Stacked

Cargo Pants? Mexx, thrifted
Silk jacket? Thrifted
Denim shirt? Gap
Boots? Charles David, thrifted
Bag? Roots (bought with b-day gift cards...)
Belt? Thrifted

I really, really like this outfit. Sometimes I make up an outfit in my mind and my mirror sends me back to change. This time my mind made my hand high five the mirror... which shattered it and got me 7 years of bad luck but 1 last day of looking good. Cargo pants, brown leather and sequins in one outfit? This outfit is stacked... Kind of like having LeBron, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosch on the same team (and no, I don't know those names off the top of my head, I asked Matt 'What's that team that has, like, all those good guys on it?'...)

When I bought this jacket last week, the cashier made a comment about me being something colourful for Halloween (the jacket came with a matching dress...because more is more is more) and I told her it was not for Halloween but this is just how I roll. And then when I wore this out, my brother-in-law made a Halloween crack at me too... too bad the lady at the thrift store said his funny line first. Seems like the brother-in-law needs to learn that jokes, unlike sequins, are all about quality, not quantity.

Toned Down

I didn't think I would have time to post today. It is my homeslice Kendi's birthday today and in honour of that day, I was planning on a getting a huge piece tattooed on my back. A Yendi tattoo... on one shoulder there would be Kendi and on the other shoulder myself and across the middle the North American continent. It would be tattooed in such a way that when I put on eyeliner with my right hand, Kendi would wave to me and when I reach for Dunkaroos with my left hand, I would wave back. It would have been awesome but Matt said that maybe it was a little much, so I just emailed her instead. The good news is that I have time to outfit post...

Jacket? Old Navy
Cargo Pants? Joe Fresh
Turtleneck? Joe Fresh
Sequin bolero? Betsey Johnson, UO
Boots? ?, Winners
Purse? Thrifted

I'm not sure I like the fact that I look like an explosion of off-white... my hair, my turtleneck, my jacket, my pants and my purse... I appreciate the texture and tone play in the monochromatic look but on the other hand, I feel the jacket is a little rosy beside the cargoes. I wore this to the vet and I am sure he was torn too... Him and the staff probably spent all weekend debating what colour my jacket is exactly... ecru? taupe? oatmeal?

Done and Done

If I were to write a letter to my future self (which I am pretty much doing right now, I guess), I would tell myself to never, EVER again spend the summer buying and selling a house (twice because the first time it all fell through, though the effort was there), making 2 wedding dresses and 6 bridesmaids dresses, taking night courses, trying to maintain a decent blog, landscaping full time, keeping up social appearances and failing at being a decent wife, daughter and friend.

I try to keep a chipper attitude on this blog but there have been times this summer where I have felt like I was one broken needle away from a major breakdown. And so, two weekends ago, when I finished my final wedding dress I wanted to run out and kiss the first person I saw. As long as that person was Matt, my Mom, my Dad or the mailman... It's still busy around here, we are moving in a few weeks and I have approximately a whole lot of nothing packed, but it feels so good to be done with dresses for a while. It's my fault for taking on the work, it always seems manageable until life snowballs and I'm working, sewing, blogging and ignoring Matt on a daily basis. It's hard to work outside physically all day and then get yourself in the mind frame to sew an invisible zipper in. And often I wouldn't sew because I was tired and I had 56 things to do... and then the guilt would set it. Every night this summer I was either busy sewing or feeling guilty about not sewing... and then feeling even guiltier because Matt would pick up my household slack without a complaint while I stressed out like a frantic bitch. I hate to use the word bitch (ok, it sometimes slips in) but I can't lie... I'm like a polititian really... Honestly, my customers are usually really sweet but all this dressmaking hasn't made me any happier, richer or anywhere closer to figuring out what I'm doing with my life.
Last week, a few days after the dress was delivered, I went out at night to see a movie and then caught up on blogs for about 3 hours and I didn't feel guilty at all. I did feel stupid when I could hardly keep my eyes open at work the next day but guilty? No.

While I really love this last dress (short, bow and bubble hem? eee! And to top it off a beautiful bride and blue pumps... can't wait for professional pictures!) and I think it's so cute that I want to reach out and pinch its cheeks, I think this will be my last custom dress for a year. Never say never because my Grade five punk ass said I would never wear bell bottoms and look where that got me... but I am saying, on the record, that dressmaking and I are on an official break. Please respect our privacy as we go through this difficult time (if you see tabloid photos of my sewing mahine and I, it's because I'm working on my mending pile) ... I know I don't want to sew for a living and somehow I need to make thrifting, blogging, dressing and landscaping fit together like a good pattern mix.

