And Why Am I Looking at Spring Shoes Again???

Did you enjoy the game last night? And if you don't really care about football, did you at least have some yummy snacks and good company? I was happy the Saints won, but admittedly that paled in comparison to the fact that hubby and I won $60 from the squares game since he successfully picke squares for the ending scores at the 1st, 3rd & 4th quarter. Go random!! And he successfully recouped his $20 investment, while I managed to snag the net of $40. Yay me...you can guess where that's going...

But speaking of football, I wanted to refer you Saints fans and Francophiles over to a blog that my friend snaphappy referred me to - Simply Southern - where she has a history 101 lesson on the fleur de lis. And it's just a fun blog to read - lots of fun events posts and great quotes - esp this one from Phyllis Diller that she posted yesterday:

The reason women don't play football is because eleven of them would never wear the same outfit in public. (hehehe, don't you love it?)

So...I'm sitting here at the computer, just cracking up...and the source of my midday mirth is not the usual afternoon viewing of peopleofwalmart.com, but the continually updating Winter Storm Warnings. After getting 27" of snow in my front yard this past weekend as part of the DC Snowpacolypse, we are now expecting...wait for it...10-20" of snow Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon. First it was going to be a few inches, then yesterday afternoon, it bumped up to 5"+, then this morning, 5-10", and now this. Oy....

Since when did the prospect of 10" of snow make DC blase? Seriously? Hubby is so done with the snow. I don't blame him - he commutes (worked from home today, though). And he does the lion's share of the manual labor. I do shovel, though. However, if it's the weekend, like with this snow, he does most of it because he's here.

But if you want to smile, here's my fave pic from this weekend of Lucy racing down the hill behind the pool where we were sledding yesterday:

But enough about the snow...at least until I get the pictures formatted...and to keep you entertained until then, I have two new shoe purchases to share...

Long-time readers probably remember me whining about my favorite Isaac Mizrahi sandals from Target - the Liz gladiator sandal in bronze snake. I have gone through 2 pairs of these. They go with literally everything and are so comfortable to boot. (pun...hehehe) Anyway, if I had realized that Isaac was jumping ship to Liz Claiborne, I would have stockpiled that sandal. No such luck, and I baby my last pair, only wearing them when I really really really want to and nothing else matches an outfit, because like I said, they do go with everything.

And then last Saturday (previous weekend, the one with just a few inches, not feet, of snow), I was wandering around Target to grab a couple of birthday presents for M&E for parties they were going to on Sunday. As I was by my little old self, I wandered around the shoes, just browsing...and what in the world did I see there but an almost exact duplicate for my beloved Liz sandals???? This is the Elyssa sandal by Merona Collection ($19.99). (and yes, that's me who wrote the current 1 review)

At left, below, is the new Elyssa sandal, at right is the old Liz sandal.

Before I get to the shoe comparison, a few points:

1 - Liz and Elyssa. I'm suuuuure it's just a coincidence that the names are sooooo similar. (Oh, was that sarcastic? Sorry. Maybe they were just trying to make it easy for me.)

2 - I know there has been a lot of discussion in the blogosphere about the Merona Collection taking the literal and metaphorical place of the Target Isaac Mizrahi line. This seals the deal for me. No question about it.

3 - My pedi polish is OPI You Don't Know Jacques from the 2008 Fall/Winter Collection. One of my all time faves and may actually be the first colored polish that necessitates me buying a new bottle because I've used so much (you know me, I'm all about the polish).

I didn't get the sandals that Saturday because it was actually snowing outside. I did, however, get them the very next day when I was there killing time while E was at one of the parties. (wasn't actually snowing then) Ironically, the oh so kind, generous, and clearly eagle-eyed jmpb of Polyvore Pictures, who also was sent me an email last week alerting me to the sandals at Target. I love you, jmpb - you are awesome!

Details on the shoe - it's also available in silver metallic and black, both with silver accents (the buckle & the little ring over the toes where the straps meet. However, it appears that the silver and black may only be available online. I took my regular size, a 9. It has padding in the sole. The straps may look thin, but don't seem to rub at all or be too tight - however, because of the 3 straps spread around the front of the foot, the sandal is nicely fitted and doesn't slide around. Lazy me, this is important - but like the IM version, the heel strap is just loose enough so that you can juuuuust stretch it over your hell without having to unbuckle. (Yes, I do look for that in ALL my sandals.)

The only real difference I can see between the 2 sandals is the footbed. Instead of the bronze footbed that matched the straps (and hid dirt), the new sandal has a Vachetta-ish footbed with stitching around the outside. I can't vouch for total comfort since I haven't actually worn them around much, but initial trials give them a total thumbs up. And even if they don't work for full-day wear, they are still more supportive than my JC Danielles.

Polyvore with stock photo comparison:

Happy Feet by HeidiGblog featuring Isaac Mizrahi shoes

And onto the next shoe...the Born Lovely Flat ($84.95, available at Nordstrom). No really, that's its name. And lovely it is.

I had been eyeing these flats ever since I got an email featuring them. They are available in black, pink, yellow, and green (see Polyvore at bottom). And a huge thank you to Erin for reminding me that they are available in silver also (separate listing on Nordstrom.com here but same price).

And I am perfectly happy to pay $84.95 for them. (yes, another case of full price love - I don't count Target shoes as full price since they're so cheap to begin with...and I say that with love.)

I love ballet flats...as you probably realize from the fact that I wear them all the time and that I have them all over my blog header. But no, they aren't terribly supportive - whether they are from Target or J Crew. Usually I get around that with a trusty gel insole.

However, these ballet flats...from Born...they're as comfy and as supportive as you would expect. They are so comfy that I even wore them around town running errands last Friday morning as the Snowpacolypse was starting because I wanted to wear them just one more time before boot-weather set in again. My feet sing when I wear them. Not only are they supportive - but they are soft - the leather is so soft...as soft as my Selby bag.

I took a size 9 and they fit very well. You may want to considering sizing down a 1/2 size (per the advice in the Nordstrom reviews). If you are used to JC shoes, definitely size down.

My only issue with these shoes was what color or colors to get. For starters, don't shoot me for getting them in black. My current pair of soft leather plus gel insole Target black flats are just done. They need to go bye-bye. So I really did need a pair of black. My issue here is color. I decided to get a 2nd pair of flats with a little bit of birthday money from my inlaws, which had been patiently camping out in my wallet.

I decided to get the yellow, thinking that it would be a really great lighter neutral-ish color to wear with pretty much any other color. The question then is does the yellow work with my skintone or fight with it? Should I get the pink or green instead, realizing that neither is quite as versatile. Still chewing this one over in my brain, folks.

Polyvore with all the pretty pretty colors.

Born 'Lovely' Flat by HeidiGblog featuring Born flats