a99kitten's Musings

I blog about a WHOLE LOT of stuff :)

I saw a picture of the Steve Madden Makel strappy slingback (in raspberry) in a magazine a few weeks ago. I LOVED it!  I hunted them down with some help as the magazine ad had no shoe name (advertising fail!)

Found them at www.endless.com. And they were on sale. AND I had a credit on account there for a previous order they had made an error on (their customer service is very fast and responsive – bonus points for them.)

It was hard choosing between the colors as I liked all 3. Bought both the raspberry and black with the very good intention of choosing between them and sending the other back. But they are both soooo cute :)

Steve Madden Makel in raspberry suede

Steve Madden Makel in raspberry suede

Steve Madden Makel in black suede

Steve Madden Makel in black suede

I finally wore the raspberry ones today and they are SO, SO cute on!!! And for being 5″ heels – pretty darn comfortable.

Now if the blue ones would only go on further sale…..(I have NO blue shoes – so it would be completely justifiable!)

Everybody needs some blue suede shoes!

Elvis would agree that everybody needs some blue suede shoes!

Yes…I want this….make fun of me all you want….

Judith Leiber limited editon strawberry cupcake clutch

Judith Leiber limited edition strawberry cupcake clutch

The one from Sex and the City is adorable! Loved it!

Judith leiber SATC bag

Judith leiber SATC bag

But the new limited edition one is pink :) You know what that means, right? I *should* totally have it! And I think $4,295 isn’t too much to ask for a perpetual calorie and fat free cupcake!! :)

http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/catalog/prod.jhtml?itemId=prod53290023

And since I go to soooo many fancy events, I need this ;) So…do you think it would look out of place at the dog park?

Finally put my cedar shoe racks together today! I ordered these from Woodlore in June (www.woodlore.com) They messed up in shipping (were late but oh well) and I have been out of town every weekend since they arrived so have had no time to do this project. But I just finished!!

I wanted shoe racks that were not white plastic ones made in China. Or wood ones made in China. This was more difficult than you would think. Sadly. But I found woodlore.com and they make them from cedar in the US. YAY!! and DOUBLE YAY!!!

Yes – they did mess up a bit on the order in my shipping (much delayed.) But they are a great product. So I would recommend them. And they smell GREAT! And BEST of ALL is my heels/pumps are off the ground!!! Finally!! My flats are organized completely differently. As are my boots. And “special occasion” boxed shoes. And sneakers and flips-flops. Doh…

But yay!

16 pairs of heels...

16 pairs of heels...black, silver, purple/eggplant and red ones mostly..

and

27 pairs of heels...

27 pairs of heels...browns, gold, pinks, greens, yellows, etc.

My husband often complains about my shopping. But really…buying cute things is all about looking cute so he is silly to complain about that. AND I don’t go out and buy $800 pairs of shoes. I look for good deals (which are fairly easily found now! He should support this endeavor!)

My most expensive pairs are still in their boxes and stored on a shelf above (5 pairs). Including the holy grail of my shoes…my Louboutins. Oh! And my wedding shoes are up there – but those should totally not count! I’m never going to actually wear them again! But Ralph Lauren does make a great shoe…

And no….1 pair of black shoes and 1 pair of brown shoes is not all a girl needs.  Flats, work pumps, going-out heels, 3″ demure heels, 5″ F me pumps, peep toe, sandals, on and on and on…And forget about the myriad of different shades and colors….

So men – stop trying to understand. You likely won’t. Deal with it.

Now…I seriously need to own these :) Kate Spade “Celeste” sunglasses in pink. Could they *BE* more perfect for me? (channeling Chandler Bing!)

On sale at Smart Bargains right now with an additional 20% off today! Evvviiilll…

Kate Spade "Celeste" sunglasses

Kate Spade "Celeste" sunglasses

p.s. $64.79 shipped with free shipping, 20% off and add’l 10% off coupons.. :)

I do not know where my recent handbag obsession came from but I likey this one…

Betsey Johnson Tie Breaker Large Hobo

Betsey Johnson Tie Breaker Large Hobo

On sale now at Bloomingdale’s! Yes…I do like it because it has pink accents…can’t help it :) But even on sale it’s about half of a Sideshow Millennium Falcon…hmmm…..

This pretty Kooba “Devin” is on sale at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale right now. They have it in the PERFECT color of chocolate brown…and I have some gift cards there from my birthday…..free shipping right now….3% back from using eBates.com….hmmm…

Kooba "Devin" in Chocolate - beautious!

Kooba "Devin" in Chocolate - beautious!

This is a very pretty bag…and since it comes in this beautiful blue-ish color (of which I have NONE so I should!) called Storm! And since my little husky is Storm

Storm singing that Mom should buy this bag :)

Storm singing that Mom should own this bag :)

– shouldn’t my next bag be too ;-)

Balenciaga "City" in the color "Storm"

Balenciaga "City" in the color "Storm"

Feel free to peruse (or even better have one shipped to me anonymously ;) )

http://www.balenciaga.com/us/en/balenciaga/Women/Handbags/TopHandles/P-City-Lambskin.aspx?VariantPropertyName=VariantId&VariantPropertyValue=803478366(BAL-Cruise2008WomenMasterCatalog)

So according to both recent articles that I’ve read, and real-life experience, vanity sizing is alive and well.   This annoys me for several reasons…

How the heck can I buy anything online if the size doesn’t really correspond to anything in real life?  And those size or measurements charts you (the e-tailers) offer are a load of crap.  And even if I am 1 size in one of your pair of pants/skirts/sweaters/dresses, I might not be in another style.  Who the hell does this and why?? Not good business!!

