23? Done for me. 24? Time for more!

Today, I am another year older.

Not that that really changes all that much in the grand scheme of things, but it's worth noting.

Or, at least I think so.

It's been a lovely day so far, I saw my Mum this morning, got some beautiful flowers from my Daddy, and a gorgeous bracelet from my man, followed by dinner with his family.

Tomorrow night, I'll put on some tall heels and a pretty dress and celebrate with my some of my favourite friends, and on Sunday, I'll see my family. Overall, pretty stellar!

Now, I think that one's birthday is a prime time to reflect, take stock of the last year, and come up with some goals for the next year. New year resolutions, as opposed to the traditional New Year's resolutions that tend to appear on everyone's Facebook feed on January 1st.

So, looking back on the year, I feel accomplished. Not only has my shoe collection grown, but I feel like I have too. I've gained some life experience, perspective and some fabulous people. I met the love of my life this year, as well as my best friend (two different people, to clarify, and I love and adore them both!). I've travelled, shopped, revamped, decluttered, and rebuilt my life. 23 has been very good to me.

And now, 24, is a clean slate, full of possibilities. I can tell already that it's going to be full of love, laughter and adventure, but there are some things I want to accomplish this year, beyond enjoying every second.

24 is going to be a creative year. Lots of projects (I won't give them away just yet...). I've been steadily becoming more domestic in the last few months, and part of that is bringing my sewing machine out of hibernation. For you guys, this also means that I'm going to work harder to make sure that reading What's On My Feet never gets boring!

Not that it ever would be.

So, there are going to be many adventures coming, and stories, trends, photos and many, many posts to follow.

Thanks to everyone who reads me here. It's so much more fun to write knowing that you enjoy reading!

Here's to another year together!

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...

Monkey feet (or: the lesser of two evils)

New York story the first: the monkey feet.

As I told you, my mum had been having trouble with her orthotics, and was wearing them in a pair of those Sketchers Shape-Ups (which are pretty much the reason she fell last trip, the soles of those things can be precarious...). She was suffering from cruel and unusual punishment, walking on them 10-12 hours daily, and had had enough.

So, while I was shopping for snuggly sweaters for my man, she snuck into the shoe section and attempted to find something sensible (read: comfy, but inevitably ugly as hell). She found a pair of really awful fleece-lined clogs, a pair of less awful pseudo-Mary Janes in tan leather, and a pair of horrific Fila toe-shoes in baby blue.

Thankfully, the clogs for vetoed, the toe-shoes didn't fit and the Mary Janes made the cut. They worked spendidly... until the next day, when the blisters kicked in.

Slightly enamoured with the toe-shoes (which I had not-so-lovingly dubbed "monkey feet"), she struck out in search of a pair that did fit, and we found them, in Soho. Adidas, this time, which I suppose is a little better...

 

Once we had located the things, we went through a very round-about process of men's sizes masquerading as women's sizes and finally, my mum found the ones that fit her tootsies...

 

And, her feet breathed a sigh of relief, while I promised that I "wouldn't not be seen with her" while she was wearing them.

 

I tried them on, too, a purely academic exercise. I'm not above doing unpleasant research to please my readers.  

 

Verdict? They're weird. I used to wear toe-socks when I was about 12, and these were a lot like those, but more sturdy. I won't be rushing out to buy them anytime soon, but my mum swears they were the most comfy thing she's ever put on her feet. So, there you go... If you're going camping, marathon walking, or need to walk several miles everyday on pavement, these may be for you.

I would most likely hate them less if they were black, or some less-conspicuous colour...

I guess these aren't so offensive... No, forget it, I hate them.

Also, my absolute worst nightmare embodied in footwear was realised during this trip. We were shopping in the massive dollar store, and stumbled upon these:

Not only are they monkey feet, but they're Crocs. Worse, they're foam Crocs from a dollar store. I shudder just looking at them.

One day in the very near future, I will write a post (read:rant) detailing exactly why I despise Crocs (and their wintertime partners-in-fashion-crime, Uggs), but for now, let me just say this: they should be outlawed.

