Catching up

Sorry for the radio silence. I've been enjoying living in the city and spending more time outside of my apartment than inside. This is probably a good thing since my apartment is in a basement so it's not exactly bright. It's great for sleeping but not so great for the Vitamin D acquisition.

Although this was a short week, it was a busy one. Not just with work but with the socialization which is good since I tend to be a hermit if I'm not forced to interact with people.

Here's Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday's outfits. I skipped Thursday since I was totally uncomfortable all day.

May 21

Cardigan: Club Monaco (last worn here)
T-shirt: Joe Fresh (worn a lot)
Skirt: Smoking Lily (last worn here)
Shoes: Fluevog Mini | Gorgeous (last worn here)

Pretty nondescript and totally serviceable. Jersey t-shirt, jersey skirt,

I feel a little bit guilty about wearing Joe Fresh ever since the Bangladesh clothing factory collapse. Such a terrible tragedy where so many people died in the aid of making cheap clothing for those of us in North  America. I haven't shopped at Joe Fresh or any of the other companies that were linked to that terrible event in quite a while. Now that I'm in Toronto I've been trying to shop at store that sell locally made items. They might cost more but I know I'm supporting my community.

Some people asked to see a close up of the necklace that I mentioned here.

I love it! My sister really knows me. :)






























May 22

On Wednesday, I wore this. <Chandler Bing> Could I BE any more stripey?</Chandler Bing>

Jacket: The Gap (hangs head in shame)
Shirt: Melissa Bolduc from Fresh Collective (last worn here)
Skirt: Melissa Bolduc from Fresh Collective
Shoes: Vivienne Westwood for Melissa (last worn here)


I wore these shoes because it was supposed to rain. It did a little bit but not much when I was outside.

Maybe I should recreate this with some similarly stripey shoes?

Look! There's a stripey underskirt! Yes, I'm so matchy matchy!

I've bought a few things from Fresh Collective since I moved to Toronto.  I walk past it's Queen Street store twice a day so it's quite enticing to just pop in. I must put blinders on!


























May 24

Dress: Bitter Root Vintage on etsy (last worn here)
Boots: Fluevog Hope | Desire (last worn here)

Today I had to brief my new Deputy Minister on some stuff and then we had a lunch to say goodbye to a coworker and then cake for a coworker birthday. Lots of socializing. That can be too much for a "highly sensitive person". 

I'm very used to briefing senior officials so I wasn't too worried about that. However I ended up on quite the sugar high after the birthday cake.  WHOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I like that I work with more people in my new job than I did in my old job. Everyone is pretty awesome too. It's really helping me leave my hermit lifestyle behind.

I'm currently watching the Ottawa-Pittsburgh hockey game. I'm conflicted because I kinda want Ottawa to win so a Canadian team will still be in the playoffs but I like Pittsburgh because Sidney Crosby is from Nova Scotia. Realistically I should say "Go Pittsburgh" but in my heart I want Ottawa to win.

Happy Weekend everyone!

Dance into the fire

I think I've mentioned before that took ballet lessons when I was a kid. I started at one dance studio and when I got older I switched to a school that was more ballet focused. The instructor was kind of mean though and we suffered some humiliation and abuse from her. She was probably dishing out what she was given when she was a dancer. I ended up quitting because of it but the whole dancer aesthetic is still very appealing to me.

Maybe that's why I liked this skirt when I bought it. I've had it over over a year and this is the first time I've worn it - maybe because it's too "dancer" and not "bureaucrat", not that that's really stopped me before.

T-shirt: Club Monaco (last worn here)
Skirt: Twig and Hottie in Vancouver
Shoes: Vivienne Westwood for Melissa (last worn here)

This is a little more make-up than I would usually wear on a Saturday morning and I wish I could say I'm going to a party or something all WHOOOOO! but I'm not. In fact I had no plans until about 15 minutes ago when my neighbours asked if I wanted to go to the animal shelter with them this afternoon.  It's the shelter where the dear departed Jetta came from so I'm concerned I'll come home with another furry friend.

What, isn't this outfit appropriate for a few hours of playing with kitties and doggies? Who cares! It makes me feel pretty.

The back is my favourite part of this shirt. Probably because my back is my favourite part of me.

I'm dealing with an unplanned shoe "capsule" right now so you're going to see a lot of reruns until I get my shoes back.

Happy 145 Birthday Canada!

Happy Canada Day! Whooooo! Party!

Ok, not really. I went out for breakfast, did some laundry, had a nap, watched the Euro final (Oh Italy, so sad), and now B and I are cooking dinner. Pretty low key.

It was also another hot day.

