Shoe Review #3

I called Mom last Friday afternoon, asking if she would join me at DSW to look for some new shoes before my $10 off coupon expired on Sunday. She had a coupon, too, so we braved the cold on Friday night and visited the newly made over DSW close to us.

I went, looking to replace 2 pair of black leather sandals that I've worn out. They are very comfortable, but the straps have stretched out from numerous wears and I needed something new for work and this spring/summer. Sadly, I didn't find exactly what I was looking for ... but ... I did try on these sandals made by Crocs. {The straps look navy in this top picture, but they are actually black.}

I know that many people are anti-Crocs, but I really do think they're comfortable. You get used to the bumps on the sole and the soft base make them nice to walk in. I bought this black pair for $29.99 (and then $10.00 off) and I'm already loving them. Originally, I thought they would just be for bumming around this summer, but I think they look a bit nicer than my regular Old Navy flip flops.

I wore them to school today (I did touch up my nail-polish after taking these pictures) and my feet felt great all day. These came in brown, too. I'm tempted to go back & get that pair, but I rarely wear brown in the summer. If you are looking for comfy sandals and you can get over any issues you may have with Crocs, then you should check these out.

What an improvement!

I've been a shopper at Kohl's for quite a few years. They always seem to be having "The BIGGEST Sale Ever", and I can find great deals. As a teacher, I need to find nice-looking clothes, that don't cost a fortune, and can be both trendy and classic.

I have a Kohl's credit card, although I probably got it later than I should have. I think I must have waited until a back-to-school shopping spree to get the giant percent discount off my total.

They have a big clothes section in addition to great home goods, kitchen supplies, cute baby clothes (perfect for gifts!), jewelry, perfume and more! I don't typically shop in the purse or shoes section. I know, I know ... that's probably shocking, but I am picky.

In the past, I've been frustrated by sifting through racks & racks of clothes and I don't think the sale racks are as organized as they are at Target. The dressing rooms were always a giant mess! The doors hung off hinges or didn't close. The floors were cluttered with hangers, trash, and a pile of clothes. YUCK!

I went to Kohl's this past week on a snow day to look for a way to spend a gift card I got for Christmas (thanks, Ann!). I knew my local Kohl's was going through some construction on the outside of the building over the last few months, but I don't know that it had changed on the inside, too. Most of the time, I shop at the 119th & Metcalf store. I was SO impressed! They rearranged the layout of the store and things seemed to be easier to locate. THEN, when I was ready to try on clothes, I found myself in a brand-new dressing room. The outside had nice husband/boyfriend/son lounging benches, and artwork on the walls. The dressing rooms were BIG and nicely designed and CLEAN! The new wood floors, leather benches and 3-way mirrors are a nice addition.

One of my pet-peeves about dressing rooms is when there aren't enough racks, hooks or places to hang the clothes you want to try on. I bet department stores hate when their slatted doors are all scratched up, but that is what happens when you don't have enough hooks inside the room, and your customers will instead hook hangers through the door slats.

Kohl's has now fixed this problem with a large hanging bar (see the above picture) and then 3 hooks on the wall that are labeled. "Love it", "Like it", and "Back on the rack". What a GREAT idea! Don't most women make these piles on their own when trying on clothes? Now half the work is done for you? All you have to do is try on endless amounts of jeans and swim suits! :)

For those that are wondering, I spent my gift card on that brown sweater on the left, the gray one in the middle, 2 cards, 2 baby/kid gifts, some new pj's, and a bottle of perfume for myself. Not too bad! Go visit, trying on clothes will actually be enjoyable!

Try to contain yourselves!

It's time for ...

Betsy's Favorite Things!

I was reading a few of my favorite blogs this week/weekend. Many of them were doing their own version of "Oprah's Favorite Things" in the form of a blog post, and then sharing what they came up with. I missed my chance to post on the starting day AND I couldn't narrow my list down to just 5 items. So, here you go ... in no particular order!

My DVR: It's hard to believe that just a few short years ago, I was taping my favorite shows on VHS if I couldn't be home when they were on. Now, I record anything from Oprah, to SNL, to my new favorite show, Auction Hunters. {Check it out on SpikeTV!} Oprah's last Favorite Things show aired on Friday ... but she's doing another on Monday! Haven't watched yet, but I bet there was some great stuff!

Apothecary jars: I collected these over 2 years and waited patiently to put them up until I had my own place. Love how they can create great decor pretty easily, and for not too much money.

Bath & Body Works candle: It's my all-time favorite scent! The store doesn't always carry this passion fruit & guava scent, so when I find it, I try to stock up. I'm always happy to get this as a gift. (Ahem ... hint, hint).

