Keeping Busy - and Some Goodbye Pictures

Hey! Emotionally, I'm all over the map this week (and I'm sure next week - my last week at work - will be the same. Mental note: waterproof mascara), so I'm trying to stay busy, make plans with friends and not wallow and/or dwell too much on my impending unemployment. Amazing how much our work ties into our feelings of confidence and self-worth.

Anyway, Fake It Till You Feel It, right? Wear yellow!
And a bright pattern! I treated myself to a little shop at Dots (a local chain that sells off samples from manufacturers - it's where I get my awesome Noa Noa items) and got this groovy top. I love the neckline (hard to see, but it has a flat wide collar) and the swirly pattern. It was $29.99 (note: shopping thrift so much makes new things seem so expensive!).

I'm enjoying breaking out my boots for the season too. I got these ones last year (last seen in the 2010 winter wardrobe challenge here):

They're cheap, but I love the styling: the wedge, the little bow on the back.

A close-up of the new jewelry I got:

This was my treat "from the company" - I spent my $35 Visa gift card from winning the Hallowe'en costume contest on these (and a necklace). They're by Lavishy (the Lava collection). Made in Canada - yay!

Top (Liz & Co.), skirt (Club Monaco, thrifted), belt (Aldo Accessories), boots (Outline), ring/earrings (Lavishy).

Last night I rushed home and changed to go to my friend Carollyne's art show opening. I promised her I would weaar something arty:

My favourite arty dress - doing my 60s mod pose. Worn this a few times (a selection here).

I walked down, so I wore my comfy boots, my leather coat (ironically, it's work swag), scarf and gloves.

I felt so colourful! I really wanted to buy a painting, but art purchases are just not in my budget right now - although I do feel strongly that when you can, you should buy art! Support artists!

Dress (Desigual), boots (Aldo, consignment), jacket (work online auction), scarf (St. Michael's, thrifted), bracelet (Fossil, gift from L), earrings/ring (Lavishy).

Inigo watched me pose from his view in the box:

This week's been all about wrapping things up and saying goodbye. I am going to miss my lunchtime walks, and doing my stairs, so I took some pictures of my walk to and from work, and of the views around my work location. I did something similar here in June 2010.

November here is lovely - sometimes it's rainy, sometimes it's foggy, sometimes it's lovely and sunny and crisp. Yesterday was a crisp autumn morning. I love all the colours in the trees. This red Japanese maple is one of my favourites:

It's just changing from dark to light when I leave the house in the morning. Check out the sky as the rising sun tinges the clouds pink:

Walking along with my mp3 player on, sipping my tea...this beauty greets me and reminds me how good it is to be alive.

Lovely yellows and oranges in the leaves overhead:

Puffy little cumulous clouds and streaky high stratus clouds:

The orangey-pink of the light hitting this steeple just blew me away:

My parents got married in that church.

A row of yellow-leaved beeches:

This mural's just recently been repainted to a circus theme:

Those roly-poly clowns creep me out. I do love when building owners let artists paint the sides of buildings rather than let them get covered in grafitti.

I had a very long shadow!

I look like I belong in a circus myself!

The view from my desk:

That's a scrap metal yard on the left, and a little bit of the ocean peeking through.

All the trees changing colour on the other side of the trestle:

Do you see what's on the dock?

A seagull having a sit in the sun!

Look at that glorious blue sky!

I had the sun on my face, the clean fall air...my stairs:

I have to find another set of stairs close to home that I can work out on - I'm going to miss these!

Looking down:

I always have visions of going ass over teakettle down these.

Coming back with the sun streaming through the bushes:

Back to the water:

See the mountains in the far background? Those are in Washington State.

For some reason, at this time of year, there are a lot of starfish close to shore. This one is not really deformed - the wind was coming up and the ripples of the water distorted him:

Hee!

There are two starfish in this picture;

The water is pretty clear - these are only about 2-3 feet below the surface (you can see some leaves floating on top).

This starfish is a lovely orange. There are dark purple ones too, but they're hard to see.

And I was so excited! Look what else I spotted:

It's a jellyfish! It's about the size of a fist, and he was gently bobbing along, not 10 feet away from me.

Edit: for other wildlife lovers - I also see otters swimming near here, and today there were 3 fat harbour seals swirling through schools of little fish.

This is my desk from the outside of the building:

I can just see my green file folders and my overhead bin.

Hope you enjoyed my autumn tour!

Grey Monday (and a Bit of Leftover Weekend)

Hey, all, I didn't get the job. Not even after 5 interviews. Back to the drawing board. Now, I'm not fishing for sympathy, but I'm really bummed. So if I seem a little down...it's 'cause I am. Thanks for understanding.

When I didn't hear last week, I thought that wasn't a good sign, but I decided to really "fake it till you feel it" this week. My current work is pretty sucky (I have a week left before I'm officially out of work), so I need to cheer myself up from the outside in.

Today, pink and flowers (not grey - that's my mood):
Very girly. Do I look cheery? Not really - I got soaked on the way to work today (it's rainy season on the West coast).

My thrifted dress I wore here before, my workhorse brown boots. Pretty simple.

The stuff:
I love those boots.

