Last week, I wore this Modcloth dress I got on eBay for the very first time. What was the hold up you ask? It just was NOT flattering. It originally had a big, obnoxious crinoline underneath that I promptly cut out to reduce the pouf factor, but it was still bad. I then took it to my tailor so she could reduce the volume further (take out the crinoline right where it started, as I had missed about an inch AND reduce some of the fabric in the lining.) The result? Almost there. I started to get sad that this adorable dress, a dress that I really liked on the hanger, but not on me, was never going to get worn.

 

As you can see in the photos below, calling this dress tent shape would be a compliment. It's more like an igloo shape! Even my boyfriend was like, "Wow hun, you're taking these photos for your blog? That dress is NOT flattering." I know babe, I know. At least I achieved the desired effect I wanted by taking these photos (I took these at 5am, so please excuse that. I left out the ones where I looked like a pregnant lady from the 1970s. Between bad lighting and poofy retro style dress, I guess that's what happens!)

As bad as this dress was, I was really intent on wearing this dress to the bar last Saturday (despite it being a summer dress) and I originally was going to pair it with a white shirt underneath in a pinafore type style. Unfortunately, my white shirt wasn't clean (along with about 8 other loads of laundry.) I decided to try a different take and was pleased with the results, mostly because it matched pretty well!

Outfit Details

Dress - Time For a Refresher Dress by Esley - Modcloth (discontinued)

Sweater - Crystal Clear Cardigan by Yumi - Modcloth (discontinued)

Purse - Purple Plummage Purse by Nica - Modcloth (discontinued)

Shoes - vintage Ferragamos

Earrings - Le Chateau

Belt - from another dress

That will be all my Saturday Shenanigans for a bit. My brother in law injured his arm at work and can't lift my niece or nephew so I have to go over to do the heavy lifting during bath time and bed time. It's not like I'm going to mourn the loss of my Saturday night. I haven't been going out much anyhow.

In other news, I finally got my business cards in! They look really pretty, but unfortunately I messed up the QR code thingy (either made it too small, distorted the proportions or it's just unreadable because of the paper I got it printed on.) I'll definitely spring for the nicer paper and rounded edges next time, after a few alterations. If you would like to see what inspired me to make these, check out this post on Sincerely Sara and the tutorial on Essentially Eclectic.

That's all for me! Just a pop in! Maybe my Movie Monday this week will be a Curious George movie, hahah. Talk soon!

Meanwhile on Instagram - November

I decided to make my Instagram updates a monthly feature. Although, true story, I didn't post on my Instagram account for half the month because I got booted out each time I went to upload a pic. It turns out the solution was to just turn my phone off and on so that all my apps would shut down (so that my phone wouldn't be so bogged down) but I'm not super technologically inclined and it took me literally half the month to figure this out. Most of the pics I uploaded to Instagram this month didn't even OCCUR this month, but that's when I posted them, therefore they get to be included in this post!

Top Row
1) While my mom was cleaning, she found this caricature I had done on my 11th birthday (in 1995) at Busch Gardens in Florida. I remember at the time, I didn't quite understand what the point of a caricature was and was quite horrified that I actually looked like that!
2) I took a picture of this painting after I finally got it framed (the frame is part of an early Christmas gift from my parents.) I got the print myself a few months ago from my friend, Justine. When I said I like cats in glasses, I'm not kidding! She has them for sale on her Storenvy account so if you would like one for yourself, that is totally possible!
Second Row
3) When going to the airport the other day to pick up my grandma, my mom made a pit stop at a CVS to get some Chex mix (which has mysteriously disappeared off our local shelves! NOOOO!) I saw these "Canada" mints and could not stop laughing. I know it's a super simple concept but I never viewed Canada as a novelty before.
4) This is my current Facebook cover photo and this was a scenario of me trying to look for anything to post on Instagram (knowing I was making this post today.) This picture is from when I went to Pittsburgh (on my trip centered around my visit to the Modcloth offices.) My ex, Mike and I also popped by the Monroeville Mall, the mall where the original Dawn of the Dead was filmed. The food court used to be a skating rink. Therefore, I'm "skating" in the food court (and getting a lot of weird looks.)
Third Row
5) Modcloth had a fun little challenge on Instagram (hashtag "modweekofthanks") where each day, you posted a picture that fit that day's theme. This was my picture for the food theme. Because I love pizza. This was a picture from our anniversary dinner. In related news, the pizza giving up has not been going well, but I'll update more on that tomorrow.
6) More of the "modweekofthanks" challenge. This day's topic was a lesson I had learned (and it's a good lesson!)
Fourth row
7) Another "modweekofthanks" (if it weren't for that, I don't know if I would have posted anything this month!) The subject was "view or landscape that makes you feel at ease." It doesn't look like much of a landscape. It's not pretty, or a landmark but it's the bar where all my friends go. And that always puts me at ease.
8) One day while walking home from the library, I spotted this pop vending machine for sale in someone's driveway. I thought it was funny (especially since Molson is one of the selections!) but would only think that price was worth it if it came with an unlimited pop supply.
Fifth Row
9 and 10) On my blog post about the Retro Suites, I used a lot of photos of the hotel from the business Facebook page rather than ones I had taken myself. So I posted them on Instagram instead.
Sixth Row
11) A "modweekofthanks" post of an animal I like. And duh, that would be Skippy!
12) While cleaning out my closet, finding clothes to sell on my Trend Trunk profile, I kept falling in love with everything I was trying on. Oh, the life of a clothes hoarder! I don't even think I've ever worn this!
Seventh Row
13 and 14) What was supposed to be a Shenanigans Saturday post. And this was the material I had to work with.

