Election

Tonight I am grateful for the right to vote, and incredibly grateful and indebted to the people who fought so hard to gain that right.  Politics in our country tend to depress me with their divisiveness and extreme polarities, but I'm still grateful to be able to participate in the process and let my voice be heard.  We've stopped watching election night coverage for awhile because it's too crazy and stressful.  In fact, according to Facebook, most of my friends seem to feel the same way and are either stress eating, drinking, binge watching results, or compulsively refreshing web pages.  On the other hand, Facebook friends have also let me know that the Weather Channel is showing soothing nature images and Animal Planet is running a cute puppy marathon.  You know, in case you need some alternatives to the craziness.  In the meantime, you can take a minute to look at some red, white, and blue shoes in honor today and our right to vote.

I do love a red shoe.  I especially love that lacy detail on the top shoe.

Both of these are lovely styles, but I still find white shoes kind of boring.  Plus, I would get them dirty within 2.4 seconds of putting them on.

You know the blues are my favorite.  I mean, duh.

I hope you exercised your right to vote today.  Tomorrow life goes on, we'll just have a new president-elect and lots of new elected officials and propositions, etc. and we will all move forward into the new reality.

Memorial Day

I'm never sure if the appropriate greeting is "Happy Memorial Day."  It is, after all, a day when we remember those who have died in service of their country.  I guess "Contemplative Memorial Day!" or "Remember Memorial Day!" would sound even weirder.  At any rate, I am grateful that my dad, uncle, and grandfather all came back from their time in the Navy, and I pray that DJ will do the same with her time in the Navy.  Today my thoughts are with all of those families who have lost loved ones, and my prayer is also that some day there will be no need to remember the fallen because peace will reign and war will end.

On a lighter note, there's shoes.

Obviously Memorial Day shoes are going to be very similar to 4th of July shoes, so I only chose a few pictures for today.  The top pair is vintage, from the 50s, and I think they're really cool.  And everyone needs a pair of patriotic shoes that light up!

Today is also (again, I have no idea who comes up with this stuff) My Bucket's Got a Hole In It Day.  Which is weird, and which means I have been singing this all day:

The video is a little creepy, but the song reminds me of when I was in elementary school and my daddy was my music teacher and we would sing this song.

Memory Lane: 2013. 2015.

Stars

I'm exhausted.  I'm tempted just to skip posting and go to bed, but I haven't posted for 2 days, and I had wanted to post every day during Lent.  Tuesday and Wednesday were roller coaster days, along with being extremely long days at the office, so I've been tired all week, and those days I didn't have the emotional reserves to form coherent thoughts.  Thankfully for tonight, I have the Pinterest Friend to fall back on.  I mentioned before that I've been doing the Synod's Lent Photo-a-Day on Facebook, and Tuesday's theme was stars.  Not only did the PF provide me with a great picture of Orion (my favorite constellation) to post, but she also went on a search and found me a bunch of fun star shoes.  Sadly I'm 2 days late in posting them, but at least I got to it at some point.  So here they are, with little to no commentary from the loopy, exhausted woman at the keyboard.

I had glow in the dark stars for my ceiling during college.  Now I want these shoes.

Didn't the PF do a good job?  Yay for stars!

Memory Lane:  2013. 2014.

3 Things (times 3 days):

1. We signed papers for the house on Tuesday.  We are sooooo close to this house actually being sold.
2. My hubby has mad negotiating/charm skills that managed to correct a problem that could have absolutely ruined this entire week.
3. Yesterday was the anniversary of my grandfather's death.  I miss him dearly, but so glad I had him as long as I did, and for the memories I have of him.
4. Today is George Harrison's (of the Beatles) birthday. I'm very happy he made the world better with music.
5. The BFF's mom had a CT scan on Monday (same day SKD's mom had surgery...I called my mom just to make sure she was OK) and everything came back fine, which is good news.
6. The PF finds me shoes so I don't have to find them myself when I'm exhausted.
7. The hubby is lucky (I am not) and won a $50 visa debit card at a marketing event the other day.
8. I ate chocolate for breakfast this morning.
9. The property manager at the office is awesome (the hubby says we are long-lost sisters) and she plies me with coffee when I am desperate.

Happy Birthdays

You might remember that February 6 is a pretty awesome day as it is the birthday of 2 of my favorite people, The Nephew and the BSF!

The Nephew is 6 today, and like any self-respecting 6 year old, he loves Star Wars (he also loves The Beatles, so you know I approve).  Today he's having a Darth Vader cake, so I thought I'd go find him some Star Wars Shoes.

Darth Vader tennies!  I think we both need a pair.

As well as a pair of Chewbacca slippers.  These are adorable and crack me up.

I also want a pair of these.  Apparently The Nephew and I need a Star Wars imaginary shoe closet.

If you haven't seen the new movie you might not recognize the new droid, BB8,  alongside R2D2.  I like that this pair combines the old and new.

I don't actually know how to segue into the next set of pictures except to move from The Nephew to the BSF and try not to worry about making it a smooth transition.  The BSF shares my love of shoes (hence her nickname).  Since this is also Super Bowl weekend, I went with a sports theme.  The BSF got her first (of like 8 million) Masters Degrees at KU and worked there as a sports therapist for many years before decided to go to seminary.  The Jayhawk was the first college mascot I actually recognized outside my own school.  So, in honor of that, and her birthday, here are some Jayhawk shoes.

