Aimless Rambling

I actually opened this blogging window with one idea for a post, but as it opened, it just *puff* went up into smoke. Has that ever happened to you? Please say yes, so I don't feel like such a weirdo. Well, you won't actually say anything to me (which I appreciate) because - truth to be told - when someone I don't know comments my posts, it usually makes me panic at first. Weird, right? Yeah, let's state the obvious - the OTHER obvious, not that one -: I actually relate to this blog as a sort of "more public" journal, and so - even if I know that it has a moderate reading audience (mostly penpals of mine, to whom I already tell just about everything about my life), I feel safe in here. It's a contradiction, I know: I like to share, but I don't like to be seen.

One thing I've been trying to implement more often is to record those "great ideas" - which are more often than not a linking of ideas in my case - before they go missing from my head. This is how I've managed to record on my phone a grand total of ONE note about a topic for a potential blogpost. How comes that's where I stand on this front? I've opted to record instead of writing it down, because when these ideas come to me, I'm usually unable to write because a) I'm doing some exercise, b) I'm driving, c) I'm on the street and can't just break my notebook, a pen and write the idea down. My phone is supposed to be at hand, but still... only one idea recorded so far.

Source: Woman

Anyway, checking my newspaper mail in the morning, along with my trusty cup of freshly brewed and French pressed Pike Place coffee (two scoops of coffee per cup, no sugar, no cream, no milk), I found in Le Figaro's (Le Monde stopped sending free news mail, so there you go, my fancophone nourisment comes from Le Figaro) daily an article about the rising importance of shoes in fashion. Now, I must have fallen through a timeloop, because as far as I know, shoes have always been the unquestionable queens of fashion. I mean, has Carrie Bradshaw's legacy been so easily forgotten? My money is on "no". I'm not a big shoe collector... or any kind of shoe collector at all, to be honest. And yes, there has been a raise in the importance of bags, specially if we turn our attention to creations such as Nicole Lee, Prada, Louis Vuiton and Kate Spade (whose early departure will always be sorely missed). But have bags ever deplaced shoes from their glorified stand?

According to the article, though the accesory industry is experimenting a contraction, shoes are reigning supreme and rising, dethroning the bags and claiming their place as the center of fashion and the pièce de résistance of fashion. A lady's daily dressing routine is described as chosing the shoes first and the rest around it, while the bag - the deposed queen - is relegated to oblivion, while said lady packs all her belongings into her pockets. At this point I need to stop because, how can anyone pack all their belongings DAILY in their pockets? I mean, sure, I can do that when I go out and all I need are my keys, my phone and my wallet, but on daily basis? Nope, that doesn't work for me.

Anyway, aside from the deplacement of the bags, the article also notices the change in the trend of shoes, with a new goal towards comfort. More sneakers - though those for the Millenials - and comfortable heels. Ok, I must admit that I'm still hung on the bag thing, but the idea of the comfortable shoes coming into trend are something I like, though I'll wait to see if they really come through.

Source: Catawiki

You see, for a working person, sneakers can be as fashionable and trendy as you want (both words mean the same, in case you wonder, and yes, I did that on purpose), but still, office workers are relegated to their usual choice of shoes: ugly, flat, spade shaped, long nosed contraptions for men, and clicking heels or mocasines for women. I'm a bit of a rebel, with my black combats (neatly tucked under my legwarmers, pant legs or long skirts). That, or my trusty Vagabond boots, which I have already worn so much the leather seems to be getting discolored beyond my hability to repair it. My taste in shoes has probably been shaped in the 90's, when the idea of comfort was also important in shoes, though our general standing was picking fight boots, shoes that would take the beating while we carried on our revolutions. We preferred clunky boots to stiled shoes, something in which we could jump, run, march, climb. Something that would hold, that would get more precious with the aging, with the scraps and discoloring. It was also a type of comfort to have shoes that do not demand more attention from us that a puppy.

I don't follow much fashion (obviously), but I'm glad to see that every once in a while, comfort comes forth as an element that needs to be calculated into it. I remain skeptical, though, for I've seen many "comfy" options that are either impracticable for the working class, unattainable for the middle class or just called "comfy" while they remain incomfortable contraptions in which no sane human being could ever relax or feel at ease.

