Little Old Lady Vest

I've had this vest for yonks but am always hesitant to wear it because it looks like something a little old lady would wear.  But, I love the subtle colour variations and just hate having something in the closet which sits there so hauled it out for today.

It seems to look less little old lady like with a skirt and this time I wore it with brown, so that might be the trick.

I had lots of layers and even wore a sweater-jacket over the whole thing, but our unseasonably warm weather allowed me to go sweater-less the whole day.

It's also been a while since I put my hair up (it's been in a ponytail for weeks), so today I switched back; it feels better - no hair on the neck.

today i wore:

shirt ... ann taylor

l/s tee ... kenneth cole

vest ... nygard

scarf ... tentazioni

skirt ... reitmans

bamboo tights ... ??

booties ... from spain

Orange Puddle Jumper

My mom ordered me a couple of bags with her loyalty points and I received them the other day.  One is a super cute gym/overnighter bag in pumpkin orange.  Perfect for this time of year, and a nice colour for spring/summer too.

It even has a cute name: Puddle Jumper.

There are tons of pockets and its quite a good size.  There is also an open to the air mesh pocket for soggy towels/swimsuits.

It's very roomy, with more pockets for water bottle and other stuff on the inside:

It has feet, and a clear plastic protective layer on the bottom (slightly hard to see) so it won't get dirty or soggy:

The whole thing is quilted, and best of all it has perfect length handles:

 
It also has a shoulder strap which probably isn't necessary as the double handles are sufficiently long.

I don't go to the gym much so am considering using it as a work bag - I'm often lugging laptop and books from one office to another, and the bag I use is sometimes not big enough.  The other option of course would be to plan a weekend trip somewhere ... wouldn't that be nice?

Houndstooth and Oxfords

The hvac is back to normal, so I ventured out in a skirt again.  Just to be on the safe side I wore my houndstooth sweater-jacket which is thick and cozy.

Terri's Plaidurday post in which she wore her oxfords reminded me of mine so the shoe question was solved.  I was a little hesitant due to the heels, but went for it anyway.  

My doubts were not entirely unfounded - I did a lot of standing in the afternoon. 
It was meet the teachers day at school, so I took half a day off.  It was more organized this year; we didn't have to book appointment times.  The teachers were all seated in alphabetical order at desks around the room and the parents queued up by the ones they wanted to talk to.  It was great because you could look around to see which teachers had a long lineup and go visit with another in the meantime.

I'm always impressed with the teachers' passion for their students and the subjects they teach.

As it gets darker and wetter out, I'm looking for indoor places for the photos. Today I'm trying out a "take the photo on the stairs" pic - but am not entirely pleased.  But you can see that at least our home has corners of sunny mediterranean yellow even if it is cold and miserable outside.

today i wore:

turquoise t-shirt ... kenneth cole

houndstooth cardigan ... ?

scarf ... from the mercadillo

tube waist skirt ... jessica

tights ... secret

oxfords ... naturalizer

The F-Shirt

As you know, we've been having problems with our hvac at work.  It's been way colder than usual all week.  I was going to be in the office the whole day, so wore pants again.  And layers.

I wore another pair of non-dress pants; tights are just a bit on the cool side.  And I've been wanting to wear my "F-Shirt" since I got it months ago.

 
I don't really like this look - as you can see it looks sloppy when it's all opened up, likely because of the combination of shirt-tail and frilly scarf.  Good thing it was too cold to remove the jacket.

It's not my usual colour combination, but the print caught my eye.  They sort of look like Fs don't they?

Although now that I see it close up, it looks like someone raising an arm up in front of the face.

The shoes too are lined and even have a fuzzy tongue, not that the top of the foot needs warmth.

The good news is that we think the heating may be fixed so tomorrow I'm going to try a skirt again.

today i wore:

f-shirt ... pantman

cardigan ... george

scarf ... dollar store

utility jacket ... denver hayes

brown pants ... nine & company

shoes ... pera mela

Pizza !

Today's post is a diy post: We've been making our own pizzas!  Quite yummy.  We bought the crust; I'm not quite as adventurous as my Mom who can make the crust too, but the results are still tasty and probably healthier than store-bought.

left: Big J's / right: mine

Big J and I have different tastes and dietary restrictions so we made half pizzas. 

Big J's : This pizza has a traditional Spanish topping - yes Tuna!  weird right?

• Tuna
• Roast Peppers
• Pico de Gallo

Mine :  Mine is just a mass of olives which I like a lot.

