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?).

Spousal Shoes

Today is Spouses Day.  I have a spouse, as it turns out (which is still kind of weird when I think about it).  I actually kind of like him most of the time.  He drives me crazy some days, and I'm sure I reciprocate, but all in all I think we're weathering the craziness of our married life fairly well. I would have thought spouses day would, or could, just be on each couple's anniversary, but I guess there needs to be an extra, special day.  Or something.  I choose to celebrate by looking at shoes:

These are handy just in case you forget which spouse you are...

No way I would have gotten the hubby into blue canvas sneakers for our wedding, but I like the idea.

I MIGHT have gotten him into blue socks, though.  Damn, another opportunity missed.

Oh dear.  Irregular Choice strikes again.  What kind of drugs are those people doing over there while they're designing shoes?

Sorry for only 4 pictures tonight.  I'm so tired.  I haven't posted the last few days because I've been going to bed ridiculously early.  I have a sinus infection (but not as bad as they used to be, so yay!) and a yeast infection (sorry for the TMI), so basically I'm all infected and incredibly tired.  In fact, as soon as I fold the laundry in the dryer so I can dry the load I just washed, I'm going to bed again.

Now, if you haven't already, go smooch your spouse!

BFF Birthday

Happy Birthday, BFF!  Awww...I love my BFF, and wish she was closer so we could have celebrated together.  You can find a brief summary of our relationship here from her birthday post 2 years ago, and last year's post here.  The BFF has had quite the past year, with both her and her hubby getting new jobs and moving to a new town.  She's doing well, though; settling in and getting the nephew settled and all.  I shall now celebrate her birthday the way I celebrate everything.  With shoes.  And this year I'm going with shoes based on her name.

Wow.  This is quite horrible.  Who do I speak to about naming this the same as my lovely BFF?

She has a whole line of kids shoes!

Same brand as the first one.  Still weird, but slightly better.

More kiddo sandals!

And of course we have to have some purple in here since it's the BFF.

Sparkly purple Mary Janes!  How celebratory!

Purple wedding shoes.  But also ballet flats, which is totally appropriate as she took ballet for many years.

Happy Birthday, BFF!  Love you!

Letters to Zell

I have a sinus infection.  I feel like crap.  Let's not talk about me.

Instead, let's talk about my amazing friend who has a book coming out in July!  (why yes, I do have it pre-ordered on my Kindle, thank you for asking).

Here is the book:

And here is what it is about (according to Amazon):

Everything is going according to story for CeCi (Cinderella), Bianca (Snow White), and Rory (Sleeping Beauty)—until the day that Zell (Rapunzel) decides to leave Grimmland and pursue her life. Now, Zell’s best friends are left to wonder whether their own passions are worth risking their predetermined “happily ever afters,” regardless of the consequences. CeCi wonders whether she should become a professional chef, sharp-tongued and quick-witted Bianca wants to escape an engagement to her platonic friend, and Rory will do anything to make her boorish husband love her. But as Bianca’s wedding approaches, can they escape their fates—and is there enough wine in all of the Realm to help them?

In this hilarious modern interpretation of the fairy-tale stories we all know and love, Letters to Zell explores what happens when women abandon the stories they didn’t write for themselves and go completely off script to follow their dreams.

Don't I just have the coolest friends?  In honor of Cami and her new book, here are shoes based on the 4 main characters.  I went with wedding shoes, because they were more interesting to me tonight, and because the book is about what happens after the weddings and the supposed happily ever afters.

Cinderella.  I keep going back and forth.  I either quite like it or I hate it..

Yowza.  Snow White wedding shoes are intense.

These were also under Snow White, and are much better.  I rather like them.

I have no idea why these would be Sleeping Beauty wedding shoes, but I like them, so I don't care.

Again, not sure of the connection. Any thoughts?

I don't think I'm enough of a Disney fan to go this far with  my wedding shoes.  The shoes themselves seem like they are cute, but I wouldn't want the pictures on the bottom.  Are there any Disney characters you love so much you would want them on the bottom of your wedding shoes?  I'm not coming up with anything so far for myself.

Also Rapunzel, and very sweet.

OK, not shoes and so not me, but I'm kind of in love with this.  I found it when I was searching for shoes, and I love the flower details.  Once upon a time this is sort of the dress I wanted, with the big skirt and the flowing train.  I ended up going practical and not hauling 300 lbs of material around, but I do like this dress in theory.

If you're looking for a new author for your summer reading list, why not try Letters to Zell?  I haven't read it yet, but I know the author, and she's pretty freaking fantastic.

2015

Have you been wondering what the new, 2015 shoes are looking like?  Probably not, but I thought I'd do a quick image search and see what I could find.  What I found was colorful but weird.

These aren't bad except for the odd piece sticking out in the middle.  I like the colors otherwise.

Also not bad.  Except for that rather hideous puffball.  It looks kind of cheap and cheesy, I think.