The only redeeming quality about these is that they're childrenswear. Children can get away with wearing the most horrific things and they're still cute. I will admit there was one day where I put on a plaid dress and a pair of bright polka-dot socks, thinking they went together because they were both patterned. Give me a break, I was three.

Not quite like this, but I'll go with it. Think smaller, louder, and more multi-coloured.

Concrete jungle where dreams are made...

I have returned from the North American fashion capital! A little lighter in the pocketbook, I'll admit, but richer in experience and closet. It was a great ten days spend with my fabulous mummy, exploring, shopping, and enjoying!

Having taken four trips in the last three and a half months, I was on a bit of a budget, so it was a task to try not to end up in a total shopping free-for-all (I won't lie, I definitely broke the bank when I was there in May), but it was a blast concentrating on finding really fantastic pieces, instead of my typical shopping mantra of "it it looks good, buy it in every colour."

Also, while checking my email one night in our hotel room, I stumbled upon a sale on my shoe racks, so I have two more coming! I'm well over a hundred pair right now and I'm having the most ridiculous time trying to squash them all onto the racks I have. It will be grand to have a little space.

I have plenty of stories, but I'm going to spread them out a little so that I can tell them in more depth, so I'm going to skim over the events of our trip and then elaborate later.

The first four days were spent "working." And, by that I mean buying for my mum's shop (which is changing location and expanding by three times the square footage, so we had a lot of space to fill), and picking up a few pieces for myself. I had written myself a list before I left and managed to get just about everything (I still don't have my spiked heels, but that's a tale for another day), including a great pair of black flat boots to get me through the fall and a beautiful red reddingote.

Through all this, we were wearing "comfortable" shoes. My mum wound up having trouble with her orthotics though, and having to buy new "sensible" (read: not super pretty) shoes to walk the 70-80(one day it was actually over 100) blocks we would typically cover in a day. Again, we'll get to those beauties another day. I stuck with my indestructible hot pink rubber flip-flops. Also, not super pretty, but they get the job done. Needless to say, at the end of each day, it was time to soak our soles and love our toes a little.

I'm sure this photo looks incredibly familiar, as the New-York-end-of-day-foot-bath has become a bit of a ritual with us. Believe me, it's well deserved, and much appreciated.

Of course, the day we walked over 100 blocks was the same night as Fashion's Night Out, which is always a spectacle and a delight, if only to people watch and see the culture come to life. I wore flats, mum wore wedges, and many a girl that night was in stilettos. Fortunately, I was still vertical at the end of the night, while mum was dying in her wedges, and I'm pretty sure I saw every limping stiletto-clad girl similtaneously reach into her impossibly small clutch at the stroke of 11, to produce a ratty plastic shopping bag and replace the offending footwear with flats in one fluid movement. Those were ladies in dire need of some Rollasoles...

Just sayin'.

That's not to say that our feet weren't also in serious need of some R&R. There was one day that we stopped for a quick peek at our shopping directory and thought to ourselves, "Damn, I could totally go for a pedicure right now..." And, low and behold, we turned around and saw this:

 

It's hard to read, but the top line says "Mani + Pedi + 10 min massage: $40." We were sold.

 

A well-earned pedicure. Having the knots rubbed out of my poor soles was amazing. The mid-trip mani-pedi is definitely going to have to be a new New York ritual. And, the girl who did mine did some fancy twirly thing with tissues to make the toe separators pictured here. I need to figure out how to do that...

The last two days were spent wandering about the city, gathering the last bits for the store, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, and enjoying Little Italy. All in all, a smashing success (less the utter failure to find the perfect spiked stiletto!), including walking the last 40 blocks back to the hotel with the impending threat of thunder showers (which turned out to be mostly idle, on the thunder-front at least.).

Then, it was time to come home. And, after a long day of travelling yesterday, it was good to get back.

Now, I just need to unpack, and I can tell you some real stories!

Buttons and bows

I'm back, resettled and busy as heck. My apologies for not posting much in the recent weeks, I've been battling the most terrible cold, and needed to lay low for a little while.

But, my health has returned, I'm in fighting form, and ready to go!

The 1920's obsession rages ever onwards, and, as the weather here in not-so-balmy Vancouver has been pretty chilly as of late, I've been pulling out some of my favourite fall boots, which have flavours of the early 20's, namely: buttons, lacing, and curved heels.

