Thursday, March 31, 2011

Australia

Well, what can I say?  I can't legitimately call myself an Australian resident without one pair of well worn Uggs.

x


Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Cream coloured pony

These boots blow my mind.  From their pony hairs to the laser etching, I am drawn in.  High on heeled happiness.  The only aspect that snaps me out of my trance is the clunky heel.  Truthfully though, I'm not sure how any other heel would work.  They are supposed to be a play on cowgirl so it is probable that anything else would be confusing or lack authenticity.

So, I calm the twist in my stomach and go back to the cream dream.  It's amore, for sure.

x


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Michael Jackson

Hands up who doesn't know how to grab their bits and screech "oWwww!"?  Today's boots are black, tomorrow's are white.  I couldn't help but make the Michael Jackson connection.

My darling hearted friend Marianne and her brother, Mikey do a great MJ rendition.  They clearly practiced a lot. All their moves are slick and their "oWwww!"'s, perfection.  Best of all you can see the "kids" in their eyes.      

x


Monday, March 28, 2011

3 brown boots and a wedding steak

There is something deeply cosy about brown.  To me it is the colour of warmth and love.  In Anne of Green Gables, the dress Matthew buys for newly homed orphan Anne is a rich chocolate brown that makes her radiate with gratitude and humility.

Before Queen Victoria f*cked weddings up for the western bridal population, brown was a favoured colour for brides.  She started the trend that blindly prevails today and is embraced by people who are failed by it.  It was only after Queen Victoria wore white that the (non) colour took off as first choice for bridal colour.  The assertion that white has anything to do with virtue is a nonsense and historically incorrect.  I can't help but laugh at the blindness with which white is worn at weddings.  I am a stickler for thought, I do need to chill out and I realise that other people don't see the world the same way I do, but the way I am made means I would lack integrity and find it terribly difficult to forgive myself if I made a blind choice.

I find wedding cakes hilarious, for example.  Few people ever appear to asks themselves "why?", they just blindly trot on ahead, presumably because bride.com told them to do so.  The world according to sheep.  Wedding cakes also have a long tradition, but I guarantee you the vast majority of brides have zero clue.  I like wedding cakes but what happens if the bridal couple are more savoury than sweet type people?  How about cutting a wedding steak?

I have digressed into my own insanity.  I think these things, for sure, but I can also take a deep breath, get out of my own mind and shake it off.  Shaken...... Each of these boots has their own character.  I love that the feminine cowboy boots have their own detachable bling, that the middle pair slouch warmly and the pair to the left are so soft it makes me squeak with happiness every time I put them on (even though they are heel-less amputees).

x



Sunday, March 27, 2011

three by three

In six days I am leaving the Southern Hemisphere on a shoe buying mission cleverly disguised as a trip to the US and Europe to visit friends.  Actually, I was only supposed to be going to NYC to visit my absolute darling friend Ruth who I miss very much and can't wait to spend time with.  Then, all of a sudden this and that came up and now my trip has turned into an "around the world".  Ce la vie.  I'll just have to go back to NYC to see Ruth again soon.

In order to get through my shoes to the mystical number 77 I have to triple up.  I hope you understand.  Perhaps when I return from my travels I will have another 77 to speak and dream about.

Apologies for the quality of the photo.  My camera simply wasn't playing ball today.  The photo depicts three very different types of shoe:  one peep toed bootie with lazer cut out decoration, pink wedged sandals from Brazil and a peep toed pump with sweet cut leather.  Makes me think of goldie locks and the three bears (Daddy was clearly a cross dresser).

x



Saturday, March 26, 2011

Just do it

I wonder who at Nike came up with that slogan and how they were rewarded.  It would seem a crime if they weren't starfished by water in some exotic location ad infinitum after a brain wave like that.

Creativity is a very interesting thing.  It sets people apart and inspires others to action.

