Under the Arch

In the same night we found a doctorate of bats, Will and I also met a man we called "mysterious man" who was flitting about the bar, wearing a fabulous hat. We did eventually pin him down to ask about the hat and talked for a while about hats and Frank Sinatra. He invited us to another bar this week for karaoke. I love making new friends.

Some of the night is rather fuzzy, but I remember taking off my shoes several times, and I think I may have asked Will to hold them for me, poor man. On or off, they got many compliments. Here they are, on one of my favorite sites for shoes.

I met a volleyball player from New Jersey, with the accent and all. He was also an excellent dancer. He insisted that I MUST see New York, which then , of course turned into me giggling over Will and I living in New York ala "Will and Grace". This is the ridiculous stuff that pops into my head, people.

Anyway, a great time was had by all and I'm looking forward to many more nights dancing my ass off there.

Other things I've been up to...knitting. I'm in the middle of 3 projects, cuz it's next to impossible for me to just work on one at a time....a sleeveless shell, a hat, and arm warmers.

I watched last week's LOST on saturday (I know, I know, I was busy) and HELLO this season is screwed up! Ben kills Locke and makes it look like a suicide?! And then Locke comes back to life?! Then the other plane crashes on the island?! WHA?! Can't wait to see what happens next....

Every once in a while I get a wild hair to move furniture and completely rearrange my apartment. And since doing such makes everything worse before it gets better, my apartment is messier than normal, war zone comes to mind. ;) The vacuum has been running, the cat is traumatized, and my bed is now on the other side of the room. (The same place I put it when I moved into the apartment last summer.*rolling eyes*) Why do I do this? It's like I'm nesting or something, but I've done it countless times since childhood, like if I move this piece of furniture or maybe that one, the room will suddenly seem bigger or flow better. Or maybe I really am just trying to make room for my shoes. ;) Since you saw my kitchen a couple of weeks ago, and I spent all that time arranging and rearranging furniture today, and y'all are nosy, I thought I'd show you what my bedroom looks like.

From the doorway...

From sitting on the bed.....

Most of my heels.....

Flats hanging on the back of my closet door. (It's a teeny tiny closet, which is why I have a clothing rack for dresses and pants.)

I'm still not completely done, there are photos that have been sitting in a box that need to be hung on the wall and two more of those frames for my jewelry. (I'll tell you about those later.) Oh, and the other window needs curtains now that the bed isn't up against it. A few odds and ends though, and I can move on to the living room, I have this really neat idea for the coffee table, but I'm making myself finish cleaning up the mess I made before I do that. My life. Fascinating, isn't it? ;)

I had this post planned, but didn't have time to write it before going to work and then realized at 1am, that oops! I still hadn't written it. I have two things for you today. A really awesome site for shoe searching and a fashion poll.

First up, shopstyle.com

Oh my shopping god! How did I not know about this?! And if you knew, why didn't you tell me?!

EASIEST WAY TO SEARCH FOR SHOES ON THE INTERNETS EVAH!!!!!

go to the site. Go on. Well, wait I have to tell you about it first. WAIT!! Whew!! Ok. The above link will take you to the main page. Now, if you are a boot junkie like I am, hover over shoes and scroll down to boots. Now click. You now have 441 some odd pages of boots. But, lets say you have a budget and you can only spend $150 or less on your next fabulous pair. On the left side you'll see refine by and several options. Click on price. Now click on 0-$25, $25-$50, AND, $50-$150. Click ok. Now you should have about 205 pages. This site gives you all the best items from all your favorite places; piperlime, target, zappos, dillard's, nordstroms, and many , many more! If you hover over a shoe you like, it will give you some details from the outside source, sizes available, and get this! It will even allow you to set a sale alert. The site will send you an email when the price goes down!! I am in love. Another thing I really like is how it scrolls between pages, you don't have to click through pages, just hit the right arrow on your keyboard and it scrolls across. Once you set the search parameters, you don't have to leave the page until you find that perfect item. If you click on an item, it takes you the original site. I've only looked so far, not ready to buy yet, and I haven't looked at anything besides shoes, but it was enough. shopstyle.com sits very prominently in my bookmarks. Go check it out!!

