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.

 

Goodbye 2012, it's been a slice!

Well, we've made it... Nearly. Just a few hours to go!

I'm all ready to tear the night apart! I'm headed to help a friend set up her party, and then attend another with my man. I'll show you the shoes tomorrow!

Here I am:

I hope that everyone has a great new years and I can't wait to see what 2013 has to hold for us. It's going to be a fantastic year full of opportunities. Sky's the limit, my darlings!

Hope your evening sparkles!

Hurricane Shopping

I've returned, once again, from New York. Ah, New York, shopping mecca of North America, fountain of life for my sizeable closet! My second home.

It was, as always, a whirlwind trip, a hurricane of retail insanity, if you will (too soon?).

And, of course, there were shoes.

The plane ride was spent doing some much needed research in InStyle, and I have a few quick gems to share (pick up the issue if you have a chance, there's some good stuff in there, footwear and otherwise!) before I get on with my stories!

Just a couple of cute things!

After a good nap and some page flipping, we had arrived! Then it was off to the hotel, then straight out to shop. And we didn't stop for three days.

At one point during this spree, my mum spied these in the window of New York Look:

Naturally, we popped in for a closer look. And, that was when I found something glorious!

Beautiful, no? Ok, I admit it, I was afraid to look at the price tag. The floral booties were $218, these had to be around $500, right? Wrong! They were $96! That's just all sorts of right. And, my amazing mummy offered to purchase them as an early Christmas present!

So, the only possible outcome was:

Floral booties for mum, and purple tweed for me! How divine!

Of course, I picked up a few more pair through the rest of the trip, but I'm not going to give the whole game away just yet.

Although, to my previous point about tuxedo slippers and androgyny, I did pick of these pals:

Blue, tassels, tuxedo? How can you go wrong!

And, I tried on the closet thing I'll ever wear to tacky New York tourist souvenirs:

Which I think are actually rather adorable. Irregular Choice. But then, who else could pull off putting the New York skyline on a pump?

Sadly, Tuesday came all too soon (though I was glad to come home, as I was missing my man and my kitty!) and it was time to pack up and fly away!

I think that that last photo is evidence of just how successful a trip this was! Eight pieces of newly-filled luggage later...

The quest for spikes. (Or: Wishes unfulfilled.)

On my list for New York was the perfect pair of spiked stillettos. They were the one thing I didn't get.

My heart is broken.

I don't think I was asking too much. All I really wanted was a little something like this:

 

... but with a smaller price tag. Love you, Mr. Louboutin, but I'm not there yet.

 

This is not the first time I've shown you spikes, if you remember. I've had spikes on the brain for awhile...

 

So, having thought long and hard about the lack of metal in my life, I decided it was time for some spikes of my own.

 

But, this was not in the stars. Every pair of spiked heels I came across were either the wrong colour:

 

Or too expensive...

 

Or tacky leopard print...

 

 

Or, in the case of the black beauty below the Jersey Shore mess going on up there, the wrong size...

 

Or, the studs were too short, too long, too big, too small, or too ugly.

 

 



It seemed everyone was getting studs and spikes but me! There were even skull-studded shoes for men! This just seemed unfair.

 

So, I figured I'd give the whole thing up, and just buy the Heel Condoms (actually these are panty-style) that I had showed you previously.   

 

But, wouldn't you know it, I couldn't even find those. Check the website, I dare you. They're no where to be found!

 

And, after 10 days of looking for the perfect spiked heels, I gave up. For now...

 

There's no time like November to check out those sale racks... Watch out New York, I'm coming back...