Whew, All Caught Up! Turquoise and Black

Hi, loyal fans, lurking readers and awesomely cool people! My computer is up and running and I have caught up on the past 2 weeks' worth of outfits. Please scroll down and enjoy. I missed you!

Today's outfit was planned around my new Oscar & Libby ring:
Whoa. Not sure why my finger is bright orange, but either there was bad light when I took this picture or I've gotta lay off the self-tanner!

I love the chunkiness of the ring, and of course, it's shiny!

So I went with more shiny:
Inigo is helping me.

Glittery mesh embroidered bubble skirt, satin blouse, a vest to tame it all down and some fun jewelry. A shot of the chestal region for Cat:

Heh, I like the bug brooch.

A better shot of the stuff:

I've pulled my quad, so I'll be in flats/kitten heels for the rest of the week. And tomorrow, it's back to the dentist. Eeee.

Anyway, I'm exhausted after all these posts! I'm so glad to be back, though.

Vest (Vero Moda), blouse (Smart Set), cami (Esprit), skirt (Kensie Girl), shoes (Wild Diva), necklace (Plum), brooch (Le Chateau), ring (Oscar & Libby's).

Tues, May 12/09 - Purple and Red Plus a Pencil Skirt

L bought me a beautiful Myka necklace and earrings for Christmas a couple of years ago (I last wore them here, for my birthday party). I've been looking at it at Oscar & Libby's ever since...I do love a full set...but although L is a very generous gift-giver, I'm more of a bargain hunter. I just couldn't justify buying it at full price: $134.95. I'm not saying it wasn't worth it, but that's just too much for me.

Anyway (you can see this coming a mile away), L bought the bracelet for me this past weekend and it was on sale! It was 70% off. You do the math.

I built this outfit to show it off:
My lovely ruffly purple sleeveless blouse, my fabulous 80s vintage wool pencil skirt, and red shoes!

The stuff:

The bracelet has purple stones and red stones, so it made a logical choice to pull those colours for the outfit. I already owned the earrings.

Every Myka piece is handmade and uses real Swarovski crystals and semi-precious stones, and is stamped:

Quality. And I like the outfit too!

Shrug (Debut), blouse (Esprit), skirt (Franco Ferre, vintage), belt (Plum), shoes (Nine West), bracelet and earrings (Myka, Oscar & Libby's).

Mon, May 11/09 - Black and Blue - and Happy Birthday, Mom!

Not really carrying on Son of Dress Week, but I stopped in at one of my favourite stores, Oscar & Libby's, over the weekend and L bought me 3 lovely pieces of jewelry (on sale, I do love a sale) so I'm featuring them all week.

I built this outfit around the brooch, which has blue stones and is set in copper (a nice change from silver & gold):Sorry for the fuzziness.

I also wanted to wear these shoes that I forgot I owned, so I messed about and came up with this:
Heh, Inigo's coming in for a rub.

The shoes are from 1999, from when Eaton's department store closed in my city. I just always liked the shape. And who'da thunk: platforms and chunky heels? Deja vu! Let's party like it's 1999!

The stuff:

All brown and blue and sparkly. I do love the glittery - I'm such a crow.

This past Monday was my Mom's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! You're the absolute best. When I grow up, I want to be just like you.

Dress (Mac & Jac), cardigan (Jacob), cami (Esprit), belt (Plum), brooch (Oscar & Libby's), shoes (Sam & Libby's - when do I get to call them vintage?).

Fri, May 8/09 - Son of Dress Week - Casual Friday - Rocker Chick Again

One of the cool things I've learned by doing this blog is that my casual style is very definitely on the edge of rocker chick chic. For my age (going on 42 for those of you keeping track of these things), I can't go all out 'cause I'd look silly, but I can still add some hardware and keep my ol' rocker soul alive in my style.

I like that.

Anyway, this is my awesome 80s BCBG Max Azria Salvation Army bargain from a few months ago. It's really not such a snooze as my closed eyes would suggest:
It's just Friday and hey, I'm not a morning person. Getting my rocker chick self on involves adding the jean jacket, boots, chain belt and funky jewelry.

Oh, and my new bag, which is decidedly NOT rocker chick, but I love it anyway.

I think I may actually be leaning my head against the wall in that picture, haha!

The stuff:

The awesome brown boots. Everyone needs a pair of these. The cool belt Mom got me in London a couple of years ago, and Mom's vintage 60s choker. I also wore my ginormous real gold hoops.

A better look at the bag:

All the trim is leather (real leather!) and it's a Laura Ashley (stamped on the leather inside). It's a sort of acid greeny-yellow and the inside is fully open (no divider). It was only $28 in a consignment shop.

Dress (BCBG Max Azria, thrifted), jean jacket (Anne Taylor Loft, NYC), boots (Roberto Vianni), belt (gift from Mom), choker (Mom's, vintage), gold hoop earrings (gift from L), bag (Laura Ashley, consignment).

Thurs, May 7/09 - Son of Dress Week - Black and White...and I Finally Get My Medal!

Last Thursday, Mom and I did our annual shopping/dinner date for her birthday. I like to buy her a new outfit or new clothes for her birthday and then we have a nice dinner. It's a good time.

With shopping in mind, I wanted to look nice, but be semi-comfortable, particularly in the footwear area:
My plain LBD that I have only worn a couple of times, my plaid houndstooth jacket, my groovy black and white "Harlow" Listen Up Fluevogs and hey, why not a flower and burgundy tights? Why not, I say!