• Black Olives
• Roast Peppers
• Pico de Gallo
• Feta Cheese

The pizza was slightly under-crisp, so for our second pizza, we looked high and low for a pizza stone, but found nothing.  We got a pizza pan with holes instead.   The second pizza turned out much better.  Not sure if it was the pan or that we are now better at timing the baking time.

left: mine / right: Big J's

My Pizza :  Almost the same as the first one, but substituted spinach for the pico de gallo.

• Black Olives
• Roast Peppers
• Spinach
• Feta Cheese

Big J's :  Again, almost the same: 

• Chicken Breast
• Roast Peppers

Making pizzas is quite fun to do and quick too.  I'm already thinking up more toppings and this might become a regular ritual.  The kids unfortunately prefer the pizza parlour

Layers of Blue

It was seriously cold in our office today, so good thing I had tons of layers.  I felt a bit lazy so wore my black cords.

I don't wear pants much anymore - most of my "dress" pants need to be shortened so I can wear them without heels and you can see what the non-dress pants look like above.

I wore 3 layers of clothing over a tank but it wasn't enough. My original thought was to wear this sans scarf like so:

But then in the end thought it would look a bit weird, so ended up adding the scarf.

today i wore:

tanktop ... old navy

mock turtle ... ?

keyhole t-shirt ... segments

zip cardigan ... rino rossi

scarf ... ?

cords ... calvin klein jeans

shoes ... docs

Basic Black with Colour

Today's outfit consists of mainly basic black.  I had a lot of meetings and you can never tell with meeting rooms whether it's going to be too cold or too hot.

Better to be prepared for either situation.  The solution of course was lots of layers.  I wanted something that I could sit in all day but be able to easily adjust the temperature by removing a jacket if need be.

I did not actually wear the boots all day.  I switched at work to my Monk shoes - there's a photo in this post.

I'm not sure if I like this a-line style of skirt; it seems to require something other than a jacket on top - perhaps something more feminine.

In the end, it looked a little too tame, so I added my multi-colour paisley scarf.  There was quite a mixture of textures and patterns by the time it was all put together.

today i wore:

flower shirt ... jacob

pullover ... george

scarf ... ?

jacket ... lady hathaway

skirt ... della spiga

shoes (not shown) ... docs

Tube UnFolded

Usually we have motivational speakers or business leaders at our employee meetings; today we had an improv comic.  It was just the thing to cheer us up. He had us in fits of laughter.  Afterwards, we had a socializer - normally I don't attend, but as we are wrapping up business, I decided to give it a try.  Good idea - there were wonderful appies and we all traded job-hunting tips. 

I tried something new with my tube-waist skirt today.  Normally I wear it folded over but today I pulled the tube waist all the way up and did not cover it up. 

I wore it with my ruffly tank over top  and it almost looks like a dress. 

I've been wearing low heels for a while now - being a little hesitant to try a higher heel due to the bone thing. 

So, today it was the Spanish army boots.  They are really great boots for wet weather.  You can step in a puddle and they'll keep your feet dry.  Even the tongue is connected to the boot so there are no actual  openings except at the top.

today i wore:

t-shirt ... ?

ruffly tank ... hamilton

cardigan ... foglie rosse

tube waist skirt ... jessica

cable tights ... dollar store

spanish army boots

Velvet Rose Motif

Do you ever get the urge to wear something but the weather is not quite right and then it sticks in your mind until you actually wear it?  So it was with today's top.  I've been wanting to wear it for a while. 

The picture is not very good - must be our misty weather - but the top is a rose motif on that velvety fabric which I think is back in vogue.  The camera just does not do it justice - it's an interesting top which reflects the light and looks different under different lighting conditions.

Behind me, you see a thrifty re-purpose of an old leather couch.  It was a good buy to begin with - only $300 new.  It used to have arms and a back and was our downstairs family room couch.  We've had it for about 10 years and it was starting to annoy us so now it is reborn as a divan for outside; the dogs like it a lot.  I wonder if the wood can be covered with something or maybe even just painted.  I saved the leather from the back and arms - my hope is to be able to make something with it.

today i wore:

velvet rose motif top ... mecca

black skirt ... kenneth cole

ruffle jacket ... jessica

cable tights ... dollar store

shoes ... from payless

Bubbly Top Again

Well, it's been a long week; a few more co-workers have quit and I expect that there will be more resignations in the next few weeks.  But at least the weather is giving us a break.

Dressing was a bit of a rush this morning.  I slept through about half an hour of radio talk show so there was only time for a quick shower and jeans.  I contemplated wearing a longer pair, but had a lot of to and fro-ing today so opted for something shorter so I wouldn't have to wear heels.

