I have too many shoes

I hate it when bad things happen to good shoes. I had one of my first big meetings in London for my new job, so I wore my lucky red shoes.  I had a really productive and successful day, so the shoes were my lucky omen. That's until I arrived at Euston Station for the train home and my heel went down a grid, scraping all the patent off the heel right down to the plastic.  No repairs could be made to restore the heel, so they have gone to that great big shoe cupboard in the sky.  So my shoes were lucky for me but not so lucky themselves.  It's my second pair of red heels that haven't lasted a year due to some mishap, my New Years resolution is to find a pair of indestructible red heels to last the distance. 

The past four months have been a little bit crazy as I have been busy learning my new job, so my blog has been neglected.  I am hoping to spend a little time during the festive season getting back on track, while eating mince pies and drinking mulled wine. Hope you have a lovely time during the holidays.

It has been such a long time since I have blogged about my love of shoes.  Over the summer months, I had been applying for a new job, so I have been busy typing CVs, creating presentations and attending interviews.  Happy to say I was successful and have started my new job, so it's time to get back into blogging about my favourite subject shows! I've also been developing my Pinterest boards too, so please pop and look at my boards too.  Let me know if you are on Pinterest too. photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/curtisperry/8345855674/">Curtis Gregory Perry</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>

I am on a little holiday break, staying in a really cute cottage about five minutes drive from Cartmel Village and its famous racecourse. So I got inspired to find a shoe of the week that fits a day at the races, you just need to make sure you've got a ticket to the VIP stand!

I haven't bought a pair of shoes in quite a while, so I really wanted something for a small budget that would tick a trend and be perfect for summer.  These heels from New Look were under £20, tick two trends -  block heels and ankle straps - and are nude, the perfect understated colour for summer. For their first outing, I teamed the shoes with a bright green crepe  top  from Tesco, a pair of Demi Curve Levi's and some gold jewellery but completely forgot to accessorise with my trusty camera to get an outfit shot!.

Sometimes we need to keep it simple with shoes, just let the colour pop and team them up with something monochrome, like the dress below.  Both items are from Matalan, the dress I have, the shoes are yet to be purchased.

Zara are guaranteed to provide you with some gorgeous shoe 'crushes' for Spring and Summer. Ticking all the requisite style boxes with its 'strapp-iness', metallic and pinks, and the requisite ankle strap, this is the perfect shoe to grace any fashionista's wardrobe.  Ladies, its time for some retail therapy methinks!

I do realise how lucky I am to have such a lovely husband.  As well as treating us to a trip to New York, new lovely stuff from the Levis Store, he only went and bought me a mini iPad! Although he was slight perturbed when we visited the FAO Schwarz store next door to the Apple store and I got ridiculously excited at finding the Zoltar machine from the film Big .  One of decade's biggest inventions versus a carnival machine providing you with your future for $1 - no contest!

Been a un-regular poster of late, but aiming to get back on track now with my regular shoe of the week posts. Here's the perfect shoe for the upcoming bank holiday weekend, its got that sunny colour and is a bit of fun for your shoe collection.  Here's hoping the weather is just as cheerful as these shoes!

On our recent trip to NYC my lovely husband treated me to some Levis boots , they are fabulous! Cute and extremely comfortable. They are ticking all my boxes right now!

We visited Times Square within the first hour of arriving in the city What can I tell you about New York?  Where do I begin to explain how we fell in love with the Big Apple?  This definitely is the city that never sleeps and we made the most of our five-night visit literally from the start of the trip . . . within two hours of landing we were standing in the middle of Times Square at four o'clock in the afternoon.  But I can't really do the city justice with a blog post, it really is a place that everyone should visit and have on their bucket list. We stayed at the lovely Belleclaire Hotel in the Upper West Side, the perfect base to discover the city; with a subway station just five minutes away and plenty of restaurants and bars nearby on Amsterdam Avenue and Columbus Avenue, which were the next two blocks from the Hotel.  Even Central Park was in easy reach with a brisk walk ten minute walk in the early Spring weather where we were able to find the John Len...

I spotted a magazine news article about new brand on the web Hush.   Naturally I felt the need to investigate their website; curious to discover what shoe delights they had to offer. There are some lovely items to choose from; including the cute Lindsey sandals but it's these lovely, sparkly loafers that I have chosen for shoe of the week. As I am having a lovely chilled out Sunday with the husband, the Corinne Loafers would be the perfect accessory for the day.