I know many creative people across many spheres of creativity.  Some of them are rewarded for their creativity and some are not.  It's imponderable.  Though if I was to ponder I would say that the value is arbitrary and tends to be based on mass thought rather than merit.  To my mind, this borders on tragedy.

x


Friday, March 25, 2011

Another Brazil story....

These blue sweetums go with the oddly similar pair of black sweetums that I spoke about earlier in this shoe odyssey.  I adore each of them.  I couldn't decide between them - who could pick a favourite star in the sky?  So, I bought them both.  Piggy.

The first time I wore them was out in Lagoa, Florianopolis.  It was steamy hot and we thought it would be a brilliant idea to go to a samba club and get even warmer.  The samba clubs of Brazil are unanimously fabulous.  My view is probably compromised a little - I was in Brazil for such a short time I didn't have time to be anything but dazzled by it.

Even so, I can't imagine ever being bored by the place.  It's like eating, drinking and breathing fun all day long.  These shoes in the samba club in Lagoa were no exception.  They carried me all night long until I could be carried no more and we dragged ourselves home, happy and barefoot with shoes in hand.

x




Thursday, March 24, 2011

Pretty Parisian

An April or two ago I went to Paris for "that birthday".  There was no way I wanted to be in the Southern hemisphere when turning 30.

The decades are hard.  I remember being terribly forlorn the day I turned 10. When my Mother asked me why I was so sad on my birthday I replied "because yesterday was the last day I would ever be one figure old.  The next time anything this big happens I'll be turning 100!"

This time, instead of Mummy's cuddles for comfort on such a momentous occasion I turned to shoes in the streets of Paris.   These were my choice.

x


Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The start of the silly

It's going to be 30 degrees in Sydney today.  A toasty warm Autumn day and as I'm nearing the end of my shoe odyssey my choices of shoe are getting smaller and smaller.  

So, today I've gone a little conservative and started with a vaguely wearable in warm weather bootie.  What I am concerned about are the 30 degree days where my only choice is a big thick long wooly boot!!  Amusing times ahead...

x



Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A pointless rant.

Today's shoes have nothing to do with what I am about to rave on about.  They are pretty though don't you think?

I have come up against some funny attitudes recently and my reaction to them has reminded me that intolerance is my weakness.  I try to curb it but I do fail from time to time.

In my defence, I'm only intolerant of stupid people.  Hmmmm that probably means I'm intolerant in general.  But for heaven's sake, there really are a lot of stupid people out there!  Now that I say that I'm making myself laugh because it feels like I'm in the middle of an Edina Monsoon rant.

To me a stupid person is someone who lacks compassion, who cannot see beyond themselves and focuses on negative things to their own, and sometimes those around them's detriment.  To me the smartest person in the world is one who loves with honest grace.  This aspect is probably the part that makes me stupid too. My intolerance lacks the very grace I wish for.

Tomorrow is a new day.  Perhaps I will learn then.

x


Monday, March 21, 2011

Rave girl loves the DJ

Every so often I notice that the years are ticking by.  This observation is especially acute when a really good trance or drum and bass DJ crosses my path.  I can't help myself but push my way to the front and go into a zone of dance so familiar and so dear to my soul that the truth of it's retro vibe is embarrassing.

I'm the girl who snuck out of my parents home to go to raves mid week then held my eyes open with determination at school the next day.   I'm also the girl who dated the DJ, has a power femme look and no matter how "proper" I become my stomach still does a flip flop when I hear the music I have loved so much for so long.

I moved city for University.  Sadly, the city I moved to, Christchurch, was more into beer drinking songs than worshipping at the altar of DJ all night long.  It was misery for my retro hippy soul.  But, to put a positive spin on an unfamiliar and uncomfortable situation I did find out exactly how much I loved the DJ.  Absence made my heart grow fonder.

The last outing for these shoes was at D-Edge, a brilliant club in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Check it out:  www.d-edge.com.br/

We had only arrived in Brazil hours earlier and frankly I felt awful after the long journey from Australia.  But the second I heard that sound, the retro hippy chick in me forgot my tiredness, ditched my friends, ran to the front and danced the awful away.