The first pair came from Vegas. They have military-inspired buttons, and look fabulously classic with a pencil skirt and some tights. I have a great cobalt blue skirt that looks divine with them! To be honest, the buttoned-boot look is really more of a look from La Belle Epoque, which was ending around 1920, but there's always a little crossover in fashion, and I still feel that these serve my purpose. Everything's open to a little interpretation, no?

The second pair are from the vaults. They're vintage (read: 5 years old) Steve Maddens that I bought myself as an aid to get over a breakup. And they served me well! I like that the wider grommetts make them a little modern, and the toe-shape on both aren't really true to period, as most shoes from the early 20s were pointier. Either way, they're delish!

To give you an idea of the look we're going for, here's a few examples of the real thing:

As you can see, the toes are a little pointier and the grommetts are much more delicate, not to mention those prices... Damn, if only! 

And, these beauties are actually from 1917, but, again, they serve the purpose. I really like the contrast of colours here. If someone did a reproduction in brights, I think they would be beautifully on trend with all the colour-blocking we're seeing for summer. Think cobalt blue and hot pink. Divine, no?



Oh! I forgot to tell you the best bit of news! My good friend, Pierson, is having his birthday party this weekend, and, magically, chose a Speakeasy theme! What a grand excuse to indulge my flapper cravings! I'll report back with all the glorious details!

The trouble with flats.

People are constantly asking me, "How can you possibly wear such high heels and not die?!" and always answer with a quip from a reperatoire I've developed for just such an occassion, ranging from, "they really have very cushy soles!" to "the ratio of heel height to platform height makes for a much milder slope from heel to toe, so they're really not as harsh on the feet as they look!"

And, having reflected on my shoe choice for today (a seemingly innocent pair of dove grey flats by American Eagle Outfitters), I feel that these are really the more evil of the shoe choices.

It has come to my attention that I am apparently only able to wear ballet flats if they have some kind of elastic in the backs of them. These are stiff and I'm pretty sure I'll have blisters from them by the time the day is out. Plus, my heels are always sore when I wear flats... They're not used to carrying the majority of my weight.

It's interesting that most people have trouble with heels, and I have such difficulty with flats, is it not?

C'est la vie!

The Return Triumphant!

I'm back! So sad to leave New York, but I'm headed back for 10 days in September, so now it's just another countdown. And the only emotion that can stir up is excitement!

It was another whirlwind trip, but definitely a success! There was only one hiccough... about 20 minutes after dropping off our luggage at the hotel, my mum took a spill due to some uneven pavement and a subway grate. She tore up her knee pretty bad, and pulled a muscle in her shoulder. We got her bandaged up really well, and put her arm in a sling, but she was pretty sore for the rest of the trip.

Although, with the amount of walking we do in New York (not to mention the weight of the shopping bags we lug about) all my muscles were pretty sore, too.

We saw some shows, Nice Work If You Can Get It (starring Matthew Broderick, who was divine), and Harvey (starring Jim Parsons, who was also fabulous), and the former has sparked a new obsession with flapper-chic for me. Expect to see lots of garter-stockings and t-bar shoes. It's coming.

Of course, we did mass amounts of shopping, and visited all our wholesalers for my mum's store. We also paid a visit to Betsey Johnson, at the devastating news that she's going under, and I picked up a few dresses (25% off, yes please!)

And, it goes without saying, we picked up a bunch of pairs of sweet shoes! One of which I'm wearing today:

Little spectators, how adorable! Chanel inspired, and the perfect neutral shoe for all the bright colours and beautiful patterns I picked up! These babies are from Forever 21, but the one in Times Square, which is way better than the silliness they have at home.
We also went to the Met to see Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, which was a brilliant exhibition that compared and contrasted the two designers. If you have a chance to be in New York before August 19th, go see it, it was fantastic! I bought the book.

The last night was spent packing, of course. We actually wound up having to buy two extra bags to get everything to fit:

This is the pile before we packed the last few bags away. Excessive? Never!

