February, thus far, has been a pretty craptastic month.  My husband got his hours cut at work, our car broke down (which resulted in us renting the stinkiest rental known to man!) and my hormones are making me cry at anything.  I have had 3 food related meltdowns in the past week–I cried on Saturday night because I didn’t know what to eat and when I say cried, I mean like hysterical swollen face cry. (it’s pretty funny in hindsight, but my poor husband just looked scared!)

The future is looking brighter already; I have a long weekend ahead of me, one of my bestie’s and her husband and are going to be in town and we are one day closer to spring!  Can you feel it?

I decided to just post a cute outfit that Iwould like to be wearing today.  (I have wanted the shoes for months, but because my lovely friend and co-worker Renee already owns them–I refuse to be a copy-cat.)

I have a story that is just too good not to tell.  I mean most of you already know that I am prone to ridiculous circumstances, right?  I mean it is like bizarro scenarios just follow me around and wait for me to walk right into them.  So I was back home in Ohio this last weekend visiting with the fam and my step-son, Milo.  I begged my sister to go shopping with me because she has an eagle eye for deals and things that will fit me perfectly.  We did some second-hand shopping and some maternity shopping looking for things to fit my in-between body. ( I found maternity tights for $8!!)

We sauntered over to the shoes because this particular store always has good vintage dead stock and quality stuff.  As we were walking down the isle, I began telling my sister how the last pair of shoes that I got there had actually started to disintegrate while I was at work–it was summer and kind of hot and I had these BEAUTIFUL navy blue and white spectator heels on.  I was just minding my own business sitting on a conference call when I uncrossed my leg to find half the shoe was stuck to my calf. ha!  Totally gross.  It was right about this time that I found a “brand new” pair of black, wedge spectators.  They were in perfect condition and ready to be mine!  So I swooped those little suckers up.

Let’s progress to Tuesday–The morning started with me battling my dress slacks and literally bending the metal clasps to make them fit.  Then snow, so I wore my mountain boots to work.  Finally I got to put on the new shoes and a new blouse and look mildly presentable.  It wasn’t until about noon that thte shoes started to feel a little uncomfortable.  I ignored it because I have a weird (oddly shaped) foot and shoes hurt a lot.  Then I noticed that I kicked my file cabinet shut and it left huge scuffs on the door.  hmmmm….  That’s weird.  I invetigated and sure enough the leather felt uneven and kind of rippled from kicking (it was more like lightly pushing the cabinet shut).  Next I am sitting in a meeting and look down to notice that my heel fell off the one shoe–mind you this is a wedge–how does that happen?  The final straw came an hour later when I looked down under my desk to realize half the sole of the other shoe had completely fallen off.  I looked around and realized there was shoe debris all over my entire cube area.  How embarrassing!

I had actually thrown the shoes in the garbage when my friend Jess mentioned that I should do a post about it.  Sadly I have no before pictures because I didn’t honestly think this would happen to me once let alone twice!!  My sister said I jinxed myself by mentioning it while we were shopping–I think that particular shop may just store mass products in hot storage allowing lovely vintage to dry rot while maintaining it’s adorable exterior.  Any theories?

The pics are from my iPhone, but should give a pretty good indication of  the damage.  I actually cleaned up the floor before this photo, so the remains are just a fraction of the destruction.

I know that you have all been dying to know how I am (kidding), but I am finally beginning to kick this cold–two weeks later–and I am returning to the world of the living.  I even managed to peel myself of the sofa on Monday (three day weekends are the best thing, EVER!) and attempt a shopping trip.  Feeling sicky has actually helped me to save money and conserve a bit, I have hardly done any shopping for myself in the past two months, but the Christmas gift cards were finally burning a hole in my pocket.

I set out to purchase a new winter coat to accommodate my swelling waistline–to no avail.  I think I waited to long, but in reality I hadn’t even thought about it–that is until the inside liner of my coat completely ripped last week because my body was taking up more space than the coat was willing to give.  ha!

Next thought was jeans–I don’t need maternity jeans right now, but maybe just a larger size?  Yes, well I am 5’2 and if you start to buy too large and your legs don’t fill the other space you start looking like a really bad 90′s hip-hop video, so I aborted that search as well.

Onto the shoes–shoes always fit, right?  Well now the question was “What do I NEED?”  The answer was very obvious that I NEED comfy shoes to commute in and to wear on the weekends.  Blah–who wants to spend money on that?  I explained to my husband who has been sending me links to comfy shoes and trying his hardest to convert me, that “I’m just not that kinda girl”.  I said it felt like I needed to wear a juicy couture jumpsuit with the comfy shoes–they weren’t my vibe.  I also had to tell him this horrible story from my first year in NYC (apologies for my digression).  I used to walk to my first job in New York, it was about 1.5 miles from my house and I was on a HORRIBLY tight budget, so it helped save money.  I originally tried to make the walk in my cute shoes–bad choice, then i switched it up to my converse hi-tops and they gave me blisters on the bottom of my feet!  Then my dad purchased me a pair of very white Reebok’s to walk in.  They were hideous, but they were like walking on pillows of air.  I could make the walk in no-time and completely pain free.  The only downside to these new found pillows of air was that they looked ridiculous and I had to walk through the East Village to get home.  I felt moderately dorky, but because I had very few friends it didn’t matter at the time–that is until walking home one day in my 9-5 clothes and my white Reebok’s I was spotted by an old friend I hadn’t seen in ages and asked to join them in a pub for a drink.  The group looked effortlessly cool and I looked like Ugly Betty.  I swore never again would I be caught looking “that” comfortable.

