Happy New Year!

Well, my fellow shoeanistas! 2011 is upon us!



And what a year it has been! Trips and parties, and so many shoes!!!



I know that the new year is going to be good to us, but remember, new beginnings can often be like new shoes.



They're a little precarious and uncomfortable the first few times you wear them.

And sometimes, you will lose your balance, and you may fall.

But, just when you've decided it's too damned hard and you've decided you've cause enough blisters...

All your hard work will have paid off, your shoes will be perfectly broken in, and you'll want to dance all night!


To a delightful new year of shoes and dances (and hopefully not too many blisters!)

Magic rainboots

Call me crazy, but I have magic rainboots. They control the weather. Cool, right?

The problem is that they're mischievous, (little bastards) and are bent of making me look stupid.

Ok, now I do sound crazy. Let me explain.

If I put on my rainboots in the morning, and look outside and it's not raining, but it looks like it's planning to, it won't rain (result=Katy looks stupid for walking around in the sun with rainboots on). On the flip-side, if I look out the window on the same day and decide to risk it and wear any other kind of shoes, it will, without fail, rain (result=Katy looks slightly less stupid, but stupid nonetheless for running around in the rain in open-toed stilettos).

Sneaky, no?

Who would have thought that 20$ Walmart rainboots would have such an effect on the universe. Now I know how those kids felt when they put the hat on Frosty...

Nothing bad can happen in Birmingham!

Alright, so I'm back, for reals, I promise!!

Ok, well, I'm going to try. It's really quite tricky to keep up when you're so busy!!

Anyways, when I say back, I mean two things... Back in the blogosphere, and back at home!

You see, my counterpart, D, and I just returned from Birmingham, Alabama!! We had gone for our friend Jimi King's album release, and there were good times had by ALL! And, of course, excellent footwear ;)!

Ok, so quick side-note here: I am notorious for wearing the worst and most inconvenient footwear in airports. For some reason, I always end up in laced-to-your-knees boots or 20,000-strapped gladiators, and security becomes an incredible task. So, this time, I decided I would be insanely clever, and ditch my work pumps (the little brown ones I showed you in the summer) for my favourite ugly blue flip-flops!

This was a great idea until I stepped off the plane and realised it was freezing in B'ham.

D had been clever enough to wear Uggs, which, I'm sorry if you love them but, I hate with a firey burning passion. I think they're hideous, and that they look like slippers. (I share the same sentiments about Crocs, but that's a rant for another day.) Unfortunately, (and I think this is karma for wearing them in the first place) they had started to fall apart the moment she stepped out of the house to come and meet me.

So, after checking into the hotel and having a nap, we headed to Target (which was across the street) to get something more suitable. What we found were these:

Now, here's where I become a bit of a hypocrite, because, if you click on the link provided above, you'll notice that these are not shoes, but slippers, which is the precise reason that I hate Uggs so much. But, if you look at these guys, they're so much cuter than Uggs!

Anyways, hate me if you must, I wore them outside, and I liked it! Plus, I don't think I've ever gotten more compliments on a pair of shoes in my life! Wait, I think the general concensus on my Sam Edelman fringeys was a little more exuberant. But not by much!

The other darling shoes that we got on this trip were these:

(Although, I got the black ones and D got the pink... the website won't let me save the black picture. Weird.)

Now these babies are from Wet Seal. This place is a goldmine for going out shoes. D and I have both bought shoes from these guys before, and they are our go-to going out shoes. Mine are wedges and I have had to glue them back together a million times, and D's are stilettos that have been worn so far down the leather on the heel is starting to peel back. This is how amazing these shoes are, and how often we wear them. If you're in the states, go there now.

The other thing that's amazing about Wet Seal is that their shoes are cheap. Like a friggin' steal. These were 12.50$. No, I don't think you understand. Twelve-friggin'-fifty!!!! And they'll last forever. And you'll never have to take them off at midnight because 1 hour of wearing them was plenty thank-you-very-much. My wedges? I've slept in them. Amazing going-out shoes. Amazing.

Anyways, sorry for the stolen photos, my camera hasn't been unloaded from this trip yet. More to come, I promise!

Man, busy makes it hard to blog.

Hello, my darlings!! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know it's been awhile!!

But! I have stories to tell you. Promise!!!

Ok, where did I leave you off....? Right! I was working at Vorum and trying to make the best of the summer while still wearing fabulous footwear.

What has happened in the meantime? Ohhh, sooo mucchhh!

Let's go chronologically:

Labour day weekend, we went to Nola! (New Orleans for those who don't know) and practically lived in my indestrucible flipflops (as always). Actually, by the time that the real fall weather hit, I had a pretty impressive tanline...

Anyways, after that, I continued working at Vorum for awhile, and we were told that we were going to get AMAZING custom boots from our partner in the UK and I picked THESE beauties:

They're forest green suede, and black patent. Yum, no?

