Joyeux Anniversaire Maman!

I started my day today in song.  I sang Happy Birthday to Mom while the hubby meowed in the background (because he is weird.  Usually he howls like a dog, but today he decided to mix it up.  It's actually funnier and cuter than it sounds).  (also, I lied.  The day ACTUALLY started with the hubby waking me up like it was Christmas morning to watch last night's Conor McGregor MMA fight, but I prefer to stick with the singing memory.  It's much more pleasant and less violent).  Anyhoo.  Today is my mom's birthday!  Yay, Mom!  I asked her what kind of shoes she wanted me to post to celebrate the day and she decided on rain boots.  Here is why:

These are pictures of my parents' front yard that my dad sent me yesterday.  And yes, there is a caboose across the street.  Don't be jealous because you don't have one across the street from your house.  The point, of course, is the flooding from the crazy rain they had yesterday.  Dad sent me an email and asked if I wanted to come home and go fishing.  The lot next door used to be an empty parking lot that flooded every winter, and I used to love to put my boots on and go fishing in in the puddle.  Sadly I never caught anything. Probably because I didn't actually have a hook on my line.  Oh, and it was a puddle in a parking lot.  BUT, Mom suggested rain boots since this is their yard and rain boots would be appropriate for puddle stomping.  Here ya go, mama!

 

I typed in green rain boots and everything else was boring or ugly, so I had to add a little blue.  It's OK, Mom like blue, even thought green is her favorite color.

 

She also loves pansies, but I couldn't find any boots with pansies on them.  Instead I got boots with pansies IN them.  Cute and fun!

 

Pansy rain shoes are great for little puddles, but not for giant-puddle stomping.  Would it have been so hard to make these in a boot, too?  Do these people not understand it's my mom's birthday?! 

Look!  Green!  I was actually looking for something inspired by Mary Engelbreit, and these popped up.  They're really cool, but where were they when I typed in green?  So many questions tonight.

 

Huh.  I had no idea my mom had her own line of rain boots.  You'd think she'd tell me something like that considering I have a shoe blog.

 

I just like these.  Bright, fun, and awesome.

Green birthday cupcakes boots!

Mom is a painter, so I thought this was also really cool.  Hey, Mom, I think you should start painting that line of rain boots you have as they're a little plain...

So.  Happy Birthday, Mom!  Thanks for not selling me to they gypsies when I was bratty.

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.

First Day of April

So today was April Fool's Day. Did you fall for any tricks?  I actually had the opposite.  I had a friend send an email about a new job, which is awesome because she's been miserable at her current one for a long time.  I really wanted it to be true, but, I had to check to make sure she wasn't pulling a prank.  It was true!  Yay!  She said she forgot it was even April Fools, which I frequently do as well.

I was wandering around Kohl's tonight and found a shoe that seemed like it was made especially for today:

OK, they aren't that bad.  I love bright colors, and these are fun in that way, they're just too much.  Maybe they look awesome on someone who isn't me.  Believe me, the picture didn't capture the crazy  as well as I hoped.

In the spirit of the day, SKD posted a video to my Facebook wall about the new trend in shoes, the selfie shoe!

First, those shoes would be super cute if they didn't have the crazy, phone-holding toes.  Second, not many people can life their leg that high?  And third, are you using a self timer?  How would you hit the button to take the picture?  Yes, I know, I probably thought way too much about a silly prank, but I can't help it, it's just how my brain works.

 

These 4 are vintage shoes that were labeled as "April Fools Day Sale."  I didn't figure we needed to have the whole post being sill shoes.  I love this last pair, and the pansy shoes are crazy bright, but I had to post them for my mama.  I like the blue ones, and I even like the top pair in a weird kind of way.  Even if they are stupid slingbacks.

April Fools Day is also, as I've mentioned before, my brother's birthday.  I'm not posting a shoe picture in honor of this occasion this year, because I'd rather post this:

Awwww...baby big brother!  He looks concerned about something.  Probably that he hadn't eaten in 5 minutes or so.  Apparently he ate all the darn time.  It's funny how I can totally see the 44 year old man he's become in this tiny baby face.  Happy Birthday!

Hope you had an uneventful day, unless you like pranks, and then I hope you had a totally eventful day!

Pansies

This post is for my mom (hi, Mom!), who loves pansies.

I won't even ruin the shoes with snarky comments.  All I will say is that the last 2 pictures are painted toddler/baby shoes (the shoes are painted, not the toddlers and babies...), and my mom is an awesome painter.  Don't you think she should start painting baby shoes?  Don't think she should start now, and in a variety of sizes and pictures on the off chance that I might have a baby some day who will need many pairs of adorable shoes?  Love you, Mom!

PS--maybe I should have done a Friday the 13th post.  But Friday the 13th shoes?  Ick.  I'm not a horror movie fan, so why do I want shoes with gross stuff on them?