Shoes, Glorious Shoes! 5

Here they are. The shoes that awoke the beast. We were on vacation in Atlanta, shopping at our fave mall, Discover Mills, and walked into Off Broadway Shoes. At the time my shoe addict beast was in hibernation. I saw plenty of shoes I loved, but admired them from afar and moved on without purchasing. Granted, financial issues helped with that decision. But still…

We walked into Off Broadway, and these bad boys were right at the front (understandably so). I tried them on, and instantly fell in love. Stupid of me to try them on. Stupid of me to walk in the store. We knew we didn’t have any more money to spend if we wanted to be able to pay for gas on the way back home. I sadly placed them back in their box and walked out of the mall. The rest of the trip and the whole way home, I kept talking about the shoes. Thinking about the shoes. Dreaming about the shoes.

I had to have them.

Now thankfully I have a very good memory. I used to say it was photographic when I was younger. I think age has put a dent in that theory. I tend to forget things easily while at work. Someone can ask me to send them a file, I’ll say ok, and five seconds later I’ve forgotten about it. I tend to either forget, or block out, painful memories. But when it comes to the deliciously random details of life, they are stuck to my brain like glue. I can quote the entire movie “The Wizard of Oz” (as my Dad would say: animal noises, and all) top to bottom without thinking twice. I can recall conversations that were had with friends months before, and bring them up when having a related discussion months later. And much to my delight, I apparently can remember the names of shoes after only looking at the box once as I try them on.

Cue the Google search. Up comes DSW.com and the rest is history. Ever since I purchased these shoes, I have been on a full-blown shoe binge. Doesn’t help that DSW has a rewards program, so I’m always earning coupons/certificates. I can’t stand letting free money go to waste. I think the only thing saving me from being homeless on the street living in a shoe house is I do make sure to only buy the shoes if they speak to me. I don’t buy shoes just to buy shoes.

So without further ado, here they are:

Brand: Steve Madden Name: Saassi

Store: Dsw.com

Review: 5” heel. Fit just a smidge big. Not big enough to go down a half size, especially since the strap keeps your foot from sliding in and out all day. Super comfortable. This is a pair I think I could get away with wearing all day and all night and not come away with blisters the next day.

Nothing over-the-top on the outfit. I let the shoes be the star.

I *almost* put 6” heel on the review for this pair, because technically they’re about 5 ½”. Couldn’t decide if anything over 5” qualified as 6”, so I just stuck with 5”. They’re tall. Let’s leave it at that.

Shoes, Glorious Shoes! 4

I’ve actually had this pair of shoes for a year or so now, so I don’t remember if there is some wonderful or dramatic story to go with them. I do remember that I got them for super cheap during one of my first trips in years to Rack Room. They were already on clearance, plus they were my ½ off pair, so I think they ended up being like $7.

I was slow to jump on the ankle boot bandwagon. In fact, these are still my only pair. Have seen plenty I love, just never hit the purchase button for some reason. But when they first became THE thing a couple years ago, I wasn’t sold. They kinda reminded me of a pair of pants or a long skirt that had shrunk and was now in that weird in-between area. Not really long, but not really short… just… off. But when I saw the price I could get these for, and the fact I knew I had a sweater in my closet they matched perfectly, I took the plunge. SO happy I did. They lend themselves to a rockstar feel for some reason. I find myself walking with attitude and purpose when I wear them.

Brand: XAPPEAL Name: Gia

Store: Rack Room Shoes

Review: 4” heel. Fits perfectly to size. Just enough space in them if you want to add a pair of socks, you can. I will say, for some reason the right boot puts pressure on the top of my foot like every other time I wear them. I don’t do anything differently, so that could just be a weird Katybug-ism – not the shoe.

I was tentative when I first got these. I started wearing them with tights, then would do tights or leggings. Now I don’t care. I’ll wear them with anything and OWN it.

If you do not yet have any ankle boots in your collection, I highly recommend you get at least one pair and then party like a rockstar!

Going to the Chapel

Nope, not me. Don’t get excited. Not anxious to travel that road again any time soon. Other than maybe the party. Would it be wrong to get married just to be able to plan the reception? And pick out the dress(es)? Yes? Ok, moving on…

This is the first of my “fun outfit” posts for a pair of shoes. So it got it’s own special title- rather than sticking with the shoes, glorious shoes series. You first met these beauties here. I will say, I must’ve either broken them in the day I wore them to work, or just slid them on better this time (yes, there is an art to putting on a shoe), because they were UBER-comfortable this time around. No squished toes for Katybug.

The occasion? Obviously a wedding. A friend/former co-worker of mine got married a few weeks ago. The wedding was beautiful, one of the sweetest weddings I’ve been to in a long time. Maybe ever. Not a dry eye in the house. The reception was downtown, and my luck being what it is, I managed to be the car that was right behind the last car that would fit in the lot for the reception location. And so begins the excitement of finding a spot to park that is safe/where you won’t get a ticket or towed. Luckily Spaghetti Warehouse was just a few blocks up, so I took it upon myself to pretend to be a patron and park in their lot. So now we know that you can walk a few blocks in these shoes and not be in miserable pain by the time you arrive at your location. Also, I know those of you that live in Memphis/know about Memphis are incredibly impressed with me right now. I walked 3 blocks on a dark side street downtown. By myself. And I’m alive to type this blog right now.

