I wish that I'd never met DSW, but hey. Lunch break.

So, today, after eating too much at Red Lobster because Shari Secretary made me do it, I asked to check out DSW. I mean hey, if I even found anything close to my Badgley Mischka's, I'd be thrilled. Hoping to find more in my size in Spokane, we went.

On the contrary, "Shari Secretary" was thrilled. They had tons of clearance shoes in her size. But all was not lost - I did find some "necessary items".

$23.00, Tahari black slingbacks "Carolyn", that I determined to be work-appropriate, and therefore justifiable. Plus, I love Tahari suits, so this was a natural progression of the obsession.

Additionally, after that great find, I kept circling back to my favorite style. There were these totally hot patterned Enzo's, in the same shape of my favorite shoe style obsession. In fact, I've never ground down the heel other than in my plain black Enzo's. So, here it is. Enzo Angiolini "Maiven". $35.00. After that, I had to get back to work to make money for more shoes.

DSW episode...

So, I wasn't exactly gonna shop this weekend due to partying more than working this month... but Bad Influence Atkinson decided I might like DSW. First we stopped by TJ Maxx, where I picked up some hot Silver Glittery "Brynn" Guess heel sandals - see below, (um, useful for clubbing, as if I am going to go clubbing anytime soon in this hellhole of a town).

Then, the DSW incident occurred. Right inside the door, on clearance, were some beautiful, lacy, Badgley Mischka heels. In my size. "Oakes" in Nude. These pictures just do not do these justice. Two of the store workers were sad to see them go. They are going to a good home. I will probably spend the rest of my life finding something to wear with them.

Just elegant and hot, all at the same time. I need an event to wear these to...


After trying on every shoe in the store, the finding some comfy patent Privo by Clark's sandals, I did it. They are soooo soft on the bottoms for walking around, and kinda cute too. Like 1 step up from my comfy Teva's, but they sure feel like slippers compared to the rest of my disastrous shoe collection.


Way over my price range for shoes today, but I couldn't resist. Now for the accessory hunt to find something to match.... argh. This will probably be my mission for the next Month...

I've been "busy"... Vegas clubbing, and back in Seattle...

So, this past month, I didn't get a lot of sleep. A week in Vegas partying, and now I'm in Seattle. Of course, I did some wonderful shopping in Vegas, which included the Guess store. I picked up some gold heels, and then some "practical" heel fancy sequinned thongs.


I've worn these everywhere since, they are pretty comfy for heels.

Overall, I had a really good time, but now I'm exhausted!!! Good times, great friends.

Seattle Trip. Shoes, clothes, food. Funny stuff. Japanese food items.

Ok, and one more thing before I start that appellate brief... ummmm...

So this past weekend I went to Seattle for some retail therapy.  I mean a meeting.

The Coach Stefanie Heel.  Retail $188.00.  Me at Nordy's Rack, $58.43.  I wore these out Sat night.   Then, as if I didn't have enough, I went to another Nordy's Rack and found a total score:  Eileen Fisher red knot dress for $59.98.  Score again.  Retail $228.00.  No pic yet.  It'll come out, someday.
Then, scouring the racks, I found a Juicy Couture Velour shift dress on sale.  Bonus, it was even less than the clearance tag.  $10.99.  No shit.

All this shopping led to the next outing... feeding frenzy.  Kaname, in Seattle near downtown (International District) between 6th and 7th on Jackson.  Hole in the wall.  Great food, and super cheap happy hour.  See feast. 

Yes, that's food for 3 of us.  $23 for me with beer, without tip.  Kaname.  Between 5-6:30 PM.  Be there.  Say hi to cousin Josh and cousin Candy.  Weirdly, they are my parents' cousins, one from each side of the family (so they're not related).  Apparently the eating gene is in full effect.  I've taken my entire Board there, and they all loved it.

I know this isn't a food blog, but during my trip, we had to kill time at Uwajimaya (Japanese grocery, also apparently owned by some distant relative, but anyway).  Speaking of strange Asian snacks, the pics speak for themselves. (The beer pic was actually at the restaurant, but hey).  ***disclaimer, you have to admit this is funny.  If not, get a sense of humor.***

Hot Mate.  Do you like

how all of the characters are all different races?  Diversity in food.  Or a Hot Mate, whichever you prefer.

