Happy Birthday, Hubby!

Today is the hubby's birthday, and he is what I am grateful for today.  We've been together for a little over 6 years now, and we've certainly had our ups and downs.  Some days he drives me a little bit bonkers and I want to kick him, and I know some days I drive him bonkers back.  When push comes to shove, though, we've go each other's backs and for that I am very grateful.  Plus, he makes me laugh with his goofy sense of humor.  So tonight's shoes are inspired by the hubby.  I've already done a post with our last name, so today I'm using his first name.  Which is just weird because he doesn't go by it, and refuses to answer to it, but I figure the shoes don't mind one way or the other.

These look like something the hubby would wear.  He likes suits, and he has a couple of pairs of wingtips to go with them.

 

Black shoes are definitely his preference.  Kind of like JG...no wonder they like each other!

Oh wow.  I can't see him wearing these, and I can't say I would blame him.

He wouldn't wear these, either, but I might.

Boy shoes are all well and good, but not very exciting, so here's some hounds tooth for me.

Oooh...and I love this one!

Happy Birthday, hubby.  Love you to the moon and back!

Cute Auntie Shoes Day 2

I finally unpacked my suitcase on Sunday, which is the reason I'm finally wearing the shoes that the auntie gave me while I was in Montana.  Here is today's selection:

They're Keens, which I love.  They're Mary Janes, which I also love.  And they're brown, which is good because I need cute brown work shoes for summer.  So yay!  Then I went looking for more Keen Mary Janes, and holy shoegasm, Batman!  I give them without comment since mine would all involve exclamation points and variations on the squeee! sound.

 

Maybe I will only wear Mary Janes from Keens from here on out.  There were so many more that I had to stop myself from inundating you with every darn picture on the internet.  Squee indeed.

In other news today is the 8th anniversary of my ordination, which is really weird because I'm no longer ordained.  Last year on May 17th I was, and this year I'm not.  And I'm not sure if I will be again?  But it still happened, so I can still celebrate the occasion, right?  It's so confusing, and I'm trying not to let the weirdness infuse my whole day.  Thankfully I have plenty to be getting on with at work these days, so it helped to take my mind off of the weirdness for at least part of the day.  I still want to stuff my face with chocolate, though.  Sigh.

Moving on.

Memory Lane: 2013 (celebrating!). 2014 (Oh look, more weirdness about the day). 2015 (never mind, I didn't even post, so we can skip last year's angst).

Happy Birthday, FiL!

Today is my father-in-law's 70th birthday.  We tried to call him something like 10 times before we actually got to talk to him, every other time the phone was busy.  He said he felt like the president he had so many calls today, which is lovely because he is awesome.  He makes me laugh like crazy.  Half the time we can't understand a word the other one says (thankfully we have the hubby to interpret), but I love talking to him every week.  He says I'm a "jokester" which means I make him laugh, too.  I definitely lucked out in the in-law department because my mama-in-law is great also.  

So, the FiL is from Alabama, a state I've never been to, but hope to visit some day so I can see some of the hubby's favorite places to visit from childhood.  I don't really know much about Alabama except what the hubby and his dad have told me, but I decided to type in "Alabama shoes" just to see what would come up.  I knew I'd get sports shoes, because one thing I do know about the state is that they love them their football team.  I assume other sports as well?  I've posted sports-themed shoes before, but I have to give it to Bama, these are some of my favorite:

This is typical of what I was expecting when I started looking, as this is indicative of the majority of sports shoes I've found in other searches.  Although I do like the colors a lot.

 

But then these came up.  And maybe they aren't overtly sports-related, maybe they have nothing to do with Alabama except for the color scheme, but I don't care, because adorable!

 

I like the subtlety of these, they don't scream "rabid sports fan."  Plus, they are shiny red shoes, so what's not to like?

Are you noticing a theme?  I found several houndstooth options.  I may have to like this sports stuff just for the shoes...

Aha!  The houndstooth wasn't just random or coincidence!  I don't know about sports, but Alabama definitely gets my vote for having the best sports-related shoes.

So, are any of these shoes my FiL would appreciate?  I'm guessing no, but as he doesn't read my blog let's just not tell him, OK?  This is just my way of celebrating his birthday in my own way since I can't be in Ohio to celebrate with him.  I promise I won't ever try to make him wear any of these shoes.

Happy Birthday, (other) Dad!

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.

Kaleidoscopes

I seriously just told the puppies, "puppies who poop in the dining room don't get treats."  They just looked up a me adoringly and expectantly, assuming they would OF COURSE get a treat.  They did not.

In other news, the hubby and I went and toured model homes today, just for something to do to get us out of the house.  They were all nice, but there was one that I wanted to move into immediately, furniture and all.  Every room had blue in it.  Lots of other accent colors, too, but blue was the main theme.  Sigh...  It was also 6 bedrooms, 5 baths, so that seems more than a little extreme.  Ugh, I'd have to clean FIVE bathrooms.  Maybe the blue isn't so great after all.

But no shoes about either of these topics.  Have you seen today's Google doodle?  I can't get a picture of it for you, but it's in celebration of John Venn's birthday.  It reminds me, though, of a kaleidoscope.  I think kaleidoscopes are very fun.  My disgustingly talented parents (hi, Mom and Dad!) made one once out of stained glass.  Where is that, by the way?  So here are some kaleidoscope shoes.

These are...interesting.  I guess I can see why they were labeled as kaleidoscope shoes.  I actually like the pattern on the side, but I don't really think it needs the orange and black and white parts as well.

Now these say kaleidoscope to me.  I like them.  They are fun and I would wear them.

Like a good kaleidoscope, these make my eyes go a little squiggly.  But blue, so that's nice.

I wish these had more color.  I like the colorful parts, but the rest is a bit blah.

These are fun.  Butterflies!  I like it when kaleidoscopes make a recognizable pattern.

How fun is this?  A shoe kaleidoscope!

One more thing before I go.  The PF sent me another pin last night, but I didn't see it until I had already posted.

Very autumny.  And I'm sure you won't be surprised that I like the shape.

I was in bed before midnight last night and it's my goal to be in bed by 11:30 tonight.  Wish me luck!

Houndstooth

It was a quiet day at home with the hubby and the puppies, so it's appropriate that the Pinterest Friend sent me this pin tonight:

Houndstooth!  I think these are adorable.  I don't usually like houndstooth that much.  It makes my eyes go all squiggly.  These aren't doing that too much, though, and I love the red and white combination.

 

I love the concept of these, but really dislike the houndstooth.  Maybe because it's patent?

I think I can like houndstooth when it's only used as an accent.  Of course, it could also be that these are mostly blue...

 

See?  Accents are cute. 

The yellow is the accent here, but I really like the pop of color.

Oooh...t-straps.  And I love the square toe and heel.  I might be persuaded to this pattern yet.

Is it weird that I like these?  I can't pull off the booty look.

Like the color, hate the solid orange on the front.  It just makes the shoe look weird.  As does the fact that the fabric covers most of the heel.

These were the only green I could find.   Camoflage?  Really?  These will not be making an appearance in the Potential Baby's Imaginary Closet.  Although I can think of many babies for whom they'd be appropriate.

Thanks, PF.  Your pin made me rethink my opinion on this particular pattern.