I'll stop talking about the heat because Batman might slap me.

I wore my Canada Day dress and posed with my laundry.

Dress: thrifted (last worn here)
Cami: Joe Fresh
Shoes: Vivienne Westwood for Melissa (bought from GinzaQueen.com)

I had just woken up from my nap here so I was a little rumpled and sleepy.

I'm wearing the same shoes as yesterday because it was really to warm (SLAP) to wear anything other than flip flops.

Speaking of these shoes, Forest City Fashionista was wearing the same shoes today.  They'd only be more perfect if the hearts were maple leaves.

Off to eat my dinner. I hope everyone has had a nice start to July.

Can you, can you taste the summer?

Now that it's almost July, we've had another warm weather day. It was about 29°C today, but warmer with the humidity. Hot, hot, hot!

I didn't start the day wearing this - I was wearing a red and brown dress when I went grocery shopping (twice a year, whether I need to or not) and in the produce section a very sweet young woman asked me where I got my dress. Unfortunately, I bought it in a local shop that is now closed. Anyway, I sweated through that dress so I changed into a t-shirt and shorts. But after dinner, we went out for ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery so I put this on.

Cardigan: Danier via Value Village
Dress: The Gap (about 2 years ago)
Shoes: Vivienne Westwood for Melissa
Wine: Fetzer Zinfandel

I didn't really need the cardigan - it was more for "modesty" since the dress is a racer back and sleeveless.

My backyard is a mess. When we bought this house in 2004, I was so excited to do some gardening. Turns out, I don't really enjoy gardening. When you garden you have to go outside. And when the weather is conducive to gardening, it's usually sunny. I don't like being outside in the sun.

So, my back garden is overgrown and has been taken over by gout weed and deadly nightshade. Such a shame because it used to be so nice. Maybe I'll get off my duff and dig it up. Or maybe I'll just sit on my deck (with my Christmas light still on it) drinking wine and not caring about the garden.






Tomorrow is Canada Day! Happy Canada Day (or Dominion Day in my parent's village)!

It's Saturday, it's Saturday, hey nonny nonny and a ha ha ha

Busy day out and about but I'm taking a moment to recharge before going out again.

I finally had this skirt altered so it fits much better now.

Sweater: Pretty Things Boutique
T-shirt: All Saints in NYC
Skirt: ASOS
Shoes: Vivienne Westwood for Melissa

I love the skulls on this t-shirt so much and the fabric is very soft and drapey.

I know you can't see the shoes but they are these ones.

While I was out running around, I went to what is known as the "shoe Frenchy's". First of all, Frenchy's is an Atlantic Canada thrift store where the clothes are dumped into bins and you have to dig through a lot of stuff to find treasures. Today I found a 100% silk blouse that was 2 sizes too small so I left it behind. Anyway, this Frenchy's is stuffed with shoes. Unfortunately, most of them are pretty cheap and crappy so I doubt I'll go back.

Then I went to Crimson and Clover (mostly) Consignment and Oh My GOD you guys, if you're local you have to go and get some stuff! Lots of amazing things there! AMAZING STUFF!

Here's what I found:

Look! Cute grey blouse - $20. I can see myself wearing the hell out of this.

Then I saw this...

Crazy tunic which weird graffiti like design on it and funky colours. There's a mean looking girl on it and this is what sold me on it...

CATS! Cutie cats! Crazy cats!

And finally, these were pointed out to me. Fly London wedge boots with buttony goodness! I love boots with button details as shown here, here, and here. And their orangy colour is lovely.

Going there is dangerous but if you live in the Halifax area you're missing out on some great things. And next Saturday is 80's day!

Whenever I wear stripes I think of Duran Duran

Ok, it doesn't take much to make me think of Duran Duran but some of their first photo shoots had the band members wearing these black and white (or blue and white?) shirts.

Hawt.

My outfit isn't even close to the same but any excuse to mention my favourite band.

Blouse: Vero Moda
Pants: Banana Republic via Crimson and Clover
Shoes: Melissa (last worn here)

I love these shoes and I only almost fell over in them once. Luckily my coworker was beside me to help break my fall.

This week has been very long, and very busy so I was happy to go out tonight with my girlfriends and have a few laughs. This might have been part of our conversation:

Friend A: Hey! Another BeeGee died!
Friend S: Yes, Robin
A: No, Maurice
S: No, he was already dead
A: Only Barry is left
Me: And Andy died in the 1980s.
....
Me: Andy Gibb had a very hairy chest.
A:  So did Barry but you'd expect that because he had that big beard.
S: Because only bearded men have hairy bodies?
Me: Yes, no men with beards are naked.
S: Hairless?
Me: Yes, that's the word, not naked.