That's all for me! I'm sitting down to write some goals for tomorrow's post and one is definitely to post on Instagram more! You can follow me @coinforthewell. Talk soon!

Lots of Love for Luck Be a Lady Dresses

Chilly weather makes me cry. Maybe not literally but whenever I have to encounter it, I whine and moan and kick up a fuss. I'm back to baby-sitting my doggy (my mom is out of town for a conference and my dad is not good at taking care of things) so I have to go out every few hours to let him outside. And it's effing cold! The sun was actually shining today and I was debating heading outside for a photoshoot. It was really pretty with all the leaves. But then the wind would kick up and I could feel the chill to my bones, even with my huge parka and hoodie and sweater layering. I don't know how well that would go with just modeling a dress outside! Needless to say, I ended up going back upstairs to nap (aka hibernate) and am going to try for a photoshoot tomorrow (these photos are from before Halloween, before the rain and all the coldness.) However, for tomorrow's planned photoshoot, I might utilize my apartment building's library facilities. I had used them before when I took a photoshoot for a Modcloth review contest. It's not glamorous by any means, but I foresee it being my location of choice for most of this winter. My apartment is too cramped and usually too dirty for pics!

This is the last of the batch of the photos my mom helped me out on. And yes, totally busted, Hallowe'en decorations in the back. But I already admitted when they were taken, heh.

My parents bought this dress for me during the Modcloth Black Friday sale last year (it's the Luck Be a Lady Dress in Equine. It was discontinued forever but it's back on the site, although still sold out. Maybe it will be re-stocked?) I'm not a big fan of brown but I love the little belt details and I love the fit and flare. And HORSIES!

Cuff also won in this post and this post

Shoes also worn in this post

I decided to re-create this outfit for the blog after wearing it out to the bar and a lot of people really liking it. I think it's cute but not my favourite. Like I said, I don't really like brown! I did take a few pics of that night because I meant to post them for Shenanigans Saturday (which has gone the way of crickets lately - not because I don't go out but because I forget to take pics!) I will post those pics here, since they are semi-related.

I love these earrings. They were from this website called titanicjewels.com that I bought when I was around 14. These are the "strolling" earrings Rose wore in the movie Titanic. I also own the "dinner", "jump", "breakfast" and Madeline Astor's dinner earrings.

I got this coat off a swap group (although I did pay for it) and it's the perfect little topper! I've been wearing it with everything, even my casual clothes. Love, love, love.

Outfit Details

Dress - Luck Be a Lady in Equine - Modcloth

Shoes - Poetic License ("Tease" is the style)

Coat - Time After Time Wool Mix Coat - Miss Patina

Earrings - Titanic earrings that came out around the time of the movie. However I found this pair on Etsy

Headband - Ardenes
Purse - Winners

Cuff - vintage - similar one on Etsy

And since this is Wardrobe Wednesday, the name of the game is I usually say something I want more of in my closet. Ta da! I want more Luck Be the Lady dresses. They are so awesome. The flare of them is fantastic. When I went out that Saturday night, I went to talk to my friend in the DJ booth and when I stepped out, it just poofed up all around me. Not in an obscene way, but like I floated down. They are just so feminine and pretty! 

