de facto redhead

I’ll take five!

Hi, friends! Sorry I have been so incommunicado on here lately. I do have a good reason, though…I’m moving! Not just moving apartments, but moving way, way across the country to Ontario. Back to my homeland! An Ontario girl for all my life, minus the three years I have been an honorary Albertan, I am beyond excited to be heading back home to my family and friends who I have only seen about twice a year since 2007. That might actually seem like a lot for someone who lives over 3,000 kilometres away, but I’m a greedy type of person who likes my people where I can see ‘em! And see them I will, once Darcy and I hit the open road sometime at the end of June. (HUGE thanks to mine and Darcy’s families and friends for all their help so far – before we have even an Ontario address! Blind faith is a wonderful thing. Haha!)

So, since I have been busy organizing my upcoming new life that’s going to exist in the Oakville area, just outside Toronto, I haven’t been putting much creative effort into my outfits, hence the lack of Fashion and Me posts. I’ve been up late at night, and then often up early (because having to go to work doesn’t stop being a reality, unfortunately!), so my uniform has become jeans with a simple T-shirt tucked in, with a belt and minimal jewelry. It’s an easy look that’s quick to throw together when I’m bleary-eyed and forgetful and entirely lacking the motivation to mix and match. It doesn’t help, either, that I’m liquidating my furniture (and what seems like my entire apartment!), and everything that was in my dresser is now in a pile on the floor. It’s kind of sad to see my things getting carted out the door, and I was super-resistant to the Great Liquidation of 2010 when Darcy was pushing for it, but I have come around to the practicalities of it. Why was I holding sentiment with an IKEA dresser, anyway? Or a desk? It does seem pretty silly. And, I remember once, when my brother and I were moving a different dresser of mine to our parents’ storage unit (ye olde lockup!), we accidentally let part of it drop and the entire thing splintered down the middle. We laughed our heads off. Conclusion: dressers don’t matter!

But, what used to be on top of my dresser DOES – and that’s my jewelry. My precious, precious jewelry! This is a post/visual treat I have been meaning to do for a while, and it doesn’t involve me thinking about an outfit, so without further ado, I present the jewelry box of De Facto Redhead! (Remember, you can click on the picture to make it bigger and get a better view!)

Recognize anything from previous Fashion and Me posts? How many pairs of earrings do you think I have in there? And, just so you know, there are more earrings underneath the drawer thing where my rings are, and there are more yet in the little doors that are closed. I also have an extra Rubbermaid thing with drawers that houses the rest of my necklaces and beads. You thought this was all I had for necklaces? Sheer naivete, that….

Shoes, Aldo; tights, Secret; dress, Garage; jacket, KensieGirl; earrings, Forever 21.

Brooch, Forever 21; purse, Aldo; bracelet, vintage.

Happy Birthday to Tracey! Above is what I wore last night to celebrate friend and co-worker Tracey’s birthday at restaurant Il Pasticcio and bar Prohibition. Consensus of the evening: hot buns pre-meal were great – I had two, which I knew was a mistake because of the large pasta dish that was looming in my near future, but I want to know who can resist a hot bread basket? WHO?! Said looming pasta dish “Pasticcio” was “five varieties of pasta, with two types of cheese baked and served with tomato alfredo sauce.” And yes, I did get extra Parmesan sprinkled (i.e. poured) on my plate. Mmmmmm….cheese coma. Moving on, celebratory “My Little Pony” martinis that were some sort of berry blend of pure alcohol were just OK – looking back, not worth buying two, which I did. Whoops.

Off to Prohibition, somewhere I hadn’t been before. The highlight for Tracey was the bocce-ball lanes inside the bar, and from the looks of the pictures from last night, she REALLY enjoyed her time on the dusty pitch. The highlight for me, though, was the $4 Absolut flavoured-vodka special – one cranberry juice and peach vodka, please! OK, sure I’ll have two. But, despite that decision, I was good little editor (mucho work to do today on current book edit), and went home at midnight after the other ladies decided to mosey on over to another bar where there was dancing. I admit, the temptation was strong – I love to dance! – but practicality won out. What wasn’t practical, however, and whose price was entirely out of my control, was my cab ride home. I was Miss. Economical Super Saver on my way to dinner and took the required bus-subway-bus-walking route to the restaurant, but since I didn’t feel like getting assaulted last night (go figure!) I opted for a taxi. Um, the meter started at $6.60!!! I thought (and still think) that was outrageous! Luckily, I didn’t have a long cab ride to suffer through while I steamed in the back seat about the rising fare, but I will say that I was still fairly close to fuming at what seemed like every traffic light turning red as the driver approached it. Me no likey.