Plus, I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon - the podiatrist.  So, happy day, sort of.  It turns out I have two broken bones in my foot which might be the source of the pain.  We will probably know by next week what remedies I'll have.  So at least I don't have arthritis, diabetes or gout or anything serious like that.

Today I wore:

bubbly top ... fancy lady

cardigan ... foglie rosse

scarf ... ???

jeans ... gasoline

boots ... from spain

School-Marm

It's down to about 8 degrees (43 Fahrenheit or 281 Kelvin) in the mornings now, which means more layers. 

Today's outfit felt very school-marmish - perhaps because of the button up collar and scarf.

I've been wanting to wear burgundy for a while, but it just hasn't felt like autumn.  But now that our temperatures are low, I decided to go for it - sunny days or not.

This sweater is from at least 5 years ago, when absolutely no-one wore burgundy.  But I've always liked the colour, so actually have lots of stuff that I can use again, now that it's in vogue.  It actually looks like a purply colour in the pictures, but that's just the camera.

I wore it over a shirt which has velcro closures - can anything be sillier?  Great for super-heroes who need a quick costume change, but absolutely useless for women who want their blouses to stay done up throughout the day.

Today I wore:

velcro shirt ... zara woman

sweater ... old navy

scarf ... ??

skirt ... kenneth cole

jacket ... jessica

tights ... cK

shoes ... ??

Colour Clash

Hmm, not sure what happened today.  It looks like I'm wearing a clash of colours.

I wanted to wear the green tee and hauled out a bunch of greenish clothes to go with it.  I tried various jackets and skirts and then for some reason thought "tube-waist skirt".  I don't think it really matches, but you be the judge:

You can't really tell from the photos, but the tights made me very self-conscious the whole day.  They are a blue grey instead of the usual brown grey which goes better with the khaki. 

Don't you hate it when you are wearing something not quite right?  So the whole day, I imagined people were thinking "what a strange colour combination".  I'm going to label the bags that the tights are in so I know which grey tights are blue and which are brown.

For those who are wondering, the tops of the posts are made of treated wood so ideally should be exposed to the elements for a year before painting. I always thought it would be nice to have a giant chess set made of these post-tops.  This one would be the bishop of course.

Today I wore:

tee-shirt ... alia

scarf ... ?

skirt ... jessica

tights ... secret

shoes ... privo

DIY Hanging Laundry Bag

Do you just throw your fine washables into the laundry?  I do, but I put them in one of those zippered wash bags first.  It's always a hassle because you either have to dig the stuff out of the basket or set everything aside to add later.

So, hangers to the rescue. Sometime in the past couple of years, I switched from being a regular pants wearer to a skirt wearer.  I'd like to think it's because skirts are more forgiving but have a sneaking suspicion it's really because pants are generally a little bit too long for me and require hemming.

So, when I first started shopping for hangers, I bought "skirt hangers" - the kind with a clip at each end.

But, I find they are not so good at securing the skirt.  If the skirt is heavy, it just unclips.  And in an over-crowded closet, everything gets all tangled up. 

So, I switched to "pant hangers".  They're like a giant clamp; the skirts tend to stay on the hanger, and no more tangling.

But what to do with the extra skirt hangers?  I still use them, but now I set a few aside to make hanging laundry bags for tights and other delicates.  This is the one for dark tights:

Easy Peesy!

For today's DIY:

1 skirt hanger ... IKEA 99 cents

1 laundry bag ... IKEA 2 for 1.99 ?

It's Official

So it's official; we are all laid off, effective March 31, 2013.  They held meeting after meeting today with all the managers and employees.  It was a little anti-climactic; no histrionics, no agitated employees, nothing to indicate that over 100 people are losing their livelihood.

I had intended to wear something memorable for today - but in the end decided that warmth and comfort would be more important, and so instead reached for an old stand-by.

I have a funny feeling I've worn this exact outfit before but couldn't find it in the posts - time to fix my labels.  So perhaps that's why I reached for it again - in times of upheaval, we cling to the tried and true.

One good thing though is that at least due to a refashion of sorts, the buttons are now on the top of the collar instead of sewn on the other side.

I also had on a sparkly t-shirt which you can barely see:

What better way to handle the layoff blues than some retail therapy?  More on that in another post.  Did you know that Canadians spend about $300 / month  on impulse purchases?  That's over $3000 / year.  If you started saving that $300 at twenty, in ten years, by age thirty you could have a sizeable downpayment on a house!

Today I wore:

t-shirt ... kenneth cole

jacket ... sasta

skirt ... kenneth cole

scarf ... fabric remnant

tights ... dollar store

shoes ... payless