You cannot go wrong with having a t-bar shoe in your collection,,  These from Next are available in Tan, Nude and Black.  I'm thinking of selling my high street shoes so I can completely refresh my shoe collection starting with these!

I've been trying out some more products from Veneziana , they've been the perfect accessory for any occasion from a working day to a night out with my girlfriends. The show-stopping Ramage tights made a basic and boring 'Black dress for work' outfit into something a bit more unique.  These gorgeous patterned tights had a number of admirers and gave me a little boost on a busy Tuesday in the office. Ramage   On a typical early English spring day that started off sunny, then came the wind and then came the rain! The Geraldine tights simply saved the day. These tights have the X-Factor when it comes to comfort and style.  It was like wearing your favourite cashmere cardigan, the comfort level was that good. The  Geraldine tights gave me a lovely feeling of warmth on a blustery day I am rubbish at selfies! And last but not least, the most sexy pair of hold ups i have ever worn, simply gorgeous . . . the delightful Ar Fabiola . I wore these on...

Earlier this year, I noticed that my Jack Russell Jasper had developed some lumps and bumps and we took him for a check up.  He actually had developed two hernias and needed to have an operation to have them removed and be castrated which will hopefully reduce any more hernias developing. Luckily for us, we spotted the problem early so the condition didn't develop to the point of damaging his bladder.  We've had him for ten years and this was the first real health issue we'd ever had and it was a definite learning curve for us.  I mean how do you keep an groggy, disorientated dog still so he can recover? Did you know that dogs can be given tramadol! After a couple of days doped up, Jasper made a good recovery and has developed a couple of pampered habits. He has now got used to lots of extra cushioning and being tucked up in this blanket!

Chloe Jade Green, the Topshop heiress, has launched her second shoe collection . The whole collection just screams 'its holiday time'! The Rio Leopard  shoes stand out for me, perfect for dancing the night away whether your preference is for salsa, disco or hip hop.

Experiencing pre-Spring sunshine and these fab tights from Veneziana inspired this floral-themed work outfit.  The Marianne tights are just that little bit fabulous, I almost felt I was having a Shakira moment! They were the perfect accessory to complement the floral jacket that I bought on impulse at Primark but had no idea when or how I was going to wear it.  Naturally my trusty red shoes were added on for that extra pop of colour.  Here's to more sunny days!

I am usually quite rubbish when packing a suitcase, my shoes end up wrapped in plastic bags; to prevent damage to my clothes and to keep the shoes together.  This is a far better option than opening the suitcase and finding a random shoe without its other half or realising halfway though the first night of your holiday that you are wearing odd shoes (I know someone who did this but perhaps the numerous cocktails were an additional factor in that fashion catastrophe).  Wrapping your favourite shoes in your local supermarket bags is not the classiest way to complement a neatly packed capsule wardrobe, I mean what would Carrie Bradshaw think! So before my trip to New York, I thought I would add a little extra style to my packing by making some shoe bags, with the assistance of my lovely mum and some pretty vintage-style material from Grace & Favour , a local store selling fabulous fabric. Designed like an old school sports bag with a separate section for each shoe or boo...

My trip to New York, the city that never sleeps, is getting nearer. Trying to plan a capsule wardrobe when it appears that we may experience four seasons in one day is proving a little difficult.  From sunshine one day, to 60 per cent chance of snow, my dreams of dressing /Carrie Bradshaw' style appear to be a tad impractical.   So its back to the drawing board, or should that be Pinterest, to figure out what to pack. photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/11496140863/">Thomas Hawk</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">cc</a>

Sarah Jessica Parker has just launched her first shoe collection for Nordstrom .  With a combination of heels, flats, colours and styles, it's like she's created the perfect capsule shoe collection just for Carrie Bradshaw. The 'Diana' pump reminds me of the episode where Carrie Bradshaw is introduced to the Vogue closet and discovers an urban shoe myth. I'd love to know what Carrie Bradshaw would think of the collection.

Those lovely peeps at Veneziana sent  me a package of tights and socks to try out  and I wanted to share the Veneziana love around and see what a younger fashionista would think.  So the Girasole ankle socks were the perfect option for my niece 'O' to try out. Over the past couple of years, she has been building up her own fashion sense and her way of pairing cute shoes with pretty ankle socks for weddings and parties made her a perfect candidate for testing them out.  I think her Topshop shoes and the Girasole made a cute combination, what do you think?