Quiet Weekend Wrap-Up - Minorly Social

All is quiet in the blogosphere - and that's as it should be! Spend time with real people, do real things and relax. I have been doing quite a bit of relaxing myself this past weekend - it's been a less hectic holiday season for L and I than in previous years, giving us a chance to wind down.

On Saturday, we met up with a bunch of friends for our weekly visit to our favourite diner. I always dress up for brunch, although in a more casual way than I do for work.

This is my most wonderful lilac leather skirt, first seen here earlier this month with a riot of 80s colours.

My indigo chunk sweater went beautifully with the purple of the skirt, toning nicely without being as harsh as black. I last wore it here in November with another thrifted skirt. I'm wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt under it for extra warmth.

Aren't the tights cool? I love a crazy whack of pattern. The boots were last worn with my bigass teal dress here a couple of weeks ago.

I had fun with my outerwear:

Orange angora gumdrop hat and oh, don't my purple leather gloves match perfectly?

I last wore the magnificent coat here (mid-way down) in November on the day of the Unlimited Woman awards. It's a little too chilly to wear it in winter, but the extra sweater/tee layers helped. Plus, I only walked a couple of blocks total, so it was mostly for show.

I am all about the show. Peace out, yo!

Coat (Desigual), sweater (Dex, thrifted), skirt (vintage 80s, Chia, thrifted), tights (Look of London), boots (Aerosoles, thrifted), gloves/hat (Danier Leather), earrings (Le Chateau).

When we got home, I banished L to the den while I wrapped his presents. We just do stockings for each other, but since it's kind of weird not to have any presents from each other when you're at someone else's home, we are each saving out two from the stockings to go under the tree this year.

"Nom, nice decorations on this stocking for me to eat!"

Vizzini helped, of course. He batted at the tape and took off with L's stocking. We also play-fight with the cardboard tube.

On Saturday night, our friends Nick and Karen invited us over for an impromptu gathering. Not dressy, but not ultra-casual either. What to wear? What to wear?

Jammy dress! This is a vintage Ports International item, which I thrifted back in October 2011 for $10.50, here, for my birthday party. That's the one and only time I've worn this dress - it's a tricky one, being fairly dressy (and long) but being a casual material (polyester).

It's gorgeous to wear.

It matches my hair perfectly.

Amazing draping and weight. And my cost-per-wear is at $5.25.

I accessorized it with all copper, including rust-coloured tights.

And my floral Docs! Since I knew we'd be taking our shoes off, I didn't bother with a fancy shoe. We walked there and back, so I went for fun and comfort. I last wore my Docs here twice last weekend.

The Unsafe Polar Bear coat came out for the walk, as did a new-to-me hat that Elaine gifted to me a few weeks ago. I missed taking pictures of my little Christmas tree pins - I have one on the coat and one on the hat - and will take some pictures of the fabulous chapeau and its label next time I wear it (it won't be long, promise!).

My faux fur scarf and trimmed gloves - I am ready for you, Winter!

The stuff:

Copper is my favourite metal.

Dress (Ports International, vintage 70s, thrifted), leather belt (thrifted), boots (Doc Martens, consignment), earrings and necklace (Renoir, vintage 60s), cuff (vintage 70s).

We took a route that had a fabulously-lit tree that L wanted to show me.

Dark and gloomy, punctuated by yellow street lights and splashes of Christmas lights.

The tree itself is very gnarly, and the owners have put in spotlights pointed up at it to highlight all the twisted branches.

So cool!

This was so amazing.

It filled me with wonder.

Last post for a while...we'll chat again later this week. I have a gnome in my future...

A Very Merry Christmas, Festive Festivus, 

and/or Holiday Season!  

Ugly Christmas Sweater Day!

Woo hoo! It's Friday, and I am now officially on holiday! Today was Ugly Sweater Day at work (my idea), so of course I had to go all out.

You didn't actually think I would wear a manufactured Christmas sweater, did you? I made my own!

As I mentioned when I thrifted this $16.95 sweater when I bought it last Friday (here), once I found out how much my sweater retails for ($199-318), I couldn't bear to glue-gun decorations to it. It's brand-new 100% Merino wool! Made in Norway!

It was perfect for today, which ended up being a crazy, snowy, sleety and cold kind of day.