Look – if I’m a size 2 or 0 or 18 based on actual real-life measurements that I can take and that will apply across all brands, or at least all items within 1 brand for cryin’ out loud, fine.  But no…that would be too easy.

And premium denim (you know who you are Rock & Republic, True Religion and Seven) don’t even get me started on your washes and material contents. I can wear 4 different sizes – IN THE SAME BRAND?!?!

Today’s 0 is not a 0 from several years ago.  The designers and brands have fattened them up pretty well. I guess this is because you want someone to feel good about themselves and buy from you when they can magically fit into your size 6 but everyone else’s size 8 (or 10)?? Think I’m off? Marilyn Monroe was a size 10 or 12 back in her day. According to her measurements, she would be a size 4 today. That’s insane.

Oh, and, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kim Kardashian publicly swearing they are a size 2. No dears – you are not.  Not to say you don’t look good whatever size you actually are – but it’s not a size 2. And *maybe* you can fit into a size 25 or 26 jeans – IF they have a heck of a lot of stretch in them. And really – BIG IF here.  No way rigid 100% cotton. Again – I don’t care what size you actually are but just say what it is (or don’t talk about it all..but don’t lie.) Big damn deal – you are both gorgeous girls.

I’m sick of not being able to know if I’m a 0 or 2 or an XS or S in J Crew, Banana Republic, whatever.  And forget designer clothes. I tried on some dresses in Vegas and the size SOOO varied by designer. Not a single dress that I tried on had the same number on it’s size tag. Yet when you looked at the dresses – they were all the same. ANNOYING! Girls do NOT like this! At least no girl I know – and I know some gooood shoppers (myself excluded of course!)

But I think I am most irritated by the fact that I work out all the time (every single day), I watch what I eat for the part and make sure I do not get to a size that I am unhappy with. So do not just F with the sizes to make people who don’t work as hard feel better about themselves. Make them realize, yes I am a size 4, 8, 10, whatever. If they are OK with that and like how they look – great! If not – then they need to deal with it with diet and exercise. But stop EFFING with the size of the clothes for their vanity (and my insanity!)  Please keep it uniform. I do not think it is too much to ask that a single brand has the same sizing WITHIN it’s own brand?!?!?! (J Crew I am talking directly to you…)

…I just don’t think SHE gets that…

Cate Blanchett has more class and talent in her pinkie than Megan Fox can ever hope to have.  Yes, Megan is quite hot. I wouldn’t call her beautiful though (Cate I would) as she always looks slutty and trampy (which is of course her goal and her target audience of boys & men don’t mind at all – just ask my husband!) but she is definitely hot.

But this picture is a classic :) and the posting/commentary from Zoe’s Blog is hysterical! Go check it out!!  My favorite line:

Megan: blah, blah – go read it at Zoe’s :) very funny..

Cate: “Who the f*** is this little tramp?”

hehehehehe :)

Cate and Megan...

Cate and Megan...

And the girls over at gofugyourself.com did a GREAT job as usual with their commentary with another shot from the same fashion show :) Definitely take a minute to read theirs!!

Last week I bought, and received Monday, my new shoes from SmartBargains.com.  I’ve never visited the site before but last week on vacation I was poking around shoe sites looking for deals and found this shoe (Betseyville Adan) at Zappo’s:

Betseyville pink

Betseyville pink

On June 28th I even blogged about them when I found them :)

Now if you know me at all, you know I LOVE the color pink! Not so much that I Barbie it all out and wear all pink clothes with pink make-up driving my pink car with my pink-sweatered dog (man the huskies would kill me!!)  But I do wear pink a lot (but keep it limited to A piece of my outfit.) Yes, I do love pink lip gloss and I make my cupcake frosting pink :)  But no…no linens or house decor is pink.  And pink houses belong in Florida…no matter John Cougar Mellencamp says…

I love Zappos. They offer excellent customer service and I have nothing bad to say about them ever. BUT – they don’t always offer the best price (sometimes they do though!) So I trolled the internet looking for a better deal on these shoes (they were $77 at Zappo’s, on sale from $100.)

Kept searching…lo and behold, found them on SmartBargains for $39.97 down from $100. Now we are getting somewhere! BUT, they do charge $10ish shipping.  They do have a membership you pay annually or one-time for which takes your shipping per order down to $2.95 but I am not a member nor do I think I’d get my money’s worth becoming one. But even with the $10 shipping they were still cheaper than anywhere else (Endless.com had them for $62.99.) So the shipping made the shoes still $50. Not bad for a pair of shoes I thought were uber-duber cute but not sure $50 cute. So I kept looking…

….and internet coupon trolling I went…and then I found a code for  a discount if you use Paypal to pay along with another online coupon. And THEN it turned out my friend Helen IS a member there so we ordered them through her account and got the $2.95 shipping. So the shoes ended up being $26.93 shipped! THAT is a great bargain for some cute pink peep-toe shoes for summer!!

AND I LOVE THEM! They are actually even cuter in real life AND very comfortable even with a 4″ heel. They fit perfectly! Wearing them today :) Paired with a bright pink Banana Republic silk sleeveless top (also got on excellent sale!)

Banana Republic Silk Twist-Neck top

Banana Republic Silk Twist-Neck top

(that’s the BR model – not me!)  And topped off with a thin pink headband a’la Blair Waldorf…

Of course that means yes, I am wearing more than 1 pink item today but that’s ok :)