Pink Lake and my Leather Jacket

Okay, this post is going to be huge and photo heavy, so be prepared! I brought my parents for a short hike around Pink Lake in Gatineau Park today, and took a ton of gorgeous photos. I had to share them with you, since it's so beautiful. And there are so many more I won't be posting! But before I dive into photos from the hike... outfit photos!

Shirt - Thrifted from the Value Village

Skirt - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

(Kitty tail - My cat Caramel)

Leather Jacket - Danier Leather

My mother and I were at the Bayshore Shopping Centre last evening when I decided to go check out the leather jackets. I already own one, but having lost a lot of weight since original purchase, it's now way too large. And luck would have it, a sale was on, and I got my leather jacket for $200 instead of $500! Happy me!

Pink Lake

I first visited Pink Lake in June of this year, with some friends of mine. I brought my parents a few weeks later, and we decided to return come fall, to admire the colours. That's what we did today.

The graffiti made me laugh... so random!

Somewhere sits the beaver that did this!

These trees were growing straight out from the near vertical rock face!

Amazing, as we could see no dirt.

The colour of the water is so green!

A cute little pond area off to the side.

Forest path we walked...

Amazing oranges and yellows!

This next photo is really cool. There were quite a few trees that people have carved into, words and names and dates... This one tree had carvings so old that they had healed over, and the tree was growing bark around the old wounds, creating raised letters in its bark.

My parents :)

Spider gloves!

And that's all folks! Thanks for hanging in this far! Cheers!

Young Jane's

Today's post is about Young Jane's vintage clothing and accessories, probably the most adorable vintage shop in all of Ottawa. I'd visited before, buying the skirt seen in this post, and knew I had to cover it for the blog. Lucky for me - and you - I had the green light to take photos, which is wonderful since this place is candy for the eye. But first thing's first... outfit photo!

Blouse - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

Tank top - Fairweather for $5

Skirt - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

As the sign says, Young Jane's is situated at 203 Dalhousie, in the market. It can be a bit tricky finding parking, but it's well worth the effort to go there.

This rack of gorgeous sweaters was outside the front door.

All the clothes at Young Jane's are of good quality, and really original pieces you won't see just anywhere anymore. The store is bright and clean and cheerful and there are adorable little knick knacks and fantastic displays everywhere you look.

I love this sofa!

Gorgeous belts galore!

And so many pretty scarves!

These were so cool, vintage suitcases! That's a crocheted cover on the flower one!

See what I mean about adorable?!

There are so many pretty things to look at here at Young Jane's. There are some really gorgeous pieces of vintage jewelery, lots of great pairs of shoes, awesome original clothes... something for every vintage lover! I myself picked up a pair of wicked 70's sun glasses.

They remind of the ones my god-mother wore in high school back then haha...

Word to the wise however... they only accept cash, so make certain to have at least $40 on you when you go, otherwise you might find yourself in a bit of a pickle! No debit or credit cards are accepted - at least so far as I know - and they write up your receipt by hand. Very low tech, but it certainly does the job. I've been corrected! They do indeed accept Debit, Visa and Mastercard! So... there are absolutely no negatives about Young Jane's, and I definitely suggest you stop by if you're looking for some great vintage stuff.

Cheers!

Ragtime Vintage Clothing

I've mentioned Ragtime Vintage a few times, since items I've bought there have made it into outfits posts in the past. I had some free time today, and decided to stop by and give the place another look around for the blog. It's situated in the downtown area of Ottawa, at 43 Flora street, off Bank.



This post will solely be about this shop, since I happen not to be wearing anything either thrifted or vintage - just a cheap summer dress from the mall - and I really don't see any reason in sharing that. But I digress...





Ragtime is JAM PACKED full of stuff. Like crazily so. It's every which where you look, and I actually saw some things in the photos afterward that I hadn't noticed when I was actually inside the store.

Surprise! Deer above the door! (one of those unseen-until-after things)

There's an awesome display counter at the front full of gorgeous vintage jewelery, old broaches and necklaces and the like, but I couldn't get a photo of it without being rather obvious.

Some of my photos didn't come out too hot, since I had to be rather stealthy with my photography. I usually ask the owners if they'd allow me to take photos, but the lady who owns the place was out today and I was pretty sure her staff would have frowned upon me taking photos. Speaking of the staff, they really fit in with the store and know the place back to front, and all the folks I've seen working there are friendly and helpful.



There's so much stuff in this place that it's gone so far as taking over the ceiling! That means there's great selection, but it also means a lot of stuff is annoyingly out of reach. And if you're at all like me, you don't like bothering staff to take things down, haha...



If the front area of the shop seems packed, the back section is even more so full of awesome stuff. They actually rent out costumes - although at a price I'd never pay - and have quite a few racks of nifty outfits and costume items.

Not to mention more old leather jackets and cowboy boots than you could ever poke a stick at! I always want to make off with a leather jacket when I come here - even though I've both a new and vintage one at home already - so I try not to spend too much time in that corner.

Now, I can sing this shop's praises in terms of the amount of stuff it has, and there are a lot of really awesome vintage pieces here that I don't think I could find anywhere else in the city. If you're looking for quality items from the 50's and 60's, this is definitely the place to look.

On the downside, modern pieces of clothing are priced rather unreasonably - and really, why are they there at all if this is a vintage store - considering what they are. I saw a lot of cheap, off the rack dresses from huge mall chains ranging from $15-$30. I can go to the mall and buy the dresses for new for not much more at that rate!

It's definitely not someplace you would go to buy a lot of items - unless you're Miss Moneybags - but for choice, quality vintage pieces, definitely worth searching through all the new crap for a gem or two to take home.