And I got my medal from the race, finally! It is indeed a silver and it goes very nicely with my bronze from last year, so I think I'm going to have to train my butt off and go for the gold for next year!

Look, there it is!

The stuff:

Ah, John Fluevog, you make lovely shoes.

Dress (Esprit), jacket (Smart Set), shoes ("Harlow" Listen Up, Fluevog), bangle (The Cobbler), earrings (don't remember), flower (The Bay).

Wed, May 6/09 - Son of Dress Week - Art Nouveau and Love Those Boots!

I haven't worn this dress much since last fall - another dress I don't wear much in the winter. I think I may be tired of it, though. I like the pattern (it reminds me of Art Nouveau) and I like the dress, don't get me wrong. But if I find a dress I like better, I could let this go. I've been jonesing for new dresses lately. I really wanted to get at least one more wear out of these new Fluevog boots before summer hits, so I did black accessories with the dress so that they'd go.

Stuff:

Those boots are to die for. Seriously. I'd shed blood. Okay, not really, but if I fell down in them, I'd probably bleed.

Dress (Plum), cami (InWear), boots (Fluevog), necklace (Plum), earrings (The Cobbler).

Tues, May 5/09 - Son of Dress Week - Tropical Floral

I have been determined to dress like the weather is warm...even if it's not. The result is that I've been freezing in my office while the air conditioning blows coldly on me. But darn it! I want it to be warm!

Note that I am gamely going bare-legged all week:
I've forgotten who suggested a flower at the waist, but I know it wasn't an original idea. But how cute is that? I really liked this outfit and got a few compliments on it. I always feel great when I wear yellow.

The stuff:

I love those shoes. Time to break out the "tropical" jewelry - I don't know why, but hammered metal feels tropical to me - maybe I'm having an association with those metal drums?

Dress (Mac & Jac), shrug (Debut), belt (Plum), flower (Roberta's Hats), cuff (Oscar & Libby's), earrings.

Mon, May 4/09 - Son of Dress Week - Red and Polka Dots

Can it really be that I haven't done a Dress Week since January?? How do these things happen? In keeping with my B-movie theme Dress Week titles, this week was "Son of Dress Week" (following "It Came From Dress Week" in January, "Return of Dress Week" in September '08, and "Dress Week" (how creative) in May '08).

My lovely polka dot dress:
It's a very light satin fabric, so I tend not to wear it in warm weather. The shoes are new; I took a huge bag of clothes to my favourite consignment shop (shout out to Annie at Leche's!) and got $60 credit, of which I used $18 for these puppies. Never worn!

The ruby red beauties:

Aren't they sweet? I love a kitten heel Mary Jane. No stuff with the polka dot dress (it's fussy enough as it is - I think extra jewelry is just too much), just the belt it came with and the shoes and simple stud earrings.

Dress (Do & Be), shoes (Predictions, consignment).

Thurs, Apr 30/09 - A Long Cream Sweater Fenced In

This is actually the identical sweater to the black long one I found on consignment last year! It's a wool blend and I found it in a thrift store for $11.
Did the "fence" belt again, but then added my favourite brown pencil skirt (the Heather skirt), blue shirt and shoes. I have issues with this shirt since a) it requires ironing and I hate ironing and b) it shows pit stains. Sorry to be crude, but that's the reality, and man, I hate having a dark wet stain in the armpit when I'm wearing a nice shirt. And I do really like the colour.

The stuff:

These are the most comfortable shoes.

I started feeling sick on this day...so no Casual Friday for this cowgirl. I stayed home - nasty cold. Not swine flu or H1N1, fortunately.

Cardigan (Express, thrifted), blouse (Plum), skirt (Suzy Shier, gift from Heather), belt (gift from Mom), shoes (Seychelles), necklace (Plum).

Wed, Apr 29/09 - Strappy and Stripey

I'm baaaaaaack!

Okay, the first of the catch-up posts! I'm dating each of these in the title, along with their usual titles.

This is the grey wool pinstripe bubble-hemmed strapless (whew, that's a lot of adjectives) dress that I picked up for around $40 on consignment a few weeks back:
And did I mention it has pockets? What's not to love? Put it with a striped blouse, funky tights (darned spring has still not fully arrived) and a modern shoe...and I like it!

The stuff:

Grandma J's necklace - that's Anne Klein, probably from the late 70s/early 80s.

Dress (Club Monaco, consignment), blouse (Vero Moda), tights (Hue), belt (Nygaard), shoes (JLo), necklace (Grandma J, vintage).

Soon, soon, soon!

Yes! After two weeks, the computer is fully armed and operational...er, I mean, it is fixed from my meddling and my accidental virus downloading. Yes, it was all my fault. I have learned my lesson from my two-week absence: don't mess with things you know nothing about.

A deep and humble thanks to our ever-patient computer guy, Dev. You're the best, Dev! Yay!

Anyway! It's late now (just home from aikido) and tomorrow night we have company all evening, BUT on Wednesday I will be doing a massive Post-a-Thon, Post-a-Rama, Post-a-Palooza! and will be loading up all the outfits from the past two weeks.

You have been warned...load up on coffee now!

Cheers,
Sheila

Update: Computer Issues

Hi, all,

Still haven't got the computer fixed, but just wanted to thank you all for your comments and good wishes. If you have good vibes to spare, please go give Kayleigh at Fashionably Later (link on sidebar) a verbal hug - she really needs it right now!

FYI, this week is another Dress Week, so as soon as I can, I'll have that up for your viewing pleasure.

Cheers,
Sheila