As for the bags - because, really, I can't let go of that topic - shoes could be climbing to the limelight and all that, BUT bags will always remain an eternal feature. Not only because they tend to be more visible than shoes, but because their function is undeniable and nearly irreplacable, but also because in a world populated by vloggers and curious people, videos about "what's in my bag" will sure keep drawing views, while... can you shoot that with a shoe? Sorry dear, we don't want to see you unpack your Stella Lunas.

Hot Spring

It couldn't wait another day, so today I hit the shoestore (Deichmann, if you must know) and bought a couple of shoes. Yes, a couple of shoes. I needed them, really. When I came from Costa Rica in April,. I brought only a couple of shoes with me - basically a pair of black pumps, my black wedge heel crocs (which I use for work constantly, not that I'm working now), my flat purple crocs shoes, and my black boots. There was no more space for any other shoes, though I still have lots and lots of them, bit these were all I could bring. I had another pair of black pumps and black boots here and my red home sleepers. These have proved okay until the warmth broke in, and my ankles and feet started to swell from the heat! My soles felt like burning every single day, and I dreaded going outside because none of my shoes could be used without socks! I do have a pair of pink flip-flops, but I also use them inside, and so we don't really want to bring the dirt from outside into the appartment. However something had to be done.

I must admit that I love seasonal shopping. Stores overflow with products and several good bargains can be found, since some stores try to steal away the customers of others, but also outrageous prices. I'm still not very versed in the shoeshop tricks of Hungary or Europe (as I am in Costa Rican shoe shops), but after some windowshopping and comparing prices (which I also did in Vienna now that we were there), I realized what everybody knows, that by walking just a little you can find pretty much the same shoes in a lower price. It's okay to check for bargains, because even the more expensive shoes can have flaws or defects, that could be reinforced in less expensive ones. For instance, the first thing I check on a shoe is the sole, because I have had problems with soles coming off, and I know how terrible that can be! And sadly, nobody really thinks about carrying a spare par of shoes just in case. The I check the inside of the shoe and the way the sole has been attached to the shoe. It's only after the shoe has passed these paramethers that I try them out.

During my checkings, I found in Deichmann these cherry printed sandals. I'm not big on sandals, but I really needed sandals specifically due to the heat, and somehow I couldn't get the cherry printed ones out of my head.The print resembles a lot the printing on the dress Marilyn Monroe used in one of the scenes of the movie Misfits. Perhaps it's because of that movie and because I like Marilyn Monroe very much, or because I love cherries, but the shoes stayed with me.

It got me thinking also about the way seasons influence even the way people select their clothes. It's not only the type of clothes, but even the printing and the colors. More and more people are out there not only in shorter clothes, but also lighter or wearing bright, Spring-like colors, and the girls in tiny, tight shorts with floral prints, or small mini skirts filled with whimsical little flowers all over are the statement of the fashion. It's like women take it to themselves to bloom along with Mother Nature.

Shoes in brilliant colors and floral prints also show around everywhere. A tiny black mini skirt with opaque black tighs and feet tipped in royal blue, lacquered pumps. Flowy black dress and nude colored pumps. Purple and yellow flats, or denim sandals printed richly with flowers, or linen raw colored wedge sandals with flower patterns formed with beads and rhinestones walk around tipping legs wrapped from the knee up in cargo pants or short jeans (not cutoff! Europeans don't really wear cut off jeans!). The heat is here and we are all whilting, but we all do it in style.

Day 2 Tripping on the "Next Button"

This could be considered one of those cases where something has clearly proven to be bad for you, yet you keep doing it. On a separate page, I let the search of the "Next Blog" yesterday at something trhat might be considered by my standards as readable. I say might, because the blog really looks awesome, but I don't know if it's due to the "Stay-home-Mom-blog" effect on me, which might have distorted my view and perhaps makes me see these things as better when they are not.

Thanks to Mozilla's attentions, this page remained with me today, thus given the loose conditions that reign upon us today, I spent some time clicking it to see what would appear now. It certainly never fails to amaze me how these so different blogs are supposed to be "the next one". Next in what sort of order or line? Who put them there and on which account are they the next? shall I be offended that I was placed next to the "Stay-at-home-Moms"? I'm certainly not in the same cathegory, Childfree, Freedom-fighter, opinionated, meat-eater me. Well, in this odd order of the cyberverse, after babies, embroidery and quilting came the artsy section, with blog after blog dedicated to pictures, photos, eisels and so on. It's nice, but it's not my crew. I'm a words-person, not only for writing them, but also for reading them, which is why I can't possible find a blog posting pictures only so amusing.

It's different than a museum, though admitedly, my behavior at the museums isn't either the most traditional. However blogs, picture-blogs are not like museums. Post after post with maybe a title and a picture. The thought "a picture worths 1000 words" came to my mind in sarcasm, and I couldn't stop myself from thinking how I would rather read those 1000 words than watch that monotonous sequence of "urban jungle" pictures.

One after the other, ropes of blogs with pictures and no words, monochromatic in their effort to be artistic, to present something mundane yet impressive, as if a particular grafitti, or a slum would yield them a prize for discovering the whatever on the whatever.

If that weren't enough, soon after them trailed the videobloggers. Really, what's with people? Why so adamant about the written word?

Yes, I'm Prose. I'm word without music, of long lines without danceable rhythm. I'm Prose, and thus perhaps I have no talent, no soul, no empathy towards other ways of expression, and perhaps this is why I don't get it, but as I click through the blogs, videos on top of videos scroll down and I wonder, what could these people have to say?

Ah, some prose. Tight line in tight columns, measuring up to elementary school notebooks, where people write so little and yet might look like a freaking lot. It becomes ironic how the diseconomy, the debauchered consuming people practices, the need to express in clothes, cars, jewelry and iPhones pulls out the strenght of communication from one of the most direct and elemental, primal ways of communication humanity has conquered.

I'm still clicking away, looking for those exceptional, juicy, delicious bloggers that ought to bet there, lurking in the shadows, sharing with the darkness of the cyberverse their snappy view of life.

Among the clicks I've found this lass from an Asian country, I believe, who mixes her personal life on her blog in masterful chunks. It's one of those "impossible not to love" type of personalities. In one of her posts she mentions she actually has only one pair of black pumps. Damned, I'm not much of a shoe-freak, or maybe I should say I'm not (though I'm a certified boot and red-shoe lover), but I have ... not a few black shoes. As a matter of fact, this Saturday I bought yet another pair, making a grand total of three standard issue, workplace proper black pumps (of a total of over 10 pairs of black shoes... not counting two pairs of black boots and one pair of black rubber boots). This kept me wondering about what other colors of pumps she may have.

The cyberverse is wide and diverse, but how much opportunity shall we give to a devious button like "Next Blog", that rag us through the seswers of hell, all to find those scarce pearls of Human Thinking? I guess this is not the end of my "Quest Into The Wild Next Blog Button", so I'll probably keep you posted, whether you like it or not.

Shoes and Shoe Matters

Though shoes are important in my life - maybe not as important as in the life of other, average women - I haven't gone shopping for shoes in quite a while. Besides, due to my new "be frugal" personal policy (it doesn't apply to coke and all the goody food I like to eat, like my greek wraps and hummus, sushi, my Italian food from Barbatos or the awesome burgers from doc brown), I have only bought shoes when there was a real-real need for them. This is how I bought black pumps a while ago to replace a pair that kicked its last walk (and I can't be left with only one pair for black shoes, mind you), a sandalish pair for black shoes (because the price was good and an extra pair of black, completing so three pairs always comes handy), then I bought my flats to replace my broken flats, and a pair of canvas flats so that I can wear flats when I'm not working, and thus abuse less my work flats. So, so far, the shoes I bought came as replacement of others I had but broke. Even with the "extra" pair, bough based on the good price, another pair of shoes broken got tossed into the waste basket.

In the recent month or so both my sneakers ripped. The brandless, a white and red one got the fake leather from the nose flaring up and flaking off, and my black nikes ripped next to the laces. I didn't mind much because I was using my flats now, but then things happened. 

On one side there's this building we will be moved to next month, and in it, we'll be at the 15th floor. Now, after hearing and reading about all the amazing and safe features of it, I decided that I won't get close to the elevators if I can avoid it, which will mean me using the stairs extensively. However, the stairs aren't either safe, so I need safe shoes to climb them. Safe and comfty, because we are talking about 15 floors here. So I needed sneakers, which meant that I had to buy sneakers. It was time for me to replace my old, ripped sneakers with new ones. Now, I was clear from the begining that my new sneakers should comply with three requirement: they had to be CHEAP because I would be using them a lot, so they would rip again soon, so I didn't want to spend too much on something that won't see 2011. They had to be black, so that they won't be too notoriou, and finally, they had to be very comfortable.

