Boots Vs. Dress Week - Blue Mood or Blood Red?

Onto our next match-up! Today's outfit features my other sweater dress, and my blood red patent boots, which are recently resurrected from the "I don't know if these are appropriate for work" pile and are now part of the "Of course I can wear these to work" collection.

I layered my grey striped shirt underneath this dress (strangely, I have never done this before! Oh, the doors blogging opens!), added a pair of L's cufflinks.

I had colour issues with my camera, so have played with the colour balance until the blue and red came out right. I'm not really that pink in the face, though.

These are my new tights that I got last week:

They are by Emilio Cavallini - wow, they have some cool tights.

The stuff:

My boots now need to be re-heeled. After wearing them to work on Hallowe'en, I got stuck on the bus coming home due to protesters trying to disrupt the Olympic torch relay. After sitting on the bus for 1/2 and hour, the passengers were allowed to get off the bus...but the protesters were still blocking the route, so I had to walk home in these. Eeeeee...most grumpy-making.

A close-up of the cufflinks and my vintage 50s necklace:

Well, what's it going to be?

The dress or the boots?
	The dress!
	The boots!
	I'm not particularly bothered about either of them
	I like the Olympics.
pollcode.com free polls

Dress (Vero Moda), shirt (Club Monaco, consignment), belt (Plum), boots (Aldo), tights (Emilio Cavallini), cufflinks (70s, vintage), necklace (50s, vintage).

Boots Vs. Dress Week - Parisienne or Buckled Brutes?

In the hallowed tradition of previous Dress Weeks (click here and here to marvel), namely Dress Week, Return of Dress Week, It Came From Dress Week, Son of Dress Week, and I Was a Teenage Dress Week, we continue with:

Boots Vs. Dress Week

The boots will kick this week off in style: these Bronx beauties were a mere $60 on sale about 5 years ago, and are one of the few pairs of shoes I have from before I lost weight. They are hazardous to walk in, but good for looking scary!

"You'll put your eye out!"

The dress is a nice soft sweater dress - got it a few years ago when I had to replace my whole wardrobe. I always want red dresses. They're my weakness.

Oui, oui, c'est tres magnifique!

The sweater was layered over top with my new-to-me belt (I had to do some belt-hole punching with my trusty steak knife today to make it fit).

The stuff:
Groovy belt buckle (caw! sparkly!), Shi Studios wrist cuff and stud cuff.

One must be the victor!

Will it be Boots or Dress?
	The dress!
	The boots!
	I'm not particularly bothered about either of them
	I like monster movies
pollcode.com free polls

Dress (Kersh), sweater (Mexx, thrifted), boots (Bronx), belt (Le Chateau, consignment), cuff (Shi Studio), stud cuff (vintage).

Casual Friday - Purple Graphic

Friday's here! Woo! And don't I look pleased?
Okay, not so much, but it's very early in the morning in that picture (nearly 8 am! shocking!).

Maybe I look displeased because I know that when I go shopping after work at Winners with my $60 gift card from the Winesday Women and can buy whatever I want (!!) I actually find NOTHING at all. Well, some tights, but they are not that exciting, nor are they forbidden to me like new shoes or a dress would have been.

Anyway, the long-sleeved purple top was acquired in my recent consignment store shop. Nice and soft, and good for layering. I thought it went well with my Plum anniversary graphic tee.

My outdoor wear was kind of fun:
Grey fuzzy beret, fingerless gloves (aside: I had purple wooly fingerless gloves in 1984. Oh yeah, I was rockin'!), corporate swag leather jacket (it has our coporate logo embossed on one sleeve, very small - you wouldn't know it was there).

No stuff picture - it wasn't that exciting. Have a great weekend!

Long-sleeved tee (Gilmour, consignment), graphic tee (Plum), skirt (Bebe Sport, swap), shoes (Be Wild, consignment), chainmail necklace (handmade), white gold hoop earrings (gift from L).

A Funeral for a Friend

After having yesterday off, today felt like Monday. It didn't help that we watched "Saving Private Ryan" last night (it always makes me weep buckets - I cry at pretty much everything), and then had our friend Al's memorial to go to. We weren't really close to him and his family, but we still go way back and some of our close friends were good friends with him. Dead at 43, of a brain aneursym. God. Makes you appreciate life.

So, what I wore to a funeral:
The classic black dress, houndstooth jacket, non-standard striped tights and green shoes. I took the bus today, so here's my outerwear shot:

My cloche hat, scarf and leather gloves.

A close-up of the tights:

Groovy texture! They are by Filodoro (made in Italy) and I got them 50% the original price of $20.

The stuff:

I really love those shoes. That's a bracelet that my brother and I gave Mom for Christmas back in the 70s - I remember buying it at Birks with Dad. *smile*

Update: I'm still doing my counter push-ups!

My biceps/triceps look pretty much the same, but now I'm seeing some definition in the shoulders. And I'm looking at you, arm akimbo! Not looking too flabby now! Ha!

Wine and burritos await me. Have a good night, and tell your friends you love them.