As a complete 180 (360? I can never remember this turn of phrase.) from dressing up last night (and during which at no point was I jacket-less – I just thought the dress deserved to be revealed to you in its $10 glory since it stayed covered up derniere nuit), I got out of bed at noon, edited for a large portion of the day, and did nothing with my appearance other than put my hair in a ponytail and change out of plaid pyjama pants and a ratty T-shirt into Adidas pants and an even rattier T-shirt that my dad bought me from the Hard Rock cafe in Vancouver when I was about 13. I’m not kidding. And with that lovely visual, I said good-day!

Yes, it’s true – each dress is from Liquidation World! The black jacket in the last set of pictures is also an LW special. A very fun package arrived from my mom this week – after my previous post on my KensieGirl finds, she was on the lookout for more at her closest Liquidation World, and true to form, mom scavenged and found the gems! She called me right away, and there was much ooooohinh, aaaaahing, and gasping at the prices. “It’s so cheap! Oh, you’ll never believe it! It’s just the greatest thing!” I think my mom ran from the store like a fugitive once she paid for the clothes.

Which look you you like best? (Remember, you can click on my pictures to get a larger image and a better look at patterns, etc.!)

DAY 1: Carla Corduroy – Dress, $15

Boots, Aldo; dress, KensieGirl.

Bracelets from left: Gift, gift, vintage, vintage, gift; earrings, vintage.

DAY 2: It’s Bohemian, Baby! – Dress, $15

Shoes, American Eagle via Payless; tights, Secret; dress, KensieGirl.

Earrings, gift from mom; brooches on necklaces, and necklaces: combination of vintage, a gift from mom, and a gift from Susie.

DAY 3: Mod Times – Dress, $5; Jacket, $20

Shoes, Aldo; tights, Fruit of the Loom; dress, Mark. (the Avon brand!); jacket, KensieGirl.

The red lipstick strikes again.

Earrings, gift from brother; ring, Aldo Accessories.

The excitement surrounding Sex and the City 2 is mounting as every day goes by – and it’s not just my friends and I who think so. Kristin Davis is on the May cover of Fitness, and Sarah Jessica Parker is on the cover of May’s Vogue and June’s Marie Claire, with a special cover-insert spread in MC that has Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Parker all dressed up with a million places to go. I also read recently that bars are prepping themselves for the onslaught of women tottering up to the bar to order their requisite cosmos, and there was an article in the newspaper the other day about a drink that was made  in honour of Mr. Big. It’s Sex mania! And here’s me, lovin’ every minute of it, as evidenced by my recent purchase of Candace Bushnell’s teen novel, The Carrie Diaries.

This book gives SATC fans a much-wondered-about look into Carrie’s life before she was spending upwards of $500 on a single pair of shoes. The Carrie Diaries even takes place before, to quote Stanford, “she rode the subway and wore Candies.” Instead, this is high school in the ’80s, and Carrie is a fledgling, closet writer, a girl whose unique fashion sense is touched on but not made a focal point, a young woman whose hair we don’t even find out is curly! But, Carrie is also someone with a lot of musings about love, life, and the tricky social strata of high school. Not an outcast, but not the most popular girl, either, Carrie’s adolescent life as a senior in high school revolves around her best friends Lali, The Mouse (a.k.a. Roberta), and Maggie – that is, until Sebastian Kydd moves to town and throws everything out of whack in every way possible.

However, between the boredom of life in Carrie’s small-town Connecticut and the ups and downs of her relationship with Sebastian, and then the ultimate disappointment of not only his betrayal but one of her friends’ as well, she comes out on the other side of graduation with the spirit of Carrie intact – and thanks to the book, we get to see how she did it.

OK, sure, that’s all fine and dandy, but at the base level, forget the plot and the story that we’re supposed to talk about, and just think about what you really want to know: Is Carrie in the book Carrie in the show? Huh? Is she? Is she? Well, she is and she isn’t. First let me say that I enjoyed Diaries immensely (isn’t that obvious by now?), and that’s partly because it’s not like Bushnell’s adult novels at all. I read 4 Blondes, and about a quarter of Trading Up, and in both I found the tone too pretentious. Yes, I get that the worlds Bushnell writes about are pretentious ones, but she often portrays those worlds in a way that’s unrelatable to the reader, with what seems like insider quips and upper-classisms that not everyone is going to understand, or even necessarily care about.

But, The Carrie Diaries! I read this book in a day, so all the details of it were fresh and sharp in my mind after each page flip, as were the details of the show that I know so well, because, um, I have large portions of its six seasons memorized – the result of viewing after repeated viewing. Book Carrie versus Show Carrie is a large point of contention, though – just take a quick look at some of the reviews of the book on amazon.com.  Most people (read: women) seem to waver between loving the book and forgiving that not every detail is “true” to the Carrie they know from TV (I am of this persuasion), and being supremely annoyed that the details were not followed. This exact gripe was one of the first things I complained to Darcy about, and he responded that Bushnell had no obligation to follow what the show did or said because she’s the one who created the character in the first place. I suppose that’s true, but I think at this point women are more connected to the Carrie from the show than the Carrie from the Sex and the City book, and there’s no going back from that.

