Shoe Challenge #22: Closet 15-year-old

Honestly today, I have woken up and done everything as if I were 15.  I listened to Yellowcard, I'm wearing a band t-shirt (MEGADETH, because I'm that tough), used pink cream eyeshadow and purple eyeliner on my lower eyelid, got a retainer from my orthodontist (apparently my teeth have shifted a bit since I had braces, yikes!  At least it's only to wear at night).  To top it all off, my bangs are way too long because I'm debating what to do with them, and they are flopping in my face in just that "emo-scene" style I totally rocked in high school.  Oh, I was so cool, believe me!

Anyway, I'm kind of getting a kick out of it, so I thought I'd finish the outfit with these cherry print flats.  I love them to death, but they're fairly difficult to match with an outfit, even in summertime.  That's why they're not coming to France with me, but I'm really glad they'll be safe for my return!

Farewell to Kensington

One of my best friends lives in Kensington, which is basically a recently gentrified, former slum neighbourhood of Toronto.  Now it's really trendy, full of overpriced vintage and thrift stores, and overpriced restaurants and cafes.  Still, I like it, and I've probably spent a third of my time this year at my friend's apartment, thanks to our frequent homework dates!  She won't be living there when I am home from France, so this is really the end of an era.  Kensington, I shall miss you.

This is the only shot of my outfit taken all day, a really touristy one in front of the "Kensington" bike rack. (See, I told you it's trendy - people BIKE!)  So I'll just crop the photo for y'all!

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but I love bright, contrasting colours - and hats, of course.

This is another Shoe Challenge - see how fast I get through my shoes when I get desperate?  There are just five days left until my move to France, and I want to know my shoes will be safe for my return in a year!  These brown kitten heels are not stunning, but still cute and and so comfortable.  

Farewell!

Happy Birthday, Happy Father's Day

Today is my 21st birthday, as well as Father's Day.  My parents, twin sister, and I all went out for brunch which was sort of nice, even though I'm not on the greatest terms with my mother at the moment.  I guess that's something I should fix before heading off to France!  Later on I'll go have a few drinks with a girlfriend of mine.

Funny coincidence of the day: a school friend posted on my wall "Hope you're having a great day and wearing something 50s inspired" and in fact, this modcloth "soda fountain dress" has the very words "1950s-inspired" in its description!  Either my friend is psychic, or I'm just THAT predictable!  Anyway I had a lot of fun twirling in it!

 The boater hat is pretty much my signature.  I love adding hats to any daytime outfit, they make it instantly cuter!

Shoe Challenge #20!  I have these lace-up Mary Janes (ahem - Mary Joxfords?) in beige as well (worn here) and I just love them.  Got them a little dusty today in the process of photo-taking, but not a big problem.

Shoe Challenge #19 - primary colours

I like the way all the primary colours look together, even though I guess navy is a bit of a stretch for the "blue" component.  The red shoes were a bit of a challenge to put into an outfit, as they were my mother's and are just so 80s.  But anyway, this outfit is a bit of an attempt to overcome my fear of pencil skirts.  They have never been my favourite as I am distinctly pear-shaped, but I like how it worked out here.  Not much more to say, other than that packing for France continues and that I will be wearing this outfit downtown tonight to have dinner with a friend and probably a few drinks afterward at a casual bar.

Sorry for the ho-hum post today!  Without further ado:

Sorry for the terrible quality on the last one - it wasn't great to begin with, and then I cropped it.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Shoe Challenge #18: Office-ready...er, sort of!

I would totally wear this outfit to an office job, if I worked in an office.  The button-down shirt, tan accessories, and briefcase-like purse balance the girly combination of pastel green and purple, right?  Of course they do.  Instead, I'm wearing it for the usual errands - bank, pick up milk, Father's Day shopping, you know the rest.

 And a good thing too, because I absolutely love wearing purple and green together, and these are both lovely shades.  They also remind me of Ariel from The Little Mermaid, which is just one extra reason for me to smile!  The skirt started its life as a dress, but I chopped off the ugly smocking-tube top half (it was another thrift store find, so no tears were shed).  I was too lazy to add a proper waistband to the skirt, so I must now wear it with a belt every time.  Good thing I like belts!

I've worn these shoes to church on Sunday a few times but never photographed the outfit.  They are pretty much my favourite shape of shoe.  I find closed toe/closed heel pumps far more comfortable than sandals, slingbacks, or peep toes, and the platform on these ones is modest but supportive.

In other news, I'm still on my pink lipstick binge - I'm so happy it's in style!

A Woman's Right to Pink, and Shoe Challenge #17

On an old episode of Sex and the City, Carrie defends the woman's "right  to shoes" when her friend acted condescendingly toward her for spending so much money on a pair of Manolos.  I sometimes feel like the colour pink is a target too - for instance, I recently saw a comment that someone was not a "pink type of girl".  What does that even mean?  There is a shade of pink to complement any complexion - as long as you are willing to wear it!