Beautiful painting: Passed to me from Aunt Susan. It's giant, and unique, and I love it! Oh, Minnie likes to hang out by it, too!

OPI nail polish: Lots of favorite colors (for my toes), but my MOST favorite is "Ladies and Magentamen"!

Canon Rebel XS: I still love, love, love my Canon PowerShot, but I feel like this new camera has made me a much better photographer. I have to work harder at getting a great picture, which is frustrating at times, but good for the process.

Rings: You can see how they take over the majority of my jewelry box. Some are from family members. Some were gifts. Some cost $1.00. One was bought in Italy. Most were bought at stores around town. I like to wear rings every day, and when I don't, it feels strange.

Bootcut cords from New York & Company: These are a new favorite. I bought the khaki-colored pair first. I got so many compliments on them the first time I wore them, that I went back right after work and bought the green pair. I just went this week to pick up the gray pair. That's how I typically buy things ... find one I like, so I buy all they have. They still have them in the stores.

Eyeliner: I love all kinds of make-up, but I tend to really experiment with eyeliner. I'm not a brand snob, and most of these come from drug stores. My current favorite is the ULTA store brand. I'll wear any color ... I think it's fun to change it up every once in a while.

Diet Coke: No explanation necessary. I'm not a coffee or tea drinker, so I need to have some caffeine to start and get through my day.

Perfume: I've never had fancy perfume. My two favorites are Clinique Happy and Tommy Girl. I still get compliments when I put one of them on (which I don't remember to do every day). They last me a long time, but I'm actually out of Tommy Girl, after several years. I'm a sad girl ;)

Panera: Not only do they have good food, but they have free WiFi and I enjoy working and grading papers so much more when I am out of my house.

Double Twelve Dominoes: If you haven't gotten on the Mexican Train bandwagon, errrr train, then you're missing out! Great game for the family during the holidays!

Garden Veggie Straws & Chips: Of course, my Wal-Mart doesn't carry these, but I picked up a box of the lunch bag size when I was at Costco with Mom. They are yummy & a bit better for me than the other kinds of chips I normally pack in my lunch. I thought I would hate the rosemary olive oil flavor, but they were my favorite.

Top Sites: This is the home page on my MacBook Pro (another favorite). It picks the sites that I visit the most often (you can also set them) and then it notifies you when the site is updated with a blue star. It took me far too long to realize that was what the blue star was for! Are YOU featured on my top sites?

Wrapping paper: I have a ridiculous amount of wrapping paper (and bags, and tissue, and ribbon, and boxes), but I LOVE wrapping presents! I'm dying to wrap what few presents I've already purchased, but promised myself I'd wait until I had my Christmas decor up.

Fuzzy blanket: This picture doesn't really show just how soft this blanket is. I have a few of these (picked up from HomeGoods or TJMaxx) and Minnie and I curl up with one of them most nights during the winter.

Pens: All colors, all brands, anything that makes grading hundreds of papers more enjoyable. Last year, I purchased a set of fine-point LePen markers online that are great colors, but I still like this basic set of Flair Pens.

Vaseline Lip Therapy: No flavor, no color, inexpensive and works miracles for chapped lips! Found at most drug stores & grocery stores at the check-out counters, too! So easy to find :)

Target store brand vitamins: I've NEVER been a girl who takes vitamins. I have good intentions and I'll buy a bottle of them, but then the taste and size of those huge multi-vitamins scare me off. A friend suggested the fruit-flavored gummy daily vitamins to me. I bought them and I actually remember to take them every day! The last time I was there, I thought I'd look at the other kinds and picked up the gummy calcium supplements, too. Mom thinks they're disgusting, but I feel better knowing that I'm taking something ... and I think they are yummy, too!

Didn't realize I was going to end my favorite things post on such an exciting item (ha!) but here we are at the end. Hope you found something you might like ... or something you didn't know about. Maybe you can even get some gift ideas for someone on your list. Maybe YOU should write a post of YOUR favorite things to share with all of us! :)

Here is the link to the original start of the Favorite Things Post.

Tie-Dying is NOT for perfectionists!

What? You don't think I'm a perfectionist? I guess I don't think I am either ... but when it comes to crafty things, I don't have a lot of patience with a difficult learning curve.

When I want to start a new craft, I jump all in! I buy all the materials at once. I think this new craft will become my new favorite hobby & it's okay to spend all my time and money on it. P.S. DON'T ever look in my craft closet at all the yarn, stamps, scrapbook supplies and paint that haven't been touched for months.

