Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Shoe challenge number 3 and 4

So, I've been both too busy and lazy to get to this before now but the challenge is coming along nicely thank you very much. I've rescued my first pair of heels (yippee) and another pair of boots - details coming up.
This challenge is making me realise how much I wear boots over shoes, though this probably has something to do with the time of year and my propensity towards cold feet, and by cold I mean ice-block like, just ask husband number one. Truth be told I've actually worn four different pairs of boots since the first two rescues of the challenge but as the rules state, if there are no photos it didn't happen!
On the subject of boots, the new boots en route from www.office.co.uk (ordered on 2/211) have yet to arrive by the way, I know you've all been on tenterhooks wondering. Apparently they were despatched by the 'wrong' courier who hid the boots until I rang looking for them and Office did a follow-up search. That was over a week ago now but they have yet to appear... perhaps the 'wrong' courier has got them again or maybe the donkey despatched is actually swimming the Irish sea. Grrrr!

Right, seeing that my now traditional digression is out of the way, to the shoes!

Rescue number 3 - flat brown sort of cowboy boots from Oasis

I bought these years and years ago (or fadó fadó as we say here). I'm not sure exactly when but I know I paid  £50 on sale and we've had the Euro since 2003. Worn hear with black leggings, black Savida jumper, Florence & Fred cardigan and a Penneys (Primark to those in the UK) belt I scored for €1. I'm not 100% convinced about keeping these either. For some reason they are very slippery and having one taken a spectacular prat fall in them I'm never 100% confident striding about in them.

Rescue number 4 - red suede platform high heeled pumps from LK Bennett
These are my most recent acquisition. I bought them on a trip to Birmingham at the tail end of the January sales. I knew going into LK Bennett was dangerous but I was powerless to resist. I similarly knew trying anything on was risky but... anyway, these were a steal at only £75 (down from £210) and they are comfy to boot. They remind me of Christian Louboutin Bibis though they are not as skyscraperish (a good thing in my case).
They deserve a close up
I'm wearing them here with a dark grey (it looks black here) polka dot dress from John Rocha Petite at Debenhams.
Photos taken by much bemused husband number one in a Dublin hotel we were staying in on Saturday - makes a nice change from the backdrop of my kitchen! 

Friday, February 18, 2011

Exciting times for Irish Louboutinistas

Exciting times for Irish Louboutinistas...  in that you can now access a larger range of Christian Louboutin shoes than heretofore has been possible in Ireland as Brown Thomas has opened a CL boutique in the its Shoe Room.
The store is only the 32nd for the brand worldwide and will be situated in the area previously occupied by Manolo Blahnik. Hopefully there will be more stock in it than was typical from Manolo, when it sometimes seemed like a Moscow shop in the 1980s with only about five shoes on display (all of which were the 'Carrie wedding shoe' in different colours, well maybe there were a few other pairs too but I'm not surprised it didn't last).
The new boutique is also exciting in that it will provide the opportunity to raise heart rates to the point of collapse as eyes are clapped on the prices of the strassed and exotic numbers  accepting, of course, that we have become used to the starting price point for regular CLs. Perhaps, more practically, it will be useful for those of us who want to know our "CL size" in a particular style so we can try to find a less expensive option on eBay or Bonzale...
Either way I'm dying to have a nose about and get a good fix of shoe porn the next time I'm in the city centre. If husband number one is reading this I'm just going for a browse, honest I am!



Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Day two: don't expect me to keep pace this up!

Hmmm, I kind of fell into wearing another pair of boots today. I've barely had my Uggs off me in the last few months but as both pairs need a good clean and I've been too lazy busy to get around to it I was pushed to break my pattern.
The pair I wore today I had forgotten I even owned and they didn't even make it into the group photo at the start of this whole shoe challenge frippery. They are brown knee-highs from Next with a double buckle detail at the ankle. I'm not in love with these but they are quite comfy and very versatile. Nevertheless, while they may be 'saved' they may not make it to February 14, 2012, especially as I have a new pair of brown boots en route as I type (already counted as part of my total as they were ordered on 2/2/11 but Officeshoes.co.uk seem to be sending them by donkey courier).
Anyway, once again, I digress; here they are worn with a dress by coincidence also from Next (Petite) and the old reliable black leggings (over tights - it's bloody cold and drafty in my office).  Please excuse the terrible lighting and the somewhat crazed look I'm sporting. I'm not enjoying this part of the process I must admit!
 Here's a close up. Like my Uggs, they too need a clean :o(