The price tags are a little high - especially on newer items - but I like popping in every once in a while to see if I can't find something especially amazing. I didn't find anything this time around, but I'll definitely be back to search the place and if you're in Ottawa, I definitely recommend you pop by the shop! Even if you don't want to buy anything, it's fun to dig through the retro clothing and crazy costumes.

Cheers!

Granny Cel and the Gatineau Hills!

I apparently equate warmth with dressing like the elderly. Everybody who sees my sweater calls it my "granny sweater" or asks what old lady I mugged to get it :p I still love it though, it's warm and comforting to snuggle into.

Sweater - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

Skirt - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

Shoes - Thrifted from the Salvation Army
Tank Top - Fairweather for $5
Socks - Fancy Sox

There are better photos of the blue and green socks in this post, where I mention buying the skirt. And of course my sweater has oft been seen before, and will likely often be seen in the future. I seem to be wearing it nearly all the time now, for lack of anything better to keep warm.



My parents and I went out to Gatineau Park today, to admire the beautiful fall colours. I actually started off the day wearing jeans and a band t-shirt, since we might have been going for a bit of a hike and it was a bit chilly.



Of course this only renewed my hatred of pants and I quickly changed into the featured outfit soon as we got home. But at least now I have a renewed desire to go hunting for winter friendly items this week!



I have literally dozens of differently coloured tank tops, and about half a dozen men's band t-shirts. The first do nothing to keep me warm and certainly lack feminine appeal, while the later I barely wear at all anymore, being left-overs from my more tom-boy styled years.



We wound up going for a quick turn on the ski lifts up one of the hills. They had the lifts running and people with heavy duty off-road bicycles would ride them up to the top, with bikes hanging on the lifts, and then ride their bikes down, and go right back up again on the lift.

A biker on a jump!

The view was absolutely fantastic, and the colours of the leaves were gorgeous. It was just a fluke we even passed the ski lift too, because we'd accidentaly gone in the wrong direction and that's how we saw it was running. We got lucky!



We also saw some deer when driving home later this evening. They really like the farmer's fields and you can sometimes see dozens of them by the treeline.



The park was jam packed what with Thanksgiving weekend, but it was still a fantastic drive, and the ski lift ride was a real treat. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Cheers!

Canadian Turkey Day

I always found it funny that Thanksgiving in the US and in Canada fall on such different dates. Ours is in October, while the American holiday is - correct me if I'm wrong - in December. Either way... Turkey Day! Well. Chicken day for my family, because frankly, 3 people cannot eat that much turkey, even over a longer period of time, without some sort of turkey overdose. And I'm not all that fond of turkey in the first place. Anyway, outfit photos!

Skirt - Purchased at Ragtime Vintage

Tank top - Fairweather for $5

Wool Vest - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

For some reason, my camera refused to not make me glow like some ghostly figure, and so I now appear extremely pale. I swear I'm not that pasty! I tried everything I could think of but to no avail, pasty white did my camera wish me to be today.

The unfortunate thing about my wool vest, is that when I purchased it, I didn't think to check what it was made from... And so I threw it in the dryer, and out it came, itty bitty. And so I can't button it up anymore. Thankfully it had originally been rather large on me, that being the only thing allowing me to still wear it now that it has shrunk. Lesson learned: Just because it's from a thrift store doesn't mean it has been in the dryer.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians! Cheers!

Oh right, I own moccasins!

I've owned this pair of moccasins probably for a good 6 or 7 years now, and they still look like new. The reason for this being that I have barely ever worn them. They're made from real leather, and do not breathe well at all and when I'd first purchased them, had the unfortunate chance of walking barefoot in them near sand... Sandy, chafing, hot sweaty feet = very unpleasant.

I tend to forget about them entirely unless I'm in my closet and near my shoe racks to see them. I just happened to be having a shoe dilemma today and my moccasins were perfect. I stuck some fluffy socks on my feet to protect the tootsies and off I went. They were very comfortable like that, and I wore them out to do groceries.

Wool Sweater - Thrifted from the Salvation Army

Tank Top - $5 at Fairweather

Skirt - Purchased at a garage sale for $1

Moccasins - Some native themed gift store up in North Ontario

The sun seems to have decided to grace us with its presence again after more rain, and it's supposed to be seasonably warm and sunny the next few days. I can just hope this weather is still holding come September 23rd, because that's the day for the annual Ottawa Zombie Walk. I can tell you from experience that wandering around as the un-dead in cold sleet is very unpleasant. Not to mention so much fun is taken out of the whole thing when you wind up covering your zombie get up with a rain slick!



Cheers!

Saturday Thrifting

After a renewed vow not to wear pants anymore - a pair I'd wanted to wear today are now far too large - I decided my winter/cool weather wardrobe definitely needed some beefing up. My mother and I went to another Salvation Army, this one off St-Laurent boulevard (and strangely not listed on their website). I forgot to bring my camera but there wasn't much to see, just the standard cluttered and messy Sally Anne. Not to mention there only being two change rooms and having to wait around to try things on. Anyhow. Outfit photos!

Skirt - Purchased at Young Jane's Vintage in Ottawa

Shirt - Smart Set

Socks - Fancy Sox

I'm really starting to dig the whole high-waisted thing.

You can't really tell in the other photos, but the socks are actually deep navy blue and dark green. The skirt is blue, green and brown on a pale yellow.

I was lucky enough to score a few things thrifting today, including a cute dress. I didn't get any descent photos of the dress - you'll see it in its own post soon enough anyway - but I did get photos of the skirt and shoes I bought. The skirt is a wonderful thick wool, heavy and long, which will be great for winter.

I've always been a sucker for plaids.

I also picked up these lovely little suede ankle boots. They're American Eagle brand and look completely unworn! I'll just have to make certain to wear them before it gets all wet and miserable outside again... these are definitely not wet weather friendly!

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! Cheers!