It's funny because I've obviously found my Woodstock.  Trance is my flower power.  In years to come, I will be the wrinkled woman who embarrasses her kids by still running for the DJ every time she hears those tunes.

x


Sunday, March 20, 2011

Number 58

This is shoe number 58 - brilliant turquoise cloaked in satin.  20 to go.  I think.

x


Saturday, March 19, 2011

The silliest boys in Sydney

These rose gold beauties have put in some big hours and long distances for me over the years.  I bought them in a little shop in Christchurch that is now smashed to pieces on one of my jaunts to New Zealand years ago.

At first I wasn't convinced but they crept up on me and over time I grew to adore them.  We have been to many parties, dinners, clubs, boats and even my work place together.  We've sipped cocktails by candle light, thrown bread to the ducks and kicked some of the silliest boys in Sydney to the kerb.

On one particular night when we were out dancing at a Latin club a particularly silly and drunk Sydney boy decided he liked me and my rose gold shoe companions.  Fabulous.  Not being sure how to politely tell this very strong, clearly very determined silly drunk Sydney boy how to naff off I agreed to one dance.  The dance was more of a shove here and there that threw my rose gold and I a little off balance.

Brad, a very dear rose gold coloured friend of mine, equally strong and equally determined saw my and my ladies' plight.  Brad saved the day and the silly drunk Sydney boy soon found himself on a dirty smudgy blackened kerbside, the light of rose gold nowhere to be seen.  Rose gold ought never be sullied by the silliness of Sydney boys.

x


Friday, March 18, 2011

Uggs are not sexy

I read an article earlier this week about the founder of Jimmy Choo shoes, Tamara Mellon.  The article credited her with making Ugg boots sexy by whacking a stiletto on the back.  I own a pair of Uggs (sans JC heel),  I love them with PJs, chocolate and red wine in winter but I could never see them as alluring or seductive simply because someone with a following bangs a heel on the back of them.

I don't care if you are Tamara Mellon; Uggs aren't sexy and can't be made so.  That's just not possible in my book.  They are at best cute and cosy, and at their worst, trashy.  The heeled Uggs released by Jimmy Choo look like a mistake.  A round peg in a square hole.

Perhaps it's because I'm not a Jimmy Choo kind of a gal.  When it comes to luxury shoes I'm more of a Sergio Rossi meets Hugo Boss meets away with the fairies type.  Ms Mellon clearly makes beautiful shoes but I am yet to find a pair that I connect with.  Naturally, I'm keeping an open mind.  Tomorrow is another shopping day so you never know.

These clunkers somehow remind me of the Jimmy Choo Ugg but they don't offend me the way the Ugg heels do.  They are an attempt at casual chic though I think they come off a little chunky.  Actually, it's the chunkiness that both repulses and draws me in.  Intellectually I don't get them but the simple fact is I just like them.  I'm looking forward to putting these contradictions on today.

x


Thursday, March 17, 2011

My pain is your gain

I have a killer headache.  Even looking at this screen is enough to make me wince.  Touch wood it's not the beginning of a migraine.

To make up for my inability to type here are two fun shoes that represent two fun people: Daniela and Ruth, you know who you are and what you did.

Ankle straps look weird, I know.  My apologies.  Hopefully I'll be back on form after a good night's rest (and loads of drugs).

Love
E x


Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Happy retirement

Ah, these old ducks bring back memories.......

I was obsessed with a heavy woollen muddy forest green dress.  It has bell sleeves, a plunging V-neck and was cut on the bias so swung about my legs like a breeze.  I loved it.  I spent hours dreaming about what I would wear with it.  I imagined myself sashaying down halls, my hair bouncing behind me and this dress swinging heavily.

The designer had produced an entire range in varying depths of this opulent colour and I coveted the jacket.  A huge suede and faux fur trimmed jacket with a single button.  It is delicious.  The whole look is very Eddie Sedgewick.  Old school goes glam.

