Trippy heels.

• Top: Maurices (previously)
• Cardigan: Maurices
• Trouser Jeans: Maurices
• Pumps: Nine West
• Bag: Target (previously)
• Necklace: Maurices (previously)
• Bracelets: Torrid (previously)
• Umbrella: Crabtree & Evelyn (previously)

Some friends of ours had some guests over this past weekend, and I took the opportunity to dress up. I was really excited about my new trouser jeans, and I really wanted to wear heels with them, so I paired them these heels which I have never really worn other than the initial try on, despite owning them for a while. The weather was pretty rainy and dreary, and I briefly thought about switching things out for my rainboots, but I knew we weren't going to get any good outside shots, and I figured we would mostly be making a few brief trips to and from the car.

After a fun evening with friends though, in the dark and rainy night, I mis-stepped on their stairs walking to the car and tripped. The biggest casualty besides my pride, was my pair of heels, as you can see above. The jeans are mostly okay, but I will probably be demoting them to much more casual purposes due to the blemish on the knee. (I realize that logic may be flawed since I have a matching blemish on my leg...)

I admit I'm a little bummed out about the shoes, but I got to spend a couple of days dressed how I wanted last week, and it helped my mood out a lot actually. And I will have more on that (and the outfits) in a future post. Plus, it turns out there may be some hope for the shoes after all! I talked to some friends and did some searching and I found a cobbler, and when I dropped the shoes off yesterday, they didn't seem to think it was too big of a deal to fix them. And honestly, while replacing shoes in my collection can be a little difficult due to sizing, I feel a lot more bold about going out these days and this blog has definitely played a role in that. And frankly, I'm happy I wore the shoes outside to an event with friends, even if they did get damaged in the process. There was a time when I would not have believed that I would ever own a pair of shoes like this, much less severely damage them from wearing them out and about.

So I look forward to seeing how the shoes come back from the cobbler (this is a new experience for me), and hopefully I will be figuring out a better balance of blogging with the rest of my life. I really miss everyone! And of course, my beautiful wife helped with my hair and makeup and took the pictures for today's post! (She's also still letting me borrow her computer!)

Under My Umbrella-ella-ella.

• Cami: Maurices (here)
• Hoodie: Maurices
• Skirt: Old Navy
• Rain boots: Payless (here)
• Bag: Target
• Umbrella: Crabtree & Evelyn
• Ribbon: from a spool of ribbon bought at Walmart

I don't always follow trends, but I do get inspired by them because cute trendy stuff shows up in stores. Well, okay, style blogging is changing that for me a little bit, but that's not my point. Some trends, like rain boots, end up making me want them all the more because I can't find something that works for me (well, in this case, by "work", I mean "fit"). So finally, I found this pair in my size, and *cough* 4 *cough* pairs of shoes later, my rain boots were safely in the mail. And the next day, I see this post by Kendi, and well, I thought "That's a pretty cute outfit and my boots will be here soon, I should try something like that!", but ultimately, the real credit for this outfit is a friend of mine who posted a complaint on Facebook a few days later. She was musing about the trend of all the people wearing rain boots with shorts and skirts, and pointing out that the water will just trickle down your legs into your boots. And I thought, "Hey, I was just thinking about wearing a something like that myself!" So for my friend, who I know is reading this post, I just want you to know, it was raining pretty hard, and I didn't get a single drop of water in my boots!

And yes, I'm outside!!! I do go out sometimes, this is actually my second trip outside since I started this blog (other trip is here even though I ended up not getting pictures outside). This is from yesterday: my wife had a surprise day off work, so we decided to do some shopping and meet up with some friends. I noted, to my surprising and unusual delight, that the weather report called for rain, so I was all about doing a quick change to get these pictures. And if nothing else, I promise I'll try to go outside again on Groundhog day to see if I see my shadow.

Okay, so yesterday Meli22 who is super cool and runs the totally rocking blog The Daily Insanity of a Fashion Addict asked some questions. And I have answers!

Is that your real hair, a wig, etc? How do you wear your hair when dressed this way vs. how do you wear your hair daily? Yes, this is my real hair you're seeing. I grew it out several years ago for many reasons, and one of them did include my interest in fashion. I didn't really accept this part of myself at the time, but hey, I was making progress. I almost always wear my hair up in a ponytail when I'm not dressed like this (also, I usually go without the ribbon too). In fact, this is one of the few times I've had my hair up for an outfit like this. A few months ago, in the search for a new hairdresser, I finally worked up the courage to ask for a slightly more interesting hair cut and got some layering put in, but alas, our most excellent hairdresser has found another job and left no forwarding address, so now I have to be courageous again. For special occasions, my wife helps me style my hair with a curling iron and other magical hair products (I'm still learning when it comes to hair and makeup!)

Okay, wow, if you're still here, I really appreciate it! Long post. Now no one will ask any more questions! Ack. Well, for the brave, ask away, I will still try to answer them! Okay, its also Friday (yay!), so I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful weekend, and no rain (unless you want rain! I got my rain boots picture, so now its okay to be sunny with a slight chill so I can break out my other boots, tights I bought yesterday and everything else!). I'll be back with another post on Tuesday! And of course, my lovely (and patiently getting rained on) wife took the pictures (Hey, she got a box of chocolates too!).