I'm definitely a "pink type of girl" and these shoes are some of my favourite.  They are #17 to be saved in my shoe challenge before I head off to France in two weeks.  The heels will not be coming with me, but the skirt definitely will as it's unbelievably versatile.  This outfit took me to the shopping district downtown, and it's about to take me on a few errands.

Pink shoes - saved!  On with the challenge!

Time is Ticking! On with the Shoe Challenge!

In just thirteen days (June 27th) I'll be moving to France for a year.  Needless to say, I can't bring my whole shoe collection with me!  So I realized that I better get a move on with the shoe challenge, since the challenge will end while I'm still there.  I have been wearing my shoes, in very cute ways - I just have not been photographing the outfits.  So starting now, I'm going to aim for a challenge every day or every two days.   Presenting now: pink wedges!

Today I am going downtown to meet one of my best friends for a study date followed by a movie in her apartment.  Yay!  I got this peter pan collar dress in China for next to nothing, and although I like the nautical colour combination of the navy and white with red shoes and red lipstick, I decided to be a bit different and substitute pink.

Has anyone noticed that I'm unbelievably pale?  I always was, and always will be too since I'm terrified of skin cancer and premature aging and use tons of sunscreen.  Sadly, self-tanners never seem to look right on me.  Look how the pure white collar practically blends into my skin!

Cheerio!

Just a few vacation photos...

Well, I didn't end up wearing anything fabulous in China (due to my brother being such a grouch!  seriously...) but here are a few pictures that I think are kind of worth posting - some are to show you a single item I'm wearing, some are for sheer cuteness, and some are for humour!

My little niece, Rachel, watching the pandas at the zoo (and the man there is my brother).  I adore her baby hat with the big polka-dotted pink bow.  My friend says this photo reminds him of the Mirror of Erised in the first Harry Potter book.  I see his point.

My brother, my niece, and I at the zoo.  I love my own polka dot dress and my boater hat, both of which I purchased for practically nothing in Beijing.  I don't love how whoever took the photo AMPUTATED OUR FEET.  This is my pet peeve in all photographs, as it is just so unflattering to legs, generally makes a photo look worse, and ruins an outfit by not showing the shoes.

Too bad about the photo quality (indoor, no flash) but this is a fashionable toddler, I tell you!  She's already demonstrated an interest in my shoe collection.

I have terrible eyesight and wear glasses or contacts all the time - here we had just gotten off the plane and I was wearing the glasses for easy napping.  It's hard to see here, but I adore the cropped black pants I'm wearing.  Too bad about the foot amputation again.

My sister-in-law, Fiona.  My hair is doing its humidity-curling thing again, shame.  This pink top did not make it back to Canada - actually, I brought a whole bunch of clothes that were worn out already and I did not bring them home.

Feel free to laugh at my expense!  These surgical masks are used by many people in China for various reasons - in this case, I was wearing one because it was a windy day and there was sand blowing around.  For extra fashion points, I borrowed my sister-in-law's mother's jacket (it was chillier than it looks) and my horrible 4-years-old jeans from high school.  Don't worry, they didn't come home with me!

Not so buttoned up

Something I have heard about myself, personality-wise, is that I'm "buttoned-up" and I have actually never seen it as something bad.  That said, I decided to translate the phrase into clothing and unbutton a bit.

I stopped liking the spaghetti-strap tank top a couple of years ago, and now it reminds me too much of my 16-year-old self.  My collection of them now serves usually to wear under low-cut tops to make them more modest.  Hence, the unbuttoned button-down top instead of a cardigan.  It's 32 degrees!  And my hair is doing that humidity thing where it curls and my bangs look horrible.  Yay!

 I'm counting this as a shoe challenge: these flat canvas Mary Janes cost $9 at Urban Outfitters and are ridiculously comfortable in addition to being adorable.  They are quickly becoming my easiest-wearing shoes of the summer!

I'm back!

Back from China!  I said I would try to post while I was gone, but I didn't realize that you can't access any Google blogs there (same thing with facebook, causing me to depend upon my hotmail account a lot more than normal).  Communism ftw, eh?  But my outfits were generally thoroughly uninspired anyway, including me spending a lot of time in my brother's huge sweater, so no loss to the fashion blogging community!  Since I got home on Tuesday, the weather has been pretty obliging and I've been wearing some of my favourite dresses, but unfortunately my camera also broke while I was there and so I've resorted to the Macbook Photobooth for these.  Actually it's my sister's computer, mine is at the Apple Store for repairs.  Trust technology to let you down all at once.  But fortunately they are doing all the repairs for free, and the camera was pretty old and cheap anyway.  Still I'm broke at the moment...