So what are the differences causing so much ire? There were three discrepancies I noticed:

1. In the book, Carrie’s father is her and her two sisters’  (yes, Carrie has sisters!) sole provider because their mother died when they were young; in the show, Carrie’s father left her family when she was child.

2. In the book, Carrie is in her last year in high school, and is a virgin; in the show, we know she lost her virginity in high school, on a pool table (smack of gum, and a wink to Charlotte).

3. In the book, Carrie COOKS from a Julia Child cookbook; in the show, she jokes that she uses her oven for storage. (Can you think of an instance when Carrie ever sat down and ate a meal at home, besides when Alex cooks for her there, once?)

Perhaps because of these differences, I felt disassociated with the Carrie I “know,” but this fact didn’t end up bothering me, as I mentioned, because the story was too funny and interesting to dismiss, and because it was set in high school, it was relatable in so many ways. The Carrie Diaries was a fun read made all the better by the end of the book, when Carrie goes to New York City for the first time to take part in a summer writing program before she goes to college at Brown in the fall. The closing dialogue exchange, specifically the last two words, literally made me slam the book shut, squeal with delight, and yell, “I can’t wait until the next one!!!” Darcy then proceeded to make motions and sound effects like my head was exploding. Buy and read The Carrie Diaries so yours can do the same!

Shoes, Aldo; tights, Fruit of the Loom; dress, KensieGirl; jacket, H&M.

Shoes, Payless; tights, Fruit of the Loom; dress, KensieGirl; jacket, Costa Blanca.

OK, friends. Last Thursday I went to Liquidation World to partake in their fashion and accessories sale, and even though I found two great bangles there a few months ago, I wasn’t expecting much in the way of clothes. I was wrong, oh so wrong. After trying on about 15 different items from skirts, to blouses, to dresses, to halter tops, to blazers, to jeans, I finally settled on the four things that fit me best: the two KensieGirl dresses you see above, and two pairs of Paper Denim & Cloth jeans. And now, for the prices – the peak of my Liquidation World coup:

KensieGirl dresses: $15 each

Paper Denim & Cloth jeans: $19 each

Total at LW: $71.40; Tally It Up 2010 total: $273.39.

I was on a giddy shopper’s high! I don’t remember the drive home! The clothes were mine! All mine! I’m dancing on exclamation points! Boo-boo-bee-do!

The scene today in Edmonton.

Hi, it’s me, winter. I wasn’t very pleased when you showed me the door as soon as May arrived, so I decided to come back for one more bitter kick to the head, hmmm? I don’t care that you were wearing shorts two weeks ago. Really, eff you for disparaging me from November to March. I like to see you wear gloves, a scarf, a hat, a winter coat. It’s especially funny to see you rummaging around in your car for the snow brush and getting your jeans soaked because you had to sweep off a foot of snow from the roof of your car. But, don’t you see? I hurt because I love.

Are you a woman who loves herself a great fabric pattern? Fawns, pets, strokes, touches it over and over again in awe of just how much you love it? And then when that pattern magically becomes a real, tangible something you can actually carry or use every day? Ahh, bliss! If this sounds like you, or someone you know, please allow me to introduce Dear Edna, gorgeous home-sewn products that are more than worthy of every ogle they’ll undoubtedly get.

The creator of Dear Edna is my own dear friend, Erin, and she recently started her business as a creative outlet for her very talented seamstress’ fingers. Cute tote bags, reversible his/hers aprons, and functional yoga bags are her current specialties, with her specially monogrammed Dear Doily Tote (pictured above, and coming soon in purple and grey!) a particular item of note for its instant popularity. The Etsy community is already buzzing about her work, and Dear Edna’s items have been featured on the site as top picks more than once in the six weeks that Erin has been an official lady entrepreneur.

As you can tell by the name of the company, Dear Edna is focused on retro ideals, and Erin’s inspiration comes from “a time of bold prints and wood panelling; full skirts, brooches, and lace; doilies, fresh-baked bread and tea in pretty tea cups; stationery, letters, and home libraries.” If that doesn’t have you  yearning for a Ladies’ Society meeting in heels, a gingham dress, red lipstick, and a touch of Aqua Net, with a few of your favourite Gerts and Beas thrown in to provide the fun, where-oh-where is your sense of whimsy?

Never fear – you can find it once again at Dear Edna, where stylishness blends in a perfect mix of versatility and quality. With Dear Edna, everything is “made like it used to be.”

*Dear Edna is offering 10% off your purchase until the end of May if you tell her in the “message to seller” section during checkout that you read about her on De Facto Redhead!*

Check out the Dear Edna shop at:

www.dearedna.etsy.com

You can also “like” her on Facebook, and follow her blog at:

http://dearednablog.blogspot.com/

Toodle-loo!