I would sit and dream about me, this dress and jacket striding decisively.  Where? I have no clue.   However, the shoe I conjured in this vision could not be found anywhere.  I wanted an ankle boot with a structured stiletto heel and open finish across the arch.  These did not fit the bill but they worked with the outfit magnificently and I have loved them for a long time.

Ironically, when I bought them I thought it was a concession because I hadn't been able to find what I dreamed of.  Yet out of the dress, the jacket and the shoes, I have worn the shoes to death whereas the others I have not.  Happy retirement, my loves.

x


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Flower delirium

Right, so this pair falls into several embarrassing categories:

- They were purchased in an online shopping frenzy and travelled from the other side of the earth at my electronic request.
- I waited on the edge of my seat for them to arrive.  Willing time to pass faster so that they would arrive.
- I was judged (deservedly so) by the mail room guy and reception ladies.
- I lost interest moments after receiving them.
- They have lain dormant in my wardrobe for many moons.
- I have never worn them.

I think I should be do some kind of penance for my sins of lust and gluttony.  Perhaps there is some sort of community service I can do to make up for my wastefulness. All that money spent and attention diverted for me to cast them aside.

I am a naughty naughty girl.

x


Monday, March 14, 2011

Slingback sadness

Sigh.  I struggle to wear sling backs.  My feet simply shrug them off as I walk.  It's terribly sad because slingbacks can open the connection between beautifully adorned foot and elegant leg.  What is not so elegant is a women struggling to keep the damned things on and stopping every few steps to pull the strap back up.

Silly shoemakers.  I'm all for loveliness, even with a price, but come on - make something I can freakin' walk a decent distance in!!  I couldn't even get from the cab to restaurant table in these.  They remain static in their beauty.  The moment motion is involved, forget it.

I have held on to these ladies for years and years and years with the hope that one day I'll actually be able to keep them on my feet.  Alas, it's not going to happen.  To eBay they must go.

x


Sunday, March 13, 2011

Little Miss Melbourne Sunday

Like flat shoes, these are another example of me trying on for size something that doesn't really fit.  I bought these when I was living in Melbourne a few years ago.  They were a conscious choice to try the city and its style on for size.  Didn't work.

I enjoy these shoes but they're simply not quite me.  I'm glad I spent some time in Melbourne and in these shoes - who knows, if I went back maybe it would be different.  Although looking at these shoes I know that it would not.  They are a nice little change that I'm happy to wear every so often but would not wear again.

x


Saturday, March 12, 2011

A pair of pairs

I doubled up to make up for yesterday.  It's a double double really because before you I present two pairs of the same two, one in pink, one in black.  I do the same with cardigans.  At one point in time I recall owning a yellow, red, two black, two white and one pink - ALL the same cardigan.  What am I, the rainbow flag of apparel?

When acquisition mode hits, sense and reason really are replaced by lust for pretty things.  Where did this lust come from?  Is this some kind of primal urge to create beauty around ourselves?  To attract a lover perhaps?  I know that's not why I love beautiful things, I just love them but.... Ohhhhhh, penny just dropped.  This must be the explanation for "Soccer Mom" haircuts, something I loathe with as much force as my loathing for sneakers with jeans.

I have never been able to get my head around how (some, and it is only some) beautiful vibrant women suddenly become frumps on marrying or having children.  I've met women who are younger than me but look at least 10 years older and had once been lovely.  It's like a light has gone out and I have never understood why.  Is it because they've "got the goods", as they see it?  Weird mindset.

I loathe the Soccer Mom haircut because it so often seems to be found on women who have lost themselves.  Maybe I'm projecting because if I cut my hair that way or lost my joy in dress ups to the extent that I stopped taking pride in my appearance, then something would be very wrong.  I would be lost.  Maybe that's not true for everyone.  There is definitely a risk that my view is judgmental and naive but I think there is at least a grain of truth in my line of thinking for the minority of the population who sport this doo.

