Birthday

It's my birthday!  I was feeling all blah about it yesterday, but today has turned out to be quite lovely.  The hubby brought me breakfast in bed and then surprised me at work with cake.  Later we are going to go to a movie and maybe dinner (although I'm not sure where I will put more food...none of my pants are going to fit by the end of the day).

This is the same thing I did for my birthday last year, but I enjoyed reading through that post and thought I would do it again this year, but with updated years, of course.

1976.  I was 1 and apparently cards made fabulous hats.  I love that green shoe in the middle up there.

1981.  I started 1st grade but still had the same teacher.  Obviously she loved me so much she moved up a grade just to stay with me...   I couldn't find heels from '81 that I liked, but I thought these Miss Piggy shoes were awfully cute, and something I might have worn back then.

1986.  I'm brunette!  And I started 6th grade.  The suspenders were attached to a skirt made from the same material and it was adorable.  My mama made the outfit (as well as the ones in the pictures above and below).  Strangely enough I had the same teacher in 6th grade that I'd had in 5th.  I love the shiny red shoes.

1991.  Wow, no perm for 11th grade school pictures.  At this point I was a cheerleader, played volleyball, a member of National Honor Society, did school plays, was a band geek, and a geek in general.  Those shoes are really weird and cool and interesting.

1996.  I started college in January after taking 2 1/2 years off.  I met the BFF during Fall semester.  This picture is actually from 1997, but I couldn't find one from '96 and this one perfectly sums up our relationship.  I love the embroidered shoe but wish it had a different heel.  Alas, it was the 90s and heels were clunky.

2001.  Year 2 of living with the auntie in Texas.  Here we are in Austin.  Apparently I not only wore a 2 piece swimming suit but allowed myself to be photographed in it.  I love love love that shoe.

2006.  I finished internship in PA (thank God), spent a couple of months in MT, went back to Berkeley for my final semester of seminary, then moved back to MT to await my first call.  Flower came to us that summer from China!  This picture is from when my mama came to visit me in PA.  Thank goodness I had visits from her, my dad, the seester, and the auntie, or I might have gone crazy.  I'm not sure how I feel about the shoe.  I like elements of it, but not sure the overall effect is working for me.

2011.  I was back living in California, had my 2nd call at St. Someone's, and got engaged to the hubby!  This is Flower, me, the seester, and mama when we all accidentally dressed in the same color.  Coincidentally, the shoes I chose were also green (awesome green...those are so springy and fun!)

2016.  I'm not great at taking selfies, but my hair is super cute!  I'm hoping this year brings good things, not only for the hubby and me, but for those we love as well. I love love love those fuchsia shoes.

Thus ends this very narcissistic post.  Except for...

...Memory Lane: 2013. 2015.

Yay, Women!

Today is International Women's Day.  As a woman who knows lots of amazing women, I say hell yeah to International Women's Day.  It could be argued that doing a shoe post to celebrate isn't very enlightened or feminist, but oh well.  I'm not insisting women should wear heels, I'm not saying all women love shoes, I'm just writing a silly blog post, not intended to offend or minimize anyone or anything.  If you want something with a little more substance then check out these young women dressed up as amazing women from history.  It's pretty awesome.  If I weren't so tired I would try to write a more substantive post, but alas, I will have to leave that to others tonight, most of whom are more than likely to be better written and/or spoken than I.  

According to Wikipedia, the first occurrence of  this day was in 1909, so I decided to look at shoes from each decade since.  As always, I make no claims that the dates of these shoes are accurate.

1909 wedding shoes!

1919.  The shoes are cool, but I especially like that this picture shows a bit of the dresses, too.

1929.  Not my favorite color, necessarily, but you know I love t-straps.  I like to try and imagine fun outfits that would go with these.

 

1939.  These are really kind of weird, but really interesting.

1949.  They're a little clunky, but also really fun.  Again, I'm imagining outfits.  And hair.  Really awesome 40s hair like Victory rolls.

1959. LOVELOVELOVE.

1969.  I chose this picture more for the tights than the shoes.  The shoes are cool, but those tights are amazingly crazy.

1979.  Crazy heels aren't a new thing, y'all!

1989.  Is that measuring tape?  I mostly chose this pair because the heel shape is so very 80s.

1999.  Had to go with a good, chunky heel for the 90s.

2009.  Where's the arch support?  But I like the colors.

2016.  I love these, too.  I'm not this pretty or dainty, but I still love these.

Thank you to women everywhere for everything they do, for those who have gone before to pave the way, and those who continue to work and fight.

Memory Lane:  2013. 2014. 