Autumn Runway

Trench? Handmade, thrifted
Skinnies? Gap Outlet
Boots? Stuart Weitzman, Winners
Shirt? Joe Fresh
Purse? Vintage boutique

Autumn is my least sarcastic season. I have something smart-ass to say about everything (sometimes that's not so good) but the beauty of fall turns me into a big ball of mush. I have the privilege of working on some amazing properties and lately there have been glorious moments when the sun cracks through the cloud cover illuminating all the golden leaves and I feel so thankful. I start with being thankful for the beauty around me and it spreads to a general feeling of thankfulness... our families, our friends, our jobs, our home, our kitties... It all begins with some colourful leaves and it ends with secret little tears of thankfulness.
It's a good thing a long, cold Canadian winter follows the fall. Too much of these good feelings and I might turn into a nice person.

I love this bubble-hem trench almost as much as the fall. I would describe exactly how much I love it but I think I just used up all the positive adjectives in the dictionary in the first paragraph.

Duty Calls

Skirt? Tevrow and Chase, end of season sale at Winners
Silk Shirt? Thrifted in Owen Sound
Shoes? Derek Lam, Holt's Last Call
Purse? Tignanello, thrifted at Talize
Belt? Roots, thrifted at Talize

I wore this outfit helping out at the church nursery last Sunday. I am not a particularly practical person but this was a little ridiculous. In my defense, I didn't know I was on the list for the nursery until I was sitting down in church. If I had been forewarned (ie. if my writing things down on the calendar skills were better), I would probably have begged off because of my major cold, but in the flurry of activity, my general snottiness was forgotten until I was in the nursery. Calm down all you mothers... I would never expose your children to my germs, I would only do that to my IRL friends (yes, that makes me feel cool to write IRL). Besides, I did my best to avoid unnecessary contact and I didn't share my toys with anybody... even if they said please.

I don't think there was a single element of this outfit that was suitable for nursery time. My skirt was so voluminous that it kept catching air and exposing, the silk shirt was a magnet for spit-up and the shoes had all 6 foot plus of me (5'11 plus heels) tottering around in a room full of toddlers. Perhaps I could have removed the heels but that would revealed the holes in the ancient pair of socks that I must have accidentally stolen from my dad at some point. And that would have ruined the whole look I had going on. They may just be toddlers but it's not too early for them to learn about fabulous. In this case, fabulous was the towering behemoth in the colourful skirt, sneezing her brain cells out in the corner.

Look Good, Feel Good?

Jacket? Roanik, Holt's Last Call
Jeans? Gap Outlet
Striped shirt? h&m
Boots? Modern Vintage, Winners
Wallet? Kenneth Cole, Winners

Crazy to think that over the course of this blog I have found a bit of my identity in between the racks of the thrift store. That's why I feel like I'm being a disappointment when not a single thing in my outfit is thrifted. Ahhhh... I hate being a fail. But this time, I liked my outfit so much, I didn't feel like a failure at all. It was the right mix of slouch and shine and I felt fabulous! Or at least I felt like I should feel fabulous if I hadn't been feeling sick instead (a lot of talk about feelings going on here...)
I am a big believer that dressing up can make you feel better... but even a favourite outfit wasn't going to keep me from my gross coughing yesterday. It has been the kind of cough that has friends lean back away from a hug and reach for the latex glove and give a high five instead. That's ok. I don't need your hug... I got my shiny jacket.

Birthday Gifts

Jeans and shirt? Gap
Vest? Thrifted
Boots? Kenneth Cole, Winners
Belt? Michael Kors, Winners
Purse? ?, Winners

An hour ago, it was my birthday (and yes, 2 hours ago was my bedtime...). I must have been an exceptionally good girl this year because Santa gave me a new house on my birthday. Or the bank did... but let's not get technical.

If you've read my blog for a while you may remember my excitement this spring over another house that seemed so right but ended up being so wrong... We took the summer off from house dealings because life was too crazy and we just got back into looking a few weeks ago. This time around things have gone a little smoother... our house sold in 4 days and we bought the new house within 24 hours of viewing it. Once again, the sale is conditional on inspection but I don't think this house is going to need $50, 000 worth of emergency work that needs to be done before the winter... or even before insurance would touch it. I loved the first house we conditionally bought this spring but in wiser moments I know that we escaped a housing nightmare.
I am 94.6% sure that this time around we got a keeper... if the inspection goes well, I could be the proud owner of a huge walk-in closet in a few weeks. A walk-in closet that we shall from now on refer to as, The Zone.
And just so you know, with the impending purchase of the house, the standard has been set pretty high for birthday gifts. Hugs and cards don't say 'I love you' quite like a new mortgage does..

Since the corn husk eyebrows were such a hit, I thought I would try burr bear ears... Don't try this at home kids... imagine my surprise when they got stuck... Very painful to remove.

By The Seat of My Pants

In true Jentine fashion I entered Merly's contest at the very lastest minute. If you are foolish like me, you have 12 minutes to enter before the contest is closed and I win. Not like it's rigged, I'm just wishing...