I know loads of beautiful women who have continued to celebrate their femininity post marriage and babies by adorning themselves like happy women should.  To me, it's part of being female to celebrate it outwardly and happily.  Bring on the lust.

x


Friday, March 11, 2011

Shoegasm and sins of acquisition

I broke the rules.  I bought these shoes and I haven't justified the other 77 yet!  Given my generally disinterested attitude to the rules of any game, I think I've done quite well not to break any until now.

Well, now that I'm confessing I do have some other disclosures to make.  Let's write a list, at least this way I can get it all off my chest and you can be confident that going forward my shoes and I are above board:

- the day I discovered I owned 77 pairs of shoes I had earlier given 30 or so other pairs to charity
- the 77 does not include gym shoes or beach shoes
- one day I didn't wear the shoes I said I would.  To be fair, it was because when I put them on I discovered they needed re-heeling
- I'm not wearing these shoes today, I just wanted to show them to you

That's it.  End of confession.  Defiant I continue.......

These shoes are utterly magnificent.  My pupils dilated and heart rate increased the second I saw them.  They are worthy of even the pickiest devotee's shoegasm.  Wow.  I wish you could see them in person because they are like nothing I have ever worn.  Exquisite.   It's a kind of beauty that aches.

My sin was worth it.

x


Thursday, March 10, 2011

The pointy end

I can't believe it, there are only another 20 or so shoes to go and the journey through the bottom of my closet is complete!

To date, I have largely steered clear of boots and heavy shoes during the inital phase of this shoe odyssey.  Being Sydney and summer-time I've favoured open toed and light shoes.

Hmmmm being Sydney and now autumn-time it's still hot, yet I have many many boots and heavy shoes to come!  These kids aren't so bad but some interesting fashion choices await.  I'm up for the challenge - winter boots on 30 degree days here I come!

x


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

People of Walmart

Yesterday I was sent an email that showed shoppers at Walmart in the US.  It was funny but it was also appalling.  The unsuspecting shoppers are ridiculed as freaks.  Evidently, there is a website devoted to these pictures where they are ridiculed as such.  I'll let you google it yourself...

On seeing the photos I can't help but ask "why?".  I hardly know what to say I'm so flabbergasted with what I saw.  It's terribly terribly sad and something that those communities appear to perpetuate by mutually reinforcing hideously unhealthy ways of living.

These people are a long way down the "Wall-E" track of living.  It's a great movie, I highly recommend you watch it and you'll see what I mean.

I am heading to Texas in April where I imagine I will meet many of these types of people.  In fact, I've set myself a challenge of making it as far through a Texan Steak as possible, which I understand is an inhuman task though bizarrely is achieved by most of the population.  Gladly, I suspect I will fail.

You will not see these shoes on a Walmart shopper!

x



Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Filing cabinet

A few years ago when I worked at a law firm in the sparkling city of Sydney I would walk to work from my home in Potts Point past the sailors on Woolloomooloo wharf and through the Domain, a large park in Sydney that backs on to the Botanical Gardens and is home to the State Art Gallery and Library.  These are beautiful old sandstone buildings with rich histories and warmth that makes me smile.

One of the nicest things about Sydney is being able to walk almost anywhere and be sweetly uplifted by what you see.  Sydney is a small city but the harbour is a visual treasure encased in bright sunshine.  Beautiful wildlife and greenery are everywhere, and the cityscape itself is lovely.  It feels like a corny kind of paradise when bright parrots and exotic come to visit.

A lesson I have learnt in my lifetime is that I am very affected by my visual environment.  If it's ugly and bleak I will fade.  If it's beautiful and bright I will thrive.  On those walks I felt as if I was floating in a bubble of contentment, gazing like a loon at the beauty before me.  I felt like thanking someone for letting me experience something so lovely.  It was healing.