Dress (Esprit), jacket (Smart Set), tights (Filodoro), shoes (Hilary Radley, consignment), bracelet (Birks, Mom's, vintage 70s).

It's All a Big Blur

I meant to do a push-ups update, but forgot to take my pictures. You must take my word for it that my pipes are large. I feel strong! I can open jars!

Here's a picture of me looking like a bouncer:
"You're not going to come in here wearing THAT, are you?"

Heh heh.

I was mostly displeased with this outfit, especially the top half. This jacket, while a great colour and made of the Best Fabric Ever (velvet, duh), just doesn't fit very well. It's also a bit long for my torso. Add to the list of things I must replace.

I do love the skirt though: Twirl, twirl! I look like an impressionist painting. Or not.

The stuff: The glory that are my Fluevog boots! The great bigass yellow bangle! The awesome necklace from Cat! And of course, the painty skirt.

Gotta go...day off tomorrow - thank you, BC, for making Remembrance Day a stat holiday! And of course, a deep and heartfelt thank you for all of the Canadian war veterans. Peace.

Jacket (RW & Co), cami (InWear), skirt (Nine West), boots (Fluevog), bangle (thrifted), necklace (gift from Cat), earrings (gift from L).

Pink and Brown (aka Ice Cream Cone)

Whenever I wear pink and brown, I think of ice cream. Not that I'm a huge fan of ice cream (although I wouldn't shove it away if you bought me a cone of something with large chunks of chocolate and nuts in it...who am I kidding).

I built this whole outfit around the knee socks:
I am not a fan of pants, in general. They cling on my muscly thighs and well, why shouldn't I show off my legs? These pair are a little low on the hips, and they look a little too casual for my taste. I think I will have to replace them when I can shop again in January. I just don't have a lot of luck with dress pants in consignment stores.

Oh, the socks, yes, right:

Inigo is coming in for a rub. Seriously, aren't those awesome socks? I wish I had a full pair of tights in this pattern, then I'd scrap the pants altogether and just wear a skirt.

The stuff:

The Seattle shoes, some odds and ends of necklaces (two), my old trusty belt and the funky socks.

Cardigan (Esprit, consignment), cami (Plum), pants (Vero Moda), belt (Plum), socks (Sox Trot), shoes (Steve Madden, thrifted), chain necklace (Plum), pearly necklace (Le Chateau).

Casual Friday - Olive, Red and Tweed

Friday's outfit was fun - it felt very funky:
New tweed jacket (how do you not love a dark red lining?), new graphic tee with birds on it, new denim pencil skirt, new giraffe pony hair belt.

I particularly like how it came out with the outer-wear accessories:

My old velvet hat, my Smoking Lily bug scarf, my new long leather gloves (a consignment steal at $35 new - these sell for well over $100 at Club Monaco stores) and my new bag.

I layered my tights: one pair of dark red with a pair of olive fishnets over top:

I matched them with the new bag, which has olive/grassy green lining.

The bag was a pretty good deal - $58 consignment and it probably sold for over $200 new. I'm not usually a bag person, since I use my backpack 4 out of 5 days, but I fell in love with this one. I've seen Matt & Nat bags around (their bags are vegan and eco-friendly)/

I like the little write-up inside:

It says:

choose life choose positivity

choose the golden rule

choose to be at peace with

yourself choose salvation

scegliete di fare uno differenzo

choose to make a difference

choisissez de faire une difference

choose to be different choose to

be a rebel choose to be funky

choose to be yourself choose

to create a fashion statement

Good words to live by. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Jacket (Jacob Connexion, consignment), t-shirt (Truly Madly Deeply, consignment), skirt (InWear, consignment), belt (Dana Buchman, consignment), hat (Shelley West, Roberta's Hats), scarf (Smoking Lily), tights (Hue), shoes (Fluevog), choker (vintage 60s, Mom), earrings (gift from L).

Black and White Like Audi

I laughed when I saw this outfit that Audi had on the other day, because I had an outfit lined up this week that was similar - and here it is!
Same cream tux-style jacket, pinstriped skirt instead of pants, dark grey patterned top instead of a tie, and Oxford-style shoes. Great minds think alike! Ha!

But what, you may wonder am I looking at in the above photo?

It's a big fat kitty!

Anyway, the patterned top is new (about $15 consignment), but the skirt is the steal at $7 in a thrift store. I always feel everything on the racks (the feel of fabric is called the "hand") to help me search for quality garments. This skirt is 100% wool.

And if I may say so, I think it's a pretty killer skirt. It's Linda Allard for Ellen Tracy, and I would guess that it's mid-90s. It has a fairly high waist (it sits right at my belly button) but the sizing is current (it's a 6).

The stuff:

A good shot of the pattern of the top. I love Ann Taylor (and Loft) - I wish we had them in Canada. The necklace is one of Grandma J's.

Jacket (Club Monaco, consignment), cami (RW & Co.), top (Ann Taylor, consignment), skirt (Linda Allard for Ellen Tracy, thrifted), shoes (Fluevog), necklace (no markings, likely 1960s, Grandma J's), earrings (Aldo Accessories), ring (The Bay).