3 Things:

1. All of the fabulous women in my life:  Moms, grandmas, sisters, friends, aunties, nieces mentors.
2. Coffee with one of those fabulous women.  I needed some social time away from the office.
3. Some forward movement on potential moving (do you like that vague play on words?).

The Big 4-0

Today is my birthday, at least for another half hour or so.  It was a very nice day, starting with breakfast in bed from the hubby, 2 new pairs of shoes from my parents (I'll show you tomorrow), and then an outing with the hubby and puppies to Amador County to have a picnic and a walk.  It was a gorgeous day, even if it did gum up my eyes and clog up my sinuses (which is actually my fault since I've stopped getting my shots and taking most of my allergy meds because it's all so frickin' expensive).  But let's talk about shoes instead. I thought about finding a pair for each year of my life, but that seemed extreme, so we'll just go with every 5 years.

1975.  I'm an adorable newborn-8 1/2 month old.  Here are some awesome pansy shoes for my mama.

1980.  I started Kindergarten, despite almost not being able to tie my own shoes.  Being the saucy child that I was, I told the teacher at Kindergarten roundup that it didn't matter because I would just wear my buckle shoes.  Those are some crazy colorful shoes up there, and I was a blonde 5 year old.

1985.  I'm in 4th and 5th grade, slightly less blonde, and have been wearing glasses for several years.  In 5th grade I got bifocals, oh joy.  These shoes are still bright, but slightly less crazy and more geometrical.

1990.  Love the embroidered shoes.  No idea really what kind of shoes I myself was wearing.  I was in 9th and 10th grades and had a perm so I could have big, 90s hair.  My glasses were stylishly huge, and I'm wearing my dad's jacket from the 60s or 70s.

flower

1995.  I've been out of school since 1993, but still living at home, doing daycare for a family in my hometown.  I looooooved those babies (still do, even if they are all old now).  I chopped my hair off, and had been wearing contacts for about 3 years.

2000.  Love the red hounds tooth!  In January I moved to Plano, TX to live with my auntie, after graduating from college in December of 1999.  I learned to drive in traffic, got my first real jobs, and apparently posed in the shrubs in front of my bedroom windows.  Oh, and Double A was born in May, big sister DJ was 3.

2005.  2 years into seminary, and I headed off to internship, which sucked, so we shall not speak of it.  But, the year started with my spending 3 weeks on Oahu with the BSF.  She was doing her internship in Honolulu and I got to do my cross-cultural experience.  It was awesome.  The Bean was born in 2003, so I was up to 3 nieces.

2010. Stripey and strappy shoes.  Can't go wrong there.  I finished my first call in March and moved back to CA in July.  The nephew and Laughter were born. I met the man who would become the hubby. The couch is close to not holding all of us.

2015.  The shoes are crazy, but I actually really like them.  I am on-leave from call and my life is more complicated than in 2010, but way less complicated than 2014.   The only picture I have of myself so far this year is with this adorable young miss from St. Someone.

This post took way too long because the internet kept going out.  It's no longer my birthday, and I must go to bed because I am old.

Palm Sunday Birthday

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week and the day when we celebrate Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.  I had really good intentions of going to church but woke up with the sinus headache from hell and stayed in bed instead.  Which stinks, because I enjoy  Palm Sunday.  Although, I'm not as fond of reading the passion on the same day.  I get it, lots of people don't go on Good Friday, so don't hear the Passion, but still.  I guess I'm a Palm Sunday purist.  Oh well, let's look at shoes:

Very Beachy, not so much Palm Sunday churchy, but I'd still wear them.

Shoes made out of Palms!  This is waaaaay more complicated than simply making a cross out of your palm.  Not quite as symbolic, though.

Also Beachy, but I really want a pair like this for next Palm Sunday.  I do love a theme!

Or these!  Although the above pair would show better under my alb if I'm back in the parish.

These are kind of tie-dyed looking palms.  But I love the colors.

Today is also extra special for another reason:  It's DJ's 18th birthday!  I can hardly believe it's been 18 years since this little bundle of energy came into our lives.  She's about to graduate high school and go into the navy.  She wants to be a nurse.  She's currently taking EMT classes.  She's amazing.  Since she was born in 1997, here are some shoes from that year:

Ahhh...clunky platforms.  Not palms, but plant related.

Whoa.  And damn.

Doc Martens.  I never owned a pair, but man were they popular.

Stripes, good.  Rainbow colors, awesome.  Platforms this crazy, well, crazy.

This is the exact shoe I wore for a good chunk of 1997.  This or hiking boots.  I did have some dress shoes, but I wasn't going through much of a shoe craze at that time.

DJ, of course, spent 1997 in adorable baby shoes, and being adorable in general.  Happy Birthday, oldest niece!  Love you to the moon and back!