When Mom taught me how to knit, I learned, but that was it. Just knitting. Don't ask me to turn my stitches around to purl. Don't ask me to read directions. Don't ask me to follow a pattern.

Then I thought I could easily pick up crocheting in a short amount of time to make a baby blanket for Molly when she was already about 5 months pregnant. I became so frustrated with my hands that were stuck in knitting mode and I almost stabbed myself with my crochet hook. That was the end of my crochet craft time. It's a good thing Mom convinced me NOT to buy the yarn & pattern books I wanted to when I first walked into Michael's.

And here we are to the new (to me) craft portion of this story.

Jill mentioned that she had tie-dyed some t-shirts with her yearbook students as a fun end-of-the-year activity. She then bought a few tie-dye kits since summer was quickly approaching. I've never tie-dyed before ... or if I have, I don't remember it.

We FINALLY found time to get together for a belated birthday BBQ and to try out our dying skills. Adam was our resident expert since he was apparently a tie-dying fool in his former life :) Jill pulled out all the dyes and a giant handful of rubber bands. And we were off!

Jilly & Mitz working hard to get the perfect twists & bands on their shirts.

Adam & Heather, doing more of the same.

Here I am with finished product #1. Leggings for Ellen. My title refers to the fact that I had a VERY difficult time understanding that there is no right or wrong way to band up your fabric. There also was a serious amount of dye mixing! COLORS MIXING UP! Me no likey! I like things to be just so! I used yellow & blue on her pants with the hopes they would mix up just a bit to form some green bands.
This is the second shirt I made, and I did a bulls-eye pattern for Jill's shirt.

Here's all our equipment. It was messy ... also something I don't like. Good thing Jilly came prepared with gloves. That is my other tank top in the ziploc baggie on the bottom left of the picture.

Jill was dressed for the evening. This is the shirt she made with her yearbook kids. She had great tips for us after seeing how her first shirt came out: wet your shirt, because the dye seems to soak in better, and continue to squeeze dye on the fabric, even when you think you are done, because the insides need to get color, too! This picture also shows her breaking Adam's cardinal rule ... and cutting the rubber bands off BEFORE her shirt had dried! She gave it about an hour.

I think it came out great! She then was able to hang in on their clothesline to dry over night.

Here are my finished products:

Ellen's leggings. I'm hoping she'll grow at some point in the future so she can wear them! They are pretty cute with the ruffles on the bottom. I wished I had picked other colors, because I didn't realize the yellow would be that bright. I also thought the colors wouldn't mix as much as they did. The biggest challenge will be finding a shirt to match these pants.

And here's the tank-top I made for myself. I haven't washed it since it's dried, but I LOVE the way the pattern came out!

Not too bad for my first attempts at tie-dying, huh? Who wants to join us for round two?

Can I have a do over?

My day ... ugh. I'm thinking that going to bed early will help a fresh day get here even faster!

Here are the bad parts of my day in pictures:

Ready to grab one of the bananas I just bought to run out the door & get to work on time. All of them were soft & spotted already. How does this happen so quickly?

Left school late due to working on grades for progress reports that are supposed to go home Friday. I didn't leave school until close to 6:00, for the third day in a row. I still have grades to do, so that means I'll be staying late again tomorrow.

Had to go to the grocery store on my way home. We are giving our students a pizza party tomorrow to celebrate the end of assessments. I had to get treats for my kids for dessert. When you have a class of 25, buying treats (or prizes or rewards or supplies) can be difficult. Most things are packaged in sets of 12 ... or in this case 24. I don't know that I have any kids that will be absent tomorrow, so I had to get 2 boxes. 48 popsicles for 25 kids!

Walking out of the grocery store, I had to dodge the many cracks and potholes in the pavement. I have a history of being clumsy in these shoes. Remember when I fell in front of my class when I wore these? {Looking back at that post, I laughed because I was teaching the EXACT same lesson today!} Anyhoo ... I stumbled in a hole in the parking lot & broke the strap on one of these shoes. I got them in Chicago a trillion years ago, but I love them to death. Literally ... I loved them & they died today.

Home late ... again. Poor Minnie. She was happy to go on a walk, which was nice, because I walked off some of my stress.

Checked my mailbox. I was able to get the junk mail out, but the package I was waiting for is still in the mailbox because the mailman could put it in my mailbox, but I couldn't get it out on the other side because the hinges were in the way. I had to write a note telling the mailman that I can't get the package out and he'd have to leave it outside my door. Surely they realized this!

