Friends galore and imaginations gone wild

Uh-oh, someone got into the maaakeup!

This is what happens when friends come to town - all hell breaks loose, usually on my face. And on my friends' faces. That's Shelley of Forest City Fashionista on the right. She visited Vancouver for a while and we got into all kinds of trouble.

But things really got started for me on a trip to Toronto where I hooked up with Suzanne Carillo when my work finished early. Suzanne took this photo in a cool consignment shop called Common Sort on Queen Street East. From there, we wandered the neighbourhood and had some laughs and a bite to eat at Tabule. Unexpected mini adventures are the best kind!

The day I got back to Vancouver, Shelley arrived in town, and the forecast was for sun, sun, and more sun. Plus, I had a grip on my workload, so ready or not Vancouver....

On our first day we wandered into Nordstrom where we promptly got lost in the sale racks in the designer section. We are die-hard thrifters but couldn't help ogling the spangles, boucles, plastics, and denims, all at eye-popping discount prices(!). One thing led to another and before you know it, we were arms akimbo throwing stuff on in the change rooms. Big thanks to Mary Jane who enabled us!

"What do you think, Shelley?" "I dunno, Mel. I think the sleeves could be longer. Which reminds me, wanna go see that zombie movie?" And yes, we did go later, The Dead Don't Die, by fave director Jim Jarmusch, starring Tilda Swinton and Steve Buscemi, among others. (It was didactic. That's all I'll say. And Tilda stole the show, as usual.)

That's a new thing for me below, poses with hands around my face. It feels so wrong but a photographer told me that it "reads well on camera." Okay, fine, so I'm practising. We had some laughs as I tried out new moves. My favourite so far is the "pulling-off-my-own-head pose," not shown here.

Doesn't it look like I'm in a moisturizer commercial? Or maybe I'm just remembering that I forgot to buy Ted a new jar of Nescafe instant coffee. And also, who's Ted? And why am I buying him coffee?

Shelley was afraid to come too close because there was a padlock on my coat. Clearly, I must be a secret agent and that lock is keeping all my feminine secrets safe. Or maybe that's a new super mini handbag. Cool! But if it is, don't you think it would be kind of awkward fiddling around there every time you need cash? Plus, it would only hold bit coins.

Those "pants" actually have feet on them so they are tiggings (tights/jeggings - I made that up). They are a bit see-through but I got-got-got no time to figure it out, cool as this ensemble may be, and despite it being the most "affordable" set of the lot. I bought the sunglasses at Common Sort.

Those pink pearlescent cycling shorts on Shelley are dazzling we both agreed. Except they didn't fit. Minor detail? - in a thrift shop, maybe, but sadly not here. At least they look awesome from the front and sides. And for a laugh and great photos, they are a deal.

I erased the light reflections on my sunglasses in the next photo. I was swooning over this zesty lemon coat, just the thing for a hot June day. In fact, it is! But I didn't buy it. And the dress looks great on Shelley, but we weren't shedding tears over not being able to buy either piece; not wanting them made us feel better. For me, there's something unnatural or off-putting about perfection.

And no wardrobe is complete without a suit. For months I've had my eye on the jacket Shelley is wearing. There is a skirt thing that goes with it. Basically, the jacket has been chopped zig-zaggedy and you can wear it buttoned or flopping. I like the freshness of the idea, but it's the kind of thing we could fark ourselves if we wanted to, but won't - it's been done already. Shelley's shorts look great with it though.

The suit I'm wearing is a tad out of my price range. And the pants are way huge on me. But the jacket sleeves are cool, don't you think? Wait until you see the thing I thrifted later on with a few digits lopped off the price. The boots (my own, "Jericho" from Fluevog) added great attitude.

Next, sing it with me: 🎵

We're gonna take our horse to the downtown road, 

we're gonna shoooop at the old thrift store.

Alert, another face pose! This aluminum-foilesque blazer is exactly my style. I adore the humongous acrylic buttons. Shelley grabbed it for a try-on on our way out. The way I farked this photo reminds me of a popular Canadian TV ad where a couple heats their home so hot that it melts cheese. In this case, I would be the potato.

Huge thanks to Nordsrom Vancouver for this excellent dress-up opportunity! You never know what will happen.

Next we headed for coffee at Quantum, a cool newish cafe that attracts lots of hipster gig-economy brainiac trendy types, like ourselves, well, kinda, perhaps like the children we never had...? That's a scary thought. It's conveniently located just across the street from Alley Oop, Vancouver's brightly painted alley where IGsters and garbage/delivery trucks vie daily for supremacy, in a friendly way with toots and waves.

Who's the big banana? Shelley! Her bag has horns. It's pretty shocking how many strangers can't keep their hands off them. No, seriously.

So that was Day 1.

Day 2.

Sheila of blog Sheila Ephemera arrives in town! She took a day off work to fly in from Vancouver Island special to meet Shelley for the first time. They've known each other more than seven years from blogging and it was the perfect day to hang out together. Our friendships took off like we've been neighbours, which kind of we have been. I've met Sheila a bunch of times from her annual wedding anniversary pilgrimages to Vancouver with her husband L.

I had no idea if the photo below would come out. It was so sunny I couldn't see a thing on my viewfinder.

We headed straight to My Sister's Closet for some thrift shopping. No photos there - we were too busy. Then we hopped the Aquabus to go to Granville Island for lunch before hitting a shoe store, where Sheila got the deal of the century, and a couple of consignment stores called Turnabout. 

Happy Shelley on the boat! Who doesn't love a boat ride? I took her photo while she was taking one of me and Sheila.

Look at me - the happy puppy! Doesn't Sheila look amazing!! The glasses, the earrings, and that dress, oh, that dress!!

This is the part where I fast-forward to the close of our day together over some Italian food before Sheila had to catch her plane home. 

Sheila did a mega write-up of her day trip HERE, and Shelley did a post already HERE. She'll have another one soon as well. And I'm the slow poke. Heh. I'll also need a Part 2 to cram everything in.

I hope you are all stellar! Meeting my friends in 3D is such a great reminder of how our online selves open all kinds of unexpected and rewarding pathways to explore.

I'm linking up to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style. Hooray! And also Catherine when she goes live with #iwillwearwhatilike" at Not Dressed as Lamb.

Thank you for visiting!! It's been a while since I've been home here, so I appreciate it.
xo

PS - None of these links is sponsored; they are journal notes of our time together, but we loved all these places.