Good Day!

I did 4 podcasts today.  I'm still trying to catch up on the Bible Study one, which I seem to be perpetually behind on. BUT I did 2 Book Review Podcasts with the Camp Friend (who is now the Author Friend) and we talked about both of her books!  As a reminder, they are Letters to Zell and New Charity Blues  and you should read both of them, because she is awesome.  And I had sooo much fun talking to her today.  It was an honor to have her as my first-ever podcast guest, and I hope I did her and her books justice because I really don't know what I'm doing yet on this whole podcast thingamabob.

I also just discovered that today is Auntie's Day!  I HAVE an auntie and I also AM an auntie.  Dangit, I should have been home to celebrate with everyone.  Rude.  I will say that I love my auntie very very much and am so grateful for everything she has done for and been to me in my life.  I am also proud to be an auntie and hope my nieces know how much I love them.

Try not to be too shocked, but I'm not really in a shoe mood tonight, so I'm just going to share a picture of me and my auntie:

Weren't we cute?

Also a picture of me and my dad's sister, who died a couple of year's ago and who I miss terribly:

And my twin aunties.  Of whom I clearly need a more recent picture:

Except how awesome is THIS picture?

And that is all.  The end.

New Charity Blues

Facebook reminded me that on this day last year I wrote a post about The Camp Friend's debut novel, Letters to Zell.  In other exciting news, her second book, New Charity Blues came out on my birthday!  Wasn't that nice of her to write me a book for my birthday?  Because I'm sure it's all about me!  I haven't had a chance to read it yet, as just like last time, every library book I had on hold suddenly became available.  I'm just about to finish the last one and return it, so I'll be able to get to my birthday present to myself soon.   Here is the synopsis of the book:

In the wake of a devastating plague, two communities emerge as bastions of survival. One is called the City, and its people scrabble for scraps in the wasteland. The other, New Charity, enjoys the bounty of its hydroelectric dam and refuses City denizens so much as a drop of precious water. When City-dweller Cressyda inherits her father’s ranch within New Charity, she becomes intent on opening the dam to all—no matter the cost.

But when Syd reunites with her old best friend, Casandra, a born seer and religious acolyte, she realizes that her plans could destroy the fragile lives they’ve built in order to survive. What’s more, the strange magic securing the dam’s operations could prove deadly if disturbed. Yet when Syd discovers evidence that her father might have been murdered, she is more determined than ever to exact revenge on New Charity’s corrupt.

Pitted against Cas, as well as her own family, Syd must decide how to secure the survival of both settlements without tipping them over the brink to utter annihilation. In this intense and emotional reimagining of the Trojan War epic, two women clash when loyalty, identity, community, and family are all put to the ultimate test.

Yay!  I can't wait to read it.  For tonight's post I typed in "new charity blues shoes" just to see what would come up.  Here are some selections of what came up.

Ooooh...purty.  These are a little like my wedding shoes, only way fanicer.

Simple, but cute.

Steel toe shoes would probably come in handy in a post-apocalyptic world. Or in a regular world where I live and trip over stuff.

I'm never sure I can pull this style off, but I think it's pretty.

These were actually for some kind of water charity, 3 out of the 4 search words were present.

I love the plaid, but most of the rest is a world of hell no.

Thank you, Camp Friend, for writing books!  I can't wait to read this one.

Memory Lane: 2013 (more blue!). 2014. 2015 (Letters to Zell!).

Random Story of the Day

I've been thinking a lot about the Camp Friend this week.  Obviously the main reason is because  her book, Letters to Zell, came out yesterday.  Also because of the octopus shoes last week.  But I've also been thinking about her hair.  Yes, it's random.  She has awesome red hair, and when we worked together for two summers at a Lutheran bible camp in Montana, she frequently wore it up, especially the second summer when we worked in the kitchen.  At the time I was in my short hair phase of life, so I envied her red, curly, wildly awesome hair and the fact that she could put it into a bun held in place with a pencil.  The past 10 years or so I've grown my hair out and donated it 3 times.  About 4 years ago I was in a long hair, growing out phase, and it's hot here, so I was constantly putting it up.  One day I discovered that I could put it up with a pencil!  At the time I didn't make the connection back to the Camp Friend, I just thought it was awesome I could use a pencil and put my hair up.  I know, I get excited over weirdness.  Yesterday, probably because I was already thinking of her, I did make the connection.  I was working on my computer and too lazy to get up to put my hair up (it's long again), and the only thing I had handy was a crochet hook.  It worked.  I even ended up running errands later in the day with a crochet hook holding up my hair.  I'll never be as awesome as the Camp Friend, but I can keep my hair up with random objects.  Things like...

