Sharpie on shoes

In high school I used a lot of Sharpie markers and white out pens to decorate my clothes and backpacks.  Inspired by this momma's post I felt the urge to pull out my trusty tools again and doodle on a pair of shoes. 

My triangles were a bit... erm... wonky.  But, I had lots of fun and now Baby Chuck will have a one-of-a-kind pair of shoes just in time for fall.

Shoes Series 3: We've harnessed the power of ice!

If you're a follower of this blog, then you're already aware of our previous attempts to use ice to stretch shoes.  (Confused? Catch up by reading about our adventures here and then here.)
 

Figure 1:  Sandwich bags in shoes

After our initial setbacks, we put on our thinking caps.  And we thought.  And we thought some more.  What were we missing?  Why didn't it work? 

And then we took one final stab at the problem.  Instead of using shopping bags to hold the water, we used sandwich bags.  Although they held less water, they would (hopefully) allow the ice to expand in the right places. 





And you know what?  It worked!  Boy, was I surprised.  Honestly, I'm not sure why the shoes stretched this time and not the last two times.  Below, I've sketched out my best understanding of what happened on the molecular level: 

Figure 2: Arrows and dashed lines make this diagram authentically scientific.

I'm happy seeing hubby wearing some fine fitting shoes.... and knowing that we've harnessed the power of ice for good and not evil.

Will you try out this shoe stretching method?  Let me know of your results!

Shoe Series 2: Is it time to admit de-feet?

If you read my previous post, you'll know that hubby and I attempted a novel shoe stretching method.  We poured water into a pair of shoes, placed them in the freezer, and hoped that the shoes would stretch as the water froze. 

After storing the shoes overnight in the freezer, we moved onto steps 4, 5, and 6.  Here's what we did:

Step 4:
* Tried pulling out bags
* Realized that the bags really were stuck inside
* Let shoes defrost in sink
* Twiddled our thumbs and waited

Step 5:
* Pulled out our miniature ice feet
* Made our miniature ice feet dance
* Tried on shoes

Step 6: 
*  Realized that the shoes were still too tight
*  Debated whether to repeat the whole process again
*  Decided to try again
*  Repeated the process again
*  Placed the shoes in the freezer for three days

After we took out the shoes hubby let them dry out because a bit of  water leaked out of the bags.  Eek.  Once the shoes were dry, he tried them on and....

they were STILL too tight.

Should we admit defeat?  (Or in this case de-feet?  Har har har.)  Well, not quite yet... we still have a few more tricks up our sleeves... 

Secondhand chic

I realized I haven't been recording hubby's sartorial choices.  Here's his outfit today:

Can you believe that the shirt, blazer, and bow tie are all secondhand items?  Shnazzy!

Hello and goodbye

I saw this floral boots DIY on A Beautiful mess awhile ago and kept meaning to try it out.  Week after week, I found myself delaying the project.  My excuse was that I didn't have the right fabric, but really I was just too chicken to deface a pair of shoes.  The craft gods must have sensed my fear because last weekend one of my favorite shirts ripped and I suddenly found myself with some extra fabric.  Here's how I used the ripped shirt to bring new life to a pair of black shoes:

They were cute, right?  Notice that I used the term "were."  Sadly, these shoes no longer exist.  After proudly wearing my new footwear to church a couple of creases appeared and then the fabric just tore away from the shoe.  I think the wet and slushy snow covered ground might of had something to do with that happening.  Blast my impatience!   

RIP fabric covered shoes, I will miss you.

But, perhaps I will reincarnate you as glitter shoes?   Oooh, glitter!

If Italians wore bow ties...

they may look like this:

And look, they come in different colors!

First seen here on Foodiggity

When sharks attack

babies get eaten.

To see this hand knitted outfit and others, click here

Your love keeps them warm

When Baby Chuck was born, the nurses put a blue and white knitted hat on him.  (Seen here.)  Every baby born at our hospital receives one of these hand knit lovelies.  They're all donated by a group of kind and talented elderly ladies. 

