Some Day Maybe I'll Be Awesome, Too

I got to spend time with some awesome people tonight.  The Camp Friend and her significant other had been in Napa and were on their way to the Bay Area for a wedding.  So I was lucky enough to get to have dinner with them as they traveled.  I haven't seen them since the wedding almost 2 years ago, and then I didn't get to talk to them much.  The hubby had only met them that once, so it was nice that everyone got to know each other a little better.  The CF and I worked at Christikon Lutheran Bible Camp for 2 summers in college.  The second summer she was head cook and I was her (hopefully trusty) assistant.  We laughed a lot, and she helped me survive both summers.  We worked together in the 90s, and as I've mentioned before, she had the biggest shoes I'd ever seen.  Not big feet, just those big, clunky 90s shoes.  She totally made them work.  I totally wanted to be like in her in lots of ways, and I'm very glad I had those 2 summers with her, and for our friendship since.  Tonight she was wearing wedge tennis shoes.  If you had said that phrase to me yesterday I would have rolled my eyes.  And yet once again, she totally makes them work.  I was a dork and didn't get a picture of her shoes (Oh crap! Or of us.  Dammit.)  Here are some I found in tonight's search:

Hers were black, so let's just pretend that I took a picture, OK?

I admit it. I like these.

These are just a little too 80s for my taste.  I like that they come in bright colors, but I'd never be able to pull these off.

I want to like these.  I love the crocheted side panels, and the colors.  I think this is an example where the wedge doesn't work because it makes these look like oddly shaped booties.

I like these, too.  I'm still not as cool as the CF, but maybe I could pull these off?

I'm so happy I got to be part of their California trip.  I got to hear about the book that the CF has written and is working on getting published, and it sounds really cool.  I can't wait to read it.  See how cool she is? 

Friends and Shoes

The Pinterest Friend has gone on a t-strap and ankle strap shoe spree, it seems.  Does she know me, or what?  I do love me some strappy shoes, and she found some really cute ones.

Love love love these.  Again, why can't I just reach into the screen and have them for my very own?

These are really odd.  Kind of cute, maybe a little too busy?  Yes, I think it's just too busy.  Maybe make the shoe one color with the cute flower detail?  Or even 2 colors, without the heel and toe patches?

 

The back half of this shoe bugs me.  I'm not fond of the heel shape or the wrinkles in the fabric on the heel.  The wrinkles look messy instead of deliberate.  But the front of the shoe is retro perfection.

 

Blue suede t-straps.  Well duh, of course I love them.  It looks the brand is Qupid, too, which is one that I like.

 

Good job, PF, you managed to redeem the green spectator pump!  This is so much more adorable the ones I found.  I would like these in every color, please.

 

Want these, too.  I'm like the kiddos when they watch TV and every toy commercial that comes on they immediately say "I want that!"

 

Because it's true.  I want these too.  Clearly I need more polka dot strappy shoes in my life.

The bows are adorable.  I kind of wish the shoes weren't patent leather.  I would like them better if they weren't so shiny (can you believe it?).

So, the PF does it again and finds awesome shoes.  She is moving to Idaho in a couple of weeks and it will be sad.  I mean, she's going to an awesome part of the world (it would be more awesome if it were just a LITTLE bit further east), but she won't be here.  Although selfishly, the internet still exists in Idaho, so maybe she will still send me shoes!

Needto

I love Shel Silverstein's poems, and have been thinking a lot abut this one lately:

Whatif
from the book "A Light in the Attic" (1981)
Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don't grow talle?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won't bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime Whatifs strike again!

I've always liked this poem, and always identified with it.  The nighttime Whatifs definitely like to sneak in and annoy me regularly.  But lately I've been having the morning Needtos.  They don't rhyme, but they go something like this:

I need to get up.

I need to take a shower.

I need to go to the gym.

I need to eat better.

I need to bathe, feed, take care of the puppies and dragons.

I need to run xyz errands.

I need to do laundry/clean the bathrooms/vacuum, etc.

I need to work on THE LIST (the hubby's project, and believe me, it warrants the capitals)

I need to write a blog post.

I need to update the financials.

I need to call xyz, etc.

I need to return 8 million e-mails. 
I need to have a normal sleep schedule.
I need chocolate.
I need to stop eating chocolate.
I need to give up caffeine.

I need to organize the filing system.

I need to clean and organize all of the closets.

 I need to figure out what happens next, job-wise.

I need to figure out my life.

