alegria.

I played softball for 14 years, most of the time spring and fall.  My position alternated between third base and catching, but 95% of my time was spent catching.  Guess what that means?  Yup, at 22 I have horrible knees.  Whenever I squat down, they pop.  If I stand for too long they get really stiff and sore.  If I stretch, they strain.  My left ankle is bad from being a stubborn dumbass and catching anyway while it was double rolled.  I'm also a rather chesty girl so my shoulders and back constantly hurt.  And I have bad posture from that.  Constantly I hurt.  Constantly I limp.  Constantly when I move I go "Oooh!  That hurts!"  Constantly I'm identifying with my 85 year old Grammie.  On top of this I managed to pick a career where I will be on my feet for eight or more hours a day. 

So, yesterday I broke down and bought my first pair of comfort shoes.  I know, I know.  But seriously, they're super comfortable.  And you know what?  They're actually kind of cute.

These are mine.

They're called Alegria by PG Lite.  This is the Paloma style, in soft black.  They have several other styles, including sandals, clogs, boots, and a professional line for nurses. 

The shoes have a Mild Rocker Outsole (Sketchers tried to do this with the ShapeUp) that roll with you in a natural walking motion.  The Rocker helps with your posture, and reduces stress on your muscles, joints, and back.  The foot bed is called a Perfect Fit Footbed, and is anatomically correct and molds to your foot, giving you a customized fit.  They also have their Color Therapy, giving you a color for every mood, and lots of patterns.  They firmly believe that shoes should make you happy.  They're a little pricey, but worth it.  And they're coming out with a 'Mini Rocker' for Fall 2010.  You better believe I'm gonna be all over those, I'm tall enough at 5'7" and the ones I have make me 5'8".  They come in lots of pretty colors and fun patterns.  The shoes are in European sizes.  Mine are a size 38 European, which is 8 - 8.5 American.

If you're anything like me, you won't wear it unless it's comfortable.  And I don't mean you feel comfortable wearing it, 'cause there is a difference.  I won't wear things that are uncomfortable.  This is why I wear dresses, and like loose clothing.  This is why I almost never wear heels, and when I do they are wedges, only an inch and a half tall.  I can't do heels.  Years of running around barefoot (I am from Georgia, after all) made me hate wearing shoes.  So when I had to wear closed shoes I wore those super flat Target ballet flats (y'all know what I'm talking about).  And I have a lot of them.  And I do wear them.  And they are comfortable when I'm not running around everywhere and standing a lot.  However, wearing something with no support is not a good idea for me spending 8 hours on my feet at school.  The days that I was really in severe pain were the days I wore those shoes.

Andrew told me I needed to get some comfort shoes, and I balked at the idea.  Lets face it, most comfort shoes are not cute.  At 22 I still care about looking cute, and I'm in a fashionable industry to boot.  I was content to wear my purple mocs because they were the only flats I had that had any kind of real sole to it.  However, last Friday I did a full highlight and my back and knees hurt so bad when I came home it was painful to move.  At all.  Andrew was right, but I didn't know where to begin.  I've watched my Mom get frustrated for years trying to find cute comfort shoes.  I had noticed a few girls around school wearing these shoes, and my favorite instructor wears them all the time.  I finally asked my instructor about them.  She gave them a glowing review and told me she loved them so much she had quite a collection.  Then she told me where to find them.

Here are a few of my other favorites.

Paloma Eden.

Paloma Purple Tortoise.

Paloma Fantasy Tattoo.

Paloma Leopard.

Paloma Floral.

That is just a taste of the colors and patterns they have. 

Seriously, I love mine.  Obviously, seeing as this post has gotten rather long.  Wether you're a hair stylist, nurse, teacher, whatever, if you have a cereer where you're on your feet a lot, I highly recommend these shoes.  Even if you're just looking for comfortable shoes, I recommend these.  I even told my Mom about them.  If you're in Gwinnett County GA, they can be found at The Foot Traveler at the Mall of GA (there are directions on the site).  To anyone else go to the Alegria site and they can help you.

back to school.

So having this girl come in was a little crazy.  I haven't seen her since we graduated from high school in '06.  It was nice to see her.  We talked about people we went to school with and what we've been doing. 

So about her hair...  She came in almost all over level 9 blonde on top from highlights.  She's trying to grow her hair out and trying to get it back to her natural, which is dark at a level 3.  She also doesn't want it to be damaged, which lets face it, decolor is damaging.  It sucks the melanin (what gives hair color) out of your cortex, in the process damaging your cuticle (outer layer of hair) over time.  So we did a ratio of one highlight to two lowlights.  I used Blonde Dimensions for the hightlight, and just retouched whatever was in the foil instead of running it through because I wanted her hair to stay on her head.  I used Shades for the lowlights since we were just depositing color and her hair was already damaged.  Then after a conditioning treatment, a trim, and a blow dry, this was the result.  Unfortunately the lighting in my school sucks for pictures, so they never turn out very well...  But it looked really pretty and she was happy.

On to other things.  A few months back Andrew and I were looking to buy bedroom furniture.  I think what we've basically decided to do it get stuff from Ikea.  Just the basics, bedroom stuff, couch, one maybe two chairs, coffee table, two side tables...  Just so that when we do have a house/apartment we have stuff to put in it so it's not empty.  We were thinking about just sucking it up and getting an apartment for the first year or two (he'd be sucking it up, not me).  Ikea is affordable.  I know, I know, there's Goodwill and stuff but I just do not have the patience to scavenge Goodwills across Gwinnett County looking for stuff that matches, or at least coordinates.  Plus, I just don't have the kind of skill to take things that don't really match and make them look good. 

