Walking in a winter wonderland

This past Friday, I took a little trip with my man to Whistler, land of winter and snowflakes.

It was so lovely! I took a bus up and spent the night the Summit Lodge and Spa, had a lovely dinner at 21 Steps, and then got to wander the village and relax, all with my charming boyfriend, Milos.

Being the shoe-aholic that I am, I, of course, was in heels for dinner. One of my favourite things is when Milos and I get all dressed up and go out together, so I was not going to waste an opportunity because of the cold. So, with a wool overcoat and a velvet scarf over my lacey dress and tights, I popped on a pair of Vera Wang stilettos and stepped out into the snow.

They're a little hard to see in this photo, but those are suede, and strappy with open-toes. Not necessarily the cleverest choice to go tromping through the snow, but I made it work. The platforms kept me high enough off the ground to get wet, and the dry snow didn't stick. It was a chilly stroll, though!

I probably won't be attempting open-toes in the snow again in the near future... At least not unless there's a vehicle involved!

The rest of the trip was spent in my knee-high black boots, a much more winter-friendly choice, with their fuzzy lining and unexpected waterproof exterior (I was pleasantly surprised by my bone-dry toes after 90 minutes of kicking through fresh powder).

Overall, it was a sublime weekend, and got me very much in the Christmas spirit. So much so, in fact, that I spent all day Sunday baking Christmas goodies with my best friend, Estee.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

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 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?

Prison and The Big Apple

This weekend, I went to prison.

Ok, I don't mean it the way it sounds, but at least the shock value was there. My partner in crime and I hosted a party at our house on Saturday night that was prison-themed. We dressed as cops and policed the evening, while our guests came dressed as criminals and debaucherized until dawn.

I looked a little something like this:

And, of course, there was some delicious footwear involved! These bad boys are Vera Wang, and I have them in a slate blue as well:

Yummy, no? And with some wild fishnets? Let's just say those legs went for miles.

Overall, it was a great weekend.

Sunday was spent in my indestructible flip-flops, lying in the sun in the park near my house. It was delightful. I really feel like summer has arrived, and hopefully it will stick around for a good while!

Cause, really, all those bright summer shoes would look so much better against a tan...

Also! I'm headed to New York with my mum on Thursday night, so I'll be MIA for a while. That being said, I promise to have lots of stories, and photos, to share with you upon my return!

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)!