Breaking up is hard to do

How do you know when it's time to give up a pair of shoes?

I am a notorious saver.  Not a pack-rat or hoarder but I don't willfully give stuff up.  I'm acquisitive.  If I liked something, it's going to take a lot for me to send it away, especially shoes.

But when you look down at your feet and say "I don't think you look good anymore", it's time for them to go. Maybe they are beat up beyond repair or damaged or, in the case of these Nine West camel heels, they just don't look "right" anymore.

When I break it down, I think it's mainly how high up on my foot the vamp goes and the length of the toe box.

They just look out of date.

I like the heel but, it's time to go I think.

Now I'm going to have to find a new pair of camel heels.  Crud!

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
Not that this is a good admission, but sometimes when I get downtime in meetings I like to plan outfit options. Since this "down time" happens fairly regularly I have a whole bunch of outfit options planned out on paper. This isn't that innovative but it was on the list, mainly because I haven't worn this skirt or these shoes in a while.



I love this skirt. It is a faux bois or wood print skirt from Mizrahi for Target. This was when Isaac was designing quirky whimsical items that were not priced way over all the other stuff in the store. This and the big peony skirt are two of my favorites.

I paired this with a royal purple cardigan as a top. I like pairing these two colors together. They just seem to contrast well.



The accessories I wore one of my new Moo Stickers (just for fun) and this wood bead bracelet from Target. You can barely see it but I'm wearing this really dark plum nail polish which said it was black. I think it may be a bit too dark but I'm testing it out.



The heels I'm wearing are ones that I have not worn in ages. About 8 or so years ago I was searching high and low for a pair of camel heel. Finally I found a pair I liked at Nine West and had to then search all over for my size. I was happy they were Nine West since that brand fits me so well.



They may be a little pointy but I've certainly worn the heck out of them.





Well worth their very reasonable price.

Yesterday's outfit was okay. I had a whole thing planned which focused around a pencil skirt I just got from Old Navy. But when I went to unzip it to put it on the zipper completely came apart. The teeth split and then the whole thing came un-sewn from the fabric! What the heck?!? So I have to take that back now. But since my whole outfit plan fell apart I just grabbed some stuff from the closet - a simple khaki linen skirt and a khaki-toned knit top.

I wanted to wear a darker top to play up the stripe-y stockings I was wearing. I had paired these with my new Manolos from my New York trip that I'm finally wearing.





Cute, huh? I will be wearing these a lot this fall. Maybe even mix it up with some bright tights.

Oooh! I just remembered this skirt these would go great with, especially if I find some lavender tights. Need to put those on my shopping list.

Parties, Patterns and Pyramids

Tonight we went to a housewarming party for dear friends of ours, one of whom is an amazing artist (check out her stuff!)

We brought one of our traditional gifts - Bread, Salt and Wine - which is taken from this scene in It's A Wonderful Life.

It's always great to get together with our friends especially when we meet new people that they bring to the mix. There is always great food, a few drinks and tons of dogs running around.

And then sometimes it turns into a human pyramid... not sure how that happened but I was in the middle.

This photo is by redwazzo to protect the somewhat innocent, including me.

I wore a grey fitted tee from Gap, a camel and grey floral patterned skirt, my Tiby Daisy flats and a new carved hairclip I got at the wedding I went to last weekend.

Now I'm home and tired and full up from all the yummy treats! Thanks to the host and hostess with the most-ess!

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
A while back I stated how adorable I thought these Suley heels were from Manolo Blahnik. In person they are even more sweet.

I wore this on Tuesday and I kept it pretty neutral on the outfit. A khaki linen circle skirt and a v-neck 3/4 sleeve white top, both from Tar-get.



For jewelry I wore this two-tone vintage bangle in pink and green and a shiny pink diamond ring. It's starting to get very warm around here but in my office it's freezing. I actually had to put on the jacket that I keep in the office. Brrr!



The Focal Point
The shoesies, of course! The color combo is delicious but I love all the interesting details - the scalloping, the buckles and straps on the front and back, the pink stitching and edging. Here are tons of pictures for ya!

















Isn't it kind of funky how they look when viewed from the top?

All images enlarge huge!

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
More red and more shoes I haven't worn in a while.
I'm wearing one of my silky patterned skirts from Target with w black v-neck from Ann Taylor.



The skirt has a good amount of taupe/camel in the pattern so I wore my acrylic and pearl bracelet from Etsy with a really big and long bubblegum necklace.



The Focal Point
I haven't worn these slingbacks in a long while. They're from Jimmy Choo and I bought them ages and ages ago. They have one of my favorite shapes.



One of my favorite parts are the separate thin red straps coming off the front. Plus the flower reminds me of poppies. And is this a great color combo?







I remember getting these and then seeing a total knock-off done by Colin Stuart (another notorious knock-off artist). That just drives me crazy! Especially when it is poorly done. I still wonder how they can get away with it.

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
Yes, I'm wearing layers and dark brown tights and warm stuff because it's cold and wet and rainy. I'd rather be wearing my Bettye Muller Coast sunny, pretty, floral-y slingbacks.

But no, it's raining again today and it's predicted to rain into next week. Yuck!

But we need the rain, so no complaining I guess. I'm wearing a dark brown cardigan, burgundy camisole and navy pencil skirt, all from Target. Some dark brown tights and my copper bubble necklace from Etsy.



The necklace also has these lovely faceted garnets on either side of the pendant.



The Focal Point
Being warm in my brown tights as well as tonal wearing my dark brown suede Casadei pom-pom mary jane heels.



The pom-poms are made of suede too and are in dark brown and a deep brick red.



Because of my arch I had to do a little shoe surgery on these - I ended up cutting the straps and then re-sewing them together so they didn't press as hard on the top of my foot. Now they are totally comfortable.



Sometimes you have to do a bit of cobbling to get your pieces to adapt to you. Not the other way around.

Imitation = Flattery?

In spite of them being obviously ridiculous and only for a runway show, you had to know that a shoe as recognizable as these platforms from the Dior 2007 ready-to-wear show would be knocked off sooner or later.

Well, Zinc, with their Josie platform heel, have tried their best. And I'm not saying it's a bad copy, but do you think the demand is there?

The color is pretty but do you think it's too clunky for all the light dresses and bright colors we have coming out for Spring?

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
Today is a rare day. I actually wanted to wear a pair of pants. And then did! I'm not a huge pants-wearer. I don't even own that many pairs. This is one of the few pairs I own. They are a pair of cropped plaid pants that are somewhat business dressy. I like the look of cropped pants with boots, so to keep the neutral color scheme going I pulled my tan boots out of the bottom of the stack in the closet and paired it with my JCrew crest sweater.



These crest details that JCrew uses on their clothes and accessories are my weakness. I just adore them. How cute is this lion rampant?



Also loving the orange! I paired a JCrew equestrian patterned headband in orange to tie back to the orange in the crest.



The Focal Point
I've decided that it's all eyes on my boots today. They are a nice neutral camel color and have a great heel, shape and height. They're so versatile too. I wear them with pants, jeans and skirts. But the material (a faux leather) lets them be sturdy enough for rainy weather, which we are getting some today.



I like the pants but I'm eager to get back in to a skirt. And more color.