Next! I have a question. I don't know if you remember when I said that I lost a ton of weight over the past year and a half or so. Well , I did. And now I'm left with all the pants that haven't fit since last fall. I kept them in the top of my closet, thinking that I would gain most of the weight back, but I haven't. It's stayed off for more than 8 months now and I need to decide what to do with all of them. Do I pack them away in the basement storage room just in case or do I give them away? Opinions? Take the poll in the left sidebar, please. Thank you !!
(In case you are curious, I have 12's, 13's, and 14's in the pile.)

Did a little online shopping tonight and I'm bringing you some of my favorites. Men's wear and vintage feel seem to influence what I'm seeing so far and I must say, I LIKE! I picked up these little lovelies at Payless last week, they look great with the shirt dress from last week's Naked Monday post. Green Mary Janes with a stacked heel. Makes me want to dance to big band music. :) LOVE them! I love clothing inspired by 40's and 50's style. Red lipstick, full skirts and tailored shoes.

American Eagle Latte Mary Janes

If heels scare the bejesus out of you, try these fun flats. I don't think you have to worry about horizontal stripes on your feet, do you?

One more from Payless, the Men's wear inspired ankle boots. I'm in love with the button detail.

Target has some great styles in too....

Xhilaration Sydney Mary Jane Pumps

I love these sweet turquoise pumps, which my neighborhood store was of course out of when I saw them. Well, they had 6's and 9's, but that doesn't do me any good. ;) If turquoise is a bit much for you, they come in a range of colors, including black and brown.

Mossimo Velda Patent Oxford Pumps (in Red!!)

One more, a pair of flats for you no heel wearing girls or guys, hell, what ever makes you happy.

Merona Micaela Moccasins

Cute, huh? Target and Payless are my go-to places for fashionable shoes that I can afford. I have a Carrie appetite on a Payless budget, which is how I've collected so many options in footwear. ;) So, which are your favorites? And what trend are you digging this fall?

Note: You can click on any of the pictures and it will take you to the site I found them on.

Mrs. Flinger has a weekly post on Mondays called Brutally Honest Monday where she asks for the honest opinions of her readers. Last week she was talking about BlogHer and she confessed that she had been offering to lick various bloggers that she loves, and she asked that we identify ourselves on our blogs in a way that makes the licking at BlogHer go much easier. (After all, we wouldn't want to just go up to a STRANGER and LICK them, would we?! Hee. Ok, enough wine and I'll be joining her, no lie.) So, I thought this would be a perfect Naked Monday for all the new readers, especially those who haven't commented yet and those who I will soon be meeting in person. You do it, too! So, without further adieu, here are some parts of me and a couple of things I will be carrying that will make me more recognizable at BlogHer!

My face...very important for the recognizing
This is without makeup and with dirty hair, so if you are staying in the hostel, this may help ;)

mah bewbs...hopefully this will be all you see of them, but Redneck Mommy is going and I can't promise anything ;)

Shoes are very important
These are for the parties

These are for being a tourist

These are comfy for the conference and the planes

This is my new laptop bag that I'll be schlepping around with me

These are my blog cards that I will be handing out, with my email and url

If you are going, too, help us visual girls out so we can find you at the conference, I want to meet everyone. And when you meet me I'll say, "Hi! I'm Bri from St. Louis, and I get Naked on my blog every Monday!"

39. Yes, that's a 3 and a 9. Together. This doesn't include the box of shoes for good will. Or the flip flops. Oh, the old navy flip flops, how I love you! It's sickness, I tell you!

Here are some of my favorites:

There are more, these are just the ones I found right away.

So, I have a problem. A shopaholic problem. A shopaholic shoe problem. A shopaholic boot problem. These are on their way to my house right now.

Saxon Equileather Ladies Lace Up Paddock Boot

These are really cute and have a sort of equestrian vibe that would look good with jeans.

a.n.a® 'Amber' Leather Riding boot

These are full on riding boots from jcp.com. These would look great with skirts, which I would like to wear more of this winter. So, now I have a brown pair and a black pair, plus the brown knock-off uggs I bought last winter.......

a.n.a® 'Dale' Suede Cuff Boot

Also from jcp.com (who knew they had such cute stuff?)...These would also look great with skirts.....

Mudd® 'Origami' Lace-Up Boot

These are more like "slogging through the snow" boots and look toasty warm.

So, why are women so enamored with shoes? eh. I have no idea. But, there's just something about that perfect pair that completes an outfit that makes anything better, at least for me.