Last week we visited a craft fair and found ourselves drawn to a display of colorful knitted hats.  The elderly lady behind the display was particularly keen to talk to us when she saw Baby Chuck snoozing in his carrier.  After a couple minutes of chatting, we found out that she was one of the ladies who knitted the hats!  I was so pleased to meet her that I asked for her photograph. 

I love that blue and white hat.  I love that these women cared enough to make and donate hats.  And I'm so happy that we got a chance to meet her and say "thank you."

My preeeeecious...

How funny is this t-shirt?

Don't you just love it when you find that lone onion ring amongst your french fries?

You can find this shirt here

Surprise ties

This weekend hubby received a surprise gift from a friend:

Don't you just want to run your hands through these beauties?

Sunny days and pop of color

Even though it's well and truly winter, the weather is still relatively mild and sunny.  Hooray!  We're going to drink in as much sunshine as we can.

**Update:  Can you believe it just snowed this morning?

 

Sunny days celebrated with sunny clothes

Calling all shoe people

 Kobi Levi's shoes make my Target Converses turn green with envy. 

Coffee, anyone?

Be careful not to slip on that banana peel!

Ma'am, please take off your weapons.  No boarding the plane with these babies. 

Wheeeeeee!  Wear these and you'll be the sexiest mama at the playground.

Spooky celebrations

Today we're celebrating two events:
(1)  It's finally Halloween, my favorite holiday of the year. 
(2)  It's the one year anniversary of my blog.  *Throws imaginary confetti in the air and blows noisemaker*

As we all know, Charlie just loves wearing costumes.  (As seen here and here.)  With the new addition to our family, Charlie was gracious enough to whip up two matching costumes, inspired by Dr. Seuss characters.   Although Baby Norris is still too young to fully appreciate this holiday, I do think he enjoyed dressing up. 

Baby Norris- "So this is what it feels like to have hair.  I kind of like it."

Charlie- "Aw mom, I'm having a bad hair day."

Happy Halloween!

Dressing for oneself

I love seeing women dressed in uninhibited and creative ways. 

Men's shirtdress

While reading one of my favorite blogs, I happened to see this amazing video:


Ex-men's shirt as new dress for you from general ink on Vimeo.

I tried it out with hubby's shirt, but it didn't quite work.  I would have posted a picture, but the shirt stretched in weird ways over my post-pregnant belly.  Plus, no one wants to see a large bum exposed to the cool autumn air.

If my history teacher could see this

What do you get when you mix history, fashion, and dance?  Probably something that looks like this...

Tee hee hee

I love scrolling through the New York Times Readers' street style photos.  Look at these funny sunglasses:

Now you can feel like a celebrity (or a criminal) too!

Clothing modification surgery

Ever since we purchased the sewing machine, hubby and I dreamed of sewing bow ties.  (Hubby loves wearing them to work, but they're so pricey to purchase!)  This weekend we visited the thrift store, found a tie, and transformed* it.

Did this ugly polyester tie know that it was destined for bow tie cuteness? 

*Please note:  I felt like a mad Frankenstein-like scientist.  Before this successful bow tie surgery two other patients died on our operating table.  RIP tie 1 and tie 2.  They were butchered in the name of fashion.   

Savage Beauty

Sometimes I find myself wishing I was back in New York.  Don't get me wrong, I'm growing to love our new home, but sometimes I miss ethnic food, people watching (one of my favorite hobbies), subway rides, and artistic and cultural opportunities.

Yesterday was the last day of the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met.   Hubby and I never made it back to see the exhibit, so I was thrilled that the Met posted photos of selected objects online.  Now even though I'm far away, I can still experience some of that McQueen magic.

“I try to push the silhouette. To change the silhouette is to change the thinking of how we look." ~ Alexander McQueen

He was an amazing artist.   

I think I grew bigger...

since yesterday!

I'm starting my 27th week.  Time is quickly passing by...