It became necessary to discard all the packing materials, tags, bags, and wrappers in order to get it all in... I'll admit, it felt a little wasteful to be throwing away so much plastic. Next time, we'll bring reusable shopping bags!

Ridiculous, no? And that doesn't even include any shoe boxes, we leave all of those at the stores! I hope they recycle...

We also bought hats, and, to avoid either of mine getting crushed, I had to wear them both on the plane. My mum thought this was simply hysterical, and kept telling me that this was how fashion trends come about. I beg to differ, but for your viewing pleasure:

Silly, no?

Sea legs and "athetics" shoes.

This past weekend, as anyone ought to know, was St. Patrick's Day. And, this means one thing for weekend warriors such as myself... Time to get your party on.

Now, I'm a self proclaimed weekend warrior (emphasis on the weekend, here, I'm decidedly dull during the weekday evenings, getting to bed around 10 and staying there until my alarm jars me awake around 6am) and proud, but this doesn't make me a train wreck, by any means. I'm still a classy lady. There's no Snooki-esque indecent exposure, or wobbling about like a baby giraffe taking her first steps. It just means that when Friday afternoon hits, it's time to crack a bottle of wine (as is the Friday ritual in my office) and when it's suddenly Sunday morning, my hot pink slippers are the only thing to touch my feet, as I watch terrible horror movies with my partner in crime and drink tea, attempting to rehydrate after the weekend's escapades.

Of course, footwear etiquette is part of the package. If you're going out dancing, heels (followed by Rollasoles, of course) are customary, but, I learned about a new kind of going out shoe this weekend, "athletics" shoes.

By this, I do not in any way mean dirty white sneakers that you wear to work out in. I've said it 100 times, I think running shoes should only grace the feet of those who are running, or in an actual gym. And, really, if it's the latter, bring a pair of something cute to wear to and from the gym. No one needs to see your ratty New Balance.

No, when I say "athletics" I mean that you utilize them for "sports." The best example I can give is exactly what went on on St. Patrick's Day. Dominique and I, along with our good friend, Estee, went over to another friend's place to play various-alcohol-pong.

Let me explain. The night previous to this, we had been extended an invitation to play beer pong, but, I had declined, on the grounds that I'm allergic to beer (and it's gross... yuck!), so the host had most graciously offered to procure a bottle of wine so I wouldn't have to die, and we could play with that. It sounded like a good idea.

Now, beer pong sounds a little like a frat game, and in a way, it kind of is, but it was such a blast! We only played one round, as it was getting chilly, and we weren't very good at it, but it was the precursor to a great evening of drinks and comradery. To be honest, we spent most of it playing Rockband.

This was definitely not a typical night, and we discovered that our shoe choices were a little... off. As the plan was initially to run downtown after a round or two and meet some friends for a birthday party, we had all worn stilettos. The ping-pong table was on the grass. This was not going to work.

Thank god for Rollasoles! We were saved! But, now we're far more aware of the sorts of shoes required for playing weekend "sports," which look a lot more like this:

I have these guys, they're Vera Wang, and so comfortable. They also don't sink in grass! An elasticized flat is also more comfortable because they're more likely to hold onto your foot without rubbing, meaning you'll avoid getting blisters. Plus, the beaded bows are just ridiculously adorable!

They qualify as "athletics" shoes because you could probably run in them, if you needed to (god forbid), you can wear them on grass, and, if you should be in a crew of men, you're not going to fall behind because you're taking 3" steps to avoid falling off your stilettos.

Most flats, low wedges and sandals will work, but make sure you're going to be warm enough! I wound up having to borrow a pair of very becoming socks from our host to keep my toes from freezing right off my feet!

So, there you have it, "athletics" shoes for the weekend warrior. These are not, of course, to be mistaken for a very different kind of "sport" shoe which looks a little something like this:

Remember, we're still classy ladies. Get your mind out of the gutter!

Sad toes.

It's been a hectic week! I had to help move my office (we're settling into our new digs quite nicely!), which included coming in on Sunday after having never gotten to bed on Saturday night. It was an evening/early morning of country bars, cowboys and long island iced teas.

Unfortunately, in all this hustle, bustle and line dancing, I have sustained an injury! Horror of horrors, I have a wound between my last two toes on my right foot.

