Summer trip to Ottawa Part 1. A sinkhole, sight-seeing and shopping.

Whew!  Where has the summer gone!  It started with cold, gusty, gloomy weather, then I blinked and now it's September!! I must get outside to bask in the warm weather before it's gone.  It's been 20-30 degrees Celcius lately, and we know that in twenty short weeks it will be minus 20-30 degrees. 

Ya gotta love living in Canada, eh?

Speaking of Canada, the stylist (and most discerning critic) and I went to the nation's capital to visit mum, and do some back-to-school shopping.

The stylist was determined to shop-till-we-drop.  I was equally determined to show her the sights.  If you ever go to Ottawa, here are some places you may want to visit.

Here is the Byward Market.  Located downtown close to the Parliament Hill, the Chateau Laurier, and the Rideau Centre.  

Are those beaver tails in the distance???

The beautiful thing about Ottawa is that there are so many things to see downtown!  You can walk everywhere!!  You can walk around Parliament Hill.  You can walk along the Rideau Canal.  If you are thirsty, you can walk along Sparks Street Mall and nip into a pub.  There are many delightful places to eat and drink.

If you fancy a late-night walk, and you wish to learn about Ottawa's nefarious past - then plan to attend the ghost walk. 

When I was a child, my parents and I would walk to the Byward Market to buy groceries.  It wasn't gentrified back then.  You could expect stalls of fresh vegetables, and clucking, hopping livestock.  When you bought direct from the farmer, you got the best price possible.  Haggling was commonplace.  The low prices and variety of fresh produce attracted lower-income shoppers with many mouths to feed. 

My little ears grew accustomed to a polyglot of accents.  There was the sibilant 's' of the Gatineaux, the flat elongated vowels of the Ottawa Valley, and accents of newly arrived immigrants, all buying and selling fresh food.

I loved looking at cages of fluffy chicks, chickens, rabbits and the occasional goat, sheep or pig.  I secretly hoped that one of the chicks would hop into my pocket and come home with me!  I longed to have one as a pet - I would have built that little clucker the best shoebox house ever!!

Well the livestock is gone.  The grisly sides of beef that used to hang in the butcher shop windows, have been replaced with trendy, touristy goods.  Today's Byward Market specializes in clothing, trinkets and maple syrup. There are bars and restaurants galore.  Some of the old-style establishments remain though. Plus you can still find fresh vegetables and baked goods.  

View from the Rideau Bakery

Of course, no trip to the Byward Market is complete without an Obama cookie from the Rideau Bakery!

This is me, wearing one of my thrifted maxis, waiting in breathless anticipation for my cookie.

Eyes are closed, but still breathlessly anticipating a cookie!

Stylist plumped for the cheesecake.

Yum!

The Byward Market is next to the Rideau Centre.  We did a lot of shopping there.

Let me repeat that, a LOT of shopping.  

That part of the trip wasn't frugal at all!!!

During the stylist's innumerable forays to the change rooms, I was able to observe The Sinkhole  from various vantage points offered by the Rideau Centre.

This was the sinkhole in June.

The construction zone around the sinkhole.  Rideau Street was re-opened to traffic during our July visit.  

The Rideau Centre is conveniently located in downtown Ottawa.  If you're visiting the Parliament Hill, it's a handy place to nip in for food, do a bit of shopping, or to hop on a bus.  The Rideau Centre is a hub for OC Transpo buses.  Stylist and I purchased OC Transpo tickets.  Ask about their family day passes - they are very reasonably priced.


Stylist loves playing with makeup - in our downtime, she doodled a magnificent eye using my makeup palette.

Mum has a car, so we were able to drive to the MacKenzie King estate in the Gatineaux.  

William Lyon Mackenzie King was Canada’s 10th and longest-serving prime minister.  He bequeathed the vast, estate, which is perched on the top of the Gatineau Hills, to the people of Canada.  Today is a beautiful tourist area that is maintained by the National Capital Commission. There are heritage buildings surrounded by acres of lush greenery, with interesting doodads scattered about.  This is the guest cottage in Kingswood (the estate is divided into Kingswood, Moorside and The Farm).

