A comfortable shoe thing!!!!

While Andrea is in the fashion capital of style, clothing and everyones favorite thing, shoes! I'm still at the cottage, where to me comfort is king! Those cute leopard oxfords that she has would not last very long at the beach or in the yard covered with grass stains. In the summer Teva flip flops are the way to go for me. I can garden in them, walk into town and run down to the beach. I keep them in a vintage egg basket by the back porch, no need to worry if they get rained on.

And the cute little blue flats, I got those on my last trip to NYC when then the shoes I brought with me were giving me a blister. I think there was eye rolling going on, Andrea's comment, "well they are serviceable". Daughter translation, I can't believe she is buying those! 

More eye rolling on these I'm sure, they are my Bogs boots, great for gardening in the northland. They are insulated and good in weather down to 40 degrees below zero, keeping my feet warm and dry. For early spring planting and fall clean up they are must, great for sloshing thru wet snow too!

When I go to New York City to visit Andrea it seems like I always get the extreme weather usually in the form of a monsoon! So being the good daughter that she is, Andrea keeps rain boots there for me. I had a cute pair of Marc Jacob rain boots with yellow soles (they did not have any pink) but on the last trip they sprung a leak! So yes, I packed them in my suitcase and now they are serving as a planter for some white petunias. I think I will have to follow Andrea over the cliff and break down and get some Hunter wellies or another pair of Bogs ! Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes or boots.


 P.S. Mom translation for "impractical shoes" how the heck are you going to walk in those things for blocks and blocks! And I really do like those leopard oxfords of hers, if only we lived closer.......

A Shoe Thing

So I was watching the Today Show last week (I have it on every morning while I get ready for work and have become weirdly obsessed - I recorded the farewell show and cried when Meredith Viera left - don’t know what’s wrong with me; routines are scary things), and they had a feature on a nice, but possibly crazy lady named Beth Shak who won a boatload of money pro gambling, and has subsequently bought a lot of shoes. Like enough to fill a tiny landfill. 1,200 PAIRS.

Obviously, I don’t have that many shoes. Not many people do. But I do have enough impractical pairs of shoes that my mom seems to think I’m on par with the crazy lady. I don’t really understand what she means by impractical though. I mean, why wouldn’t I need a pair of leopard loafers and leopard oxfords? Or the silver, ballet slipper version of Dorothy’s glitteringly magical shoes? Or motorcycle boots when I don’t own a motorcycle? Essentials.

My shoes are actually completely practical for the most part; I just tend to go through a lot of them given that my feet are my primary means of transportation. Here are few of my special shoes, plus maybe a few that I’m just a fan of:

Behold: My efforts at shooting street style a la The Sartorialist. They were failed efforts. That's why there's only two shots. 

Pair of Banana Republic stompers. I wore 'em to death last summer, but the rose gold detailing so beautiful I had to show you despite their wear and tear. 

If you haven't already gathered, I love me some leopard. These faux-ponyhair Steve Madden oxfords totally do the trick. 

As much as I stop and stare at and ogle and covert a sturdy wedge or a saucy stiletto I spend my life in flats...and usually wishing I was wearing heels instead (I have a height deficiency). These are a few of my faves. Dorothy is that you? No, it's me! In sparkly J.Crew ballet slippers! Marc Jacobs and Franco Sarto are also my lovers.

Dum, dum, dum....my un-fun but completely practical and totally worth every dollar boots. If I were to add up the amount of raindrops avoided vs. dollars spent on these rain boots they would look like the most economical purchase ever made...by me, anyway. Hunter wellies are ubiquitous in the city, and last winter I finally bit the bullet. I followed the crowd, hopped on the bandwagon, became the lemming that jumped off the cliff. I started using multiple aphorisms in a single sentence. As as result, my feet are dry. Cliff jumping validated. 

Traffic stoppers

While Andrea is still dreaming about Vespas and cute foreign guys, I'm dreaming about vintage cars.  You can't live in Michigan and not love cars! I'd love to have a vintage car. Notice I said vintage and not old, I have an old car with 190,000 miles, Andrea calls it jinky, a close cousin to junky. I was hard pressed to pick out my favorite car at the recent Charlevoix car show.  It was a beautiful day, the cars were shined and ready for viewing........

 The car show was in the park, if you got tired of looking at the cars you could turn to your left and look at the boats in the marina.

  Ford classic cars are always a fan favorite.

Look at the fins on that car and it is so shiny I can see myself.

The gentleman that owned this car said I'd never get this car's true color in a photo. He was right it had glimmering metallic paint that does not quite show up, but it was still a beautiful shade of pink!!!

Look at the chrome on that beauty!

 How cool are these people they have a pink truck!

It is always a beautiful day in Charlevoix!

Kicking around town

I almost feel guilty, while Andrea is sweltering in the New York heat, it was in the mid 70's and sunny here today at the Cottage. No Vespa for me, I have something that is sporty to get around town in and get a great workout at the same time! It is a Kickbike, a cross between a scooter and a bike. It is a killer workout and will burn more than 450 calories per hour. Of course I think I'd be dead if I did this for a whole hour. I got one of these for Cottage Guy too, he was not so sure it was a gift. First time out he thought I was trying to kill him. We always get the comments when we are kicking around town... How cool it that thing and what is it?

Pedal On

It is still really freaking hot out in NY. I love me some sun on my skin but this hot, hot heat has made getting around town seriously difficult these last few weeks. Going down into the subway to wait 10 minutes for the train feels like taking a second shower in a combination of other people’s sweat, sewage condensation and general humidity. Or a sauna. That’s probably a less cringe-worthy description. Sorry for that. Walking is a bit of kind of trial because I feel kinda breezy until I arrive to my destination (usually work) and find the whispy pieces around my hairline have become curly-cues and my feet are swollen in my flats. And I wear small shoes. Cabs are unaffordable for me unless I happen to be carrying luggage or (as my Dad likes phrase it) was slightly over served on an evening out (is it my fault if it was $5 for a glass of wine?). Or if I’m feeling extremely lazy. Then I cab.

So the only logical alternatives to transportation are bicycles or Vespas. Or a jet pack. (They exist now; Tony Parker has one. It’s on my Christmas list.). Mom says: at least it is not a dog on her list again! Yes, har har. 

However these options also pose a few problems as riding a bike means riding it in the streets of New York with coconuts cab drivers and frenzied commuters. The prospect is terrifying. My friend and I tried to go for a leisurely ride along the West Side Highway one fine day and ended shopping because we’d have to ride a whopping 4 avenues and three 3 blocks in the street. Seriously, drivers are crazy. And we're chickens.

A seriously dedicated biker's seat.

As for the Vespa, I have this really nice image of myself being chauffeured around on one by a foxy foreign man wearing a scarf and speaking in an appealing accent. At traffic stops he can tell me charming anecdotes about when he used to ride his Vespa around whatever his home country is. This image usually takes place in Paris. And I look like Marion Cotillard. Needless to say this little scenario has not yet occurred.

These are for my mama. She's incapable of walking past anything pink without stopping. She's been coveting a pink scooter for ages.