OK...maybe weird puffballs are a theme for the year?  Has anyone seem them out in the "wild?"

Better color-wise.  Still weird shape-wise.

Just ugly.

These are wedding shoes.  They aren't bad, actually.  They might even be cute on.

Almost?  I like the patchwork and the colors.  I could live with these possibly.

Smooshed puffballs!  Colorful and shiny, but still no.

So basically there are some fun colors out there this year, but also a lot of weirdness.  Of course, these are mostly from fashion week shows, and those are always weird.  Hopefully the shoes for us normal people are a little less whacky.

Follow-up

I'm tired and would very much like to be sleeping.  Despite actually going to bed at 10:00 tonight, I just couldn't sleep.  So blogging it is.  Here are a couple things that relate to some of my recent posts.

After my post about gingham, Mom said I might like it because she used to make me gingham outfits.  She mentioned a few, but this is the only one I could find a picture of.  This is my 4th birthday.  Not only did my mom make the shirt, but she made the cake (I think that's Cinderella).  I was clearly sassy back then.

Last night's post was about wedges, and I said these reminded me of an outfit I used to have (also made by my mother), but then I found these tonight:

I think these might be closer to the material.  I wish I could find a picture of the outfit.  I'll have to look next time I'm home, because I'm just sure you all want to see it. (that was sarcasm, in case you didn't catch it)

This last picture has nothing to do with a previous post.  I present these to you because they were pinned to a board called "Weddings."  Go ahead and take a moment to ponder that wedding.

Wish me luck on the sleeping.  Of course, most of you will be reading this sometime tomorrow, so your luck will be after the fact, but maybe I can stockpile it for tomorrow night.

First Anniversary

Today is the hubby's and my first anniversary.  Hard to believe we've been married a year already, the time has gone fast.  A year ago at this time I was getting my hair done in preparation for make-up dress, a million pictures, a worship service, and finally a party.  I have so many great memories of that day.  Some are a little blurry, so thank goodness for pictures and an awesome wedding video!  It was so amazing to be surrounded by family and friends.  We each had 6 attendants (I wanted 3, the hubby wanted 10...we compromised at 6).  All of my nieces took part in the wedding, and all were incredibly gorgeous.   My sister was my matron of honor.  My aunt and best friend were bridesmaids, along with the hubby's cousin.  Said cousin is a body builder and hence in incredible shape and beautiful as hell.  We had 3 pastors do our wedding.  Yes, I know this is overkill, but I have LOTS of friends who are pastors (in fact, we had 7 pastors + 2 more almost-pastors in attendance, and several more were invited but couldn't make it), and I couldn't choose between the 3 of them.  So we had the BSF, my other seminary roommate, and the third who was my friend first in seminary and then during my first call in Montana.  We got married in my hometown in Montana and the day and the weather were absolutely perfect.  I can't thank my family again for all of the work they did to help us make the day what it was.  In addition to the pastors, I had friends do my hair, do the wedding video, read the lessons and be our accompanist.  I really loved having so many people I love be so intimately involved in the process.  If I had known I was going to be starting this blog I would have taken more shoe pictures, but here are a few.

 

 

My rehearsal shoes.  Loved them.  My dress was a really pretty blue, but kind of plain, so the shoes brightened things up.

My awesome pastors and our awesome shoes.  I am so very blessed to have these 3 women in my life.  It was worth the seminary debt just to meet them.

 

Our photographer took this while we were walking to take more pictures.  I love the pops of blue.  My sash was really pretty, with amazing detail that you can only partially see.  The shoes I basically created by choosing the style, dying them to match the shoes, and buying shoe clips to add some sparkle and fun.

I guess it's time to get back to the day.  We are already an old married couple as we spent the morning with me working on my sermon and the hubby doing his fantasy football draft.  So romantical!

 

 

 

Wedding Blues

The picture that makes up the header of my blog page is from my wedding.  Mine are the blue shoes with the ivory dress (probably fairly obvious) and the other feet belong to 3 of my friends from seminary who performed the ceremony.  Yes, we had 3 pastors do our wedding.  Some people have lots of bridesmaids, I had lots of pastors.  I could have had more, I seem to know 1 or 2 people who are in the profession.  Anyway, here is another picture from our wedding day:

 

You can't really see much of the shoes, but you can see enough to tell that they matched my sash (which was awesome, and I loved it).  I've wanted blue wedding shoes for a long time, and I knew this wasn't an original idea, but today I searched to see what else was out there.  A lot, as you can probably imagine.  Here is just a smattering.

 

 

I still love my shoes the best.  I had them dyed to match my sash which matched some of the bridesmaids dresses.  I wanted a shoe with some bling on it, but the ones I really liked in the dyed to match section were slingbacks, and they didn't have my size at the time I was looking.  So, I ordered a pair that I liked, and then bought shoe clips.  Blue wedding shoes are awesome.