I feel like we should insert some sort of superhero music right here.

I love any chance I get to primp up. Doesn’t happen that often anymore, although I suppose I could primp up for work if I REALLY wanted to. But that would mean I’d have to get up at least an hour earlier. And that’s where the discussion ends. But for this night – primping was on the menu.

This pic was snapped just to text to a friend to show her my outfit. Thank goodness it was, because much to my surprise – no additional pictures of my outfit were taken that night. And so continues the tradition of bad/blurry outfit photos on the blog.

I was so excited that my hair was still curly after the wedding, I had to snap a picture.

So there you go! Maybe now that Spring/Summer is here I’ll have more opportunities to doll up and go out. I know I at LEAST get to look forward to the summer movie series at the Orpheum. Can’t tell you how excited I am that they’re showing Princess Bride this year. Add it to the must attend showings of Wizard of Oz and RHPS, and we’re talking about the possibility of three blogs! Shoes, Shoes, SHOES!

Sheffield Antiques Mall

How I’ve spent almost my entire life living in Memphis without knowing about Sheffield Antiques Mall in Collierville, I will never know. Now granted, it’s probably not been there for 30 years, but still…

We ran across this place on one of those weekends where you just drive around aimlessly and see what kind of fun you can find. Definitely one of my fave things to do when you want to get out of the house, but don’t really have anywhere you want to go. This particular weekend, we decided to drive through all of the little strip mall centers in Collierville and see what kind of stores we could find that we didn’t know existed. Enter Sheffield.

From the outside it doesn’t look like much. Very plain building, simple sign, no frills. We walked in the front door, and I said “Uh-oh… we’re in trouble.” Think flea market, but in a warehouse-sized building, and there all the time. If you’ve ever been to Black Lion in Opry Mills in Nashville – same concept. Multiple vendors under one roof, each in their own 6’ x 6’(ish) booth space. With a place like this, the ONLY way to tackle it, is start at one end and just weave your way up and down the aisles until you get to the other. Our first visit we had already been out shopping all day, and I’m not going to lie, my feet had had enough of the 5” heels I had on. I’m very much a “the pain doesn’t matter as long as the shoes look cute” kind of girl, but we got halfway through this building and I seriously felt like I had walked my feet off and was walking on bloody stumps. And that’s probably the most pleasant way I could describe it. Words don’t do it justice. So the second half of the building was a blur, I wasn’t really giving it the attention it needed. We decided to come back another day where we could devote the entire day to the mall, and REALLY explore each booth.

Cut to a week or so later. First stop, comfy shoes, in we dove. So many of the booths are just packed to the gills with knick-knacks that you REALLY have to explore every nook and cranny of the spaces to see everything the vendor has to offer. The only way I can give you a full idea of how much stuff there is to see is tell you our final shopping time upon exiting the building. 4.5 hours. FOUR. AND A HALF. HOURS. In one “store”. The booths cover every category you could ever imagine. From furniture and antique décor, to sports memorabilia, to clothes. The list goes on and on. We walked out with so many goodies, I could barely contain my excitement.

One of my faves was my new wine caddy.

It’s a shoe blog. Are you surprised?

I highly recommend you check it out if you’re in the Memphis area. It should be noted that Sheffield is actually undergoing expansion right now, adding more booths.

I can only imagine how long THAT shopping trip will be.

Shoes, Glorious Shoes! 3

So these shoes were a happy accident that you read about in my first post. I seriously am only at Wolfchase once every couple of years, if even that, since I worked there. I think I'm a bit allergic. Plus anyone that's ever been to Wolfchase knows, it's always Christmas-crowded. You're going to be bumping into people, annoyed at parents that refuse to take care of their kids, and thumbing through gone-over-50-times racks in almost every store. Just a whole lot of frustrating, and not worth it in my opinion. We went there for a very specific (non-shoe-related) purpose that night and just decided to walk the whole mall. Started at the bottom floor at one side, did the full length, then moved upstairs. Got halfway up the escalator and I remembered... Rack Room!!!!!!!!!! Suddenly the annoyance level that I was at seemed slightly worth it.

Dove into the store and let me tell you... I could go on for an hour about how annoyed I was while I was shopping. I do not understand why most parents these days could give a shit about how their kids act in public. In my day (yes I just said that) I could barely get loud, much less act out without getting spoken to. Just ONE example in the store that night... "He started it!" "No, HE started it!" "Did not!" *punch* "DID TOO!" *HARD PUNCH* *soft voice* "boys stop." *insert chasing each other, punching, running into customers scene here - with Mom still shoe shopping, paying no attention* So I was almost about to just walk out, decide it wasn't worth it. Until I saw these beauties:

Brand: G by Guess Name:

Store: Rack Room Shoes

Review: 5" heel. Fits about as close to size as you could ask for. I used this picture because if you'll notice, my baby toe is almost popping out from under the strap. I mentioned in a previous post I have long toes. I failed to mention the exception is my baby toe. I have actually been asked before if I only have 4 toes. So the fact I can comfortably wear strappy shoes like these, should speak to how comfortable this shoe fits. LOVE.

