New York, New York - Day 1

My first day in New York was quite a hectic one. It's been ages since I'd been back there. And it didn't start off well - I got off the plane and it was pouring down rain! Good thing I'd packed other shoes. I wore a black trench dress (which I'd had for a while but hadn't worn yet) paired up with my Jimmy Choo Buzz heels. I'd packed a ton of outfits, because you know you need options, and had all of my shoes in the carry on bag. I just don't trust checking them, ya know!



So, I got in around 8am and the friend I was staying with picked me up at the airport. We went back to his apartment and both took quick cat naps, since he works nights and I'd been up since before 5am. Then we got a yummy lunch in a local restaurant. I had a great ahi tuna-topped salad.

After that and since the rain had stopped, I decided to slip on some flats and take the N train into the city. Lucky for me, the train lets off right near Bergdorfs! First check on the To Do list.



I wandered around a bit and ended up in the cosmetics section. I've been looking for a replacement lipstick for this one special edition color that I just love. Sadly, I haven't found it exactly yet, but I did get a lipstick and a Glossimer. The lipstick is Rouge Allure #17 Emotion and the Glossimer is #197 Gazelle and both are a light pinkish-orange.



But the lovely surprise is that, when I wandered into the shoe department, they were having a big designer shoe sale. And it was a mad house. Ladies, shoes and sales reps were everywhere with piles of shoes in their arms. Shoes of every designer brand were out on the racks and started at 30% off. I grabbed a few to try on myself, because, you just can't pass up a sale like that, right?

After trying on a bunch of styles I ended up getting these two pairs. The first is a pair of black patent slingback peep-toes from Christian Louboutin. I had already been walking around in my flats quite a bit but slipping these on found they were so comfortable. I almost considered wearing them for the rest of my shopping.









The other pair were these sapphire blue satin Manolo Blahniks. They're a big big but with inserts they fit fine and I couldn't resist the gorgeous blue color.











I seriously wanted to take them back to the apartment with me and wear them during the trip but I knew I would never be able to fit them in my bags (and I would have been right!) so I had them ship them to my home. This actually saved me from having to pay NY sales tax which would have been more than the shipping.

From there I decided to make my way down Madison and see what I passed along the way. I didn't have too much of a game plan. What was amazingly helpful was that before I had left, I put all the places I wanted to go into my iPhone. I had a general idea of what places were near each other so I would just use my iPhone to map the location and see where I was going. Much better than carrying around a guidebook or map, plus I could call the locations if I had a question about their hours or where exactly they were.

I did pop into H&M since we don't have one at home. But, while I've seen some cute stuff from there on folks, I just didn't spark to anything. So, back out I went.



Next up was Saks and the 10022-SHOE shoe floor. They have an express elevator which takes you right to the floor (or just confuses the heck out of people when they aren't paying attention to the sign above the doors!)

I walked all around to see if there was anything I was really dying for, since they were also doing a sale, but no luck.



I did get an opportunity to try on the Gucci sandals that I really really wanted, but, alas, the size 6s were too big. I was hoping that I could get away with the 6s and they looked really cool but nope. I did have the look to see if they came in 5 or 5.5 at all, but sadly no. And they were on sale too. Wah!



From there I kept on walking and ended up spying this store filled with gorgeous gloves. And I love gloves. I'd even brought my vintage driving gloves and Italian black embellished gloves with me.

I didn't know that Sermoneta gloves were where WendyB had purchased her controversial yellow gloves (I say she wears them well).



I tried on a few pairs but didn't get quite as adventurous as Wendy. I was more interested in the driving glove looking ones and finally got these two-tone green and off-white pair. I was hoping for an orange-pink pair but no luck. I wear a lot of green in the summer so I think they will get a lot of use. I may wear them to work on Monday.



One of the other places I wanted to go to was Caron Perfumerie. They're owned by the same person who owns Phyto so it was a bit difficult to find. The Caron products are house on the third floor near the spa but they still have the gorgeous decanters of perfumes.



The lovely Diane Haska took a great deal of time letting me sniff endless strips of delicate scents to help me narrow down to a few perfumes to try on.



I tended to move away from their more floraly ones and gravitated towards some of the more spicy ones.



The other reason I wanted to go there was to get an adorable "poof" which come in three sizes and an endless array of sherbet colors. You can get scented powders to go with these but I justed ended up getting the poof. Can you see the huge pile of tester strips under there? Those are all from me.



