The Learning Curve

Sometimes I make mistakes. One time I nearly ran into someone with my plow truck and I had the button pressed down on the two-way, so when I said a very bad word, everyone heard. One time, I listened to a whole Nickleback song before I realized what was happening and I changed the station. Another time, I wore a perfectly lovely outfit and ruined it by adding tights, knee highs and boots. I like my grey-ish tights, my knee highs and my thrifted Cole Haan boots, but not so much with this outfit. In my defence I spent most of the day inside with just the tights on (and my skirt is black not purple like the pictures show) but in these pictures I've got it piled on and it's not so flattering. If either the skirt was shorter, the tights were simply black, the knee-highs weren't there or the boots taller it wouldn't have looked so bad. But as it stands now, it cuts my leg line up in 3 awkward places and I did myself no favours. However, the rest of the outfit was quite nice so, believing in second chances, I gave myself a re-do the following day.

Sweater? BCBG, Winners
Wide leg black denim? Ralph Lauren, Winners
Booties? Zara
Ring? gifted
Necklaces? Cuba and thrifted
Bracelets? Cuba and thrifted

Belt? thrifted

Ahhhhh...much better. I was originally inspired to wear these necklaces together like this again after hosting a little dinner. My brother and his lovely wife are here from Holland and I wanted to impress them with a healthy and homecooked meal (check!) and with a nice little centrepiece (check!).

I wound these necklaces through some red carnations (yes, cheap and chic) and I was once again struck by how well turquoise blue pops against red. The simplicity with the burst of colour works and I'm glad I gave this outfit a second chance.


And then, because I'm scandalous, I wore my v-neck backwards for a little sexy back. Though technically, if I wore the v-neck frontwards my cleavage would have been a lot more scandalous. But that's not going to happen, my mom reads my blog....

Designer Duds

I like my designer fashions with big red tags on them. Preferably with pen markings all over the red tags as the price drops. I also like them in thrift stores.
Perhaps one day I will be able to contribute to the designer market by paying full price but right now, it's just not happening. My stairs called, they really need to be re-carpeted, then my night courses left a message about payment and my mortgage just doesn't like to be put on hold. So, I do not waste time desiring the latest Marc Jacobs bag, I admire it and move on. But for some reason I cannot get this jacket out of my mind...

It's the Smythe interpretation of the classic Hudson's Bay blanket jacket (here's a cool pic off flickr). I am always on the look-out for the original while thrifting... but what I really want is this sweet baby. I don't even know if it was actually produced to be sold or just as a marketing thing and I have no clue how much it would even cost but I do know I love the Canadiana appeal, the uneven hem, the oversized hood and the dramatic volume. I don't remember the last time I obsessed over an article of clothing so out of my league...
I know there is no chance that this jacket will ever be mine, but on the off-chance that some big wig at The Bay is reading this, I just want you to know I would sell out hard core for this jacket. We could rename my blog My Hudson Bay Edit... whatever, you name it, I'll do it. Email me.

myeditblog at gmail dot com

Yes, I finally got a official blog email. I'm a snail in the blogging world...Podcasts, whatever... I've got a blog email b*tches! The point is, fell free to email me about stuff...like fashion, thrift stores, good shoe repair guys, landscaping and girl problems. I excel in those areas. My weak areas include computer advice and baking. Now you know.

Outer Layer

There is a certain mysterious allure of wearing a big winter coat. With so much coverage, no one can really tell what you are or aren't wearing underneath. For all anyone knows, I could just be wearing my sparkly tights and a Soulja Boy concert tee (Soulja Boy, really? That's the best I could come up with?)...

But I'm not, thanks for checking. I'm fully dressed and pretty proud of the fact that I managed to tuck a full-on lumber-jack shirt into this skirt...

Shirt? Jacob, thrifted
Skirt? Joe Fresh
Belt? Roots, thrifted

Tights? Old Navy
Boots? Kenneth Cole, Winners
Purse? Tignanello, thrifted
Jacket? hand-me down!

This is one of my big-gun winter jackets. It's warm. I've talked about it before but I sometimes have a hard time spending a lot of money on things I need. If I want something, I'll get lost in the moment and buy it but if I need something, I do everything possible to delay a big purchase in order to keep spending on my wants. I realize that is poor judgement... Thankfully, I have a wonderful friend who upgraded to a similar jacket, but with a hood, and gave this functional beauty to me as a hand-me-down. Love her!
I never really had a lot of hand-me-downs, which is surprising, considering I am the 4th child in a large Dutch family. I only have brothers, so while I did get a lot of my clothes second hand, I didn't have to join the 'wear out the sweater until you can see your elbows' line-up. Oh ya... I did get hand-me-down sturdy leather shoes. I'm sure they were sensible and good quality and all, but I just wanted a pair of those patent Sunday shoes with bows on them that all my friends had. Maybe all my shoe buying these days is a direct consequence of years of Dutch clodhopper wearing...?

New Year, Old Dress

Dear New Year' s Eve,
I don't mean to be rude but I agree with others in stating that you are over-rated. I have had many nights of stupid ridiculousness and legendary fun (sorry, Matt and I have been watching a marathon of 'How I Met Your Mother' and I can't stop calling everything legendary) but New Year's Eve never ranks that high. This year I decided that whatever happens, even if our plans change 6 times and nothing works out like I imagined, I was going to go all out and dress up. So I did and yes, I was over dressed. And between loving my outfit, kissing Matt at midnight and eating a lot of sushi, the night did end up being pretty good. But maybe next year will be the year when a legendary New Year's Eve becomes a reality...
See you in 363 days,
xo Yen

Dress? thrifted

Jacket? thrifted

Clutch? Vintage and gifted by my lovely parents

Shoes? Derek Lam, Holt's Last Call

Tights? ?

Earrings? Won from Briannelee

Gloves? Steve Madden, Winners

I'm embarrassed to say I have had this vintage dress (well, the coat and clutch too) for years. I finally gave it a good wash, took in the waist and of course, gave it a temporary shorter hem. If I actually spent a few days re-buttoning the open, hemming the conservative and fixing the holy (this is sounding religious...) the options in my closet would increase a lot! I am working on it, I even have a nifty little labelling system going... But it's hard to stay focused when I need to go online and check what old favourites are wearing. And then I keep finding new lovelies like Selective Potential, Song of The Exile and Second Skin and I lose even more time... So, I blame you! For being inspiring, funny and DISTRACTING! Can everyone please put on some old jeans and fleece hoodies so I can get some stuff done? Thanks.