Birthday

It's my birthday!  I was feeling all blah about it yesterday, but today has turned out to be quite lovely.  The hubby brought me breakfast in bed and then surprised me at work with cake.  Later we are going to go to a movie and maybe dinner (although I'm not sure where I will put more food...none of my pants are going to fit by the end of the day).

This is the same thing I did for my birthday last year, but I enjoyed reading through that post and thought I would do it again this year, but with updated years, of course.

1976.  I was 1 and apparently cards made fabulous hats.  I love that green shoe in the middle up there.

1981.  I started 1st grade but still had the same teacher.  Obviously she loved me so much she moved up a grade just to stay with me...   I couldn't find heels from '81 that I liked, but I thought these Miss Piggy shoes were awfully cute, and something I might have worn back then.

1986.  I'm brunette!  And I started 6th grade.  The suspenders were attached to a skirt made from the same material and it was adorable.  My mama made the outfit (as well as the ones in the pictures above and below).  Strangely enough I had the same teacher in 6th grade that I'd had in 5th.  I love the shiny red shoes.

1991.  Wow, no perm for 11th grade school pictures.  At this point I was a cheerleader, played volleyball, a member of National Honor Society, did school plays, was a band geek, and a geek in general.  Those shoes are really weird and cool and interesting.

1996.  I started college in January after taking 2 1/2 years off.  I met the BFF during Fall semester.  This picture is actually from 1997, but I couldn't find one from '96 and this one perfectly sums up our relationship.  I love the embroidered shoe but wish it had a different heel.  Alas, it was the 90s and heels were clunky.

2001.  Year 2 of living with the auntie in Texas.  Here we are in Austin.  Apparently I not only wore a 2 piece swimming suit but allowed myself to be photographed in it.  I love love love that shoe.

2006.  I finished internship in PA (thank God), spent a couple of months in MT, went back to Berkeley for my final semester of seminary, then moved back to MT to await my first call.  Flower came to us that summer from China!  This picture is from when my mama came to visit me in PA.  Thank goodness I had visits from her, my dad, the seester, and the auntie, or I might have gone crazy.  I'm not sure how I feel about the shoe.  I like elements of it, but not sure the overall effect is working for me.

2011.  I was back living in California, had my 2nd call at St. Someone's, and got engaged to the hubby!  This is Flower, me, the seester, and mama when we all accidentally dressed in the same color.  Coincidentally, the shoes I chose were also green (awesome green...those are so springy and fun!)

2016.  I'm not great at taking selfies, but my hair is super cute!  I'm hoping this year brings good things, not only for the hubby and me, but for those we love as well. I love love love those fuchsia shoes.

Thus ends this very narcissistic post.  Except for...

...Memory Lane: 2013. 2015.

Thanks Again, PF!

This is the third night in a row I'm doing a post inspired by friends' suggestions, and the 2nd of those 3 nights with shoes from the Pinterest Friend.  She sent me this batch sometime last week (I think), and I'm finally getting around to posting them.

Sigh....so cute.  I would love to have these for Easter.

These are trying so hard to be cute, but not quite making it.  Maybe if they were all the pattern without the solid blue?  Or if the flowers were gone?  Just a few too many themes going on. Still cuter than lots and lots of shoes out there.

Huh.  These are the same shoes, with the same amount of themes, but I like them better.  I'm incredibly wishy washy when it comes to shoes.  You know this about me.

 

I love the scallop-y details on this, and the color, of course.  I wish the white wasn't mesh, but oh well.

See how well the PF knows me?  With the colors and the Mary Janes and the adorableness?  Don't you wish you had a PF?  Because you can't have mine.

Memory Lane:  2013.  2015.

3 Things:

1. The hubby went to the office for a few hours this morning and I had the house to myself for a few hours for the first time in 107 years.  Blissful introvert time.
2. We sang Happy Birthday to the hubby's cousin this afternoon.  I love that man. He was one of the groomsmen in our wedding and he makes me smile every time I talk to him.
3. I'm reading not 1, but 2 awesome books right now.  I don't usually do that, but one is on my Kindle and the other is an actual book.  The actual book can't be read in the dark when the hubby is sleeping, so it gets retired and the Kindle book comes out.

Department of Redundancy Department

Apparently today is Repeat Day.  Which sounds like that annoying day when your big brother follows you around and says everything you say and drives you to insane extremes.  I follow Sandra Boynton on Facebook, and she posted this today:

Way cuter than my brother ever was.  So here are some repetitive shoes for you to enjoy.

I'm feeling remarkably un-chatty tonight.  So, the end.