I ended up with the medium light blue poof. For perfumes I bough a bottle of the Parfum Sacre, which has top notes of pepper, cinnimon and coriander. You can smell the pepper clear through the box. Here are a few reviews who describe it better than I ever could -

- by Bois de Jasmin
- at BaseNotes
- by Sweet Diva



Diane also gave me decants of the three scents you see there in the front. Since I liked the spicy, she gave me Tabac Blond, Poivre (more pepper) and a classic Nuit de Noel. They're all delicious as well. You can order decants through The Perfumed Court.

After all this I was just beat. So I headed back to, basically, crash. On Wednesday I had my work conference so got ready for bed.

Day two to follow.

Hello! Anyone Home?

So, I've been bad and slack about updating everyone on my New York trip. But I have good excuses, I promise.

1. I was staying with a friend and did not bring my computer, so all my "stuff" wasn't available. I really needed to pack 6 pairs of shoes and about 9 outfits for a 3 night trip. So room was at a premium.

2. I started to feel a bit crummy on Friday and actually paid to fly back a few hours early. I got home and just crashed. I think it was staying up past 3am most nights but still getting up at 6-ish, plus way more food (and alcohol) than I was used.

3. We had to go to a wedding out of town yesterday. On Friday night and all day Saturday I was unpacking and doing the "Seasonal Switch" then I had to get ready for the wedding. We didn't get home until late.

4. I actually didn't take photos of my purchases yet. I need to do that RIGHT NOW so I can give you the complete download, which is up next.

Updates to follow asap!

Luv,
Poochie

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Tags by Ti.mo

I've been a bit slow on the uptake on getting this done. Miss Katie at Breaking Curfew tagged me to tell six habits or quirks about myself that, I'm assuming, no one knows. Since you already know I'm a big city girl who now has three chickens, I'm sure everything else will less odd in comparison, but here we go:

1. My minor in college was Early British Literature. That means I read Beowulf, the Mabinogian and Sir Gawain and The Green Knight... for fun. I also "collect" stories about the Arthur legend and fairy tales.


2. I grew up in South Florida and volunteered at Miami MetroZoo for over five years. Consequently I'm not afraid of any bug, spider, snake or animal and have been bitten or scratched by everything from parrots to wolves to hedgehogs. Heck, I've rescued and relocated coral snakes from my front yard. Plus I don't mind getting messy when it comes to taking care of an animal.


3. I'm a not-so-closet geek. I was doing science fair competitions and reading fantasy/sci-fi in high school, not cheerleading or reading fashion mags. And I still want that darn Kindle!


4. I love really esoteric Victorian silver serving pieces like baked potato and lettuce forks. They come in handy when we have a tea party.


5. We don't watch a lot of TV, especially not reality TV but we'll have movies on all day long. Althought we thought this show was high-larious!


6. I don't like sugary candies but I love to bake and love love love dark chocolate, especially the Black Pearl and Naga truffles from Vosges, Scharffen Berger 77% (even though they sold out to Hershey's - blech!) and the Godiva Key Lime truffle.
   

So there you go! Interesting, who knows. I'm not the greatest on giving out tags, so I'll take a cue from Miss Wendy B. - if you want a tag, just let me know!

Eeeewwww!!!

Does Keith Richards in the new Louis Vuitton ads remind you of anyone????



Namely our new Joker in The Dark Knight?



He's probably about as wacked out and bat-s**t crazy, right?



Not exactly shoes or fashion, but Keith is kind of leathery so... maybe it is related.

Sale! Sale! Sale!

There is an amazing sale going on at Saks right now, including 50% off of some Louboutins.



Personally, I'd like to go for these Jimmy Choo Eita Eel Sandals. They also have the Miu Miu tea cup heels marked down and some other pretty heels I've featured on here before.

Check it out and happy shopping!

Sweet Delights

Macaron a la Rose by ::fanny::

Since I've been babbling about it for a while now, I'm going to New York next week. I've got a work-related event one day but am free to traipse around the city the other three.

I'm hoping to get some shopping in at the big four stores (Barney's, Saks, Bergdorfs, Neimans) but also want to find time to hunt down macarons and maybe go to an afternoon tea.

I'd love to see if anyone in New York at that time would like to maybe meet for dinner Wednesday night or maybe get together for tea or sweets on Tuesday.