One day I was staring out of my office window on the 57th floor across the city to the airport watching planes take off when I heard a knock at my door.  My then assistant Nicole had come to do some filing.  She was laden with folders and indicated there were more to come.  I went back to what I was doing, conscious to stop staring out the window at the mysterious hunks of flying metal and do some work.  I heard a little snicker and then a laugh and then an "ELIZABETH!"

Opps, Nicole had discovered 14 pairs of shoes impairing her ability to do my filing and stashed unceremoniously on the bottom two shelves of my filing cupboard.  These bronzed ladies were among those bashful 14 pairs.  Well, a fullsome selection of shoes is at least entertaining.

x


Monday, March 7, 2011

Disco!

I'm not ready to give up Mardi Gras this Monday so I'm keeping it with me on my feet.  The photo is a little misleading as the gold trim isn't showing all that well but trust me, it's there.

At the time of writing I am still rather tired from Saturday night's fun.  More tomorrow I promise.

x


Sunday, March 6, 2011

The day after Mardi Gras...

... is a day for rest.  These pretty little slippers are actually a warm dusky pink, though they look quite brown in this photo.

The Mardi Gras Parade was great fun.  One of my dearest friends in the world invited me to a party at he and his boyfriend's apartment for the parade.  Their apartment has prime views over the last third of the march.  It was such a laugh and so much fun playing dress ups.

I love the spirit of "yipppeeee" and, now that I think about it, perhaps it's a sense of relief that Mardi Gras brings.  I mean relief in the sense that for one night people with a kind of expression that's different from main stream can breath out and just embrace it openly.  I'm not gay myself but I sense the relief in my gay friends and I am so glad for them.  I left the party around 2am happy and covered in glitter.

I am spending the day doing absolutely nothing with my burmese friends who spend most days doing the same.  Right-o, there is something to be learned from our feline friends on a day like this.  Slippers on.  Perhaps a Pride and Prejudice marathon is called for.

x


Saturday, March 5, 2011

Happy Mardi Gras xox

Right, so now I have to explain these shoes.  Ummm: Mardi Gras, sparkly things, homos, disco, Brazil, Oxford Street, whimsy, I'm bored, why not and friends.  Yup, that sums it up in short.

The longer version is that every year since I've been in Sydney I have missed the Mardi Gras parade.  There's been something else on or I've been a party pooper, whatever the case may be I've missed it.  Until 2010.  I had just arrived back from Brazil and was on a super duper high.  That place, gosh I hardly know what to say.  Anyway, I was in super relaxed mode and got a call from my dear friends Mauricio and Peter who were looking for extras in their float for the Mardi Gras parade.  Bring it.  Did it.  Loved it.

I had the perfect outfit, a samba swingey clingey shiney pinkey goldey thingee I picked up on Ipaneama beach from a toothless old lady from the Favelas (the hand stitching gets me right in the heart strings every time).  But no shoes!  Being Mardi Gras I realised that I had to find something over the top, trashey and matchable with my Brazilian Carnaval outfit.  These were the best I could do with the approximately 5 seconds notice I had.  I think they worked.

Needless to say, I haven't worn them since but I don't want to discard them as I am too nostalgic for the sense of grace I felt when I was a part of the parade last year.  The grace I felt in that parade was the celebration and joy of embracing being human, whatever that means.  It also reminds me of my wish and hope that those who taught us about grace would embrace it themselves.

The dishonour of wearing these horrific shoes was worth the honour of marching in the Mardi Gras parade.

Yes, each flower was hand stitched, the head gear went sky high and I'm not going anywhere near what the back looked like.

x




Friday, March 4, 2011

moderation-a-whatsit

There is something cosy about these shoes.  An intangible quality that just makes me go "ahhhhh".  I'm obviously growing up because these are "sensible" shoes and quite foreign to my usual list of "likes" in this world.

I've experienced similar growth with respect to coffee vs tea.  I used to drink an inordinate amount of coffee.  The thought of drinking tea was obscene.  I used to call it "sewer water for the weak".  Ever colourful.