We already have a kitchen table and chairs.  The table is an 1800's Irish pub table, in awesome condition.  The chairs are also old, though I don't know how old, and are from Brazil.  I'll get pictures of those up sometime.

What I was going to do is use the bedroom furniture for a few years, then when we do get a house or something with a second bedroom (and we're making more money) we could put it in the guest room.  And at least if I could get a couch and then look for tables and whatnot at Goodwill.  Everyone I know that got a couch from Goodwill ended up with a couch infested with something.  Not cool.  And I found the cutest couch.  Andrew said it made him think of Super Mario Brothers.

And I see why.  But it's cute!  And I like Mario...

stircrazy.

I think getting out of Georgia this past weekend has made me restless.  I'm not sure what my problem is.  I need to do something!

silence.

Sorry for the silence.  Kim and Tom were out of town last week so I was doing laundry and cleaning and such.  And it was Shark Week.  And I went back to school.  And then Andrew and I went to Kentucky Friday evening.  We got back yesterday.  And I had school today.

So, normal posting will resume sometime this week.

Have a great day!

there's no crying in baseball!

So the Braves won one last night.  It feels like every game I've watched this season they've lost and after the two embarassing games againts Florida on the 23rd and 25th (they did win on the 24th), I didn't watch any against Washington.  They did lose to Washington on the 27th and 29th, winning on the 28th (noticing a pattern).  But they did well last night!  Heyward had three doubles, and McCann had a homerun in the fifth.  Heyward hit it to left field and the Reds left fielder kicked the ball while sliding to catch it allowing the last two runs to be scored for the Braves in the 10th inning.  Prado slid across home jamming his pinky.  X-rays after the game were inconclusive.  I hope he's not out.

Anyway, enough about baseball. 

Actually, I don't really have anything to talk about other than the game.

Hmm...

girls in trucks.

Ok, so I was really disappointed in this book.  Maybe it's because the other books I read this week were so good.  And the last one, Watermelon, was really funny.  This one just missed the mark.  I thought it was going to be one of those Southern books and it really wasn't.  I mean, she's born and raised in the South, and she goes back periodically, but most of the book seems to be spent with her in New York making bad decisions, being whiny, and pining after men.  At one point she goes to Peru for really no reason for a guy.  They were trying too hard to be deep and thoughtful I think.  Some writers can truly be deep and thoughtful and it's wonderful, but Katie Crouch is clearly not one of those writers.  It came across as depressing and stupid.  I was disappointed.

Sorry for all the book related stuff this week.  I've read three books this week alone.  I guess it's 'cause I've been home from school.

vintage & watermelon.

Phoebe quits her job at an auction house to open her own vintage store.  The book follows her through the courtship of two men, opening her store, the sky-blue coat that connects her to elderly Mrs. Bell and dealing with the loss of Emma.  This book is basically about how every piece of vintage tells a story, and can make you feel special. But it's more than that. A lot more than that.  It's a great book, but does have some sad moments.  The descriptions of the vintage is wonderful.

Claire's husband James leaves her on the day their baby girl is born.  So Claire decides to go home to her family in Dublin.  To her beautiful sister Helen, the hippie sister Anna, her soap watching Mom, and her bewildered Dad.  Surrounded by her family (and with the help of Adam) she gets better.  James is in for a surprise when he tries to come back.  This is such a delightful book.  I love the way it's written.  If you want a good, funy, slightly empowering read, you should read this.

in the closet.

This is our closet.  Yeah.  Makes me miss the nice big walk-in I had when I lived in Snellville.  That closet was totally wasted on 7 year old me.

I get the bottom rack, and that shelf for my jeans.  All my shoes are under the clothes on the floor. 

Yeah, those awesome cowboy boots are mine.

I really don't have that many clothes, which I guess is why I've never done outfit posts (other than being too sheepish to get Andrew to take my picture).  Most bloggers seem to have an endless supply of clothes (jealous!), and if they wear something again it always looks fresh.  I don't think I'm that creative.

I do love that a lot of bloggers actually take the time to thrift and find great deals on things and be creative.  So even though they may have a lot of clothes, they may not have spent a ton of money.  It gets old to see the bloggers that have one expensive thing after another.  Not that they aren't pretty to look at, and not that there's anything wrong with having a few designer pieces.  I just think it takes more creativity to put together some thrifted pieces, some vintage and maybe one designer piece, instead of piling on the designer stuff.

Just an opinion.

four months.

Today I have been married for four months.  It feels like a lot longer sometimes (in a good way).  I wonder what it'll feel like when it's a year.

Did Shelly's hair on Saturday morning.  Color and cut, though the color was just to tone down her highlights.  But I'm real proud of that cut.

I joined BlogLovin, so follow me on that too, if you want.

Follow my blog with bloglovin.

cast.

I feel that sometimes I talk about the people in my life and you have no idea who they are.  So this is my 'cast of characters' in my life.

Andrew-  If you don't know who this is by now... yeah.  This is my wonderful husband.

John-  This is my darling brother.

Elaine-  John's sweet wife.

Johnathan & Shelly-  Andrew's brother and his wife.  My awesome new brother and sister.

Daddy-  My amazing Father.  :)

Tom & Kim-  Andrew's parents, my awesome in laws.

Kara-  My super cool Kentucky cousin.

I would put my mother up here, but I couldn't find a picture of her.  I guess it's a little obvious who she is anyway.  This is all for now, I'll keep adding as needed I guess.