Anyone interested? Drop me an email or a comment!

Don't Be a Tough Guy

After I bought the Bluemarine dress from YOOX.com, I determined that I had absolutely no shoes that would properly go with it. I really wanted to pair something strappy but modern and a bit tough. I have some lovely sandals and pumps but not a lot of "tough" shoes.

But I'm finding that I'm more and more drawn to these shoes. I think perhaps, my horizons have been widened by my stylish blogger friends.

I am very covetous of these Gucci Sevigny sandals. The wide strap and double buckles give it the edge but I love the shape of the heel. Nine West did a knock-off of these but, even though they are far more wallet friendly, they just are not executed that well. I'd rather go without than get a shoe so poorly done.

Since those are not likely to be bought any time soon, I've been looking for another option that jumps out at me. These sandals from Nine West are pretty good. I like the strappyness but I wonder if they are dressy enough. They're $80 which isn't too bad




But I think these Everless sandals are more the look I'm going for. The triple straps and toe strap give it sort of a dominatrix-y look which is more my kind of tough.



I'm not sure if I'll get either. I'm sure they would come in handy but I don't need them that quickly. I'm actually sending the dress back. It had a rip in a seam and for the price it was (even way marked down) I don't want to have to worry about it. It is a gorgeous dress though. Now I just need to find another going out dress that I can wear one of these heels with.

Innovations in Packaging

As I've mentioned before I've been helping out with the marketing of SimplySoles.com. The owner, Kassie, is a great person and I like seeing the industry from her perspective because I aspire to starting my own shoe line (shhh! Don't tell anyone) some day or maybe a brick & mortar shoe store in my town.

Kassie has included some great elements into her company's philosophy, such as recycling and giving back to the community. But now she's actually been looking to reduce her packaging and carbon footprint by creating a new way to ship the shoes she sells.



The ShoeShuttle is a very plush quilted two compartment bag with a drawstring ribbon closure. The shoes come from the manufacturer in the bags and then are shipped to you in a recycled cardboard box. I recently got a pair shipped to me and took pictures so you could see how it looks.

With most high-end designer shoes you will get a dust bag with your purchase. I love these bags because I carry my shoes to and from work rather than wearing them while I'm driving. I also use them when I travel to keep my shoes from getting nicked up in my suitcase.



This bag is far superior to any that I've seen to date. Not only is it much thicker and padded but it has two compartments. Usually I have to pull a bag from another pair of shoes so I can wrap each shoe individually (putting both shoes in one bag almost defeats the purpose in my opinion). I love that these are in one bag but individually protected.



I've been looking around to see if there are any other companies who are looking into new innovations in design and packaging. Obviously there has been a lot done with new materials such as vegan-friendly but I haven't seen any new box or packaging options. If anything I've seen boxes get more luxurious and branded.

Personally I keep all of my shoes in their original boxes (or buy/re-purpose a photo-holder box for instances such as with vintage shoes that don't have their boxes) because I have to stack my shoes. And also the boxes help with identification purposes for me. But I like the bag a lot for travel.



SimplySoles is starting with the incorporation of these bags for their own brand of shoes, lillybee, but will be asking the designers that they carry to incorporate the bags for their lines as well. The bag will soon be available for individual purchase as well and are $18.

Has anyone seen any packaging that they thought was innovative or that they really liked? And if you have any thoughts on the ShoeShuttles, let me know and I'll pass it along to Kassie.

Ensemble du Jour

As I've been stressing over what clothes to pack for my trip to NY next week, I've been trying on some items I've had packed away for various reasons. But if clothes have hung around for more than a year it's because I really really like them.

The Outfit
It's still surprisingly cool here so when I decided to wear this skirt, I was able to pair it with a lightweight cashmere sweater in a slightly different shade of grey. For jewelry I wore my jade bangle and a jade circle pendant that my parents brought me from Chine when I was a freshman in high school. Both jade pieces are more white jade than the typical dark green.



For shoes I pulled a tone from the tulip design of the skirt and wore these delicate melon suede Guiseppe Zanotti heels that were a major bargain from a few years ago.



I love the shape of the heel and the color, of course, but I think the tassles were what sold me. I think tassled shoes are so cute.



They're a great tonal mix of suede and regular leather.