To be honest, it's been there a little while. Maybe a couple weeks. But, I thought things were healing up, and I had nothing to worry about. Apparently, I was wrong.

Upon arriving home on Monday evening, I decided to show my toes a little R&R, and gave myself a footbath with some anti-bacterial soap, and then showed it to my roommate, Rosemary, who is a nurse. She said there was probably nothing to worry about, but to be aware of whether or not it started to feel hot because that might mean it's infected.

Of course, being the theatrical person that I am, I started to worry. This didn't stop me from wearing all realms of fabulous shoes on Tuesday, but I was very aware of the warmth that had begun to radiate from under my desk, and when I woke up this morning, my poor little piggy was swollen and angry.

Please ignore the expired pedicure...

Poor little guy! I walked around in my socks a little this morning before I was brave enough to attempt the shoes I had brought for today. Thankfully, I've since put them on, and I haven't died yet.

If you have a flesh wound on your feet, open toes are best. You want to let it breathe, and these will cause your feet to sweat less, and let more air get in there.

They're also putting less pressure on my swollen digit, because I can move the straps around.

I made an appointment to see my doctor tomorrow, so all should be well after that, but tonight, I'll be resting up and taking it easy! If nothing else, this is a good excuse to pamper myself (because it doesn't happen near often enough)!

Closet construction (Or: My plastic arch-nemesis)

My old shoe storage system was a disaster. It consisted primarily of an Ikea shelf stacked to the ceiling with shoe boxes, most of which bore multiple labels scribbled in various colours of sharpie. In all honesty, it was generally impossible to find anything without pulling down most of the boxes. Being someone with a morning routine timed to the second, I never had time to replace all the boxes, meaning there was typically a heap of boxes within throwing distance of the shelf.

This is not to mention the corresponding heap of loose shoes by the couch upstairs within throwing distance of the front door, as I also didn't have time to put everything away at the end of day, and why would I when I could just as easily toss them in a pile to be worn again in the near future, anyways.

So, less than organized, to put it kindly. (I'm not going to even go into my current clothing storage, that's a whole 'nother disaster!)

While in New York in September, my mum took me to The Container Store and I started thinking closet options. They had a few really nice shoe options, but they were a little pricey ($80.00 for a rack holding 50 pairs, and I was going to need two...), so I opted not to buy anything, but keep looking.

Being the bargain hunter that I am, I shopped around and found this one at Walmart. It looked like it had potential to be a little flimsy, but I figured for $40.00, I could try to build it and then return it if it was terrible. So, I ordered two.

One week later, to my delight, my mum dropped them off, and I was ready to go! As reported on Valentine's Day, I was planning to put the first one up that night, and, after setting up my mum's Etsy store, I got to work.

It was tricky work, because the bars didn't really want to cooperate, but I got it together and stood it up. I wasn't exactly sure if I had done it right, as there were no instructions, so I went to move one of the bars to see if it would be better in a different position, and all the bars popped out and the whole thing fell into a heap on the floor.

Not one to be beaten by a few pieces of plastic and metal, I went to work again. Deciding that the original positioning was best, I threw it back together like an old pro, and tipped it back up to standing.

Now, the fun part! I started loading shoes onto it, starting from the top. At about the third row, I noticed that the sides were starting to bow a little, but it was holding up, so I wasn't too concerned.

About twenty pairs in, the sides had had enough! They bowed so much that the bars all fell out again and the whole thing fell to the floor once again. By this point, it was nearly 10:30p, and, for someone who starts her day around 6:00a, past my bedtime. Feeling frustrated and tired, I decided to call it night and left the whole mess on the floor, looking like this:

The next morning, I glared at the pile as I walked over it and went to work. Through the day, I thought about how I was going to deal with the situation. Should I box the damned thing up and return it? Try to build it again, and see if I could lean it against something? Was there some way that I could reinforce it? I settled on attempting to hot glue the bars into the plastic frame and keeping my fingers crossed through the process.

I got a manicure with a good friend of mine after work (the shellac, thank god, can handle a lot of punishment, because this was no dainty project) and then came home to attack the beast.