Tweed

Today is Good Friday, and while it is an extremely important day in the lives of Christians (you can't have Easter unless you have Good Friday), it's just not a theme I want to seek out in shoes.  So I went to my reliable holidays page, and today is:

•  Find a Rainbow Day
• Good Friday
• Hospital Admitting Clerks Day
• National Chocolate Mousse Day
• National Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day
• National Tweed Day
• National Walk To Work Day
• Pony Express Day
• Weed Out Hate:  Sow The Seeds of Greatness Day
• World Party Day 

Hmmm...Good Friday is a different date every year, so it doesn't always fall on National Don't Go To Work Unless It's Fun Day or World Party Day, neither of which seem terribly appropriate (although I encourage you to celebrate both next year).  National Chocolate Mousse Day is awesome, wish I'd checked sooner.  And Pony Express Day?  Fun!  But tonight's post is celebrating National Tweed Day.  I have to admit I didn't really know much about tweed.  I mean, I can recognize it when I see it, but what's it made of?  So I turned to Wikipedia for some help:

Tweed is a rough, unfinished woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is made in either plain or twill weave and may have a check or herringbone pattern. Subdued, interesting colour effects (heather mixtures) are obtained by twisting together differently coloured woollen strands into a two- or three-ply yarn.

There.  Who said my blogs weren't educational?  No, really.  Who said that?  So rude.

On to shoes!

I love tweed!  I would totally wear these.

This, too.  I could use a pair of cute flats like this.

When Flower was little she thought that saying please meant she could have whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and it would get more desperate every time she said it.  I am channeling Flower now as I say, "PLEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSEEE!"  Blue.  Adorable.  Want.

 

Ooooh...fuchsia and sassy.  PS...why is fuchsia such a funky word to spell?
 

A little more dignified, but still cute.

How many times can I say cute?  Because these are, too.

I saw this shoe in a few colors, and I really like it except that the heel is funky.  Which is easily explained when you learn that this is another offering from Irregular Choice.  I'd say this is actually one of their more normal shoes.  Who knew?

 

These are, well they're orange plaid.  Cute shape, and they might be nice for Fall, but maybe they'd be better if they were a little less orange?  I want to like them, I really do!

So, I owe Tweed an apology.  If I ever thought of it, it was mostly in relation to stodgy old British people (sorry, Brits, I love you!) or stodgy old professors (sorry, academics, I love you, too!), but my mind has been opened and changed by some darn cute shoes.  I now love tweed.  At least on my feet.  I don't think I'm ready for a whole outfit unless I get invited to go hunting with some stodgy old British people or something...

More Book Inspired Shoes

The hubby and I have been listening to a series of audiobooks about a boy named Artemis Fowl.  Artemis is a morally questionable character, which is weird for a main character.  Not to give you too much information (we're on book 3, so there is a lot of story), Artemis gets involved in the world of fairies.  This is right up my alley as I love fantasy books.  One of my favorite characters is a dwarf named Mulch.  He has a...unique set of skills that are highly useful in all of Artemis' schemes.  He's also hilarious.  Anyhoo, since I've already done fairy shoes, and since I like Mulch so much, tonight's post will be about dwarf shoes.

Why do people keep making shoes where we have to stand on the heads of some little creature?   Poor little dwarfs surely didn't do anything to deserve to be stood upon.

Sigh.  Although the actual shoe is pretty cute.  And I guess the dwarf looks fairly happy to have his head stepped on?

 

I couldn't find a picture with the top of the shoe, but I had to include these as they are from our odd friends over at Irregular Choice.  They're called Iced.  Soooo...what does that have to do with the dwarf?

 

Of course I couldn't do this post without including  the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White!  Which one is your favorite?  I rather like Dopey and Grumpy myself.

And finally, Gimli, the dwarf from Lord of the Rings, another of my favorite fantasy series.  (he's up there in the top right corner, in case you weren't sure)  These are all fun, but the Gollum one completely creeps me out.

Happy reading/listening!

Gone

I woke up this morning and the headache was gone!!!  This was very exciting.  I got to go about my day in a semi-normal manner, which was quite lovely.  Despite that, I still am not feeling terribly inspired tonight.  Thankfully the Pinterest Friend has been quite busy lately, finding me all kinds of fun shoes.  Thanks, PF!  So, here you go.  Enjoy!

Want them!  These are definitely my favorite of this batch.

Want these, too.

Not sure about these. Love the polka dots, and they have  bit of  retro feel, but they're falling slightly flat for me.

I love this color.  If I were girlier, I would totally go for these.

Penguinos!  But, won't all the blood rush to their little heads?  These are stinking adorable.

I think I would like these better without the black floof in the middle.  Like the purpley colored flowers, though.

Take off the ankle imprisonments and these would be classic and great.

Good thing I have the PF to bail me out on nights like this.  Also, if there is weirdness in this post, it's because I've been typing it with Tallulah's nose on the mouse pad...