The outfit:

Kinda wish the outfit were better with as many attempts as it took me to get this picture to load. I started this blog last week, and for whatever reason, this pic just did NOT want to load upright/kept coming in on its side. But I finally got it. Don't ask how. I don't know.



The accessories were good this day, too:

I absolutely adore this necklace, however it *DOES* lend itself to an unproductive day. It's very easy to get lost in fidgeting with the beads. But then again, I'm one of those girls that twirls her hair all day long, so...

**Be aware - I have a $10 DSW that must used before 4/21. MORE SHOES TO COME!!!!!!

Shoes, Glorious Shoes! 2

I've decided it's just easier to number these posts, rather than come up with cute little blog title posts for each. Especially if I start blogging about things other than just the shoes/clothes I'm wearing that day.

Also, it's occurred to me that most of these blog posts will always be based around my work outfit, which is fine, but not always the most fun outfit that goes with the shoes. So I might start a spinoff for the casual/fun outfits for shoes you've already seen. We'll see where the blog takes us.

So this pair doesn't have a super exciting story. I had a coupon for DSW - and I try to make it a point to never let a coupon go wasted. I am still ill over my $50 wasted (expired) Kohl's cash from a few weeks ago. Makes my stomach hurt even just typing that. $50. I could've gotten all KINDS of Cookie Monster PJs for that... but I digress. My coupon was for $10 off $59, $20 off $79, $35 off $99 (disclaimer: the second two amounts could be wrong - the first one was the one I used) - so I went in just to see what I could find. Now let me say, I am a huge fan of DSW. Always frequented them when shopping out of town. Never knew we had one here in Memphis until a co-worker clued me in a few months ago. This was my first visit to said location. Was NOT impressed. Much smaller than other locations I have been to, and selection was just "eh". Wandered the aisles for 20 minutes or so, trying on shoes that didn't really speak to me, trying to convince myself they were "cute enough" for the coupon. But who wants to buy shoes that are "cute enough"? No one. No one, that's who. So I aimlessly wandered back to the clearance section, and stumbled upon these shoes. Who knew you could find better selection in clearance than on the aisles? Enjoy.

Brand: JS by Jessica Name: Edore

Store: DSW

Review: 5" heel. Fits a little large. I think if I went down a half size, it would be uncomfortable. I think some insoles should be enough to do the trick. After a full day of wearing them at work, I was ready to get home and get them off because my heel kept sliding out of them as I walked.

*Additional note: This is my first pair of shoes with this brand, but just from my experience in the store trying them on (multiple styles) it seems to be all over the place size-wise. I had one style I had to go down to an 8.5, one I had to go up to a 9.5. Definitely try on and walk around a bit before you buy.

And the outfit:

Can I say, I did this pose (which I call the pee-pee pose) just to bring some humor into the blog, because it always cracks me up when models pose like this. But once I saw the pic... I kinda get it now. Showcases the shape of the clothes, which is what they're hired to sell.

Touché, pee-pee posers.

Touché.

.

Shoes, Glorious Shoes!

My very first post. This is exciting! I don't know what to say, should I start by thanking the little people that made this blog possible? My parents for raising such a shoe-a-holic? My agent... ok, that's getting a little out of control. Let's dive into the shoe fun!

Started this blog at the recommendation of my friend Allison's request. Apparently I am slowly converting her into a shoe lover... or she likes my feet. One way or another, she is now curious as to what clothes I pair with all of my wonderfully fabulous shoes, and what better way to showcase that than... A BLOG!

I actually fell in love with today's pair about 2 months ago when shopping at Rack Room in the Tunica outlets. However, as you probably know - and if you don't, let me enlighten you - Rack Room is Buy One, Get One 50% off every day. I am a firm believer of always taking advantage of this deal, so if I find one pair, I MUST find a second. Otherwise it is my opinion that I was not meant to have those shoes. So I found this pair, and began my hunt for the second pair. After trying several on, and seeing several I liked, but they didn't have my size, I finally gave up.

Cut to a little over a month later. Wolfchase Mall. Decide to go in Rack Room, just to see if they've gotten anything new (plus I'm never at Wolfchase, so they could have more just being a different store location). Found a pair of Guess shoes - that maybe you'll see in a later blog - that made me drool, and once again... the hunt for the second pair began. Same thing, tried several on, some I liked not in my size and then I spun around and it was like one of those scenes in a movie. The glowing light, the heavenly music... there they were! I think I actually shrieked with glee.

So without further ado:

Brand: maripé® Name: Kimber

Store: Rack Room Shoes

Review: 5" heel. Fits pretty true to size, though I will say I have to slide them on just right to make sure my second to last toe isn't squished. But I have pretty long toes, so that could just be me. Other than that, SUPER comfortable.

And the corresponding outfit:

I'll work on my outfit images/posing from now on. This one was rushed at lunch today, and I realize is a little out of focus, but you get the idea!

So there you have it! Hopefully this is the first of many shoe-riffic posts!!!