And, after about an hour of battling with it, I managed to get it together, glued in place, and upright! Very gingerly, I loaded on 50 pairs of shoes, and, to my surprise and delight, it held!

(Forgive the terrible lighting, there was laundry hanging in the way. Like I said, the clothing system is no gem at this point.)

Looks pretty good, no? It's part of a closet overhaul process, so it's in the middle of the floor at the moment, but I'm pretty pleased for the time being.

What is your shoe system? I saw this DIY option here and thought it was quite brilliant, not to mention beautiful! It's made from painted molding.

Happy Love Day!

It's Valentine's Day, which generally goes one of two ways for girls. Either, they're all sunshine and lollipops and spend the day receiving flowers, candy and love while gushing about how awesome their boyfriend/husband/lover/sugar daddy is, only to run off to a candlelit dinner and an evening of maribou, silk and lace-coated sport. Or, they're elbow-deep in a vat of ice-cream (probably chocolate-chip cookie dough), with a half-empty box of tissues within grabbing distance, while mushy romantic movies play at volumes loud enough to drown out the sobs and sniffles that punctuate thoughts of how completely terrible it is to be single on Valentine's Day (everyone else has a boyfriend, and I'm pretty right?).

Am I wrong?

Now, I'm a single girl, have been for nearly a year now, and I still love Valentine's Day. It's about love, but that doesn't mean it has to be about romantic love. Love your friends, love your family, love your self! (What an often forgotten concept in our society, oh my!) Go out and do something fun for yourself, with some people you love!

I was meant to go to a play with my mum, but, due to unforseen circumstances, it looks like my evening will be free instead, and I'm going to get some well deserved "me time" and build my new shoe rack (photographic evidence will be provided once everything is together).

And, because I'm not going to be receiving any flowers today, I decided to wear some on my feet! These are Madden Girl beauties from Spring 2011 that I bought in New York (of course) in May! They came from Filene's Basement, which was a great place for bargains, but I've just found out has gone bankrupt!! Too many great deals!

Also, I was given a shoe-a-day calendar by a former colleague of mine, and the page from today was pretty adorable! It's a chocolate shoe!

I want two, one to eat and one to look at!

For the bodacious babes!

After my last post, one of my dear friends came to me for some help. She laments that, being a curvier lady, she's unable to wear any fun shoes, being stuck wearing heels with a "thicker, clunkier heel" and was hoping that I had some advice for her, and all you girls with similar problems.

Well, ladies, you're in luck.

I think it's a travesty that any girl would feel like she can't wear a beautiful shoe and experience the leg-lengthening, posture correcting, glamazon confidence I feel every time I step out the door in a pair of footwear masterpieces, and so I spent a good part of my weekend scouring the internet looking for information from women with similar troubles, and it all seemed to come down to a few fundamentals, and, not surprisingly, they're pretty universal rules. So, I would like to dedicate this post to my darling Cashew. Onwards!

The first and most important thing is fit. If you buy a pair of shoes and want to shoot off your feet as soon as those soles touch the ground, take them off, and walk away. We've all been there. They're so damned beautiful, but you know you'll walk about three steps out your front door before you regret buying them. And, chances are, they won't get better as you break them in.

Now, I've admitted that the balls of my feet are a little on the wide side, and I've had problems with some shoe companies because their shoes are too narrow. For you girls with wider feet and curvier calves, there are plenty of sources for wide-width shoes and boots that are cut more generously through the calf. Wearing a wider shoe will not only keep the blood flowing through your baby toes, it will give you a wider base to balance on, so you won't feel nearly as precarious when you're strutting your stuff. Two websites that had some good stuff were WideWidths.com and designershoes.com. WideWidths specializes in boots, and designershoes more in shoes, but both have lots of options.

The next thing you're going to need is a good pair of gel insoles. I wear ones that only cushion my toes, because I don't find that my heels are ever bothered in heels. Try and find a pair that are reusable, and then you can move them from pair to pair. I would suggest bringing them with you when you're shopping, as well, so you know that the shoes you buy fit with the insoles in them.

