Bootlicious, round 2!

MC Hammer pants are back in style, so I guess sooner or later Doc Martens would be back in action.

Did you ever wear them in high school? I never did, because I was wearing slippers all the time, or my velvet converse sneakers at school where slippers weren't allowed. Anyways, when I think of Doc Martens, I think of the guy who sat in front of us in the cello section in high school, who once turned around and said to us. . ."are you going to be my sex. . I mean stand partner?". He turned bright red after that. When we had all started orchestra together, the girls thought he was cute, but called him Rudolph because he had a red nose all the time from having a cold or allergies or something. Hm, this is slightly going down the memory lane, but when I think of that orchestra, I always think of the conductor who would sweat so much that he would bring extra shirts to change into during practice. His sweating problem was so extreme that his sweat beads would literally fly off his arms during practice. It was an advantage to suck, and sit in the back :)

Onto some Doc Martens. . .

 

 

I don't think I could work the two above. BUT, I love the one below. Apparently those colored panels are individual strips of leather so there are gaps between them. Definitely a must if I ever wore them in Hawaii, where you need a breeze circulating in your boots :)

 

Did the picture of the laces above make you drool? They sure did for me -- it's a Pavlovian response originating from Jane's (from Sea of Shoes) cool lace-up boots from Ann Demeulemeester. Check out one variation of the boot below. . .She also has a posting with pictures of the 2 boot variations that both she & her mother have.

Photo credit: Sea of Shoes

Awesome boots. I initially thought they were insane, but now I love them. They're outrageously expensive, but perhaps there will be a cheaper alternative out there soon!

Anne of Green Gables

Lilo and I had a movie and baking night! We're watching Anne of Green Gables (sigh...Gilbert Blythe) and made brownies with Andes mints and pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

 
                   

Bootlicious

Boot Looks for Less. . .

Ferragamo created these lace-up boots for the Australia movie. . .they were made without zippers, in order to conform to the time period setting of the movie. It would take me like 10 min to lace those babies up! I think with my height, these babies would go above my knee. . .not a good look for shorties. I'm guessing these are >$1000.

Photo credit: AP/Ferragamo

Ta-da! I present to you. . .a more compatible pair of boots (for both my lifestyle and wallet). Yeah yeah, I know. . .they're not exactly similar. And I cheated, because I found the cheaper pair of boots first, then accidentally came across the Ferragamo ones above.

Photo credit: 6pm.com

Anyways, they're from Stuart Weitzman, which I always thought were primarily for old (rich) ladies. I guess this is not the case, since these are some "hot combat boots" (quoting Apple). I'm calling them my "hot granny/ass-kicker boots" haha. They were 75% off on 6pm.com, and I somehow managed to snap up the LAST pair. The leather is so nice & soft that I can't believe they used it on a pair of shoes. . .I'll be running away from crowds, messy kids, dogs & shopping carts, in fear of getting any scuff marks. You know how some families have those clear plastic covers on sofas, to keep them nice & new? I wonder if they make those for shoes :)

All the Basics

cardie? check!

U-neck tee? check!

black pencil skirt? check!

black tights? check!

granny boots? check!

I seem to have hit all the basics in my outfit today (well, the lace-up granny boots are stretching it a little bit, but oh wello).

 

Old Navy cardie, Uniqlo skirt & tee, Walmart tights, vintage boots from Ebay

 

Those lace-up granny boots were the best deals I've scored on Ebay to date. $23 for almost new Bally boots? Wow. . .I'm still amazed.

Looks for less...Tiffany & Co. necklace

Ok, so today's outfit was super boring...dark blue and blah because it was grey and rainy in the city. But, the real reason for this post is to show one of my necklaces from today.

I found the exact garnet beads and made the above necklace after seeing the one from below at Tiffany's for over $1K. Mine was only $20!

Moving in opposite directions. . .

K took a look at my outfit this morning, and said "Cool! Too 'out there' for the people here though". GAAH! We better not move to somewhere even boonier than here!

Me & Erv moving in opposite directions. . .

BR cardigan, tneck & tights from TJMaxx, Uniqlo skirt, UO boots

 

K tried to take pics of me without the flash. Check out this haunting picture. . .it reminds me of an image that you may see in a dream. or maybe a scary movie.