You can check them out on the website too! Anyways, this whole process involved getting my feet scanned so that custom lasts could be made, so that custom shoes could be made! Neat, huh?

Anyways, moving on! I've since left my job at Vorum, although I'm still getting my boots ;), and am working at a new company called National Speakers Bureau/Contemporary Communications, as an office administrator/accountant of sorts... So far, so good!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I've also been to the Vancouver Museum to see a shoe EXHIBIT with my mum! Check out the flyer, as found on a lamppost:

Those gorgeous stained-glass leather boots are Fluevogs, and he was one of Vancouver's FIRST fantastic shoe-designers. Now, he has a cult-following. Anyways, it was an amazing exhibit, and ran through all the history of Fox & Fluevog as designers and as a company. Neat stuff if you ask me! This was my favourite sign:

Truth, sir, truth.

The best of both worlds?!

I've returned! Camping was splendid, although Dominique and I DID have to share a pair of flip-flops (again, the blue ones, those things are indestructible) because the pair that she brought broke about 3 hours into the trip. Oops... I really should have got a photo...

Anyways, it's been SO hot out lately that I'm quite reluctant to revisit the whole wearing-closed-toes-in-summer idea, at least until we get a breeze or two.

So, for all your shoe-anistas out there who LOVE a little heel in your life, but hate the idea of sweating in your pumps all day, I bring you the solution:

Heeled flip-flops.

Again, these are a Payless purchase, and they're actually about 5 years old (shhhh, we'll call them vintage), but they're pretty freakin' cute. The little sequins give them some sparkle, and the bright pink makes them really cute with a super casual outfit. Nothing quite like a splash of colour on your tootsies to bring life to neutral shorts and tops.


Do me a huge favour though and ignore the dirty feet, the unshaven legs and the flaking toenail polish, please. Remember that I've been camping for 4 days.

Who says you can't wear closed-toes in the summer?

Ok, so it's summer. That we all know.

I've been pretty much living in my flippy-floppies all summer (you know the ones... they're bluueee) but today I opted to go a little classier.

I'm going camping tomorrow with my partner in crime Miss Dominique, and we all know that you can't wear classy heels at the lake. At the VERY most, you can get away with wearing wedges... but even then... it's CAMPING, you crazy shoe-anistas!

Anyways, these are Payless Shoes. They were cheap, I won't lie. I bought them when I was just starting doing officework and I still believed in work-appropriate clothing (very much a thing of the past, I'm in shorts and a t-shirt right now, but believe me, I'm still smashing).

I used to hate Payless Shoes with a fiery burning passion because I thought they were cheaply made, and therefore:
a) uncomfortable; and
b) going to fall apart at any moment.

Payless was my store of choice when I was in high school and it was incredibly important to purchase 18 pairs of shoes for less than 100$ cause I was working in a grocery store for minimum wage and a shopaholic.

Anyways, I love these. they're pseudo-spectators with the suede and patent patches, and they're actually comfy and durable as all hell. Enjoy!

PS Like I said, I'm going camping, so I won't be posting for a few days for sure... Have a grand weekend!

The return of the flat!

Gooooooddddd mooorrrrnnnniiinnnggggg!!!

Ok. So, today, I want to tell you about my obsession with crazy sandals. I've shown you my gold ankle wrap flip-flops, but these lil babies were a very excellent purchase made in the FABULOUS city of New York!

We (Mum and I) found them at this store Laila Rowe (if you REALLY like these, and want a pair, they're on sale for 15.00$US) that was a few different places in the ol' NYC, and we kept stumbling upon them in our travels around the city (which was opportune because we couldn't figure out where the first one was that we found, and we really wanted to go back).

I think that they're quite clever because they have ankle straps, but also zippers down the back of the ankle, so you can just unzip and jump out. I always find it frustrating having to contort my body into odd pretzel shapes so that I can see the buckles placed strategically just out of my normal range of sight.

Anyways! I am absolutely LOVING the crazy flat sandals that have been coming out this season. There are studs and anklestraps and pseudo-sandal-boot-hybrids (like the ones my mum bought on our San Fran trip) all over the place and I think they're fantastic. It's nice to see something other than your typical strappy heel (not that I don't love a good strappy heel, they just get tired after awhile) or mangy flip-flop. Plus, there's a shift with these towards a less delicate look. The studs and beadwork are all very strong looks, sometimes hinting at tribal or military, and this allows them to pull together and step up a casual look.

For example, I've worn these sandals with a pair of short-shorts and my (men's) I <3 NY shirt, and really felt as though the shoes pulled the outfit together and made it an outfit, rather than looking like I just pulled the first two clean items of clothing off my floor and threw them on (which is very possibly what actually happened).

I would almost equate this trend to all the gorgeous flat boots we've been seeing for Fall/Winter the last few years. Flats are coming back, baby, and the boardwalk is the perfect place for them.