Anyway without further ado:

I'm pretty delighted with how this outfit turned out.  It started with the skirt, the only below-the-knee length skirt I own.  I was forced to wear it (first time ever) because this morning I attended a traditional Roman Catholic Mass, in Latin with the priest facing away from the congregation and where women cover their hair with a veil and must cover from knees to collarbones.  I got away with the collarbones by keeping on my coat, it looked really dowdy and frumpy but flattering apparel is not really the point there.  I was also wearing frumpier shoes.  These kitten heel flip flops are Shoe Challenge #14 and I'm glad to save them now while I have my still pedicure from China :)

 I raided my Mom's closet for this top.  I was actually looking for hangers when this jumped out at me.  Sorry Mom, I have fallen in love!  And the flower belt is from China, another of my new loves.

Hot pink lipstick is something I used to wear when I was 15 and I got a bit of criticism for it, usually from boys my age, but I didn't listen to them.  I've never gotten a positive male response for lipstick of any colour, but who says style is for the enjoyment of men?  I'm delighted that bright lipstick is currently in style!  :D

I know I'm now rambling about this outfit but I'm just THAT EXCITED!!  My absolute favourite thing is the hair, another trick I learned in China.  It actually takes no more than three minutes, two elastics, and two or three bobby pins!  Yay!

Anyway, the bottom line (literally, this actually IS the bottom line!) is that I am now absolutely thrilled with an outfit built around what I previously considered the frumpiest skirt in my closet!  :D :D :D

Easter Weekend, and kicking off the sunblock season!

I know I haven't been posting here regularly!  I've just finished my exams and then was very busy with Easter.  Between Good Friday and today, I've spent about 6 hours in Church.  I am a firm Roman Catholic, and I do like Mass and find it inspiring and comforting in a lot of ways, but I must say after this weekend I'm all churched out.

So I guess it's sort of good (I feel bad for saying this) that on Tuesday I'll be heading to China, where there are just no Catholic churches and attendance is not an option.  Why am I going there?  My brother lives there with his wife and their beee-eautiful baby girl, Rachel.  I'm so excited to see them all!  I'll try to keep up my posting while I'm there, but I'm afraid my outfits won't normally be very much fun, my brother disapproves of "flashy" dressing and since I don't get to see him all the time I try to avoid fights.

Anyway, the point of this is to show my Easter outfits!  The first one here is from last night's Easter Vigil Mass, and I also wore it to cast my ballot for the Canadian election:

 This dress is Isaac Mizrahi for Target, so already a bargain, but I went two better and found it in a thift shop, AND on 50% off day.  So it was about $5.  Win!  Also: it's the start of sunblock season!  I use a moisturizer with sunblock year-round, but in the summer I go a little crazy.  Tanning is not only unhealthy, but for me it's just plain impossible.  I burn like crazy!  Good thing I've learned to embrace my paleness.

And on Easter Sunday itself, I thought I'd go a bit brighter and busted out the first of my sundresses.  Needed a cardigan for Mass, of course, but I'm so excited that it's finally warm enough to even consider getting out the thin cotton things.

 Maybe the outfit could have used a belt...I'm not sure what colour though.  Black or brown might be too harsh against the girly floral.

Shoeper Shoe Challenge #13!  I've actually worn these before, also to Sunday Mass, but this is the first time they lasted the whole day as part of the outfit.  Somehow I never wear these anywhere except Church, maybe it's because they're so ladylike?

Shoe Challenge #12

It's a warm day so I'm wearing lace!  I'm pleased that it's "in fashion" this season. I don't typically follow fashion trends, other than the most macro-level ones (shape of jeans, skirt lengths, etc) but I am generally pleased to note that something I would wear anyway is also fashionable at the moment.

As you may recall I've been having a bit of a crisis because taking photos of my outfits has alerted me to the fact that most of my skirts are shorter than I was really aware of.  This one I found in the kids' section of a thrift store (cheaper than cheap!).  It fits fine at the waist although it's a slight struggle to pull it over my hips, and it does count as a miniskirt on me.  I think the length is balanced out by wearing it with flats: I'll save my heels for longer skirts or pants.

I'm afraid my life is very boring at the moment.  This outfit is only for studying and a casual dinner out with several friends later on.  I promise, it gets more exciting!  In fact, I have a hard time studying because in two weeks exactly I'm going to China to see my brother, sister-in-law, and niece for three weeks, after that to New Jersey to visit my relatives, and then to France for my summer course!  How can I focus on American politics with such a wonderful line-up ahead of me?

I know I've already posted about the happy face nails, but they're really winning nails as far as I'm concerned!

These are some winning nails

I don't think I'm the first person to do this, but:

I definitely needed some exam-time cheering up!  Yellow nail polish and a black permanent marker!  The left hand drawing can be a bit tricky but I don't think I did a terrible job and really the little things always make me happy.  :D  For anyone else in the middle of exams, my sympathies!  Good luck, virtual friends!