Rocky start (or: Why Ralph and I are not currently friends)

Last week, I went to Bellingham with my mum, as per usual.

We stopped at Value Village, as per usual.

I made a bee-line for the shoes, as per usual.

I discovered a pair of beautiful velvet smoking slippers with gold crests, as per not-so-usual.

They had leather soles. I was intrigued.

Turning them over, I discovered that they are Ralph Lauren. And they were 5$.

Needless to say, they're mine now. And, today was the first day that I decided to wear them. So, upon arriving at work (back to the usual now), I swapped my rainboots (yes, the sunshine is gone, alas!) for my fabulous, pratically-new Ralph Lauren smoking slippers. Two minutes in, I started to limp.

I've lamented the trouble with flats before, but I thought these might be different, because they're, well, Ralph Lauren. No dice. The backs are driving me crazy, and I'm worried I'll be coated in blisters by quitting time.

But, not one to give up easily, I'm trying to stretch them out a little. I have no ice on hand, so I've doing this:

Ridiculous, I know, but I have jammed a stack of post-its in either shoe (yes, I only order bright coloured post-its. Who says you can't have pretty notes?) in a desperate attempt to save my heels.

And it looks insane, but it seems to be working... Fingers crossed. Note to self: Always buy 5$ designer shoes from Value Village, but be ready for a world of pain if they're flat.

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

The first days of sunshine.

Something glorious has happened this weekend. The sun came out.

And, I resolved to go out and enjoy it. And, I did!

Today, I managed to go to the park and lay out on a picnic blanket with my feet in sandals and my legs bare. I wasn't even cold.

Hopefully, this is the beginning of something beautiful!

I almost opted for my indestructible pink rubber flipflops (the blue foam ones were finally laid to rest in the bottom of my garbage can just a week ago when I discovered a hole on the ball of the foot. I had literally walked through them, and they will be missed.), but I decided to keep it classy and wear some fancy sandals instead.

And, these guys are just as comfy! Happy Easter!

Shoe or boot? Yes.

When I was in New York, I went to Dolce & Gabbana, because this is one of the things that one does while in New York.

And, while I was there, I saw these:

I love these. They're absolutely beautiful. But, the thing that intrigues me most is that they look similtaneously like boots, and shoes with lace socks. Shoe-boots? Shoots? Bhoes? Who knows?

Because my current budgeting situation did not permit a spontaneous purchase of designer footwear (maybe one day!), I had to leave these lovelies behind, and try to find myself something similar in the land of trickle-down designs. Unfortunately, no luck yet, but I have my eyes peeled.

In the meantime, I did pick up a pair of booties that are sort of similar, and yet very different.

These are by Report, though I picked them up at Goodwill, land of bargains and (apparently) tasty footwear. I like that the patent pieces look like a cut-out pump, but the matte leather between bridges the gap to beautiful booties!

So, to answer the age-old question: Is it a shoe, or a boot? Yes.

Mint-spiration

New York Story Number One:

There was, of course, footwear. I'm currently obsessing over mint green everything, and shoes were part of the mix. I found a beautiful pair of mint pumps at Forever 21, and wasted no time in snapping them up:

A self-admitted shopaholic at times, I've managed to whittle my habit down to only buying really great pieces, instead of my previous philosophy of "If it looks good, buy it in every colour!", though that sometimes rings appropriate. And, so, I chose to leave the peach ones behind, because, though beautiful, they were really just no mint green.

(a little more mint-spiration)

 

Pastels are huge this spring, and I will admit that in addition to my new pumps, I also added a peplum skirt, two peplum tops, a clutch and two pairs of earrings in the same minty hue.

 

I've written a blog post for my mum's store's blog on the subject, which can be seen here.

 

By the end of the trip, I was so mint-infused, I got my nails painted to match!

 

(Accent-nails are another love-affair for me at the moment...)

 

And, yes, I would absolutely drive a mint green vintage car, if given the chance.

 

 



Back in the real world...

Or is it? Maybe the real world is New York. Or at least I would sometimes like to think so.

Sometimes.

This trip was, of course, a whirlwind of fabulousness! After the typical few days of working and shopping for the store (and me, of course!), we had one day left where the clouds gave way and the sunshine shone down while we wandered Bleeker Street and down through Little Italy. Sublime.

There was, of course, new shoe purchases and some drooling over designer beauties, but I'll save some stories for another day.

The only real disappointment was that, while gazing at the windows at Bergdorf's, I saw that Manolo Blahnik would be in the store to present his collection. Two days after we left.

Woe!

 Ah well, another time.

Emerald and Vanilla

I'm not sure why, but I've been having a hard time writing here lately. Partly, I think, because I've been writing for my mum on her company's blog, SWISH Notes, partly because I've just had a lot on my mind lately and partly because there hasn't really been all that much going on in my world that's blog-able.

Anyways, I hope that explains why I've been doing more sharing of things and less writing of things. Which will not be a trend.

Moving on!

I will be headed to New York, this coming Wednesday night, and there will be much more to tell you when I return, I promise.

In the meantime, I've been trying really hard to avoid spending mass quantities of money on anything, including footwear (though I have acquired some gems in the last few weeks)

These are my new friends:

 

 

The green ones are the result of much lusting after I stumbled upon them by accident. I was searching for mint green trend photos for SWISH notes, when I saw them on this blog. She had included them in this beautiful mix-match of all things emerald (which was the pantone-named colour for 2013:

 

I especially love the seat in the very middle. Beautiful!

Now, when I saw these, they were on the Target website, and I kept telling myself that I would go try them on when I was in the US next. Unfortunately, by the time I made it to the other side of the line, they weren't at Target anymore.

But, all was not lost! I was at my fabulous Bellingham-neighbourhood Goodwill, which happens to get all the cast-offs of things that Target can't sell. And, sitting in the middle of a pile of Target-rejected goodies was (you guessed it!) my emerald shoes! (And, in my size, no less!)

So, I, of course, wasted no time in snapping them up, and felt a little like Cinderella dancing about in my emerald glory. Did I mention they were only ten dollars!? (Which seems to be my magic number these days...)

The vanilla-patent perfection in the other photo comes with a little anecdote as well (of course). I was shopping at Kohls, looking for inspiration, and I stumbled upon them. My mum was shopping on the other side of the shelf, and we both exclaimed at the same time, in near-perfect unison, "Oooh! These are cute!" and held up the same pair of shoes so that the other could see. It was one of those sit-com moments.

These are LC by Lauren Conrad, which is a label I'm becoming more fond of. I also picked up a beautiful floral dress by her, which is making me feel a little more prepared for Spring.

New York will help with the rest of my Spring-y preparation.

 

Happy Love Day!

It's Valentine's Day again, my friends!

And, unlike last year, I have a date tonight. With my man.

I'm pretty excited.

But, back to the task at hand... shoes!

I'm wearing something festive today:

 

At one point in my life, I recognized that wearing pink and red together was a very bad idea. And, this is a principal that I generally stick to when it comes to a ful outfit, but on a cute little wedge, I think it works quite nicely.

Plus, it's so appropriate for the day. Like these:

(A little Vivienne Westwood to get your heart pounding)

 

And, to all you singletons out there, all I have to say to you is: Spend some time today loving yourself. You're worth it.