And the shoe challenge winner is ...

TaDa!!!! These babies were not even a contender. For some reason, when I searched for pink shoes on endless.com, these didn't show up. Perhaps because they are called "peach" on the box. But whatever, they sure look pink to me.

And want to know the best part? They were on clearance for $23!!!!! Hooray!

Let's all just say a prayer that I don't fall and bust my as in these massive heels. The odds are not in my favor, however, because there is going to be an OPEN BAR at the rehearsal dinner. (Thanks Mom!)

Shoe challenge

As many know, I love a good fashion challenge. It gives me a valid excuse to peruse the Internet for hours, looking for the perfect whatever. This challenge happens to be ... shoes! My favorite!

This one has been especially difficult. Here is the low-down:

For my brother's rehearsal dinner in July, I plan to wear a bridesmaid dress from two summers ago. It's a gorgeous dress that fits me wonderfully.

The challenge is to punch this dress up with some color. Shoes and accessories are the key! I am searching for shoes first because I feel the kind of shoes I find will dictate what kind of accessories I need.

I would like to do a little something different, so I am thinking: pink. Not fuchsia and not ballet pink. More of a mauve or a coral. A few options I have found so far:

Nice and bright. Would be great for summer. Accent with a chunky gold necklace and bracelet. Or coral jewelry?

Too bland? It's hard to know until you see the pink in real life.

Too casual? Could definitely wear them again. Also, from eBay, so no returns.

I'd much rather have an open toe for summer. And this pink almost looks too bubblegum pink.

These could be perfect ... but again, they are an eBay find. What's that pin REALLY like? Hmm...

Or I could go in another direction entirely:

Decisions, decisions. What do you all think? Any good shoe resources that I need to know about? I need a funky, fun yet wedding-appropriate shoe that goes with that style of dress. And a reasonable price (like less than $70) since I am most likely wearing these one time only!

I wash myself with a rag on a stick

Good Lord. No posts for almost two weeks now. Naughty Naughty.

It's the depths of winter here in Arkansas. It's true! We got ICED IN all weekend! The roads were terrible on Friday night. Not so terrible that we couldn't go out and buy beer, but we used EXTREME CAUTION.

The neighbor boys came over and we watched all three Back to the Future Movies, had a bed jig extravaganza, went sledding, made venison chili, watched an absolutely atrocious movie called Sex Pot, napped, ate some more, did some screen printing and jewelry making. It was a fun weekend for sure, but two days stuck in the house is about all I can stand.

So what did I wear? Sweatpants of course! And an old thrifted t-shirt that I don't think left my body for 48 solid hours. And a hoodie and my coat and some jeans when we went sledding. Trust me, none of this fashion was photo-worthy, but a nice ironic shot would have been nice.

This time of the year seems to be the most depressing for lots of people. Not that I am super depressed on anything, just ... blah. What I need is some exercise. But even more, I need the motivation to exercise!

Until then, I look up warm-weather related things, like these badass flip flops from Teva. The most comfortable things you will ever put on your feet.

Wanna see what Santa brought me?

And by Santa I mean my mom and my brother. They are such good gift givers!
You see, in our family, we are very specific about gift giving. We tell each other exactly what we want-size, color, etc. We are always allowed to return and exchange, no questions asked! Some might say it takes the thought out of gift giving. I disagree, because you still have to think about which specific thing you will purchase for each other. And everyone is happy in the end.
Anyways, I was leary of sending mom and Brian a bunch of etsy stuff that I wanted because sometimes that takes some effort. As in you have to sign up for an etsy account. And a paypal account.
But I applaud them both because check out what mom got me from etsy:

Brian also got me a sweet razorblade necklace and a lion ring.
And from my mother: (these things are not from etsy)

I LOVE French Sole New York shoes. Mom and I discovered them in the clearance room at Belk one day. She tried on a pair, they were a bit too big, so I tried them on. Perfection. And $35 in the Belk clearance room. New, however, they are a touch pricey, but look! I got this pair for Xmas. Yeah mom!

This is the super basic and practical Jackie Cardigan from JCrew. Yet a quite expensive (for me) basic cardigan at $65.00. So on the Chrismas list it went! And this color is so amazing. LOVE.

Of course I had to buy myself a Christmas present. To show myself how much I appreciate myself. Duh. Vintage from etsy!

So stay tuned for when some of things actually appear on/around my body in the coming weeks!

Oh I hope everyone had a satisfactory Yule and is looking forward to the new year!

