The Best of the Season

Christmas Eve

Our new Christmas tradition: rice pudding with sour cherry sauce, from Karl's Danish family.

From the ferry going to visit the grandparents on Christmas Day.

On the beach at my grandparents with the dog.

Christmas dinner view.

My mom in her new rowboat on the lake.

Chilly hike to Newton Lake.

Out in the boat, surrounded by dozens of playful dolphins!

Flea Marketeering

Perhaps because my closet is overflowing, I seem to be hunting for accessories lately. And jewelry is smaller than shoes, so - even better right? Excuse the pictures; they were taken after hot-tubbing at Mary's!

Horn bead choker - $3 at the flea market

Chunky turquoise ring - $15 at the flea market.
Other ring - free with the patience to hunt through old jewelry boxes.

Some days I totally get into the flea market and it is good to me. Some days I can't handle it and get so frustrated. I have learned NOT to go there hungover.

Come on pilgrim...

you know he loves you.

The Footwear Zodiac

Well, what do yo think, shall we declare 2010 the Year of the Clog?

I remember getting a pair of clogs in grade nine ('93-'94?) from Bootlegger, Pelican Cove brand. They were tan suede with black soles, and despite being pretty uncomfortable, I wore them with baggy overalls, a striped rib-knit top and a beaded choker, or in the summer with jean shorts that I opened up on the sides and sewed in panels of plaid fabric. Ahh, the embarrassing old days.

Got the above ones this week at Value Village for a proverbial song. They're Brown's Couture, and make me dream of the summer.

These are more your utilitarian work clogs. I'm not sure yet what I'll like them with, but I look forward to trying a few things out. Dresses, jeans, leggings...? I think they're equally ugly/great with anything.

Oh, and how I with these were mine. They're Miu Miu, so evidently they're not. See Fashion Toast for the perfection.


P.S. Is it just me, or do clogs make people's feet look big? Because if my feel look big...

Back to Work

Today was my first day back at work, and it was embarrassingly hard not to have snack breaks and naps every couple of hours. How quickly one gets used to sloth.

I got these pleated mid-night blue velvet pants yesterday - at $5.99 how could I not? My first thought was that I might make them more tapered, but I'm kind of liking the excessive excessiveness of them. More of a statement, you know, and less of an attempt to be part of a trend. But they would look cool narrower... What do you think?



I was feeling very bloated and crampy today and the pants were like a wonderful soft tent for my belly to hide in.

A bride gave me these earrings as a little thank you, and at first I was like, ummm? But they've grown on me. I think they're vintage beads. So very unlike anything I'd pick for myself, but maybe we need other people to give us a nudge every once and a while.

My two cents (by borrowing two cents from someone else)

Seems like everyone is weighing in (hardy har) on the V Magazine Size issue out soon. As I was trying to come up with an intelligent way to express my mixed feeling, I conveniently came across this post on a blog called good morning, midnight. Please read it. I really agree with what the author says: fetishizing fat does nothing positive towards increasing the public's acceptance of different body types. Obviously the models are gorgeous, but overall this just looks like a cheap novelty. I have a subscription to Elle Canada, and in the last year there have been several great editorials with Crystal Renn that made me really hopeful about the fashion industry finally presenting an alternative to size zero models. I guess we'll see if V Magazine ever uses a curvier model again in regular shoots or if this really was a one-time gimmick.

A Foul Weather Friend

As hard as it was to break from tradition and come home from the island a couple of days before the very last minute, we really needed to acclimatise back to real life. Clean up, undress the tree (we may trash it up and let it die on the porch for a month or so), get groceries. Watch MORE hockey. I even got to go for a pedicure with Mary, hence the seasonally inappropriate footwear. I usually hate going downtown on Sundays because it's the one day of the week I don't have to be there but it was fine today - haven't been there for AGES.

The foul weather friend is this sweater. I've barely taken it off since I got it last month. It's the thrift of the century. OK, I exaggerate, but it is great. It even gives me the perfect place to use my gold heart pin that I don't get to show off enough.


I was also pretty happy to find this little top... OK, slip... with animal print trim and a racer-back. The fabric is nice too: silky but matte, not that gross polyester satin that reigns supreme in thrift store lingerie sections.

In with the new

It's not like spring is here or anything, but I'm ready for some new fashion inspiration. Monday afternoon might find me in a thrift store or two, so I gathered some thoughts about a new direction for a new year.

