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Dansko's Professional Patent Clogs

One day over the Summer, as I was running errands around The Fillmore for my boss, I saw this stylish woman dressed all in black. She wore a black crew sweater with a black mid-length skirt, which looked great with her black footless tights. She wore her raven hair sleek and short and the only color she dare expose were her blood red lips. But what really caught my eye were her black patent Professional Dansko Clogs. From that moment, I began dreaming of black patent clogs, and the cordovan cabrio Professional Clogs in my closet now seemed so dull and boring and ever so passé.

Dansko Professional Clog Black Patent

Imagine my excitement when I received a box from Dansko last week. They sent me these black patent Professional Clogs as a thank you gift for using Midori and Marcelle as part of my blog mastheads.

Dansko Professional Clog Claret Patent

These are my first non-Sanita manufactured stapled clogs. My feet feel great in them -- just comfy snug as a bug, so much so that I felt compelled to buy another pair in claret at Nordstrom yesterday.

Dansko Professional Clog Claret Patent

Let me tell you something about the patent line of stapled clogs: they're seasonal and are only available for sale in the Fall. But, as I've been told by a friend who works at Nordstrom, Dansko has skipped seasons before. For instance, they weren't available last year. So, get these while you can -- especially the ones in claret.

Thanks you, Dansko. I love my new Professional Clogs

More on non-Sanita-soled Danskos here:



Saved from eBay

American Eagle Flats

I listed some shoes for sale on eBay the other day. Luckily, I was able to sell my black Sanita Marcelles fairly quickly and hopefully, my other listings will sell just as well.

I've never worn these out, these ruby American Eagle flats. Though I've had them for about a couple of years now, they've never seen the light of day. It's not that I don't like them -- they're lovely. But, my wide flat feet look ever so hideous in them and these shoes give no arch support whatsoever. Remember the Rated R version of my Cute Magic pictures? Well, let's just say that my feet looked pretty scary in them, like She-Hulks on steroids. So I've been meaning to either give them away or sell them and I finally decided to sell them on eBay. After completing the listing for this pair, I sat in front of my keyboard, kinda stuck until I canceled the submission. I just couldn't bring myself to hit the submit button.

This happens to me frequently. For instance, any attempts to clean out my junk drawer often ends with me retaining most of the very things I'm trying to clean out. I'm one of those sentimental folks. I keep a lot of stuff, far longer than I really should. I keep old greeting cards, even those generic Xmas cards that people send out.

American Eagle Flats

Though I've gotten much better at parting with souvenirs and miscellaneous memorabilia (ie. napkins with notes, salt and pepper shakers kidnapped from various restaurants, movie stubs, programs, restaurant receipts, etc.), sometimes my feelings come between me and a clutter-free environment.

Quite frankly, I don't like holding on to the past in such a manner. Talk about a waste of space! Perhaps I'm afraid that without such things in my life, I'd forget a whole lot of things -- a whole lot of good things. I'm aware that I do these things to remember certain events and even certain people. Perhaps to remember, that despite the outcome, painful or otherwise, that at some point in time, wrapped within each scrappy trinket or souvenir is magic of some kind, magic that helps me relive the good times, especially with those estranged ones.

Such collections of mine are hidden deep within drawers or packed away in storage boxes and they only surface during those times that I'm trying to clean house.

Well, these American Eagle flats have been saved from eBay, once again saved from potentially touching earth by fond reveries of dear Mama.



Flowers and Feathers

Project Runway ~ Kenley

I'm sure any of you following the best reality show in the world is familiar with Kenley Collins, one of the extraordinary designers competing in this season's installment of Project Runway. I'm a big fan and I like most of the pieces she's designed so far. I adore her personal sense of style, her vintage-inspired outfits, and most of all, her hair accessories, from her headbands to her hair combs and clips adorned with flowers and feathers!

Bando Headband

I've noticed that flower and feather hair accessories are in vogue. I've seen them featured in many places, from JCrew to Forever 21. As a matter of fact, I bought a purple feather hair clip at F21 yesterday, though, it looks more like a purple tarantula on my head.

Bando Hair Comb

Hmmmm... how can a regular person like me pull off this look? I suspect it will be very tricky.

Bando Hair Comb

Anyway, I've been searching for pretty hair accessories on the Internet and was happy to stumble upon Bando. All the accessories on Bando are breathtaking, but for the sake of bandwidth, I'm posting only a few of my favorites. My big gripe, however, is the cost. Most pieces range between $100-$200!

Bando Hair Comb

So thank god for Etsy. I found a few Etsy boutiques which sell this sort of thing at a fraction of Bando prices. I used a bit of the PayPal money I earned from selling shoes to buy a beautiful headband with feathers. It could go either way, really. I may be able to pull it off or may even look foolish -- like some sort of bird woman-- who knows. Regardless, I'm pretty excited.

Bando Headband

{ Picture of Kenley courtesy of BravoTV. Bando products courtesy of Ban.dö. }



Tack-O-Rama ~ Retro Images and Fonts

Tack-O-Rama

I spent the last couple of hours downloading every conceivable 50's-inspired image, icon, background and font from Tack-O-Rama's vast online collection of "vintage tomfoolery." Behind Tack-O-Rama is Magic Jelly's sister, Josella Colquhoun, who scours the Internet for retro fonts and images and turns them into awesome royalty-free clipart. Many of them are images inspired by advertisements from the 1940's and 50's. If you're one for clip art, fonts, or anything vintage, I promise you'll get a good kick out of Tack-O-Rama. I swear, I got a high downloading everything -- the same feeling I imagine I'd get if I were granted a shopping spree at a shoe store.

What I made with Tack-O-Rama

I made this awesome collage using some of the clip art. These images are just the tip of the iceberg, though -- there's a ton more at Tack-O-Rama!

{ Top image courtesy of Tack-O-Rama. }



Betseyville's Jossiline

If you've been following my Daily Mug photo blog, then it should come as no surprise that I bought Betseyville's Jossiline moccasins. I'm very pleased with them -- they're cute and comfortable, though since the soles are quite thin, I don't recommend them for any off-road hiking and such since you may very well damage your precious feet that way. They are great to wear around town.

Betseyville's Jossiline

I have one complaint, though. And unfortunately, it came only as an afterthought and I'm quite embarrassed to even bring it up because it should have been fairly obvious. The color of the soles sold this pair for me. Though not a hot pink aficionado, I found these shoes strangely attractive especially because of this. I guess it's also because it's so unexpected. I mean, one generally associates moccasins with the standard colors of fawn or brown -- but pink? Unusual. And I loved it.

Betseyville's Jossiline

So why am I complaining? Well, it never occurred to me that the soles would become yucky gray. Like, DUH. Okay, I was expecting a graying and a darkening of the soles, but I didn't expect the sides of the soles to look pretty gross.

Betseyville's Jossiline

So there. The shoes are great, but the worn soles gross me out. Strangely enough, I can't stop looking at the bottom of my soles to see how yucky they get.