My pick out of the current Lady Luck Dresses list is the Luck Be a Lady Dress in Avian. I think it's super pretty and just really pops! The quality of these dresses is really great and at $74.99, I think I might have to collect them all. To see the others, check out Modcloth.

I love Modcloth, but I also love eBay. I'm going to be on a quest to find the discontinued ones. Look how pretty they all are!

That's all for me! Any items you own in multiple patterns or colours? Anything in your daily routine you've had to do differently now that winter has rolled around?

 If you'd like to see all my best looks from the season, check out my wardrobe wrap up post!

Talk soon!

Mini Shenanigans

Not too much in the way of shenanigans this past week! My dancing buddy, Elly was away in Grand Bend, Ontario and many of my other friends have moved on from the bar scene. I think I am getting old. Most of my friends are spending more and more weekends at home instead of out partying. Even I'm frequenting the bar less and less. I've never been one to drink, but I like to get dressed up and see my pals. I'm not sure how much longer Shenanigans Saturdays will survive! My boyfriend, Logan has already started working again at the bar and I've put in my name to do coat check for when winter comes.

However, here are some pics for now!

Mmmm, crappy phone mirror pic. Only pic of the night where I got my gold Ferramos in the shot though.

My boy was not so impressed that I wanted to take a bunch of selfies while he was working.

I asked my boyfriend to take my picture and he sort of just waved the camera in my direction, snapped a shot and went back to work. I gave him such crap after for cutting off my shoes, haha.

 I also had my friend, Brandon take this shot. It's a painting my friend, Sergio did to deck the bar out Hallowe'en style and they left it up because it's AWESOME. I can't believe I never had a photo op with it before.

Outfit Details

Dress - Louche - Joy the Store - $48

Shoes - vintage Ferragamos - similar ones here 

Purse - Ardenes

Earrings -  Modcloth - discontinued   

Here's to more shenanigans!

Silly Rabbit, Shenanigans Are for Suzy!

I never know what to name the titles of my blog post. How do people name these things regularly? Since it is Shenanigans Saturday and since I have a dummy account for Pinterest named "Silly Rabbit," I decided that this was the only natural thing to name this post. I don't know what I'm going to do for next Saturday though!

Anyways, onto the shenanigans! The shenanigans are actually from last Saturday. I took the pics on Saturday night and unless I wanted it to be Shenanigans Sunday, I had to wait until now to post them. My friend, Emily had a going away shindig at my favourite bar, the Loop. She is moving away to British Columbia so we had one last hurrah before she left. Here are some pics I took to commemorate the occasion.

Also, rather than dancing, I took some super creepy pics of my friend, Elly dancing, insisting they were for the blog. Oh, my poor friends. I'm so annoying.

 

The dress is from Forever 21 that I picked up in a lot of 6 items for $25 on ebay (score!) but you can pick up the same one on Poshmark. If the item has sold or not your size and you would prefer to just get an inspired version of this dress, try one of the ones below (note, I wasn't kidding when I said I've been on a mint kick! Although this dress is more of a teal/turquoise, I felt like I was looking at all the same items while making the Polyvore board for it.)

1) Come What May Dress in Jade - Ruche - $48
2) Peppermint Iced Tea Dress - Modcloth - $48
3) Vanilla Mint Tea Dress - Modcloth - $120
4) Shore Enough Dress - Modcloth - $73
5) Sparkling Water Dress - Modcloth $80

In other fashion related news, Modcloth is having a Pinterest contest! In honour of Homecoming Season, they are giving away $250 to 2 winners for pinning their party looks. Find out more on the Modcloth blog - blog.modcloth.com/2013/09/05/party-dress-pinning-party/  If you are interested in my picks for the contest, you can check them out here. Unfortunately I read about the "Homecoming" part too late and all my picks are just dresses I would wear to casual party affairs. Ah well!

I've had this song called "Natural" by Germany Germany in my head all week. I discovered it randomly on my iTunes after my friend and former co-DJ lent some tunes to me after my old laptop fried and I was left without any music. It's a decent enough song but gets really annoying when it's all that plays in your head. I'm hoping it will be like this Portlandia skit, where if you watch it, you will be cursed with it in your head instead of me. I will leave you with both videos.

 

And now the Portlandia skit! Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend!