This was my second year attending the Festival Place Black & White fundraiser in Sherwood Park, and I knew exactly what I wanted to wear – this ivory Tibi dress I scored for a song (and $20, because no one is going to give me any prizes for singing) at Winners a couple of years ago. I wore it to my work Christmas party back in 2013, and it’s been sitting in my closet, sadly neglected, ever since. When I found these madly sparkly Marc Jacobs sandals at Goodwill a while back, the outfit came together in my head.
wearing ivory to a Black & White fundraiser … close enoughaction shot!
Close-up:
I spent three times as long doing my makeup … just so it would look exactly the same as always. sigh
Can you believe the whole outfit, minus the necklace (which I borrowed from my mom), cost me under $70? The retail cost would have been well over $1,000. I love when my thrifting pays off like that.
werk it!thankfully, i didn’t break an ankle wearing these shoes
Top, shorts & cardigan, Winners; sunglasses; Rayban; shoes, Josef Seibel
Every year for my birthday, I like to treat myself to something. (I know. Just for your birthday, Adina? Well, something extra special, that is.) This year, I decided to make it an experience rather than a material item since, God knows, I have enough things in my life. I chose to give myself the “present” of a day full of music with two of my good friends. Yep, I went to Sonic Boom. And it was amazeballs.
Obviously, I wore clothes doing it, but that’s not really important. It was cold and wet most of the day (the sun came out for approximately 2 minutes while I took the outfit photo, and then called it a day – sayonara, sun), so all that anybody saw were my khaki field jacket and ginormous scarf. But, boy, did we have a lot of fun! See, it started like this …
the three amigos
… and went up and up and up from there. Sonic Boom was held at Borden Park this year, and since it was my first time, I can’t compare it to previous years; however, I liked the venue a lot, and had the weather been nicer, it would have had a great festival-type atmosphere. As it was, we still managed to have a TON of fun … notwithstanding that we were the oldest people in the mosh pit by well over a decade. Why were we in the mosh pit at all, you ask? Well …
*heart eyes*but, seriously, have you bought The Desired Effect yet??what, this is not a BFlow Tumblr? Oh darn
Yes, dear readers, I died and went to heaven. This was my first opportunity to see Brandon Flowers in concert (solo or otherwise) and it blew away my expectations. I knew he would sound amazing live (because, per extensive YouTube, ahem, research, he always does) but I was not prepared for the stage presence and sheer entertainment value. Also, his hair really does look amazing even in real life. That’s some serious magic right there.
Anyway, there were other bands playing (including Hozier, who was also very good) but who are we kidding? I’m totally biased and I don’t care – BFlow forevah!
The next day, my girlfriends and I hit up Chinatown for some delicious dim sum, and I selfied in the lobby because it’s how I roll. My pals only rolled their eyes a little bit, and that’s why I love them. Just kidding. I love them because their middle name is Awesome (pronounced Oh-sow-mi because what else do you do at 2 o’clock in the morning after a great concert and a late night Denny’s run except come up with awesome pseudonyms … pun intended).
morning after dim sum – yum
Anyway, after brunch, it was time to go back home to the munchkins and trade parental duties with my husband, who got to experience his own day of Sonic Boom fun (I hear Tenacious D killed it). Birthday fun for all!
it started out promising, rainbow and all, and ended up cold & wet 🙁
NOTE: I was overwhelmed by the support and love that you guys sent my way after my last post, so I just wanted to write a quick note saying: thank you. THANK YOU. You guys rock. I’m still going through all your comments – and doing my best to respond to each one of them – and taking stock of your suggestions, and figuring out where the blog goes from here. I will probably do a follow-up post at some point, but it may take me some time to articulate all of my thoughts in some sort of coherent manner. In the meantime I’ve decided to run a few posts that have been kicking about in the drafts folder for a while. Hope you like them.
It’s March, and that means it’s time for another clothing swap. I host one every year (2014, 2013,2012) and every year I am amazed by (a) how many clothes I manage to accumulate (despite swearing up and down the previous year that it would not happen again), and (b) how much fun the whole thing ends up being, despite my twenty kinds of unnecessary stressing beforehand. Truly, the hostess power is not strong with yours truly. It’s probably because I don’t have a Pinterest account. Or perhaps why. (It’s a chicken or egg thing, really.) But, I do try:
Setting up (with a sneak peek at our living room remod)
This year’s theme was East Meets West (think sushi and hot wings), so I had to add some fortune cookies to the mix. On bunny plates that had absolutely nothing to do with the theme, because why not. (For the record, my husband picked those out at Winners. I bet you didn’t see that coming.) Anyway, it looked cute:
flowers & fortune cookiesbunny guarding the fortunesone more photo because my Costco flowers look pretty nice
Some of my guests asked about the floral arrangements, so I’ll share my “secret” here as well, in case someone hasn’t yet discovered it for themselves: Costco flowers, peeps. Four hydrangea stems, and two dozen roses set me back about $30, and they are ridiculously easy to arrange at home. And here’s my mom’s tip for getting the roses to open up nicely: when you get them home, cut the stems down and add ice to their water. Easy peasy.
Also easy? Store-bought dessert. Keeps the party prep time to a manageable level, and is delicious to boot.
the sweet loot
Since we’re talking about a clothing swap, I guess you might be curious about the clothes. Here is what left my closet (and my mom’s!):
those are not ALL mine, ahem …
And here is what came in:
LOFT lace top (sleeveless version)AG “The Club” flares
The LOFT eyelet sleeveless top is perfect under my work blazers, and the cream colour will be very versatile, I think. I decided to take the AG jeans, despite not being a fan of flares, because they fit me incredibly well in the waist/butt/hip area. These jeans have a definite 70s vibe to them, which seems to be a big trend again this year, so I figured this would be the cheapest way to try a new look. Because they are also extra long, I decided to keep a pair of super high platform sandals I had planned on purging. To balance out the shoe equation, I also got a pair of strappy Zara flat sandals. Oh, and some ginormous Cavalli sunglasses.
And then, there was this:
H&M green sheath dress
I remember seeing this dress on Jean, two or three years ago, so obviously it made an impression on me. I don’t really shop at H&M for myself anymore (I do buy some kids’ stuff there), but I figured this one was worth keeping around … at least for a while, especially with St. Patrick’s Day around the corner (and a client event where we’ve been encouraged to dress to theme). If it doesn’t end up getting a lot of wear, well, there is always next year’s swap!
This marked the 8th year that I’ve hosted a clothing swap, and it has never not been a ton of fun. Getting some awesome new-to-me clothes is a big part of it, for sure, but it is even better to get a chance to catch up with friends, old and new. So, if you’ve ever thought about hosting (or attending) a clothing swap – do ittttt! I mean, you probably won’t have a terrible time or anything.
And if you’ve done it before, tell me what you thought about the whole experience.
