Winesday Weekend: Wings, Done Fan, Chartreuse and More Dresses

It's been a lovely weekend, for company, hangin' out and weather!

On Saturday, L and I went for brunch and ran a few errands.

• Sweater - Jaeger, thrifted; last worn here (2nd outfit) on a Zentangle adventure in April
• Skirt - Kenneth Cole, consignment; first worn here in April with leather
• Shoes - Donald J. Pliner, consignment; last seen here (3rd outfit) in May for the theatre

An older gentleman commented on my outfit while I was out and about, saying that it was so nice to see someone dressed up for every day. Smile.

Lounging pose with hands in pockets.

 I love the pattern of this skirt. It reminds me of butterfly wings.

I liked this colour top with it but the boxy shape was a little out of my comfort zone.

The stuff:

Goodbye shoes! This was their second wear, and they are outta here! They cause my toes to spread and zap a nerve really badly. I couldn't wait to get them off! Darn, I liked these.

Copper bling:

Any excuse to wear my vintage copper.

• Earrings and necklace - Renoir, vintage 60s, vintage fairs
• Big cuff -  Renoir, vintage 60s, Grandma J's
• Cuff - vintage fair

In the afternoon, I hung out on the deck with Vizzini.

"Don't block my shade, woman."

I can't resist petting his warm fur - he's so soft.

I finally finished my Zentangle fan for Caro!

That started out blank - I drew all of it, then coloured with felt pens and watercolour pencils.

My first go on it, back in April:

I blocked in the large "C" (for Caro) on the right, made the giant swirly pattern on the left, did the centre pattern and the "tree" branch thing beside that.

I hid little hearts in the C.

And an upside-down heart for "balls" (hee).

The centre, just starting the Tipple pattern around the branches.

The big swirl was my favourite to draw.

I adore swirly patterns.

A couple of weeks later in May, I added the background pattern to tie it all together cohesively.

I like the contrast of the geometric pattern with all the organic rounded shapes.

It was easier to work on a big fan than the smaller one I did for Alli.

I still poked a few holes in it along the spines.

Earlier this week, I shaded on the square pattern and added some blue felt pen to the design to see how I liked it.

There's no going back - no erasing or correcting, so what's done is done.

I used shades of blue, purple, pink and red, with yellow for background and contrast.

In some areas, I coloured in or outlined with the felts, then used the watercolour pencils for the shading.

This had almost no pencil shading.

And voila!

The fan is done! I gave it to Caro at Winesday last night and she cried. Aw...

My next one will be for Cat!

After a bit of a sleep-in due to my late night, I went for groceries this morning.

It was hot, so long sleeves and silk! It was a good sunblock, although I did wear a scarf and lots of actual sunblock.

• Dress - Mary Jo Bruno, consignment; last seen here in March as my going out dress for our anniversary trip to Vancouver
• Shoes - Born, consignment; last worn here (2nd outfit) last weekend

My bug scarf kept the sun off my tattoos.

I went to the Patch and a couple of stores, as well as the flea market at Market Square.

This was an easy outfit for trying stuff on.

The stuff:

Shiny, shiny!

Gold bling:

I love my bug scarf.

• Scarf - Smoking Lily, gift from Janet, 1997
• Belt - vintage 60s, Mom's
• Earrings - gift from L

The Patch had a "buy one dress, get the second for 40% off" deal, so I browsed through the dresses and found a couple.

This one is obviously from the late 60s. Dig that groovy pattern, man...

I like all these colours! I can't wait to wear this, although it'll be warm - ah, good ol' double-knit polyester. Doesn't breathe.

It's a Dress Town Original!

Ooooh...This looks like it's had a lot of love. This was $19.99 with 40% off.

I also fell for this purple leopard dress:

It's got a really good shape, and is fully lined.

It's by Z Spoke: Zac Posen for Lord & Taylor, and still had its original price tag on it for $199.00.

It was also $19.99. Both dresses together were just over $30.00. Score!

I bought these little stud crystal earrings at the flea market for a dollar.

Useful! 

Not useful. 

"Can I chew on those earrings?"

Silly flop-cat. No, you may not.

I hope you all had an awesome weekend!

Casual Friday - She-Hulk in Sequins

Woot! Happy Friday, everyone! 

My purple and green colour combo today reminded me of She-Hulk (Marvel's female version of the Incredible Hulk). Only in sequins. And trout shoes.

• Cardigan - L'Wren Scott for Banana Republic, thrifted; purchased here last weekend for $4.00
• Cami - one of my junky ones, not tracked
• Skirt - Nicole Miller, vintage 80s, consignment; last seen here in April for another Casual Friday
• Shoes - Miista; last worn here in May with tangerine and a strapless dress

First wear of the cardigan - I liked it quite a lot for the office, although the sleeves rub a bit against the sequins, which causes armpit balls. I was plucking them off all day!