One day my friend Tree and I thought we'd see how much coffee we could drink in one sitting.  It was a sort of self experiment.  Within about an hour we managed to get through six or seven cups of coffee comprised of a Tablespoon of instant espresso (yuck, I know) and two Tablespoons of sugar (yuck yuck, I know I know).

My 6 foot 7 friend Tree was felled and I was violently ill.  It was an interesting experiment and many moons have passed since then.  I now enjoy coffee on occasion.  It must be espresso and it must be good.  I also got over myself and now enjoy tea every day, it's comforting and doesn't hurt my tummy.

I now know that it's okay not to take the "hard core" option every time when it comes to caffeinated beverages and shoes.  These shoes taught me it's okay to go for cuddly shoe comfort.

x


Thursday, March 3, 2011

A simple nude

I have a function to attend this evening and, strangely, I am not in a costume filled haze of ideas and outfits.  It's been a big week, an odd week for no particular reason and today I am simply not inspired to create the aesthetic I would ordinarily relish.  But, I am looking forward to the evening.

A nude is required.  Something comfortable with the right balance of effort free chic as tonight I shall be surrounded by people I do not know but, for the first time in my life, I actually want to suck up to.  I struggle to appear interested in someone unless I am actually interested in them!  I don't care how big their boat is or how full their wallets, I simply don't like it.  It all seems like a giant lie.

In any event, this evening I am finally learning my lesson about sucking up.  I now work in aviation, which I thoroughly enjoy, and tonight I will meet many people in interesting roles within the industry.   I like aviation and sincerely want to learn more so I really do want to talk to them.

Ah, maybe I have just learnt something about myself - I seem to need to care about something to engage with it.  I never cared about law firm life so the reality is I was never going to engage.  Huh, interesting.  This naval gazing stuff is like a mini psych session.

Suction cups at the ready.

x


Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Gender bender

I like to mess with rules.  Our realities are our own.  Hmmm that's a concept I can enjoy.

A few years ago I was best (fe-)man at the wedding of two of my best friends, Danny and Amelia who live miles and miles away from me in the "Shaky Isles" of New Zealand.  They are each so unique, so earnest and so simply themselves.  Thinking of them makes my eyes water and my heart do a little twist.

They married in the iconic Christchurch Cathedral that sadly, following last week's earthquake, is now in broken ruins.  Their marriage in that place with me beside Danny in a "man's role" was one of the most feminine moments of my life as I witnessed two people I love, so in love with one another.  I stood  beside them both and beamed in their happiness.  Gender was irrelevant.  It was a moment of honesty that transcended tradition and rules.  Friendship and love was all that mattered.  The truth in the air was palpable.

Of course, I took the opportunity to embrace the contradiction of my role.  I love the perfection in opposites of Danny's choice of best man.  Let's be honest - I reveled in it much like a pig in mud.  I wore these shoes with my "fe-suit" and towered over the entire wedding party. I guess men are generally taller than women so if I was going to play a "man's role" I took the mandate seriously.  Any opportunity to push a boundry.....

x


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Pink thinking purple people

Everyone knows that little girls love pink and purple.  I may not be all that little any more but I am no exception to this rule.  Recently, though, I came to realise that I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between them.  Am I a colour blind colour lover?  No no no, I'm not colour blind but I am concerned about what they teach kids in school these days because I am not convinced that I know what colour these shoes are.  Where is the line between pink and purple?

I'll be brave and make a call: it's purple with a little pink anxiety.  I have a dress in exactly this colour. The anxiety came out the first time I wore the dress and decided to ask one of my colleagues whether she thought my dress was pink or purple.  Rebecca's very clear answer was "pink" and "are you mental?".  Fair question.  But let's look at the facts.  The pillow below is definitely pink, a light pink with softness and warmth that is quite different to my shoe.  My shoe is dark pink gone bluey - in other words, purple!  Surely that's right?  It's cooler and sharper than the light pink pillow contrast.

These are the things that keep me entertained on the inside.

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