   

Monday, February 14, 2011

Day one

And we are off... day one of the shoe challenge is upon us. Having resisted the urge to wear something red and girlie in the shoe department today in honour of Valentine's Day (bleurrgh) I plumped for the relative safety of my black Steve Madden Robin Hood boots.
Well. I didn't want to scare my office colleagues, who are more used to me in jeans and a hoody, too much on the first day, rather I wanted to ease them (really me!) into this process gently.
Photos - urrrgh - the trauma. I prefer to be behind the camera generally! First up I had to master the self timer on my new camera and find somewhere with enough light to get a decent photo.
So here we are... clothes Black Oasis wool dress, black leggings and black Steve Madden boots (spotting a trend here... well it is Monday after all) with a red flower headband (also Oasis) to brighten things up a tad (and a nod to the day that's in it). Messy hair: model's own (couldn't be bothered taking it again - don't want to set the bar too high for myself to have to live up to over the next 364 days).

I saw these boots online a few years ago while doing some advance shopping research for a trip to the US and decided they would be perfect all-rounders and seemed good value at $169. When I arrived in Chicago I was gutted to find that Macys had sold out of them. Boo!  Anyway, the next day I found myself in the discount store Marshalls (off Michigan Avenue) and lo and behold... there they were and for only $50! That, my friends, was a result.  Here's a close-up pic.

Friday, February 11, 2011

When in Rome...

Italy, the home of the world's most beautifully crafted shoes and the destination of my weekend trip last week. While I admired some beauties from afar (mainly through windows lest temptation overcome me) there was no purchasing on this occasion. This was no mean feat believe me. In 1997 when I was backpacking around Italy and Greece as a student, I fell in love with some shoes in Sorrento that I simply had to have, even though there wasn't a scrap of room in my rucksack. Nevertheless they were purchased and I proceeded on the rest of my trip with the rucksack on my back carrying the shoebox in by hand around the Almalfi, Rome and Athens - some sight! I'm surprised I don't have photos of myself atop the Acropolis holding those shoes...

Anyway, I digress. The point was I was in Italy and didn't buy shoes! The very fact that this challenge is starting on the 14th was the anti-imputus, so to speak, that I required. Well, that and the fact that I may have (did) succumb to a sale in LK Bennett recently enough (red, suede and fabulous) and just possibly because  husband number one was in tow when I found myself on the Via Condotti!

Husband, has now seen these photos and was somewhat in shock. Apparently he knew I had a lot of shoes but not quite how many. This led to the 'conversation'. This is when he does the "how-many-shoes-does-one-person-need-anyway-speech and I tell him he just 'doesn't get it'. We are both right so there will be no resolution but we are destined to play out this scenario time and time again, I fear.

Friday, February 4, 2011

I hope this gets easier

Argh - am trying to migrate the blog I just set up on another forum over to Blogger as it is supposed to be easier and things are just not happening for me. 


Anyway I shall persevere and hopefully will get there by the time the challenge starts on the 14th of February. 


In the meantime here's my shoe count and first proper entry:


Well, this was the first time that I have ever counted (or had occasion to count) my shoes. I'm not sure whether I'm relieved or disappointed to find the number was not as high as I'd feared. There are 59 pairs here but in the interests of honesty I found another two pairs I'd left out by mistake so the shoe total (excluding sports shoes and flips flop type thingys) is 61.
Having seen all of my shoes together for the first time I can see they are underused. The good thing though is that I'm dying to start wearing them again. Let the challenge begin!


The 59 pairs of shoes that made it to the collection photo

The 10 pairs of rather more well worn boots (minus one missing pair and an imminent delivery) Why did I not move the pretty ones in front?

Missing pair number one: Love, love love theses shoes. Green Steve Madden kitten heels I bought in Macys in NYC years ago

Newly acquired (January sales) sparkly peep toe flats from Office 
The carnage created getting these photos

The tidy up

Thursday, February 3, 2011

So, here we go

I've, sort of reluctantly, decided to take part in an online shoe challenge organised by Shoeperwoman. The idea is to wear (and be photographed in, wearing a complimentary outfit) all your shoes at least once over the course of a year and to discard what you have not worn at the end of that period.
For details see: Shoeperwoman challenge