Sunday, June 30, 2013

My souvenir from Hamburg

I'll give a recap of our Hamburg trip soon (probably on the family blog), but I wanted to do a separate, quick post about my big purchase from there.

I ventured out on a subway adventure to another part of town I had seen on the taxi ride to the hotel, and it turned out it had some great boutiques and home goods stores. After buying a couple of mugs at one place, I walked into a store called House of Fitz, took one look at these beautiful jewelry boxes in various colors along the wall, and knew I had to have one.

I've had the need for a jewelry box for a long time, this is my old one, which I think I got sometime in the mid-90's:





But it's one of those things that no one ever sees to judge, is expensive to replace (if you're going to bother going nice) and tricky to choose. So I had put it at the back of my mind for the last few years, until I walked into that boutique. I knew I wanted to buy something nice and something useful to remember the trip, so I was so happy to find these boxes, it's the perfect souvenir.

After a tough deliberation, I picked the middle size in Tiffany Blue, and its lovely.





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Thursday, June 6, 2013

My Toms Addiction

After receiving pair #8 and ordering myself #9, I finally accepted that I had a problem ...

  
When it comes to shoes, I'm totally into comfort, but I need the height for life, since I'm too short to get away with flats most of the time.  I am a huge fan of the classics for comfort and casual events, but the wedges have changed my life.


 Let me introduce you to my first 7: 

Top Left: my first pair, #1 the navy basics, purchased Aug. 2011 and well-loved.  The deterioration of these and the next pair gave me the justification I needed to buy #9. 

Top Center: My red "Stanford" #2 Toms, as in, the pair that I used to wear to games.  Purchased Fall 2011. As with #1, they are getting pretty ratty and are now good for walking the dog and other causal outings. 

Top Right:  #3 My work flats; purchased spring 2012, super comfortable and relatively stylish basic flats. They're in pretty good shape because I really don't wear them much. 
[Note: I think they changed the textile for these flats, but they look the same]

Middle Left: #4, my first pair of wedges. These changed my life, but they haven't held up well.  Grey turned out to be a color that I wore a lot.   I should really stop wearing them to work, but I probably won't.

Middle Reds: I think these are actually #6, I purchased the brown sparkly before the red.  These were purchased specifically for the Stanford Rose Bowl Game in Nov/Dec 2012 but have come in handy since. 

Middle Brown: Aww yes, #5, these are the ones that I constantly get compliments for. I think I bought these in the fall of 2012.  They were great for the holiday season.

Middle Right:  #7, my formerly newest pair, purchased March 2013. I needed a basic sandal, and these work. These are a less comfortable style than the other wedge, but I'm getting better at walking in them. 

Now, for my two newest: 
My precious


These lucky #8s were actually a surprise - I purchased them for my mom for Mother's Day because I couldn't justify buying them for myself, because aren't they so cute?! I just love these, very fun.  They're actually a design derivation of my #2s.  Anyway, after an old cute pair of sandals died, of which my mom had the same pair, she had these delivered so that we could continue to be twinsies.  And I'm really looking forward to wearing them with jeans in the fall in Philadelphia. 

Curtis thinks these are "hipster." This makes me sad.
Finally, #9, my first pair of the classic version with a print.  I really wanted a cute pair that I could wear that don't look like they're falling apart.  What's great about these is the fact that they conceivably match everything. 

I have a lunch outing with the female lawyers tomorrow in Fairhope and choosing between #8 & #9 is going to be agony.
UPDATE: Since we're in for some rain today I went with the #7s and brought my Rainbows to change into if necessary.

And here's what I want next! (because it doesn't end here of course) 



A few purchasing notes: 
Since my first pair, I've purchased all of my Toms online.  They are NEVER on sale. Nordstrom and Toms generally have the same prices, and you should be able to get shipping free.  Don't be surprised if you see a pair that you like and they're sold out a week later. 
Pay attention to reviews regarding fit, comfort, etc., they will not lead you astray.