Here you can see that the pants are striped and you can see the orange stripe on the back of the heels.

We went out for Chinese food and this was my fortune. Hopefully it will be Tyrion Lannister.

Tomorrow I'm not in the office - I'm out at training. Hopefully I'll find a place to take a photo.

Partyyyyy!

I just got home because my coworkers and I went out for drinks/dinner after work to celebrate one of my coworker's birthday. Had a weeeee bit to drink so I'm feeling a little fuzzy right now, but in a good way. My cats were happy to see me come home to give them supper - 2 hours later than normal. The horror!

Today I wore I dress that I bought off of eBay about 3 years ago. This was the first time I've worn it though. Not sure why since it's an awfully nice dress.

Sweater: Pretty Things Boutique
Dress: Noa Noa from eBay
Shoes: Vivienne Westwood for Melissa

The dress is silk and it came with a slip to wear under the wrap dress.  It's a wee bit plain but still a pretty dress to wear in the spring/summer.

I don't normally wear my glasses around the office but I had just returned from a meeting in a building down the street so I still had them on when I took this photo.

We actually had a nice spring day today with sun and warmish weather. So I ended up keeping my cardigan off for most of the day.

I love these shoes but I think they are trying to kill me. They flipped off my feet a few weeks ago making me fall down and the did the same thing today when I was running for the bus. I think I need some heel grips for them since I'm not giving them up! I refuse!

I took ballet lessons until I was about 17 and I can still see the ballet dancer in me in these photos.

TGI Thursday

I have tomorrow off so I may have dressed more casually today than I should have because it felt like Friday.

Sweater: Danier via Value Village
T-shirt: Old Navy
Pants: Lilith from NYC
Shoes: Vivienne Westwood for Melissa

Everything is thrifted except for these pants which cost.... well I'm not going to tell you that but I think they were worth every penny. They have everything that I like about pants - mid-calf length, big pockets, wide legs. Irresistible!

Like I said above, I have the day off tomorrow but I'm probably going to end up spending the day helping my husband move stuff into his new photo studio. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep in a little bit.

Also got my hairs cut after work. My red is nice and bright again. A shout out to my peeps at Jay Wells to whom I showed my blog tonight. *waves*

Blue and orange

I built this outfit around these Melissa shoes that I got last week. I originally saw them in an email that I received from Coggles and I thought I'd see if I could find them in Canada.

Blouse: Orphanage Clothing via Twig and Hottie in Vancouver
Skirt: Banana Republic (thrifted)
Shoes: Melissa via GinzaQueen.com

They are surprisingly comfortable for 4" heels. The platform helps.

I last wore this skirt with teal here. I'm not sure if I'll be keeping this skirt much longer. It's not the most flattering thing I've ever worn.

It was the orange stripe on the back of the heel that enticed me into buying these. Fancy!

This blouse is actually two different tops fashioned together. I really like the idea of it but it's a little low cut for work. I was wearing a cardigan to keep covered up.

A few days ago, Sal from Already Pretty linked to my blog - specifically this post.

My blog posts usually get about 30-40 page views but this one got over 800. It was nice to experience the "Sal bump".

Vestage, vestuary, vestibule

Whenever I hear the word "vestibule" I think of Chandler from Friends being stuck in the ATM vestibule with Jill Goodacre. I tried to embed this video here but it's been disabled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvJIbvm596w

Anyway, the whole point of the "vest" words is that today I bought a vest from my friend Kim's clothing line called Orphanage. It's sold at a store called Indie Boutik Collective. Kim takes clothing and redesigns and repurposes it into unique, edgy and funky things. My husband has done some photography for her.

Vest: Orphanage Clothing
Shirt: Zellers
Skirt: ASOS
Shoes: Vivienne Westwood Anglomania for Melissa (from consignment store in NYC)

This vest used to be a men's suit jacket. I'm actually wearing it backwards (the other side has bust darts) but I like being able to use the pockets. It's pretty versatile.

I also own two other Orphanage shirts - one I bought at a store called Twig and Hottie in Vancouver and was so surprised to find Kim's clothing on the other coast.

I've worn this skirt two other times. I always seem to pair it with a black top. Will have to break out of that habit.

I've admired these shoes on eBay and on other blogs so when I saw these Melissa Three Strap Sandals in the window of a consignment store in NYC I was pretty thrilled. And they were my size! They are so comfortable, and awfully cute. I was concerned that these Melissa rubber shoes would be like the old jelly shoes from the 1980s that made people's feet sweat but they really don't. And you can wear them in the rain!

That's all for today. Remember - Gum is Perfection.