EDIT: Haha... apparently the contest is until Oct. 17th???? Oops! I rushed to enter before the deadline and now I find out I am new. No excuses now... go enter

Perks of Work

Shoes? Cole Haan, gifted
Jeans? J Brand, Holt's Last Call
Shirt? h&m
Sweater? Dez, thrifted
Sunglasses? Betsey Johnson, Winners
Leather Zip tie? Borrowed years ago from a boy I went to elementary school with because I was going through a 'I hate Avril Lavigne but ties are cool' phase... never returned it, oops! And yes, it bugs me that the tie is flipped over the collar in the last picture...

I know it miffs some people that I have a degree in Fashion Design but I choose to work in the landscape industry. I love the feeling of dirt in my hands, the deep sleep that follows a physical day and watching the plants we put in flourish (and if they don't do well, I take it way too personally). Besides, I don't know how most people's work week starts off but a few weeks ago, I went into work on a Monday morning and I was the proud owner of a pair of Italian made, Cole Haan oxfords by 10 am. I have some really great customers... I guess these shoes were bought by one of my customer's for her daughter a few years back but they never fit right, so they stayed in storage until my Cinderella moment. They. are. so. darn. pretty. I don't feel like the pictures do the workmanship on these shoes justice... If you ever come over for a tea, I will let you pet them.

However, just to stop me from getting too cocky about the perks of my job, the same week, I busted another customer's 65 year old neighbour enjoying the last rays of summer in his rather expansive birthday suit. I suppose that is just the ebb and flow of life, the up and downs that we all face... One day, life hands me patent leather carefully wrapped in tissue paper and the next day, life brings me naturally aged leather sprawling on a lawn chair.

Selfish Feelings

Jeans? h&m

Jacket? Zara

Sequin shirt? Thrifted

Boots? Modern Vintage, Winners

Bag? Winners

Lighting? Half truck headlights and half flash.

It sounds like a punch line but the more I think about it, I think it's no coincidence that I started my blog at about the same time that all my friends got pregnant. And now, a year and a half later, they all have babies and I have a blog. When I say 'all' my friends got pregnant, I am exaggerating only a little. Because while I have friends from many different aspects (work, school...) of my life, the girls in my core group of friends (you know, the friends that you have unspoken plans with every weekend and hang out with way. too. much.?) all did get pregnant within 3 months of each other. And so for the last year and a half, I have spent many parties sitting in the inevitable pregnancy or breastfeeding circle, clutching my wine glass in my one hand and the wine bottle firmly in the other. Perhaps it is cruel to drink in front of those who can't but when the conversation is 97% about nausea, cloth diapers vs. disposable, teething and nap schedules (this part I do not exaggerate, it really is 97%... please admit this...), I turn to my wine for relief. I am just not ready for that stage of my life yet but everyone in my life is at that stage already.

And because in Canada, there is a year maternity leave, these girls would often get together for play dates while I was at work. This is obviously perfectly natural and to be honest, I think that I, in turn, found a bit of an escape in the blogging community. A community who thinks it's normal to gush over the latest vintage treasure and that hiking in heels to find the perfect picture spot is just another day in the life of... I love this community and I love blogging but I do miss the carefree friendships of just a few years ago.

I have been sitting on this post for a while. After all, who really wants to admit that babies make them bitter? When I have nothing to write about, the words spill forth in a sarcastic fountain but when I approach a serious post, I struggle to write my thoughts in a fair way. The bottom line is that I have felt really left out this last year. My life changed so much without anything in my life changing (know what I mean?)... and I say that acknowledging that my friends lives changed even more but that was through an active change they made themselves. I can say in full confidence that I am a great friend, I have always taken friendship very seriously (when Matt and I started dating way back, I would often take a friend with me because they weren't in a serious relationship at the time and there was no way I was letting one of my girls stay in on a Friday night...) but this whole bitterness thing is infecting me. When my head is clear, I know that my friends would never mean for me to feel that my childless life isn't important, but in my frustration, the lack of phone calls, the lack of interest and the half-assed birthday wishes on my Facebook wall really stung. And I let these hurt feelings fester... never good. And I want it to stop because the frown lines on my forehead will soon need Botox and we haven't budgeted for that expense until 2016.

So, I am working on banishing the anger and trying to have more empathy for their schedule and their daily struggles and in return I seek 10% serious conversation, 8% political discussions and 12% pure frivolous talk... I can handle 70% baby talk. In fact, I am almost an expert by now.
And what does this post have to do with this outfit? I wore this out when I started 'dating' one of my close friends again. Gone are the days that I can make a bored phone call and end up with a friend on my couch after a night of random fun. Now, we schedule. Sometimes, a month in advance. But it works and it's good to just go out because I miss these girls and I think they miss me too. Because as long as I'm not a Bitter Betty, I'm a fun kid.

And the best part of going out was that my friend and I showed up in very similar outfits... without an advance high school outfit planning phone call. Black boots, distressed jeans, casual jacket and side slung bag... Turns out that we still share a wavelength... and a love for sweet potato fries.