On a note related to my outfit, Apple and I had roughly 20 minutes to run around Uniqlo like crazy women before we had to go to dinner at the Mercer Kitchen last Saturday in the big Apple. I somehow ended up finding 2 skirts, a pair of tights, and a tee at a good bargain during this quickie shopping session. . .

By the way -- that night I learned a lesson that will hopefully remain with me forever. DON'T BE A CHEAPASS WHEN EATING AT GOOD RESTAURANTS IN BIG CITIES, ESPECIALLY IF YOU LIVE IN THE BOONIES!! One of my biggest dumbass moments in life was ordering a stupid cheeseburger at Mercer Kitchen because I was feeling a little stingy (and I had a glimmer of hope that maybe Jean-Georges has some kind of super unique recipe for cheeseburgers. But really, that's no excuse). We ended up splitting the check evenly between our group of 8. Grrr, I think I took home the DUMBASS award for the night.

Looks for less. . .LAMB peeptoe booties

I'm always fascinated by those "looks for less" shopping postings, where bloggers showcase (relatively) cheap alternatives to insanely expensive items.

 

Anyhow, here's my first one.

 

 

 

Can you tell which is the real deal? The grey ones are from Bakers, yellow ones are LAMB. . .I know there are folks out there who think you should get the real deal because they're better quality, but I'm sure those >4 inch heels will be hell (at least for a klutz like me) regardless of whether they cost >$300, or ~$75. Not to mention my upper price point/ceiling currently hovers around $120 for shoes - maybe the ceiling will get pushed up soon haha, especially since I'm now venturing beyond the old habit of wearing the same boring black work shoes basically everyday.

After looking at the 2 versions closely, I actually prefer the Bakers, because it doesn't have scales/scallops on the back. I can't imagine what I would do if all those little scales ever curl up. I'm already having issues with the ~6 long fringes that stick up on my black booties from UO - I need some doublesided tape or rubber cement to tame those fringes! I should take a pic of how they have been ridiculously sticking out :)

Turkey Weekend Recap

The HILLY BILLIES go to NY!

. . .to visit K's hipster (more on that later) sister, Apple, in the big Apple (haha). . .

. . .to eat good food, such as these sushi bombs from BOZU. . .

. . .to see Apple's boyfriend, who drew ERV in his super hero cape (and with his super sprinkler nose). . .

. . .to see Apple's shoe parade (I'm still impressed that black shoes only comprise a small percentage of her whole collection. can you spot the 3 shoes we share in common?). . .

. . .and boot parade. . .

. . .and her super old Candies and other ancient shoes which pretty much deserve a parade of their own. . .

. . .and to take pictures of ourselves in mirrors at the MOMA. . .

 

I'm kicking myself right now for not taking more outfit photos- I really should have taken pictures of other people, but I was too shy to tell them why I wanted to take pics of them. . .

Cream Puffs

I learned how to make cream puffs this past weekend...much harder than I imagined! They sort of deflated after I took them out from the oven, but still yummy :)

Have I shown you guys my new ring? Thanks to LBC, I got this cute little John Hardy:

                          

I've been eyeing this Hype tote...what do you guys think? Too orange? Would this color last over the seasons or is it too trendy?

                               

Today's outfit:

Outfit: grey dress (Gap), belt (H&M), jacket (Old Navy), shoes (Circa Joan & David)

Baglovin

here's a quickie from a sickie!

while packing for our NY trip, I realized I need bigger bags! I've held off on buying big bags for a couple years now, since that is usually what I gravitate to. I'm a self-proclaimed bag lady and I would pack a whole meal in my bag if I could, in addition to an umbrella, jacket or scarf/blankie. Anyways, I ended up using this really old messenger bag I've had since I was 18 (damn, that was long ago).

So I'm now officially off the "Big bag ban", and am lusting over these (Sherlock and Esme bags from Jenny Yuen). . .

(images from the Jenny Yuen online store)

I'm on a black bag ban now (what's up with the "bbb"s?). By the way, I'm still kicking myself for not taking advantage of the Luna Boston 40% off sale on black friday -- I miraculously woke up on time for the sale, and yet did not take advantage because I was feeling stingy. sniff sniff. . .what the hell was I thinking?

I'm too lazy to post any further today since I'm sick at home, but I'll definitely post more on the Thanksgiving NY trip, as well as what kept me occupied last week :)