After our walk, it was time to feed Minners. Poor baby had to eat off the hallway floor because I spilled the cup of food all over the place! ARG!

That's it! Well at least I hope that's all that is going to happen and make me mad today. Thursday, please hurry up and get here.

This is why I love Target!

You don't have to twist my arm too hard to get me to go on a shopping trip to Target, or the Red Circle Boutique as Jilly calls it. :) Thanks to my teacher salary, most of my clothes/accessory shopping happens at Target, Old Navy, Gap, Kohl's, TJMaxx, and Marshall's. If I made more money, I'd probably be shopping at those places anyway. I like their stuff, and it's cheap enough that when things start to be worn out from wear or I don't like them anymore ... I'm okay with getting rid of those things.

A few years ago, I found a super cute pair of gray & white zebra print ballet flats and I've worn the stew out of them. I think they might have even been on sale for $10! They need to go in the trash, but I wear them so much, that I needed something to replace them.

Then, I saw these cute flats on a co-worker & asked where she got them. I was afraid they might be out of my budget. I don't think I've ever spent more than $60 on shoes. I'm a shoes bargain shopper!

She told me they were from Target! Yippee! Remember the last time I found cute, comfortable work shoes at Target? I told you all about them ... I think a few of you even got them. I wear them all the time, and actually wore them yesterday!

I was at Target Monday night and was lucky enough to find a pair in my size! Everytime I go to Target to get a specific pair of shoes, it's like every woman in Johnson County wears the same size, because they are all gone. And guess what else? They are just $13.00! Perfect for me.

I wore them to school today because I had a feeling we'd be having indoor recess. I don't have any socks (or not-socks) to wear with them. They were VERY comfortable & didn't rub on my toes or the backs of my heels. I noticed as I was walking a lot today through the halls, that it seemed like my feet were pounding on the hard floor. They don't have the best sole support, but I'm not planning on wearing them every day.

Just wanted to pass the good shoe news along to my friends ... be sure and let me know if you have other shoe suggestions for me!

It's a MIRACLE!

I have spent the majority of my 5 years of teaching looking for comfortable, CUTE shoes to wear to work. We all know how I turn into Tipsy Tumbles when I'm wearing my tall heels, so most of the winter, I try and get away with one pair of short heels and athletic shoes.

I'm the Queen of buying "the most comfortable" low-heeled black shoes for work and then deciding that they are no where close to comfortable, (before the bell even rings) the first time I wear them to work. At any given time in my closet, you can see about 3-7 pairs of black shoes just for work. Most of them never get worn because they just aren't comfortable for standing on my feet all day.

Well, Sunday I decided to give it one more go on for comfortable black shoes. I found these at Target and loved that I immediately thought they were cute and then when I tried them on, I was pleasantly surprised! Isn't it fun to shuffle around in Target shoes when they are tied together? I always feel like such a fool!
Anyhoo, these Merona flats are like athletic shoes, but look a bit fancier. The rubber soles aren't too bulky & the elastic straps don't pinch on your feet. Normally shoes rub on the backs of my heels and that's when I immediately take them off. These only hurt a bit at the very end of the day, but I also spend my entire day on my feet! I HIGHLY recommend these shoes if you are looking for something for work or just to run around town in! I did buy them a 1/2 size smaller than I normally do, just FYI. If I had more money, I would think about going back to get the white & green pair of Mary Janes and the tan & gold pair of ballet flats!

I can't wait to see how they look with some of my skirts & dresses when it gets nice enough for skirts & dresses for work! :)

The fashion police were out last night!

After watching the Oscars last night and doing my own version of playing fashion police, I was super excited to hear & read what the media had to say today!

This morning on The Today Show, Meredith & Al did a piece on the Oscars. I thought it was strange that they chose Al to be on the red carpet doing interviews. He chose Heidi Klum's dress as his favorite. Lemme guess why! ;)

Tonight I just sat down to read the Project Rungay. Of couse, they did their own recaps of the Oscar fashion last night and I just about spit my water out when I read the following about Beyonce & her ridiculous dress!


Beyonce in who the hell knows? Probably her mother with the glue gun again.



Lorenzo spent all night putting the pictures together for this post and writing little notes under them. Under these pictures, he offered the following:

"This is offensive."

That about sums it up. This dress is a hate crime.

I agreed with Tom & Lorenzo on a few of their favorite dresses: Tina Fey, Natalie Portman & Anne Hathaway! I did NOT agree with their thoughts on Jessica Biel and Tilda Swinton, I didn't like either of their dresses. Be sure to go check out what they have to say!