Shoe of the Week: Deco decadence

Sorry for the long delay as well as my inability to find a close up this week's shoe.  However, I will keep searching.  These Miu Miu shoes are too cool not to gaze at lovingly.

Just Curious

When you get spam (I mean, what else could it be?) with the subject line "Message from a dying Cancer woman" (exact wording & capitalization), are you supposed to think it's the natural end of life of someone born between June 22nd and July 22nd?

Shoe of the Week: Cheap But Cheerful

Remember the pattern-clashing I said I'd be interested in pursuing (despite the fact that almost every other impulse of mine is toward single colour/pattern)?  Well, I've had these shoes for two years.  They were on sale at Target, and I believe they cost around $5 at the time.  Cheap and cheerful!  Maybe now's the time to really see what they can do!

Yes, I Can

I guess canning season is officially open for me.  Today it was pickled okra, courtesy of Imbibe magazine (how can you not love a magazine whose subtitle is "Liquid Culture"?) and pickled fiddleheads.  I got the recipe for that one from the blog, Fat of the Land, which I was led to by Well Preserved.  Huzzah!
   I tried out my new Weck jars alongside the tried-and-true traditional Bernardin jars.  I think I need a little more experience with the Weck, but I'm into them.  They're really beautiful and will make great gifts; however, they'll be the kind of jars that if you get one and you don't return it to me when you finish the contents, you won't get another.  That's actually a point of etiquette explained to me by a friend who does indeed return her used jars as well as the tins the ladyfriend puts brittle in each year.

Bleeding Rangers' Blue

I was really saddened by the news that Derek Boogaard, an enforcer for the Rangers, was found dead in his apartment. He was 28 years old. He'd only played part of one season with us (I say "us" because the Rangers are part of my extended family), suffering a concussion that sidelined him partway through, and I'm sure he would've made a great impact for us next season. You can read the New York Times story on it. Too sad. If his death was related to his concussion, the discussion on head shots in the NHL is sure to take on even greater urgency.
     Speaking of head shots, the other Ranger making news is my guilty love, Sean Avery. Yes, despite the fact that he is, quite honestly, often an ass-clown, I have a soft spot for him in my heart. Sure, sometimes he makes it hard to love him. Sometimes, I'm embarrassed. But maybe it's the fact that he doesn't care what people think or that he's into fashion and interned at Vogue or maybe it's his choice off-ice eyewear. Anyway, now he's made a public service announcement/advertisement for the Human Rights Campaign.

Gay marriage is not a primary issue for me. It's an important issue as far as the rights and privileges it affords same-sex couples, but let's face it - it was about property before, whether that property was your daughter or your land. Also, this need to be just like everyone else is, frankly, tedious.

Alabama Chanin Corset!

I completed this yesterday.  It actually didn't take as long as one might imagine a totally hand-sewn item to take.   The top layer is a CK t-shirt I picked up at Value Village, and the bottom layer is one of the ladyfriend's discards.

Each time I make an Alabama Chanin project I learn something new.  This time it was, "Oh, the thread should be doubled!" and "Okay, double knots, I got it."  Rather than seeing what I didn't know in each project (this is my third), I'm seeing them as evidence of progress and enjoy them as such.  That doesn't mean, however, I might not put a few beads on this.

But now, I swear, it's back to a project from the list!

Lid of the Week: Super Chic Cycling

Okay, no shoes this week, but let's extend the "of the week" category to include hats or, in this case, helmets.

Tokyo New Jazz - Yakkay

This helmet by Yakkay is so cute I can hardly stand it.  In fact, I'm beside myself.  I like my regular helmet, but when you're out and about running errands or commuting, something cuter is called for.

Addendum:  You can buy other covers to switch out - more styling options!

Monday Muffins

No, not a new posting category, just something I thought I'd share.

Banana Muffins - Oat bran version (with a nod to The Fanny Farmer Cookbook)
Makes 12 muffins

3 ripe bananas, well mashed
1 whole egg                           1/2 cup of sugar
1 egg white                            1 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour                             1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup oat bran

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line muffin tin or grease it - your choice.  Mix the bananas and eggs together in a large bowl.  Stir in the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.  Divide evenly in the muffin tin.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Remove from pan to a rack.  Muffin tin liners come away more easily when the muffins are cool, but it's hard to wait.

Marathon Film Viewing

I bought a pass for the HotDocs documentary film festival in Toronto, and while I haven't maxed it out yet, I'm feeling a little maxed out myself.  Yesterday I went to three screenings and had the good sense to let the fourth one I'd planned on seeing go.  I mean, really - do I need to leave the house at 8:15am and not return until 12:30am?  I think not.
   However, I have seen some really good films.  The best one so far has been The Black Power Mixtape:  1967 - 1975.  Using footage from Swedish television broadcasts, it painted a picture of how the Black Power movement was seen outside the US, and perhaps how Americans didn't get to see it.  For me, it also added fuel to my interest in the 70s as a time of social and political possibility - something I see less of in North America these days but more of in the current struggles in Africa and the Middle East.  Having come out of the hardcore punk scene of the 80s, another time when music spoke to the political and social climate, as well as teaching in universities today, I feel like there's less of that critical mass of agitation, or focus even, in North American youth culture.  Yes, it sounds like "kids these days..."  So sue me.  However, if I ever say "When I was a kid I had to walk twelve miles in the snow with no shoes...," send me a note.

Shoe of the Week: Wedge-o-matic

Yes, I disappeared for two weeks - traveled to see family and to play hockey.  But I'm back, perhaps a little spent, but a happy champion.  Yes, my team won our division, but let's save that for later.
  This week's shoe comes from my mother's closet.  We periodically borrow clothes and shoes from each other.  It's a "new to me" kind of thing, and then when we return said items, they're new again to us.  Bonus!

Time for a pedicure!