Add to the need of new sneakers, since the rainy season has started already, I decided that this time around, I wanted rubber boots. This is the other thing. Thing is that year after year my shoes get ruined, worn quite badly thanks to the rainy season. All my magic boots and half boots have slowly paraded to the garbage can, and those left had the soles quite thin and prone to leak in water. Basically all of my sandals did the last walk to the garbage can too, so I was left with just a pair of "school shoes" I bought last year, which have thick soles. However that wasn't going to be nearly enough, nor I wanted to abuse those shoes and end up runing them. I need all the flats I can get, and along with that one, I have only two pairs. So, this year it was time for me to buy rubber boots.

Decorative rubber boots have come into fashion among youngster two years now, and their price is quite high, their quality quite low. I wanted something durable and good, and hopefully not too expensive. This is how I turned to working rubber boots, known here as "Colibrí" (Spanish word for hummingbird). They come in black, yellow and white, as far as I've seen them, and are usually used by fishermen, farmers and factory workers. They are really strong and prevent water or any other kind of liquids to get to the feet. They are what I need for rain. I don't care about the way they look, since my only concern is to keep my feet dry. This was pretty much the last thing that bothered me in the rainy season.

You see, for the matter of getting your clothes soaked, I replaced pants with skirts and dresses, so that I can pull them a bit higher and keep them from getting wet. For the matter of the water and the wind, which rends most of umbrellas useless, I've got myself a big umbrella. Can still get a plastic cape, and probably will work on that option in the next weeks. However my umbrella is big enough to keep my bag dry, and now that I always use my leather backpack, that's even easier. The last thing was my feet and how to keep them dry. Well, now I have my rubber boots for that. Now, I'll carry them around, and when rain starts falling, I'll just change my shoes and problem solved!

Yesterday I've got both my new sneakers and my rubber boots, which made me really happy, and I covered all my requirements. Today I made space for them in my closet, and took the chance to throw away all the shoes I didn't need anymore. There were my old, ripped ones that had served me so far.  However, before stashing them into the garbage, I came up with an idea that might benefit other women as well.

If you have the mind of job that requires you to wear elegant or formal shoes, this meaning, of course, high heels, you probably suffer often of hurt feet. You know, you feel like the sole becomes too hard, or it's so thing you can feel the gravel on the street, or it simply doesn't cushion the impact from walking, leaving you with hurt soles you can't wait to rub a little, slip into comfty flip-flops or home slippers, maybe even lay down and put them up high. For this we often buy all kinds of inserts and insole cushions like those of Dr. Scholl (when and where available), and many of them don't work and only leave a trail of grey or yellow ground foam in your shoes. Truth is that many of this inserts or insoles we can buy do not do their job, but cost us money.

Today, when I was tossing my old shoes, I noticed that the insole of my brandless sneakers could be removed, I did so, and they were in perfect condition. I slipped them into one of those kill-my-feet shoes and tried them on. A bit tight, but they were awesome! So I quickly removed the insoles of my nikes, which were harder to remove, but still came out good and in one piece and slipped them into a pair of black pumps.

I've always dreamed about having work shoes that look professional and formal on the outside, but are like sneakers on the inside. I believe that's a dream most of us women share. I don't know if I made it, but the insoles I removed were much more sturdy and thick than those sold separately, and definitivelly don't look like the ones that fold and move all over becoming more a pain than a relief.

I will be telling your about the results on my shoe experiment, but so far, from the try I've put them through I can tell you this: amazing, better than most of the things in the market, and inexpensive.

We often keep things we don't need, and we often throw away things that we don't need anymore, but from which we can still pull a little profit, so the next time you are throwing out shoes, check them out, see what you can salvage, and reuse it. Insoles, particularly those inside sneakers are incredibly comfortable, so save them if they are in good shape, and reuse them in your other shoes. Work shoes are my recommendation, since you usually spend a lot of time in them, and the more comfortable they are, the better they feel.