Pencils.  I already mentioned this one.  They are handy, usually.  I used to have a cup on my desk full of pencils that mostly got used for my hair as I rarely write with a pencil.

Chopsticks.  I have the kind you buy specifically for hair, but I've also on occasion used a regular (clean, don't worry) chopstick.  Isn't that little shoe chopstick holder adorable?

I already mentioned pencils, but I used to have a purple colored pencil in glove box of my car (I have no idea why) that worked great when my hair would get too hot while I was driving.  Also, how cool are these shoes made out of colored pencil stubs?

And finally, crochet hooks.  You know I chose these because I love rainbow colors, and the stripey, rainbow-y baby-y shoes.  I'm not sure these particular hooks would work that great in my hair, as I don't own any, it doesn't matter.

There you go...your randomness for the day.

PS--Should Camp Friend become Author Friend?  Hmmm....

Letters

I have blogger's remorse today, but first, let me say thank you to all of you who have shared your kind words, thoughts, and encouragement.  The remorse comes not from having shared, but from both over- and under-explaining the situation.  It's all much more complicated than can be shared in a single blog post, and I didn't probably explain as well as I could.  Oh well.  Today was a little better, mostly due to all of you reminding me what good friends I have out there.  It's not better in terms of the overall situation, but I spent the day doing job searches and filling out applications online, so we'll see.  Now, if anyone knows where I can quickly sell one of my less-than-necessary internal organs, I'd appreciate you letting me know so I can pay the mortgage. :-)

Today was also better because of this:

It arrived on my Kindle last night!  If you don't remember reading my last post about this you can go here and here for more information.  I have a friend who is a published author!  I can't wait to dive in and read this, but first I have to read the multiple library ebooks which inconveniently decided to come available this week.  Since they expire and this doesn't, I'll read them first and save myself a treat for later.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I give you shoes with letters on them (yes, wine and chocolate would probably be better, hopefully Ms. Griep is indulging in them tonight, but as this is a shoe blog, I guess I'll stick with shoes):

 

Yep.  Those were shoes with letters on them.  I actually liked all of them, especially the do it yourself baby block ones.  I think I would spend too much time and thought on exactly what the shoe said and never actually buy a pair.  I would want it to be very specific and somehow relevant.  Hmmm...maybe I should figure out how to make Cami a pair of shoes with parts of her book on them?

Octopi

The Camp Friend posted this rather interesting picture to my facebook wall this morning:

 This shoe is insane and also awesome.  I'm not sure how it stays on your foot so you can walk, but it's definitely one of the more unique shoes I've seen.  And I like the colors, of course.  So obviously I had to go in search of more octopus-inspired shoes.

I love the turquoise heel and the double strap.  I love the black with the other colors on the shoe, and the shoes are kind of cool, but also kind of creepy at the same time.

Not creepy at all.  Cute.

Kind of cute?  Also kind of weird.  Good shoes to wear to the aquarium maybe.

Um...EEK?  Who comes up with these things?   Who then buys and wears them??

Whew, I needed more cuteness.

I like these in theory.  I'm going to have to take a stab here and say that I'm just not a huge fan of shoes with octopi on them, even if the octopi are blue.  These two look mean.

 

Speaking of creepy.  This was just one of many octopus rings I found during my search.  Clearly there are people out there who are vastly more fond of octopi than I am.  That's cool for them, but I think I'll stay over here in my octopus-free zone.  That ring might give me nightmares.

PS--didja notice that this post has EIGHT pictures in it?  Didja see what I did there?

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.

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? 

This and That

It was an odd day. For one thing, we got puppies. I will tell you more about them tomorrow when I do the post on my laptop instead of my kindle. They are sweet though. Other than puppies, it was just kind of an odd, disjointed day, and I'm not completely sure why. So I'm letting others help me tonight.

The Pinterest Friend sent these to me today. I like the bows, but do her toes look really squished? I think PF might have been on a Disney kick, or maybe it's just me, because these remind me of Snow White.

And these were labeled as wedding shoes inspired by Belle. I like the black ones better, these are a bit floofy for my taste.  Maybe if they just had the bows and not the rise I would like them better? So, PF, were you feeling rather Disney inspired today?

I admit it. I stole this from Facebook. I hope the Camp Friend will forgive me, but how fabulous are these slippers? Plus the fact that she is wrapped in a fuzzy blankie? She looks like the snow monster in Empire Strikes Back, but in a totally awesome way. She is just proving one again how fantabulous she is. Whereas I am going to hell for stealing...