This look is just all-round aspirational.

Mustard yellow tunic with open-work.

Great print, great silhouette.

Love the proportions.

I don't think it's too early for springy florals.

Cords: one man's dressy is another man's casual.

Cropped. Floral. Corduroy.

An Uncommon Dilemma

I've been having a shopping dilemma lately. A few times this months I've been downtown with a little money to spend on a Christmas present for myself, but I've come home empty handed. There are certainly clothes that I like, I just haven't been inspired to buy any of them. It seems like everything that I am attracted to looks too much like something I think I could find in a thrift store, or I should make for myself.

Of course, I'm not shopping at high end stores. We're talking spending fifty to a hundred dollars at Zara, H&M, something like that. If I had the money to browse Holt Renfrew I might be wooed by something amazingly designed and beautifully made. But nothing mall-level has drawn me in and it's kind of a letdown when I allow myself to potentially buy some cute little thing that I don't really need. I immediately think - oh, I'll just look for something like that at Value Village - or - hmm, I should really just make it. Does it seem to anyone else that what's "in" right now looked thrifted or home-made?

I shouldn't complain about not spending money frivolously. Save it for RRSPs. For renovations. For frigging property tax next month. For charity. For traveling. For a puppy. For more sessions with the trainer. For healthier food. For... OK, strangely that eliminated the disappointment of not dropping any money at the mall!

Inspired by actual events

Some bloggers are so vigilant about recreating their outfits if they miss photographing a good one, but I've never been that disciplined. However, we had house guests staying with us all week, and I didn't know them well enough to go taking pictures of myself before Karl and I went out to my friends Christmas party. So instead I go re-dressed and took pictures in my yard in the middle of the morning because I really don't care what my neighbors think.

Love this velvet French Connection dress I found at Value Village, and bright pink tights seemed festive. And the Fergie (ick) shoes needed to be worked into the winter wardrobe.

The Most Important Celebration In December

Is the birth of our savior, Mary Little. Oops, don't mean to be sacrilegious, just don't want it to get overlooked. Happy Birthday Mary, may all your cats enjoy wearing sweaters, and may the last year of your 20's be the best!!! And don't forget to be QUEEN FOR A DAY.

Subliminal Osmosis

I'm a big fan of Le Blog de Betty. She's got amazing taste, she lives in Paris, has a wardrobe that makes me drool, and is stunning. I'm a little jealous of her ability to work the sequins, cuffs, bangs and boots, always with her own twist.



So the other day I glanced in the mirror at work and thought my outfit was a little bit Betty. OK, I'm not delusional - it was just a hint of a feeling. Something about the mix of sequins, the silver and black... I've got a bit of a ways to go on the rest of her assets.

I liked it with the silver and black platforms as well as the boots.


I guess one of the fun things about reading fashion blogs whenever I've got a free moment at work or the Canucks are losing a hockey game is that all of these creative influences sneak in to my brain. I'd never consciously work at recreating someones style, but I love seeing how all these amazing women express themselves, and I guess it makes me a little more confident to try a more diverse range of looks.

Clippity-Clop

I don't know if everyone has already seen these, but they are shoes by a German artist named Iris Schieferstein. She works with parts of dead animals and gives "a new face to death". The hoof shoes in particular seem to be popping up on blogs lately, and of course people mention that they are macabre, or creepy, but I haven't read any comments on the fact that any pair of leather shoes isn't too far away from this. Most of us wear dead animals on our bodies often, we just disguise it better. It reminds me of when people who eat meat are horrified if they see any connection to a real animal on their plate. Or, God forbid, see an animal being slaughtered or butchered before it gets turned into a safe little chicken finger.

But back to the shoes. The porcupine ones are kind of beautiful, and there's something Margiela-esque about the last hoof pair. I don't know if it is possible to really wear them, assuming you wanted to, but it kind of looks like you can. Lady Gaga?




Art? Wearable art? Freakshow? Any opinions?

Decked Part 2: Martha meets MacGyver

I lost my Christmas mojo for a while there, but I brought it back today. I've always liked making wreaths, but I was kind of lazy this year because I couldn't find the wire frame I usually use, and our yard has no traditional evergreen wreath materials. Other years we've borrowed some from nature and the nearby lanes, but this year I decided to do a non-traditional wreath of bamboo. I wrapped it around with weed vines from the front yard and decorated it with some dried out hops buds, which are totally beautiful with their little dusting of yellow pollen.