An Orange For All Seasons

Two weeks ago, it was around 5 degrees Celsius...

 We had a retirement reception for a colleague who is much admired and respected by students and   peers alike, and I wanted to wear something fun.

dress - Stella Luna Vintage
Belt - thrifted
Flower brooch - Sarah Misfit
striped tights - Winners
ankle boots - Talize
leopard headpiece - The Style Crone's Studio sale

 A photo from the reception, taken with my friend and colleague, Lili, who has a wardrobe of awesome dresses - the one she's wearing in this photo is one of my favourites.  Thanks to Ella for the photo.

I found these men's Florsheim ankle boots at Talize for $13.  I love the rich caramel colour, and the leather is buttery soft.  I often have better luck with men's shoes for comfort because of the size and shape of my feet, and these are one of the most comfortable pairs of shoes in my closet.

Flash forward to last Friday -  it was 23 degrees


I had to dress for yet another event - orientation for our new group of students.  I'm the first person they meet, so I try to make a good impression...

I had purchased this dress at Jackpot Vintage when they opened their current downtown location, about three months ago, and the weather was finally warm enough for its first outing.  The fabric is some sort of man made stuff - I believe the label says "Tercel" - and I made it through the entire day with no wrinkles.  And I kind of felt like a lady......

......a lady with a much larger rack than usual.  Thumbs up for pleats!

my bracelets came from a clothing swap last summer

Giving Winter THE BOOT!

 Yep, that's me, giving Winter a boot in the arse, and flashing a whole lot of red-clad upper thigh.

and speaking of boots.....

Don't I look rather smug in my new grey boots that I picked up in Toronto when I was there a couple of weeks ago?  My outfit was so damn co-ordinated because I was asked to give a guest lecture about blogging in one of our undergrad classes so I thought I should at least look like I knew what I was talking about.  I guess it went ok - no one feel asleep and some people even asked questions at the end.   I realized just how short this dress is when I sat on the desk at the front of the classroom and had to shift my legs to the side to avoid corrupting the students.  To my credit, I did have a floofy slip underneath. 

patchwork dress and velvet scarf - Mesh Clothing Boutique

grey distressed leather boots - Scarpino 

And yet another pair of beeeyoootiful boots.....

I wasn't the only one who came home from Toronto with fab new boots.  Behold the ribbon-laced beauties that Heather found at the Dr. Marten's Toronto store!  She found the turquoise bag at Stella Luna, a  cool vintage store in the Parkdale area of Toronto, that has very reasonable prices.

The boots have the added "Squee" factor of being lined with flowered fabric that can be displayed by turning down the leg into a big cuff.  The ribbons and flowers add just the right amount of feminine flair to an other wise tough-looking boot. 

Forest City Fashionista's rule of Arse-Kicking - always do it in the most fabulous boots possible