"Are you going to wear that in public?"

 I actually had to carry this in to work this morning, and then put it on, as it wouldn't fit under my coat with those massive pink glitter bows on the shoulders.

"Bored. What can I eat?"

Showing off my star fringe! This had a lot of movement with the bead icicles and the fringe. The snowflakes on the front moved as well. I also rattled (fringe again) and the silver poinsettias have bells in the centre which also made noise. You could hear me coming!

This bright pink is a limiting colour for mixing with other colours, so I decided to go BAM with this cerulean blue vintage skirt, last seen here with white leopard earlier this month.

I'm down to $3.25 per wear on the skirt in just two outfits!

My hot pink tights were the perfect match to take this skirt into Crazytown (population: me).

I de-blinged and de-uglified my sweater at the end of the day at work, as I wrapped up my desk for a week off. It's still a nice sweater, but a little casual for work. I'll probably wear it more on the weekends or around the house.

The stuff:

I love these neutral bow-tied beauties. I last wore them here (2nd outfit) in November the day of the Unlimited Woman Awards.

Big icy-blue bling:

I liked how the rings looked with the bright pink.

Sweater (Dale of Norway, thrifted), skirt (no label, vintage, thrifted), shoes (Jeffrey Campbell), earrings (Oscar & Libby's), Spaghetti Monster ring (vintage), silver ring (Stone Rose), Fulvia Ring (Wendy Brandes).

Here's how I made my Ugly Sweater:

Sweater, meet ugly crap from a couple of different dollar stores and the drugstore. I spent about $7.00 on any sparkly things I could find. There wasn't much available, so I had to try to think about what I could do on a sweater with each item as I found it.

Add: a couple of glasses of wine to get the creative juices flowing! I already knew I wanted to make star fringe from the garland, and put the pink bows on the shoulders, so it was just a matter of playing around with the other pieces to see how they would work the best.

I sewed all the pieces on quite loosely. I was in Brownies - I can sew with a needle and thread! For the fringe, I just cut up the garland into even pieces (cut in half first to be sure of even amounts for each arm), and laid them out to see how it looked before sewing them on.

Cat attack!

I had a little help from Vizzini.

And the finished product! I was covered in glitter by the end of the day.

It's quite spectacular, isn't it? It prompted giggles, guffaws and squeals of delight from my coworkers. How will I cap this next year?

The arm fringe was particularly popular.

I had to keep reattaching the stars as they kept falling off during the day.

A picture of me and some of my coworkers in front of our tree next to my desk at work.

What a fun day!

Granny Chic Christmas and a Funny Kitty

And the countdown is on! One more sleep till vacation! 

As you may or may not know (a speech I did, Stuff About Me), I used to work in a year-round Christmas store. For 11 years I wore the most garish colours to work every day: a red polo shirt and a green vest that said "Number One Elf" on the back. I may also have worn pleated khakis, but it was the 90s!

So here's my ode to my old work clothes! I've always liked classic shapes with a good splash of bling - it reminds me of how my grandmothers dressed when I was a kid.

This jacket is part of my $18.00 thrifted vintage suit, last seen here a couple of weeks ago the day the power went out. Once again, I loved wearing it, this time belted with the sleeves rolled.

The floral blouse under it was last worn on my birthday week in October (here). I liked the ruffled effect at the neckline - I have a teal cami on under it. It's a great blouse for pulling interesting colours together because it has about 8 colours in it, but it's predominantly neutral.

My dark teal skirt, last seen here (3rd outfit, one of my favourites) in October, was such a pleasure to wear today while running about. No wrinkles, and it is just the right length.

I was a little worried about how well the jacket would belt because it's a boxier cut from the early 60s, but the skinny belt worked just right.

The stuff:

I usually pack these shoes away with my spring/summer stuff, but this year I decided to keep them out for dressier outfits. They're such a pretty colour of grey-ish green, and I love the little blingy buckle with the green snake trim. I last wore them here last March (I have blonde hair!).

Mismatched bling:

Vintage necklace and brooch; new rings and earrings.

Jacket (Hettermans, vintage early 60s, W&J Wilson, thrifted), blouse (Nygard, consignment), skirt (Selma K, thrifted), shoes (Hilary Radley, consignment), belt (Club Monaco), necklace/brooch (thrifted), earrings (Jacob), silver ring (Stone Roses), Fulvia Ring (Wendy Brandes).