I need to get healthy--mentally, physically, spiritually.

Anyway, you get the point.  The needtos start out simply enough and then get more complicated until I'm thinking crazy things like how I need to save the world from zombies (hyperbole, people).  There aren't a lot of  wanttos or gettos on my list, I've been noticing.  So then I add more items to the needtos, like I need to make more space for the things I want to do and I need to start thinking of things as "I get to" instead of "I need to."  It's kind of exhausting, but I haven't figured out how to make it stop.

And it has nothing to do with shoes, so let's look at some, shall we?  I know I've done floral shoes before, but flowers and cheerful, and this post needs some cheerful, don't you think?  I've blah-blahed enough already today, so I'll let you peruse the shoes with no commentary from me.

Cheeky Moose

On Saturday as I was looking for images of moose shoes, I came across a series called Cheeky Moose shoes.  I didn't include them because they really don't have anything to do with moose.  Turns out they're from our friends at Irregular Choice, and they are just as odd as you would expect from that brand.

I have absolutely no idea why they named this particular line cheeky moose.  If you have any thoughts feel free to let me know.  They're definitely interesting, I'll give them that, but they are somewhere between cute and just plain weird.  I've also never understood making the soles of shoes pretty.  They're just going to get dirty and gross, and then the pretty is gone.  Oh well.  Cheeky Moose booties.   Who knew?  I'm thinking the auntie is probably not going to rush out and buy any of these particular moose shoes.

Fathers--Yay!

Facebook has been full of all sorts of great pictures of great pictures of all of my friends' fathers today.  I have some great dads in my life, starting with my very own daddy.  He's awesome.  He's human, so of course he has flaws.  In fact, he doesn't read my blog, so I could tell you all of them and he'd never know.  But that would be rude.  And I love him with all of his flaws, like he loves me with all of my flaws.  We're cool like that.  I hope you have/had a great dad in your life, whether biological or something else.  

So.  Father's Day shoes.  My own dad isn't that much into shoes.  Give him a pair of sandals in the summer and some comfy shoes in the winter, and he's pretty much good.  Instead, we'll look at some shoes from the year he was born:

Yeah, mens shoes don't change much, do they?  At least not the classic ones.  These are from 1942, but the hubby has some shoes right now that are pretty similar.

 

Another fabulous dad in my life is my brother-in-law, Flower's and Laughter's dad.  He was born in 1969, when shoes weren't quite so classic.  These are awesome.  You know, in a dated, kind of horrible way.  I love the red buttons.  Wonder if I could talk the hubby into these?  He and my BIL are 3 days apart, so same birth year.  And yeah, I know I couldn't talk him into these.  Definitely wouldn't be able to talk the bro-in-law in to them. 

Finally 1971, the year my brother was born.  He is DJ's, Double A's, and The Bean's dad.  These completely crack me up.  They are such grandpa shoes.  I'm going to get them in all of these colors for the brother for Christmas.  Because, you know, I like to torture him.

Happy Father's Day to all of you!  Whether you're a father or the child of a father, however that relationship came about, then I hope you celebrate those relationships today and every day.

Mooooose

Yesterday's post was for the mama (hi, Mom!), today's post is for her seester, Perb Aunt.  Yep.  That's what we call her.  When my first niece came along, the auntie decided she wasn't ready to be a Great Aunt, because it made her think of all my grandmother's old, Norwegian aunts at our yearly family reunions (there were approximately 40 of them, I think, all with good, proper Great Aunt names like Hilda).  Anyway, the auntie decided she would be a "superb" aunt instead.  But of course, DJ couldn't say it.  So just like I became Auntie Scary, she became Perb Aunt.  You say it like it's one word.  Perbaunt.  (and it's pronounced like "ant" in my family, she's not perbont).  OK, enough back story.  No wait, this post isn't actually about her name, but about the fact that she really likes moose.  She had a whole moose room in her house in TX, and it was very fun.  So here you go, Perb Aunt:

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a moose and a reindeer on stuff like this, but the picture said moose, so we're going with it.

 

Moose slippers.  Even I kind of want a pair of these.

This moose actually looks a lot like one I cross-stitched for her about a million years ago.

Oh my goodness.  Why is this necessary?  They're funny, but wouldn't they really only be funny to wear once?  The heels seem wrong since if you want to make tracks it would need to be in snow or mud or something, and who wants to wear their heels in that crud?

 

Awww...

Another awww...

And there you have it.  Mooses!

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?