Kingswood Guest Cottage of Kingsmere Lake.

Bedtime!!

Dindins anyone?

Next we moseyed through Moorside.  Mackenzie King was fascinated by otherworldy items. In particular ghosts.

Here is a cool bench flanked by stone angels.  Bits and pieces are from Westminister Abbey.

Secretary's office by day, seances at night.

Mackenzie King and his medium Etta Wriedt.

The view from the second storey.  Magnificent being at the top of a hill in the Gatineaus!!

Another item brought back from England?  I was quite taken with this lion.

While waiting for a table in the tea room, we read some old, government texts.  I wonder what kind of data overages Cablegram charged?

To Hitler, From Mackenzie King.

Smoked Salmon, salad and tomatoe soup - eatten on the veranda at the estate. Magnificent!

Of course, no trip is complete without checking out a thrift store.  Here are some finds from Value Village.

Pyrex in the wild!

A rather splendid maxi, I wish I had bought it.

Well, that's all for now. Stay tuned for Part 2.

A bientot!

Massive mid-summer savings and cold-weather countdown!

Hello friends! It's the end of July, the weather has been glorious and sunny.  And nothing says glorious and sunny like distressed denim.  I had a hankering to buy jeans and distress them.  Luckily the Salvation Army was having a 50% off sale, and I was able to purchase several pairs for cheap!

Funny thing about distressed jeans.  As a child in the seventies, I remember wearing jeans until they were so worn that there were holes in the knees and inner thighs.  Ripped knees were patched with colorful pieces of fabric.  Inner thigh areas were invisibly patched by carefully matching the color of the patch to the jeans.  Our family was very frugal with money, and I wore my clothes to threads.

When the eighties arrived, shredded and acid-washed jeans became popular, thanks to artists like Madonna and Def Leppard.  I'll never forget the shredded jeans in Pour Some Sugar on Me.

At the time some people considered shredded jeans scandalous.  The idea of purchasing clothing that had been deliberately damaged was shocking to some.  Now it's commonplace to fork over wads of cash for torn and patched jeans.  

Here are the pics of the jeans I purchased.  I plan to wear them as is.  Once I figure out how I want them to look I will distress them.  Perhaps I'll recreate a pair that I had when I was a kid.  The knee was patched with a colorful, homemade apple applique.

American Eagle and Gap jeans. Plus a 'granny' patchwork vest.

I also picked up a vest and a hoodie.  Don't fool yourself, crisp autumn weather is on the way - and layers are a great way to stay warm (without hauling out the parka).

Quilted light-blue vest and hoodie.

Whoa! What's this I see?

I managed to find some high-end jeans.  A quick Google search yielded the identical pair of Lucky's selling for three digits online.  Score!

I also scooped up another jean jacket.  Everything I purchased was $5 or less.

I have a fatal attraction to rayon, granny prints, and long flowing skirts.  Enter the 2-piece Tabi set of my dreams!!  I can hardly wait to wear them (separately).  This set was $3!!  How on earth did it not get scooped up by someone else?

A mint condition, oversized, black cotton blazer.  Perfect with a white t-shirt and jeans.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to win a vintage, mannequin head at the Salvation Army, silent auction.  I also snaffled this FOUR-POINT, Queen sized Hudson's Bay blanket.  I threw it in the delicate cycle in the wash and hung it to dry.  Now it's waiting for a cold, winter's night!!

These blankets retail for about $650 (I know, I priced them online).  So for $50 I was ecstatic to take this home with me.

FOUR POINT baby!

It pays to check all the departments at the Sally Ann.  I found these 3 Fire-King mugs for 99 cents each!!  Bring on the cold weather and the hot-chocolate!!

I conservatively estimate that I would have spent over a thousand dollars, had I purchased these brand-new.  My total was a little under a hundred dollars.

haha!

happy thrifting ;)

Thrifty handbag haul

Hello friends!  Well another interesting week for news indeed. Turkey foils an attempted military coup (good thing because dad is there!), Trump has a VP pic, and Pokemon GO has gamers stumbling about outside.