Fluevog: Hit or miss

When some people go on vacation, they like to see the sights, or maybe friends or family. I like to shop. Nay, I LOVE to shop. Browsing through new and unusual stores in larger (and smaller)cities is such a treat for this Arkie, whose local shopping choices are limited to major chain retailers in the mall.

Last June I was in Chicago and was delighted to paruse the places up and down Milwaukee Ave. Among them was a John Fluevog store. I had been to one in NYC before and was blown away by the amazing shoes. If ever a shoe was a piece of art, it was at the Fluevog store.

Now, do I own a pair of Fluevogs? No, I am poor. But maybe, through the miracle of eBay, I could one day wear these colorful pieces of art on my very own feet.

Here are a few of the most recent styles which I feel are definitely worthy of embracing my feet:

I feel like the architectural details sometimes go to far with Fluevog. Take these for instance:
While I can appreciate the concept, the end result looks more like something from Tim Burton's costume closet. There are definitely people who could pull this off, but I feel my personal style is more streamlined than chunky. Or at least that's the goal.

Birth of the doo doo foot

When it rains it pours. So much stuff went down this weekend.

First, my good friend Lauren McEntire had a gallery opening at the Historic Arkansas Museum. She has a badass quilt that was once hanging in my kitchen (on loan) and now hangs in the HAM. She also has many many more badass pieces that you should go check out.

After that I ventured over to the Arkansas Queen where Stella Fancy and JBrasher rocked out to benefit my dear place of employment.

(The date in that live preserver isn't even correct.)

Then Saturday night was when we got dolled up for a gallery opening and a rock show.

Dress: Goodwill
Shoes: Cole Haan via eBay
Jacket: Gap like 10 years ago
Earrings: Claire's
Pins: various people and places
Necklace: Box Turtle
Belt: JC Penny

Right before we left the house, Brittany let the dogs outside and stepped in a mud hole, covering the side of her shoe and tights with mud. It was then we coined the term " doo doo foot."

I don't know, it was pretty effin funny at time.

Just teasing myself

I am proud to say, I am doing quite well on my Zimbabwe Challenge. The trip has been scheduled for the end of May, and so far I have over half my money saved up (thanks mostly to several freelance jobs!)

A tried and true Internet shopper, I get several e-mail alerts a day notifying me to sales and specials on various interweb stores. Nowadays I mostly delete those e-mails, as not to tempt myself, but today, I got one from Piperlime and foolishly opened it. What's this? 30% off? I clicked.


And look, just look, at these adorable shoes! God I love fringe. And teal.


It hurts me that I cannot buy these. But what makes me feel better, is at $239 ON SALE, I wouldn't have been able to buy them anyway. Now I shall just search for cheap imitations!

More: Oh shoes. How I love you. You never make me feel fat, or disproportionate. You are so pretty and I never have to get you dry cleaned.

In other news ...

Like mother like daughter. My mom loves to shop too. She recently cleaned out her closet and was generous enough to let me rifle through her unwanted duds and take whatever I thought might sell on eBay. I ended up with a huge stack of lovely Ralph Lauren, Talbots, Chicos and Liz Claiborne tops and pants to put up for auction. With this money, I shall ... well I'm not sure yet.

To Ugg or not to Ugg

It's like this:

My feet get REAL cold. Even in not-so-cold weather, my feet are cold. And in cold weather (which in AR is like 40 degrees) they are SO VERY COLD ALL THE LIVELONG DAY! I have tried countless kinds of socks and shoes. But until January I was convinced that nothing at all could keep my icy toes even a teensy bit warm. Then I went to Colorado to visit my bff Liz (oh and her hubby Chad was there too) and she sang the praises of Uggs. She, too, was reluctant to take the plunge, but did so after facing her first Denver winter. So I decided to give the Uggs a try, and wore them out one day. ALL day. OUTSIDE in the SNOW, shopping of course. I tell you, my feet have never been so warm in all their 27 years of existence.

Now, I don't LOVE the look of Uggs (but I don't hate it either.) I don't LOVE everything that is associated with them (teen celebrities, push up bras, Victoria's Secret PINK sweatpants, bleach blond, tanorexic, wannabe 16-year olds ... you get my drift) But I just can't deny the Ugg practicality. WARMTH.

So ef it! I might just do this, own this. I've got some stuff for sale on eBay (yes, the Zimbabwe Challenge rules still apply) so if I make enough dough, I just might buy some Uggs.