A close-up:

Pretties.

Dress (BCBG Max Azria, thrifted), cami (Jackpot), necklace (consignment), earrings (don't remember), boots (Roberto Vianni).

Forgot about this outfit from the weekend:

Comfy and nice for lunch (and weighing in - the skirt is feather light).

Top (Oxmo), cami (Esprit), skirt (Marc D'Alcy), boots (Le Chateau, thrifted), belt (Anne Klein pour Caleche, consignment), necklace (Foxy).

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).

Late Weekend Edition and a Book Blurb

I had a really busy weekend, following an exhausting week. I need another weekend!

Getting some catching up going on here, this is what I wore to Weight Watchers, brunch out, and to Winesday with my wonderful gals:
It was still a little chilly on the legs but not too bad. That's my corduroy skirt that I last wore here.

Long-sleeved top (Mexx), t-shirt (BCBG Max Azria, consignment), skirt (Jacob Connexion, consignment), socks (Hue), books (Aldo, consignment).

Yesterday I had "Day with Auntie Sheila" - I do this for my nieces (the two eldest ones) every year on their birthdays. I had my day with Hannah (8 years old) a couple of weeks ago, and yesterday was Zoe's turn (11 years old).

We did High Tea at a local swanky old hotel, so of course, Crazy Auntie had to get her funk on:
My fab Betsey Johnson dress getting a daytime workout (previously seen here, here and here).

I had fun adding the double-layered tights with it:

They were a little on the warm side later in the day, though.

Dress (Betsey Johnson), t-shirt (SportMart), belt (gift from Ruth), boots (Aldo, consignment), necklace (The Bay).

I finished another graphic novel a few weeks ago and forgot to write about it (I've been "off" reading the last little while and have been doing crossword puzzles to make myself dozy before bed. I go in cycles this way).

Kelly lent me this one (he's been reading my Sandmans) after he read my Jeff Loeb Batman titles. It's "Arkham Asylum: Living Hell" by Dan Slott and Ryan Sook:

I enjoy the newer Batman series (much like the new series of "Batman" movies, they are darker and not as campy as the originals). This one actually barely features the Caped Crusader.

Stats: Uh, it's a graphic novel, so about 4 comic books' worth of pages. Started around October 1st and finished a couple nights later.

Blurb: As I mentioned, this novel really doesn't feature Batman (he makes a token appearance near the end). It takes place almost entirely within the walls of the infamous Arkham Asylum, which is where all the psychotic bad guys in the Batman universe end up if they have good lawyers (if you saw "Batman Begins", the Scarecrow ends up in Arkham). The plot of this story revolves around a rich tycoon who decides that pretending to be insane is going to be easier on him than going to jail, after he's caught as a criminal. Bad idea. Very bad idea.

I found the story interesting and full of little twists and turns - but be warned, it's violent. The illustrations are very well done and evoke the minds of the madmen; slightly warped and askew versions of reality. If you enjoy the re-booted Batman, this is a fun side-story.

Interviews Done - and Found Pictures

The interviews are over - and holy moly, those were arduous! I had two interviews with two people in them each (this was what I wore to their Job Fair last month), then a writing test, a search online and get info test AND a typing test (60 wpm - woo! I still got it!).

And I know you've been dying to know what I wore:
It's pretty conservative for me - but since the job is at a casual-dress environment, I thought I'd punch up the standard suit (which would be inappropriately overdressed) with some colour and by doing a funky little jacket instead of black.

I ended up wearing the jacket open all day. Of course, this morning I didn't think to take a picture of that, but here's the look without the jacket:

I have very leaky 'pits so I didn't want to take the jacket off!

Anyway, I think the interview went well. I am doing it all by the book and have handwritten two little thank you cards (a yellow zebra pattern card and a blue celtic knot pattern card) to send to each of the interview pairs, thanking them for their time. I know they're interviewing a lot of people, so I want to make a positive impression.

The stuff:

I thought blue suede shoes would stand out and be memorable, without being too scary, like these or these! I'll save those for when/if I get hired!

I kept the jewelry to a bare minimum, just wearing my good luck rings:

The silver one is one I bought in Scotland before L and I got married, and the gold one is my dad's. I always wear it when I feel like I need him looking out for me.

Thank you everyone for all your good vibes, wishes of luck and your general support. Fashion Blog Nation is truly full of wonderful, generous people. I'll keep you posted if I hear back.

Jacket (Smart Set), blouse (Esprit, consignment), skirt (Kensie), shoes (Feet First), silver ring (handmade in Scotland, 90s), gold ring (Frances Jewellers, vintage 60s, Dad's).

Change of track...

L often needs to use our camera to take work pictures - he usually takes it to work and downloads the pics there. Last night I asked him to just take the memory card out so that I could use the camera to do my pics before work this morning...and we found some pictures on the camera's built-in memory. These were taken just before I started blogging in the spring of 2008.

Aw...our kitty, Othello. He's sitting on the back of the chair (L is playing X-Box, cropped out). He always liked to just hang out near us.

We called this "sneetching" - a kitty position that reminded us of Dr. Seuss' sneetches.

I got a little tear seeing those. I miss my cranky ol' kitty.