 These are cute.  I would wear them.

These are hilarious and weird and awesome and I want some with my college mascot on them.

Of course I had to find a pair of sparkly heels!

Happy Birthday, Nephew and BSF!  So happy to have both of you in my life!

Happy 4th!

I hope you all had a fun, safe, and relaxing holiday.  We did absolutely nothing but have a reality TV marathon, which was fine, but man do I miss our annual family reunion on Flathead Lake.  One of these years I'm actually going to be able to take the hubby home for that.  Oh well, we hung out with the puppies, who dressed up for the occasion:

Yes, I did make a paper hat and force them to wear it.  The hubby says I need therapy, and he says the puppies are going to need therapy as well if I keep tormenting them with outfits.

 

Pedro also wore the hat, but here's a picture from earlier in the day with him in his flag shirt (which I made last year).  He's sitting on the rug I crocheted from old t-shirts.

Our mantel is a little more festive than last year, but still not terribly exciting.  Have I mentioned that my awesome mama made all of the wooden people you see on the mantel each month?  So at least I always have something cute to start with.

Last one before the shoes.  I used to do flags on my toes every year for the 4th, but I haven't done it the last several years, and I'm clearly out of practice.  The right one looks like it was done by a blind, drunk toddler.  But at least I tried to be festive.

 

OK, shoes.  I love these.

And these.  I could maybe even make a pair like this (although I doubt I could get my lines to go straight).

I have no idea what is happening here, but it frightens me.

Cute, but again, all you would see is a boring red strap once you put them on.

Damn.  That is all.

Much better.  I think this is quite cute.

Oh wow.  Why oh why can't I get the hubby to wear crazy men's shoes?

 Love love love, even with the stupid slingbacks.

I like these, too.  Kind of crazy, but I think 4th of July is a holiday you can get away with slightly crazy-festive.

 

Ribbon laces!  And adorable kiddo shoes.

Happy 4th, everyone.  The puppies and I are worn out from all of the couch snuggling we did today while watching TV, so we're off to bed.

Congratulations, Graduate!

DJ graduated from high school tonight!  I so wanted to be there, and am bummed that it didn't work out, but I am soooo proud of her!  She leaves soon to spend the summer working in Virginia City, MT, and then she heads to boot camp for the navy in September (she wants to be a nurse!).  The brother sent me a picture of her with her diploma, and The Bean posted some pictures to Facebook, so that made me happy to get to see her smiling face.

To me, graduation gowns are kind of like albs.  The only thing that differentiates you are your shoes, so you might as well wear something fun and/or funky!  Let's look at some examples.

See?  Festive and informative!

These aren't shoes I would necessarily choose for myself, but they certainly aren't boring, and they definitely catch the eye.

 

Again, not a style  I might choose, but I do love the color choice.

These are my kind of girls.  Fun shoes, and they posed for a shoe picture!  Also, the picture was taken in Billings, MT, proving that Montana girls rock.

I'm not sure I've ever seen brown graduation robes, but this picture proves a point.  The black shoes?  Kind of boring.  But the gold and pink shoes pop.

Sparkly and color coordinated.  I like this woman!
 

Wow.  I've actually posted these shoes before, but here they are out in the wild!  That is one patriotic grad.  They aren't my style, but you can't say she didn't put some thought into her shoe choice.

So what did DJ wear to her graduation?

 

Kick-ass, boots.  That's what.  Hers are the feet in the middle  The other feet in the picture belong to Double A (red dress, brown boots), their little brother (blurry blue crocs), their mom (brown Mary Janes), and The Bean (gold flats and jeans).  Now added to the list of why I'm proud of her, we can add that she wore make-a-statement shoes with her graduation gown!  I, on the other hand, did not.  I wore brown sandals, nothing fancy.  I didn't walk for my college graduation, and while I looked for seminary graduation, all I could find were kind of boring white shoes.  

Congrats, again, oldest niece!  You did it!

Let's Go on a Picnic!

I almost forgot to post a batch of pictures the Pinterest Friend sent me awhile back.  I'm not sure if she was going for a theme, but they made me think of picnics.  Which sounds fun.  Who wants to go with me?

OK, so these aren't exactly practical picnic shoes, but you know how I love gingham, and these say picnic to me.  Just a picnic with concrete so those cute heels don't sink in the grass.

 

Baby picnic shoes!  Or other stuff, too, but hey, work with me on the picnic theme, OK?

I'm kind of wondering if that top pair is actually this watermelon pair.  I don't think so, because I don't think these have bows, but how cute are these?  Could I wear one red and one blue?  Too much?

 

More adorable baby shoes.  Watermelon and ants on the 4th of July.  Sounds like a picnic to me.

If that purse were a little bigger it could be the picnic basket and I could have matching shoes.

Stupid slingbacks.  But cute!  Apparently I and the nonexistent baby will be going on lots of picnics in all of our fun shoes.

I have no idea where today went, but it disappeared and I feel like I got nothing done.  I hate it when days get sucked into the time vortex.