Rainy Summer Fashion Round-up

I am sitting at my computer today, listening to the washing machine whirring and clunking, and knowing that once again we will NOT have dried-on-the-line-in-the-sunshine towels this week. Sigh. It’s been a rainy summer here in Ottawa, folks.

On a positive note, the rain situation is good for the wild fires in northern Ontario. And our basement has not flooded. Many in the Ottawa area have not been as lucky.

On the fashion side of things, I’ve gotten a lot of wear out of my Veja sneakers this summer, confirming my suspicion that I need a new, better pair of white sneakers. My newish umbrella is doing yeoman service and holding up spectacularly well. My second umbrella, bought in 2005 at Tesco in Yorkshire, and kept in my car for emergencies, has also proven useful to friends and family who didn’t think to bring an umbrella for an outing. I’ve proven to myself that wading through ankle-deep puddles in my old sandals from the nineties will not ruin them. And I have stopped obsessing about my hair. Hoods that smush and rain that blows under umbrellas in high winds render even the most carefully sprayed hair either flat or curly as shit. If you’ll pardon the profanity.

That’s my sister Carolyn and me, below, on our day out in Almonte recently. We’d spent the day before strolling around Manotick in the sunshine and visiting my favourite Columbian coffee shop for lunch on the patio. But the day we earmarked for the hour-long drive to Almonte was not as nice.

It rained. Then it rained harder. As we walked, and then ran, down the street to the restaurant for lunch it began to blow and thunder and lightening. When we sat down in the restaurant the power went out. So, it was cold salad for us when we really wanted some warm pasta or pizza. Later as we made our way back to the car, no sense window-shopping in the rain, and the power outage precluded browsing in closed shops, the power came back on. Just in time for us to visit Bob’s Bakery for treats, and the coffee shop nearby for lattes. Yah. We would not starve on the way home.

Not the day we’d planned, but we were not dismayed. Like last year when we got lost on a day out in New Brunswick it was, as Carolyn said, an adventure. Ha. Hubby still cannot believe that we got lost in Harvey, New Brunswick. If you’ve ever been there you’ll understand.

On the fashion-acquisition side of things, I’ve not been shopping for new clothes for myself since I bought my lace skirt back in early June, bringing my “Rule of Five” total to four new items this year. I bought a sweat shirt in Calgary because I needed something warmer than what I’d packed. A sweatshirt will be good for walking, or hiking, or working out. And according to “Rule of Five” rules work-out gear doesn’t count. Uh, oh. I just looked that up, and I may have imagined that rule.

I’ve not been vintage shopping or second-hand shopping at all this summer. A couple of planned excursions were rained out. The day I ran through a puddle in my nineties sandals being one of them. We’d nixed the planned vintage stop, and waited in the car while the rain lashed, before making a dash for the restaurant where we had a lunch reservation.

Except there was that wonderful consignment store in Calgary which my niece Ashley told me about. And it was, after all, only a five minute walk from my brother and sister-in-law’s house. And browsing second-hand clothes is a great distraction from worrying about a loved one who is in hospital.

Vespucci Consignment is an amazing place. It’s enormous and filled with pretty much anything you’d want. Jeans, tee shirts, active wear, dresses, shoes, whatever. Many of the pieces are reasonably priced, but don’t shop here for thrift-store prices. They have an impressive collection of high end garments too. Their stock looks pristine and way more affordable than the items when they were new. Although, even at consignment prices, some of the luxury items were way above my spending limit. Still they have a very smiley, friendly, and down-right adorable sales staff. See below. And my sister-in-law Yu Ling and I happily browsed, although we didn’t buy.

Despite the fact there’s nothing new in my wardrobe, I did make a summer fashion video this week, which you can watch below. It’s not strictly a fashion video. Because it’s not about new purchases, or new trends, or “new-in” pieces in my wardrobe. It’s mostly about styling instead of shopping and shopping my closet, with a few pithy thoughts (aka my opinions) on fashion in general. And there are lots of outfit clips.

Have a look. Hope you like it.

As usual I had fun making it. There are some glitches, of course. But I’m still learning, my friends. And I have a ton left to learn.

Thanks to Hubby’s golfing buddy, Jo Barkley-Probst, for the music. Jo is a wonderful musician and he’s so generous to send me his original music when I need something that will work in a video.

Hubby and I are off to New Brunswick next week. I’ll be posting from down there for a bit. Stay tuned for lobster anecdotes and rambling around the Maritimes adventures.

Okay, maybe not really big adventures. Just small adventures. That’s what we like best after all.

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