Classic skinny 80s pencil skirt - no big strides in it!

The stuff:

Lovely trout shoes! What do you think of the socks with them? I felt very daring.

Purple bling:

Um, a little fuzzy, sorry.

• Belt - Plum
• Spinner ring - Twang & Pearl
• Gold ring - Dad's, vintage 60s, Francis Jewellers
• Earrings - Le Chateau

I'll be back on Sunday - have an awesome weekend!

A Chinoiserie Pouf

This week is just dragging! That's what I get for taking 3 days off last week! 

I'm enjoying working through all of my closet, looking for those backward hangars. I wonder how long it's been since I wore this jacket and skirt?

• Jacket - handmade, thrifted; last seen here in August 2014 with trousers on a foggy day
• Skirt - Quilaree, consignment; last seen here in December 2014 with orange and pouf
• Pouffy underskirt - H&M, thrifted; I don't track it
• Shoes - Esoteric Temptations Odette, Fluevog; last seen here in May with pink and fruital

I've actually worn both of these items together before, here in June 2014 when I first bought this Chinoiserie jacket.

My hair is fading out from deep purple in the back to bright pink in the front - I don't mind it. I might freshen up the purple in time for the Vancouver Blogger Meet-Up - I want to look my best when I meet all you famous people (majorly intimidated, here!).

The stuff:

My WW group went gaga over these shoes. I love a fresh group of people to show off my shoes to!

Simple bling:

I am so used to wearing my Wendy Brandes rings that I often forget to take them off. I'm sure getting my money's worth!

• Belt - Nygard
• Earrings - vintage 80s, Joyce's
• Fulvia ring - Wendy Brandes

Off to cook dinner - yum, we're having chicken curry! I make it HOT!

Literary Stylings: Fringe and Feathers and Vizzini

Hola! Today's outfit is brought to you by "Literary Stylings" over at Gracey's blog Fashion for Giants.

I'm not a giant, but I like how much she reads - I'm a giant fan of books! Today's outfit is sort of a stretch on the theme, heh.

• Blazer - Braemar, thrifted, vintage 80s; last seen here in April with grassy green
• Top - Ina, consignment; purchased here on the weekend for $16.99
• Tux pants - handmade, thrifted; last seen here in March with blah and white
• Shoes - First by Feet First; last worn here with this same jacket in April

"I pose when I want to."

Vizzini was a major photo-bomber this morning. I realized when I looked up my last "Literary Stylings" post that I never answered this question from Larissa - sorry!

I am curious, just how do you pronounce his name? Is there any significance to his name (other than being his name)?

Vizzini is pronounced "Vizz-EE-nee" with the same stress as "bikini". He is named after the character in "The Princess Bride" (both the book and the movie), which is probably my and L's favourite movie. We can both quote the movie extensively. The character in the movie is a conniving self-professed genius, who is the mastermind of the kidnapping of Princess Buttercup, and his classic line is, "Inconceivable!" Our last kitty was named Inigo Montoya ("you killed my father, prepare to die!"), so we kind of had a theme going when we got Vizzini. Unlike Inigo (who was more like the character Fezzig), Vizzini suits his name very well.

"You're talking about me. I can tell. Also, I rub your leg."

I really liked this fringe-y blouse! I wasn't sure I would - the fringes are very much cat-bait and they kind of cling to other fabrics - but I liked the movement. I had a lot of very positive reactions to this whole outfit (mostly because of the bright blue and the fact that my hair matches the blouse).

"And my good side..."

I also re-enjoyed this bigass boxy 80s jacket, although I'd forgotten that I'd safety-pinned the button on last time I wore it, so that showed. Hey, I'm classy that way.

The stuff:

Love these shoes. When I bought them many years ago, Feet First (a store that no longer exists) had an entire sale rack of them! I would buy another pair in a heartbeat. You don't find the perfect blue suede shoe that often!

Tonally-appropriate bling:

I hear brooches are back in. When were they out?

• Brooch - The Bay, early 00s
• Earrings - don't remember, late 90s
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes

So here's what I've read since the last "Literary Stylings"here.

This was our Book Club book: "H is for Hawk" by Helen Macdonald.

I seriously LOVED this book. I gave my copy away last night to my WW receptionist Betty, so I forgot to take a picture of it.

This is Helen and Mabel, her goshawk.

My fringe-y plumage is meant to emulate Mabel's chest feathers. I told you it was a stretch.

But yes, read this book. It's non-fiction, but not like any non-fiction I've ever read. Helen loses her father, and heals by training her new goshawk, Mabel. It's also about T.H. White, the author of "A Once and Future King" (about the young King Arthur). But the prose is lush and delicious, and you feel and smell and see everything she describes so perfectly. I bawled my eyes out in one section. It made me want to go on a Book Club road trip to the predatory bird sanctuary up-Island. Absolutely recommended.

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I am 40 pages away from finishing this book, so I'm including it, since I'll complete it tonight.

I am a big Julian May fan, having read her "Pliocene Exile" series many years ago (I pulled out the first book, "The Many-Coloured Land" for L to read, but I might dig into it myself again). This is "Conqueror's Moon: Book One of the Boreal Moon Tale" and it's similar to Patrick Rothfuss' "The Name of the Wind" in that it's framed by the older character telling the story of his life.

It's a sprawling novel of intrigue, politics and fantasy (magic is practiced, and there are supernatural creatures). May is an expert world-builder and manages her characters very well - even though there are millions of names and places, after about 100 pages, I was good. She wisely focuses on a few main characters and checks in with them often, so that you don't lose track of what's happening to whom (looking at you, George R. R. Martin!). Recommended.

I have the second book in this series (there's a third, which I'll have to find) and will plunge into that next. I've read every other book of hers I could find since I first found her books in the late 90s.

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From two books I loved and enjoyed, to a book that I'm loathing, but still reading (it's my bathroom book, so whatever). Lawrence Block's "Random Walk" is just awful. I'm 50 pages from the end, so may as well finish it.

Groovy 80s cover

It starts with a man whose name I can't remember because he isn't interesting or fleshed out as a character, who one day goes for a walk. And he walks. And random people join him. And they mysteriously start healing (including throwing away a wheelchair and curing cancer!). The parts about the walkers are boring - they go on about spiritualism and being one with the earth - a lot of 80s mumbo-jumbo. I'm not against spiritualism, mind you, but the way it's presented here is cloying, grating and just ugh.

AND, it's about a serial killer! Because this is Lawrence Block, Grand Master of Crime Fiction, known for his Matthew Scudder novels, his Bernie Rhodenbarr novels. One of my favourite crime fiction writers. The killer randomly drives around and targets women and kills them, purely for pleasure. It's hugely sexist, offensive and shockingly graphic in the depictions of sex, torture and killing. But what the heck? I know we're aiming for the killer to meet up with the massive crowd of random walkers (I read the full reviews online when I started reading this and going, "WTF?" so I know what's going to happen), but the two parts feel like entirely separate books.

I will be tossing this one when I'm done, even though I have nearly everything Block has written. Avoid, avoid, avoid.


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Gracey, thanks again for hosting! Now, my friends, what have you been reading?

Cobalt and Leopard

We've been having a heat-wave the last week - it's gloriously hot and up around 20 every day (that's about the mid-70s for those of you south of the border). 

Now that you've all stopped laughing at our "heat wave" (really, it doesn't get that hot here - that's very hot for us!), you may empathize with my wimpiness and lack of enthusiasm for planning anything more complicated than a blouse and a skirt.

• Blouse - Banana Republic, thrifted; purchased here on the weekend for five bucks!
• Skirt - Club Monaco; last seen here (2nd outfit) - yikes! - in October 2013
• Shoes - Ralph Lauren, thrifted; last worn here in March with locks and keys

Holy moly, gotta say I'm shocked that I haven't worn this skirt in SO long! I keep it because, duh, leopard skirt. It's a beautiful skirt - great quality and fully lined.

And I'll probably keep it still, even if it's not worn much. I don't think I'll ever find a nicer leopard skirt!

The stuff:

I had to go to the other office today, so I changed into my runners for the dash...and then never changed back! I am a bad fashionista! Well, at least they were funky runners.

Big bronze bling:

I get a good amount of wear out of this necklace.

• Necklace - Nygard, consignment
• Cuff - Midzo, vintage fair
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes 

When I went to leave for work this morning, I found this on the floor outside the den. 

"It's hot. This floor is cool."

He has a bad case of Flop-Butt.

"You should stay home and rub my tum."

I would have loved to, buddy!

Mod Monday

Oh, lordy, going back to work was painful. 700 emails! Zoiks!

I needed an outfit that said, "I mean business!"

• Blouse - Mexx, thrifted; purchased here on the weekend for $14.50
• Skirt - Danier Leather, thrifted; last seen here in February for Pink Shirt Day
• Shoes - Liz Claiborne, vintage store; last worn here in May with more black

People generally steered clear of me all day. Nothing appeared to have exploded at work, and nothing was majorly broken or destroyed. Phew!

I loved this blouse - such cool patterns and colours. I'm kinda meh on the skirt (I have a black skirt thing, especially leather black skirts!), but we'll see how it lasts.

The stuff:

Groovy mod shoes, man.

Red bling:

All the reds!

• Cuff - Rimanchik
• Ring - present from Cindy
• Earrings - local

I'm all set to go see two fashion films over the next couple of weeks with friends: "Iris" about Iris Apfel and "Dior and I". Seen any good fashion films lately?