It's set in 18K white gold. So pretty.

Vest (Vero Moda), blouse (Kaliko, consignment), skirt (Talbot's, consignment), shoes (Seychelles, consignment), brooch (50s? vintage, thrifted), earrings (Aldo Accessories), pendant (gift from Mom).

Green, Tweed and Librarian Shoes

Today's outfit is a bunch of my...what do they call it...ah, "remixed" items, aside from the green camisole, which is new.
I love, love this skirt and cardigan. They are probably two of my favourite items in my closet. The cardigan continues the theme from yesterday, of clothes where the design continues around the back:

More storks and trees! I also love that both cuffs on the cardi have little tree branches. You can see the embroidery better in the close-up below.

Hee, my butt looks good there.

I spent the day admiring my shoes. Seriously, these are awesome shoes:

$22.50 US in a thrift store in Seattle, and they were brand new.

I read that gallons of pearls is "in" right now, so I wore one of my necklaces. Of course, I've done scads of pearls before! (Hmm...I should wear that dress again)

Cardigan (Lucky Brand, consignment), camisole (Smart Set), skirt (Talbot's, consignment), shoes (Steve Madden, thrifted), necklace (Aldo Accessories).

Emulating Julia

I always check out the blogs of people who comment - and such lovely people you are, don't think I haven't noticed - and I "found" Julia at Song of the Exile . Wow, such a lovely woman and such amazing and daring and creative style - and the photography rules. Check her out.

Anyway, I was out shopping on Sunday and I saw this skirt:
L hated the top half of this outfit; said I looked too grannyish. This cardigan, while a useful colour and majorly soft, may have to be replaced with one that fits better and doesn't shed whenever I look at it. Seriously, I had fluffs of pink fuzz floating in front of my computer screen all day.

Where was I? Oh, the skirt. Check out the back/side:

I love when a pattern goes all the way around!

But what does this have to do with Julia, you may ask. Well. She has this same skirt. I know, hers is styled way better, and it was 1/10th the price of mine.

But I'm in another country, on the opposite coast of the continent...and there was the skirt. In my size! The world is not so big, after all.

The stuff:

I picked out the colours in the skirt for accessories, including the skinny turquoise belt, my Audrey Scrabble tile necklace, and one my Shi Studio pendants. And of course pearls. Gotta have pearls!

Cardigan (Esprit, consignment), blouse (Espress, consignment), skirt (French Connection, consignment), shoes (Le Chateau), pearls (Eaton's, 1980s), earrings (Aldo Accessories), tile pendant (handmade, vacation), black/grey pendant (Shi Studios), belt (Bianca Nygard).

A Whole Lotta Bigass

The first thing my boss said to me today was, "Wow, that's a bigass flower!" Then I realized that I'd worn three bigass things today. Good thing I wore a suit to keep it all under control:
I think the conservative cut of the suit anchors all the funky stuff and keeps it office-appropriate. If I'd had a big meeting or something, I could easily have stripped off some of the bigass items and looked very buttoned-down.

This is more how I felt today:

Dude...let's not get all stressed.

I had enough layers on to choke a horse (if a horse would choke on layers...yeah):

Peach cami (I tell ya, that 80s peach is going to come back!), brown shirt, plaid vest and the jacket (and the jacket and vest are both lined).

There's the bigass bracelet, which is actually a necklace that I wrapped around my wrist a bunch of times. The bigass flower, of course (inspired by Kari's purchase while in my city!).

The stuff: And the last bigass item is...the shoes! Woot, I love these babies!

Isn't this a gorgeous flower?

So pretty - the colour is not quite as peachy as it looks. It has a lot of pink and rose in the centre.

Suit (Jacob, consignment), vest (Vero Moda), blouse (Esprit), cami (Esprit), shoes (Qupid), necklace worn as bracelet and earrings (Aldo Accessories), flower (Roberta's Hats).