I'm not going to explain how this might or might not be relevant to my night, and why my midnight snack was funny.

What is this?

That is a sumo looking

dude with a loincloth thingy.  What is the purpose of that mostly naked man on that beer can?

Why is this funny to me.  Oh, because I've now killed some more time before editing my brief and reading this research tonight.  Fun.  Procrastination at its best.

The next day's shopping led to U-Village, where we ate at the new Boom Noodle by Barnes & Noble.  It was awesome.  As Zao isn't there anymore, we had to try it out.  It rocked.  Including the lunchtime vodka drinks.  Forgot to take a pic, but "Boom" is the new code word.  Says so on the menus.  Next time I used the words "my Boom" you'll know what it means. 

Incident followed at Vic Secret, Juicy Couture, Aveda, Lucky, Impress, etc. You'll see the Impress stamps later.
Juicy purse on sale $44.00 (I don't even have to tell you how far below retail that is), and Juicy scarf $20.  Lucky skirt $20.  Pure awesomeness.

Now back to that brief...

Never fear, Easter was all crafty too.

Also.  I hate boring eggs.  I have crafty eggs.

I shouldn't share my secrets, but I hate plain eggs.  So here it is.  Dye egg first in yellow, pink, green, light blue (dip quickly).  After you have dyed all your eggs and they dry (also dry them on a cloth with newspaper underneath, and roll around so they don't get the dreaded "spot" on one side), then you put a little cooking oil in each dye. Just a little oil, and chop it up with your spoon before you stick the egg in again. Re-dye in a different color.  Wipe off with a paper towel (because it's oil, it won't dry.. duhh).  Shiny, fancy eggs.

I gave "the dude" an Easter Basket.  He said it was his first ever, since he was a super little kid.  It had 3 eggs, a small glass jar with his name stamped on it with Staz-On (see project #1, the etched glass) those jars, candy, and mini vodka.  It came complete with the Earth Day "herb garden" card, as he grows herbs.  He liked it.  Bonus.

Nothing like a little procrastination to catch up on the blog.

So, here's the latest in the craft arena...

So I used the large Magenta stamp (all 3 panels combined), and stamped twice. I glued on blank panels (sides) on with the border colored blue, then I cut out the image exactly the same without the border (some fancy detail cutting around the branches as you can see in picture #2) and then used dimensional dots to raise the image off the card.  The back panel (middle) is just colored in.  Really, it happened by accident, in that the large stamp didn't ink right the first time.  I like the dimension, though.  It'll be a great Mother's Day card.

Of course I used the Copics.  Of course I went and bought some more after court last week.  Nothing like working to buy more art supplies.

I also stamped pears.

I think you saw these earlier, but I finally put them together.  Clockwise, starting at 11:00, the pear was stamped with Tsukineko Memento London Fog (gray) ink.  The background was A Stamp in the Hand pear background writing.  (not on the pear, that writing is on the main stamp, which is by Stampers Anonymous). After the pear dried, I colored in with my Copic Markers. 

At 1:00, you will see the spattering.  First I took my finger and rubbed it with Microglaze onto the pear. I used a spritzer with Walnut Ink and Pearl Ex mixed in.  I added some Potion #9 by Tsukineko to the spritzer, because, you know, that's the new thing.  Anyway, I then noticed when I dabbed the Microglaze with a paper towel (to get the wet off the Microglazed area) it left a ring around my pear. So I then colored over it with a gray Copic.  Looked kind of cool.  I sponged the edges of the cutout and the yellow cutout with brilliance green ink to make it shiny.  Cool.

At 4:00 is a blue cuttlebug background that was sponged with green Brilliance again to make it stand out.  All edges on yellow, blue and white were also sponged with that.  Just colored in pear with Copics, because on glossy paper.

7:00  Copics.  Black Memento Ink.  Basic.  The background line stamp is Magenta.

And here's what I finally did with that poor Magenta flower that needed a home.  Sponged edges of white (matte, marker paper) with purple Brilliance Ink.  Used a yellow Brilliance (that you can't really see) on the background over the yellow.  Trust me, it shines subtly.  White portion was sprayed with the newer Tsukineko "Goosebumps" before gluing on... sort of looks like rain.  Awesomeness.