Fast forward “some” years and now I try to balance cute and comfortable–I wear kitty heels and flat boots and I can get away with wearing mountain boots on my winter commute (gotta love Chicago!).  If I need to wear comfy shoes I usually opt for my saddle shoes or Jack Purcell’s.  But the times they are a changing and to be frank, my feet hurt!  After lots of painful thinking I decided to get two new pairs of shoes and both needed to fall in the “I can totally wear these all day” category.  Please see my choices below and try not to point and laugh.  The Pumas were the least offensive running-type shoe that I could find and I have been looking for about 8 months and the Born shoes are totally the cute t-strap that I love, but they are filled with pockets of foot love on the inside.  They are like grandma orthopedic shoes, disguised as casual chic.

Thoughts?  Did I do good or I am on a slippery slope to mom shoes and leaving the house in gym clothes?

Now I know that almost any lady who loves fashion, yearns for a pair of Christian Louboutin pumps.  They are certainly gorgeous, of amazing quality and I’ll be damned if that red sole is not alluring.  But for those of us in the middle class, real world they really aren’t an option. I suppose I could avoid paying my student loans for a month or avoid all trips to target for 6 months in order to save up, but really?  I just don’t think that level of fashion is necessary for my life (another reason I love Chicago!).

But, there seems to be another Christian rolling into the shoe industry this past year that is a little more up my alley, that’s right Christian Siriano from Project Runway.  I got my hands on a pair of his Holiday 2009 pumps from Payless and I am so excited.  They are beautiful and very well made.  They are actually a little more “rocker” than I would normally go for, but something about these girls was just calling my name.  I am pairing them with a Art Deco inspired shift dress for my Holiday party for work, tonight.  We’ll see how long they stay on before I start cutting a rug.

*Side note: I think these are sold out now, but I am sure you can still get them on ebay.

I  seem to alternate my favor between t-straps and mary janes.  I love them both, but based on trends sometimes it is hard to find one or the other.  I can tell you that I have been wearing my current t-straps  since 8th grade and before that they were my grandmothers.  I haven’t even had to re-sole them–now that is quality!

I am having a bit of an issue with heels lately–anything above a 1.5-2.0 inch is really pushing it.  I am not even exaggerating when I say that I get pains in my back.  Maybe I am defective or a wimp or quite possibly both, but I just don’t see the need to reel in pain to look cute.  I would like to blame this on getting old, but frankly I know plenty of women in their 50′s that still rock heels everyday.  I will stick with being defective and continue on my hunt for cute kitty heels.

I actually bought the shoes below in the black/burgundy combination a few weeks ago only to bring them home and realize I grabbed a 6 and not a 6.5 and I am always a 6.5 with Target shoes.  Bugger!  So I took them back and they were sold out.  I should really buy them online, but have not made the concerted effort to do so.  Now they only had the black/burgundy in stores, but the other two colors are pretty stinkin’ lovely as well.

*Target doesn’t allow me to link directly to the item, so I am offering up the t-strap search page.

So I am sure that I have mentioned this before, but my sister and her husband used to own the most amazing vintage boutique called the Rockin’ Rose.  I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful the inside of this store was–it was any retro gals dream.  I personally enjoyed being able to shop and then barter (oh the joys of family!) The shop was located in Toledo, OH (my hometown) and in case you don’t know where that is…it is basically 45 mins from Detroit.  That being said…a major portion of the Toledo economy is dependant on making cars and car parts and the the recession hit Toledo pretty hard. Even when people couldn’t spend money, the Rockin’ Rose still had a regular stream of people who would pop in and admire the shop and hang out with my brother-in-law…it was just that cool.  But, indeed, the shop had to close last year.

The sadness could not last forever and it seems the old bro has emerged from mourning and decided to start an ebay store to continue to sell their amazing inventory.  The ebay shop is still in its infancy, so right now it is just the new goods that they offered, but vintage stuff is coming soon. I will be watching the shop like a hawk to highlight my top picks for you all.  In the meantime I thought I could interest you in some fun little rockabilly shoes by T.U.K.  in the Rockin’ Rose store. Oh and did I mention that the shoes are all under $30? You can’t beat it!

Yesterday was a bit of a rough day for me.  It was one of those days where you question if you can manage walking without injuring yourself.  It started with my obvious “running late” scenario, next came the “sitting in something wet on the bus” action and then the third issue was somewhat peculiar…  I had new pair of gorgeous vintage wing tip heels on–I purchased them second hand, but they appeared to be dead stock as they had never been worn.  They were so cute!  (yes, I am using the past tense.)  I was sitting on a conference call with my legs crossed under the table and as I shifted to change my position, half the shoe came off on my leg! Seriously?  This has happened to me before with older shoes, but not usually on the first day of wearing them.  The shoes actually turned into a gum-like material.  Totally gross.  I was forced to put on my sandals, which didn’t really fit the whole vibe.  (This was all before 10:30 am)  As all of this was occurring, my lovely (and amazingly gorgeous) friend Mandy sent me a link to Overstock.com to view a couch that she thought I would enjoy.

I have purchased items on Overstock in the past, but I can’t say I use it as a regular resource–no reason for that, I think I just forgot how comprehensive the site is.  (I am even following them on twitter because the person that posts for them is pretty fun.)  I am getting off topic now, my apologies.  As I was looking at the couch I thought of a few other searches I would like to experiment with on the site and this lead me to be glued to the site from 7:30-9:30 pm last night. I am amazed at all the goodies I found.  I know that the stock is constantly revolving, but they seem to carry a pretty constant inventory of a few of my favorite brands including Faryl Robin and Frye.

I was in a wing tip/spectator mode when shopping last night–I thought it was the respectful thing to do, to mourn the poor shoes that ended up in my work bin yesterday.  Here’s to affordable, well-made shoes.  Five Under Fifty: