Saturday, January 24, 2009

the most comfortable heels i've ever owned





i was originally attracted to the copper snake viviana by mossimo for target because of the color and unique mottling plus i am a huge fan of texture even if the snake skin is fake. i prefer more of a pointed toe stilletto heel in the 3 1/2 to 4 inch range generally but the overall look of the shoe won me over(these are only 2.25"). so, when they went down to 75% off clearance and were only $6.74, i just had to pick them up. what a great purchase. i wore them out for my girls night out the following night. they were just as comfortable as wearing flats. i wear heels a lot especially at night. so, i am quite used to heels, but even i can feel a bit of pain especially after a good deal of dancing since i already am on my feet all day long waitressing. you can see in the left picture above that they are well padded and i think this makes all the difference. i was so impressed that after wearing them i had to make it back to target to get the gray patent version of the viviana which were also on sale.




so, now i am dying for the black vivianas to go on sale as well and plan to be grabbing them too. i highly recommend these shoes which are still available online http://www.target.com/gp/search/ref=sr_ln_3/187-7891649-6828843?ie=UTF8&index=target&field-browse=1239516011&rh=k%3Aviviana&field-keywords=viviana although they are not yet discounted as much online but still well worth even at a higher price.

i think i may have a theme which eventually may become a separate blog

so, as i'm new to this blogging thing, i thought i might do a little research by reviewing other blogs to get a sense of how people normally do this. i decided my previous blog would be about shoes as they were weighing on my mind. so, i decided to look up shoe blogs assuming with as many women and many gay men that i know that love shoes there would be a breadth of examples that would pop up. much to my chagrin, not only did there seem to be very few, but they all seemed to focus on designer shoes well out of the price range that neither nor most of america could afford. don't get me wrong. i adore oogling some fendi shoes or manolo blahniks, but i doubt they will ever find their way into my closet. i love shopping, but i am in the end a bargain shopper. and, i take great joy in telling my friends about the great bargains i find not just as a way of bragging about what a steal i've gotten, but also to help them get their hands on deals too. for now, i think my bargain discussions will just be one of the many subjects on my blog; but eventually it may become its own separate blog.

so many shoes, so little money

i know yesterday's blog was very deep and emotional. i was supposed to be working on creating my resolutions to improve myself and my current position in life. not only did i have the best of intentions but i am still planning on working on those later tonight. but, today being saturday, i just had to check out my wish list on saturday to see what is any of the shoes on my wish list had been slashed further on clearance. this truly has become part of my weekly ritual as i have found reductions occur on either saturday or sunday. i have become quite taken well some might say obsessed with shoes over the last year. those who know me know that i am always on the look for a deal. additionally, i am like many people in this economy in a cash crunch and am forced to shoe shall i say cheap. target has become one of my go to stores for shoes, because they have some cute shoes. so, i practice patience and wait and watch as they go from full price to 30% off to 50% off then 75 or 80% off. sadly, i made about half of what i normally do the last two days making it hard to justify buying shoes. so, of course when i look today several of the shoes i desperately desire are now 75% off.
the first shoe i am looking at is merona's red miah. target labels it as red but i would say it is more of a metallic burgundy a color i currently do not have in my shoe wardrobe. the heel is only 1.75" which is tiny for a heel especially for me a woman of a mere 5'4". to me, the buckle and baby heel make it quite work appropriate despite the peep toe if only i had an office job not a job waitressing where i am sadly required to wear slip resistant flat lace up shoes(yes it actually says that in our handbook). but, at $5.74 how can i say no.
my next shoe that is tugging at my heart strings is xhilaration sharon. i am undecided between the gold or wine(which is the metallic with the purple undertone). i am in love with the double straps and the exotic snake skin texture. all of xhilaration's fall/winter line gold shoes have this antiqued look which i think makes them look classier and less tacky than a lot of the gold shoes that also start out in the $30 range at stores. and, the marbling on all the metallics makes them more interesting to me. even though i prefer stiletto heels over these thicker more 40s inspired heels for going out, i could still see wearing these shoes out for my weekly night out with my girls most of which are boys of the variety that like other boys. i had originally been in love with the purple metallic which almost immediately sold out in my side and am leaning towards the gold. both pair are also a steal though at $5.74.

sigerson morrison are shoe designers who i am a huge fan of even before the line at target this past fall. i have to admit i am a sucker for any of the designer duds i can get thru target's design for all program at prices anyone can afford especially when they hit the clearance racks. three of the designs that were part of sigerson morrison's target collection caught my eye and all of them are now on sale.











the lustra d'orsay pump in black/pink caught my eye online so much so that i even tried it on at the store. now, it does annoy me a bit the it is titled on the site as a d'orsay pump despite it being open on both sides instead of just having a cutout on only one side. i was amazed this summer when i got my first pair of d'orsay shoes at how sexy cutout is when revealing the arch of the foot. somehow by having both sides open though when i tried it on, this shoe seems to take away from that effect where all but the top and one side of the arch is shown. the picture doesn't seem to do justice to the whimsy of the pink lightening bolt applique on the back of the shoe and piping which is done in a fuschia snakeskin. all of these shoes are suede though meaning they are only fall/winter appropriate. the lustra are currently $8.74.
the divya with nailhead dots in various shades of one color(i have pictured purple and gold.) look like perfect party shoes. usually, i would go for the gold as the more practical of the shoes, however this season has drawn me to purple as it seems to be the color of this past fall season. both are marked down to $9.24.






i must admit that from high school until last summer with the exception of athletic shoes and sandals, i had not purchased flats. thanks to stacy london's urging to contributors to try flats despite almost always being featured on camera in heels, i decided to try flats again. i bought a pair of zebra print ballet flats and was hooked for daytime errand running and even occassionally casual nights with friends. they felt like wearing slippers. while not all flats are so comfy, they are a nice break from heels and often more appropriate for casual wear.
the vallie flat in claret(a metallic purple snake skin) and purple patent seem to be calling my name to add to my flat collection. the piping looks almost like the threads of a zipper one of the shoe details i am really into right now. $6.24 makes them quite the bargain.

for truly casual wear, i am looking at converse all stars metallic slip on dance shoe. with the rubber sole, these could never be worn to an office like most flats, however when i tried them on they were so cute and comfy i wanted to buy them even at full price. at $7.49, they seem to be more in my price range.

so, this is my first attempt at blogging about one current obsessions, shoes. i regret i did not go into as much detail about the shoes as i would like but learning how to format and add pics to the blog has taken up way to much of my time. now, i must head off to have dinner and having figured all the basics out hope the next one will be an improvement. please feel free to comment as it may help in making the difficult decisions of what shoes i can have now and which i have to say i am waiting for another daying anxiously holding my breath hoping they do not sell out.



Friday, January 23, 2009

my first real blog

Well, I guess I should begin by explaining why the name of my blog is one day at a time and why I feel that is so important to me at this time. I am a recovering alcoholic. My sobriety date is June 25th, 2003. My blog name is rebos2003 because that is sober spelled backwards something used frequently in the program for clubhouses to maintain annonymity. My sobriety is something that i now consider an integral part of who i am. One day at a time is one of the phrases they teach in the program as a way of approaching life. I have to admit that I have not been working a program at all in a long time. This week, it has really been haunting me. After Charles, my closest friend in rehab, passed away, i went to one aa meeting and it felt so uncomfortable being there without him. so, i just stopped going. it was wrong. i know. once i got out of the habit, i just couldn't seem to get back into it.

