Navy blue 1940s feather adorned felt hat: Gift from Tony ♥
Pearl stud earrings: Claire's
Pearl necklace: Birthday gift from Tony ♥
1980s does 1940s dolman sleeve floral print rayon dress: etsy seller Dear Golden
Pink plastic rose stretch bracelet: Wal-Mart
Light blue 1940s gloves: Flea market in Vernon
Vintage navy blue purse: Thrifted
Nude on nude seamed stockings: eBay
White pumps: Payless
Lip colour: MAC Diva
Photography by Antonio Cangiano
{I had no idea a whisp of bang hair had gone astray in these shots. Oh well!}
♥ ♥ ♥
A few days ago, after more than six weeks of bed rest (initially from a flare-up with one of my conditions, then following my recent surgery on April 16th), I finally felt well enough to head out of the house for a little while. Cabin fever had set in something fierce, so a bit of a drive - and a change of scenery from our bedroom walls, lovely as they are - was in order.
Recently, Target stores have started setting up shop in parts of British Columbia. To date, the closest one to us in in the town of Vernon, which is located about an hour and a half away from Penticton (another Target is slated to open in Kelowna this summer, though Penticton itself doesn't have plans for one yet).
I'd always been intrigued by Target stores - or at least by tales of their wondrous offerings that I had heard from various friends in the States and those Canadians I'd known who had visited a Target while south of the 49th - and had been giddy with excitement and anticipation for Target to open up here in British Columbia at long last (they'd already launched locations in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada last year), so that's where we made a beeline for.
Tony and my mum had already been there once and were both woefully underwhelmed by the Canadian version of Target. Though this was sad to hear for sure, and I though completely believed their reviews, I wanted to see (and access) it myself in person. Well, let me just tell you, they were right and then some!
It’s not that the store itself isn't fairly big or decently stocked, it's just that their offerings scarcely differ from what you could find (often at much lower price points) elsewhere. The store itself was not overly well laid out in my opinion, nor was it bursting with merchandise (unless it was so small I accidentally missed it, they didn't even have a craft section), and there was nothing special or unique about their shopping experience.
Many of these newly founded Targets replace Zellers stores, most of which have shut their doors across Canada in recent years, and I think that like most people, I expected Target to smoke Zellers old offerings out the water. Far from doing so, for the most part I found myself thinking, "Hey, I actually liked Zellers way more!" (just as my mom did, too).
In my mind I'd dreamed about Target opening up and bringing with it oodles of US products that are hard, if not impossible, to find in Canada, at bargain prices. No dice. The items stocked on its shelves were akin to those one can find at other large Canadian retailers such as Winner, Sears, The Bay, Canadian Tire, and Real Canadian Superstore – often at better prices.
Target failed to bring its iconic Target-ness – the great deals and wide selection it’s well known for – up to these Canadian parts, and I believe that (especially outside large urban areas such as Toronto or Calgary) they will struggle to stay afloat in the long run because of it. As we were leaving the store, I heard an elderly chap remark to his wife that he'd "rather go to Wal-Mart any day”, a sentiment which Tony and I both feel perfectly sums up our take on Target, too.
The dreams I'd had for years of a Target shopping spree jam packed with awesome US items that were new to Canada, has been completely dashed – but at least there are still the good ol’ Targets in the States, and I like to think that I'll make it to one of those someday, red plastic cart bursting at the gills as I exist.
So while that was a bust for sure, the rest of our time in Vernon wasn't, I'm delighted to say. We hit a small flea market down by the railroad tracks that run near Swan Lake (yes, it really is called that), at which I bought the pair of vintage gloves seen in the outfit photos here today for just three dollars.
They're in great shape, and the seller could have easily asked more for them, but it was my luck that she didn't. I was already wearing a pair of white gloves which worked well with this dress, but I liked the look of these blue ones with it even more, so they were swapped in instead.
We also visited an indoor garage sale that was being held in a hotel ballroom (that was a definite first for me), but it was mostly just 1980s-present day children's toys, clothes, and household items - no vintage pieces or anything else that caught our eye.
Before calling it a day, we hit an antiques shop that I'd never been to before, but eagerly longed to for ages, called Blast From The Past Antiques. It proved to be, hands down, the best antique store I've visited to date anywhere in the Okanagan - so much so in fact, that I'm hoping to devote a post just to my trip there in the not-too-distant future.
Even though they don't sell usually vintage clothing (save, by and large, for some military uniforms, a little bit of jewelry and the occasional accessory - there was a fab pair of 1950s metal cat eye sunglasses there, which if it wasn't for my nickel allergy, I likely would have snapped up right away), this well curated shop is still a major winner in my books and I look forward to chatting more about it here soon.
We'd hoped to grab some outfit photos while in Vernon, but it was raining and that didn't happen, so we made our way back to Penticton and snapped a few on a charming little bridge down at Okanagan Lake, as the sun went back and forth from sunny to overcast and everything in between (as you can see from the variety of lighting in these shots).
l'm not going to lie to you, I'm not overly happy about how I look in these photos. I’ve far from recovered (from surgery) completely yet, and my face and body both look bloated/puffy, and riddled with pain (admittedly, this may be something I read in my own face more than others can see, knowing my good day faces from my bad day ones all too well).
My weight is also a tick higher than I'd like (the result of almost no physical activity for more than six weeks), but I've already altered my diet to try and shed a couple pounds, and hope that getting out more in the coming weeks will help in that regard, too.
No matter though, one isn't always able to bring their a-game all the time, and there are days when documenting the memories trump looking your thinnest, healthiest, or most awake, and this was certainly one of them for me.
So while Target was a letdown and I sure wish I looked better in these snaps, everything else about the day was awesome! Just getting to spend time in store that's jam-packed with vintage and antique collectibles, books, furniture, decor items, and myriad other collectibles put me in a flat out jubilant mood and was precisely what I needed after another long spell of constant bed rest.
It will still be a while more before I've recouped to my pre-surgery health levels, but a day out like this clearly shows I'm well on that path, which I'm thrilled about. All the more so because we're nearing ever closer to summer and I want to get out and enjoy as much of the gorgeous Okanagan summer weather as I possibly can - hopefully with another trip or two here and there to Vernon so that I can spend some time at Blast From The Past again!