Someone is going to like having us home for over a week:

"Stay home and play with me!"

He rolls around like this nearly every morning, and follows us around as we get ready. He and I always have a play before I leave.

"I'm going to run down the hallway any second!"

He's quite a character.

"But first, I'm going to lick my butt."

I just laugh when I look at that.

Hope your week is going well! Be merry!

Red Dress Pirate and Ticked Kitty

Such a long day...but it will be worth it to have time off! I'll be taking a bit of a break next week, but rest assured, I will be back before next weekend. 

Of course, I have to wear my beautiful red dress (yes, that's a dress under there) for the Christmas season.

I last wore this dress here in August - you can see it all on its own there.

Yar, that be a pirate shirt, matey! Well, at least a 90s goth shirt...made of suede! I first wore the shirt/jacket/top here in November with a plethora of purples.

Bronze tights (very old and starting to get little holes and snags, sigh), and for once, practical heels.

The stuff:

Lovely comfy kitten heels, first seen here earlier this month with cerulean and leopard.

Top (Danier Leather, thrifted), dress (Calvin Klein), shoes (Town Shoes, thrifted), belt (gift from Mom), earrings (Plum).

Vizzini was scoping out the neighbours again this morning:

Or maybe he just likes the warm air that comes up from the heaters under the window?

Sorry, buddy, gotta go to work.

"I don't want you to go"

He was either really sad or quite ticked that I was leaving.

Space Flowers

It's getting so close! Three more days and I am on vacation!

More shine today! Note the bizarre pink light in my outdoor stair shot. These are my new grey floral tights - the pattern is not printed on them, but actually woven into them.

This super-shiny jacket always elicits comments. I may have made the "live long and prosper" Spock sign at a few people. I last wore it in August here - I think I will have to call it my "beam me up" jacket.

I like to contrast the space-age-y-ness of the jacket - today's outfit features ruffles and flowers to counteract the shine and angular cut of the jacket. I'm wearing a fuscia pink satin blouse (last seen here in July with my ginormous plaid skirt) under it that has ruffles down the front.

My skirt is like, totally tubular (only people who remember "Valley Girl" will get that). I haven't worn it since I got my last tattoo back here in November. It's very comfy.

By the way, this is the reason for the pink light on me on the stairs this morning.

 So completely gorgeous - but "red at morning, sailors' warning"! It is indeed now raining. Blergh.

The stuff:

My shoes aren't really the right pinky-red for the rest of the pinky tones in my outfit, but I don't care. I love them and hug them and call them George, anyway. I bought them on the weekend, here. They were lovely and comfortable (a small bit of a rub above my ankle that will loosen up as the leather softens). And I'm off to wear them to my WW meeting - last one of the year!

Futuristic floral bling.

Zipper rose!

Jacket (Smoking Lily), blouse (Esprit, consignment), skirt (Isda), tights (Hue), shoes (Neosens), obi (Smoking Lily, consignment), rose (Victoria and Albert Museum Gift Shop), earrings (gift from Lise).

Shiny Paisley and Brown Tweed

Ooh, the holidays are getting closer! This is my last Monday before a week off!

I can't resist wearing a new item right away - I never understood people who buy things and then don't use them right away. In this case, both the belt and the skirt are new-to-me, purchased on the weekend here.

I loved wearing this today - the skirt didn't wrinkle from sitting (I was afraid it would), nor did it snag on anything.

The jacket is a lovely dark green and brown silk and wool tweed that I've had for about a couple of years - it's hard to see but it actually has a sparkly copper thread running through it. I haven't worn it since February, here, and if you scroll down there's a picture of the stuff against the background of the jacket where you can see the shiny thread.

I bought it for on half-price at a thrift store for $2.50. Pretty sure that's the least I've ever paid for a blazer!

The stuff:

I went with these nice caramel leather Ralph Lauren pumps to go with the coppers and the orangey/brown shade of the skirt. I last wore them here in November, again with copper.

Big copper bling:

All my bling is big...

Blazer (David Findlay, thrifted), skirt (Club Monaco, consignment), shoes (Ralph Lauren), obi (thrifted), brooch (vintage, thrifted), earrings (Renoir, vintage 60s, Grandma J's).