The Focal Point
Now typically I'm not sure having a giant flower right at your hips is the greatest idea (and this angle would seem to attest to that) but since it's a pencil skirt it actually isn't too bad. Plus, I love the giant flower skirts that Mizrahi did for Target. I also have the white skirt with the giant pink peony.



I don't think this will come with me to NY but it's pretty cute. I'm glad it's back in the rotation. Now I just need to find more tops to pair with it.

Eeeewwww!!!

Why would anyone think that these "Money Sandals" are a cute idea? What are we in the 80s again?

All I can think about when I see these are the cut up AmEx earrings from "Earth Girls are Easy"

The fact that they used $11 bills is just weird and that they cost $725 takes them out of relm of irony and into the ridiculous.

Would you rock these or do you think they're worth less than the US dollar?

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
Another new top to wear today. I got this Mizrahi boatneck top on sale at Target. I like the color combo of the pink and orange. I wouldn't have paid full price for it but, marked down, it's not bad.

I paired it with my dressy denim pencil skirt and then to keep it clean I piled on some acrylic bangles and my vintage Trifari owl necklace.




The Focal Point
I know it may be a bit matchy-matchy but I have several pink heels and this gives me an excuse to wear them. These Charles David round-toe pumps are really cute in a Barbie-ish kind of way. The color is on the purple-y pink side but what also makes them different is the pony hair.



I have a ton of A-line skirts but I'm preferring to wear pencil skirts more and more. I just like the more streamlined silhouette better these days.

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
Since it's been pretty cool, even this far into May, I've been holding off on wearing many of my Summer clothes. I haven't even switched out my closets yet. I know that I will get sick of the heat and the clothes soon enough so I don't want to rush it unnecessarily.

Even so, I decided to I wanted to wear this outfit which is comprised of all new items and all from Target. The skirt is a cute khaki circle-ish skirt with big flower appliques. The edges are kind of raw so it has a modern almost graphic appeal. The shirt is a simple jersey top but the neckline is cute and not your standard scoop neck. I bought a wide brown belt and decided to pair it with this to provide a bit of contrast. I don't wear belts very often but I liked how this all went together even though it takes some getting used to for me.



The Focal Point
I might have worn white heels if I hadn't worn the belt but now it called for a darker shoe. I think these Franco Sarto heels have an almost gladiator look to them. I'm not a huge lover of that style but this doesn't take it too far and they add a tough edge, something also a bit new for me.



Now I'm kind of on the look out for more "tough" shoes. I have my eye on a pair, but we'll have to see if I end up getting them.

For Your Consideration

A while back I got this really cute sequin skirt from YOOX. It was a good bargain and you just never know when you are going to need a black sequin skirt, right?

Well, I haven't worn it just yet. My vision was to wear it with a white t-shirt and Chuck Taylors or something but that's for another day. Now I'm thinking of taking it with me to New York and can't decided on the right top to wear with it.



For some reason I'm totally spacing on what to pair it with. I was thinking the deep v-neck American Apparel t-shirt in black (which I don't own, but could get) but I'm not sure. I would typically go for a 3/4 or longer sleeved shirt. I have a whole bunch of black tops that would be okay but I wanted something a little better.



I want something fun and not too boring. Any inspired ideas out there?

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
This is pretty close to what I was wearing today although my skirt has more black in in than this one does. I hate when I can't find the exact thing I'm looking for. Regardless, I'm wearing a black and white Mossimo skirt, a black Ann Taylor knit top and some fun 80s-ish accessories.




The Focal Point
I like to wear black and white a lot but I wanted to make it a bit more fun so instead of a simpler piece of jewelry I opted for my Etsy acrylic and pearl cuff.



For shoes I wore my ShoeMissy embellished peep-toes. How fun are they? Survey says... Super Fun!



I don't look great in neons so this is a small way for me to work them in. Plus, they're just cute.

ShoeMissy is always creating new styles so check them out.

Walking On the Clouds

The trouble with Pre-Fall is that you start to see very early gorgeous pieces come out but you have decide... do you get something beautiful now or do you hold out to see if there is something even more amazing down the road? And if you wait, will the early pieces be sold out? Or will you just fall in love with everything and have too much to choose from?

Decisions, decisions.

Here's a perfect example, stunning turquoise snakeskin "Campari" Manolo mary janes.



I have these exact shoes in red and they are amazing. But the bright blue is one of my favorite colors.



If this is Pre-Fall, I have high hopes for the rest of the season.