Passing the Auntie Torch - and Counter Push-ups Update

With all the Olympics hoopla and torch thing going on this past week, it seemed appropriate today that I had lunch with my Aunt Lois. When I was growing up, Lois was the cool aunt who would chase us around the house, or gave me the furry koala bear, or gave me my first diary. I wanted to be like Lois.

And of course, here I am, being the same kind of auntie to my nieces. I like that.

I dressed for lunch out:
This dress was my bargain find of the weekend: $9 for Alfred Sung! I think the sizing is wonky on it, though, since it's labeled a size 10. At first I thought maybe it was from the early 80s (when a size 10 was equivalent to a size 6 in today's sizing), but it's a cotton blended with lycra (which didn't appear in mass-produced garments like this until well into the 90s). Anyway, I really liked the pattern, and having a black background means that I can wear it into the autumn, and not have to save it just for summer weather.

I did kind of wish I'd worn a slip, though, as I had "leg creep" all day.

I am still diligently doing my counter push-ups!
Now that I have a bit of arm strength, I am working on getting my form right. Butt in, back straight, stomach pulled in. I can see a difference in my shoulders and in my posture.

It's really working! My pathetic little T-Rex arms are getting stronger! I told my Weight Watchers group about it on Saturday and many of them thought they could do it too. Tina's been doing them - go, Tina!

Anyway, back to the regular programming - the stuff:
Isn't that an awesome pattern? It reminds me of koi fish.

And I know I only wore these shoes two weeks ago, but they went so well with the dress. At the last minute, I swapped out my regular micro-fishnet nude hosiery for the gold and black tights.

My former co-worker Bonnie bought me these earrings when she was on holiday last month:
I love them. Thank you so much, Bonnie!

Cardigan (Express, consignment), dress (Alfred Sung, thrifted), shoes (Valley Lane, gift from mother-in-law), cuff (The Bay), earrings (gift from Bonnie).

Shiny Skirt...and Bruce Lee

Today is my ex's birthday. I've been married almost 13 years, haven't been with my ex for close to 16 years, and yet, every year, I remember that it's his birthday. Happy 40th Birthday, Q, ya jerk.

But before I get too distracted, here's my new skirt and top:
Q and I used to watch Bruce Lee movies - a lot. One of them was "The Chinese Connection" (aka "Fist of Fury", not be confused with "Fists of Fury"). There's a cheesy character (a bad guy, of course), who has a funny line of dialogue where he grins, nods and rubs his lapels and says, "Niiiiice...shiny suit."

Weird how your mind makes connections, isn't it?

The skirt was around $35, the brown top (it's not a jacket, it's much thinner) ties in front with a nice bow and was $20.

The stuff:

I love the colours in the skirt - they have a really strong purple tone to them, and I like the grey and brown together.

Tie top (Pelican Cove, consignment), blouse (La Classe Couture), skirt (Mexx, consignment), shoes (Jessica Simpson), ring (Sarah Coventry, vintage 70s), earrings (Plum).

I Never Thought I'd Wear a Leather Dress to Work

But then, when one thinks of leather dresses, this isn't what comes to mind:

The green cardigan is also new - it has sparkly buttons! It's hard to see, but it has gathers at the tops of the sleeves.

Here's a shot of the full dress:

Most people didn't realize it was a dress (as opposed to a skirt) until I told them. Isn't it gorgeous? And it's soft, like buttah! It was $60 consignment. I was so excited - it fits like it was made for me.

Check out the lovely seaming on the bodice:

The stuff:

My good ol' shoes - these are two years old now. I've never worn this belt. The necklace was also a new purchase from my favourite consignment store.

Dress (Danier Leather, consignment), cardigan (Kersh, consignment), shoes (BCBGirls), belt (don't remember), necklace (consignment), earrings (not shown).

Sunday Shopper

It's been a while since I hit all of my favourite consignment shops, so instead of watching football all day, I headed out into the crisp sunshine for an afternoon of shopping. And oh, it was successful! I traded in $120 worth of clothes for...$120 worth of clothes.

I also bought a leather dress (yes!), which I am wearing to work tomorrow. I've been having fun for the last hour, putting together all my outfits for the week.

Anyway, I don't usually post my weekend stuff, but this is what I wore:
I picked up the skirt yesterday (I've been looking for another denim pencil skirt to replace my old one which sits too low on the hips), as well as the scarf.

I always like to wear layers when I'm shopping so that I have a camisole to try things on, and I can slip in and out of my clothes without much hassle. Also, boots/tights are great for trying on shoes. I got a lot of compliments from fellow shoppers (and a stranger riding by on her bike!) on my knee socks.

The scarf is a lovely wool - I took a picture of the label before I removed it (I hate visible labels).

Jacket (RW & Co.), orange top (InWear), cami (Plum), skirt (InWear, consignment), boots (Miz Mooz), scarf (St. Michael, thrifted).