recently the urges to drink have been coming to me more frequently. the stress of this week seems to have gotten to me. work has been slow, and i haven't been making money the way i normally did. now, they are cutting my hours at work. being a waitress, the more hours i work the more time i have on the floor to make money. the other night while i was coming home, the car stalled out turning into my street. its working again, but i fear this means the transmission is going. the cost of a new transmission will most likely outweigh the worth of the car meaning we need to start saving in the case that we have to get a new car. i do not have enough money in my savings to cover a reasonable down payment for a car, and dan has no savings. the washing machine has been acting up this last week. not once but twice, it has stopped while watching dan's clothes and wouldn't turn back on for a few hours. when i turn it back on and it works, there is a burning smell. at first, i assumed it was just frozen water in the line and heated up. but, the second time it wouldn't work was yesterday when it was in the 40s. finally at work, it all caught up with me and all i could think of was how much i wanted to drink. i couldn't stop crying trying to change as i just wanted to give up all the work i put into getting sober and just go back to the oblivion of being drunk. i even started getting a bit of an anxiety attack with trouble breathing.

i realize that not going to meetings and working the steps is part of it. but i know i have taken away my most of my coping mechanisms that were dangerous to me such as drinking, burning, etc and haven't really replaced them. now instead of dealing with my emotions i still practice other poor coping mechanisms such as eating "comfort" foods, sleeping, and shopping and have added a new one in wasting time on the net doing silly things such as working on my lil green patch on facebook or creating wish lists on target and ebay. this would explain why instead of me getting my life back into "order" since getting sober, i seem to be spiralling lower and lower.

so, i have decided i need to make some serious life changes. this blog is one of them as i feel it can be a journal which is something the program and therapy were big on(a problem shared is halfed). and truly working on living life one day at a time is another one. this doesn't mean not planning for the future but not freaking out when i am unable to control the way things go. i think my next blog will be my new years resolutions-maybe a little late although right in time for the chinese new year on the 26th and maybe luckier for me since the only new years resolution i've kept heretofor was made on january 15th.

25 random things about me

I posted this on facebook and thought it might be a good start.
1.i love snakes and even had a pet one that an ex got for me and kept after the breakup only because i felt i couldn't keep her with my curious cats.

2. i can't do roller coasters. they make me sooooooo sick. i know i'm a baby.

3. i hate that i've lost touch with so many of my friends from my childhood and college.

4. i've been a vegetarian for 11 years now and it was the only new years resolution i have ever kept.

5. i almost always have a book stashed at my bedside to read.

6. i have a problem with obsessions and my current obsession is shoes a problem that the ease of ebay is not helping.

7. of all the jobs i've ever had and there have been a few, the only one i can remember not having a day i didn't wish i wasn't there was when i was a bartender. it wasn't just because of the social aspect which makes sense but also cause i loved making drinks.

8.of the 2 cats i have now (belle and kitty), i do very much have a favorite; belle. guess i'm a bad mommy.

9. i definitely want to be a mom some day.

10. i did stand up comedy for a while and some times wish i hadn't quit.

11. i love my middle name, autumn, so i always sign everything with my full name.

12. i'm a recovering alcoholic and have been sober now for over 5 and 1/2 years.

13. i always wanted to be a writer.

14. i'm still not entirely sure what i want to be when i grow up. recently, i've been thinking about photography. before that, i thought about working in a rehab facility.

15. my favorite beverage is a slurpee and my fave flavors are orange creamsicle and coke. and it is truly my comfort beverage. when i am sad, it seems to help. and when i am happy, i am even happier.

16. i've never lived outside the state of virginia

17.i've had my hair almost every semi natural color there is from platinum blonde to auburn to jet black and many in between.

18. i have an eerie connection to the water. the rain makes me happy. spending time on or at the water calms me.

19. i still think coloring is fun.

20. i know how to knit, cross stitch, and sew.

21. my first celebrity crush was ricky schroeder on silver spoons.

22. i love my dvr and can't stand watching live tv now.

23. latin was my favorite class in high school.

24. i'm bipolar and have spent time in the crazy house for it.

25. you can see my house on google maps. i checked. 117 ashby st. its there. what kind of dork am i.