Phew, where to start?  How about some handbag pics. All of these handbags came from the Salvation Army for $10 or less.  I collected them over a period of several months.  They were in excellent condition.  I wiped them down with a disinfecting wipe and they were good to go!

I dithered whether or not to buy this purse, as I already have two others in this color.  But the workmanship was beautiful. - look at the even stitching that pieces the leather pieces together!! So this patchwork lovely came home to join the hoard collection.

Burgundy patchwork Ellepi, made in Italy, genuine leather.

I spied this adorable black and white purse on the racks and pounced on it.  I love Betsey Johnson!!

White and black, heart motif, Betsey Johnson.

Our Salvation Army has random bins of smallish items.  That is where I found this snakeskin clutch for $4.99!!  If you have time, check all bins and corners.  Poke high and low when you thrift.  You'll never know what you find, or where you'll find it!

Snake clutch, $4.99

On the topic of reptiles, this eelskin handbag was also $4.99. Whew!!

This lovely travelling set holds all  the essentials.  Manicure scissors, eye shadow brushes, eye-lash curler...indepensible, and a steal at $3.99!!  It will come in handy the next time I have to travel and look glamorous.

Our Salvation Army periodically has silent auctions.  I was the winning bidder on this mannequin head.  I call her Julie, as she reminds me of Julie Andrews. 

happy thrifting ;)

New clothing, a graduation and a lippy purse (now with text :)

My apologies to those of you that viewed this blog before I could add the text.  Judging from the images I posted, you probably got the jist of what this blog was about.

And now for your reading pleasure (or displeasure), I present a blog with pictures AND text.  

You're welcome :)

Since starting my new job, I've spent half a paycheck on new clothes.  Partly due to a recent weightgain, and partly because I'm working in a new environment that I like to term "casual/eccentric/nerdy/fashionable office-chic".

I tend to favour capris in the spring/summer.  After fruitlessly scouring the thrift stores I broke down and shopped retail. But I did manage to pickup a few things secondhand.

Armed with a 50% off coupon, I scooped up three pairs of capri pants.

I'll post my retail buys on another post...but here is some non-office clothing that I scooped up.

A nice pair of Ann Taylor green shorts, and a Laura Petites black t-shirt.  I was thrilled to pay $3 for each of these items.

Zowie! I cleaned up and found a bounty of dresses.  I think I bought about 7 dresses.  This Rouie dress is vintage, it probably retailed for $200 back in the eighties. It was in MINT condition...it probably languished unworn in someone's closet for years.

Some baubles.

Because it's so close to Canada Day, the Salvation Army stores are displaying all manner of red and white outfits.  I liked the lippy purse. I hope someone buys it and rocks it with a fabulous outfit.

I found a fluttery patchwork skirt made of saree scraps.  It has a cute rainbow strip situated right over my bum :)

Twirl like no one is watching!

My eldest daughter graduated from high school with exceptionally high honours.  I'm so very proud of her!!

She may not know it, but I'm getting her that bedroom suite she's been hinting at (shhhhh, don't tell her!).

Smiling!!

Finally, more outfit pictures!!  This is what I wore to the graduation ceremony.

A mix of thrifted and retail.
Jessica McClintock blazer, thrifted $10
Old Navy dress, $25
Shoes with glittery straps, $40
Vintage eel clutch, thrifted $5
J Crew bangle, gift

What did I carry inside my clutch?  My iPhone, a lippie, and a vintage mirror.

Here's a pic of my poor swollen feet the next day.  My feet aren't ready to be in strappy sandals just yet.  

I rather like this ring.  I bought it for a very reasonable price at an antiques store.  Sometimes ya gotta treat yourself, am I right?

A little rant follows.

People, please dress up more.  When I attended this ceremony, it was to celebrate the hard work and diligence of a group of high school students.  If these kids can work hard for four years, the least you can do is put effort into what you're wearing.  Please don't wear track pants, stained running shoes, or sloppy t-shirts.  

And for those of you that did dress to the nines, thank you.

happy thrifting ;)