Here's what I'm thinkin': Gray.

What I bought at the outlet mall

When I start writing a post like this, I feel a bit silly. Because, hey, who cares what I bought at the outlet mall? But then I think of all the other blogs I follow, and I like to get ideas and inspiration from them. So maybe I will inspire someone here? Hm...

I have not been too impressed with Jcrew lately. But the outlet had a nice selection, and best of all it was all 40% off!

I have been wanting these scarlet bootcut cords forever. I have a navy pair from about 3 years ago and wear the crap out of them all winter. And at $40 I couldn't pass them up!

Cardigans are so versatile. That is why I love and cherish them. Here is my new Jcrew cardi in my faaaaaavorite color. It kept me warm on the plane ride home.

Here is the hastily Photoshopped rendition of the Sam Edelman flats that I bought (almost stole, they were $25!) from Off 5th. Again, my favorite color!


In unrelated news, I found this photo of Victoria Beckham and died a little inside. She just looks so oddly disproportionate. Like maybe she'll just fall over one day.


Also, I am unsure of her place in British culture. Do they love her? Do they love to hate her? What is her American equivalent?

Green shoes

Dress: Estate sale

Shoes: Nine West, NEW from my outlet mall adventure!

Belt: JCP

Flower in hair: hand-me-down from Brandee

Earrings: Burlington Coat Factory

And notice I got my tattoo colored in! I'll post some better photos when it's totally healed. I added a cream cardigan for work since I have to cover it up. Glad I did, however, because it's freeeeezing up in here!

Noted: the quality of these photos sucks. I don't know if my resolution is too low (72dpi) or it's just my dinky little point and shoot Coolpix. The photos I take with the Canon (fancy work camera) always look better but I just can't take that one home with me every day! I always have to photograph from so far away to get my entire bod in the shot. Maybe that's the reason?

Conflicted

I feel like these booties are a one-way ticket to Rockstarville. Just put 'em on with some leggings and a sweet tunic and bam. Insta-rock star. Especially the styles with all kinds of studs all over 'em.

But here's my question:
How do these boots work in the winter? The open toe design throws me way off. Do I let my already chilly toes suffer in the name of fashion all throughout the cold months? Surely it's unacceptable to wear these peep-toe booties with tights. But surely they can't be limited to onlywarmer months of the year.

HELP ME!


Oh and just a side note: were I to purchase these shoes, mine would not have such a high heel. I can do 3 inches MAX. But anything more is just deadly.

Melissa is my new bff

I love a good challenge. And finding a decent selection of Melissa shoes online for a decent price is quite the challenge. Apparently Melissa shoes, from Brazil, are all the rage. They are made of recycled plastic, smell kinda like bubble gum (seriously) come in like 23 zillion styles and colors. But, because they are from Brazil, they ain't so easy for an Arkie like me to just purchase at my every whim. So over the course of the last year, I have found a few places to purchase these dreamy shoes. Ironically, back in May, I spotted them at Box Turtle, freaked out, and immediately bought a pair. Have yet to get a pair online, but I can feel myself closing in on my prey.

Now for eye candy. Seriously, these shoes look and smell like candy. In fact, I am wearing mine right now and, yep, they still smell good.

Photo number two is what I am considering ordering from Yoox.

But I also check eBay frequently, and have had some luck, though no follow-throughs.

Where else to buy some Melissas:

Luisa ViaRoma
LaRousse
Tobi

Melissa Australia (although I still can't figure out if they ship to the U.S. or not, but they have lots of cute styles that none of the other places have!)

What do you think: moccasins.

I have been contemplating getting a pair of moccasins for a while. Not sure what the appeal is. But they just seem comfortable. And maybe the "no laces" factor appeals to my lazy side. I feel like they would be pretty versatile too.

These babies are from JCrew via e-bay. I have a day or two to decide. Most likely I won't be bidding on them, mainly because I have no money right now. But I love this color. It's actually one of my favorite colors, seeing as my entire living room and part of my kitchen is painted in "teal tone" (Benjamin Moore.)

Here we have your more traditional moccasin. I dig the beading. And this is the pair I have actually been eyeing for a while. But part of me thinks they are too costumey. And what exactly would I wear them with? My fringed leather vest and deerskin dress?

They come in tan and brown too, but I kind of thought the black was the least costume-ish selection.

Not sure which pair I like better, really. There is something very cute about the beading. And, like, ethnic is so hawt right now.