Something many curvier women worry about is that heels with hurt her feet more than they would a thinner lady, because her foot has more to support. I can see where this might be true, but at the same time, most women have trouble with high heels when she's not used to them, so it's really important to start slow. If you've been wearing flats your entire life, try a kitten heel, and then work your way up from there. Rome wasn't built in a day, ladies.

That being said, if you're anything like me, you'll probably go from zero-sixty and try a heel that's a little bigger than you think. This is where Rollasoles can save your life. You can read my full post about them here.Believe me, you'll thank me later.

The only other advice I can give is practice, practice, practice! Walk around the house in them, walk to the grocery store in them, any excuse to walk a short distance in your heels will help you in the long run, because you'll be breaking them in, and getting used to walking on them. Just don't forget your Rollasoles if you want to be brave and go out for a night on the town!

Now that we have all the technical stuff out of the way, let's talk about styles! My friend was disheartened by the sea of clunky, chunky heels that she thought she was stuck with, but there are lots of options!

The easiest way to go is a wedge. Wedges are going to be the easiest to walk on and they're comfy. I pulled a few examples from designershoes.com and these were all from the wide-width category, but they come in narrow, medium, wide, extra-wide and triple-wide, so you're covered no matter what!

I particularly love the booties in the middle...

Moving on! You can also wear high heels, and they don't need to be "clunky." There are lots of shoes in stores now that have a tapered heel that ends before it becomes a pencil point. For example: (again, from designershoes.com)

Ok, you caught me, I loved those patent peep toes enough that I showed them to you in three different colours, but this speaks to my buy-it-in-every-colour principle. The black is a great basic, the nude were huge last summer and seem to be sticking around this year, and the hot pink... well, enough said already! Also, notice that they have a platform. This is helpful because it will actually balance the height of the heel and let you wear a higher heel without creating a harsh arch in your foot.

But, this shows that there are stylish heels that aren't insane stilettos, and these are probably pretty comfy!

And then, one more little treat, in case you want to be adventurous! Our good friend, Mr. John Fluevog has been known for most of his career for his choice of unique heel shapes. They tend to be shaped like hourglasses, meaning they have a wider, less precarious base, but a lot of visual interest, and no "clunk."

All beautiful, all interesting, all unique. And all easy to wear.

There you have it, ladies. High heel 101 for the bodacious babes! I hope that helped!

Born to SHOP!

From the time I was born, my Mum and Grandma taught me well. So, no one was all that surprised when my first spoken sentence was "Shop 'til you drop!" (though it was pronounced more like "Shop-a-drop!"), a sentence I, no doubt, said with great gusto, and a manta that I've kept pretty true to for most of my life.

I come from a long line of shopaholics, and, but for a brief spell where I was having trouble handling my finances, I can say that I am proud to follow in the family tradition! My father, on the other hand, doesn't get it. Maybe it's a feminine legacy. 

So, with all that in mind, it's only to be expected that a quick road trip across the border for groceries and a few basics would turn into a quest for fashion. That's not to say I walked into the first store, blacked out and came to surrounded by shopping bags and couture. I am very responsible with my money, but sometimes a girl needs a treat... or five. 

Needless to say, there were shoes in there. Here are my new darlings:

They're another stroke of genius from Candie's, and hit on a bunch of delicious trends all at once. 

If we look to Christian Louboutin's Spring/Summer 2012 collection for inspiration, there are some great examples of all the trends that these little darlings embody:

Satin. It's been on all sorts of feet. Natalie Portman, Paris Hilton, Victoria Beckham, to name a few. Charlotte Olympia, Manolo Blahnik, Sergio Rossi, Vera Wang and Jimmy Choo did them, amongst others. Satin is hot for Spring this year.

This one should come as no surprise, after all the fuss I've been making about colourblocking in the last few weeks. Mixing a shoe like this with a bright coloured pencil skirt (I picked up three last night) is a great way to wear colourblocking without it being too overwhelming. You don't have to look like a you drive a Delorian to pull it off, either. Modern shapes are key here.

Then, we have the best part, the embellished heel. Glitter and crystals are so much fun in Spring because you can utilise all the extra sunshine to put a little sparkle in your step. There's nothing quite like walking down the street and wanting to bust out a few moves, and it would only be fitting to do so when your heels look like disco balls.