Shoes and Autumn Mornings

I got up this morning...actually when my alarm went off...and spent a half an hour alone in the living room, curled up under a blanket, reading my next bookclub assignment. It was so chilly, and I was grouchy/groggy when I first got up which was nothing that a private mug of chai tea couldn't cure. When off-track like I have been the past few days, (missed schedules, dropped self-care, over-tired....etc.)  the best thing ever is just to get back on track....and minimize the emotional self-flagellation and instead tell yourself that falling off the wagon is useful because it teaches you how sweet it really is to ride. Meaning is contexual.

 

This is the best time of year ever in some ways. I love the freshness of the Autumn. The way a day carries all the seasons in rotation inside itself. Wake up to the frosty chill of winter thinking of slippers and baked sweet potatoes but also spend a moment in the middle of the day weeding in the garden with a hot vernal sun baking down on your back. Have your cake and eat it too. Welcome to Fall.

 Ru has been growing a lot over the summer and Baby Pom is finally doing a little growing of his own (record breaking midget that he is!) and today I am off to Target looking for new footwear for them both. Pom will just get a new pair of leather crib shoes, no real soles yet but Ru needs yet another pair of long-suffering casual shoes. His current pair lolls open at the toes when he trips up the sidewalk like some kind of bizarre puppet. Must keep the children in shoes. These sorts of things look bad. Neighbors begin to ask questions.

My Feet Have A Dream

Every tootsie's gotta dream.....
You know that thing about how girls are supposed to be obsessed with shoes? Yeah. I'm not. I mean, I have a bunch of shoes but its nowhere near an obsession, I basically can't hack high heels at all and none of the shoes I own are of any value....most of them aren't even purchased new. Hello estate sale shoes! Hello Goodwill wonders!

But...BUT....then there are these shoes. *sigh* I've been thinking about them for months. They're kind of my dream shoes. Hand made, custom fit to my crazy high arch, sausage toed, super wide feet, a grassroots company where they're working with real, natural leather right here on the East Coast. I realize the shoes are 150 dollars a pair but they are far more versatile and in my opinion more romantic than any runway Leboutins. I waffle back and forth between wistfully daydreaming about a pair of West Indians or a set of New Chinese in that rich, classic brown color. They may be most the ideal, perfect, crunchy chick shoe ever conceived.... forget Birkenstocks and Dansko clogs!

I see a visit to their workshop in my future. Aurora, New York...I'm coming sometime soon!

A Weekend In Pictures

Here's a little photo-tour taste of weekend fun at our house:

Run Carlie, Run

Well friends, I can't rightly believe it myself but, it's true...last night, I went running by myself, for the first time in my life.

I had made an amendment resolution that besides just doing yoga in the mornings, five days a week, I'd  do one aerobic workout on the weekends. A huge, huge thing for me to promise. I hate aerobic workouts. But friends, there are lungs and a heart, not just leg muscles to stretch and a mind to relax so I bit the bullet. It's a new year, it's a new me.

And yeah, my friend Sam has been inspiring my eyeballs out, AND my friend Anna, two non-runners who suddenly positively athletic. I had told myself that once it was warm out, I'd run outdoors like Sam was. (Barefoot running! So exciting!) Yeah. Barefoot running will be cool, and I sure can't wait for outdoor warmth again but if I'm doing an aerobic something anyhow...why not run now. And then I forgot about it. Heh.

And then there I was last night, reading a book in which a woman makes positive life-changes (one of which is exercise) and I remembered..."Oh crud. I was supposed to run this weekend. I blew that." And then, I realized it was still Sunday night and before I lost my nerve, I dug my old tennis shoes out of the closet, pulled on a sweatshirt, a scarf and a hat and bolted out the door.

I didn't do anything impressive. I went around the block. And I don't mean I ran around the block. I ran down one side of our block and I walked the rest, in slight pain from the running bit. It hurt and I felt fat and pathetic and super uncool but, I also was so proud of myself and the night wasn't nearly as painfully cold as I'd imagined and there was Orion winking brightly over the corner of our neighbor's roof. So, that was something.

I'm trying to block the memory of the searing burn in my lungs and just ride the high of finally being big enough to do something good, even if it's hard and scary. Next Sunday night, you know where I'll be.

Hand-me-down Shoes

Recently, we had a little discussion at the breakfast table about hand-me-downs because Ru was alarmed to discover that Dee was wearing one of his old shirts. A and I patiently explained that this is what happens to clothes in our family...the biggest person wears them and then the next person gets to have them, etc. Eyes were opened.

Then, later that day after lunch I came upon Ru telling his wide-eyed brother, Dee earnestly all about his personal take on the subject. He was fondling my black kitten heels and telling his brother matter-of-factly (with a touch of condescending reminiscence) that he used to wear these shoes and now Mommy did which meant that she was wearing his hand-me-downs.

Clear as mud, eh kid? To his credit, he did used to wear my heels around the house an awful lot around the age of two or so....but, we may need a little refresher course on what hand-me-downs are all about. It's amazing what seems obvious to a grown-up.

We Escape But, Are Nearly Drowned In The Process

Wet, wet, wet today. But, I was not to be deterred from our first outing to see the outside world and fairly healthy individuals. We are all tired of each other and tired of our house and tired of being cooped up together. Time for a little out and about...even if we do have to wade through knee deep puddles and drive an amphibious vehicle to get out. You do what you have to do.

So, it wasn't really that wet but, it has been raining pretty mercilessly all day long (although they forecast snow so, hey) and in some places we did find the road had started to flood over a tad. At our house it really just meant the boys were allowed to carry their umbrellas with them when we left and nobody around here really cries too much about that. I realize child-sized umbrellas are a bit of a frivolity (yea even a bit of a nuisance as you have to restrict their indoor use lest they be destroyed instantly) but, they're a really adorable frivolity. I have a similar weakness for rubber boots although they're slightly more practical as they make the inevitable puddle jumping into a less painful experience for the onlooking mommy. But yes, also umbrellas make for really cute primary color heavy pictures. Cute is worth something.

We went out prancing through the wet to the shoe store where we measured Ru and Dee's feet and bought Ru two new pairs of shoes since he has grown up a size and a half and got Dee a pair of dress shoes he was without although his current size is still just dandy. You should all be proud of me because I did not buy myself any new pairs of shoes that I do not need. (Score one for reasonability! Yes!) Shoes at amazing prices are achingly hard to pass up, even if I don't really consider myself a member of the card carrying handbag obsessed, compulsively footwear collecting set.

Speaking of collecting things....just a quick note to let you all know that Liberty of London is the new Designer on a Dime that Target will begin featuring on March 14th. For those who have a touch of the Anglophilia that tends to infect those of us following certain bloggers (exhibit a, b, and c) or reading certain books dreamily in our spare time this could be both both deadly and an astounding stroke of luck. I am plotting whether it is foolhardy to plan a trip to Target on the 14th or if I should go the 15th. Choices, choices. *sigh*

And also, speaking of window shopping and dreaming and design inspiration and spring and other such lovely things....Argh! Just discovered Modcloth!!! Love love love. Where have I been? Did you all know about it and not tell me? I suddenly feel out of the loop somehow.

So, yes...

That got a bit rabbit traily in the direction of shopping suddenly. *ahem*

Not sure what came over me.

Happy end of the week! Am brewing a good post about children and food for tomorrow! Do show!